LeTwis, Moses, a Jlethodist minister, was born in Koxbury, Vt., jNIaj' 1',), 1707, and early decided upon the ministry as his work of life. He entered the travelling connection in 1831 in the New Hampshire Conference. After five years of faitliful and successful labors as an itinerant, failing health compelled him to retire from the effective ranks, with the hope of resuming his place as a pastor at no distant day with recuperated i)hysical strength, which, however, he never realized. During thirty-four years he sustained either a supernumerary or superannuated relation to his Conference. In 1844 tlie New Hampshire Conference was divided, and the Ver- mont Conference constituted, and of it Lewis, living within the limits of the new Conference, became a mem- ber. He died Sept. 26, 1869. " In the domestic circle brother Lewis was beloved and honored ; in the com- munity, active and reliable ; and in the Church, a pillar of strength, a safe counsellor, and a liberal contributor to all the interests of the Church of his choice." — Minutes ofConf. 1870 (see Index).
Le'wis, Thomas, an Independent minister, was born in 1 1 77. He was pastor of an Independent congregation at Islington, England, from 1804 till 1852, the year of his deatli. His published works are, 1. Christian Duties in the various Relations of Life (1839) :— 2. Religious State of Islimjton for the last Forty Years (1842) :— 3. Chris- tian Privileges (1847).— Allibone, Dictionary of British and American Authors, vol. ii, s. v.
Lewis, Zechariah, a Presbyterian minister, stud- ied theology at Philadelphia, anil was licensed by the
Fairfield West Association in 1796. In the autumn of that year he became tutor in Yale College, and held that office until 1799. He was elected a trustee of Princeton Seminary in 1812. For six years he acted as correspond- ing secretary of the Religious Tract Society, afterwards the American Tract Society. Having resigned that po- sition in 1820, he was elected one of the secretaries of the United Foreign INIissionary Societj-. He died in 1862. — Wilson, Presh. Hist. A Imanac, 1863, s. v.
Leyczon Nobla is the name of a poem which was extensively circulated among the ^Valdcnses in the 15th century. It exhorts to repentance and to Christian life, and treats of the temptations to which the wicked sub- ject the pious and the good, and of the punishments for sin. Some, among them Dickhoff, contend that the poem originated with the Bohemian Brethren, but Ebrard and Herzog incline to the general opinion that the "Leyczon" belongs to the Waldensian literature. Tlie name it bears is derived from the lirst words of the poem, which are ^^ Leyczon nobla" (lectio, sermon). See Zeit- schriftf. hist, theol. 1864, 1865 ; Herzog, i^ie romanischen Waldenser, etc. (Halle, 1853).
Leydeclier, Melciiiok, a Calvinistic theologian, was burn at Middelburg in 1642. He became pastor in the province of Zealand in 1662, was appointed professor at Utrecht in 1678, and died in 1721. He was an ardent exponent of the doctrines of the Reformed Church, and violently opposed the systems of Cocceius and Descartes, the works of Drusius, S[iencer's book De Legibus Ilebrce- orum, and the Lutheran tendencies of Witsius. Verj' learned in theological, rabbinical, and ecclesiastical lit- erature, he distinguished himself by wielding a strong pen in favor of the Reformed theological system. Among his apologetical works are De reritatejidei Refurmatm ejusdemque sanctitate, s. Commentarius ad Catech. Pala- tin. (Ultrajecti, 1694, 4to) : — De aconomia trium perso- narum in negotio salutis hum. libri iv, quibus miiversa Reformata fdes certis principiis congruo nexu explicatur (Traj. ad Rhen. 1682, 12mo) : — Veritas evangelic irium- plians de erroribus quorumris seculoi'um — opus, quo j)rincipia fidei Reformatm demonstrantur (Traj. 1688, 4to) : — also, Ilistoria ecclesice Africanm iUustrata pro ecclesice Reformatee vei'itate et libertate (Ultraj. 1690, 4to). His controversial works against Cocceius met with great success, because they discussed the question with great clearness. Among them we notice liis Synopsis contro- versiai-um de fccdere et testamento Dei, quce hodie in Bel- gio nioventur (Traj. 1690, 8vo) : — Vis veritatis s. disqui- siiionum ad nonnullas controversias, quce hodie in Bel- gio moventur de aconomia fcederum Dei, libri v (Traj. 1679, 4to) : — Fax veritatis (Leida?, 1677, 4to). When yet a youthful student at tlie university Leydecker had paid special attention to Biblical studies, and, guided by a learned rabbi, made rapid strides in the explora- tion of Biblical lore. In after life, when, tired of polemi- cal and clerical pursuits, he looked about for a field on which he might profitably venture, this department of theological study allured him anew. Attempting to fit the works of Godwin {Moses and Aaron) and Cunteus (De Repiiblica Hebrceor.) to his academical purposes, he soon discovered their insufficiency, and set about to pre- pare himself a more copious treatise, ^vhich is every- where marked by a vigorous and independent judgment. Wliile he conceals not his aversion to the "futilities" of the Talmutl, he quotes the great rabbins with respect. He, moreover, keeps a sharp eye on the extravagancies of Christian writers, and his ^vork censures with eveu- handed justice the well-known rabbinism of the Bux- torfs and the Fgyptism of Spencer (De Legibus Jlebr.). It is only characteristic of this unsparing criticism of the orthodox author that lie adds an appendix of severe an- imadversion against the cosmogony of Thomas Burnet, to whose Theoria telluris he prefixes the predicate pro- fana. Tlie six dissertations of this appendix, what- ever may be thought of the author's views, are valuable for their learning, and interesting as closely bearing on the questions now raised on the Mosaic cosmogony.