THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
was of an almost formative character. In his later years he became an enthusiastic student of Jakob Boehme, but his strong churchly feeling and his sound English sense kept him from the wild errors and extravagances into which some of Boehme's disciples fell. In The Spirit of Prayer (1750; new ed., 1893) and The Spirit of Love (1754; new ed., 1893), Law unfolds his mystical views, and answers the objections which had been made to them. They are remarkable works, and abound in passages of uncommon spiritual force and beauty. Other well-known writings by Law are: Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor (1717-19; new ed., 1893), the most forceful piece of writing produced by the Bangorian controversy (see Hoadly, Benjamin); and A Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection (172(3; abridged in part by J. Wesley, 1740; new ed., 1902). All of these maybe found in his Works (9 vols., 1762; a beautiful reprint ed. G. B. Morgan, 9 vols., Brockenhurst, 1892-93.) Recent volumes of selections from Law are: Characters and Characteristics of William Law (ed. A. Whyte, London, 1893); Wholly for God (ed. A. Murray, 1894); The Power of the Spirit (ed. A. Murray, 1896); and The Divine Indwelling (ed. A. Murray, 1897) ; Liberal and Mystic Writings (New York, 1908). Bibliography: J. H. Overton, William Law, Nonjuror and Mystic, London, 1881 (satisfactory); [C. Walton], Notes and materials for an Adequate Biography of William Law, ib. 1S54 (privately printed); L. Stephen, Hours in a Library, 2 ser.. ib. 1876; J. H. Overton, The Church in England, ii. 222, 228-231, 235, 240, ib. 1897; idem and F. Relton, The English Church (1714-1800), ib. 1906; DNB, xxxii. 236-240; and the literature under Xoxjubofs, especially T. Lathbury, Hist, of the Nonjurors; Cambridge Modern Hist., vi. 81 sqq,, 1909.
LAWLOR, HUGH JACKSON: Church of Ireland; b. at Ballymena (33 m. n.n.w. of Belfast), County Antrim, Dec. 11, 1861. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin (B.A., 1882; M.A., 1885), was ordered deacon in 1885, and ordained priest in 1886. He was curate of Christ Church, Kingstown, Dublin 1885-93, and senior chaplain of St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh 1893-98. Since 1898 he has been professor of ecclesiastical history in the University of Dublin, where he had already been assistant to Archbishop King's lecturer in divinity in 1890-93. He was university preacher in 1898- 1905, and has been examining chaplain to the bishop of Edinburgh since 1895, precentor of Trinity College since 1900 and of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, since 1902, and curate of Bray, Dublin, since 1905. He has edited: The Rosslyn Missal (London, 1899); G. T. Stokes' Some Worthies of the Irish Church (1900); and The Diary of William King Kept during his Imprisonment in Dub-
lin Castle, 1689 (Dublin, 1903); and has written: Chapters on the Book of Mulling (Edinburgh, 1897); The Kilcormic Missal (Dublin, 1900); Thoughts on Belief and Life (sermons; 1900); and The Manuscripts of the Vita Sancti Columbani (1903). He has also contributed to the Peplographia Dublinensis (London, 1902) and The Psalms of Israel (1904).
LAWRENCE, WILLIAM: Protestant Episcopal bishop of Massachusetts; b. in Boston May 30, 1850. He was graduated at Harvard in 1871 and the Episcopal Theological School, Cambridge, Mass.,
in 1875. He was ordered deacon in 1875 and priested in 1876. He became rector of Grace Church, Lawrence, Mass., in 1876, professor of homiletics and pastoral theology in the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge in 1884 (dean from 1888), and bishop of Massachusetts in 1893. He has written: Life of Amos A [dams] Lawrence (his father- Boston, 1888); Visions and Service (1896); Life of Roger Wolcott, Governor of Massachusetts (1902); and Study of Phillips Brooks (1903). Bibliography: W. S. Perry, The Episcopate in America p. 359, New York, 1895.
LAY BAPTISM. See Baptism, III., 4.
LAY BROTHERS, LAY SISTERS. See Monas-
TICIS1I.
LAY CLERK: A designation given to certain members of the establishment of an English cathedral, whose duty it is to take a regular part in the choral services; they are sometimes known also as lay vicars, or vicars-choral. As in the case of the parish clerk, the name comes down from a time when these functions were performed by actual clerics; the qualifying adjective " lay," though etymologically importing a contradiction, being added to mark the difference in modern usage.
LAY COMMUNION (Lat. communio laica): Originally the status of the lay members of the Church as contrasted with the clergy, but restricted after the differentiation between clergy and laity to a deposition from the higher estate of the former to the lower rank of the latter. It is mentioned in this sense as early as the third century, especially as a punishment parallel with Deposition (q.v.). The punishment implied that a clergyman thus deposed resumed the status of a layman and had henceforth only lay rights, so that he received communion outside the choir instead of within the sanctuary, like the clergy. In modern Roman Catholic usage the development of the doctrine of the " indelible character " of bishops and priests has rendered absolute reduction to lay communion impossible. A cleric of major orders can be released from the duties of his office, especially from the vow of celibacy, only by dispensation of the pope. Those who hold minor orders, however, may return to the estate of laymen, and if they marry, they lose their benefices and all other privileges. (P. HlNSCHIUSf.)
LAY READER: A term applied in the Anglican Communion to laymen who are licensed to read portions of the service, usually in the absence of a clergyman. The system received its earliest wide development in the United States, where the number of clergy was inadequate to the needs of missionary expansion, and the services of the Episcopal Church were in many places kept up for long periods almost entirely by the ministrations of lay readers; but in recent years it has been adopted to a considerable extent in England also. In the United States a lay reader is required to have a license from the bishop, which is granted for a year at a time, and his powers are minutely defined by the canons.