Chapter XLI: Act 46: , Parl. 3, Act 106, Parl. 7, Act 24, Parl. 11, King James VI., do (17)

“The congregations which have been authorized as above stated, are placed under the pastoral rule of angels or bishops, with whom are associated, in the work of the ministry, priests and deacons. The deacons are a distinct and separate order of ministers, taken from the midst of, and chosen by, the respective congregations in which they are to serve, and are ordained either by apostles or by angels receiving commission thereunto. The priests are first called to their office by the word through the prophets, (“no man taking this honour to himself,”) and then ordained by apostles; and from among the priests, by a like call and ordination, are the angels set in their places.

“With respect to the times of worship, the holy eucharist is celebrated, and the communion is administered, every Lord’s day, and more or less frequently during the week, according to the number of priests in each particular congregation; and, where the congregations are large, the first and last hours of every day, reckoning from 6 A. M. to 6 P. M., are appointed for Divine worship; and, if there be a sufficient number of ministers, there are, in addition, prayers daily at 9 A. M. and 3 P. M., with other services for the more special object of teaching and preaching.

“In the forms of worship observed, the prayers and other devotions to be found in the principal liturgies of the Christian Church are introduced by preference, wherever appropriate; and in all their services the bishops and clergy of the Catholic Church, and all Christian kings, princes, and governors, are remembered before God. It may also be observed, that in their ritual observances and offices of worship external and material things have their place. They contend that, as through the washing of water men are admitted into the Christian covenant, and as bread and wine duly consecrated are ordained to be used not merely for spiritual food, but for purposes of sacramental and symbolic agency, so also that the use of other material things, such as oil, lights, incense, &c., as symbols and exponents of spiritual realities, belongs to the dispensation of the gospel.

“Besides free-will offerings, the tenth of their increase, including income of every description, is brought up to the Lord, (it being regarded as a sacred duty that tithe should be dedicated to his service alone,) and is apportioned among those who are separated to the ministry.

“In England there are about 30 congregations, comprising nearly 6000 communicants; and the number is gradually on the increase. There are also congregations in Scotland and Ireland, a considerable number in Germany, and several in France, Switzerland, and America.”

Of late years, it is said, this denomination has made considerable progress, so that from 1846 to 1851 the number of communicants in England has increased by a third, while great success has been achieved on the continent and in America. Returns from 32 chapels (chiefly in the southern counties of England) have been furnished to the Census Office. These contained (allowing for one chapel for which the sittings are not mentioned) accommodation for 7437 persons. The _attendance_, on the Census-Sunday, was, (making an estimated addition for two chapels with regard to which no information was received,) _Morning_, 3176; _Afternoon_, 1659; _Evening_, 2707.

ISAIAH, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. Isaiah is the first of the four greater prophets, the other three being Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. He was of royal blood, his father Amos being brother to Azariah, king of Judah. He prophesied from the end of the reign of Uzziah, to the time of Manasseh; by whose order, according to a Jewish tradition, he was sawn asunder with a wooden saw. He delivered his predictions under the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The first five chapters of his prophecy relate to the reign of Uzziah; the vision of the sixth chapter happened in the time of Jotham; the next chapters, to the fifteenth, include his prophecies under the reign of Ahaz; and those that happened under the reigns of Hezekiah and Manasseh are related in the next chapters, to the end.

The style of this prophet is noble, sublime, and florid. Grotius calls him the Demosthenes of the Hebrews. He had the advantage above the other prophets of improving his diction by conversing with men of the greatest parts and elocution. This added a gravity, force, and vehemence to what he said. He impartially reproved the vices and disorders of the age he lived in, and openly displayed the judgments of GOD, which were hanging over the Jewish nation; at the same time denouncing vengeance on those foreign nations, which were instrumental in inflicting those judgments, viz. the Assyrians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Moabites, Edomites, Tyrians, and Arabians. He clearly foretold the deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon, by the hand of Cyrus king of Persia; and this he expressly mentioned an hundred years before it came to pass. But the most remarkable of his predictions are those concerning the MESSIAH. He, in plain terms, foretold, not only the coming of CHRIST in the flesh, but all the great and memorable circumstances of his life and death. He speaks, says St. Jerome, rather of things past than to come; and he may rather be called an Evangelist, than a Prophet.

Besides the prophecies of Isaiah still extant, he wrote a book concerning the actions of Uzziah, cited in the Chronicles; but it is now lost. Origen, Epiphanius, and St. Jerome speak of another book, called “The Ascension of Isaiah.” Some of the Jews ascribe to him the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon’s Song, and the Book of Job.

ITALIC VERSION. The old Italic Version, or Vetus Itala, is the name usually given to that translation of the sacred Scriptures into the Latin language, which was generally used until the time of St. Jerome, being distinguished for its clearness and fidelity among the many versions then existing. It was however translated from the Greek in the Old Testament, as well as the New; and is supposed to have been executed in the early part of the 2nd century. St. Jerome, dissatisfied with the ruggedness and imperfections of the old Italic, first commenced a revision of it, which, however, he did not complete; and afterwards made a new translation, which at first gradually, but at length universally, obtained in the Latin Church, under the name of the _Vulgate_. Of the old Italic Version, the Psalter and Book of Job, corrected by Jerome, remain; and are published in the Benedictine edition of St. Jerome’s Works. The apocryphal books of Baruch, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom, the two Books of Maccabees, and perhaps, as may be collected from Dr. Hody, the remaining chapters of Esther, and the Song of the Three Children, also belong to this translation. (See _Vulgate_ and _Psalter_.) Consult _Walton’s Prolegomena_, and _Hodius de Bibliorum textibus originalibus_, (who corrects Walton in one of his statements,) for a full account of this version.

JACOBITES, or JACOBINS. Eastern Christians, so denominated from Jacob, a Syrian, the disciple of Eutyches and Dioscorus, whose heresy he spread so much in Asia and Africa, in the 6th century, that at last, in the 7th, the different sects of the Eutychians were swallowed up by that of the Jacobites, which also comprehended all the Monophysites of the East, i. e. such as acknowledged only one nature in Christ. Their Asian patriarch resides at Caramit, in Mesopotamia; Alexandria is the see of the African one, and he follows the errors of Dioscorus and the Cophti. M. Simon relates that under the name of Jacobins must be included all the Monophysites of the East, whether Armenians, Cophti, or Abyssines, acknowledging but one nature in CHRIST; he adds, the number of the Jacobins, properly so called, is but small, there not being above thirty or forty thousand families of them, which principally inhabit Syria and Mesopotamia: they are divided among themselves, one part embracing, and the other disowning, the communion of the Church of Rome. These last are not all united, having two opposite patriarchs, one at Caramit, and the other at Dorzapharan; besides these two, he says, there is one of the same opinion with the Latins, residing at Aleppo.

JAMES’S, ST., DAY, (_July 25th_,) the day on which the Church celebrates the memory of the apostle James the Great, or the Elder. He was one of the sons of Zebedee, and brother of St. John. He was the first of the apostles who won the crown of martyrdom. (Acts xii. 2.)

JAMES’S, ST., GENERAL EPISTLE. A canonical book of the New Testament. It was written by St. James the Less, called also the Lord’s brother; who was chosen by the apostles bishop of Jerusalem. The date of this Epistle is placed by Dr. Mills in, or just before, the year 60; two years after which the writer suffered martyrdom, under the high priesthood of Ananus, and procuratorship of Albinus.

This general Epistle is addressed partly to the infidel, and partly to the believing Jews. The writer’s design was to correct the errors, soften the ungoverned zeal, and reform the indecent behaviour, of the former; and to comfort the latter under the hardships they then did, or shortly were to suffer, for the sake of Christianity. It is directed to the Jews and Jewish converts of the dispersion, but no doubt was calculated for the improvement likewise of those Jews, over whom the apostle presided in the special character of their bishop.

This Epistle is the first of the Catholic or General Epistles, in the canon of Scripture; which are so called, because they were written, not to one, but to several Christian Churches.

JANSENISTS, in France, are those who follow the opinions of Jansenius, a doctor of divinity of the university of Louvain, and bishop of Ypres. In the year 1640, the two universities of Louvain and Douay thought fit to condemn the loose doctrine of the Jesuits, particularly Father Molina and Father Leonard Celsus, concerning grace and predestination. This having set the controversy on foot, Jansenius opposed to the doctrine of the Jesuits the sentiments of St. Augustine, and wrote a treatise upon grace, which he entitled _Augustinus_. The treatise was attacked by the Jesuits, who accused Jansenius of maintaining dangerous and heretical opinions: nor did they stop here, but obtained of Pope Urban VIII., in 1642, a formal condemnation of Jansenius’s treatise. The partisans of Jansenius gave out, that this bull was spurious, and composed by a person entirely devoted to the Jesuits.

After the death of Urban VIII., the affair of _Jansenism_ began to be more warmly controverted, and gave birth to an infinite number of polemical writings concerning _Grace_. What occasioned some mirth in these disputes was, the titles which each party gave to their writings. One writer published _The Torch of St. Augustine_; another found _Snuffers for St. Augustine’s Torch_. F. Veron composed _A Gag for the Jansenists_: and the like. In the year 1650, sixty-eight bishops of France subscribed a letter to Pope Innocent X., to obtain of him an inquiry into, and condemnation of, the five famous propositions which follow, extracted from Jansenius’s _Augustinus_:—

I. Some of GOD’S commandments are impossible to be kept by the righteous, even though they are willing to observe them.

II. A man doth never resist inward grace, in the state of fallen nature.

III. In order to merit, or not merit, it is not necessary that a man should have a liberty free from necessity. It is sufficient that he hath a liberty free from restraint.

IV. The _Semi-Pelagians_ were heretics, because they asserted the necessity of an inward preventing grace for every action.

V. It is a _Semi-Pelagian_ opinion to say, that JESUS CHRIST died for all mankind, without exception.

In the year 1652, the pope appointed a congregation for examining into the matter relating to _Grace_. In this congregation Jansenius was condemned, and the bull of condemnation published, May 31, 1653. After its publication at Paris, the pulpits were filled with violent outcries and alarms against the heresy of the Jansenists. The year 1656 produced the famous “Provincial Letters” of M. Pascal, under the name of _Louis de Montalte_, in defence of _Messieurs de Port Royal_, who were looked upon as the bulwark of Jansenism. The same year, Pope Alexander VII. issued another bull, in which he condemned the five propositions of Jansenius. The Jansenists affirm that the five condemned propositions are not to be found in Jansenius’s treatise upon Grace, but that some enemies of Jansenius, having caused them to be printed on a sheet, inserted them in a book, and thereby deceived the pope.

Among the enemies of the Jansenists was a certain sect of fanatics, called _Brothers of the Sodality of the blessed Sacrament_. They sprung up at Caen, in 1659, and gave out that their smell was so nice, that they could distinguish a Jansenist by the very scent, and that all the clergy in that city, except two, were Jansenists.

At last Clement XI. put an end to the disputes about Jansenism by his constitution of July 17, 1705; in which, after having recited the constitutions of his predecessors in relation to this affair, he declares, that, _to pay a proper obedience to the papal constitutions concerning the present question, it is necessary to receive them with a respectful silence_. The clergy assembled at Paris approved and accepted this bull, on the 21st of August, the same year; and no one dared to oppose it. This is the famous bull _Unigenitus_, so called from its beginning with the words, _Unigenitus Dei Filius_.—_Broughton._

Jansenism still exists in Holland, where the archbishop of Utrecht presides over the communion.

JANUARY, THIRTIETH OF. (See _Forms of Prayer._)

JEHOVAH. One of the names given in Scripture to Almighty GOD, and peculiar to him, signifying the Being who is self-existent, and gives existence to others.

The name is also given to our blessed SAVIOUR, and is a proof of his Godhead. (Compare Isaiah xl. 3, with Matt. iii. 3, and Isaiah vi., with John xii. 41.) The Jews had so great a veneration for this name, that they left off the custom of pronouncing it, whereby its true pronunciation was forgotten. It is called the Tetragrammaton, (Τετραγράμματον,) or name of four letters, and containing in itself the past and future tenses, as well as the present participle, and signifies, He who _was_, _is_, and _shall be_: i. e. the Eternal, the Unchangeable, the Faithful.

The same veneration seems to have actuated most Christian communities in their translation of the word, rendered in Greek by Κύριος, in Latin by _Dominus_, and in English by _Lord_. The word JEHOVAH occurs but four times simply, and five times in composition, in our authorized translation.

JEREMIAH, THE PROPHECY OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. This divine writer was of the race of the priests, the son of Hilkiuh of Anathoth, in the tribe of Benjamin. He was called to the prophetic office, when he was very young, about the thirteenth year of Josiah, and continued in the discharge of it above forty years. He was not carried captive to Babylon with the other Jews, but remained in Judea, to lament the desolation of his country. He was afterwards a prisoner in Egypt, with his disciple Baruch, where it is supposed he died in a very advanced age. Some of the Christian Fathers tell us, he was stoned to death by the Jews for preaching against their idolatry; and some say, he was put to death by Pharaoh Hophra, because of his prophecy against him.

Part of the prophecy of Jeremiah relates to the time after the captivity of Israel, and before that of Judah, from the first chapter to the forty-fourth; and part of it was in the time of the latter captivity, from the forty-fourth chapter to the end. The prophet lays open the sins of the kingdom of Judah with great freedom and boldness, and reminds them of the severe judgments which had befallen the ten tribes for the same offences; he passionately laments their misfortune, and recommends a speedy reformation to them. Afterwards he predicts the grievous calamities that were approaching, particularly the seventy years’ captivity in Chaldea. He likewise foretells their deliverance and happy return, and the recompence which Babylon, Moab, and other enemies of the Jews, should meet with in due time. There are likewise several intimations in this prophecy concerning the kingdom of the Messiah; also several remarkable visions and types, and historical passages relating to those times.

The fifty-second chapter does not belong to the prophecy of Jeremiah, which concludes, at the end of the fifty-first chapter, with these words: “Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.” The last, or fifty-second chapter, (which probably was added by Ezra,) contains a narrative of the taking of Jerusalem, and of what happened during the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, to the death of Jechonias. St. Jerome has observed upon this prophet, that his style is more easy than that of Isaiah and Hosea; that he retains something of the rusticity of the village where he was born; but that he is very learned and majestic, and equal to those two prophets in the sense of his prophecy.

JESUITS, or the SOCIETY OF JESUS. A society which, at one period, extended its influence to the very ends of the earth, and proved the main pillar of the papal hierarchy,—which wormed itself into almost absolute power, occupying the high places, and leading captive the ecclesiastical dictator of the world,—must be an object of some curiosity to the inquisitive mind.

Ignatius Loyola, a native of Biscay, is well known to have been the founder of this, _nominally_, religious order. He was born in 1491, and became first a page to Ferdinand V., king of Spain, and then an officer in his army. In 1521 he was wounded in both legs at the siege of Pampeluna, when having had leisure to study a book of Lives of the Saints, he devoted himself to the service of the Virgin; and his military ardour becoming metamorphosed into superstitious zeal, he went on a pilgrimage into the Holy Land. Upon his return to Europe, he studied in the universities of Spain, whence he removed into France, and formed a plan for the institution of this new order, which he presented to the pope. But, notwithstanding the high pretensions of Loyola to inspiration, Paul III. refused his request, till his scruples were removed by an irresistible argument addressed to his self-interest: it was proposed that every member should make a vow of unconditional obedience to the pope, without requiring any support from the holy see. The order was, therefore, instituted in 1540, and Loyola appointed to be the first general.

The plan of the society was completed by the two immediate successors of the founder, Lainez and Aquaviva, both of whom excelled their master in ability and the science of government; and, in a few years, the society established itself in every Catholic country, acquiring prodigious wealth, and exciting the apprehensions of all the enemies of the Romish faith.

To Lainez are ascribed the _Secreta Monita_, or secret instructions of the order; which were first discovered when Christian, duke of Brunswick, seized the Jesuits’ college at Paderborn, in Westphalia, at which time he gave their books and manuscripts to the Capuchins, who found these secret instructions among the archives of their rector. After this, another copy was detected at Prague, in the college of the Jesuits.

The Jesuits are taught to consider themselves as formed for action, in opposition to the monastic orders, who retire from the concerns of the world; and in engaging in all civil and commercial transactions, insinuating themselves into the friendship of persons of rank, studying the disposition of all classes, with a view of obtaining an influence over them, and undertaking missions to distant nations, it is an essential principle of their policy, by every means, to extend the Catholic faith. No labour is spared, no intrigue omitted, that may prove conducive to this purpose.

The constitution of the society is monarchical. A general is chosen for life by deputies from the several provinces. His power is supreme and universal. Every member is at his entire disposal, and is required to submit his will and sentiments to his dictation, and to listen to his injunctions, as if uttered by CHRIST himself. The fortune, person, and conscience of the whole society are at his disposal, and he can dispense his order not only from the vows of poverty, chastity, and monastic obedience, but even from submission to the pope whenever he pleases. He nominates and removes provincials, rectors, professors, and all officers of the order, superintends the universities, houses, and missions, decides controversies, and forms or dissolves contracts. No member can express any opinion of his own; and the society has its prisons, independent of the secular authority.

There are four classes of members,—the novitiates or probationers, the approved disciples, the coadjutors, and the professors of the four vows. The education of youth was always considered by them as their peculiar province,—aware of the influence which such a measure would infallibly secure over another generation: and before the conclusion of the sixteenth century the Jesuits had obtained the chief direction of the youthful mind in every Roman Catholic country in Europe. They had become the confessors of almost all its monarchs, and the spiritual guides of nearly every person distinguished for rank or influence. At different periods they obtained the direction of the most considerable courts, and took part in every intrigue and revolution.

Notwithstanding their vow of poverty, they accumulated, upon various pretences, immense wealth. They claimed exemption from tithes under a bull of Gregory XIII., who was devoted to their interests; and, by obtaining a special licence from the court of Rome to _trade_ with the nations whom they professed to convert, they carried on a lucrative commerce in the East and West Indies, formed settlements in different countries, and acquired possession of a large province in South America, (Paraguay,) where they reigned as sovereigns over some hundred thousand subjects.

Their policy is uniformly to inculcate _attachment to the Order_, and by a pliant morality to soothe and gratify the passions of mankind, for the purpose of securing their patronage. They proclaim the duty of opposing princes who are inimical to the Catholic faith, and have employed every weapon, every artful and every intolerant measure, to resist the progress of Protestantism.

In Portugal, where the Jesuits were first received, they obtained the direction of the court, which for many years delivered to them the consciences of its princes and the education of the people. Portugal opened the door to their missions, and gave them establishments in Asia, Africa, and America. They usurped the sovereignty of Paraguay, and resisted the forces of Portugal and Spain, who claimed it. The court of Lisbon, and even Rome herself, protested in vain against their excesses. The league in France was, in reality, a conspiracy of the Jesuits, under the sanction of Sixtus V., to disturb the succession to the throne of France. The Jesuits’ college at Paris was the grand focus of the seditions and treasons which then agitated the state, and the ruler of the Jesuits was president of the Council of Sixteen, which gave the impulse to the leagues formed there and throughout France. Matthieu, a Jesuit and confessor of Henry III., was called “the Courier of the League,” on account of his frequent journeys to and from Rome at that disastrous period.

In Germany the society appropriated the richest benefices, particularly those of the monasteries of St. Benedict and St. Bernard. Catherine of Austria confided in them, and was supplanted; and loud outcries were uttered against them by the sufferers in Vienna, in the states of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and elsewhere. Their cruelties in Poland will never be forgotten. They were expelled from Abyssinia, Japan, Malta, Cochin, Moscow, Venice, and other places, for their gross misconduct; and in America and Asia they carried devastation and blood wherever they went. The great object of the persecution of the Protestants in Savoy was the confiscation of their property, in order to endow the colleges of the Jesuits. They had, no doubt, a share in the atrocities of the Duke of Alva in the Low Countries. They boasted of the friendship of Catherine de Medicis, who espoused their cause, and under whose influence the massacre of St. Bartholomew was executed. Louis XIV. had three Jesuit confessors, which may explain the revocation of the edict of Nantes.

The Jesuits have been notorious for attempting the lives of princes. The reign of Queen Elizabeth presents a succession of plots. In her proclamation, dated Nov. 15, 1602, she says, that “the Jesuits had fomented the plots against her person, excited her subjects to revolt, provoked foreign princes to compass her death, engaged in all affairs of state, and by their language and writings had undertaken to dispose of her crown.”

Lucius enumerates five conspiracies of the Jesuits against James I. before he had reigned a year. They contrived the Gunpowder Plot. So late as the time of George I. both houses of parliament reported, that the evidence examined by them on the conspiracy of Plunket and Layer had satisfactorily shown that it had for its object the destruction of the king, the subversion of the laws, and the crowning of the Popish pretender; and they state that “Plunket was born at Dublin, and bred up at the Jesuits’ college at Vienna.” Henry III. of France was assassinated by Clement, a Jesuit, in 1589. The Jesuits murdered William, prince of Orange, in 1584. They attempted the life of Louis XV. for imposing silence on the polemics of their order, and were also guilty of innumerable other atrocities.

The pernicious spirit and constitution of this order rendered it early detested by the principal powers of Europe; and while Pascal, by his “Provincial Letters,” exposed the morality of the society, and thus overthrew their influence over the multitude, different potentates concurred, from time to time, to destroy or prevent its establishments. Charles V. opposed the order in his dominions: it was expelled in England by the proclamation of James I. in 1604; in Venice, in 1606; in Portugal, in 1759; in France, in 1764; in Spain and Sicily, in 1767, and suppressed and abolished by Pope Clement XIV. in 1775. Our own age has witnessed its revival, and is even now suffering from the increased energy of its members.

JESUITESSES. An order of nuns, who had monasteries in Italy and Flanders. They followed the Jesuit rules; and though their order was not approved at Rome, yet they had several monasteries, where they had a lady abbess, who took the Jesuit vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They did not confine themselves to their cloisters, but went abroad and preached. They were two English young women, who, by the instigation of Father Gerard, set up this order, intending it for the use of missionaries into England. This order was suppressed by a bull of Pope Urban VIII., A. D. 1630.

JESUS, is the same with the Hebrew name _Joshua_, or _Jehoshua_, i. e. Jehovah THE SAVIOUR. As the name _Jesus_ was given to the blessed LORD by Divine command, so was the name of the son of Nun changed by Moses from Hoshea, (the Saviour,) to Joshua; he being a type of our blessed LORD. (Num. xiii. 16.) (See _Christ_, _Messiah_, _Lord_.) The name that was given by the Divine command to the SAVIOUR of the world. He is called CHRIST (anointed), because he was anointed to the mediatorial office, and JESUS (Saviour), because he came to save his people from their sins.

We are to regard him, as he is our SAVIOUR. I will place salvation in JESUS “the SAVIOUR” (Phil. iii. 20),—thus declared by prophecy (Isa. xix. 20), and for this reason so expressly called (Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 31), and the prophecies truly fulfilled (Luke ii. 11; Acts v. 31, xiii. 23), is “the SAVIOUR of the world” (John iv. 42; iii. 17; 1 John iv. 14), “the SAVIOUR of all men” (1 Tim. iv. 10; Luke ix. 56; John xii. 47), who “came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. i. 15; Luke v. 32; Rom. v. 8; 1 John iii. 5), “the LORD and SAVIOUR” (2 Pet. ii. 20; iii. 2), “the captain of their salvation” (Heb. ii. 10). And he is revealed as the only way to salvation thus predicted (Isa. xxxv. 8; xlix. 6; li. 5; lix. 16; lxiii. 1; Joel ii. 32; Matt. i. 21; Acts iv. 12; Heb. ix. 8),—so by himself declared (Matt. xviii. 11; Luke xix. 9),—and by those speaking through the inspiration of the HOLY SPIRIT (Luke i. 69, with 67; ii. 30, with 26, 27; Acts ii. 21; Eph. ii. 18).

He was sent by GOD for this purpose (John iii. 17; Acts v. 31, xiii. 23; 1 John iv. 14), and is declared to be “the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him” (Heb. v. 9; Isa. li. 6, 8),—that “confess” him (Rom. x. 9), “believe on” him (Rom. x. 9; Eph. ii. 8; Acts xvi. 31; x. 43,) and “call on the name of the LORD” (Acts ii. 21),—“to the Jews first” (Rom. i. 16; Isa. xlv. 17; xlvi. 13; lxii. 1, 11; Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16; Zech. ix. 9; Luke i. 69, 77; Acts xi. 19; xv. 11; xiii. 23, 46), “and also to the Greek” (Rom. i. 16),—the Gentiles (Isa. xlv. 22; xlix. 6; li. 5; lii. 10; Luke iii. 6; Acts xxviii. 28; Rom. iii. 29; x. 12; xv. 16; Gal. iii. 28; Col. iii. 11.)

To “that blessed hope” we now look (Tit. ii. 13), through “the righteousness of GOD and our SAVIOUR” (of our GOD and SAVIOUR, Gr.) (2 Pet. i. 1),—“our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST” (2 Tim. i. 10; Tit. i. 4; iii. 6). Our salvation has been effected by the sacrifice of himself; “in him have we redemption—the forgiveness of sins;” not purchased “with corruptible things,” but with his own “precious blood” (Eph. i. 7; 1 Pet. i. 18, 19), for “he gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. ii. 6). And thus having made “peace through the blood of his cross,” he has “reconciled both”—Jews and Gentiles—“unto GOD in one body.” (Col. i. 20; Eph. ii. 16.) (See _Bowing at the name of Jesus_.) Joshua, the successor of Moses, is called JESUS in our translation of the New Testament, Acts vii. 45, and Heb. iv. 8. Both names are the same in the LXX. and the Greek Testament, Ἰησοῦς.

JEWS. The general name given the descendants of Abraham, though in strictness it originally belonged only to the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites settled among them, who constituted the kingdom of Judah. It has long been synonymous with _Israelites_. On their laws and customs the reader must consult the books of Moses. The modern Jews have introduced many very remarkable customs. When any person is buried, his nearest relation keeps the house a week, sitting on the ground all the time, excepting on the sabbath day, when they go to prayers. During this week they do no business. The husband and the wife are to lodge asunder; and there come at least ten people, morning and evening, to say the accustomed prayers. They pray for the soul of the person deceased constantly that week. When the week is ended they go to the synagogue, and light up lamps and pray, and promise to give alms for the soul of the deceased. This charitable service is repeated at the end of every month, and every year. It is customary for the son to say every morning and evening the prayer for his father’s or mother’s soul. They believe a paradise, where the blessed enjoy a beatific vision: and a hell for wicked men, in which some shall continue for ever, others only for a time. No Jew, unless a heretic, or nonconformist to their Rabbins’ rules, shall continue in hell above a year. Their creed consists of thirteen articles:—1. There is one GOD, Creator of all things, all-perfect, all-sufficient. 2. That he is an uncompounded, invisible essence. 3. That he is immaterial. 4. Absolutely eternal. 5. Alone to be worshipped, without any mediators or intercessors. 6. That there have been, and may be, prophets. 7. That Moses was the greatest prophet. 8. That every syllable of the law was given to Moses by inspiration; and that the traditionary expositions of the precepts were entirely a Divine revelation given to Moses. 9. That the law is immutable. 10. That GOD knows and governs all our actions. 11. That he rewards the observance, and punishes the violation, of his laws. 12. That the MESSIAH will appear, but that his coming is delayed. 13. That GOD will raise the dead, and judge all mankind.

They _confess_ to none but GOD Almighty; and this commonly on Mondays, and Thursdays, and all fast-days: on the great day of expiation they repeat their confessions several times.

There are three sects of them in these times. The greatest and first of these is that of the Rabbanim, who, besides the Scriptures, receive the Talmud. The second is the Caraites, who receive only the Scriptures; and the third is that of the Cuthim, of which there are very few, who admit only the Pentateuch, or books of Moses.—_Broughton._

JOB. One of the books in the sacred canon, the first of the poetical books of the Old Testament, and probably the most ancient work that exists in any form. There have been many differences of opinion upon almost all imaginable questions concerning this book, the date, the scene, the author, whether it is to be accounted a narrative of real events, or a Divine allegory, being warmly debated by different critics. That Job is a real person, seems however to be determined by the mention of him with Noah and Daniel, (of whose proper personal existence and history there can be no doubt,) in the fourteenth chapter of Ezekiel. Into the other questions it is less important to enter.

JOHN, ST., BAPTIST’S DAY. This festival, in honour of St. John the Baptist, is observed on the 24th of June.

JOHN, ST., THE EVANGELIST’S DAY. The day appointed for the commemoration of “the beloved disciple.” St. John the evangelist (so called from the Greek term which signifies the messenger of glad tidings) was a Galilean by birth, the son of Zebedee and Salome, the younger brother of James, but not of him who was surnamed the Just, and who was the brother of our LORD. His brother James and he were surnamed by JESUS the Sons of Thunder, for their peculiar zeal and fervency for his honour, which we see manifested in St. John’s sedulous assertions of our LORD’S Divinity. He was the most beloved by our SAVIOUR of all the disciples.

St. John exercised his ministry in Asia Minor, and having excited enemies through preaching the doctrines of CHRIST, was carried prisoner from Ephesus to Rome, in the year 92. Subsequently to this he was banished to the isle of Patmos, where he wrote his Revelation. He was afterwards recalled from his exile by Nero the emperor, and then returned to Ephesus. His three Epistles were written with reference to some prevailing heresies of the times; and the scope of his Gospel, which was his last work, shows that the apostle had in view the same deniers of the Divinity of the SAVIOUR. He survived till the reign of Trajan, and died at the age of nearly 100 years.

St. John the Evangelist’s day is on the 27th of December.

JOHN’S, ST., GENERAL EPISTLES. Three canonical books of the New Testament, being letters written by St. John the evangelist. (See the last article.)

The First Epistle of St. John has always been received by the Church as genuine. Though there is neither inscription nor direction, it appears, by the beginning of chap. ii., to be a Catholic or General Epistle, addressed not to one, but many Christians. It is probable he wrote it towards the end of his life, because he mentions the opinion which then prevailed, that the day of judgment was at hand, and Antichrist ready to appear. He insists upon the advantages of faith in Christ; he exhorts those to whom he writes not to suffer themselves to be seduced by false teachers; and recommends to them good works, the love of GOD and our neighbour, purity, and other Christian virtues. This Epistle, for matter and style, is much like the Gospel written by the same apostle.

The two other Epistles which carry his name, have not always been so generally received. On the contrary, some of the ancients were of opinion that they were written by another John, called the Elder, a disciple of the apostle’s, mentioned by Papias. However, Irenæus quotes the second under the name of John, the disciple of our Lord. In truth, the spirit, the sentiments, and style of these two Epistles are not only like, but often the same as the First Epistle; which plainly bespeaks one and the same author.

The Second Epistle of St. John is directed to the elect Lady; by which some understand a lady named Electa; others, only some lady of dignity and distinction; and others, an elect or chosen Church, metaphorically styled Lady. Whoever she be, the apostle congratulates her, because her children led a Christian life. He cautions her likewise to beware of impostors, who denied that Christ was come in the flesh.

The Third Epistle of St. John is directed to Gaius, or Caius. Whoever he be, (for it is controverted,) the apostle declares to him the joy he conceived, when he heard of his piety and charity.

It is probable St. John wrote his Epistles, as well as his Gospel, from Ephesus, after his return from the isle of Patmos.

JOHN’S, ST., GOSPEL. A canonical book of the New Testament, being a recital of the life, actions, doctrine, death, &c., of our SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST, written by St. John the apostle and evangelist. (See the preceding article.)

St. John wrote his Gospel at Ephesus, after his return from the isle of Patmos, at the desire of the Christians and bishops of Asia. St. Jerome says, he would not undertake it, but on condition they should appoint a public fast, to implore the assistance of GOD; and that, the fast being ended, St. John, filled with the HOLY GHOST, broke out into these words; “In the beginning was the Word,” &c. The ancients assign two reasons for this undertaking. The first is, because, in the other three Gospels, there was wanting the history of the beginning of JESUS CHRIST’S preaching till the imprisonment of John the Baptist; which therefore he applied himself particularly to relate. The second reason was, in order to confound the errors of the Cerinthians, Ebionites, and other heretics, who denied the Divinity of JESUS CHRIST.

Some critics have thought, that St. John’s Gospel ended at the 20th chapter with these words, “Many other signs truly did Jesus,” &c., and that the following chapter was added, after the death of St. John, by the Church of Ephesus.

Clement of Alexandria calls this Gospel, “the spiritual Gospel;” and St. Jerome says of this evangelist, that he wrote of our SAVIOUR’S Divinity in a very sublime manner, and with a _happy temerity_. Pagan philosophers have admired the sublimity of St. John’s Gospel. Thus, the Platonist Amelius, having read the beginning of it, and finding it conformable to the doctrine of Plato, cried out, “O Jupiter! this barbarian believes with Plato, that the Word is the beginning.”

Julian the Apostate accuses St. John of introducing novelties into the Christian religion, by making JESUS CHRIST pass for a GOD, which neither St. Paul, nor the other evangelists, had dared to do.

It is observable, that the history of the woman taken in adultery, related in the 8th chapter, is not to be found in all the manuscripts of this Gospel. Grotius, and others, believed, that the story was taken from the Gospel of the Nazarenes, and inserted afterwards in that of St. John. Others pretend, that the Novatians had razed it out. But St. Augustine thinks, some good orthodox people had expunged it, lest their wives should make use of it, to prevent that chastisement which their disloyalty might deserve.—_Broughton._

JONAH. The most ancient of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, which contains also a part of the history of the prophet whose name it bears. Jonah is supposed to have prophesied to the ten tribes towards the close of Jehu’s reign, or in the beginning of Jehoahaz’s reign; but the great subject of the book which bears his name, is the prophecy which he was commissioned to utter against Nineveh, with his refusal to go, his punishment, his second mission, and the repentance of the Ninevites. The continuing of Jonah three days in the belly of the great fish, is declared by our blessed LORD himself to have been a predictive sign of his own burial, and of his resurrection on the third day. This gives great additional importance to the book of Jonah.—_Broughton._

JOSHUA, THE BOOK OF. A canonical book of the Old Testament. The learned are divided in their opinions about the author of the Book of Joshua; the title at the head of the book being supposed, not to denote its author, but the subject matter of it, being the history of the wars and transactions which happened under the administration of Joshua. Some think the 26th verse of the last chapter are an evidence, that Joshua was the author of this book: the words are; “Joshua wrote all these words in the book of the law of the LORD.” But this may only relate to what is said in this chapter concerning the covenant that the people made with GOD. For Joshua, a little before his death, having assembled the Israelites at Sichem, and laid them under a solemn engagement to serve only the LORD, gave them fresh laws and ordinances, and “wrote all these words in the book of the law of the LORD.” Some allege what is said concerning Joshua in the Book of Ecclesiasticus, (ch. xlvi.,) that “he was the successor of Moses in prophecies,” as a proof that he wrote a sacred book. But this may mean no more, than that he succeeded Moses in the spirit of prophecy. The ancient Talmudists, and many of later date, expressly ascribe this book to Joshua, and the Jews reckon him among the first prophets, as they call them, though the book is merely historical.

Some of the ancients, and many of the moderns, deny, that Joshua was the author of this book. Theodoret affirms, that it was compiled a long time after the death of Joshua, and that it was but an abstract of an ancient commentary, called “The Book of Jasher,” or “just men,” spoken of in the tenth chapter of this book. Others have endeavoured to show, from particular passages of the book, that it could not be Joshua’s; as when it is said, (ch. iv. ver. 9,) that “the twelve stones, that Joshua set up in the midst of Jordan, remain to this day:” and, in another place, “This place is called Gilgal to this day.” But these, and the like passages, might have been afterwards added to the collections of Joshua.

However it be, the Hebrews, as well as the Greeks and Latins, have distinguished this book by the title of Joshua, or Jesus. This great personage was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim. He was first called Oshea; but Moses changed his name to Jehoshua, or Joshua. These names, which have all the same root, signify a _Saviour_: and Joshua was appointed by GOD to be the successor of Moses, and to lead the Israelites in safety, by subduing their enemies, into the promised land; the history of which great event is the subject of the Book of Joshua; which may be divided into three parts. The first is a history of the conquest of the land of Canaan. The second, which begins at the twelfth chapter, is a description of that country, and the division of it among the tribes. The third, comprised in the two last chapters, contains the renewal of the covenant he caused the Israelites to make, and the death of their victorious leader and governor. The whole comprehends a term of seventeen, or, according to others, twenty-seven years.

JUBILATE DEO. (“O be joyful in God.”) One of the psalms appointed to be used after the second lesson in the morning service. It is the same with the 100th Psalm in the Psalter. It was first inserted in the Prayer Book in the Second Book of King Edward VI.

JUBILEE. A solemn season recurring at stated intervals in the Church of Rome, chiefly marked by the indulgences then granted by the pope to all of his communion. Boniface VIII. was the first that instituted it, in 1300, in imitation of that of the Jews, ordering it to be observed every hundredth year. Clement VI. reduced it to fifty, Urban IV. to thirty, and Sixtus IV. to twenty-five, where it hath continued ever since. Besides this, the popes, upon their exaltation to the see of Rome, have frequently celebrated a jubilee, as likewise upon other extraordinary occasions. The ceremony observed at Rome, for the jubilee, at every twenty-five years’ end, which they call the holy year, is this: The pope goes to St. Peter’s church to open the holy gate, (as they call it,) which is walled up, and only opened upon this occasion; and knocking three times at the said gate, with a golden hammer, says these words, _Aperite mihi portas justitiæ_, &c., “Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go into them and I will praise the LORD” (Psalm cxviii. 19); whereupon the masons fall to work to break down the wall that stopped the gate; which done, the pope kneels down before it, whilst the penitentiaries of St. Peter wash him with holy water, and then taking up the cross, he begins to sing _Te Deum_, and enters the church, followed by the clergy. In the mean while, three cardinal legates are sent to open the other three holy gates, with the same ceremonies, which are in the churches of St. John of Lateran, of St. Paul, and St. Mary Major; and the next morning the pope gives his benediction to the people in the jubilee form. When the holy year is expired, they shut up the holy gates again on Christmas eve in this manner. The pope, after he has blessed the stones and mortar, lays the first stone, and leaves there twelve boxes full of gold and silver medals.

The Jewish jubilee was celebrated every fifty years. The word is derived from _jovel_, which in Hebrew signifies the blast of a trumpet, (Josh. vi. 4, 13); because the year of jubilee was proclaimed with trumpets. This year was a year of general rest and universal liberty, wherein all servants were restored to their freedom, and all sold possessions returned to their first owners. The Jews observed these jubilees very exactly till the Babylonian captivity, but after their return did no longer observe it; for their doctors assure us that there were no jubilees under the second temple. See Lev. xxv. 9, _et seq._

JUDGES, THE BOOK OF. A canonical book, of the authenticity of which there is no doubt in the Church, though the author is unknown; some ascribing it to Phinehas, others to Ezra or Hezekiah, though most to Samuel.

JUNE THE TWENTIETH. (See _Forms of Prayer_.)

“JURE DIVINO.” By Divine right; an expression frequently occurring in controversial writings, especially in relation to the ministry of the Church.

It is evident, and generally confessed, that the right to minister in holy things is not in every man’s power. If it were so, the very idea of the ministry, as a distinct class of men, empowered to act “in CHRIST’S stead,” would be broken up, and the Church would lose its character as a _society_; for that implies the existence of officers and of subordination. It is also confessed that in the Christian Church men are not _born_ to the ministry, as they were under the Jewish dispensation. Whence, then, comes that authority with which the ambassador of CHRIST is invested? Is it _human_? Can any body of _men_ confer the power to rule and minister in a society, the full control of which is in the hands of the _eternal_ GOD? Most evidently not. _Human power_, or a commission derived from human resources, is as void and inadequate in qualifying for the functions of the ministry, as it would be in the attempt to create a world, or to found a new rank in the hierarchy of heaven. We are driven then, at once, to the Divine institution as the foundation of all legitimate power in the Church.

The Head of the Church established a _ministry_, with the right and ability to execute all its appointed functions. It was not intellectual eminence, or high station, or influence, wealth, courage, or any other human attribute, which brought into being “the glorious company of the apostles;” but it was the sovereign power alone of him “in whom dwelt all the fulness of the GODHEAD bodily.” And was this power to be recalled on the demise of those who were every day doomed to stripes, imprisonments, perils, and death in a thousand shapes? No; for either the Church for the future must fail, the sacraments be obliterated, the “watching for souls” be abolished, or the continuation of the sacred ministry must be demanded with all its original spiritual functions. To the apostles, therefore, was given, (_jure divino_,) and to them alone, the ability to perpetuate or transmit the gift which the REDEEMER had bestowed. From them the prerogatives of episcopacy (or apostolate) were communicated to younger men, including the transmissive or ordaining faculty. Under these, the elders and deacons were put in trust with a share of the original grant of ministerial power,—a power they were themselves incapable of delegating; and by an unbroken succession, in the line of bishops, the Divine commission has reached these latter days of the Church.

If then, as we have shown, _Divine right_ is the only foundation on which the ministry can stand, there is no alternative left to any one claiming office in the Church of GOD, but to vindicate the legality of his mission by _miracle_, or some other tangible Divine verification, which no man can dispute; or else to bring forth such credentials as Timothy, Titus, and the ministers ordained by them had to show, viz. the simple evidence of the fact that the apostles, or their successors, had imparted to them the authority they claim to possess. This every bishop, priest, and deacon, in the Catholic Church, is prepared to do.

JURISDICTION. The power and authority vested in a bishop, by virtue of the apostolical commission, of governing and administering the laws of the Church within the bounds of his diocese. The same term is used to express the bounds within which a bishop exercises his power, i. e. his diocese.

In the Saxon times, before the Norman Conquest, there was no distinction of jurisdiction; but all matters, as well spiritual as temporal, were determined in the county court, called the Sheriff’s Tourn, where the bishop and earl (or in his absence the sheriff) sat together; or else in the hundred court, which was held in like manner before the lord of the hundred and ecclesiastical judge.

For the ecclesiastical officers took their limits of jurisdiction from a like extent of the civil powers. Most of the old Saxon bishoprics were of equal bounds with the distinct kingdoms. The archdeaconries, when first settled into local districts, were commonly fitted to the respective counties. And rural deaneries, before the Conquest, were correspondent to the political tithings. Their spiritual courts were held, with a like reference to the administration of civil justice. The synods of each province and diocese were held at the discretion of the metropolitan and the bishop, as great councils at the pleasure of the prince. The visitations were first united to the civil inquisitions in each county; and afterwards, when the courts of the earl and bishop were separated, yet still the visitations were held like the sheriff’s tourns, twice a year, and like them too after Easter and Michaelmas, and still, with nearer likeness, the greater of them was at Easter. The rural chapters were also held, like the inferior courts of the hundred, every three weeks; then, and like them too, they were changed into monthly, and at last into quarterly meetings. Nay, and a prime visitation was held commonly, like the prime folemote or sheriff’s tourn, on the very calends of May.