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Innes, John (1)

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• ܦ݁ܽܘܬ݁ܩܳܐ
• κατάλυμα
• πανδοκεῖον , πανδοχεῖον
• ταβέρναι
• מָלוֹן

(מָלוֹן, mnaldn, Genesis 42:27; Genesis 43:21; Exodus 4:24, a lodging- place, as elsewhere rendered; κατάλυμα, Luke 2:7, a place for loosing the beasts of their burden, rendered "guest-chamber," Mark 14:14; Luke 23:11; πανδοχεῖον, Luke 10:34, a place for receiving all comers). Inns, in our sense of the term, were, as they still are, unknown in the East where hospitality is religiously practiced. The khans, or caravanserais, are the representatives of European inns, and these were established but gradually. It is doubtful whether there is any allusion to them in the Old Testament. The halting-place of a caravan was selected originally on account of its proximity to water or pasture, by which the travelers pitched their tents and passed the night. Such was undoubtedly the "inn" at which occurred the incident in the life of Moses narrated in Exodus 4:24. It was probably one of the halting-places of the Ishmaelitish merchants who traded to Egypt with their camel loads of spices. Moses was on his journey from the land of Midian, and the merchants in Genesis 37 are called indiscriminately Ishmaelites and Midianites. At one of these stations, too, the first which they reached after leaving the city, and no doubt within a short distance from it, Joseph's brethren discovered that their money had been replaced in their wallets (Genesis 42:27).

Increased commercial intercourse, and, in later times, religious enthusiasm for pilgrimages, gave rise to the establishment of more permanent accommodation for travelers. On the more frequented routes, remote from towns (Jeremiah 9:2), caravanserais were in course of time erected, often at the expense of the wealthy. The following description of one of those on the road from Baghdad to Babylon will suffice for all: ‘ It is a large and substantial square building, in the distance resembling a fortress, being surrounded with a lofty wall, and flanked by round towers to defend the inmates in case of attack. Passing through a strong gateway, the guest enters a large court, the sides of which are divided into numerous arched compartments, open in front, for the accommodation of separate parties and for the reception of goods. In the center is a spacious raised platform, used for sleeping upon at night, or for the devotions of the faithful during the day. Between the outer wall and the compartments are wide vaulted arcades, extending round the entire building, where the beasts of burden are placed. Upon the roof of the arcades is an excellent terrace, and over the gateway an elevated tower containing two rooms, one of which is open at the sides, permitting the occupants to enjoy every breath of air that passes across the heated plain. The terrace is tolerably clean, but the court and stabling below are ankle-deep in chopped straw and filth" (Loftus, Chaldea, p. 13).

The great khans established by the Persian kings and great men, at intervals of about six miles on the roads from Baghdad to the sacred places, are provided with stables for the horses of the pilgrims. "Within these stables, on both sides, are other cells for travelers" (Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 478, note). The "stall" or "manger," mentioned in Luke 2:7, was probably in a stable of this kind. Such khans are sometimes situated near running streams, or have a supply of water of some kind, but the traveler must carry all his provisions with him (Ouseley, Trav. in Persia, 1, 261, note). "At Damascus the khans are, many of them, substantial buildings; the small rooms which surround the court, as well as those above them which are entered from a gallery, are used by the merchants of the city for depositing their goods (Porter's Damascus, 1, 33). The weklehs of modern Egypt are of a similar description (Lane, Mod. Eg. 2, 10). In some parts of modern Syria a nearer approach has been made to the European system. The people of es-Salt, according to Burckhardt, support four taverns (Menzel or Medhale) at the public expense. At these the traveler is furnished with everything he may require, so long as he chooses to remain, provided his stay is not unreasonably protracted. The expenses are paid by a tax on the heads of families, and a kind of landlord superintends the establishment (Trav. in Syria, p. 36). Usually, however, in Syrian towns, where there is no regular khan, the menzel or public house is part of the sheik's establishment, with a keeper who makes a moderate charge for catering to his guests in addition to the cost of provisions. (See CARAVANSERAI).

"The house of paths" (Proverbs 8:2, ἐν οἴκῳ διόδων , Ven. Vers.), where Wisdom took her stand, is understood by some to refer appropriately to a khan built where many ways met and frequented by many travelers. A similar meaning has been attached to גֵּרוּת כַּמְהָם, geruith Kimham, "the hostel of Chimham" (Jeremiah 41:17) beside Bethlehem, built by the liberality of the son of Barzillai for the benefit of those who were going down to Egypt (Stanley, Sin. and Palest. p. 163; App. § 90). The Targum says, "which' David gave to Chimham, son of Barzillai the Gileadite" (comp. 2 Samuel 19:37-38). With regard to this passage, the ancient versions are strangely at variance. The Sept. had evidently another reading with ב and ג transposed, which they left translated γαβηραχαμάα, Alexand. γηβηρωθχαμάαμ . The Vulgate, if intended to be literal, must have- read גֵּרַים בְּכַמ, peregrinantes in Chanaam. The Arabic, following the Alexandrian MS., read it ἐν γῇ Βηρωθχαμάαμ , "in the land of Berothchamaam." The Syriac has bedre, "in the threshing-floors," as if בְּגָּרְנוֹת, begornoth. Josephus had a reading different from all, בְּגַדנְרוֹת, begidroth, "in the folds of" Chimham; for he says the fugitives went "to a certain place called Mandra" (Μάνδρα λεγόμενον, Ant. 10, 9, 5), and in this he was followed by Aquila and the Hexaplar Syriac.

The πανδοκεῖον (Luke 10:34) probably differed from the κατάλυμα (Luke 2:7) in having a "host" or "innkeeper" (πανδοκεύς, Luke 10:35). who supplied some few of the necessary provisions, and attended to the wants of travelers left to his charge. The word has been adopted in the later Hebrew, and appears in the Mishna (Yebamoth, 16:7) under the form פונדק, pundak, and the host is פונדקי, punddki. The Jews were forbidden to put up their beasts at establishments of this kind kept by idolaters (Aboda Zara, 2, 1). It appears that houses of entertainment were sometimes, as in Egypt (Herod. 2, 35), kept by women, whose character was such that their evidence was regarded with suspicion. In the Mishna (Yebanoth, 16, 7) a tale is told of a company of Levites who were travelling to Zoar, the city of Palms, when one of them fell ill on the road and was left by his comrades at an inn, under the charge of the hostess (פונדקית,pundekith = πανδοκευτρία ). On their return to inquire for their friend, the hostess told them he was dead and buried, but they refused to believe her till she produced his staff, wallet, and roll of the law. In Joshua 2:1, זונָה, zonah, the term applied to Rahab, is rendered in the Targum of Jonathan פינדקיתא, ipundekitha, "a woman who keeps an inn." So in Judges 11:1, of the mother of Jephthah; of Delilah (Judges 16:1) and the two men who appealed to Solomon (1 Kings 3:16). The words, in the opinion of Kimchi on Joshua 2:1, appear to have been synonymous. (See KHAN).

Inner (i.e. DOMESTIC, or "Home") Missions is the name given, in the Protestant churches of Germany, to any association of evangelical Christians for the purpose of relieving the spiritual and temporal wants of the community by disseminating the Gospel truth, and affording help in temporal concerns.

I. Origin and Organization. — Christianity commands that faith should manifest itself in deeds of love; hence, as early as the apostolical times, we see deacons and deaconesses appointed to attend to the poor and the sick, distribute alms, etc. This was continued in later days by Origen, St. Anthony, etc. When, in the 4th century; Christianity became the religion of the state, the clergy assumed this office, which, from the abundance of means in the Church, had become a very important one. In subsequent times we find Francis of Assisi, Elizabeth of Thuringia, Francis of Sales, and a number of religious orders, hospitallers, sisters of charity, etc., devoting themselves to the care of the poor, the aged, and the sick. Hospitals, houses of refuge, orphan asylums, etc., were established for these purposes. The Protestant Church, in consequence of its subjection to the state, could exert itself but little in that direction, being oftentimes even prevented by law from the care of the poor. Still efforts were made by private individuals, such as August Hermann Francke, whose orphan asylum at Halle became a model which was imitated in other places; Biblical, missionary, and tract societies were established in Germany, and a number of houses of refuge and infant schools established. In modern times a fresh impulse was given to this evangelical movement by England. The attempts of Howard, Wilberforce, and Buxtoni were continued on an enlarged scale by lord Ashley, the duke of Argyle, Elizabeth Fry, etc. City missions, Magdalen and night asylums, Sabbath and ragged schools, were established. Chalmers, first in the Presbyterian and then in the Free Church of Scotland, restored the diacony and care of the poor on an ecclesiastical basis. Similar efforts were made in France, among the Romanists, by the Sisters of St. Mary and St. Joseph, and St.Regis.

II. Sphere. — The German inner missions endeavor to promote infant, secular, and Sunday school associations, institutions of refuge, intercourse with the families, etc. They at the same time take part in the social questions of the day, and labor to systematize the aid given to the poor, to promote personal intercourse between the giver and the receiver, the purification of morals; and for these purposes they have established female benevolent associations, diaconies, nurseries, labor societies, etc. The influx of communistic ideas they seek to counterbalance by establishing schools for apprentices and adults, societies for the education of servants, both male and female, and for the propagation of good books. They oppose unchristian and unecclesiastical tendencies by promoting the study of the Scriptures, establishing family worship, awakening religious feelings in the families, organizing book and tract societies, sending out colporteurs and street preachers, and opposing prostitution, drunkenness, and all other immorality. They discountenance revolution as subversive of political organization, and as the enemy of religion and of morality: in this department they act through political speeches and the press, in raising the standard of popular literature, and especially by their influence over the rising generation. They also attend to the prisons, trying to promote Christian love in the hearts of the officers entrusted with their charge, and forming persons for that office in their institutions. Aside from the protective associations for culprits who have finished their time of imprisonment, they endeavor also to establish asylums for them.

III. Extent. — In Germany the inner missions embrace some eleven to twelve million Protestants, not regularly connected with any Church, the floating population, the workmen's associations, which are often a prey to atheism and communism, travelers and strangers, etc. In this manner they become a friendly ally of the government, of which all they require is the protection of their associations and freedom of worship. With regard to the Church, they labor for the evangelizing of the masses according to a truly Christian spirit, bat-without entering into any of the disputes of the different confessions, and without seeking to gain proselytes. Their agents are women as well as men; for instance, Elizabeth Fry, Sarah Martin, Amelia Sieveking, etc. The absolute necessity of such an association was shown by statistical statements of the wants of the population, which were especially collected by Wichern. From this starting-point the institution in question developed its labors. Aside from the organization of societies, which were soon propagated throughout the country, it directed its attention to the establishing of houses of refuge, to which that established by Wichern at Horn, near Hamburg, served as model, and of which, in 1858, there were some 140 in existence in Germany. For the care of the poor it was difficult to do much, as the inner missions could not well associate themselves with the municipal organizations for that purpose, yet in some places, as at Erlangen and at Ansbach, the voluntary system of relief has produced good results. The inner missions also labor to promote the observance of the Sabbath, and to distribute Bibles. Their most important results, so far, in Germany, are the establishing of Bible depots, of associations to meet the wants of the ignorant, the improvement of the prison systems, which has been adopted in a number of countries, etc.

The interest of Germany in the cause of inner missions has of late greatly increased. The Congress for Inner Missions, which in 1848 was organized in connection with the Church Diet (Kirchentag), has ever since held annual or biennial general meetings in connection with the sittings of the Church Dict. At these meetings reports are made on the condition of religious life in Germany, and the proper remedies for the existing evils are discussed. The establishment of houses of refuge and of Christian lodging- houses, the care of the poor and of discharged prisoners, the solution of the social question, the extension of Young Men's Christian Associations, and of Bible and other religious societies, are the chief subjects which engage the attention of every congress. In addition to the General Congress for Inner Missions, a number of provincial associations for the same purpose have been organized. Thus a South-western Conference for Inner Missions was established in 1865; a central association for the inner mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the kingdom of Saxony in 1868. The Central Committee for Inner Missions, which is elected at every meeting of the Congress for Inner Missions, and is composed of some of the most prominent clergymen and laymen of Germany, endeavors to carry out the resolutions of the congresses, and to invoke the proper legislation of the state government for the suppression of vice and immorality, especially of prostitution. Germany has a number of papers advocating the cause of inner missions, the most important of which, the Flieggende Blatter fur innere Mission, is published by Wichern (established in 1850). See also Merz, Armuth u. Christenthum (1841); Wichern Denkschijft (1849); Braune, Fü nf Vorlesungen (1850); Buss (Roman Catholic), Die Volksmissionen (1851); Pierer, Universal Lexikon, 8:919. For a fuller account of the subject, especially with regard to America, Eng. land, and other countries, (See MISSIONS, HOME).