Heathen. Literally a dweller on a heath in the open country. The Romans applied the term to those who, having no communion with the dwellers in cities, were cut off from all knowledge of their complicated system of mythology. When Rome became converted to Christianity the untutored inhabitants of the country at large were the last to receive the Gospel. A heathen nation therefore, in a religious sense, is one far removed from civilisation, which offers a fruitful field for missionary work.
Heaven-sent Minister. William Pitt, first Earl of Chatham, one of the most eminent statesmen that England has ever possessed. His intense love of his own country prompted him to measures which made the success of British arms pre-eminent. Had his colleagues during the later portion of his career been actuated by the same patriotism as himself, and heeded his warnings, our American colonies might never have separated from the Mother Country.
Heavy Hill. Holborn Hill, because the hearts of those riding in the fatal cart to the place of execution at Tyburn were heavily laden.
“He” Bible. The first edition of the Authorised Version, containing a typographical error in Ruth iii. 15: “And he went into the city.” The subsequent edition, published in the same year, in which the passage was rectified, became known as “The ‘She’ Bible.”
Hebrews. Said to be descendants of Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, one of the ancestors of Abraham. The greater probability, however, is that the term has been derived from the native ebher, the region on the other side--i.e. of the Euphrates.
Hebrides. Expresses the “Western Isles” of the Norwegians.
Hector. To swagger, bully, treat with insolence, after Hector, the celebrated Trojan warrior. From the known character of this hero of antiquity it is not easy to conceive that he could ever have been a braggart. The inference is rather that this word in its accepted sense was derived from the brutal manner in which Achilles treated the body of Hector after he had slain him in single combat.
Hedge Priest. Specifically in Ireland an itinerant cleric unattached to any mission; one admitted to Holy Orders without having studied theology.
Hedge School. An open-air school in the poor rural districts of Ireland beside a hedge.
Heel of Achilles. When Thetis, the mother of Achilles, dipped her son in the River Styx to make him invulnerable the water laved every portion of his body save that by which she held him. It was accordingly[accordingly] in the heel that he received his mortal wound.