Heath, Asa, a Blethodist Episcopal minister, was born at Hillsdale, N. Y., Jidy 31, 177G. His parents were CongiTgatii)nalists. At thirteen he was converted, mi- dcr the ministry of the Rev. F. Garrettson (q. v.). He began to preach in 1797 on Cambridge Circuit, N. York, under the direction of the Rev. Sylvester Hutchinson. In 1798 he was stationed at Pomfrct, Conn., with Dan- iel Ostrandcr. In 1799 he was sent to the province of IMaine, and stationed on the Kennebec Circiut, embra- cing all the territory from "\\'aterville to the Canada line, making more than two hundred miles travel to reach all the appointments. In l^SOO l\)rtland was his field of labor; 1801, Readtield ; 1802, Falmouth; 180i-5, Scar- boro' ; in 1806 he located in consequence of bodily in- firmities. In 1818 he re-entered the traveling connec- tion, and was appointed presiding elder of Portland dis- trict, which position he occupied for three years; 1821, Scarboro'; 1822, Kennebec; in 1823 he again located, and removed to Monmouth, Me. ; in 1827 he re-entered the travelling ministry again, and held an effective re- lation to the Conference fifteen years. In 1812 he be- came superannuate, and this relation continued until Sept, 1, 18G0, when he died in peace. As a preacher, he was sound in doctrine, clear in exposition, simple yet forcible in illustration, and impressive in deliverv. — Zi- ons Herald, Oct. 5, 1860.
Heathcote, Ralph, D.D., an English divine, was born in 1721, and died May 28, 1795. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge; took orders, and in 1748 was made vicar of Barkby, near Leicester; assistant preacher of Lincoln's Inn in 1753 ; succeeded his father as vicar of Sileby in 1765 ; became rector of Sawtrj-'-all- Saints, Huntingdonshire, in 176G ; a prebend in the col- legiate church in Southwell in 1768 : and in 1788 vicar- general of Southwell Church. Besides works on other subjects, he wrote Cursoi-y Animadversions upon the Mid- dletonian Controversy in r/eneral (1752) : — Remarks iipon Dr. Chapman's Charge (1752) : — Letter to Rev. T. Fother- gill (1753) : — Sketch of Lord BoUnghroke's Philosoj^ht/ (1785, 8vo) : — The Use of Reason asserted in Matters of Religion (1755, 8vo; and a defence of the same, in 1756, 8vo) : — Discourse on the Being of God, against A theists, in two Sermons (being the only ones of his twenty-foiu: Boyle sermons which he published, 1763, 4to). Dr. Heathcote ^^TOte several articles for the first edition of the General Biogi-aphical Dictionary, and assisted Nich- ols in editing a new edition of the same, published in
1784, 12 vols. 8vo Allibone, Diet, of Authors, i, 814;
Rose, Xeui Gen. Biog. Diet, viii, 241 ; Gentleman's Maga- zine, Lxv, Ixvi, Ixxi. (.J. W.jNI.)
Heathen. The Hebrew word 115, goy (plur. ^^'.i^. goyim'), together with its Greek equi\-alent 'iOvoQ itOvtj), has been somewhat arbitrarily rendered '"na- tions," "gentiles," and "heathen" in the A. Y. It will be interesting to trace the manner in which a term, pri- marily and essentially general in its signification, ac- quired that more restricted sense which was aftenvards
attached to it. Its development is parallel with that of the Hebrew people, and its meaning at any period may be taken as significant of their relative position with regard to the surrounding nations.
1. While as yet the Jewish nation had no political existence, goyim denoted generally the nations of the world, especially including the immediate descendants of Abraham (Gen. xviii, 18 ; compare Gal. iii, 16). The latter, as they grew in numbers and importance, were distingiushed in a most marked manner from the na- tions by whom they were surrounded, and were pro- vided with a code of laws and a religious ritual which made the distinction still more pecidiar. They were essentially a separate people (Lev. xx, 23) ; separate in habits, morals, and religion, and bound to maintain their separate character by denunciations of the most terrible judgments (Lev. xxVi, 14-38 ; Dent, xxviii). On their march through the desert they encountered the most obstinate resistance from Amalek, "chief of the goyini" (Numb, xxiv, 20), in whose sight the deliverance from Egj'pt was achieved (Lev. xxvi, 45). During the con- quest of Canaan, and the subsequent wars of extermina- tion which the Israelites for several generations carried on against their enemies, the seven nations of the Ca- naanites, Amorites, Hittites, Hivites, Jebusites, Penz- zites, and Girgashites (Exod. xxxiv, 24), together with the remnants of them who were left to prove Israel (Josh, xxiii, 13 ; Judg. iii, 1 ; Psa. Ixxviii, 55), and teach them war (Judg. iii, 2), received the especial appella- tion of rjoyim. With these the Israelites were forbidden to associate (Josh, xxiii, 7) ; intermarriages were pro- hibited (Josh, xxiii, 12 ; 1 Kings xi, 2) ; and, as a warn- ing against disobedience, the fate of the nations of Ca- naan was constantly kept before their eyes (Lev. xviii, 24, 25 ; Deut. xviii, 12). They are ever associated with the worship of false gods and the foul practices of idol- aters (Lev. xviii, xx), and these constituted their chief distinctions, as goyim^ fto™ ^ l^e worshippers of the one God, the people of Jehovah (Numb, xv, 41 ; Deut. xxviii, 10). This distinction was maintained in its full force during the early times of the monarchy (2 Sam. vii, 23 ; 1 Kings xi, 4-8; xiv, 24; Psa. cvi, 35). It was from among the goyim, the degraded tribes Avho submitted to their arms, that the Israelites were permitted to piu-- chase their bond-ser\'ants (Lev. xxv, 44, 45), and this special enactment seems to have had the effect of giv- ing to a national tradition the force and sanction of a law (comp. Gen. xxi, 15). In later times this regidation was strictly adhered to. To the words of Eccles. ii, 7, " I bought men-servants and maid-servants," the Tar- gum adds, " of the children of Ham, and the rest of the foreign nations." Not only were the Israelites forbid- den to intermarrj' with these goyim, but the latter were virtually excluded from the possibility of becoming nat- uralizeci. An Ammonite or Moabite ^^-as shut out from the congregation of Jehovah even to the tenth genera- tion (Deut. xxiii, 3), while an Edomitc or Egj-ptian M-as admitted in the third (verses 7, 8). The necessity of maintaining a separation so broadly marked is ever more and more manifest as we follow the Israelites through their histon,-, and observe their constantly recurring tendency to idolatry. Offence and punishment followed each other Avith all the regularity of cause and effect (Judg. ii, 12; iii, 6-8, etc.).