JACOBINS 



3103 



JAFFA 



there for twenty years, married Leah and 

 Rachel, the daughters of his uncle, Laban, for 

 whom he worked, and then started back to 

 Canaan. On the way he was met by an angel 

 with whom he wrestled all night. This event 

 proved to be the crisis in Jacob's life, for from 

 that time on he trusted in God's strength in- 

 stead of his own. Upon leaving him at day- 

 break the angel blessed him, saying, "Thy 

 name shall be called no more Jacob, but 

 Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with 

 God and with men" (Genesis XXXII, 28). 

 Thus the Jews, who are descended from Jacob, 

 are often called the children of Israel. 



After meeting Esau and. obtaining his for- 

 giveness, Jacob crossed the Jordan and lived 

 at Mamre thirty-two years before taking his 

 family down into Egypt, where he stayed until 

 his death at the age of 147. In his later life 

 he acknowledged the wickedness of his earlier 

 career and lived up to his new name, Israel, 

 which means hero of God. According to his 

 wish his body was taken to the cave of Mach- 

 pelah to be buried in the tomb of Abraham. 

 See JOSEPH. 



JACOBINS, jak'obinz, the most famous 

 club in France during the troubled period of 

 the French Revolution. It met in a hall of the 

 former Jacobin convent in Paris, from whence 

 it took its name. It increased rapidly in favor, 

 gained importance upon the removal of the 

 court and national assembly to Paris, and 

 gradually became the ruling power of the 

 Revolution. The Jacobins originated the 

 terrible Commune of Paris, and for a time they 

 were very powerful. During the Reign of Ter- 

 ror they ruled through Robespierre, who was 

 their most influential member, and after his 

 downfaH in 1794 they were overthrown. The 

 term Jacobin is now often applied to anyone 

 expressing extreme views in politics. See 

 FRENCH REVOLUTION, and other references in 

 that article. 



JACOBITES, jak'o bites, a sect of Chris- 

 tians, dwelling chiefly in Syria. In common 

 with Copts and Abyssinians, they hold that the 

 human and the divine in Christ were fused into 

 a single nature, in opposition to the orthodox 

 view that each nature was perfect after its 

 kind. The sect took its name from JACOBUS 

 BARADAEUS, its founder, a Syrian who was con- 

 secrated Bishop of'Edessa about 541. The 

 Patriarch of Antioch is head of the church, and 

 has under him eight metropolitans, or bishops 

 of the principal sees, and three provincial 

 bishops. Second in rank is the metropolitan 



of Jerusalem, who dwells with his superior at 

 the monastery near Mardin. The fellowship 

 numbers about 80,000. 



JACQUARD, zhakar', JOSEPH MARIE (1752- 

 1834), a French mechanician known to fame 

 as the inventor of the Jacquard loom, which 

 simplified the art of weaving. The loom was 

 first exhibited in 1801. It was a system of 

 horizontal and perpendicular bars, springs and 

 hooks, which was adjustable to any kind of 

 loom, and relieved the laborer of the irksome 

 task of guiding the work by hand. When Jac- 

 quard attempted to put it into general use in 

 Lyons he was seized by a mob and almost lost 

 his life, for the workmen felt that the new in- 

 vention would decrease the demand for labor. 

 In the end, however, the French government 

 purchased his invention. See WEAVING. 



JADE, a mineral highly prized by the Chi- 

 nese, by whom it is used for making vases and 

 carved ornaments. It is of various shades of 

 green, and is occasionally white. Jade is so 

 very hard and tough that it is difficult to 



AN ADZ % OF JADE 

 Drawn from specimen in the 

 United States Bureau of Ethnol- 

 ogy. 



break small pebbles with a hammer. It takes 

 a good polish, but the surface has a greasy 

 appearance. Jade .js one of the oldest stones 

 used by man. Specimens of tools made from 

 it have been found in the lake dwellings of an 

 ancient race in Europe, supposedly of the Stone 

 Age (which see), and jade quarries have been 

 worked by the Chinese for more than 2.000 

 years. When the ancient Mexicans and Peru- 

 vians were found by the Spaniards they pos- 

 sessed implements of jade, and similar tools 

 were in use by the natives of New Zealand 

 when they were first discovered. Jade is com- 

 posed of silica, aluminum and sodium-, and its 

 coloring is due to the presence of iron. 



JAFFA, yah'fah, or YAFA, a Syrian city 

 on the Mediterranean, commercially important 

 as the seaport of Palestine. There is railroad 

 connection with the city of Jerusalem, which 

 lies thirty-five miles southeast, and Jaffa is 

 therefore -the chief port of entrance for tour- 



