Haller, Albrecht von

HALLEL: A name applied to certain psalms. It is derived from the phrase Halleluyah, " Praise ye Yah (weh)," found at the beginning of the individual psalms of the principal group, or at the end, or in both places. It is commonly given to the group Ps. cxiii.-cxviii.; less frequently it is applied to four groups, viz., civ.-cvu., exi.-cxvii. (cxviii.), exxxv.-cxxxvi., cxlvi.-,d., originally placed together, but later separated in the editing of the psalter. In later usage Pa. exix. was included among the Hallels. The name "Great Hallel" was sometimes given to Ps. cxiii.-exviii., sometimes to Pa. exix.-caxavi., sometimes to Ps. cxxxvi. alone. To Ps. exui.-exviii. was also given the name "Egyptian Hallel" on the alleged ground that they were chanted in the temple while the lambs for the Passover were being slaughtered. The Egyptian Hallel was doubtless originally a single composition, according to internal evidence of late date, written for some occasion of thanksgiving (according to tradition, the Fast of Dedication) and subsequently divided for liturgical use, The ancient practise was to recite it every morning during the Feast of Dedication, on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, on Pentecost, at the Feast of Booths, and on the night of the Passover.

Bibliography: C. A. Briggs, Commentary on Psalms, i.; pp. blrviiiAama, New York, 1907; J. W. Thirtle, Old Tea-

lament Problems, ib. 1907; DB, ii. 287; ED, ii. 1942-43; JE, vi. 176-178.

HALLER, ALBRECHT VON: Swiss botanist, physiologist, and poet; b. at Bern Oct. 16, 1708; d. there Dec. 12, 1777. After a thorough medical training, first with a physician at Biel and then at Tübingen and Leyden, he returned to his native city in 1729 and speedily attracted general attention both by his poems and by his scientific attainments. In 1736 he accepted a call to the University of Göttingen, but returned in 1753 to Bern, where he held various offices of state. His verse is not devoid of the rationalism of his period, but the

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antireligious attitude of the French freethinkers became so offensive to him that he adhered more and more closely to the objective facts of eccle siastical creeds and institutions. He was pro foundly interested in foreign missions, and, both as a poet and a scientist, was impelled to set forth the reasonableness of Christianity and the necessity of religious convictions in moral and social life. In this spirit he wrote his Briefe über die vornehmsten Wahrheiten der Offenbarung (Bern, 1772; Eng. transl., Letters from Baron Haller to his Daughteron the Truths of the Christian Religion, London, 1780) and his Briefs über einige Einwiarfe nosh lebender Freigeistcr wider die Offenbarung (3 vols., 1775-77), while his repeated polemics against Voltaire were comprised in the Antivoltaire ou diecours eur la relig ion (Bern, 1755). His Tagebuch seiner Beobachtungen Űber Schriftsteller und Űber sich selbst was published posthumously (2 vols., Bern, 1787), and reveals the doubts against which he was obliged to contend, the struggle finally leading to religious melancholy. Haller's religion was moralistic rather than dog matic, so that his faith was a belief in God and providence, expressed in reverence for the Bible and the Church, instead'of in redemption and the person of Christ.

E. Blösch †.

Bibliography: L. Hirael A. von Hailer's Gedichte, mit biographischer Einleitung , Frauenfeld, 1882; T. Henry, Memoirs of A. de Haller, M.D., Warrington, 1783; C. A. R. Baggeeen, A. von Haller als Christ und Apolopet, Bonn, 1885; C. G. König Festrede auf A. von Haller, Bern, 1877; Guder A. von Haller als Christ, Basel, 1878; A. Frey, A. von Haller und seine Bedeutung für die deutsche Literatur, Leipsic, 1879.