The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-07-18
THOMAS DE oUvoEY ON JuDAs BcaRIor

believing also that all the conditions towards the rea
nation of such scheme met and centred in the Of
Christ what was II that upon any solution ntcllgble
To Judas, neutralized gsand scheme OF promise
Simply and obviously 10 with the views Of Judas
1t the character of Christ himself sublimely
gifted for purposes Of speculation but like Shakspeares
great creation Of Prince Hamlet not coespondingy
dowed for the business of action and the clamorouS
gencies of life Indccision and doubt (such the In
depreciation of Judas crept the faculties Of the D
vine Man AS often he summoned away from his
own natural Sabbath of heavenly contemplation to the
necessities Of action 1t became important there
forc according 10 the views adopted by Judas that his
master should be prpsd into action by force from
without and thrown into the centre of popular
moy emcnt, such as beginning to Teyolve, could
afterwards be suspended checked Christ must be
compromised before doubts could have time TO form 1t Is
by improbable that this may have been the
theory OF JUDAS Nor Ia 1t at all necessary to seek for
the justification of such theory considered matter
of prudential policy in Jewish anaticsm The Jews of
that day distracted by internal schisms Else and
with any benefit from national unity the hcadong rap
ture Of Jewish ZEAL when combined in vindication OF
their nsulted temple and tempe-worhhip, would have
been equal the effort Of dsodgig the Roman legion
ary force for the from the military possession
of Palestine after which, although tho restora-
ton of the Roman supremacy could not ultimately
have been evaded, IL is by no means certain that
tenerana reciprocal scheme OF concessions might
not have been welcome ut Rome such had, in fact
existed under Herod the Great and his father. The
radical power, under such scheme, would have been
lodged in Rome but with such eternal concessions to
Jewish nationality might have consulted the real in
tcress of both parties. Administered under jewish
names tho land would have yielded larger
than refractory nest Of insurgents it did yield
to the Roman excbequer and, the other hand fe
rocious bigoty which really sublime in its indOm
table obsnacy, might have been humored without pro-
judce to the grandeur of tho imperial claims. Even lit
tie Palmyra in later mealwas INDUCED to greater
tent without serious injury in any quarter had it not
been for the feminine arrogance in little ns0lent Zenob
that msnterpreted and abused that indulgence. The
mscacnation in fact Of Judas Iscariotsupposing him
really to have entertained the views nscbed to him
did not hinge at all upon political oversight but upon
total spiritual blindness in which blindness, however
he went further than at that time did probably most
of his brethren Upon Ae quite as little AZ upon him
had yet dawned the true grandeur OF the Christian
scheme In this only he outran his brcthren--that
sharing in their blindness he greatly exceeded them
| in presumption. All alike had imputed to their
views utterly reconcilable with the grandeur of
his new and heavenly religion. 1t religion at
all which they previously to the crucxon supposed
be the object Christ teaching it prepara
on Tor pitiaby vulgar scheme OF earthly aggrandize
mcnt But, whilst the other apostles had simply failed
TO comprehend their master Judas had presumptuously
assumed that he did comprehend him. and understood
his purposes better than Christ himself His object
audacious In high degree but accoding to the theory
which explaining) for that very reason not ueach
ertas at ALL The that he liable to the approach
of audacy the less he be suspected of pefdy He
supposed himself executing the very innermost purposes
of Christ but with energy which it the charac-
by k ytxSr f motion fulfed those great political
changes which Christ approved but wanted auacity
realize Hs hope that, when at length actually
rested by the Jewish authorities Christ would longer
yacate he would be forced into giving the signal to
the populace of jerusalem who would then rise unani-
mousy for the double purpose OF placing Christ at the
head of an nsurrectionary movement and Of throwing
off the Roman yoke AS regards the worldly prospects
of this scheme it il by improbable that Isca-
riot was right 1t seems, indeed altogether impossible
that he who las the treasurer OF the apostolic fraternity
had in all likelihood the most of worldly wisdom, and
was best acquainted with the temper of the times could
made any gross bnder as to the wishes and secret
designs of the populace in Jerusalem. i JI
This populace, however not being backed by any
strong section of the astocracy, having confidence
again in any of the learned bodies connected with the
great service of their national temple neither in Scbes
nor Pharisees neither in Saducces Leves and
ing no leaders, apparently detected and without
unity The probability meantime is that popular
demonstration would have been made on behalf of Christ
had he himself offered it any encouragement. But we,
who know tho incompability of any such encourage
ment with the primary purpose of Chrsts mission upon
oarth know of necessity that Judas, and the pOpuace
on which he relied, must equally and simultaneously
have found themselves undeceivcd forever In an in
slant of time grand decisive word and gesture of
Christ must have put end perempoy to all hopes of
that kind In that brief instant enough mado known
to Judas for final despair Whether he had ever drunk
prooundly enough from the cup of spiritual religion
understand the full meaning of Chsts REFUSAL not only
the fact of this refusal, but also the inny of what
secretly il involved whether it still adhered to his
worldly Interpretation of Christs mission and simply
translated the refusal into confession that all lost
whilst in very fact, oil the brink of absolute and
triumphant consummation, it is impossible for us, with
out Documents OF hints, to conjecture Enough is APP
parent to show that in reference to any hopes that could
be consolatory for him, all was, indeed, lost. The
Kingdom Of this world had melted away ia moment
like a cloud and it mattered little to of his
nature that spiritual kingdom survived il in his
heart there were spiritual organ by which he could
Appropriate the and stunning revelation Equally
he might be swallowed up by despair in the case Of
retaining his old worldly dclusions, end finding the
ground Of his old anticipetons suddenly giving way be-
low his feet again in the opposite case of suddenly
correcting his false constructions Of Christ mission
and of s6An1y npprohcndng far higher purpose but
gblc rose into region far beyond his fnil fcshy
sympathies He might read more truly, but what Of
that if the new truth, suddenly made known ler
were in ;ra absolutely nothing at all TO the inner sense
OF his heartf The dcspondency Of Jndas might be Of
two different qualities or less selfish indeed,
would go 30 far to say selfish, altogether unselhsb
And Il il with view to this question, and under per
sasion of wrong done to Judas by gross mistransla
to disturbing the Greek text that entered at ell upon
this little memorandum. Else what have hitherto been
attempting to explain excepting, however, the part re-
atin 10 the haim which is entirely my suggcstio
belongs In part 10 German writer's The whole construc
Ady but out Of his sincere belief that quickening
impulse was called for by morbid feature in Christs
temperament all this, believe, originally duo TO
tho Germans and il is important correction for It
must always be important TO recall within tho fold of
Christian forgiveness any who has long been sequcs
tcrsd from human charity, and has cnanted Hkriah
grave In the greatest and most memorable Of earthly