existence, as opposed to death and non-existence (Gen. ii, 7 ; XXV, 7 ; Luke xvi, "25 ; Acts xvii, 25; 1 Cur. iii, 22; XV, 19; Heb. vii, 3; James iv, 14; l{ev\xi, 11; xvi, 3). See Longevity, The ancients generally enter- tained the idea that the vital principle (which they ap- pear to have denoted by the term qnrit, in distinction from the soul itself, comp. 1 Thess, v, 23) resided par- ticularly in the blood, which, on that account, the Jews were forbidden to use as food (Lev. xvii, 11). See 15looi). Other terms occasionally rendered ''life" in the Scriptures are ^S3 (iie'phesh, a living creainxo), DT^ {yom, a day, i. e. a lifetime), /ii'oc (lifetime), Trvevfia {brcdt/i, i. e. spirit), ip^X'! (soul, or animating principle). The term life is ailso used more or less figuratively in the following acceptations in Scripture : (i.) For exist- ence, life, absolutely and without end, immortality (Heb. vii, IG). So also " tree of life," or of immortality, which preserves from death (Rev. ii, 7; xxii, 2. 14; Gen. ii, 0; iii, 22) ; " bread of life'' (John vi, 35, 51 ) ; '' way of life" (Psa. xvi, 11; Acts ii, 28); "water of life," i. e. living fountains of water, perennial (Rev. vii, 17) ; crown of life, the reward of eternal life (James i, 12; Rev. ii, 10). See Book ; Bread ; Ckown ; Fountain ; Tree, etc. (2.) Tlie manner of life, conduct, in a moral respect ; '•newness of life" (Rom. vi, 4) ; " the life of God," i. e. the life which God requires, a godly life (Eph. iv, 18 : 2 Pet. i, 3). (3.) The term '"/{/t" is also used for spiritual life, or the holiness and happiness of salvation procured by the Sa\iour's death. In this sense, life or eternal life is the antithesis of death or condemnation. Life is the image of aU good, and is therefore employed to express it (Ueut. XXX, 15 ; John iii, IC, 17, 18, 36; v, 24, 39, 40 ; vi, 47 ; viii, 51 ; xi, 26 ; Rom. v, 12, 18 ; 1 John v, 11) ; death is the consummation of evil, and so it is frequent- ly used as a strong expression in order to designate ev- ery kind of evil, whether temporal or spiritual (Jer. xxi, 8; Ezck. xviii, 28; xxxiii, 11; Rom. i, 32; vi, 21; vii, 5, 10, 13, 24; John vi, 50, viii, 21). (4.) Life is also used for eternal life, i. e. the life of bliss and glory in the kingdom of (iod which awaits the true disciples of Christ (Matt, xix, 10, 17; .John iii, 15; 1 Tim. iv, 8; Acts V, 20 ; Rom. v, 17 ; 1 Pet. iii, 7 ; 2 Tim. i, 1). (5.) The term life is also used of God and Christ or the Word, as the absolute source and cause of all life (John i, 4 ; V, 26, 39 ; xi, 25 ; xii, 50 ; xiv, 6 ; xvii, 3 ; Col. iii, 4 ; 1 John i, 1, 2 ; v, 20). See Death.
LIFE EVERLASTING. See Eternal Life; Fu- ture Life.
Lift (prop. X'^5, a'ipio), besides having the general sense of raising, is used in several peculiar phrases iu Scripture. To lift up the Hands is, among the Ori- entals, a common part of the ceremony of taking an oath: "I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord," says Abraham (Gen. xiv, 22); '-I will bring you into the land concerning which I lift up my hand" (Exod. vi, 8), which I promised with an oath. To lift up one's hand against any one is to attack him, to fight him (2 Sam. xviii, 28; 1 Kings xi, 2G). To lift up one's face in the presence of any one is to appear boklly in his presence (2 Sam. ii, 22; Ezra ix, 6. (See also Job x, 15 ; xi, 15.) To lift up one's hands, eyes, soul, or heart unto the Lord are expressions describing the sentiments and emotion of one who prays earnestly or desires a thing Avith ar- dor— Calmet, s. v.
Lifters and ANTILIFTERS, a name given about the opening of the 18th century to the congregations at Killraaruock, in the west of Scotland, who, according to Sir John Sinclair, differed on the paltry question wheth- er it was necessary for the minister to lift iu his hand the plate of bread before its distriljutioii in the Lord's Supper, the Lifters holding tliis to be essential, the others regarding it as a matter of no moment, Thev were also called New Lights, and the others Old Lights, terms that have been applied in other cases somewhat similar. — Gregoire, //wf. i, 61 ; quoted from Sinclair, Wor/cs, ix, 375-6 ; Williams, Religious Lncyclop. s. v.
Light (properly "nN, or, (fiuuc, from its shining) is represented in the Scriptures as the immediate result and otfspring of a divine command (Gen, i, 3), where doubtless we are to understand a reappearance of the celestial luminaries, still partially obscured by the haze that settled as a pall over the grave of nature at some tremendous cataclysm which well-nigh reduced the globe to its pristine chaos, rather than their actual for- mation, although they are subsequently introduced (Gen, i, 14 sq,). In consequence of the intense brilliancy and beneficial influence of light in an Eastern climate, it easily and naturally became, with Orientals, a repre- sentative of the highest human good. From this idea the transition was an easy one, in corrupt and supersti- tious minds, to deify the great sources of light. See Sun; Moon, When "Eastern nations beheld the sun shining in his strength, or the moon walking in her brightness, their hearts were secretly enticed, and their mouth kissed their hand in token of adoration (Job xxxi, 26, 27), See Adoration, This 'iniquity' the Hebrews not only avoided, but when they considered the heavens they recognised the work of God's fingers, and learnt a lesson of humility as well as of reverence (Psa, viii, 3 sq.). On the contrary, the entire residue of the East, with scarcely any exception, worshijiped the sun and the light, primarily, perhaps, as symbols of divine power and goodness, but, in a more degenerate state, as themselves divine ; whence, in conjunction with darkness, the negation of light, arose the doctrine of dualism, two principles, the one of light, the good power, the other of darkness, the evU power, a corruption which rose and spread the more easily because the whole of human life, being a checkered scene, seems divided as between two conflicting agencies, the bright and the dark, the joyous and the sorrowful, what is caUetl pros- perous and what is called adverse" (Kitto). But in the Scriptures the purer symbolism is everywhere main- tained (see Wemyss, Symbol. Diet. s. v.). " AU the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse, were habitually described among the Hebrews under imagery derived from light (1 Kings xi, 36 ; Isa. Iviii, 8, Esth. viii, 16; Psa. xcvii, 11). The transition was natural from earthly to heavenly, from corporeal to spir- itual things, and so light came to typify true religion and the felicity which it imparts. But as light not only came from God, but also makes man's way clear before him, so it was employed to signify moral truth, and pre- eminently that divine system of truth which is set forth in the Bible, from its earliest gleamings onward to the perfect day of the great sun of righteousness. The ap- plication of the term to religious topics had the greater propriety because the light in the world, being accom- panied by heat, purifies, quickens, enriches, which efforts it is the peculiar province of true religion to produce in the human soul (Isa. viii, 20, Matt, iv, 16; Psa. cxix, 105; 2 Pet. i, 19; Eph. v, 8; 2 Tim. i, 10; 1 Pet. ii, 9)" (Kitto).