A writer in Fairbairn's Dictionanj plausibly suggests that the Laishah in question may be found in the pres- ent little village El-Isaiviyeh, in a valley about a milo N.E. of Jerusalem (Robinson, Researches, ii, 108), beauti- fully situated, and unquestionably occupying an ancient site' (Tobler, TopoyrajMe von Jerusalem, ii, § 719).
3. A native of GaUim, and father of Phalti or Phal- tiel, to which latter Saul gave David's wife Michal (1 Sam. XXV, 44 ; 2 Sam. iii, 15, in which latter passage the text appears to have read d^b. Lush). B.C. ante 1062. "It is very rcmarkal)le that the names of Laish (La- isliali) and Gallim should be found in conjunction at a much later date (Isa. x. 30)" (Smith). " This associa- tion of names makes it more than probable that Laishah was founded by Michal's father-in-law, who, according to the custom of those times, gave it his own name. The allusion to the lion which it involves is interesting, for this neighborhood was another of the favorite haunts of that animal. It was by such ravines as wadys Farah
LAISHAH
197
LAKE
and Selam that it was wont to ' come up from the swell- ing of Jordan' (Jer. xlix, 19) ; in the opposite direction we have a further trace of it in the Chephirah (' young lion,' now Kefir) of western Benjamin (Josh, ix, 17 ; xviii, 2G) ; northward, we find it encountering the dis- obedient propliet on his return from Bethel (1 Kings xiii, 24:) ; while in the pastures of Bethlehem to the south we see it vanquished by the sujierior jjrowess of the youthful David {l Sam. xvii, 14-17)" (Fairbairn).
Laishah (Heb. La'yeshah, iT^'^^, i.e. Laish, with H paragogic, Isa. x, 30). See Laish, 2.
Laity, the people as distinguished from the clergy. The (ireek word XdiKoQ, derived from Xaof (Latin syn- onyme pkbs), people, and signifying one of the peo])k', is retained in the Latin laicus, from which laitij is derived. In the Sept.Xaof is used as the synonyme of the Hebrew nS", 2^t02^le. As synonymes of these Scripture terms we may also cite the words " faithful," " saints," and " idi-* ot£e" (q. v.). Comp. Kiddle, Christian A n'iqHilies, p. 188 sq., 274, 275 ; Vinet, Pastoral Theolor/;) (N. Y. 1854), p. 345. In the O.-T. Scriptures we find allusions to the luity in Dent, xviii, 3, where upon them is laid the ob- ligation to pay a tithe to the priest when offering sacri- fice; and in Ezokiel's vision of the new Temple, where " the ministers of the house" (o'l Xtirovpyovi'rti;) are to boil the sacrifices of the laity (Ezek. xlvi, 24). So also in 1 Chron. xvi, 36, "all the laity said Amen, and praised the Lord," when Asaph and his brethren had finished the psalm given to tliem by David ; see likewise 2 Kings xxiii, 2, 3 ; Neh. viii, 1 1 ; Isa. xxiv, 2 ; IIos. iv, 9. In the N.-T. Scriptures this distinction seems to have been ignored by Christ and his apostles, for, although there arc passages in which the laity are spoken of as a class, it is nowhere intimated that they were not allowed to exercise the prerogatives of the clergy in a great meas- ure. Coleman (^The Apostolical and Primitive Church [Phila. 1869, 12mo], p. 230 ; compare p. 226 [6]), one of the best autliorities on Christian antiquities, holds that in the earlj"^ stages of Christianity " all were accustomed to teach and to baptize," a practice to which Tertullian (born about A.D. 160) soon objected (Z'e Prwscript. ch. xli). From the writings of the early fathers, it is evi- dent, moreover, that only in the 2d and 3d centuries, after the general establishment of the churches, a stricter distinction was inaugurated. The introduction of the episcopal office, however, first definitely settled the po- sition of the layman in the Church. As early as A.D. 182, or thereabouts, we find Clement of Rome pointing to the laity as a distinct class. In a letter of his to the Corinthians respecting the order of the Church, after defining the positions of the bishops, priests, and dea- cons respectively, he adds, 6 Xa'iKog ui>^poj-jro(; toXq \a- V/co7c TvaocTayfiamv oi^irai, "the laj'man is bound by the laws which belong to laymen" {Ad Corinth, i, 40). A little later, Cyprian (born about' the beginning of the 3d century) uses the words " clerus" and " plebs" as of the two bodies which make up the Christian Church (£/7. Ix). But the idea that the priesthood formed an intermediate class between God (Christ) and the Chris- tian community first became prevalent during the cor- ruptions that ensued upon the establishment of the prel- acy. Gradually, as the power of the hierarchy increased, the infliK'uce which the laity had exercised in tlie gov- ernment of the Church was taken from them, and in 602 a synod held at Kome under Sj'mmachus finall}' de- prived the layman of all activity in the management of any of the affairs of the Church (compare Coleman, Apostolic and Primitive Church, p. 118).
In the Church of the Reformers a very different spirit prevailed. All Christians were looked upon as consti- tuting a common and equal priesthood. Still the desire of making a visible distinction often led even the Prot- estant Church astray, and to this day the question re- mains unsettled in some churches how far the laity ought to share in the government of the Church ; and hence the depth of the distinction implied in the use of