Love - feast. In the article Agape (q. v.) the subject has been treated so far as it relates to an in- stitution in the early Church. It remains for us here only to speak of the love-feast as observed in some Prot- estant churches, especially the Methodist connection. In a strictly primitive form, the love-feast is observed by the Moravian Brethren. Tliey celebrate it on va- rious occasions, " generally in connection with a solemn festival or preparatory to the holy communion. Printed odes are often used, prepared expressly for the occasion. In the course of the service a simple meal of biscuit and coffee or tea is served, of which the congregation par- take together. In some churches the love-feast con- cludes with an address by the minister" (E. de Schwei- nitz, Moravian Manual [Philad. 1859, Timo], p. IGl). From the jNIoravians Wesley borrowed the practice for his own followers, assigning for its introduction into the jMethodist economy the following reasons : " In or- der to increase in them [persons in bands (q. v.)] a grateful sense of all his [God's] mercies, I desired that one evening in a quarter all the men in band, on a sec- ond all the women, would meet, and on a third both men and women together, that we might together ' eat bread,' as the ancient Christians did, ' with gladness and singleness of heart.' At these love-feasts (so we termed them, retaining the name as well as the thing, which was in use from the beginning) our food is only a little plain cake and water ; but we seldom return from them without being fed not only with the ' meat which per- isheth,' but with ' that which endureth to everlasting life' " (Wesley, W'oi-ks, v, 183). In the Wesleyan Church only members are attendants at love-feasts, and they are appointed by or ^vith tlie consent of the superintendent {M billies, 1806). Admission itself is gained only bj' a ticket ; and as it frequently happened that members would lend their tickets to strangers, it was enacted in 18(J8 that "no person who is unwilling to join our soci- ety is allowed to attend a love-feast more than once, nor then without a note from the travelling preacher;" .... and " that any person who is proved to have lent a society ticket to another who is not in society, for the purpose of deceiving the door-keepers, shall be suspend- ed for three months" (comp. Grindrod. Lau-s and Regula- tions of Wesl. Methodism [Lond. 1842], p. 180). In the Methodist Episcopal Church the rule also exists that ad- mission to love-feasts is to be had by tickets only (comp. Discipline, pt. ii, ch. ii, § 17 [2]), but the rule is rarely, if ever observed, and they are frequently attended by members of the congregation as well as by the members of the Church. By established usage, the presiding el- der (and in his absence only the minister in charge) is entitled to preside over the love-feasts, and they are therefore held at the time of the Quarterly Conference. See CoNFKKENCE, JlKTHoniST. The manner in which they are now generally observed among Jlethodists is as follows : They are opened by the reading of the Scrip- tures, followed by the singing of a hymn, and then by prayer. During and after the dealing out of the bread and water, the different members of the congregation so disposed relate their Christian experience since the last meeting, etc. This is also the occasion for a report of the prosperity of the Church on the part of the pastor and by rule of Discipline (pt. ii, ch. ii, § 17) ; for the report of the names of those Avho have been received into the Church or excluded therefrom during the quar- ter ; also the names of those ^vho have been received or dismissed by certificate, and of those T,ho have died or have withdrawn from the Church.
Among the Baptists, in their missionary churches abroad, they seem to celebrate the real Arjap'e. At Ber- lin, Prussia, they are held quarterly, and are made the occasion of a general social gathering, substituting cof- fee and cake for the bread and water; but this practice is by no means general among the communicants of that Church. (J.II.W.)
Love. Virgins of, a female order in the Romish •Church, called also Laughters of Charity (q.v.), whose
office it is to administer assistance and relief to indigent persons confined to their beds by sickness and infirmity. The order was founded by Louisa le Gras, and received, in the year 1660, the approbation of the pope. — Farrar, Eccles. l)ict.
Lovejoy, Elijah P., a Presbyterian minister, noted for his anti-slaverj' acti\'ity, was the son of the Kev. Daniel Lovejoy, and was born at Albion, INIaine, Nov. 9, 1802 ; graduated at Waterville College, Maine, September, 1826; and taught for a time in St. Louis, ]Mo. In 1832 he was converted, and united with the Presb3'terian Church, and entered the Theological Sem- inary at Princeton, N. J. The following spring he ob- tained license to preach from the Second Presbytery of Philadelphia, and began preaching in Newport, E. I., and in New York City. In 1833 he established the *SY. Louis Observer, a weekly religious newspaper, in St, Louis, Mo. In 1836, on account of a bitter dislike for the Observer's opposition to slaverj' and the prevailing principles on divorce, a mob destroyed Mr. Lovejoy's printing-office. The same year he removed to Alton, 111., where he established and maintained by solicited contributions " The Alton Observer." Continuing in his anti-slavery movements, resolutions were passed against him, and his press was twice destroyed by a pro-slavery mob. While defending a third press near his premises at Alton, he was mortally wounded in November, 1837.