“F. R.” Your question is all interesting and important one. “Does the permitted presence of Judas Iscariot in our Lord's chosen baud on earth furnish any argument in favor of our toleration of evil in communion with us as Christians?” We would say, most assuredly, it does not. If the argument, so constantly based on the case of Judas, proves anything, it proves too much. To what does it amount? What does it prove I Why that we ought, knowingly and deliberately, to have at the Lord's Table a man capable of selling Christ for thirty pieces of silver knowingly and deliberately to have fellowship with a traitor. This is the amount of the argument; and we know that what proves too much proves nothing at all. But it may be asked, Why did our Lord, who knew what he was, permit his presence? The answer is very simple. Our Lord allowed Judas to manifest himself. Had He acted on His divine knowledge of what was in the heart of Judas, it would have been no example for us; for we cannot judge the heart, but merely the life and doctrine. To say that we may ignorantly have a traitor in our midst is true; to say that we ought knowingly to have one, is false. In the former case we confess and mourn over our infirmity; in the latter we openly defend a piece of downright wickedness. We cannot understand how any one with a single atom of spiritual sensibility can have recourse to this argument respecting Judas. We deem it not merely weak and foolish, but very wicked.