[Heb. bēth-ēl house of God.]
1. A hallowed spot; a place where God is worshipped; the pillar that marks such a place. (See Gen. xxviii. 17.)
a. 1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 241. Whence it is that such places are termed Bethels, ‘Gods houses,’
1641. Hinde, J. Bruen, xv. 50. Raising up an altar for Gods worship in his family, and so making it a little Bethel.
1840. S. F. Adams, Hymn ‘Nearer my God,’ iv. Out of my stony griefs Bethels I’ll raise.
2. Sometimes used (esp. by some Methodists and Baptists) like ‘Zion,’ ‘Zoar,’ ‘Bethesda,’ etc., as the designation of their chapel or meeting-house; sometimes applied fig., or as in ‘Little Bethel,’ in contempt, to any place of worship other than those of the established church. Also a place of worship for seamen (a sense apparently first used in U.S.)
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, 145. The establishment of Bethels in most of our own seaports … where the gospel is regularly preached.
1865. Reader, 15 April, 415/3. The class contemptuously described as dividing its energies between business and bethels.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Bethel, Floating Bethel, an old ship fitted up in a port for the purpose of public worship.
1875. Emerson, Lett. & Soc. Aims, iii. 93. You may find him in some lowly Bethel, by the seaside.
