A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

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.