out this view there is great divergence of opinion; thus Renan will have it that the epistle was written from Ephesus in the year 65, while Harnack (Patr. Ap., Lp. Ixxxii.) thinks he finds traces of two distinct persecutions (4), and dates the book from the time of Domitian. The early currency of the epistle at Rome is urged in favour of the Roman address, but the ignorance of the Roman Church as to the author’s name seems to go rather in the opposite direction. Ch. xiii. 24 gives us no help, for they of Italy (of dard rhs Tradias) may in the epistolary style be Italians either at homeor abroad. It is most natural to infer from x. 32 scq., compared with xii. 4, that the church spoken of had not yet produced martyrs, but had suffered only by bonds and the loss of goods. This would exclude Rome,
but perhaps the inference is not quite stringent.Returning from this survey we bring little with us that can throw light on the authorship of the epistle. We can only say that the writer was a man of the first intellectual mark and of Alexandrian culture, whose home and work lay mainly among Jewish Christians, but who was at the same time associated with the Pauline circle. Of the names offered to us in other New Testament writings, Barnabas and Apollos seem the most likely, and Barnabas will claim the preference if we are entitled to give any weight to tradition. Either name would go well with the Alexan- drian address. Apollos was an Alexandrian Jew. Barna- bas was of Cyprus, always closely connected with Egypt; and the tradition which connects his relative and associate Mark with the Church of Alexandria is as old as the 2d century.
Literature.—A full account of the older literature will be found in Delitzsch’s Commentary; and in the great work of Bleek (Der Bricf an die Hebréacr erléutert durch Einleituig, Ucbersetzung, und fortlauf- enden Commentar: Abth. 1., Versuch einer vollstandigen Einleituag, Berlin, 1828; Abth. II., Vebersetzung und Commentar, 1836, 1846), which has formed the basis for all subsequent work on the epistle, and is an indispensable storehouse of material for the student. Bleek’s ultimate views on the exposition of the book may be gath- ered from the briefer posthumous work edited by Windrath (Elberfeld, 1868). To the recent commentaries cited in the course of the article may be added those of Ebrard (1850; Eng. Trans., Edinburgh, 1853), Tholuck, (3d ed. 1850 ; Eng. Trans. , Edinburgh, 1842), Liinemann (8d ed., Gottingen, 1867). For the doctrine of the epistle the most elaborate work 1s Riehm’s very useful Lchrbegriff des Hebréerbriefs, Ludwigsburg, 1858-59; with which, in addition to the general works on New Testament theology by Weiss, Reuss, and others, the reader may compare Ritschl’s Entstchung der Altkatholischen Kirche, 24 ed., p. 159 seq. (Bonn, 1857), and Pfleiderer’s Paulinismus, chap. ix. (Leipsic, 1873). An excellent summary of the present state of the critical questions bearing on the epistle is given by Zahn in the article ‘‘ Hebraerbrief” in the new edition of Herzog’s Encyklopéidie.
HEBRIDES, The, or Western Isles of Scotland, is a name sometimes applied collectively to all the islands on the west coast of Scotland, but seldom including Bute, Arran, and the other islands situated in the Firth of Clyde. The group is usually divided into the Outer Hebrides, or Long Island, and the Inner Hebrides. The former division embraces the Lewis, Harris, North and South Uist, Ben- becula, Barra, and a number of small islands, the whole length of this group from Barra-Head to the Butt of Lewis being about 130 miles. The Inner Hebrides include Islay, Skye, Mull, Jura, Coll, Colonsay, Rum, Eigg, Tiree, Lismore, and Ulva. The number of inhabited islands is over 100, and the population is nearly 100,000. The principal islands are noticed under separate headings. The outer range consists almost exclusively of gneiss rocks, with poor soil and large proportions of peat and moor. The inner range is composed chiefly of trap and slate. The scenery of the islands may be generally described as par- taking of the wild and sublime. Large masses of mountains of all forms tower up in the interior; and the coasts, indented by arms of the sea, are rugged and varied in out- line. Spots of great beauty—green pastoral glens, sheltered bays and lakes—are interspersed with the wildest scenes. The climate, though mild, is humid and unsuitable for corn crops. Only a very small portion of the surface is arable, the greater part being mountains, and the valleys inter- secting them narrow and frequently covered with peat moss. Much of the land has, however, been converted into sheep walks, and the moors and desolate tracts are often let at high rents tosportsmen, The development of the prosperity of the islands has been greatly aided by the construction of excellent roads, and by the establishment of various lines of steamers in connexion with Glasgow, thus rendering the fine and in some respects unique scenery fully and easily accessible to tourists. One of the principal sources of wealth is that of the fisheries, Stornoway in the island of Lewis being the headquarters of that industry on the western coast.
The Hebrides are mentioned by Ptolemy under the name of "EBovda and by Pliny under that of Hebudes, the modern spelling having, it is said, originated in an accidental misprint. By the Norwegians they were called Sudreyjar or Southern Islands. The Latinized form was Sodorenses, preserved to modern times in the title of the bishop of Sodor and Man. The original inhabitants of the Hebrides seem to have been of the same Celtic race as those settled on the mainland—the Scoto-Irish whom Columba about the middle of the 6th century converted to Christianity. Scandinavian hordes then poured in with their northern idolatry and lust of plunder, but in time they adopted the language and faith of the islanders. Mention is made of incursions of the vikings on their shores as early as 793, but the principal emigration took place towards the end of the 9th century in the early part of the reign of Harold Haarfager, and consisted of persons driven thither, as well as to Orkney and Shetland, to escape from his tyrannous rule. Soon afterwards they began to make incursions against their mother-country, and on this aceount King Harold fitted out an expedition against them, and placed Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, and the Isle of Man uuder Norwegian government. The chief seat of the Norwegian sovereignty was Colonsay. About the year 1095 Godred Crovan, king of Dublin, of Man, and of the Hebrides, died in Islay. His third son, Olaus or Olave, succeeded to the government about 1103, and the daughter of Olaus was married to Somerled or Sorlet of Argyle, who became the fewer of the dynasty known as Lords of the Isles. Many efforts were made by the Scottish monarchs to displace the Norwegians. Alexander II. led a fleet and army to the shores of Argyllshire in 1249, but he died in the island of Kerrera. On the other hand King Haco, at once to restrain the independence of his jarls and to keep in check the ambition of the Scottish kings, set sail in 1263 on a great expedition, which, however, ended disastrously. Magnus, son of Haco, concluded in 1266 a peace with the Scots, renouncing all claim to the Hebrides and other islands except Orkney and Shet- land, and King Alexander agreed to give him a sum of 4000 merks in four yearly payments. It was also stipulated that Margaret, daughter of Alexander, should be betrothed to Erie, the son of Magnus, a connexion long remembered and Jamented in Scottish song and story.
The race of Somerled continued to rule the islands, and from a younger son of the same potentate sprang the lords of Lorn, who took the patronymic of Macdougall. John Macdonald of Isle of Islay, who died about 1386, was the first to adopt the title of ‘‘ Lord of the Isles.” He was one of the most potent of the island princes, and was married to a daughter of the Earl of Strathern, steward of Scotland. His son, Donald of the Isles, was memorable for his rebellion in support of his claim to the earldom of Ross, in which, however, he was unsuccessful. Alexander, son of Donald, resumed the hereditary warfare against the Scottish crown ; and in 1462 a treaty was concluded between Alexander’s son and successor John and King Edward IV. of England, by which John, his son Donald Balloch, and his grandson John, became bound to assist King Edward and James, earl of Douglas, in subduing the kingdom of Scotland. The alliance seems to have led to no active operations, and the island king was adjudged to be a traitor to his hege sovereign of Seotland. In the reign of James V. another John of Islay resumed the title of ‘‘ Lord of the Isles,” but was compelled to surrender the dignity. The glory of the lordship of the isles— the insular sovereignty—had departed. From the time of Bruce the Campbells had been gaining the aseendency in Argyll. The Maeleans, Macnaughtons, Maclachlans, Lamonts, and other ancient races had sunk before this favourite family. The lordship of Lorn was wrested from the Macdougalls by Bruce, and their extensive possessions, with Dunstaffnage Castle, bestowed on the king’s relative,. Stewart, and his descendants, afterwards lords of Lorn. The Macdonalds of Sleat, the direct representatives of Somerled, though driven from Islay and deprived of supreme power by
