M/-V" iiniiiTi ..t the hedgelLk 14-5). Theeyeoflove sees humanity sul)iiii-i;;tc|. ■ rii.Mu aUo he would bring.' He would iii.ikc In il^iniw people happy. He had seen their mi>ii v a^ lli> ~tole to silent mid- night prayer, up the hil'l-i.k-. with their mosaic of fields, along whose hedges and through the gaps of which He passed to pray to the Father in secret. It is humanity's ragged regiment whom He would see housed by the compulsion of ' the love (Lk 14=*) that will not let them go.'
LiTERATiRE,— Geikie, Life of Christ, i. ch. 17; Thomson, Latid aiui Book, ch. 14 ; Phiiochriitus, chs. 1-3 for 'Hedge of the Law.' JoHN R. LEGGE.
HEIR. — The heir ((tXijpoi-oMos) is one who enters on a position of privilege different from that of .sfrvants (Mt 21^), through no personal exertion of his own, but as the result of filial relationship. This position is a thoroughly right and legal one, and absolutely valid. The thought of succession to a title upon the death of the present holder is not insisted upon. The son is naturally the heir, and the title is one of present privilege as well as the assurance of fuller posisession in the future.
Christ, the Son. is the lieir of all things (He 1=; cf. our Loid- .ii.i.liratiou of tlie term to Himself in the parabk- ..t tin- Wirk.'.l Husbandman, Mt 215«). The comjilrtr lor.Ulii]i om r Creation was given to Adam (Gn 1-', 1'- s"i. I'lic land of Canaan, again, was promi-.,.! 1,. AIh.iIliii. and his seed (Gn 13'^- ">). These assurainr., -w,;, 1,. Adam and to Abraham were absolutely liiliillc.l in Cliiist, who, as the firstborn of aircreatiou. iliin^rlt bnth the Agent of the Creator's work anl -iiuiniiiiL; up in His own Person all created nl.jrcis i( ..1 1'^"), enjoys an eternal and incorruptible inlieritance. ' The heir- ship of the Son was realised in the Incarnation, and in its essence is independent of the Fall (Westcott on He 1-), though conditioned by it as to its cir- cumstances.' It was the sin of man which caused the suffering and humiliation through which Christ, after the work of redemption was complete, won a name which is above every name (Ph '2"). He had inherited in the eternal purpose of God (IBriKff, He 1=) a name more excellent than the angels (1^).
The title of ' heir,' then, passes on to those who have obtained the blessing of Divine sonsbij) in l>;iptism or Regeneration, corresponding spiritu- ally to the promise made to Abraham. The Old Covenant (Testament) could not make men perfect, therefore God provided them with more strength.
HELL
HELL (DESCENT INTO)
•13
and ill place of a worldly inheritance gave tliem a spiritual and eternal one. This title of heirship may be forfeited, if those who are called to it are not worthy of their inheritance. So Christ s])eaks in the Apocalypse : ' He that overcometli ^li.ill in- herit these things ; and I will be his God, .nid he shall be ray son ' (Rev 21'). We, then, bLin- uv.i.lr children of God through faitli in Christ, uie heir.^ according to the promise made to Abraham, who was accepted through faith in God's word against all appearances. No longer servants, but heirs, we are entitled to the Divine privilege of sonship through adoption. We are called to inherit a blessing as all true servants of God through Baptism.
It remains to be seen who are specially men- tioned in the Gospels as heirs to this privilege :
(1) 'The meek shall inherit the earth' (Mt 5^).
(2) Those who have given up houses, lands, earthly relationships, etc., shall receive an hundred-fold and inherit eternal life, Mt 19=», Mk 10", Lk 18'«.
(3) The sheep in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt 25"''), i.e. those who have shown mercy to the weak and suffering, and whose service has been accepted by Christ as done to Himself, shall inherit the Kingdom prepared for them from the beginning of the world. But, on the other hand, no fornicator or unclean person or covetous man, who is an idolater, liatti any inheritance in the Kingdom of God and of Christ (Eph 5'). See also Inhkritance.
C. H. I'RICHARD.
HELL.— See Eschatology, Gehenna, and the following article.
HELL (Descent into).— During tlie 16tli cent, tlie Descent of Christ into Hades was made the subject of acrimonious debates. Though com- mentators still differ, they discuss the subject in a more peaceable spirit, and offer some hope of future agreement on the main question. We must review— (1) the evidence of the NT, (2) early Christian tradition, to explain (3) the insertion of such teaching in Creeds and Articles of Religion. We may then (4) summarize the history of the controversy in modern times.
1. The evidence of the NT. — It is important to distinguish between flie bare statement of the Descent as a fact in the history of our Lord as the Son of Man, which is acknowledged by all who believe that He truly died, and any theory of His mission in the unseen world, wliicli can claim acceptance only after careful scrutiny of incidental references to it in the NT supported by the inde- pendent testimony of the earliest Christian tradi- tion.
Hades (Ai'S?;?), corresponding to the Heb. Shcol, which in the AV of the OT is rendered by ' hell,' means both in the LXX and in the NT the abode of departed spirits. This was the general mean- ing of the word ' hell,' the unseen, hidden place which is the abode of the dead.