163 L
L represents probably the same sound in all alphabets. That sound used to be called a "liquid," in which class m, n, and r were included. This arrangement was unsatisfactory so far as m and n are concerned, for they have nothing common in their formation with the others. But r and l are very closely akin. They are both dentals – or more accurately front palatals – produced by raising the point of the tongue to the front part of the palate, immediately behind the gums. They differ in this: for r a small aperture is left over the tip of the tongue by which the air escapes; but for l the tongue reaches the top of the palate, but does not rest (as for r) against the sides of the mouth, and the voice escapes laterally by these side-apertures. The slightness of the difference in the positions of the mouth for these two sounds explains their exchangeableness. Perhaps the most remarkable variation of the l sound is that which is heard in Welsh and denoted by ll, in such words as Llanberis, Llangollen, &c. An English man commonly sounds this as thl, which is certainly not right. But the best authorities on phonetics are not agreed as to the precise nature of the sound. Mr Ellis thinks that it is produced by laying the left side of the tongue against the whole of the palate, and then forcibly ejecting the breath along the right side. But he admits that the sound thus produced differs very little from a voiceless or surd l (the common l is sonant), which stands therefore to l in the same relation as f does to v, or wh (really hw) to w. A simpler modification of the l sound is that heard in the Italian "gli" or in the Spanish "llano"; it is formed by raising the middle part of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, not the point against the front part of the palate, as for the ordinary l.
The peculiar nature of the l sound renders it apt to fall out before consonants with which it is inconsistent; this is specially seen in French plurals, such as "chevaux" from "cheval." It is also common, but sporadic, in English; e.g., in "walk," "talk," "palm," "alms," "half," "would," &c. As is frequently the case with such vanishing sounds, it has sometimes intruded through false analogy in words with which it has nothing to do, e.g., in "could" (Old English "coude"), and rather strangely in some words of Latin origin, e.g., participle, principle. The form of the letter L has varied slightly, but has always consisted of two straight lines at an angle. In Greek the form was generally Λ; and this has been preserved in the Cyrillic and Russian alphabets. But in the western Greek alphabet the form was generally 𐤋; and this appears in old Roman inscriptions, passing by degrees into the right angle with which we are familiar.
LA BADIE, LABADISTS. Jean de la Badie, a noted Pietist leader in the 17th century, was the son of Jean Charles de la Badie, governor of Guyenne; he was born in the town of Bourg not far from Bordeaux, on the 13th of February 1610, and died in Altona, on the 13th of February 1674. He was sent along with two brothers to the Jesuit school at Bordeaux, where his talents attracted the attention of his teachers, and they secured him for their order against the wishes of his parents. In 1626 he began to study philosophy and theology, and in due time made his profession. From a study of the Bible, of Augustine, Bernard, and the mystics, he was led to hold somewhat extreme views about the efficacy of prayer and the direct influence of the Holy Spirit upon believers, and adopted Augustinian views about grace, free will, and predestination, which brought him into collision with his order. The result was that he resigned and was separated from the Jesuits on the plea of ill health. He then became a preacher to the people, and was encouraged by his bishop to devote himself to this work. The study of Calvin's Institutes, however, taught him that he had more in common with the Reformed than with the Roman Catholic Church, and after various adventures he joined the Reformed Church of France at Montauban in 1650. His fame had preceded him, and his accession to the ranks of the Protestants was deemed a great triumph; no such man since Calvin himself, it was said, had left the Roman Catholic Church. He was called to the pastorate of the church at Orange on the Rhone, and at once became noted for the severity of the discipline he exercised. He set his face zealously against dancing, card-playing, and worldly entertainments. The unsettled state of the country, recently annexed to France, compelled him to leave Orange. He accepted a call to the French church in London, but did not stay there long; and after various wanderings he at length settled at Middelburg, where he was called to be pastor to the French-speaking congregation. His peculiar opinions were by this time (1666) well known, and his congregation and himself at once found themselves in conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities. Various "classes" and synods met and discussed the "seditious sermons and new and erroneous doctrine which De la Badie had preached in various of our churches before he had been inducted at Middelburg," and the result was the establishment of a separate church by De la Badie and his followers. He had gathered round him some enthusiastic disciples, Peter Yvon at Montauban, Peter Dulignon, Francis Menuret, and more important than any Anna Maria v. Schürman, whose book Eucleria is perhaps the best exposition of the tenets of her master. At Middelburg, at the head of his separatist congregation, De la Badie developed his views for a reformation of the Reformed Churches: – the church is a communion of holy people who have been born again from sin; baptism is the sign and seal of this regeneration, and is to be administered only to believers; the Holy Spirit guides the regenerate into all truth, and the church possesses throughout all time those gifts of prophecy which it had in the ancient days; the community at Jerusalem is the continual type of every Christian congregation, therefore there should be a community of goods, the disciples should live together, eat together, dance together; marriage is a holy ordinance between two believers, and the children of the regenerate are born without original sin; marriage with an unregenerate person is not binding. The life and separatism of the community brought them into frequent collision with their neighbours and with the magistrates of Middelburg, and in 1670 they accepted the invitation of the princess Elizabeth, abbess of Herford in Westphalia, to take up their abode within her territories, and settled down in Herford to the number of about fifty. Not finding the rest they expected, however, they migrated to Altona in 1672, where they were dispersed on the death of the leaders. Small communities also existed in the Rhineland, and a missionary settlement was established in New York.
See H. van Berkum, De Labadie en de Labadisten, Sneek, 1851; Goebel, Gesch. d. Christl. Lebens in der rheinisch-westphälischen Kirche, Coblentz, 1852; Heppe, Geschichte des Pietismus, Leyden 1879; Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, vol. i., Bonn, 1880; and especially Peter Yvon, Abregé précis de la vie et de la conduite et des vrais sentiments de feu Mr de Labadie, and Anna Maria v. Schürman, Eucleria, Altona, 1673, 1678.
