JCECHEK JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 



JCECHER, CHRISTIAN THKOPHILUS, a celebrated 

 German scholar, was born in 1694, at Leipsic, where 

 h< studied medicine and theology (1712). In 1714, 

 he delivered lectures, in which lie showed himself an 

 adherent to the philosophy of Leibnitz and Wolf. In 

 173^, he was made professor of history ; in 1735 

 doctor of philosophy ; and in 1742, librarian of the 

 university. He died in 1758. His AUgcmnm-s 

 Gelehrten Lexikmi (Leipsic, 1750 et seq., 4 vols.) is 

 still valuable. Adelung brought down a supple- 

 ment to this work (in 2 vols. 4to., Leipsic, 1784) to 

 the letter I, which Rotermund of Bremen has con- 

 tinued. 



JOEL, one of the twelve minor prophets, the time 

 and place of whose birth are not known. From his 

 style and poetical language, most critics place him 

 in the golden age of Hebrew literature. Tradition 

 makes him a contemporary of Hosea and Ezekiel, 

 because he is placed between them in the canon. 

 He describes a dreadful desolation of the country by 

 grasshoppers (whether these signify an army, or 

 really grasshoppers, commentators disagree), and 

 finishes with a picture of better times, (the destruc- 

 tion of the Chaldaeans), and a call upon the Deity 

 for vengeance. His imagery is often imitated in the 

 Apocalypse. He was always reckoned among the 

 canonical writers, and is quoted in the New Testa- 

 ment (Acts ii. 17), which is a proof of his canonical 

 authority at that time. Conjectures respecting his 

 country and age are collected from the rabbins in. 

 Carpzovius's Jntrod. in V. T. p. 302, from which it 

 appears he lived in Judah, because his writings 

 relate to Judah and Jerusalem. 



JOHANNES SECUNDUS (the bibliographical 

 name of John Everard, a celebrated Latin poet) was 

 born at the Hague, 1511. His father was a dis- 

 tinguished lawyer, who was president of the supreme 

 council of Holland at Mechlin, during the reign of 

 the emperor Charles V. At Bourges, where John 

 studied law under Alciatus, he received a doctorate; 

 but literature had more attractions for him than 

 jurisprudence. He became acquainted with some 

 poets of the age, and his intercourse with them 

 tended to strengthen his predilection for works of 

 imagination. He also distinguished hjmself by his 

 skill in painting, sculpture, and engraving; but he 

 was most indebted for his fame to his poetical works. 

 For the improvement of his talents, he travelled to 

 Italy, and thence to Spain, where he became secre- 

 tary of cardinal Tavera, archbishop of Toledo, by 

 whose advice he attended Charles V. on his journey 

 to Tunis. The weak state of his health, however, 

 did not permit him to endure the hardships of war, 

 and he returned to the Netherlands, where he died, 

 at Utrecht, hi 1536, of a malignant fever. Few 

 modern Latin poets have left us such pleasing ama- 

 tory poems as his. The Kisses of Johannes Secundus 

 are best known. His works, consisting of elegies, 

 odes, epigrams, and miscellaneous poems, were pub- 

 lished by his brothers, Nic. Grudius and Andr. 

 Marius (who were likewise distinguished as poets), 

 and have gone through many editions. One of the 

 latest is that of 1771 (Leyden), with a French 

 translation. The Kisses have been repeatedly trans- 

 lated into English, German, and French. 



JOHANNESBERG, or .BISCHOFFSBERG ; a 

 village and beautiful castle, built (between 1722 

 and 1732) on a hill in the Rheingau (Nassau), 

 formerly belonging to the bishop of Fulda, under 

 the jurisdiction or the elector of Mentz. It is cele- 

 brated for its excellent Rhenish wines. The best is 

 made on the castle hill itself. In 1807, the vineyards 

 and castle were given by Napoleon to marshal 

 Keller-maim. In 1816. the emperor of Austria gave 

 them to prince Metternich, on condition of receiving 



a tenth part of the produce. Sixty-three morgen fa 

 morgen is somewhat less than an acre) yield annually 

 about 32,500 bottles, worth from 23,000 to 24,000 

 guilders. Good years yield double this quantity, 

 exclusive of a quantity of less valuable wine. The 

 cultivation of the vineyards which produce this wine 

 is expensive, and the profit not great, though it sells 

 high. In 1809, a bottle of the best quality cost four 

 guilders on the spot, and the wines of 1779 to 1783, 

 and that of 1801, were sold for twelve guilders a 

 bottle. The view from the mountain is one of the 

 finest on the Rhine. The eye wanders over the 

 charming Rheingau, with its numberless villages, 

 seats and convents, hills with their castles, and the 

 noble river with its islands. 



JOHN THE BAPTIST was born six months 

 before Jesus (their mothers were relations), of a 

 Levitical family in Judea, and his birth was attended 

 with circumstances (Luke, chap, i.) which marked 

 him out as one chosen by God to accomplish the 

 divine purposes. He chose the austere course of 

 life suited to a person dedicated to God, and by his 

 early simplicity in food and dress, by his solitary 

 meditations on, and deep knowledge of, the spirit of 

 the Holy Scriptures, obtained that independence and 

 strength of mind, which made him the object of univer- 

 sal admiration, when lie appeared in the character of 

 a prophet. His teachings were earnest exhortations 

 to repentance and preparation for the kingdom of 

 heaven, which he announced to be at hand. His 

 preaching, as recorded in the Gospels, was severe 

 and powerful. He proclaimed himself the harbinger 

 of a greater, who should come after him, and fulfilled 

 his mission to prepare for him the way, with a zeal 

 equalled only by his self-denial and humility. He 

 baptized many converts to his doctrine, and obtained 

 respect among all classes, by the contrast of his 

 severe virtue with the corruption of the times. When 

 the higher mission of Jesus was made known, at the 

 time of his baptism in the Jordan, John pointed his 

 disciples to this new master, and saw, without envy, 

 his own words fulfilled " He must increase, but I 

 must decrease.'' He coveted no feme, and wished 

 no further success. He desired only to maintain the 

 right of speaking the truth, and fell a victim to his 

 boldness. To gratify a vindictive woman, Herod 

 Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, caused him to be be- 

 headed in prison. A number of his disciples continued 

 faithful to him till death, and are said to have estab- 

 lished the still existing sect of Sabians, or St John- 

 Christians, in Persia, distinguished for their venera- 

 tion of John the Baptist. See Sabians. 



JOHN THE EVANGELIST is one of the most 

 pure and lovely characters of Christian antiquity. In 

 his youth, he left his nets at the call of Jesus, and 

 from that time followed his divine teacher with 

 unchanging fidelity. Not only on his journeys was 

 he always with him, and in all conditions his most 

 confidential friend, but, even when the other disciples 

 fled, he accompanied him to the judgment-seat ; and 

 under the cross, his expiring Lord pointed him out to 

 Mary, as one who was to stand in the place of a son 

 and protector to her. Hence he was called emphati- 

 cally the disciple whom Jesus loved. The gentleness 

 and tenderness which breathe through the writings 

 of John, adapted him peculiarly to understand all 

 the feelings of his Lord. He shared the labours and 

 sufferings of the apostles, lived in Ephesus, was for a 

 time an exile in Patmos, perhaps resided in Rome, 

 and finally died at an advanced age, in the bosom of 

 the Ephesian church, which was dearest of all to his 

 heart. St Jerome gives a very affecting account of 

 the last years of his life. As the infirmities of age 

 made him unable to address the church in a syste- 

 matic discourse, he always desired to be conveyed 



