21. The festival of wood offering (Xylophoria). According to others, this occurred during the prtvious month.
22. A fast in memory of the punishment of the wicked and inconigible Israelites.
2!'. This is the last day of the month, on which the Jews reckoned up the beasts that had been born, the tenths of which belonged to God. They chosR to do it on this day be- cause the first day of the montli Tisri was a festival, and therefore they could not tithe a flock on that da)'.
Elusa ("EXowffn, apparently for the Aramscan riS'^pn ; see Jerome, Comment, in Esa. xv, 4), an an- cient city of Iduniaja, frequentlj' mentioned by writers of the fourth to the sixtli centuries (sec the citations in Relaiid, Paltrst. p. 755-7) as an episcopal city of the Third Palestine {Concil. Gen. iii, 448) ; the Elysa of the Peutinger Table, 71 Roman miles S. of Jerusalem (Ritter, Erdk. xiv, 120) ; recognised by Dr. Robinson {Bib. Res. i, 296 sq.) as the present ruins el-Khvlaseh, 5 hours S.S.W. of Hebron on the way to Egj'pt, and consisting of walls, a fine well, and inclosures suffi- cient to have contained a population of 15,000 or 20,000
ELUZAI
171
ELYMAIS
persons (see also Stewart, Tent and Khan, p. 205). See also Chellus.
Elu'zai (Heb. Eluzay', "^T^i'pS:, God is my praises, i. e. object of praise ; Sept. 'E\iw'il,i v. r. 'A^ai, Vulg. Eluzai), one of the Benjamite warriors who joined Da- vid at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii, 5). B.C. 1054.
Elvira, Council of (Concilium Eliberitanum or niiheritanum'), held in the town of Elvira (or llliberis, Iliberi, or Liberini), in the Spanish province of Bajti- ca. The town, which no longer exists, was situated not far from the modern Granada. That it was not llliberis, in Gallia Narbonensis, is shown hj the fact that all the signers were Spanish bishops. The coun- cil was most probably held at the beginning of the fourth century, but the year (303, 305, 309) is uncer- tain. Some of the early Protestant writers (as the au- thors of the I\Iagdeburg Centuries) inferred, from the resolutions concerning pictures and the lighting of «andles, that the synod took place as late as the year 700 ; but this opinion has now been abandoned. The Synod of Elvira is the most ancient among those of which all the canons (eighty-one) are extant. It was attended by nineteen bishops, among them Hosius of Cordova, and twenty-six priests. Some of the canons show that the Church of Spain was at that time strong- \y under the influence of Novatian and Montanist principles. The most important of the resolutions were, 1, depriving of communion, i. e. of absolution, even in death, those who, after baptism, have volun- tarily sacrificed to idols ; 3, relaxing the penalty in can- on 1 in favor of those who have not gone beyond offer- ing a present to the idol. It allows of admitting such to communion at the point of death, if the}'- have under- gone a course of penance ; canons G and 7 foibid com- munion even at the point of death to those who have caused the death of another maliciously, and to adul- terers who have relapsed after entering upon the course of ])enance ; 12 and 13 forbid communion even in deatli to mothers who prostitute their own daughters, and to women who, after consecrating themselves in virginity to God, forsake that state ; 33 prohibits the clergy from the use of maiTiages ; 34 prohibits the lighting of candles during daytime in cemeteries, "for the spirits of the saints must not be disturbed ;" 36 declares that pictures ought not to be in a church, lest the object of veneration and worship be depicted upon walls ; 63 and 64 forbid communion even in deatli to adulteresses who hare wilfullj- destroj'ed tlieir chil- dren, or who abide in a state of adultery up to the time of their last illness; 65 forbids conununion even in death to one who has falsely accused of a crime a bishop, priest, or deacon. The canons may be found in Mansi, ii, 2 sq., and in Routh, Reliquice, vol. iv. Spe- cial treatises on the canons were written bj' the bishop Ferdinand de Mendoza (Z)e Confirmando concil. Illihe- ritano, in Mansi, 1. c), and bishop Aubespine of Or- leans (Mansi, 1. c). The canons, together with some explanatory remarks, may also be found in the Tubin- gen Theolng. Quartalschrift, 1821, p. 1-44. — Herzog, Real-Eiicyhlop. iii, 775 ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lex. iii, 543 ; (Jams, Kirchengesch. von Spanien; Hefele, Con- ciliengeschichte, i, 122 sq. (A. J. S.)
Elxai, Elxaites. See Elkesaites.
Ely, Ezra Stiles, D.D., a Presbyterian (O. S.) minister, was born in Lebanon, Conn., June 13, 1786. At twelve years of age he made a profession of relig- ion, lie graduated at Yale College in 1803. His theological studies were pursued under his fiither, the Rev. Z. El}'. In 1806 he was ordained, and installed as pastor of the church in Colchester, Conn., which he left some time after to become chaplain to the New York City Hospital. In 1811 the Old Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, became vacant. Its pulpit had been filled by the most eloquent ministers of the day, and it was necessary to choose a man of commanding
intellect and power. The choice fell most wisely upon Dr. Ely. He entered upon his field of labor with ear- nestness and zeal. He was the principal founder of the Jefferson Medical College. He was stated clerk and moderator of the General Assembly in 1825 and 1828, and was constantly engaged in works of charity and schemes of benevolence. In 1834 he conceived the plan of establishing a college and theological sem- inary in Missouri. He entered into this with great zeal, and for a while with success, but the crisis of 1837 made it a failure. In this enterprise he lost his large fortune, and returned to Philadelphia a poor man — his intellect and oratorical powers unimpaired — but failed to receive that degree of attention he commanded when in affluence. In 1844 he became pastor of the church in Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, where he labored until prostrated by paralysis in 1851. He lingered ten years, his intellect being so impaired as to preclude activity of any kind. He died June 18, 1861. He published Memoirs of the Rev. Z. Ely (his father) : — Collateral Bible, or Key to the Holy Scviptm-es (in con- nection Avith Bedell and M'Corkle): — Ely's Journal: ■ — Sermons on Faith :■ — Visits of Mercy. He was also editor of The Philudelphian. — Wilson, Presh. Ilistoncal Almanac, 1862.