Jebʹusites (3 syl.),

in Dryden’s satire of Absalóm and Achitophel, stands for the Roman Catholics; so called because England was Roman Catholic before the Reformation, and Jerusalem was called Jebus before the time of David.

⁂ In this poem, the Jebusites are the Catholics, and the Levites the dissenting clergy:

“Succeeding times did equal folly call,

Believing nothing, or believing all.

The Egyptian rites the Jebusites embraced,

When gods were recommended by their taste.”

[Transubstantiation.]

Dryden: Absalom and Achitophel, Part i. 117–123.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.