Higgins, SoLOJiox, a IMethodist Episcopal minister, was liorn in Jlarj-land in January, 1792. In his twenty- second year he began to preach, but failing health com- pelled him to quit the ministry', and for several years he was employed as a clerk in Pliiladelphia. In 1821 he resumed his pastoral connections, and the remainder of his life was spent in the service of the Church as pas- tor and as Simday-school agent. He was several times stationed in Philadelphia, and was a member of tlie General Conferences of 1828, 1832, 1836, and 1840. He died Feb. 12, 1867 .—Minutes of Conferences, 1867, p. 24,
Higginson, Francis, a Congregational mhiister and first pastor of Salem, Mass., was born in England in 1587, graduated at Emanuel College, Cambridge, and was appointed minister of a church in Leicester. After some time he became a nonconformist, and was excluded from the parish church. In 1629 he received letters from the governor and company of Massachusetts in- viting him to proceed with them to New England. He accordingly sailed, and on his arrival at Salem he was appointed pastor of the church. He died of hectic fever in August, 1630. He wrote New England's Plantation, or a short and true Description of the Commodities and Dis- commodities of that Country (Lond. 1630, 4to). See Al- len, Ain. Biog. Dictionary ; Sprague, Annals, i, 6.
Higginson, John, son of the preceding, was bom in England in August, 1616, and came to Massachusetts with his parents in 1629. In 1636 he removed to Con- necticut, engaging in teaching and in theological stud- ies. From 1659 until his death in 1708 he was minister of the church at Salem, Mass. He was zealously en- gaged in controversy M'ith the Quakers, but subsequent- ly regretted his ardor in persecution. He published several sermons and pamphlets. See Sprague, A nnals, i, 91.
High-Churchmen, a name first given (circa 1700) to the nonjurors in England who refused to acknowl- edge WilHam III as their lawfid king. It is now usu- ally applied to those in tlie Church of England and in the American Protestant Episcopal Chiu-ch who hold exalted notions of Church prerogatives, and of the pow- ers committed to the clergy, and who lay much stress upon ritual observances and the traditions of the fa-
HIGH COMMISSION
239
HIGH PLACE
tliers. See Walcott, Sacred A rchceolnijy, p. 312 ; Hurst, ///.s/. RalinnalUm, p. 512 sq. ; Kurtz, Ch. History, ii, 339 ; Baxter, Ch. lllst. ii, 549 ; Skeats, lliM. of Free Churches, p. -JSi), 317, 318, 343 ; Rose, Ilht. CItr. Ch. p. 370; Eden, Theol. Dictionary; and articles England, Chuhcii of; and Protestant Episcopal Chuucii.
High Commission, Court of, a court establish- ed ill Kiiii'land in 1559 to take cognizance of spiritual or eL•ck^sia^tu■al offences, and to intlict penalties for the same. Tlie Puritans complaining loudly of the juris- diction of this court, a bill passed for putting down both it and the Star-Chamber in the year 1641.— Neal, Ilist. ofPuritam, i, 89 sq.
High Mass. The Mass in the Church of Rome consists ill the "consecration of the bread and wine 'into the body and blood of Christ,' as they say, and tlie offer- ing up of the same body and blood to God by the min- istry of the priest for a perpetual memorial of Christ's sacrifice upon the cross, and a continuation of the same unto the world's end." Iliyh Mass is the same service, accompanied by all the ceremonies which custom and authority have annexed to its celebration, and read be- fore the high altar on Simdays, fast-days, and particu- lar occasions. See JLvss.
High place (!l^2, hamah' ; often in the plural, rii'23 ; Sept. in the historical books, tu v^prjXd, rci 'i'^rj ; in the Prophets, jiiafxoi ; in the Pentateuch, aTijXai, Lev. xxvi, 30, etc.; and once tlSiuXa, Ezek. xvi, 16; Yidg. excelsa, faint) often occurs in connection with the term grove. By " high places" we understand nat- ural or artificial (ni'DH "'Oa, 1 Kings xiii, 32 ; 2 Kings xvi, 29; comp. 1 Kings xi, 7; 2 Kings xxiii, 15) emi- nences where worship hj sacrifice or offering was made, usually upon an altar erected thereon ; and by a "grove" we understand a plantation of trees around a spot in the open air set apart for worship and other sacred services, and therefore around or upon the " high places" which were set apart for the same purposes. See Grove.
,We find traces of these customs so soon after the del- uge that it is probable they existed jrrior to that event. It appears that the first altar after the deluge was built by Noah upon the mountam on which the ark rested (Gen. viii, 20). Abraham, on entering the Promised Land, built an altar upon a mountain between Beth-el and Hai (xii, 7, 8). At Beerslieba he planted a grove, and called there upon the name of the everlasting God (Gen. xxi, 33). The same patriarch was required to travel to the Mount Moriah, and there to offer up his son Isaac (xxii, 2, 4). It was upon a mountain m Gil- ead that Jacob and Laban offered sacrifices before they parted in peace (xxxi, 54). In fact, such seem to have been tlie general places of worship in those times ; nor does any notice of a temple, or other covered or enclosed Ijuikling for that purpose, occur. Thus far all seems clear and intelligible. There is no reason in the mere nature of things why a hill or a grove should be an ob- jectionable, or, indeed, why it shoidd not be a very suit- able place for worship. Yet by the time the Israelites returned from Egypt, some corrupting change had taken place, which caused them to be repeatedly and strictly enjoined to overthrow and destroy the high places and groves of the Canaanites wherever they found them (Exod. xxxiv, 13 ; Deut. vii, 5 ; xii. 2, 3). That they were not themselves to worship the Lord on high places or in groves is implied ui the fact that they were to have but one altar for regular and constant sacrifice; and it was expressly enjoinetl that near this sole altar no trees should be planted (Deut. xvi, 21). See Altar. The external reUgion of the patriarchs was in some outward obsen^ances different from that subsequently estabhshed by the Mosaic law, and therefore they shoidd not be condemned for actions which aftenvards became sinful only because they were forbidden (Heidegger, Hist. Patr. II, iii, § 53). It is, however, quite ob%nous that if every grove and eminence had been suffered to