JEW 



JEW 



HEIGHTS 



OF RESERVOIRS AVD THEIR 

 JETS. 



JETSAM, any thing thrown out of a 

 ship, being in the danger of wreck, and 

 by the waves driven to the shore. See 

 FLOTSAM. 



JETTY head, , a name given to that part 

 of a wharf which projects beyond the 

 rest, but more particularly the front of 

 the wharf, whose side forms one of the 

 cheeks of a wet or dry dock. 



JEWEL blocks, two small blocks which 

 are suspended at^ the extremity of the 

 main and fore-top-sail yards, by means of 

 an eye-bolt driven from without into the 

 middle of the yard-arm, parallel to the 

 axis. The use of these blocks is, to re- 

 tain the upper part of the top-mast stud- 

 ding sails beyond the sheets of the top- 

 sails, so that each of these sails may have 

 its full force of action, which would be 

 diminished by the encroachment of the 

 other over its surface. 



JEWS, in church history, the descen- 

 dants of Judah, the son of Jacob, and of 

 the Israelites, commonly denominated the 

 Twelve Tribes of Israel. This name was 

 first given to those Jews who returned 

 from the captivity of Babylon, because the 



tribe of Judah made the most conspicu- 

 ous tigure among them. 



Our account of this people must be con- 

 fined to their modern history, and to a 

 brief statement of their present improved 

 condition on the continent, chiefly under 

 the auspices of Bonaparte, one of the 

 most extraordinary characters that ever 

 appeared in the world. 



From the reign of Adrian, emperor of 

 Rome, to the present day, the people of 

 the Jewish nation have often been the 

 dupe of some pretender to Messiahship, 

 who has risen up to promise them that 

 restoration to their former dignity and 

 importance, from which they have been 

 driven by the imperious decrees of a 

 righteous Providence. It appears that 

 about twenty-four false Christs have, at 

 various times, excited the hopes and dis- 

 appointed the expectations of this credu- 

 lous and superstitious people. The most 

 important of these Messiahs was one Za- 

 bathai Tzevi, who in the year 1666, a 

 year of great expectation by many, made 

 a considerable noise at Smyrna, and other 

 places. He was a man of much learning, 

 and promised fairly to realize their expec- 

 tations of being restored to their ancient 

 inheritances, and of becoming once more 

 a great and prosperous nation. Thou- 

 sands of the Jews listened to his preten- 

 sions; but all his schemes were rendered 

 abortive by an unfortunate difference that 

 arose between him and one Nehemiab, 

 who, pretending to be the son of Ephraim, 

 and whom he said was to be a kind of se- 

 condary Messiah, reproved his superior 

 in the office of Messiahship, Zabathai, for 

 his too great forwardness in appearing as 

 the son of David, before the son of 

 Ephraim had led him the way. Zaba- 

 thai could not brook this doctrine, and 

 therefore excluded his officious forerun- 

 ner from any part or share in the matter. 

 Nehemiah, mortified at his degradation, 

 reported Zabathai to the Grand Seignior, 

 at Adrianople, as a person dangerous to 

 the government. Zabathai, dejectedand 

 fearful, appeared, according to a sum- 

 mons for that purpose, before the Grand 

 Seignior, who requiring a miracle, which 

 was that the pretended Messiah should 

 be stripped naked, and set as a mark for 

 the archers to shoot at, and if the arrows 

 did not pierce his flesh, he would own 

 him to be the true Messiah. Zabathai's 

 faith failed him ; he sacrificed his pre- 

 tensions to his life ; and, preferring the 

 faith of the Musslemen to the arrows of 

 the executioners, he furnished his dis- 

 appointed followers with another proof 



