Then when he [Javan] heard the voice of Jubal’s lyre,
Instinctive genius caught the ethereal fire.
J. Montgomery, The World before the Flood, i. (1812).
Judas, in pt. ii. of Absalom and Architophel, most of which was written by Tate, is meant for Mr. Furgueson, a nonconformist, who joined the duke of Monmouth, and afterwards betrayed him.
Shall that false Hebronite escape our curse—
Judas, that keeps the rebels’ pension-purse;
Judas, that pays the treason-writer’s fee;
Judas, that well deserves his namesake’s tree?
Absalom and Achitophel, ii. (1682).
Judas Iscariot. Klopstock says that Judas Iscariot had a heart formed for every virtue, and was in youth unpolluted by crime, insomuch that the Messiah thought him worthy of being one of the twelve. He, however, was jealous of John, because Jesus loved him more than He loved the rest of the apostles; and this hatred towards the beloved disciple made him hate the lover of “the beloved.” Judas also feared (says Klopstock) that John would have a higher post than himself in the kingdom, and perhaps be made treasurer. The poet tells us that Judas betrayed Jesus under the expectation that it would drive Him to establish His kingdom at once, and rouse Him into action.—Klopstock, The Messiah, iii. (1748).