RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Lynch Lyte
of the eighteenth century were added the newlyfounded sees of Dijon and Saint-Claude. After the Revolution Chalons and Macon were suppressed, and Grenoble was taken from the province of Vienne, which metropolitan see was then united with Lyons. After the surrounding territory became part of the Frankish kingdom in 532, the temporal sovereignty of Lyons was exercised by the archbishops, and this continued practically the case while it was nominally a part of the Empire, from 1032 to 1312. Philip the Fair erected a county of Lyons, but left it attached to the archiepiscopal see; the secular jurisdiction was not assumed by the king until 1563.
Bibliography: The occupants of the see are given in order in Gams, Series episcoporum, pp. 569-572, supplement, p. 38. Consult: J. Perrier, Hist, des archevtques de Lyon, Lons-le-Saunier, 1887; Cartulaire des fiefs de I'eglise de Lyon, 1173-1531, Lyons, 1893; J. B. Martin, Obituaire de I'eglise primatiale de Lyon, ib. 1902; idem, Conciles et bullaire du diocese de Lyon, des origines a . ISIS, ib. 1905; Martyrologe de la sainte eglise de Lyon, Paris, 1902.
LYONS, COUNCILS OF. For the council of 1245, see Innocent IV.; for that of 1274, see Gregory X.
LYRA, li"rfl', NICOLAUS DE (NICOLAUS LY-
RAMUS): French exegete; b. at Lyre (a small village in the diocese of Evreux) c. 1270; d. at Paris Oct, 23, 1340. In 1292 he entered the Franciscan order at Verneuil, and later went to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his life as a teacher at the Sorbonne. These are the only certain details of his life, and are given on his epitaph in the Minorite monastery at Paris. Other sources, however, add that in 1325 he was appointed provincial of his order for Burgundy according to the provisions of the will of Jeanne, queen of Philip the Tall. The statement that he taught in Oxford is baseless, as is the tradition that he was of Jewish descent. He doubtless acquired his knowledge of Hebrew in Paris, where oriental studies in the interest of polemics against Judaism and Mohammedanism were not unknown. Immediately after entering the monastery he began his commentary on the Bible; in 1322 he was working on Genesis, and in 1326 on Isaiah. The work reached a temporary conclusion in 1330, but was not published until after his death, when it received additions from other hands, particularly the prefaces to the individual books and the general introduction De libris canonicis et non canonicis. His Postillw include fifty books of running commentary on the entire Bible, including the Apocrypha, which, however, are treated as non-canonical. Then follow thirty-five books of moralia, and the whole is preceded by three prologues. The first of these is a conventional eulogy of the Scriptures and a recommendation of their study. The second is devoted to method and is based on the theory of the double meaning of the text, one literal and the other mystical. The third prologue develops the mystical meaning in three categories, and the whole is summed up in the passage:
' The fact dwells in literal meaning, allegorical is thy belief; The moral defineth thine actions, thine end anagoge doth tell."
The characteristic feature of Mcolaus is his sobriety as an exegete and his ability to restrict him* self to the literal sense of the Bible, avoiding the peril of allegorical interpretation as well as mystic and dogmatic excursus. It is noteworthy in this connection that the Jewish exegete whom he almost transcribed was Rashi, who had introduced an anti-allegorizing epoch into Jewish hermeneutics. Of Greek Nicolaus shows little knowledge, but he had a source for Aramaic and Arabic in the Pugio fidei of Raymond Martin. In addition to the Church Fathers, he made much use of Thomas Aquinas. His Postillce enjoyed extraordinary popularity in the Middle Ages, and were repeatedly edited, generally with the adverse criticisms of Paul of Burgos and the rejoinders of Matthaeus Doring, a German Minorite. Luther in his interpretation of Genesis consulted Nicolaus in almost every sentence and owed to him his rabbinical knowledge, while Melanchthon, Urbanus Rhegius, and other Reformers were also acquainted with his work. From this fact originated the well-known doggerel of Peter of Pflug, Si Lyra non lyrasset, Lutherus non saltasset, or, according to another version, Si Lyra non lyrasset, nemo doctorum in Bibliam saltasset, " If Lyra had not played the lyre, Luther (or, those learned in the Bible) would not have danced." The remaining works of Lyra are of little interest. He proved his right to be considered a scholastic by his commentaries on Peter Lombard and the Quodlibeta, and wrote three books against the Jews. His alleged authorship of the treatises De idoneo ministrante and Contemplatio de vita et gestis sancti Francisci is doubtful. (R. Schmid.)
Bibliography: For a bibliography of the early editions consult J. Le Long, Bibliotheca sacra, ed. A. G. Masch, II., iii. 359 sqq., and cf. J. F. T. Graessa, Tresors des livres rares et precieux, 6 vols., Dresden, 1859-69. Consult: S. Davidson, Sacred Hermeneutics, Edinburgh, 1843; Siegfried, in Archiv fur Erforschung des A. T., vol. i., 1867; idem in ZWT, 1894; L. Diestel, Geschichte des A. T. in der chrisllichen Kirche, pp. 195 sqq., Jena, 1868; F. W Farrar, Hist, of Interpretation, pp. 274-278, New York, 1886; Maschkowski, in ZATW, 1891.
LYSANIAS. See Abilene.
LYTE, HENRY FRANCIS: British hymn- writer; b. at Ednam (3 m. n.n.e. of Kelso), Roxburghshire, Scotland, June 1, 1793; d. at Nice, France, Nov. 20, 1847. He was educated in Ireland, first at the royal school of Enniskillen, then at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was graduated in 1814. He took orders in 1815, and, after holding curacies at Taghmon (near Wexford), Marzion (Cornwall), and Lymington (Hampshire), entered upon the perpetual curacy of Lower Brixham, Devonshire, in 1823. This appointment he held till his death. Lyte's hymns were published partly in Poems, chiefly Religious (London, 1833), and partly in The Spirit of the Psalms (1834). Many of them are in common use. His " Abide with me, fast falls the eventide " is generally regarded as one of the few fine hymns in the language. Other well-known hymns by Lyte are, " Pleasant are Thy courts above," " Far from my heavenly home," " God of mercy, God of grace," " Praise, my soul, the King of heaven," and " Jesus,
Lyttelton McAll Mission