Lanka, the ancient name of the capital of Ceylon, is celebrated in Hindu mythology as the chief city of the giant Ravana (q. \.\ who, by carrying off Sita, the wife of Rama, caused the conquest of Ceylon by the latter personage, who is considered as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. — Chambers, Cyclop, s. v.
Lanneau, Bazile E., a Presbyterian minister, was born at Cliarleston, South Carolina, jMarch 22, 1830. and was educated at Charleston College, where he graduated in 1848. He completed a course of theology at Colum- bia Seminary, S. C, in 1851, and was immediately ap- pointed tutor of Hebrew in the same institution. In 1854 he was ordained, and made pastor of a Church at Lake City, Florida; from 1856 to 1858 he was editor of the Southern Presbyterian, at Charleston, and then re- turned to Lake City. In October, 1859, he was elected to the chair of ancient languages in "Oakland College, Miss., which position he held until his death, July 12, 1860. Lanneau's linguistic acquirements were very ex- tensive. •' He was not only a scholar, but an accurate and well-read divine. His style as a writer was chaste and clear." — Wilson, Presb. Hist. A Inianac, 1861, p. 95.
Lanneau, John Francis, a Presbyterian minis- ter, was burn at Charleston, South Carolina, August 14, 1809 ; was educated at Yale College, class of 1829, and studied theology at the theological seminaries of Prince- ton, N. J., and Columbia, S. C. He was ordained in 1833, and labored three years for the cause of foreign mis- sions; then went as a missionary to Jerusalem. In 1846 he returned to America, and was called to jMarietta, Ga. In 1855 he became pastor at Salem, Ya., and in 1861 re- turned to Marietta, Avhere he died, Oct. 7, 1867. Mr. Lanneau is re[)resented as an able minister, and always eminently influential and acceptable both as a preacher ami a citizen. — Wilson, F'resb. Ilist. A hnancic, 1868, p. 340.
Lannis, Jacob W., a Presbyterian minister, was bom in I'.ah imore Co., Maryland, July 8, 1826 ; received a col- legiate education at Muskingum College, Ohio, and at Jefferson CoDege, Pa., where he graduated in 1852. He studied theology at Alleghany City Theological Semi- nary, and afterwards with Dr. Edwards, of Fort Wayne, Ind. In 1856 he was ordained and installed as pastor of a Church at Waveland, Ind. Jn 1858 he removed to Nashville, Tennessee, and died there Aug. 9, lB59. INIr. Lannis was very successful in his brief ministry. — Wil- son, Presb. Hist. Almanac, ISGl, p. 95.
Lansing, Nicholas, a minister of the (Dutch) Re-
formed Church, was born at Albany in 1748. He stud- ied theology under Dr. Westerlo, of tliat city, and was licensed to preach bj' a general meeting of ministers and elders in 1780. Among the Dutch clergymen of the last two generations, this venerable man held a rep- utation for piety and individuality of character that re- minds us of Rowland Hill, James Patterson, of Philadel- phia, and a few others of similar mould. ISIany curious and interesting stories are told of his unique and godly life, and of his holy ministry. He was, while young, captain of a small sailing vessel that ran between Al- bany and New York, and was converted to Christ while in this calling. Immediately he consecrated himself to the ministry, although his health was so feeble that his physician said he would not live to enter the pulpit. But God spared him to ser\-e in his sanctuary fifty-five years. He preached regularly until the second Sabbath before his death, at the great age of eighty-seven. " He spent much time day and night in his study, fasting much and being much in prayer. He usually spent much of the night, and sometimes the whole night, in praying. His clothing always gave way first upon the knees." His preaching, which was in the Dutch lan- guage, Avas remarkable for its scriptural character, spir- ituality, and utter fearlessness. Striking anecdotes are told, and many of his peculiar expressions are yet cur- rent, illustrative of tliese features of his ministry-. On one occasion, in a meeting of classis, when called upon a second time by the president to make a brief statement of the condition of his Church, the old man rose sud- denly and said, "Mr. President, Tappanl Tappan! aU Tappan is dead, and I'm dead too." He sat down and said no more initil he was asked to pray, and then jjour- ed out his soul in such strains of" power with God" that all who heard him felt that whatever might be the state of his people, he, at least, was not '■^dead" yet. He ob- served family worship three times daily during a part of bis life. A great revival of religion followed one of his most bold and characteristic sermons in a neighbor- ing place, where people were given up to worldliness and sin. During his last service he sat in the pulpit, as his feebleness obliged him to do frequently in his later years. Like Baxter, he could have said
"I preached as if I ne'er should preach again, And as a dying man to dyiug men."
Referring to the strain of his ministry among them, he said to his people, " I have never preached to you ' Do and live,' but ' Live and do.' " That week he was seized with his last illness, during which he was constantly en- gaged in prayer, and in speaking for Christ to those who were with him. His last entl was peace. Mr. Lan- sing was settled first in the united chiu-ches of what are now Greenbush, Linlithgo, and Taghkanic, near Albany, during 1781-4, and afterwards at Tappan and Clarks- town, in Rockland County, N.Y., 1784-1830, and Tap- pan alone 1830-35. His home and church in the latter place Avere near the spot on which major Andre was hung in the Revolutionaiy War. See Corv.in, Manual of the Reformed Church, p. 134 sq. (W. J. R. T.)