i: 



JESUS CHRIST. 



JEWELL, JOHN. 



gvowlogy of Jtsus deduced from Abraham through David to hu 

 reputed father Joarph : the third chapter of St. Luke contain! hi* 

 pedigree from Jowpli to Adam. From JoMph to David, the two 

 gxlol are entirely different ; but thin discrepancy it satisfactorily 

 explained by the commentators. The birth of Jreus was uiiraculoui; 

 " when hu mother Mary " (according to the words of St Matthew) 

 " wan *|>oud to Joceph, before they came together, (he waa found 

 with child of the Holy Ghost" Joseph, who intended to put her 

 away privately, |.<-iug warned in a dream by the Angel of the Lord, 

 that what was "conceived in her waa of the Holy Ghost, took unto 

 him his wife and knew her not till ahe had brought forth her fin-t- 

 horn son : and he called his name Jesus." (Matt i.) Herod was 

 much troubled at the miraculous circumstances which attended the 

 birth of Jesus, and at the coincidence of the pUce of his birth with 

 the prophecies. In order therefore that the infant might with cer- 

 tainly be destroyed, he gave orders that all the male children in 

 Bethlehem and the neighbourhood under two years of age should be 

 put to death ; but Jesus was saved by his parents, who were warned 

 by an angel in a dream to take the child into Egypt. This part of 

 the tacred history is recorded by St. Matthew only. According to 

 St. Luke, when the days of the purification of Mary were accomplished 

 his parents took him from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to present him in 

 the Temple, after which they returned to their own city Nazareth in 

 Galilee. At twelve years of age Jesus disputed with the Jen-L-h 

 doctors in the Temple at Jerusalem, whom he astonished by his 

 answers and his understanding. Towards his parents his conduct was 

 an cxtmple of filial obedience. lie was not above following the busi- 

 ness of his reputed father, which was that of a carpenter; and until 

 about his thirtieth year he fulfilled the common duties of life in on 

 humble and obscure station. His public ministry was preceded by 

 the warnings and admonitions of John the Baptist, the son of a 

 Jewi-h priest, who called upon the people to repent and believe, for 

 the time was fulfilled, and the kingdom of God was at hand. Jesus 

 was baptised by John in the river Jordan, and shortly after com- 

 menced his ministry, being about thirty years of age. For about the 

 space of thrte years he was engaged in the work of promulgating his 

 doctrine*, and confirming his divine mission by numerous miracles. 

 In order to diffuse that religion which he came to make known, he 

 selected a certain number of persons to be his constant companions, 

 to learn his doctrines, to witness their influence, to testify to the 

 miracles by which their truth was demonstrated, and to be prepared 

 to propagate after his death the truths which he had thus made 

 known. The twelve persons whom ho chose are called the Twelve 

 Apostles. They were ignorant persons, who possessed neither 

 wealth, mnk, nor education, and yet they were called to root out 

 opinions which were deeply implanted in men's minds, and to over- 

 turn system* strengthened by all the influence which ancient and 

 venerable authorities exert over the mind. He next appointed from 

 among his followers seventy disciples, whom he sent by twos to 

 every place which he himself intended to visit. (Luke x. 1.) This 

 appointment of the seventy disciples is not mentioned by the other 

 evangelist*. Many of the Jews being convinced by the preaching of 

 Jems, and the miracles which he wrought among them, of his divine 

 mission, the Jewish priesthood were alarmed, and sought some means 

 of accomplishing his death. Being betrayed by Judas, one of the 

 twelve whom be had chosen, he was taken before the Jewish court 

 of the Sanhedrim, which had the cognUnnce of offences against 

 religion, and from thence to the tribunal of Pontius Pilate, the 

 Itoman procurator or administrator of the revenues of the province. 

 Before the former he was accused of blasphemy, a charge which was 

 upported by two false witnesses ; and before Pilate as a seditious 

 person, and a stirrer up of disaffection, a charge which was also 

 totally without foundation. But the Jews clamoured for his death ; 

 and though I'ilate saw nothing in the accusations brought against him 

 worthy of capital punishment, be was sentenced to death in com- 

 pliance with the clamour of the people, and apparently also from fear 

 of some disturbance. In the midst of their scoffing and jeers he was 

 led to the place of execution, and crucified, with circumstances of 

 the greatest cruelty, between two criminals. On the third day Christ 

 roe from the grave, according to bis own prediction (Mark x. 34), and 

 during forty days pieviuus to his ascension into heaven he appeared 

 among bis disciples, whom he instructed more fully concerning the 

 nature of 1 is mission, which he now left in their hands. Fifty days 

 after his **cenion, the disciple*, being assembled in Jerusalem at the 

 feast of Pentecost (Acta ii.), were suddenly " all filled with the Holy 

 Ghost," and endowed with the gift of speaking all languages. On this 

 occasion three thousand persons were converted and received baptism. 

 Bfing thus fitted for disseminating in every part of the world the 

 principles of the new religion, the apostles and disciples whom Chri-t 

 had appointed, scattered themselves throughout various countries, but 

 principally in the east Matthias had been chosen to supply the 

 place of Judas, the traitor, and an additional disciple, named Saul, 

 afterwards Paul, person of education, and though a Jew, a Itoman 

 citizen of Tanus, was especially called to co-operate with them. 



The history of Jesus Christ has been written by four different 

 individuals, whose account* are received by the Christian world, and 

 some of the argument* for the credibility of their testimony are 

 founded upon the mode in which they accomplished their tack. 



Matthew, who had been a collector of customs, wrote his Gospel in 

 Hebrew for the une of the Jews soon after Christ'* death ; Mark is 

 believed to have written under the direction of Peter, for the use of 

 the Christian* at Rome; Luke, whoso Gospel waa written for the 

 Heathen convert*, wo* a physician, a companion in the labours of 

 St Paul, and i* supposed to have written hi* account of Christ while 

 travelling with the apostle ; John's Gwpel was written after all the 

 preceding, and notices circumstances which the other cvaugelista bad 

 passed over. That part of the New Testament which follows the 

 four Gospel* was also written by St Luke, and gives the Acts of the 

 Apostle*, and the history of Christianity, for about thirty yean after 

 Christ's death. 



The primitive assemblies of the convert* to Christianity were called 

 Churches ('ExKAVicu). The converts at Jerusalem formed the earliest 

 Christian society. The church of Antioch, which was founded by 

 Paul and Barnabas, wo* the second ; and it* members first received 

 the name of Christians, having previously been called Nazarenes, by 

 way of derision. The first churches or Christim communities were 

 those of Jerusalem, Antiocb, Kphesua, Smyrna, Athens, Corinth, 

 Home, and Alexandria. The churches founded by the apostles wero 

 regarded with peculiar veneration in after times. Their authority 

 was appealed to on points of discipline and doctrine, a* it was con- 

 ceived that the letter and spirit of the apostolical regulations had 

 been more rigidly adhered to by them. The church of Jerusalem 

 may be regarded as the mother of all other churches ; but the church 

 at Rome, then the capital of the world, subsequently became, with the 

 churches of Antioch and Alexandria, which were respectively capitals 

 of Roman provinces, by far the moat important of all the churches. 

 The four churches of Jerusalem, Antioch, Rome, and Alexandria were 

 formed in the order in which they are mentioned, though some doubt 

 exists as to the title of the church of Rome to priority over that of 

 Alexandria. The church of Rome became the metropolitan of the 

 west, while that of Autioch was regarded as the chief of the eastern 

 churches. As the apostles extended their travels, churches were 

 planted in various parts of Asia. Paul and Barnabas visited the 

 islands of Cyprus and Crete, and various parti of Greece, where they 

 made converts to Christianity. In a second visit to the churches 

 which were formed by Paul, he regulated some of the practices iuto 

 which the converts had fallen. At Corinth he remained eighteen 

 months, during which period he exerted himself to establish firmly 

 the faith of the Christian believers, which in that church was exposed 

 to peculiar dangers. When unable to visit distant churches, he 

 addressed them in Epistles. Paul next directed his attention to the 

 west of Europe, to nations " that were yet rude and barbarous." There 

 is no certain record of this portion of his travels. The writings and 

 labours of St Paul, who is emphatically called the apostle of the 

 Gentiles, form the most important part of the history of the second 

 period of Christianity. In less than forty years after the death of 

 Christ the Gospel bad been preached in every country of the then 

 civilised world, and in some countries which were in a state of 

 barbarism. lu the year 63, that is thirty-seven years after Christ'* 

 death, Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom at Kouie. 



The records as to the other apostles do cot afford an adequate 

 idea of the extent of their labours. John was banished to the island 

 of Patinos by Domition, and there wrote the Revelations, lie was 

 subsequently permitted to return to Ephesus, where ho wrote his 

 gospel and epistles. He was the last survivor of the apostles, and 

 died a natural death at the close of the first century, about the year 

 98. The seven churches mentioned by John in the Revelations are 

 Ephesus, Smyrna, Pcrgamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and 

 Laodicea, 



JESUS, sou of Siracli, was a learned Jew of Jerusalem, who employed 

 himself in collecting sayings of wise men, from which, with additions 

 of his own, he formed the book of Ecclesiaaticus. (' Ecclesiasticus,' 

 c. 1., v. 27.) We know little of him but what we can gather from that 

 book. According to Bretschueider, he composed it about B.C. 180; a 

 date which is rendered probable by the fact that, in enumerating the 

 illustrious men of the Hebrew nation, the lost he mentions is the high- 

 priest Simon, the son of Ouias, of whom he speaks iu terms which 

 make it probable that he had seen him, while ho does not mention the 

 Maccabees, 



Another JESUS, a grandson of the former, and whose father's name 

 is also supposed to have been Sirach, translated the book of Ecclesi- 

 asticus into Greek, probably about B.C. liiO; for he states iu bis 

 prologue to the book that he went into Egypt in the reign of Euergetes 

 (Ptolemy VII., Kuergetes II.), and there executed the translation. 



This is the general opinion ; but John thinks it probable that Jesus 

 composed the book of Eccleaiosticus about B.c. 292-260 ; that the 

 Simon, son of Ouias, whom ho praises, waa the first of that name, not 

 the second; and that his grandson executed the translation under 

 Ptolemy Euergetes I., who reigned B.C. 247-222. He founds this 

 opinion chiefly on the character of Simon I. agreeing with the eulogy 

 uf the writer better than that of Simon II. 



(Uretxchueider, Liber Jait Siraciilie ; Homo, Introduction, vol. iv. ; 

 Jalin, / Feed.) 



JEWELL, JOHN, one of the fathers of the English Protestant 

 Church, was born iu 1522 iu Devonshire, and educated iu grammar- 

 schools in that county, till at the age of thirteen he was sent to Oxford, 



