[Heber, Reginald], bishop of Calcutta, born in Cheshire, author of a prize poem entitled "Palestine" and a volume of "Hymns," several of them famous; died at his post in Trichinopoly; left a narrative of a "Journey through India" (1783-1826).
[Hébert, Jacques René], commonly called Per Duchesne as editor of a journal of that name, a violent revolutionary organ; took part in the September Massacres; brutally insulted the queen at her trial, to the disgust of Robespierre; was arrested by his colleagues, whom he dared to oppose, and guillotined, his widow found weeping, following him to his doom (1756-1794).
[Hebrew], a Semitic language, the ancient language of the Jews, and that in which the Old Testament is written, the words of which, as indeed of others of the same stock, are derived from triliteral roots, and the verb in which has no present tense, only a past and a future, convertible, moreover, into one another.
[Hebrew Poetry] is of two kinds, either lyric or gnomic, i. e. subjectively emotional or sententiously didactic, the former belonging to the active or stirring, and the latter to the reflective or quiet, periods of Hebrew history, and whether expressed in lyric or gnome rises in the conscience and terminates in action; for Hebrew thought needs to go no higher, since therein it finds and affirms God; and it seeks to go no farther, for therein it compasses all being, and requires no epic and no drama to work out its destiny. However individualistic in feature, as working through the conscience, it yet relates itself to the whole moral world, and however it may express itself, it beats in accord with the pulse of eternity. The lyric expression of the Hebrew temper we find in the Psalms and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, and the gnomic in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, while the book of Job, which is only dramatic in form, is partly lyric and partly dramatic.
[Hebrew Prophecy] had throughout regard for the Jews as a nation and to see that it fulfilled its destiny as such in the world. This purpose we see carried out by five steps or stages. It taught, first, by the [Nebiim] (q. v.), that the nation must regard itself as one nation; secondly, by Elijah, that it must have Jehovah alone for its God; thirdly, by Amos, that as a nation it was not necessarily God's chosen; fourthly, by Isaiah, that it existed for the preservation of a holy seed; and finally, that it ceased to exist when it was felt that religion primarily concerned the individual and was wholly an affair of the conscience. Thus does Hebrew prophecy terminate when it leads up to Christianity, the first requirement of which is a regeneration of the heart (John iii. 3), and the great promise of which is the outpouring of a spirit that "will guide into all truth" (John xvi. 13).
[Hebrews, Epistle to the], an epistle of the New Testament of uncertain authorship addressed to Christians of Jewish descent, who were strongly tempted, by the persecution they were subjected to at the hands of their Jewish brethren, to renounce the cross of Christ, which it was feared they would too readily do, and so to their own ruin crucify the Son of God afresh, there being only this alternative for them, either crucifixion with Christ or crucifixion of Christ, and death of all their hopes founded on Him.
[Hebrides], or Western Islands, a general name for the islands on the west coast of Scotland (save the islands of the Firth of Clyde), about 500 in number, of which 100 are inhabited; they belong to the counties of Ross, Inverness, and Argyll, and are divided by the Little Minch and the Minch into the Outer Hebrides, of which the chief are Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, Benbecula, &c.; and the Inner Hebrides, including Skye, Rum, Mull, Iona, Staffa, &c.; they have wild and rocky coasts, but are picturesque and verdurous, and are much frequented by tourists; the climate is mild and moist; cattle and sheep rearing and fishing are the chief industries.
[Hebron], an ancient town and city of refuge, originally called Kirjath-arba, i. e. four cities, only 20 m. S. of Jerusalem; it is a poor place now, but still abounds in orchards and vineyards.
[Hecatæus of Miletus], styled the "logographer," who flourished about 500 B.C.; visited many countries, and wrote two books, "The Tour of the World" and "Genealogies or Histories," the former containing descriptions of the places he visited, and the latter an account of the poetical fables and traditions of the Greeks.
[Hecate], in the Greek mythology a mysterious divinity of the Titan brood and held in honour by all the gods, identified with Phoebe in heaven, Artemis on earth, and Persephone in Hades, as being invested with authority in all three regions; came to be regarded exclusively as an infernal deity, having under her command and at her beck all manner of demons and phantom spirits.