"J" Feathers

JESUITS The cat having a long time preyed upon the mice, the poor creatures at last, for their safety, contained themselves within their holes; but the cat finding his prey to cease, as being known to the mice that he was indeed their enemy and a cat, deviseth this course following, namely, changeth his hue, getting on a religious habit, shaveth his crown, walks gravely by their holes; and yet perceiving that the mice kept their holes, and looking out, suspected the worst, he formally, and father-like, said unto them, "Quod fueram non sum, frater, caput aspice tonsum—O brother, I am not as you take me for; I am no more a cat; see my habit and shaven crown." Hereupon some of the more credulous and bold among them were again, by this deceit, snatched up; and therefore when afterwards he came, as before, to entice them forth, they would come out no more, but answered, "Talk what you can, we will never believe you; you bear still a cat's heart within you." And so here the Jesuits, yea, and priests too, for they are all joined in the tails, like Samson's foxes: Ephraim against Manassch, and Manassch against Ephraim, and both against Judah.—Sir E. Coke.

JOY—at Finding Salvation

We are told of some Turks, who have, upon the sight of Mahomet's tomb, put out their eyes, that they might not defile them, forsooth, with any common object, after they had been blessed with seeing one so sacred. I am sure many gracious souls there have been, who, by a prospect of heaven's glory set before the eye of their faith, have been so ravished by the sight, that they desired God even to seal up their eyes by death, with Simeon, who would not by his good-will have lived a day after that blessed hour in which his eyes had beheld the salvation of God.—W. Gurnall.

JOY OF OUR RELIGION—as an Evidence of its Truth

How I long for my bed! Not that I may sleep—I lie awake often and long! but to hold sweet communion with my God. What shall I render unto him for all his revelations and gifts to me? Were there no historical evidence of the truth of Christianity, were there no well-established miracles, still I should believe that the religion propagated by the fishermen of Galilee is divine. The holy joys it brings to me must be from heaven. Do I write this boastingly, brother? Nay, it is with tears of humble gratitude that I tell of the goodness of the Lord."—Extract from a Private Letter from Bapa Padmanji, one of the Native Converts in India.

JUDGMENT—Comparable to Balances Our judgment may be compared to the scales and weights of the merchant. It should be correct, but it seldom is quite accurate; even ordinary wear and tear in this world will suffice to put it out of gear. We had need call in the Rectifier full often, and entreat him to search out our secret shortcomings, lest we deviate from equity and know it not. It would be well if the scales of conscience would turn even at the finest dust, but how rarely is this the case! False weights and balances are an abomination unto the Lord, yet many use them, they weigh their neighbours so as to underestimate them, and they use balances far too favourable to themselves; they give the Lord a portion sadly too small, and to their own pleasures a dowry much too great. Tradesmen who have one set of weights to buy with and others to sell with, are evidently rogues, and we may convict ourselves of injustice at once if we find ourselves severe to other men and lenient to ourselves. Fraudulent shopkeepers will use a movable piece of metal, by removing which they can lighten the weight or the scale, and we too may have a convenient indignation which we may restrain or indulge according as the person whose fault we judge may be the object of our goodwill or our displeasure. Some of the marine-store dealers, and buyers of kitchen-stuff at the back door, pretend to judge of weight by the feeling of their hand, and herein they are no worse than those who settle everything by prejudice and will not wait for reason. A railway traveller assured me that he had been weighed a dozen times at different stations, and only twice did the machines give the same report, his opinion of their correctness was not very high; for the same reason, of how little worth are the opinions of the many as to the preachers of the gospel, for scarcely two in a score are of the same mind! There is a great weighing time coming, for which it will be well to be prepared, for woe unto the man whom the infallible balances shall find wanting.

JUDGMENT-DAY—Forgotten Is it not foolish to be living in this world without a thought of what you will do at last? A man goes into an inn, and as soon as he sits down he begins to order his wine, his dinner, his bed; there is no delicacy in season which he forgets to bespeak. He stops at the inn for some time. By-and-by the bill is forthcoming, and it takes him by surprise. "I never thought of that—I never thought of that!" "Why," says the landlord, "here is a man who is either a born fool or else a knave. What! never thought of the reckoning—never thought of settling with me!" After this fashion too many live. They eat, and drink, and sin, but they forget the inevitable hereafter, when for all the deeds done in the body, the Lord will bring us into judgment.

JUDGMENT—Perverted When a traveller is newly among the Alps, he is constantly deceived in his reckoning. One Englishman declared that he could climb the Righi in half-an-hour, but after several panting hours the summit was still a-head of him; yet when he made the boast, some of us who stood by were much of his mind—the ascent seemed so easy. This partly accounts for the mistakes men make in estimating eternal things: they have been too much used to molehills to be at home with mountains. Only familiarity with the sublimities of revelation can educate us to a comprehension of their heights and depths.

JUDGMENTS—Effects of In the province of Quito, after the tremendous earthquake of 1797, a number of marriages were contracted between persons who had neglected for many years to sanction their union by the sacerdotal benediction. Children found parents by whom they had never till then been acknowledged; restitutions were promised by persons who had never been accused of fraud; and families who had long been at enmity were drawn together by the tie of common calamity. But if this feeling seemed to calm the passions of some, and open the heart to pity, it had a contrary effect on others, rendering them more rigorous and inhuman.—Alexander Von Humboldt.