“Was there one, and but one of the twelve, that proved a Judas, a traitor to Christ? Learn thence, That it is most unreasonable thing to be prejudiced at religion, and the sincere professors of it, because some that profess it prove naught and vile. Should the eleven suffer for one Judas? , John, and all the rest, whose souls abhorred the wickedness. If Judas proved a vile wretch, yet there were eleven to one that remained upright: if Judas proved naught, it was not his profession made him so, but his hypocrisy; he never learned it from Christ. If religion must be charged with all the miscarriages of its professors, then there is no pure religion in the world. Name that religion among the professors whereof there is not one Judas. Take heed, reader, of prejudices against godliness on this account. The design of the devil, without doubt, is to undo thee eternally by them. “Wo to the world because of offences,” Matth. xviii: 7. And what if God do permit these things to fall out, that thou mayest be hardened in iniquity, confirmed in sin by such occasions, and so the destruction brought about this way: Blessed is he that is not offended at Christ.”^[1]

1. Flavel, John. The Works of John Flavel, Volume 1. “Sermon XXIII: The first Preparation for Christ’s Death, on his Enemies Part, by the Treason of Judas.” Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1968, page 293-294.