Jesus's Sacred Heart, Society of. In the
beginning of the 18th century-, the Jesuits, fearing the suppression of their own order, actively engaged in the establishment of other orders likely to continue the same peculiar work. More particularly these were the Societies of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which they formed in nearly every part of the world where Roman Catholicism, especially Jfi'suitism, had a foothold. Os- tensibly they were to be societies of a purely religious character, but in reality they proved to be nothing more nor less than the society of the Baccanarists an asylum for the ex-Jesuits, a society in the Church of Home advocating the doctrines of the Jesuits under a new name and form. Such was evidently the aim of this society in 1794, when the ex-Jesuit abbes Charles de IJroglie, Pey, Tournely, and others of lesser note, or- ganized it at a country retreat near Lf.wen, in Belgium, with Tournely (q. v.) as superior. After the battle of Fleurus (June 26, 1794), not only the fate of Belgium seemed determined, but also that of this society, and it was post-haste removed to more congenial climes. They found a protector in the elector Clemens Wences- laus, and settled at Treves. " The Jesuits who d^velt there," says a Roman Catholic writer, " would gladly liave welcomed them as of their own number if these Frenchmen had only been masters of the Cerman lan- guage." They flourished at Treves for more than two years, when the approach of the victorious French army obliged them again to pull up stakes, and thev settled first at Passau, next at Vieima, and, when driven from the imperial city, removed to its verv shades, entering, even after this (1797), quite frequently the limits of Vienna. In 1799 the order was merged into that of the Baccanarists (q. v.).
A female order of like name with the above, whose origin is also attributed to the Jesuits, was founded in 1800 at Paris. The first leader of it was the maid- en Barat, and it was approved by Leo XII December 22, 1826. As they engage in the education of young females, they enjoy, not only in Roman Catholic coun- tries, a favorable reputation, but are in a flourishing condition in many Protestant countries also. They have in Europe alone more than a hundred establish- ments. They exist also in America and Africa. Their private aims, no doubt, are those of the Jesuitical order. See Herzog, Real-EneyUop.\, IIG; Wetzer und Weltc, Kirchen-Lex. iv, 485 sq. ; Henrian-Fehr, Monchsorden, ii, G2 sq. ; Schliir, IJie Fruuen v. heil. HerzenJesu (Griitz, 1846, 8vo). (J. H. W.)
Jesus, Society of. Sec Jesuits.
Je'tlier (Hcb. Ye'llwr, IP"', surplus'), the name of six men, and perhaps also of a place.
1. (Sept. 'ItSihp.) A son of Jada and great-grandson of Jerahmeel, of the family of Judah ; he had a brother Jonathan, but no children (1 Chron. ii, 32). B.C. con- siderably post 1856.
2. (Sept. 'loS'ofjjVulg. Jethro, Auth.Vers. ".lethro.") The father-in-lav,' of Moses (Exod. iv, 18, first clause), elsewhere (last clause of the same verse) called Jethro (q.v.).
3. (Sept. 'If^cp.) The first named of the sons of Ezra (? Ezer), of the tribe of Judah (his brothers being Mered [q.v. J, Epher, and Jalon),but whose connections are not otherwise defined (1 Chron. iv, 17). B.C. prob. cir. 1G18. In the Sept. the name is repeated: "and Jether begat Miriam," etc. By the author of the Qucest. Ilehr. in Par. he is said to have been Aaron, Ezra being another name for Amram (q. v.). IMiriam (q. v.) in the second part of the verse — explained by the Targum to be identical with Efrath — is taken by many to be a male name.
4. (Sept. 'l£,&fp.) The oldest son of Gideon, who, when called upon by his father to execute the captiu-ed Midianite kings, Zebah and Zalmunna, timidly declined on account of his youth (Judg. viii, 20). B.C. 1362. According to Judg. ix, 8, he was slain, together with GO of his brothers — Jonathan alone escaping — '-upon one stone" at Ophrah, by the hands of Abimelech, the son of Gideon's concubine, of Shcchem. See Gideon.
5. (Sept. '\iSfto, 'l£,&tp.) The father of Amasa, Da- vid's general ( 1 Kings ii, 5, 32; 1 Chron. ii, 17) ; else- where (2 Sam. xvii, (i) called Ithra (q. v.). He is de- scribed in 1 Chnin. ii, 17 as an Ishmaelite, which, again, is more likely to be correct than the " Israelite" of the Hebrew in 2 Sam. xvii, or the " Jezreelite" of the Sept. and Vulg. in the same passage. "Ishmaelite" is said by the author of the Quast. Ilebr. in lib. Reg. to have been the reading of the Hebrew, but there is no trace of it in the i\ISS. The Talmud records two divergent opinions on the subject (Jer. Jeham. 9, c ; comp. Babli, Jeb. 77, a). According to R. Samuel bar-Nachmani, Je- ther was an Ishmaelite by birth, but became a proselj-te : hence the two ajipellations. Another opinion is that, a staunch upholder of David's reign, he, when the king's descent through Ruth, a JMoabitish woman, was made a pretext by some of his antagonists to deprive him of his crown, "girded his loins like an Israelite," and threatened to uphold by the sword, if need be, the au- thority of the Halacha, which had decided that " a Mo- abitish man, but not a Moabifish u-oman, an Ammoni- tish man, but not an Ammonitish woman, should be prohibited from entering into the congregation." Sim- ilariy we find in the Targ. to 1 Chron. ii, 17 (Wilkins's edition— this verse belongs to those wanting in Beck) that the father of Amasa was Jether the Israelite, but that he was called Jether the Ishmaelite because he aid- ed David nx="ir3 (=='p1 nin) before the tribunal [Wilkins, " c^/w, Ar(ibibus!"\ Later commentators (Rashi, Abrabanel, David Kimchi) assume that he was an Israelite by birth, but dwelt in the land of Ishmael,