House of Bishops.--The upper House of the General Convention in
which all Diocesan, Coadjutor and Missionary Bishops have seats,
representing their own Order. The term is often used as a collective
name for all the Bishops of the American Church. (See GENERAL
CONVENTION.)
House of God.--The Church building is so called because it is set
apart for the worship of God. That it is something more than a mere
lecture hall, or concert room or auditorium, as it is commonly
regarded by modern religionism will appear from the following taken
from the Annotated Prayer Book: "The Church is the _House of God_,
not man's house; a place wherein to meet with Him with the closest
approach which can be made in this life. Hence, if Jacob consecrated
with the ceremony of unction the place where God made His covenant
with him, and said of it, 'This is none other but the House of God,
and this is the Gate of Heaven'; so should our churches be set apart
and consecrated with sacred ceremonies making them holy to the Lord.
So also, because they are to be in reality, and not by a mere
stretch of the imagination, the Presence chambers of our Lord, we
must regard them as the nearest to {140} Heaven in holiness of all
places on earth by the virtue of that Presence. And lavishing all
costly material, and all earnest skill upon their first erection and
decoration, we shall ever after frequent them with a consciousness
that 'the Lord is in His holy Temple,' and that all which is done
there should be done under a sense of the greatest reverence towards
Him."
Housel.--An old English word for the Holy Eucharist. Thus an old
English canon of A.D. 960 orders every Priest "to give _housel_
(_i.e._ Holy Communion) to the sick when they need it." The word
also appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, in Piers Plowman,
Beaumont and Fletcher and also in Shakespeare. So, also, we find
the term _houselling cloth_, meaning a large cloth spread before
the people while receiving. The word evidently meant a _Sacrifice_.
Humble Access, Prayer of.--The name given to the beautiful prayer
offered in great humility just before the Consecration in the Holy
Communion, beginning, "We do not presume," etc. The words are taken
from the most ancient Liturgies.
Hymn Board.--A tablet to which the numbers of the hymns to be sung
at any service are affixed, and which is placed in a conspicuous
place for the greater convenience and guidance of the congregation.
The purpose of the Hymn Board is to do away with the custom of
announcing the day of the month and the hymns, but this is not
generally carried out in practice.
Hymnal, The.--As the Church has a book for her _Common Prayer_, so
also she has a book for her _Common Praise_, and this is known as
THE HYMNAL. The {141} Hymnal as it now stands was set forth by the
action of the General Convention of 1892, and is the outgrowth of
much study, many changes and a great deal of legislation since the
time when there was bound up with the Prayer Book a few hymns for
congregational use. The present imposing volume has 679 hymns drawn
from almost every source and age, and, no doubt, meets every need
and requirement.
Hymns.--The first hymn mentioned in the annals of Christianity was
that sung by the angels at the Birth of our Lord, from which we have
the _Gloria in Excelsis_, and the second was that sung by our Lord
and His Apostles immediately after the Last Supper in the upper
room, known as the _Hallel_. In early times anything sung to the
praise of God was called a hymn. Afterwards the use of the term
became more restricted. Pliny shows that in the year 62 the
Christians instituted a custom of meeting together before sunrise
to sing hymns of praise. Melody only was used, not harmony, and
the tunes employed were, doubtless, of Jewish character. Originally
all music of the Christian Church was almost entirely vocal. In the
Third and Fourth Centuries the Christian Religion began to grow
largely in the number of its followers, in wealth and position;
magnificent churches were built under Constantine the Emperor, and
then it came to pass that choirs were instituted definitely by the
Council of Laodicea, A.D. 367. For two centuries the music of the
Church deteriorated. In the Sixth Century Gregory the Great
instituted many reforms, so that the credit of reviving real
congregational singing belonged to him. (See GREGORIAN MUSIC.) The
{142} connection of religion with music is shown by the fact that
nearly every great revival of religion has been accompanied by a
great outburst of song. Beginning with the Reformation, the form
of hymn, called _chorale_, originated in the reformed Church of
Germany and largely with Martin Luther. The most popular part in
congregational singing was the singing of hymns and there have been
three successive styles in hymn-tunes. The first was the diatonic;
the second the florid (from 1730 to 1840), and the third the modern
style (from 1840 to the present time). This modern style is in some
respects a return to the old style of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth
Centuries, with this distinction, that the harmonies instead of
being pure diatonic are more chromatic and less plain. (See MUSIC,
also ORGANS.)