God of Israel at Jerusalem. Holocausts were deemed by the Jews the most excellent of all their sacrifices. See SA CRIFICE. HOLY ALLIANCE. See ALLIANCE. HOLY DAY, a day set apart by the church for the commemoration of some saint, or some remarkable particular in the life of Christ. It has been a question agitated by divines, whether it be proper to appoint or keep any holy days (the Sabbath excepted.) The advocates for holy days suppose that they have a tendency to impress the minds of the people with a greater sense of religion; that if the acquisitions and victories of men be celebrated with the highest joy, how much more those events which relate to the salvation of man, such as the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, &c. On the other side it is observed, that if holy days had been necessary under the present dispensation, Jesus Christ would have ordained something respecting them, whereas he was silent about them; that it is bringing us again into that bondage to ceremonial laws from which Christ freed us; that it is a tacit reflection on the head of the church in not appointing them; that such days, on the whole, are more pernicious than useful to society, as they open a door for indolence and profaneness; yea, that Scripture speaks against such days. Gal. iv. 9-11. Cave's Prim. Christ.; Nelson's Fasts and Feasts; Robinson's History and Mystery of Good Friday, and Lectures on Non-conformity; a Country Vicar's Sermon on Christmas Day, 1753; Brown's Nat. and Rev. Rel. p. 535; Neal's Hist. of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 116, qu. HOLY GHOST, the third person in the Trinity. I. The Holy Ghost is a real and distinct person in the Godhead. 1. Personal powers of rational understanding and will are ascribed to him, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11; 1 Cor. xii. 11; Eph. iv. 3. 2. He is joined with the other two divine persons, as the object of divine worship and fountain of blessings, Matt. xxviii. 19; 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 3. In the Greek, a masculine article or epithet is joined to his name Pneuma, which is naturally of the neuter gender, John xiv. 26; John xv. 26; John xvi. 13; Eph. i. 13. 4. He appeared under the emblem of a dove, and of cloven tongues of fire, Matt. iii.; Acts ii. 5. Personal offices of an intercessor belong to him, Rom. viii. 26. 6. He is represented as performing a multitude of personal acts,—as teaching, speaking, witnessing, &c., Mark xiii. 11; Acts xx. 23; Rom. viii. 15, 16; 1 Cor. vi. 19; Acts xv. 28; xvi. 6, 7, &c. &c. II. It is no less evident that the Holy Ghost is a divine person, equal in power and glory with the Father and Son. 1. Names proper only to the Most High God are ascribed to him; as Jehovah, Acts xxviii. 25, with Is. vi. 9, and Hebrews iii. 7, 9, with Exod. xvii. 7; Jer. xxxi. 31, 34; Heb. x. 15, 16; God, Acts v. 3, 4. Lord, 2 Cor. iii. 17, 19. "The Lord, the Spirit." 2. Attributes proper only to the Most High God are ascribed to him; as Omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11; Is. xl. 13, 14. Omnipresence, Ps. cxxxix. 7; Eph. ii. 17, 18; Rom. viii. 26, 27. Omnipotence, Luke i. 35. Eternity, Heb. ix. 14. 3. Divine works are evidently ascribed to him, Gen. ii. 2; Job xxvi. 13; Ps. xxxii. 6; Ps. civ. 30. 4. Worship, proper only to God, is required and ascribed to him, Is. vi. 3; Acts xxviii. 25; Rom. ix. 1; Rev. i. 4; 2 Cor. xiii. 14; Matt. xxviii. 19. III. The agency or work of the Holy Ghost is divided by some into extraordinary and ordinary. The former by immediate inspiration, making men prophets; the latter by his regenerating and sanctifying influences, making men saints. It is only the latter which is now to be expected. This is more particularly displayed in-1. Conviction of sin, John xvi. 8, 9. 2. Conversion, 1 Cor. xii.; Eph. i. 17, 18; 1 Cor. ii, 10, 12; John iii. 5, 6. 3. Sanctification, 2 Thes. ii. 13; 1 Cor. vi. 11; Rom. xv. 16. 4. Consolation, John xiv. 16, 26. 5. Direction, John xiv. 17; Rom. viii. 14. 6. Confirmation, Rom. viii. 16, 26; 1 John ii. 24; Eph. i. 13, 14. As to the gift of the Holy Spirit, says a good writer, it is not expected to be bestowed in answer to our prayers, to inform us immediately, as by a whisper, when either awake or asleep, that we are the children of God; or in any other way than by enabling us to exercise repentance and faith and love to God and our neighbour. 2. We are not to suppose that he reveals anything contrary to the written word, or more than is contained in it, or through any other medium. 3. We are not so led by, or operated upon by the Spirit, as to neglect the means of grace. 4. The Holy Spirit is not promised nor given to render us infallible. 5. Nor is the Holy Spirit given in order that we may do anything, which was not before HOLY GHOST, PROCESSION OF. HOLY WATER, in the Greek and Roman Catholic churches, water which has been consecrated by prayer, exorcism, and other ceremonies, for the purpose of sprinkling the faithful, and things used in the church. It is placed, in vases, at the doors of churches, and also within them at certain places, from which the Catholics sprinkle themselves before prayer. Holy water is also often found in their chambers, and is used before prayer, particularly before going to bed. The Romanists consider it an effectual exorcism. In Rome, animals are also sprinkled, on a certain feast, with holy water, to keep them healthy and thriving. The same thing is done at Moscow, where there is a particular church, to which the horses are annually driven on purpose. It does not appear that vessels were placed at the doors of churches, for washing the hands, till the fourth century, or that the water was blessed or consecrated till the sixth. HOMILY, opinia, a sermon or discourse upon some point of religion delivered in a plain manner, so as to be easily understood by the common people. The Greek, says M. Fleury, signifies a familiar discourse, like the Latin sermo, and discourses delivered in the church took these denominations, to intimate that they were not harangues, or matters of ostentation and flourish, like those of profane orators, but familiar and useful discourses, as of a master to his disciples, or a father to his children. All the homilies of the Greek and Latin fathers are composed by bishops. none of Tertullian, Clemens AlexandriWe have nus, and many other learned persons, because in the early ages none but bishops were admitted to preach. The privilege was not ordinarily allowed to priests till toward the fifth century. St. Chrysostom was the first presbyter that preached statedly. Origen and Augustine also preached, but it was by a peculiar license or privilege. Photius distinguishes homily from HON sermon, in that the homily was perform- makes a person prefer his promise or See HONOUR, a testimony of esteem or exterior behaviour, by which we make submission, expressed by words and an known the veneration and respect we entertain for any one, on account of his dignity or merit. The word is also used in general for the esteem due to virtue, glory, reputation, and probity; as also, for an exactness in performing whatever we have promised; and in this last sense we use the term, a man of honour. It is also applied to two different kinds of virtue; bravery in men, and chastity in women. In every situation of life, religion only forms the true honour and happiness of man. "It cannot," as one observes, "arise from riches, dignity of rank or office, nor from what are often called splendid actions of heroes, or civil accomplishments; these may be found among men of no real integrity, and may create considerable fame; but a distinction must be made between fame and true honour. The former is a loud and noisy applause; the latter is a more silent and internal homage. Fame floats on the breath of the multitude; honour rests on the judgment of the thinking. In order, then, to discern where true honour lies, we must not look to any adventitious circumstance, not to any single sparkling quality, but to the whole of what forms a man; in a word, we must look to the soul. It will discover itself by a mind superior to fear, to selfish interest, and corruption; by an ardent love to the Supreme Being, and by a principle of uniform rectitude. It will make us neither afraid nor ashamed to discharge our duty, as it relates both to God and man. It will influence us to be magnanimous without being proud; humble without being mean; just without being harsh; simple in our manners, but manly in our feelings. This honour, thus formed by religion, or the love of God, is more independent, and more complete, than what can be acquired by any other means. It is productive of higher felicity, and will be commensurate with eternity itself; while that honour, so called, which arises from any other principle, will resemble the feeble and twinkling flame of a taper, which is often clouded by the smoke it sends forth, but is always wasting, and soon dies totally away." Barrow's Works, vol. i. ser. 4; Blair's Sermons, vol. iii. ser. 1; Watts's Sermons, ser. 30, vol. ii.; Ryland's Cont., vol. i. p. 343; Jortin's Sermons, vol. iii. ser. 6. HOPE is the desire of some good, attended with the possibility, at least, of obtaining it; and is enlivened with joy greater or less, according to the probability there is of possessing the object of our hope. Scarce any passion seems to be more natural to man than hope; and, considering the many troubles he is encompassed with, none is more necessary; for life, void of all hope, would be a heavy and spiritless thing, very little desirable, perhaps hardly to be borne; whereas hope infuses strength into the mind, and, by so doing, lessens the burdens of life. If our condition be not the best in the world, yet we hope it will be better, and this helps us to support it with patience. The hope of the Christian is an expectation of all necessary good both in time and eternity, founded on the promises, relations, and perfections of God, and on the offices, righteousness, and intercession of Christ. It is a compound of desire, expectation, patience, and joy, Rom. viii. 24, 25. It may be considered, 1. As pure, 1 John iii. 2, 3, as it is resident in that heart which is cleansed from sin. 2. As good, 2 Thess. ii. 16 (in distinction from the hope of the hypocrite), as deriving its origin from God, and centring in him. 3. It is called lively, 1 Pet. i. 3, as it proceeds from spiritual life, and renders one active and lively in good works. 4. It is courageous, Rom. v. 5; 1 Thess. v. 8; because it excites fortitude in all the troubles of life, and yields support in the hour of death, Prov. xiv. 32. 5. Sure, Heb. vi. 19, because it will not disappoint us, and is fixed on a sure foundation. 6. Joyful, Rom. v. 2, as it produces the greatest felicity in the anticipation of complete deliverance from all evil. Grove's Moral Phil., vol. i. p. 381; Gill's Body of Div., p. 82. vol. iii.; No. 471 Spect.; Jay's Sermons, vol. ii. ser. 2. HOPKINSIANS, so called from the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, D. D., an American divine, who, in his sermons and tracts, has made several additions to the sentiments first advanced by the celebrated Jonathan Edwards, late president of New Jersey College. Dr. Hopkins was born at Waterbury, in Connecticut, 1721, and graduated at Yale College, in 1741. Soon after, he engaged in theological studies, at Northampton, Massachusetts, under the superintendence of Jonathan Edwards, and, in 1743, was ordained at Honsatonic, now Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where he continued till he removed to Newport, Rhode Island, in consequence of the diminution of his congregation, and his want of support. When he had resided some time in this place, the people became dissatisfied with his sentiments, and resolved, at a meeting, to intimate to him their disinclination to his continuance among them. On the ensuing sabbath, he preached his farewell discourse, which was so interesting and impressive, that they besought him to remain, which he did till his death, in 1803. He was a pious and zealous man, of considerable talents, and almost incredible powers of application. He is said to have been sometimes engaged during eighteen hours in his studies. His doctrinal views are contained in his "System of Divinity," published in a second edition at Boston, in 1811, in two vols. 8vo. The following is a summary of the distinguishing tenets of the Hopkinsians, together with a few of the reasons they bring forward in support of their sentiments. I. That all true virtue, or real holiness, consists in disinterested benevolence. The object of benevolence is universal being, including God and all intelligent creatures. It wishes and seeks the good of every individual, so far as is consistent with the greatest good of the whole, which is comprised in the glory of God and the perfection and happiness of his kingdom. The law of God is the standard of all moral rectitude or holiness. This is reduced into love to God, and our neighbour as ourselves; and universal good-will comprehends all the love to God, our neigh bour, and ourselves, required in the divine law, and therefore must be the whole of holy obedience. Let any serious person think what are the particular branches of true piety; when he has viewed each one by itself, he will find that disinterested friendly affection is its distinguishing characteristic. For instance, all the holiness in pious fear, which distinguishes it from the fear of the wicked, consists in love. Again; holy gratitude is nothing but good-will to God and our neighbour, in which we ourselves are included; and correspondent affection, excited by a view of the good-will and kindness of God. Universal good-will also implies the whole of the duty we owe to our neighbour, for justice, truth, and faithfulness, are comprised in universal benevolence; so are temperance and chastity. For an undue indulgence of our appetites and passions is contrary to benevolence, as tending to hurt ourselves or others; and so opposite to the general good, and the divine command, in which all the crime of such indulgence consists. In short, all virtue is nothing but benevolence acted out in its proper nature and perfection; or love to God and our neighbour, made perfect in all its genuine exercises and expressions. II. That all sin consists in selfishness. By this is meant an interested, selfish affection, by which a person sets himself up as supreme, and the only object of regard: and nothing is good or lovely in his view, unless suited to promote his own private interest. This self-love is, in its whole nature, and every degree of it, enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God, and is the only affection that can oppose it. It is the foundation of all spiritual blindness, and therefore the source of all the open idolatry in the heathen world, and false religion under the light of the Gospel; all this is agreeable to that self-love which opposes God's true character. Under the influence of this principle, men depart from truth; it being itself the greatest practical lie in nature, as it sets up that which is comparatively nothing above universal existence. Selflove is the source of all profaneness and impiety in the world, and of all pride and ambition among men, which is nothing but selfishness, acted out in this particular way. This is the foundation of all covetousness and sensuality, as it blinds people's eyes, contracts their hearts, and sinks them down, so that they look upon earthly enjoyments as the greatest good. This is the source of all falsehood, injustice, and oppression, as it excites mankind by undue methods to invade the property of others. Selflove produces all the violent passions-envy, wrath, clamour, and evil speaking: and everything contrary to the divine law is briefly comprehended in this fruitful source of all iniquity-self-love. III. That there are no promises of regenerating grace made to the doings of the unregenerate. For as far as men act from self-love, they act from a bad end; for those who have no true love to God, really do no duty when they attend on the externals of religion. And as the unregenerate act from a selfish principle, they do nothing which is commanded: their impenitent doings are wholly opposed to repentance and conversion; therefore not implied in the command to repent, &c so far from this, they are altogether disobedient to the command. Hence it appears that there are no promises of salvation to the doings of the unregenerate. IV. That the impotency of sinners, with respect to believing in Christ, is not natural, but moral; for it is a plain dictate of common sense, that natural impossibility excludes all blame. But an unwilling mind is universally considered as a crime, and not as an excuse, and is the very thing wherein our wickedness consists. That the impotence of the sinner is owing to a disaffection of heart, is evident from the promises of the Gospel. When any object of good is proposed and promised to us upon asking, it clearly evinces that there can be no impotence in us with respect to obtaining it, beside the disapprobation of the will; and that inability, which consists in disinclination, never renders anything improperly the subject of precept or command. V. That, in order to faith in Christ, a sinner must approve in his heart of the divine conduct, even though God should cast him off for ever; which, however, neither implies love of misery, nor hatred of happiness. For if the law is good, death is due to those who have broken it. The Judge of all the earth cannot but do right. It would bring everlasting reproach upon his government to spare us, considered merely as in ourselves. When this is felt in our hearts, and not till then, we shall be prepared to look to the free grace of God, through the redemption which is in Christ, and to exercise faith in his blood, who is set forth to be a propitiation to declare God's righteousness, that he might be just, and yet be the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. VI. That the infinitely wise and holy God has exerted his omnipotent power in such a manner as he purposed should be followed with the existence and entrance of moral evil into the system. For it must be admitted on all hands, that God has a perfect knowledge, foresight, and view of all possible existences and events. If that system and scene of operation, in which moral evil should never have existed, was actually preferred in the divine mind, certainly the Deity is infinitely disappointed in the issue of his own operations. Nothing can be more dishonourable to God than to imagine that the system which is actually formed by the divine hand, and which was made for his pleasure and glory, is yet not the fruit of wise contrivance and design. VII. That the introduction of sin is, upon the whole, for the general good. For the wisdom and power of the Deity are displayed in carrying on designs of the greatest good; and the existence of moral evil has undoubtedly occasioned a more full, perfect, and glorious discovery of the infinite perfections of the divine nature than could otherwise have been made to the view of creatures. If the extensive manifestation of the pure and holy nature of God, and his infinite aversion to sin, and all his inherent perfections, in their genuine fruits and effects, is either itself the greatest good, or necessarily contains it, it must necessarily follow that the introduction of sin is for the greatest good. VIII. That repentance is before faith in Christ. By this is not intended, that repentance is before a speculative belief of the being and perfections of God, and of the person and character of Christ; but only that true repentance is previous to a saving faith in Christ, in which the believer is united to Christ, and entitled to the benefits of his mediation and atonement. That repentance is before faith in this sense, appears from several considerations. 1. As repentance and faith respect different objects, so they are distinct exercises of the heart; and therefore one not only may, but must be prior to the other. 2. There may be genuine repentance of sin without faith in Christ, but there cannot be true faith in Christ without repentance of sin; and since repentance is necessary in order to faith in Christ, it must necessarily be prior to faith in Christ. 3. John the Baptist, Christ and his apostles, taught that repentance is before faith. John cried, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;" intimating, that true repentance was necessary in order to embrace the Gospel of the kingdom. Christ commanded, " Repent ye, and believe the Gospel." And Paul preached repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." 66 IX. That though men became sinners by Adam, according to a divine constitution, yet they have, and are accountable for no sins but personal; for, 1. Adam's act, in eating the forbidden |