THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
LILLIE, JOHN: American Presbyterian; b. at Kelso (38 m. s.e. of Edinburgh), Roxburghshire, Scotland, Dec. 16, 1812; d. at Kingston, N. Y., Feb. 23. 1867. He was graduated at the University of Edinburgh (1831; D.D., 1855); studied theology, and taught until 1834, when he emigrated to America. He then finished his theological studies at New Brunswick, N. J., and was ordained minister of the Reformed (Dutch) Church at Kingston, where he labored until he accepted the presidency of the grammar-school of the University of the City of Xew York (Aug., 1841). He had charge of the Broadway, afterward Stanton Street, Reformed (Dutch) Church (1843-48), and, in addition, edited the Jewish Chronicle (1844-48). He labored upon the revised version of the American Bible Union (1851-57); and in 1857 he reentered the pastorate, taking charge of the Presbyterian Church of Kingston. Lillie, who was acknowledged to be one of the best Biblical scholars in the United States, prepared for the American Bible Union valuable new versions and philological commentaries upon I-II Thessalonians, I-III John, II Peter, Jude, and Revelation (also on I Peter and James; but these were never printed). He wrote Lectures on the Epistles to the Thessalonians (New York, 1860); and translated, with additions, C. A. Auberlin and C. J. Riggenbach upon Thessalonians (in the Lange Commentary, 1868). His Lectures on the First and Second Epistles of Peter, with a Biographical Sketch by Dr. Schaff and James Inglis (1869) were published posthumously.
LIMBORCH, lim'borH", PHILIPPUS VAN: Dutch Remonstrant theologian; b. at Amsterdam June 19, 1633; d. there Apr. 30, 1712. He was the son of a lawyer, Frans van Limborch, and Geertruida Bischop, a niece of Episcopius, and was educated at Leyden and Utrecht for the law, afterward, when he had made up his mind to become a Remonstrant minister (see Remonstrants), studying under Vossius and Barlaeus in Amsterdam. In 1657 he accepted a call to Gouda, and ten years later he returned to Amsterdam; but after a few months of pastoral ministry be became a professor in the Remonstrant seminary (Apr. 19, 1668). Here he held a position of influence for forty-five years, and his deep theological learning attracted many students. He was the leading Remonstrant theologian of the seventeenth century. His fame rests chiefly on his Theologia Christiana ad praxin pietatis ac promotionem pads Christiana unice directa (Amsterdam, 1686; Eng. transl., A Compleat System, or Body of Divinity, 2 vols., London, 1713, republished, Macclesfield, 1807). He had a remarkable conversation with Isaac Orobio, a Spanish Jew who had been obliged to flee from the Inquisition and had established himself in Amsterdam as a physician, and published a report of it under the title De veritate religionis christians, arnica collatio cum erudito Judmo (Gouda, 1687). Against the Roman Catholics he maintained the right of freedom in religious investigation, and himself showed a moderate and tolerant spirit toward those who differed from him. He shows little sympathy with the philosophy of his age — at least with Descartes and Spinoza — though he was much attracted by Locke's works
and exchanged interesting letters with him. He wrote an excellent biography of Episcopius, and a short history of the Synod of Dort, as an introduction to the letters of the English delegates Hales and Balcanqual, besides editing the second part of the theological writings of Episcopius, the whole Opera theologica of Curcellaeus, and the Prcestantium ac eruditorum virorum epistolw theologica et ecclesiastics. H. C. RoGGEf.
Bibliography: Besides the works mentioned in the text Limborch wrote Historia Inquisitionis, 2 parts, Amsterdam, 1692, Eng. transl. by S. Chandler, London, 1731. The funeral oration by J. Le Clerc was published Amsterdam, 1712, and is found in the transl. of the Theologia Christiana, ut sup. Consult: A. des Amorie van der Hoeven, Dissertatio de Phil, a Limborch, ib. 1843; Niceron Memoires, xi. 39 sqq.; C. F. Staudlin, Geschichte der theologischen Wissenschaften, i. 297 sqq., ii. 87 sqq., Gottingen, 1810-11, Eng. transl., Hist, of Theological Knowledge and Literature, Edinburgh, 1835.
LIMB US: A name applied in Roman Catholic theology to a place of detention for such souls as are incapable, through no fault of their own, of entrance into heaven. Outside of hell (see Future Punishment), the prison of those who have died in stubborn enmity against God, it is taught that there are three places of detention: Purgatory (q.v.) for those who are in process of purification to render them fit for heaven; the Limbus patrum, or place where those who died before the Atonement were detained; and the Limbus infantium (or puerorum) , where the souls of infants dying without baptism are. It is taught that there is no actual suffering in the two latter places, and thus, although the souls therein are excluded from the Beatific Vision, they are at the opposite extreme of the " under-world " from hell — on its border {limbus). The Limbus patrum is held to have ceased to exist when Christ " went and preached unto the spirits in prison " (I Pet. iii. 19; see Descent of Christ into Hell). The state of infants in the Limbus infantium is regarded as one of complete natural happiness; of the supernatural bliss of heaven they have not been made capable by baptism. See Infant Salvation. Bibliography: The subject is treated in the literature
under the articles to which reference is made in the text
— Future Punishment; Purgatory, etc.
LINCK (LINK, LINCK VON COLDITZ), WEN- CESLAUS (WENZEL, VINCILAUS): Lutheran preacher and theologian; b. at Colditz (25 m. s.e. of Leipsic) Jan. 8, 1483; d. at Nuremberg Mar. 12, 1547. In 1498 he entered the University of Leipsic, then joined the Augustinian friars, and in 1503 went to Wittenberg to continue his studies, where, six years later, he lectured on the " Sentences " of Peter Lombard, and was dean of the faculty when Luther took his doctor's degree in 1512. In the following years he was temporary prior of the Augustinian monastery in Wittenberg while Luther was its subprior; and the sermons which he preached at that time were praised by Luther for their popularity and fertility of imagination. When his activity at Wittenberg terminated in 1516, Linck accompanied his patron Staupitz on several tours of visitation, and in 1517 was called as preacher to Nuremberg. The sermons which he delivered there, especially on Palm Sunday and in Advent,