Cellaxius, Martixitia (sumamed Bobbhaus), was bom at Stntt^^t in 1499 ; studied at Tubmgen, And afterwards at Wittenberg (under Melancthon), XL— M
where he devoted himself to Oriental languages. When the Anabaptists arose, he wrote and spoke against them, especially against Stock ; but finally he joined them himself. About 1530 he gave up this enthusiasm and went to Basle, assuming tiie name of Borrhsus. He became professor of rhetoric there in 1586 ; of the- ology, 1544; and died Oct. 11, 1564.— Melchior, Adano, VU, Eruditonm ; Herzog, RoaUEncyhtop, s. v.
Cellarios, Jaoobus. See Kblleb.
CeUltea {Fratret CeHita), a society which arose at Antwerp about 1800, and so called from ceUa, because they provided graves for the dead. They were also called the Alezian Brethren and Sisters, because Alex- ius was their patron. As the clergy of that period took little care of the sick and dying, and deserted such as were infected with pestilential disorders, some compas- sionate persons in Antwerp formed themselves into a society for the performance of these religious duties. They visited the sick, assisted the dying, and buried the dead with a solemn funeral dirge, and were on that account called Lollards (from lotten, or lutten, to sing). See LoLLABDS. Societies of Lollards were formed in most parts of Germany, and were supported partly by manual labor and partly by charitable donations. In 1472, Charles, duke of Burgundy, obtained a bull frtmi Pope Sixtus IV ordering that the Gellites or Lol- lards should be ranked among the religious orders, and delivered from the jurisdiction of the bishops. Of the Alexian brethren, a few houses are left in the archdi- ocese of Cologne (Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Doren), and of the sisters, some houses in Germany (Cologne, Dusseldorf), Belgium, and France. — ^Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lexicon, i, 165 ; Farrar, Ecd, Diet, s. v. ; Mos- heim, Chwrdi HUiory, ii, 892. See Alexians ; Lol-
LABD8.
Celos3nia. See C<blb-Stbia.
Celsitis, Olaub, an exegetical writer of Sweden, was bom in 167(5! He was a minister of the Lutheran Churcli, and professor of theology and of the Oriental languages at the University of Upsal. He was twice offered the dignity of archbishop of TJpeal, but declined. He published many dissertations on points of theology, history, and antiquities. His most distinguished la- bors were on the natural history of the Bible. By di- rection of Charles XI, he travelled over the principal states of Europe to determine the different plants men- tioned in the Bible, and the result of his labors, seven- teen dissertations, published at intervals firom 1702 to 1741, and afterwaids collected into <me work called Hierobotamcon, seu de plantii Sanctee Saiptura di»- eertaiionet breves (Upsal, 1745 and 1747), is still in re- pute as one of the most important books on the sub- ject. He died in 1756. See Memoirs of the Society of Sciences of Upsal, vol. ii ; Biogr, Uninere, s. v.
Celsna, a philosopher of the second century, sup- posed to have been of the Epicurean sect, but inclined towards Platonism. He lived towards the close of the reign of Adrian, and during part of that of M. Aur. Anto- ninus ; and (if Origen be correct) wrote an attack upon the fidth and morals of Cliiistians, which he called Aoyoc <iXiy^,or "A True Discourse," the date of which Laxdner supposes to have been about A.D. 176. Our only knowledge of it is derived from Origen's re- ply to it (contra Celsum, lib. viii), which, however, gives extracts sufficiently copious to allow a pretty sure judgment of its contents and purpose.
Of the life of Celsus little or nothing is known. Lu- cian dedicated his life of the magician Alexander to Celsus the Epicurean, and Origen identifies this person with the' author of the book against which he wrote. The spirit of the book is fer more Platonic than Epicu- rean. The arguments for and agiunst the identify- of the two persons thus named are stated in Neander, Chttrdi History (Torrey*s transl; i, 160 sq.) ; and in Baur, Geschichte der drd erstm Jahrhundarte, p. 871.
CELSUS
178
CELSIJS
" BoUi conclade that the penoiu were different. The evidence of their onenew is chiefly Origen^t conjecture that they were the same person (ctmt. CeUum^ iv, 86). The evidence against it is : (1.) That Lncian's friend attacked magical rites ; the Celsns of Origen seems to have believed them. (2.) That Locian*s friend was probably an Epicorean ; the other Celsus a Platonist or Eclectic. (8.) That the former is praised for his mildness ; the latter shows want of moderation. Pres- 8ens6 (TVow Prtm. S&cUs^ voL ii, 105) regards them 18 the same person** (Farrar, Free Thought^ p. 61). It is quite in harmony with the whole spirit of the book, as well as of the Pagan philosophy of the time, to sup- pose that Celsns is, as Origen supposed, the Epicurean friend of Ludan ; and that, in this treatise, he argues on any principles that may serve his purpose. But, whoever Celsus may have been, his writings are very important to Christian apologetics. They "are val- uable on account of their admissions of the grand facts and doctrines of the Gospel as preached by the apos- tles and contained in their writings, by an enemy who lived little more than one hundred and thirty years after the ascension of our Lord. He has nearly eighty quotations from the books of the New Testa- ment, which he not only appeals to as existing, but as universally received by the Christians of that age as credible and divine. He is most minute in his refer- ences to the circumstances of the life of Christ and hb apostles, which shows that he was well acquainted with them, and that no one denied tbem. He everywhere ridicules the idea of our Lord's divinity, contrasting with it that of his poverty, sufierings, and death ; which proves not only that the Christians of that early age avowed their belief in the doctrine, but that Celsus himself though an unbeliever, found it in the docu- ments to which he refers, as the source of his acquaint- ance with the Christian system" (Buck, s. v.). More- over, he is the ** original representative of a Idnd of in- tellect which has presented itself ovet and over again in the various attacks made on Christianity : wit and acuteness, without earnest purpose or depth of re- search ; a worldly understanding, that glances merely on the surface, and delighti in hunting up difficulties and contradictions. His objections against Christian- ity serve one important end: they present in the clearest manner the opposition between the Christian standing-ground and tiiat of the ancient world ; and, in general, the relation which revealed religion will ever be found to hold to the ground assumed by natu- ral reason. Thus many of his objections and strict- ures became testimonies for the truth*' (Neander, L c.)< Lardner (TegUmonietj chap, xviii ; Workiy vii, 210 ><!•) gives full summaries of the book, classed under different heads, especially with reference to the authen- tication of the books of tiie N. T.,for which these allu- sions and citations are of special value, as coming frt>m a heathen opponent. A AiU analysis is also given by Neander, Ch, Higlory^ i, 160 sq. (Torrey*s transl.), and by Tzschimer, Fail det Heidenthwm, i, 820 sq. Pres- sense, in his HiU. de I'E'gKte det Trots Prtm. SiMes (2d series, ii, 140 sq.), attempts ingeniously a reproduction of Celsus's treatise, as gathered fh>m Origen, which Farrar follows (Critical Hittory of Free Tkought, led. ii) in the outline which we here present The refer- ences are to the Benedictine edition (Paris, 1783). Celsus intoduces a Jewish rabbi as opposing Christian- ity from the Hebrew monotheistic point of view. " The rabbi first criticises the docwnenti of Christianity, and then the facts narrated. He points out inconsisten- cies in the Gospel narratives of the genealogy of Christ; utters the most blasphemous calumnies con- cerning the incarnation ; turns the narrative of the in- fiincy into ridicule ; imputes our Saviour's miracles to magic; attacks his divinity ; and concentrates the bit- terest raillery on the affecting narrative of our blessed Lorid's most holy passion. Each fact of deepening sorrow in that divine tragedy, the betrayal, the men-