Hossbach, Peter Wilhelm, S.T.D., a distinguish- ed German theologian, born in Wusterhausen, Prussia, Feb. 20, 1784, was educated at the universities of Halle and Frankfort on the Oder. He was a regular attend- ant at the lectures of Knapp and Niemeyer. After his graduation he studied with great interest the works of Schleicrmacher, with whom he was intimately associ- ated tlie greater part of his life, and through whose in- fluence he ob tamed the position of preacher to the Prus- sian military school for officers (Kadettenhaus) at Ber- lin. In 1819, while in this position, he published Das Lehen Joh. Val. Andreas, v,'\\\c\i was highly commented upon by Tholuck (comp. the article Andrea in Herzog, Real-EncyUop. i, and Supplem. i), and which at once as- signed him an eminent position in the ranks of tlie Church historians. In 1821 ho became pastor of the New Jerusalem Church. His opening sermon, which he published, led to the publication of an entire volume of his sermons (1822), which he dedicated to his friend Schleiermacher. Other collections of his sermons Avere pubUshed in 1824, 1827, 1831, 1837, 1843, and after his death another collection, with an introduction by Pi- schon, in 1848. Hossbach published his most important work in 1828: Spener u.s.Zeit (2 vols.8vo). The sec- ond edition, which was published in 1853, contains also, as an addendum, an introduction to the history of the Evangelical Church and tlieology of the 18th centiu^'-, a portion of a work on which he was engaged the latter part of his life, and which was left uncompleted. He died April 7, 1846. Hossbach was a popular preacher, but his published sermons enjoyed even greater popu- larity, and established his reputation as an able divine. He held a midway position between the strictly ortho- dox and the liberal theologians of Germany, and his • great endeavor was to effect a compromise between these two antagonistic elements. A very fine autobiog- raphy as a minister Hossbach has furnished in his last sermon of the sixth collection, delivered to his congre- gation February 5, 1843, after a successfid treatment of his eyes, one of which the physician was obliged to re- move. See Herzog, Real- Ency Mop. xix, 655 sq. ; Theol. Univ. Lex. ii, 371. (J. H. W.)
Hossein ben-IMansour, Abou'l Moghits, a Per- sian IMohammedan ]\Iystic surnamed A l-Hellaj,\viis bom at Khorassan or Beidah (Pars) in the second half of the 9th century. He was a descendant of a Guebre who had embraced Islamism. After studying mider the most distinguished sofs, one of whom prescribed for him soli- tude and silence for two years, he travelled through the East as far as China, preaching on his way. Some be-
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llcvcd in him, others considered him an impostor. He littered new opinions in rehgion and morals, which did not very well harmonize with each other, nor with his mode of living : tlius sometimes he was a strict observer of all the practices of Islamisni, while he taught that good works were more meritorious than devotional prac- tices. His morals, however, were unimjieachable, and his life one of the utmost simplicity. He professed Pan- theism, which he symbolized in these words : "I am God, and all is God." The imams and sheiks of Bagdad con- demned him to death, and handed him over to the sec- ular i)ower. After remaining one year and a half in prison, by order of the vizir, Ali ben-Assa, he was taken out to undergo torture. Instead of cursing his perse- cutors, he prayed for them, and ilied thus, the 23d dzou'l- cadch, 800 (Jlarch, 922). His body was burnt, and his ashes thrown into the Tigris. His theological and mys- tical worivs are some thirty in number. Sec IIju Klial- yikan,/)iof/i-(ipJi.l>ict. 1,423; and Fragments translated by Tholuck, JiliUhensamml. cms d. mor<i< idaiiiH.«'h< n Mijs- tik (iJcrlin, 1825, 8vo), p. 310, 327; HoelVr, Xm,,-. Jiiog. Geiiende, xxv, 215; D'Heihelot, 11 ibliot/i. Orkntalc, p. 392 (HaUage). (J. N. P.)
Host occurs in the A. Y. of tlie Bible in two very diiferent senses, the latter and most frctiuent now near- ly obsolete.
1. Soc'udlij (^sroQ, lit. a stranger, as usually; hence a guest, and by inference an entertainer, Rom. xvi, 23 ; ■Kav^oxtvc, one who receives all comers, i. e. a tavern- keejK'r, e. g. the custodian of a caravanserai [q. v.], Luke X, 35). See Hospitality ; Inn.
2. Military (prop, and usually N3U, tsaha', xoarfare, hence an army, arpaTia ; also flSHp, machaneh', an en- campment, host; sometimes ^^'~l}<, gedud' , a troop; Pl'ft}, cha'ijil, or P'^H, cheyl, & force; il^^S''^, maarahah', a military station; Gr. tTTpc'iTEV/^a. or arparoTreeov), the usual designation of the standing army among the Isra- elites. This consisted originally of infantry (compare Numb, xi, 21 ; 1 Sam. iv, 10 ; xv, 4), not simply because the country of Palestine prevented the use of cavalry, since already the Canaanites and Philistines had iron (iron-armed) chariots, which they knew liow to use to advantage in the plains and open land (Josh, xvii, 16 , Judg.i,19; iv,3,13; v,22; lSam.xiii,5; comp.Wich- mausen, Z'e currib. bellic. in oriente ?«jta^w, Viteb. 1722; see Chariot), and the same was true of horsemen (2 Sam. i, 6) ; moreover, the neighboring nations (SjTians and Egyptians) employed these military instruments in their campaigns against the Israelites (Josh, xi, 9 ; Judg. iv, 3 ; 2 Sam. x, 18, etc.). This last circumstance (which appears to have had no influence over David, 2 Sam.