The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia

by William James Miller

J

James (St.) The Great.—One of the Apostles of our Lord, whose Festival is observed on July 25th, St. James was the brother of St. John and the son of Zebedee and Salome. With St. John he received the appellation of "Boanerges" from our Lord. He has also been surnamed the Great or the Greater by the Church, but neither of these designations can be satisfactorily accounted for. St. James was the first of the Apostles who suffered martyrdom and the only one whose death is recorded in the New Testament (Acts 12:1). In ecclesiastical art St. James is variously represented as a pilgrim with staff; with staff and shell; as a child with staff and wallet with shell upon it; on a white charger conquering the Saracens; this last with reference to his being regarded as the Patron Saint of Spain, Santiago, "St. Iago of Compostella." {152}

James (St.) The Less.—The son of Cleophas, or Alphaeus and Mary, and brother of Thaddaeus or St. Jude. He was one of the Twelve Apostles and the writer of the Epistle which bears his name. St. James was the first Bishop of Jerusalem and was put to death there, at the Passover A.D. 62, in a popular commotion, probably caused by the publication of his Epistle. He is commemorated on the double Festival of St. Philip and St. James, observed on May 1; these two Apostles having been associated together in the most ancient calendars, although in other calendars they were commemorated on different days. In ecclesiastical art St. James the Less is represented with a fuller's club in his hand; as a child with palm branch; a saw in his hand, etc.

Jesus.—The human Name of our Lord, given to Him at His circumcision and meaning Saviour. The name Jesus was by no means an uncommon name among the Jews. It is in the Greek what Joshua is in Hebrew, who is twice called in the New Testament Jesus, as in Acts 7:45 and Heb. 4:8. In both these passages the word Jesus means Joshua, having reference to his work as a leader and deliverer of Israel. So also we meet with Jesus the Son of Sirach, who wrote the book Ecclesiasticus. St. Paul speaks of one Jesus who was called Justus (Col. 4:11), and in Acts 13:6, we read of "a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Bar-Jesus," i.e., son of Jesus. Josephus mentions many of the same name. Thus our Lord took a common name, but a Name which henceforth was to be above every name.

As the Name Jesus is the same as Joshua, its {153} significance may be learned from its derivation. Joshua the son of Nun was first called Oshea, but Moses changed it to Jehoshea, (contracted to Joshua) from Jah, (Jehovah) and Oshea, Saviour, and meaning, "He by whom God will save His people from their enemies." Thus Joshua was a type of the spiritual Saviour of the world. The name as borne by our Lord means "God our Saviour," as the angel declared, "for He shall save His people from their sins." The ancient prophecy that He should be called "Emmanuel, God with us," was fulfilled when our Lord was called JESUS. When then we profess our belief in JESSU as we do in the Creed, it is as if we said, "I believe that JESUS, in the highest and utmost importance of that Name, to be the Saviour of the world. I acknowledge there is no other way to Heaven beside that which He has shown us; there is no other means which can procure it for us but His Blood; there is no other person who shall confer it on us but Himself. And with this full acknowledgment I believe in JESUS." (See HOLY NAME.)

John Baptist, Saint.—The forerunner of our Lord who was sent to prepare the way for His coming. He was miraculously born of Zacharias and Elizabeth, both being "old and well-stricken in years." Although he suffered martyrdom, he is commemorated on the day of his Nativity, as his birth heralded the Incarnation. The Festival of the Nativity of St. John Baptist has been observed since the fourth or fifth century on June 24th, as this was undoubtedly the day of his birth, since he was six months older than our Lord. This date, also, is supposed to be {154} connected with his words, "He must increase, but I must decrease." The days after June 24th begin to decrease in length, but after the Christmas Tide they begin to increase. St. John was beheaded by Herod Antipas, when he was about thirty years old. He was a Prophet, the greatest of all—the last Prophet of the Old Dispensation and the first of the New, and our Lord declared that among all previously born of women none was greater than John the Baptist. In ecclesiastical art St. John Baptist is variously represented, with a lamb on a book, small cross, close crown or cap; with tunic of camel's hair; cope fastened with two leather thongs crossed; with lamb and locust; his head on a dish.

John Evangelist, Saint.—Commemorated on the second day after Christmas, December 27th. St. John was the son of Zebedee and Salome and brother of St. James the Great. The sons of Zebedee were, doubtless, among the first called of our Lord's disciples and St. John was from the first among those nearest and dearest to our Lord. Not only was he one of the Twelve Apostles but he was one of the three chosen witnesses of our Lord's greatest glory and humiliation on earth, viz.: in His Transfiguration, and the Agony in Gethsemane. He delights to call himself "the disciple whom Jesus loved." He lay on Jesus' bosom at the Paschal Supper and to him the Lord committed the care of His own mother when He died. St. John "is known to the affection of the Church as the Apostle of love, and to her intellect as the Theologos, the Divine." Besides his Gospel he wrote the three Epistles bearing his name and the Revelation. St. {155} John is said to have spent the later years of his life at Ephesus, and is the only one of the Apostles who died a natural death. He died at the age of 100, having been born the same year as our Lord. In the Emblems of the four Evangelists (See EMBLEMS) the eagle is always allowed to represent St. John, and most fitly, "for like the eagle he soars high above the earth basking in the pure sunlight of Divine Truth."

Joining the Church.—This is a phrase that has been brought over from the usage and phraseology of the various denominations. Its use among Church people has been productive of the greatest harm. In the first place, it is hardly a correct phrase for a Churchman to use. We may "join" an Odd Fellows' lodge or a debating society, but we do not join a family or household which God's Church is. We are born or adopted into a family, and so we are adopted into God's family; incorporated, grafted into the Body of Christ, His Church, and not simply "join" it as we would a debating society or a political club.

In the next place, harm has been done by the use of this phrase by Church people, because as popularly understood it is in direct contradiction to the belief and practice of the Church. According to this phraseology Holy Baptism counts for nothing, and yet the Bible teaches that it is in Holy Baptism that we are made members of the Church, and that all future blessings are dependent on this spiritual fact. When then, Church people take up this mode of speech and use it in reference to Confirmation as is so often done, they practically ignore the significance of Holy Baptism and the Church's method and appointed order. {156}

The effect of this becomes apparent in the lives of many of the Church's baptized children. Because, in whatever religious teaching they receive, their Baptism is never referred to, and they are never reminded that they are now God's children by adoption and grace because baptized, it comes to pass that, when these same children are asked to be confirmed, they think and act as if they were invited to "join the Church." And as they are more influenced by the speech and methods of the various religious bodies which prevail in their community than they are by the Church's teaching, they imagine that something extraordinary is required; they feel as if they must somehow "have got" religion; or they do not feel prepared to "experience religion"; or else they don't know whether they will or will not "join the Episcopal Church." In all this we see the result of the application and use of "other systems" rather than that of the Church. Thus many an earnest and loving young heart has been lost to the Church, notwithstanding it was given to God in its tenderest years to be trained up for Him. Confirmation is not "joining the Church." If we are baptized, we have been "received into Christ's Holy Church and made a living member of the same." And because this is true, the Church has a further Blessing in store for her children. This she would bestow by the ministrations of her chief Pastors in the Laying on of Hands by the Bishop; and to this our young people might go naturally and easily and at the same time soberly and reverently, if they were properly instructed and lovingly led. There is no reason why {157} any young baptized person might not thus go to his or her Confirmation, claiming this Blessing as their right and privilege as children of God and citizens of His Kingdom. (See BAPTISM; NAME, THE CHRISTIAN; REGENERATION; also CONFIRMATION.)

Jubilate Deo.—The Latin title of the One Hundredth Psalm, translated "O be joyful in the Lord," and which is sung as an alternate to the Benedictus when the latter occurs in the Lesson for the day.

Jude, Saint.—Also called Thaddaeus or Labbaeus, "the brother of James," and whose name sometimes appears as Judas, and in one instance it is added in parenthesis, "not Iscariot." St. Jude was an Apostle of our Lord and wrote the Epistle which bears his name. He is sometimes called the Jeremiah of the New Testament, as he wrote to the Church in "solemn and rugged language of present perils and coming storms." The object of his Epistle is to contend earnestly for pure Christian doctrine, and it is he who has given us that stirring text which is adopted as a motto by all true and loyal Churchmen, viz.: "that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints." He is said to have been married and to have left descendants who were summoned before the Emperor Domitian as confessors for Christ's sake. St. Jude is commemorated on the double Festival of St. Simon and St. Jude, observed on October 28th. It may be that the union of these two names is intended to be an illustration of that unity of the Faith for which the Epistle of St. Jude so strongly contends, as these two Apostles ministered and suffered together, (See SIMON, ST.) The Collect {158} for the Day embodies this idea. In ecclesiastical art St. Jude is variously represented, as having a boat in his hand; a boat hook; a carpenter's square; a ship with sails in his hand; carrying loaves or a fish; with a club; with an inverted cross; with a medallion of our Saviour on his breast or in his hand; with a halbert; as a child with a boat in his hand.

Jurisdiction, Episcopal.—By this term is meant the sphere of a Bishop's rule or ministration. This is defined in Article 4 of the Constitution adopted by the General Convention which provides, "and every Bishop of this Church shall confine the exercise of his Episcopal Office to his proper Diocese, unless requested to ordain, or confirm, or perform any other act of the Episcopal Office in another Diocese by the Ecclesiastical Authority thereof."

Jurisdiction, Missionary.—A portion of a State or Territory set apart for the missionary work of the American Church, to the oversight of which a Missionary Bishop has been appointed, is so called. The term Missionary Jurisdiction is also applied to the foreign field where a Missionary Bishop has been appointed to the exercise of Episcopal functions in any missionary station which the House of Bishops with the concurrence of the House of Deputies may have designated.

Jurisdiction, Resignation of.—Sometimes it happens that a Bishop from old age, or sickness, or other cause desires to resign his Episcopal Jurisdiction. To do this, he must gain the consent of the House of Bishops. The canons on this subject are very stringent and make it difficult for a Bishop to resign. The {159} teaching of the Church is that "a Bishop is bound to his Diocese for life," and therefore, she is very reluctant that the relationship should be broken or interfered with except for great and necessary cause; on which ground alone the resignation is permitted.

Justification.—A theological word used to designate the forgiveness of the sinner and his restoration to a right relationship with God. The cause of Justification may be given as follows:

THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE.—God's mercy.
THE MERITORIOUS CAUSE.—Christ's death.
THE EFFICIENT CAUSE.—The operation of the Holy Ghost.
THE INSTRUMENTAL CAUSE ON GOD'S SIDE.—The Ministry of the Word,
Baptism and the Holy Communion.
THE INSTRUMENTAL CAUSE ON MAN'S SIDE.—Faith which works by love.