A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

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.