sacrifices. Libations were also in use among the Hebrews, who poured a hin of wine on the victim after it was killed, and the several pieces of the sacrifice were laid on. the altar ready to be consumed in the flames. LEUCOPETRIANS, the name of a fanatical sect which sprang up in the Greek and Eastern churches towards the close of the twelfth century: they professed to believe in a double trinity, rejected wedlock, abstained from flesh, treated with the utmost contempt LIBERALITY, bounty; a gethe sacraments of baptism and the nerous disposition of mind, exertLord's supper, and all the various ing itself in giving largely. It is branches of external worship; thus distinguished from generosity placed the essence of religion in and bounty:- Liberality implies internal prayer alone; and main- acts of mere giving or spending; tained, as it is said, that an evil generosity, acts of greatness; bounbeing, or genius, dwelt in the ty, acts of kindness. Liberality breast of every mortal, and could is a natural disposition; generosity be expelled from thence by no proceeds from elevation of sentiother method than by perpetual ment; bounty from religious mosupplication to the Supreme Be-tives. Liberality denotes freeing. The founder of this sect is dom of spirit; generosity, greatsaid to have been a person called ness of soul; bounty, openness of Leucopetrus, and his chief disciple Tychicus, who corrupted by fanatical interpretations several books of scripture, and particuly St. Matthew's gospel. LEVITY, lightness of spirit, in opposition to gravity. Nothing can be more proper than for a Christian to put on an air of cheerfulness, and to waton against a morose and gloomy disposition. But though it be his privilege to rejoice, yet he must be cautious of that volatility of spirit which characterise the unthinking, and mark the vain professor. To be cheerful without levity, and grave without austerity, form both a happy and dignified character. heart. LIBERALITY of sentiment, a generous disposition a man feels towards another who is of a different opinion from himself; or, as one detines it, "that generous expansion of mind which enables it to look beyond all petty distinctions of party and system, and, in the estimate of men and things, to rise superior to narrow prejudices." As liberality of sentiment is often a cover for error and scepticism on the one hand, and as it is too little attended to by the ignorant and bigotted on the other, we shall here lay before our readers a view of it by a masterly writer. "A man of liberal sentiments must be distinguished from him who hath no religious sentiments at all. He is one who hath seriously and effectually investigated, both in his Bi LIBATION, the act of pouring wine on the ground in divine worship. Sometimes other liquids have been used, as oil, milk, water, honey, but mostly wine.Amongst the Greeks and Romans ble and on his knees, in public as it was an essential part of solemn "semblies and in private conversa 1 tions, the important articles of religion. He hath laid down principles, he hath inferred consequences; in a word, he hath adopted sentiments of his own. "He must be distinguished also from that tame undiscerning domestic among good people, who, though he has sentiments of his own, yet has not judgment to estimate the worth and value of one sentiment beyond another. 1 those of that man crawl, and hum, and buzz, and, when on wing, sail only round the circumference of a tulip. Is it conceivable that capability so different in every thing else should be all alike in religion? The advantages of mankind differ. How should he who hath no parents, no books, no tutor, no companions, equal him whom Providence hath gratified with them all; who, when he Boks over the treasures of his own knowledge, can say, this I had of a Greek, that I learned of a Roman; this information I acquired of my tutor, that was a present of my father; a friend gave me this branch of knowledge, an acquaint " Now a generous believer of the Christian religion is one who will never allow himself to try to propagate his sentiments by the commission of sin. No collusion, no bitterness, no wrath, no undue influence of any kind, will he apply to make his sentiments receiv-ance bequeathed me that? The tasks of mankind differ; so I call the employments and exercises of life. In my opinion, circumstances make great men; and if we have able; and no living thing will be less happy for his being a Christian. He will exercise his liberality by allowing those who differ from him as much vir-not Cæsars in the state, and Pauls tue and integrity as he possibly can. "There are, among a multitude of arguments to enforce such a disposition, the following worth our attention. in the church, it is because neither church nor state are in the circumstances in which they were in the days of those great men. Push a dull man into a river, and endanger his life, and suddenly he "First, Weshould exercise libe-will discover invention, and make rality in union with sentiment, because of the different capacities, advantages, and tasks of mankind. Religion employs the capacities of mankind, just as the air employs their lungs and their organs of speech. The fancy of one is lively, of another dull. The judgment of one is elastic; of another feeble, a damaged spring. The memory of one is retentive; that of another is treacherous as the wind. The passions of this man are lofty, vigorous, rapid; VOL. II. D efforts, beyond himself. The world is a fine school of instruction. Poverty, sickness, pain, loss of children, treachery of friends, malice of enemies, and a thousand other things, drive the man of sentiment to his Bible, and, so to speak, bring him home to a repast with his benefactor, God. Is it conceivable that he, whose young and tender heart is yet unpractised in trials of this kind, can have ascertained and tasted so many religious truths as the sufferer has? "We should believe the Christian religion with liberality, in the second place, because every part of the Christian religion inculcates generosity. Christianity gives us a character of God, but, my God! what a character does it give! GOD IS LOVE. Christianity teaches the doctrine of Providence; but what a providence! Upon whom doth not its light arise! Is there an animalcule so little, or a wretch so forlorn, as to be forsaken and forgotten of his God? Christianity teaches the doctrine of redemption; but the redemption of whom?-of all tongues, kindred, nations, and people of the infant of a span, and the sinner of a hundred years old: a redemption generous in its principle, generous in its price, generous in its effects; fixed sentiments of Divine munificence, and revealed with a liberality for which we have no name. In a word, the illiberal Christian always acts contrary to the spirit of his religion; the liberal man alone thoroughly understands it. "Thirdly, we should be liberal, because no other spirit is exemplified in the infallible guides whom we profess to follow. I set one Paul against a whole army of uninspired men: Some preach Christ of good-will, and some of envy and strife. What then? Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. One eateth all things, another eateth herbs; but why dost THOU judge thy brother? We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. We often enquire, What was the doctrine of Christ, and what was the practice of Christ: suppose we were to institute a third question, Of what TEMPER was Christ? "Once more: We should be liberal as well as orthodox, because truth, especially the truths of Christianity, do not want any support from our illiberality. Let the little bee guard its little honey with its little sting; perhaps its little life may depend a little while on that little nourishment. Let the fierce bull shake his head, and nod his horn, and threaten his enemy, who seeks to eat his flesh, and wear his coat, and live by his death: poor fellow! his life is in danger; I forgive his bellowing and his rage. But the Christian religion, -is that in danger? and what human efforts can render that true which is false, that odious which is lovely? Christianity is in no danger, and therefore it gives its professors life and breath, and all things, except a power of injuring others. "In fine, liberality in the profession of religion is a wise and innocent policy. The bigot lives at home; a reptile he crawled into existence, and there in his hole he lurks a reptile still. A generous Christian goes out of his own party, associates with others, and gains improvement by all. It is a Persian proverb, A liberal hand is better than a strong arm. The dignity of Christianity is better supported by acts of liberality than by accuracy of reasoning; but when both go together, when a man of sentiment can clearly state and ably defend his religious principles, and when his heart is as generous as his principles are inflexible, he possesses strength and beauty in an eminent degree." See Theol. Misc., vol. i, p. 39. LIBERTINE, one who acts without restraint, and pays no regard to the precepts of religion. all their actions and pursuits were then perfectly innocent; and that, after the death of the body, they were to be united to the Deity. They likewise said that Jesus Christ was nothing but a mere je ne sçai quoi, composed of the spirit LIBERTINES, according to of God and of the opinion of men, some, were such Jews as were free These maxims occasioned their citizens of Rome: they had a sepa- being called Libertines, and the rate synagogue at Jerusalem, and word has been used in an ill sense sundry of them concurred in the ever since. This sect spread prinpersecution of Stephen, Acts vi, 9. cipally in Holland and Brabant. Dr. Guyse supposes that those who Their leaders were one Quintin, a had obtained this privilege by gift Picard, Fockesius, Ruffus, and were called liberti (free-men), and another called Chopin, who jointhose who had obtained it by pur-ed with Quintin, and became his chase, libertini (made free), in disciple. They obtained footing distinction from original native free-men. Dr. Doddridge thinks that they were called Libertines as having been the children of freed men, that is, of emancipated captives or slaves. See Doddridge and Guyse on Acts vi, 9. LIBERTINES, a religious sect which arose in the year 1525, whose principal tenets were, that the Deity was the sole operating cause in the mind of man, and the immediate author of all human actions; that, consequently, the distinctions of good and evil, which had been established with regard to those actions, were false and groundless, and that men could not, properly speaking, commit sin; that religion consisted in the union of the spirit, or rational soul, with the Supreme Being; that all those who had attained this happy union, by sublime contemplation and elevation of mind, were then allowed to indulge, without exception or restraint, their appetites or passions; that in France through the favour and protection of Margaret, queen of Navarre, and sister to Francis I, and found patrons in several of the reformed churches. Libertines of Geneva were a cabal of rakes rather than of fanatics; for they made no pretence to any religious system, but pleaded only for the liberty of leading voluptuous and immoral lives. This cabal was composed of a certain number of licentious citizens, who could not bear the severe discipline of Calvin. There were also among them several who were not only notorious for their dissolute and scandalous manner of living, but also for their atheistical impiety and contempt of all religion. To this odious class belonged one Gruet, who denied the divinity of the Christian religion, the immortality of the soul, the difference between moral good and evil, and rejected with disdain the doctrines that are held most sacred among Christians; for which im pieties he was at last brought be-on Und.; Grove's Mor. Phil., sec. fore the civil tribunal in the year 1550, and condemned to death. LIBERTY denotes a state of freedom, in contradistinction to slavery or restraint.-1. Natural liberty, or liberty of choice, is that in which our volitions are not determined by any foreign cause or consideration whatever offered to it, but by its own pleasure.-2. External liberty, or liberty of action, is opposed to a constraint laid on the executive powers; and consists in a power of rendering our volitions effectual.-3. Philosophical liberty consists in a prevailing disposition to act according to the dictates of reason, i. e. in such a manner as shall, all things considered, most effectually promote our happiness.-4. Moralliberty is said to be that in which there is no interposition of the will | of a Superior Being to prohibit or determine our actions in any particular under consideration. See NECESSITY, WILL.-5. Liberty of conscience is freedom from restraint in our choice of, and judgment about matters of religion. 6. Spiritual liberty consists in freedom from the curse of the moral law; from the servitude of the ritual; from the love, power, and guilt of sin; from the dominion of Satan; from the corruptions of the world; from the fear of death, and the wrath to come; Rom. vi, 14. Rom. viii, 1. Gal. iii, 13. John viii, 36. Rom. viii, 21. Gal. v, 1. 1st Thess.i, 10. See ticles MATERIALISTS, PREDESTINATION, and Doddridge's Lec., p. 50, vol. i, oct.; Watts's Phil. Ess., sec. v, p. 288; Jon. Edwards on Will; Locke 18, 19; J. Palmer on Liberty of Man; Martin's Queries and Rem. on Human Liberty; Charnock's Works, p. 175, &c., vol. ii; Saurin's Ser., vol. iii, ser. 4. LIE. See LYING. LIFE, a state of active existence.-1. Human life is the continuance or duration of our present state, and which the scriptures represent as short and vain, Job xiv, 1, 2. Jam. iv, 14.-2. Spiritual life consists in our being in the favour of God, influenced by a principle of grace, and living dependant on him. It is considered as of divine origin, Col. iii, 4. hidden, Col. iii, 3. peaceful, Rom. viii, 6. secure, John x, 28.-3. Eternal life is that state of existence which the saints shall enjoy in heaven, and is glorious, Col. iii, 4. holy, Rev. xxi, 27.-blissful, 1st Peter, i, 4. eternal, 2d Cor. iv, 17. See HEAVEN. LIGHT OF NATURE. See NATURE, RELIGION. LITANY, a general supplication used in public worship to appease the wrath of the Deity, and to request those blessings a person wants. The word comes from the Greek λιλανεια, “ supplication," of λιλανέω, " I beseech.” At first, the use of litanies was not fixed to any stated time, but were only employed as exigencies required. They were observed, in imitation of the Ninevites, with ardent supplications and fastings, to avert the threatened judgments of fire, earthquake, inundations, or hostile invasions. About the year 400, litanies began to be used in processions, the people walking bare. |