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 other method than by perpetual supplication to the Supreme Being. The founder of this sect is said to have been a person called Leucopetrus, and his chief disciple Tychicus, who corrupted by fanatical interpretations several books of scripture, and particuly St. Matthew's gospel.

proceeds from elevation of sentiment; bounty from religious motives. Liberality denotes freedom of spirit; generosity, greatness of soul; bounty, openness of heart.

LIBERALITY of sentiment, a generous disposition a man feels towards another who is of a different opinion from himself; or, as one defines it, "that generous expansion of mind which enables

LEVITY, lightness of spirit, in opposition to gravity. Nothing can be more proper than for a Chris-it to look beyond all petty distinctian to put on an air of cheerful- tions of party and system, and, in ness, and to watun against a mo- the estimate of men and things, rose and gloomy disposition. But to rise superior to narrow prejuthough it be his privilege to re-dices." As liberality of sentijoice, 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.

ment 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

LIBATION, the act of pour-sentiments must be distinguished ing wine on the ground in divine from him who hath no religious worship. Sometimes other liquids sentiments at all. He is one have been used, as oil, milk, wa- who hath seriously and effectuter, honey, but mostly wine.-ally investigated, both in his BiAmongst the Greeks and Romansble and on his knees, in public asit was an essential part of solemn "semblies and in private conversa

those of that man crawl, and hum, and buzz, and, when on wing, sail only round the circumference of

tions, the important articles of religion. He hath laid down principles, he hath inferred consequences; in a word, he hath adopt-a tulip. Is it conceivable that ed sentiments of his own. capability so different in every

"He must be distinguished also thing else should be all alike in from that tame undiscerning do-religion? The advantages of manmestic among good people, who, kind differ. How should he who though he has sentiments of his hath no parents, no books, no tuown, yet has not judgment to es-tor, no companions, equal him timate the worth and value of one whom Providence hath gratified sentiment beyond another. 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 coilusion, no bitterness, no wrath, no undue influence of any kind, will he apply to make his sentiments receiv-ance bequeathed me that? The 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 virtue and integrity as he possibly

can.

“There are, among a multitude of arguments to enforce such a disposition, the following worth our attention.

tasks of mankind differ; so I call the employments and exercises of life. In my opinion, circumstances make great men; and if we have not Cæsars in the state, and Pauls 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, We should exercise libe- will discover invention, and make rality in union with sentiment, be- efforts, beyond himself. The world cause of the different capacities, is a fine school of instruction. Poadvantages, and tasks of mankind. verty, sickness, pain, loss of chilReligion employs the capacities of dren, treachery of friends, malice mankind, just as the air employs of enemies, and a thousand other their lungs and their organs of things, drive the man of sentiment speech. The fancy of one is to his Bible, and, so to speak, bring lively, of another dull. The judg-him home to a repast with his bement 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

nefactor, 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?

what was the practice of Christ: suppose we were to institute a third question, Of what TEMPER was Christ?

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

"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 "Once more: We should be character of God, but, my God! liberal as well as orthodox, bewhat a character does it give! cause truth, especially the truths GOD IS LOVE. Christianity of Christianity, do not want any teaches the doctrine of Provi- support from our illiberality. Let dence; but what a providence! the little bee guard its little hoUpon whom doth not its light arise!ney with its little sting; perhaps 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 redemp-enemy, who seeks to eat his flesh, tion 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 cateth 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

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 pròfession 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 of God and of the opinion of men, These maxims occasioned their being called Libertines, and the word has been used in an ill sense ever since. This sect spread principally in Holland and Brabant. Their leaders were one Quintin, a Picard, Fockesius, Ruffus, and another called Chopin, who join

LIBERTINES, according to some, were such Jews as were free citizens of Rome: they had a separate synagogue at Jerusalem, and sundry of them concurred in the persecution of Stephen, Acts vi, 9. Dr. Guyse supposes that those who had obtained this privilege by gift were called liberti (free-men), and those who had obtained it by pur-ed with Quintin, and became his chase, libertini (made free), in 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 cap-reformed churches. tives 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

disciple. They obtained footing in France through the favour and protection of Margaret, queen of Navarre, and sister to Francis I, and found patrons in several of the

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

18, 19; 7. 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.

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. Moral liberty 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 LIGHT OF NATURE. See NECESSITY, WILL.-5. Liberty of NATURE, RELIGION. conscience is freedom from re- LITANY, a general supplicastraint in our choice of, and judg-tion used in public worship to apment about matters of religion. pease the wrath of the Deity, and 6. Spiritual liberty consists in free-to request those blessings a person dom from the curse of the moral wants. The word comes from law; from the servitude of the ri- the Greek alavera, "supplication," tual; from the love, power, and of Alavew, "I beseech." At first, guilt of sin; from the dominion of the use of litanies was not fixed to Satan; from the corruptions of the any stated time, but were only world; from the fear of death, and employed as exigencies required. the wrath to come; Rom. vi, 14. || They were observed, in imitation Rom. viii, 1. Gal. iii, 13. John of the Ninevites, with ardent supviii, 36. Rom. viii, 21. Gal. v, 1. plications and fastings, to avert 1st Thess.i, 10. See ticles MATE-the threatened judgments of fire, RIALISTS, PREDESTINATION, and earthquake, inundations, or hosDoddridge's Lec., p. 50, vol. i, tile invasions. About the year 400, oct.; Watts's Phil. Ess., sec. v, p. litanies began to be used in pro288; Jon. Edwards on Will; Locke cessions, the people walking bare.