Jaw (usually and properly "^flP, lechi', rendered also "jaw-bone;" once D'^nipb'Q, inalkocMm' , "jaws," Psa. xxii, 15, elsewhere "prey;" also m"^np, inethalleoth' ," "jaws," Job xxix, 17; "jaw teeth," Prov. xxx, ll; " cheek teeth," Joel i, 6). The denuded jaw-bone of an ass afforded Samson (q. v.) a not unsuitable weapon (sac Seifferheld, De maxilla asini, Tubing. 171G) for tlie great carnage which he once effected (Judg. xv, 15). See Lei II. "
Jay, William, a very distinguished English Inde- pendent minister, was born at Tisburj', county of Wilts, in 17G9. He was the son of a poor stone-cutter, and ob- tained his education by the influence and charity of friends he made as a youth, distinguishing himself even than by great natural abilities and ready acquisition. When not quite sixteen years of age he began preach- ing, and before he had passed his minority he is said to have delivered no less than 1000 sermons. Like Wes- ley, he often preached out-doors ; and he himself relates the history of his early life thus : " In the milder sea- sons which woidd allow of it, we often addressed large numbers out of doors ; and many a clear and calm even- ing I have preached down the day on the corner of a common, or upon the green turf before the cottage door. These neighborhoods were supplied sometimes weekly and sometimes fortnightly, both on the week-days and on the Sabbaths. We always on the Sabbaths avoid- ed, if possible, the church hours; and on week-days we commonly omitted the services during the hay and corn harvest, that we might not give reasonable offence to the farmers, or entice tlie peasants away from their la- bor before their usual time. I would also remark that we did not always, in these efforts, encounter much op- position; indeed, I remember only a few instances in which we suffered persecution from violence or rude- ness." Jan. 31, 1791, he was made preacher of Argyle Chapel, Bath, and here he labored for sixty-two years with great distinction. Jay was not excelled even by the greatest of pulpit orators for which England has been so justly celebrated within the last 100 years. John Foster calls him the "prince of preachers;" Sheridan pro- nounced him "the most natural orator" he had ever heard ; Dr. James Hamilton as a preacher who filled him "with wonder and delight;" and Beckford as pos- sessing a mind like " a clear, transparent stream, flow- ing so freely as to impress us with the idea of its being inexhaustible." He died in December, 1853, "beloved and trusted by religious professors of all sects" {London A fhenceum, Sept. 30, 1854). " Mr. Jay was not only a pi- ous and eminently successful preacher, but a very genial and interesting man ; a sagacious observer, yet of child- like simplicity in taste and disposition ; possessed of a fine, though sometimes quaint humor; a most instruc- tive and iileasant companion, rich in anecdote and remi-
niscence, and able, from personal knowledge, to give living sketches of most of the eminent men who had appeared in the religious world, high-flying bigots ex- cepted, during the latter part of the 18th and the earlier
part of the present century'- He was not a strict
Calvinist, for he did not believe in the 'exclusive' part of the Calvinistic creed in any form. He believed in ' two grand truths' — ' that if we are saved, it is entirely of God's grace ; and if we are lost, it will be entirely from ourselves.' He held to these firmly, though he might not see the connection between them. ' The connection,' he says, ' is like a chain across the river ; I can see the two ends, but not the middle; not because there is no real union, but because it is under water.' As to Church polity, Mr. Jay inclined, on the whole, to Presbyterianism, with a special leaning, perhaps, on one point — that of mutual ministerial oversight and respon- sibility— to Wesleyan Methodism. But he did not be- lieve any particular /onrt of polity to be of divine au- thority" {London Quart. Review, 1854, p. 553 sq.). Best known of his varied and extensive writings are Morning and Evening Exercises (vol. i-iv of the collective edition of liis Works, ed. of 1842) : — The Christian C07itemj}lated (vol. vi of his Works): — Mornings with Jesus (1854, 8vo). His Works were published entire (Bath, 1842-44, 12 vols. 8vo ; New York, 3 vols. 8vo). See A utohiogra- phy of the Rev. William Jay, with Reminiscences of some distinguished Contemporaries, Selections from his Corre- spondence, etc., edited by George Bedford, D.D., LL.D., and John Angell James (Lond. 1854, 8vo ; 3d ed. 1855) ; Wilson, Memoir of Jay (1854, 8vo) ; Wallace, Portrait- ure of Jay (1852, 12mo) ; AUibone, IJict. of Authors, i, 857 ; Princeton Review, v, 369 sq. ; Meth. Quart. Review, v, 335. (J.H.W.)
Jayadeva, a celebrated Hindu poet, who, accord- ing to some, lived about the middle of the 11th, accord- ing to others about the middle of the 16th century after Christ. His most renowned work is the Gitagovinda, an erotic poem in honor of the Hindu deitj' Krishna (an incarnation of Vishnu) and his wife Radha. It is inter- preted both in a literal and a mystical sense. — Cham- bers, Cyclopcedia, s. v.