Hearers {audientes), a name given to a class of catechumens in the early Church who were admitted to hear sermons and scriptiures read in the church, but were not allowed to share in the prayers. The Apos- tolical Constitutions (lib. viii, c. 5) orders the deacon to dismiss them with the words Ne quis audientium, ne quis infdelium (" Let none of the hearers, let none of the unbeUevers, be present"), before the proper liturgy be- gan. See Bingham, Orifj. Eccles. bk. viii, cI.. 4; bk. x, ch. 2; bk. xviii, ch. 1.
Hearse or Herse (from Lat. herpix, Low Lat. her- cia, French her-ze, a harroir). The Low Latin hercia also signified a candelal)rum, shaped like a harrow, which was placed at the head of a grave, a coffin, or a cenotaph. In the INIiddle Ages the name herse was applied to a cano- py (in Italian, cattifulco), which was placed over the cof- fins of the distinguished dead, while they were kept in the church previous to interment. Herses were also frequently prepared to receive the bodies of the dead in churches, at stations along the route, where they were being borne to a distance for final interment. Herses were often made with great magnificence. They were , frequently adorned with illustrations of the last judg- ment, and other subjects taken from the Scriptures. Candles were set in sockets in great numbers, and were kept burning as long as the corpse remained in the herse. Tlie name herse was also aiiplied to a frame of wood or of metal that was placed over some of the re- clining .statues which were so frequently put over the tombs of distinguished persons. Over tliis herse a pall was frequently hung. The modern use of the word hearse is confined to a frame-work or a wagon to bear
the dead to the grave. The hearse varies greatlj^ in form and ornamentation in different countries.— Diez, Etymolof/isches Worterbuch (Bonn, 1861) ; Parker, Diet, of Architecture (Oxford, 1850) ; Migne, JJictionnaire des brifjines (Paris, 1864). (G. F. C.)
Heart, in the Biblical sense (napSia ; jP or 3S^, often exchanged for tl'^p, in a more extended sense, as in Psa. xxxix, 3, 4 ; cix, 22 ; 1 Sam. xxv, 37, the whole region of the chest, with its contents ; see DeUtzsch, System of Biblical Psychology, § 12, 13. According to Hupfeld, i^n, in Psa. xvii, 10, and Ixxiii, 7, means sim- ply the heart, which is not very likely).
1. In the Biblical point of view, human life, in all its operations, is centred in the heart. The heart is the central organ of the physical circulation ; hence the ne- cessity for strengthenmg the body as a support for the heart (33 'l?^, Gen. xviii, 5; Judges xix, 5; Psa. civ, 15) ; and the exhaustion of phj^sical pov/er is called a drj'ing up of the heart (Psa. cii, 5; xxii, 15, etc.). So, also, is the heart the centre of spiritual activity ; for all spiritual aims, whether belonging to the intellectu- al, moral, or pathological spheres, are elaborated in the heart, and again carried out by the heart. In fact, the whole life of the soul, in the lower and sensual, as well as in the higher spheres, has its origin in the heart (Prov. iv, 23, " For out of it are the issues of life"). In order to follow this train of thought, and to establish in a clearer light the Biblical view of the heart, it Mill be best to consider the relation the heart bears to the soid i^vx)), TiiS3). This is one of the difficult questions in Biblical psychology ; Olshausen (in the A hh. de naturoe humano} trichotomia, opusc. theol. p. 159) says, " Omnium longe difficillimum est acciu-ate definire quidnam discri- men in N.T. inter ^vxi'iv et Kapciav intercedat." Nev- ertheless, the task is facilitated by the fact that there is essential agreement on this point in the anthropologies of the Old and New Testament.
(1) We first note that, while, as before said, the heart is the centre of all the functions of the soid's life, the terms " heart" and " soul" are often used interchangea- bly in Scripture. Thus, in Deut. vi, 5 (compare Jlatt. xxii, 37; Mark xii, 30, 33; Luke x, 27), and xxvi, 16, we are commanded to love God and obey his com- mandments with all onr heart and all our soul (com- pare 1 Chron. xxviii, 9) ; the union of the faithfid, in Acts iv, 12, is desigmated as ijv r) KapSia Kal i) i^i»X») /^('«- (In these passages, as in others, for in- stance, Deut, xi, 18 ; xxx, 2 ; Jer. xxxii, 41, there is, moreover, to be noticed that the heart is always named first.) Thus the indecision and division of the inner life can be designated either by St-^vxoc (James i, 8) or by icapSia liOGr). It is said of both ayj'i^ttv Kcp- Siac (James iv, 8) and ayvi^tiv "tj^vxas (1 T^t. i, 22) ; also i"CiS3 T|2D (Psa. xlii, 5; comp. Job xxx, 16) and ia^ T(|T^ (Lam. ii,10; Psa. lxii,9), the self-impcUing to the love of God applies as well to the soid (Psa. ciii) as to the 0*^2^ J? , of which the heart is the centre, etc. But in the majority of passages, where either the heart or the soul are separately spoken of, the term " heart" can either not be exchanged at all for the term " sold," or else only with some modification in the mean- ing.