2. (Sept. 'It^£p,Vulg. Je^Amw.) Apparently one of the sons of Zophah, the great-grandson of Asher (1 Chron. vii, 37) ; ]irobably the same as Jether in v. 58. B.C. long post 1856.
Ith'reani (IMi.Yithredm' , D^*"iri% superabundanoe of the people; ^ept.'ltBipai'ii.i, 'liSfijr'ijA ; Josephus Fe- SpaajUT/c [A7it. vii, i, 4]), David's sixth son, born of Eglah in Hebron (2 Sam. iii, 5; 1 Chron. iii, 3). B.C. 1045. In the ancient Jewish traditions (Jerome, Qucest. Heb. in 2 Sam. iii, 5; v, 23) Eglah is said to have been INIichal, and to have died in giving birth to Ithream ; but this is at variance with the Bible.
Ith'rite, or, rather, Je'tiiekite (Rch.Yithri', '^'nril') Sept. 'IfSrpaioc and 'It^tni, but At'SaXfi'fi in 1 Chron. ii, 53 ; Vulg. Jethrites and Jethrccus or Jethreus), the posterity of some Jether mentioned as resident in Kir- jath-jearim (A.V. "the Ithrites" [1 Chron. ii, 53]); probably the descendants of Hobab, the brother-in-law of Moses (who settled in this region. Judges i, 16), and so called as being thus the posterity of Jethro, the fa- ther-in-law of JNIoses. See Kenite. Two of David's famous warriors, Ira and Gareb, belonged to this clan (2 Sam. xxiii, 38 ; 1 Chron. xi, 40). See David. Ira has been supposed to be identical with " Ira the Jairite," David's priest (2 Sam. xx, 26). According to another supposition, Jether may be only another form for Ithra (2 Sam. xvii, 25), the brother-in-law of David, and it is possible that the " Ithrites," as a family, sprang from him. According to still another supposition, the two Ithrite heroes of David's guard may have come from Jattir, in the mountains of Judah, one of the places which were the " haunt" of David and his men in their freebooting wanderings, and where he had "friends" (1 Sam. XXX, 27 ; comp. 3 1 ).
Itinerancy, a >vord which Methodism has adopted in its ecclesiastical terminology as expressing one of the most characteristic features of that religious denom- ination. Wesley's plans for the revival of Christian life throughout the United Kingdom rendered it neces- sary that he should travel from town to town. He did so quite sj^stematically through his long life. Very early a few talented laymen were commissioned by him to preach in the societies which he had organized dur- ing his own absence, for he usually staid but a day or two in any one place. These lay preachers, or " help-
ITINERANCY 712
ers," as he called them, soon multiplied to scores, at last to hmulreds; but the societies demanding their labors in the intervals of the great preacher's visits multiplied still faster. As early as his third Conference (May, 1746) , he saw the necessity of extending and methodizing the labors of liis " helpers" on some plan of " itinerancy."^ He appointed them, therefore, to delinitive '• circuits" this vear. The word " circuit" has ever since been an impoVtant technical term in Methodism. The " Min- utes," or journal of this Conference, show that the whole country was mapped into seven of these " itinerant" dis- tricts. Wales and Cornwall each constituted one : New- castle and its neighboring towns another. That of York- shire comprised seven counties. London, Bristol, and Evesham were the head-quarters of others. By 1749 there were twenty of these " rounds" in England, two in Wales, two in Scotland, and seven in Ireland; and at Wesley's death there were seventy-two in England, three in Wales, seven in Scotland, and twenty-eight in Ireland. The circuits were long, comprising at least thirty " appointments" for each month, or about one a day. Tlie preachers were changed at first from one cir- cuit to another, usually every year, and invariably ev- ery two years; sometimes from England to Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and back again.
The " circuit system" has been retained in England down to our day ; even tlie churches of the large cities are combined under a '• circuit" pastorate. In "Ameri- ca," the societies in cities, and also the large societies in the country, are generally "stations," each being sup- plied by its own pastor. The " circuit system," howev- er, is maintained among the feebler churches, and quite generally in the Far West, and nearly everywhere along the frontier settlements of the countrj'.
Two other characteristic features of Wesley's system rendered the "itinerancy" not only possibly, but nota- bly effective. The "local" ministry — consisting of gift- ed laymen in secular business — supplied the pulpits in the absence of the " regular" or itinerant preachers, as the latter could appear in any given place on their long circuits but once a fortnight, in most cases but once a montli, and in others but once in six weeks. Thus luiblic ministrations were kept up every Sunday. The class-meeting, comprising twelve " members," under an experienced " leader," met weekly, and thus a sort of pastoral supervision of the Avhole membership was main- tained in the absence of the authorized pastor or itin- erant. See Lay Mixistrv.
In these facts, so co-ordinate and co-operative, we have the chief explanation of the remarkable success of Wesley's ministerial system. Some of the circuits, in our own country especially, were five or six hundred miles in extent, including scores or hundreds of socie- ties or "appointments," each of which was regularly visited, at intervals of four or six weeks, by the " circuit preacher," and meanwhile the "local preachers" and '■ class-leaders" kept each fully supplied with Sabbath, and, indeed, almost daily religious services. In nothing, perlia|)s, does the legislative genius of Wesley, so high- ly estimated by Southey, Macaulay, and Buckle, more strikingly appear than in this combination of pastoral provisions.