administered to the disciples at ix. 52 sqq., the parable in x. 30 sqq., and the incident at xvii. 15-19; whereas they are not mentioned in Mark, and in Matthew only in the saying (x. 5) in which the Twelve are forbidden to enter any village of theirs; (2) as regards Gentiles, by the words of Jesus at iv. 25-27, not to mention sayings which have parallels in the other Gospels. The promises of Old Testament prophets that the Gentiles would share in the blessing of the coming of Christ are also recalled, ii. 32-iii. 6. Once more the word εὐαγγελίζεσθαι (“to proclaim good tidings”) is a favourite one with Luke. These are all traits which we should expect to find in one who was a companion of Paul and a Gentile (Col. iv. 11, 14).
With the breadth and depth of the Saviour’s sympathy, which are so fully exhibited in this Gospel, we may connect the clearness with which His true humanity is here portrayed. An incident of His boyhood is related in which His sense of vocation is revealed, and this is followed by the years of quiet growth that succeeded (ii. 41-52). Further, during the years of His public ministry more glimpses of His inner life are given us than in either Matthew or Mark. His being engaged in prayer is mentioned several times where there is no parallel in those Gospels (iii. 21, v. 16, vi. 12, ix. 18, 28, 29, xi. 1). Again, besides narrating the Temptation in the Wilderness and the Agony in the Garden, this evangelist gives a saying which implies that Jesus had undergone many temptations, or rather a life of temptation (xxii. 28). Once more he records a saying that shows Christ’s sense of the intense painfulness of the work He was sent into the world to do, arising from the divisions which it caused (xii. 49 sqq.).
Among practical duties, the stress laid on that of almsgiving is remarkable (see especially xi. 41, xii. 33, xvi. 9 sqq., which are peculiar to this Gospel). In the second of these passages the disciples are exhorted to choose a life of voluntary poverty; the nearest parallel is the ideal set before the rich young man at Mark x. 21 = Matt. xix. 21 = Luke xviii. 22. In the Beatitudes in Luke vi. 20, 21 a condition of physical want is contemplated, not, as in Matt. v. 3, 6, poverty of spirit and spiritual hunger, while woes are denounced against the rich and the full (vi. 24, 25). The folly of absorption in the amassing and enjoyment of wealth is also shown (xii. 15 sqq. and xvi. 19 sqq.). But it would be an exaggeration to say, as some have done, that the poor are represented as being the heirs of a blessed hereafter, simply on the ground that they are now poor. In the Beatitudes Christ’s own disciples are addressed, who were blessed though poor, whereas the rich as a class were opposed or indifferent to the kingdom of God. Again, the contrast between Lazarus and Dives in the future state pictures vividly the reversals that are in store; but it is unreasonable to take it as implying that every poor man, whatever his moral character, will be blessed.
But while there is in Luke’s Gospel this strain of asceticism—as to many in modern times it will appear to be—the prevailing spirit is gentle and tender, and there is in it a note of spiritual gladness, which is begun by the song and the messages of angels and the hymns and rejoicing of holy men and women, accompanying the birth of the Christ (chaps. i. and ii., passim), and prolonged by the expressions of joy, the ascriptions of thanksgiving and praise, called forth by the words and works of Christ and the wonders of the cross and resurrection, which are peculiarly frequent and full (iv. 15, v. 25, 26, vii. 16, x. 17, xiii. 13, 17, xvii. 15-18, xviii. 43, xix. 6, 37, 38, xxiii. 47, xxiv. 41, 52, 53. Cf. also xv. 5, 7, 10, 32).
The peculiar charm which this Gospel has been generally felt to possess is largely due to the spiritual and ethical traits which have been noted. But from a purely literary point of view, also, it is distinguished by great excellences. The evangelist’s phraseology is indeed affected to some extent by the rhetorical style of the period when he wrote. Nevertheless his mode of narration is simple and direct. And the many fascinating character-sketches, which he has added to the portrait gallery of Scripture, are drawn clearly and without signs of effort. In some cases he has skilfully suggested parallelisms and contrasts. The chief instance is his careful interweaving of the accounts of the births and early years of John the Baptist and of Jesus. Later examples are the two sisters, Martha and Mary (x. 38-42), and the penitent and the impenitent thief (xxiii. 39–48). That he was a man of great versatility appears in the Acts from the speeches introduced on various occasions, if (as is probable) they were in part, at least, his own composition. In the Gospel he had no opportunity for showing his power in a manner strictly analogous. But if the hymns in the two introductory chapters owe even their Greek form in any measure to him, he was a poet of no mean order. His style varies greatly; at times, as in i. 1-4, it is Hellenistic; at others, as in i. 5 to end of ii., it is strongly Hebraic. Such differences are largely due, no doubt, to the degree in which he was in various parts independent of, or dependent upon, sources. But he would seem in some degree to have adapted his manner of writing to the subject-matter in hand. And at all events it is worthy of note that we pass without any sense of jar from passages in one style to those in another.
See Godet, Commentaire sur l’évangile de S. Luc (Eng. trans., 1875); Plummer’s Comm. on St Luke (in international Series, 4th ed., 1906); W. Ramsay, Was Christ born in Bethlehem? (3rd ed., 1905); A. Harnack, Lukas der Arzt (1906); B. Weiss, Die Quellen des Lukas-Evangeliums (1907); also books on the Four Gospels, or the Synoptic Gospels, mentioned at end of article Gospel. (V. H. S.)
LULEÅ, a seaport of Sweden, capital of the district (län) of
Norrbotten, on the peninsula of Sandö, at the mouth of the
Lule river and the north-west corner of the Gulf of Bothnia.
Pop. (1900) 9484. It is connected at Boden (22 m. N.) with the
main line of railway from Stockholm to Gellivara and Narvik
on Ofoten Fjord in Norway. By this line Luleå is 723 m.
N.N.E. of Stockholm. It is the shipping place for the iron ore
mined at Gellivara, 127 m. N. by W., and there are smelting
works at Karlsvik in the vicinity. Timber is also exported, being
floated in large quantities down the Lule. As a rule the port is
closed by ice from November to the end of May. The town was
almost entirely burnt down in 1887, and its buildings are new—the
church (1888–1893), the Norrbotten Museum and a technical
school being the most important. Luleå as founded by Gustavus
Adolphus was 7 m. higher up the river, but was moved to the
present site in 1649.
LULL (or Lully), RAIMON, or Raymond (c. 1235–1315),
Catalan author, mystic and missionary, was born at Palma
(Majorca). Inheriting the estate conferred upon his father for
services rendered during the victorious expedition (1229) against
the Balearic Islands, Lull was married at an early age to
Bianca Picany, and, according to his own account, led a
dissipated life till 1266 when, on five different occasions, he
beheld the vision of Christ crucified. After his conversion,
he resolved to devote himself to evangelical work among the
heathen, to write an exposure of infidel errors, and to promote
the teaching of foreign tongues in seminaries. He dedicated
nine years to the study of Arabic, and in 1275 showed such signs
of mental exaltation that, at the request of his wife and family,
an official was appointed to administer his estate. He withdrew
to Randa, there wrote his Ars major and Ars generalis, visited
Montpellier, and persuaded the king of Majorca to build a
Franciscan monastery at Miramar. There for ten years he acted
as professor of Arabic and philosophy, and composed many
controversial treatises. After a fruitless visit to Rome in 1285–1286,
he journeyed to Paris, residing in that city from 1287 to
1289, and expounding his bewildering theories to auditors who
regarded him as half insane. In 1289 he went to Montpellier,
wrote his Ars veritatis inventiva, and removed to Genoa where
he translated this treatise into Arabic. In 1291, after many
timorous doubts and hesitations for which he bitterly blamed
himself, Lull sailed for Tunis where he publicly preached Christianity
for a year; he was finally imprisoned and expelled. In
January 1293 he reached Naples where tradition alleges that he
studied alchemy; there appears to be no foundation for this
story, and the treatises on alchemy which bear his name are all
apocryphal.[1] His efforts to interest Clement V. and Boniface
- ↑ The alchemical works ascribed to Lull, such as Testamentum, Codicillus seu Testamentum and Experimenta, are of early although uncertain date. De Luanco ascribes some of them to a Raimundo
