were the younλívorris, genu-flectentes; so called because they received imposition of hands, kneeling upon their knees. The fourth order was the Galμ par, the competentes and electi, which denote the immediate candidates of baptism, or such as were appointed to be baptized the next approaching festival before which strict examination was made into their proficiency under the several stages of catechetical exercises. After examination, they were exorcised for twenty days together; and were obliged to fasting and confession. They were to get the Creed and Lord's-prayer by heart, and to repeat them before the bishop at their last examination. Some days before baptism they went veiled, or with their faces covered; and it was customary to touch their ears, saying, Ephphata, "be opened;" as also to anoint their eyes with clay; both ceremonies in imitation of our Saviour's practice, and intended to shadow out to the Catechumens their condition both before and after admission into the Christian church.

That part of divine service which preceded the common prayers of the communicants at the altar, that is, the psalmody, the reading of the scriptures, the sermon, &c. was called Missa Catechumenorum; because the Catechumens had the liberty of being present only at this part of the service.

The ancients speak of the sacrament of the Catechumens; and some modern writers, by mistake, suppose, that, though they were not allowed to partake of the eucharist, they had something like it, which they call Eulogia Panis, or Panis Benedictus. But it appears from St. Augustine, that this sacrament was not the consecrated bread, but only a little taste of salt; intimating to them by that symbol, that they were to purge and cleanse their souls from sin, salt being the emblem of purity and incorruption. They called this a sacrament, after the custom of the primitive Christians, who gave that name to everything that was mysterious, or had a spiritual signification in it.

CATENA, a Greek word signifying a chain, in biblical criticism is an exposition of a portion of the scriptures, formed from collections from several authors. Thus we have Catene of the Greek fathers on the Octateuch, by Procopius; on the Book of Job, by Olympiodorus; and on the Octateuch, the Books of

Samuel and Kings, by Nicephorus. These were Greek writers themselves. Beside them, compilations of this sort were made from the early fathers by many later authors, such as Francis Zephyr, Lepomannus, Patrick, Junius, Corderius, &c. Pole's Synopsis may be regarded as a Catena of the modern interpretations of the whole scriptures, as Wolfius is of a still more ancient class on the New Testament.

CATHARISTS, a sect that spread much in the Latin church in the twelfth century. Their religion resembled the doctrine of the Manichæans and Gnostics [see those articles]. They supposed that matter was the source of evil; that Christ was not clothed with a real body; that baptism and the Lord's supper were useless institutions; with a variety of other strange notions.

CATHEDRAL, the chief church of a diocese ; a church wherein is a bishop's see. The word comes from natioga, "chair:" the name seems to have taken its rise from the manner of sitting in the ancient churches or assemblies of private Christians. In these the council, i. e. the elders and priests, were called Pres byterium; at their head was the bishop, who held the place of chairman, Cathedralis or Cathedraticus; and the presbyters, who sat on either side, also called by the ancient fathers Assessores Episcoporum. The episcopal authority did not reside in the bishop alone, but in all the presbyters, whereof the bishop was president. A cathedral, therefore, originally was different from what it is now; the Christians, till the time of Constantine, having no liberty to build any temple. By their churches they only meant assemblies; and by cathedrals, nothing more than consistories.

CATHOLIC, denotes anything that is universal or general. 1. The Epistles of James, Peter, Jude, and John, are called the seven Catholic Epistles, either because they were not written to any particular person, or church, but to Christians in general, or to Christians of several countries; or because, whatever doubts may at first have been entertained respecting some of them, they were all acknowledged by the Catholic, or universal church, at the time this appellation was attached to them, which we find to have been common in the fourth century. 2. The rise of heresies induced the primitive Christian church to assume to itself the appellation of catholic, being

a characteristic to distinguish itself from all sects, who, though they had party names, sometimes sheltered themselves under the name of Christians. The Romish church now distinguishes itself by catholic, in opposition to all who have separated from her communion, and whom she considers as heretics and schismatics, and herself only as the true and Christian church. In the strict sense of the word, there is no catholic church in being; that is, no universal Christian communion.

CELESTINS, a religious order, so called from their founder, Peter de Meuron, afterwards raised to the pontificate under the name of Celestin V.

This Peter, who was born at Isernia, a little town in the kingdom of Naples, in the year 1215, of but mean parents, retired very young to a solitary mountain, in order to dedicate himself wholly to prayer and mortification. The fame of his piety brought several, out of curiosity, to see him; some of whom, charmed with his virtues, renounced the world, to accompany him in his solitude. With these he formed a kind of community, in the year 1254; which was approved by Pope Urban IV., in 1264, and erected into a distinct order, called The Hermits of St. Damien.

Peter de Meuron governed this order till 1286, when his love of solitude and retirement induced him to quit the charge. In July, 1294, the great reputation of his sanctity raised him, though much against his will, to the pontificate. He then took the name of Celestin V., and his order that of Celestins, from him. By his bull he approved their constitutions, and confirmed all their monasteries, which were to the number of twenty. But he sat too short a time in the chair of St. Peter to do many great things for his order; for, having governed the church five months and a few days, and considering the great burthen he had taken upon him, to which he thought himself unequal, he solemnly renounced the pontificate, in a consistory held at Naples.

After his death, which happened in 1296, his order made a great progress, not only in Italy, but in France likewise; whither the then General Peter of Tivoli sent twelve religious, at the request of King Philip the Fair, who gave them two monasteries-one in the forest of Orleans, and the other in the forest of Compiegne, at Mount Chartres. This

order likewise passed into several provinces of Germany. They have about ninety-six convents in Italy, and twentyone in France, under the title of priories. The Celestins of the province of France have the privilege, by a grant of the Popes Martin V. and Clement VII., of making new statutes whenever they think proper, for the regulation of their order. By virtue of this power, they drew up new constitutions, which were received in a provincial chapter in 1667. They are divided into three parts :-the first treats of the provincial chapters, and the elections of superiors; the second contains the regular observances; and the third the visitation and correction of the monks.

The Celestins rise two hours after midnight, to say matins. They eat no flesh at any time, except when they are sick. They fast every Wednesday and Friday, from Easter to the feast of the exaltation of the holy cross; and, from that feast to Easter, every day. As to their habit, it consists of a white gown, a capuche, and a black scapulary. In the choir, and when they go out of the monastery, they wear a black cowl with the capuche: their shirts are of serge.

Celestins, likewise, is the name given to certain hermits, who, during the short pontificate of Celestin V., obtained of that pope permission to quit the order of Friars Minors, to which they belonged, and retire into solitude, there to practise the rule of St. Francis, in its utmost strictness. The superiors, being disgusted at this separation, took all methods to reduce these hermits to the obedience of the order; to avoid which persecution, they retired into Greece, and continued some time in an island of Achaia. But Pope Boniface VIII., who succeeded Celestin, being importuned by the order of Friars Minors, revoked the grant of his predecessor, and ordered the Celestin hermits to return to the obedience of their superiors. Accordingly, Thomas Sola, lord of the island, where they had fixed, drove them out; and this he did in a time of famine, by which these poor religious were exposed to great misery and want in their journeys, especially as they passed through the countries of the Latins, who looked upon them as schismatics. They were something better treated in the countries of the Greeks, among whom they continued for two years unmolested; but the Patriarch of Constantinople, being returned

from Venice, excommunicated them twice, because they did not submit to their superiors; nevertheless, these solitaries did not want for protectors; and the Archbishop of Patras particularly interested himself in their cause.

Brother James du Mont, one of these hermits, returning from Armenia, where he had resided some time, without knowing what had passed in relation to his brethren, came into Italy, and made his submission to the general, who soon after sent him on a mission into the East. Being arrived at Negropont, and hearing of the persecution raised against the Celestine hermits, he endeavoured to accommodate matters, and managed the affair with so much prudence, that the fathers of Romania consented that all these hermits should acknowledge him as their superior, under the dependence of the general. This the general would not consent to; which obliged brother Liberatus and his companions to come into Italy, and represent to the pope, that he and his brethren had been always faithful to the church, and that all the accusations against them were mere calumnies.

A chapter general, held at Toulouse, in 1307, obtained an order from Charles II., King of Naples, to the inquisitor of that state, to act against brother Liberatus and his companions. Accordingly, the inquisitor examined them, and declared them innocent; at the same time advising them to retire to Anciano, where he granted them his protection against the pursuits of their enemies. But afterwards, being gained over by their enemies, he cited them a second time before him, and found a pretence to condemn them as heretics and schismatics. In consequence of which sentence they were first imprisoned, and then banished.

CELIBACY, the state of unmarried persons. Celibate, or celibacy, is a word chiefly used in speaking of the single life of the popish clergy, or the obligation they are under to abstain from marriage. The Church of Rome imposes an universal celibacy on all her clergy, from the pope to the lowest deacon and subdeacon. The advocates for this usage pretend that a vow of perpetual celibacy was required in the ancient church as a condition of ordination, even from the earliest apostolic ages. But the contrary is evident from numerous examples of bishops and arch

bishops, who lived in a state of matrimony, without any prejudice to their ordination or their function. Neither our Lord nor his apostles laid the least restraint upon the connubial union-on the contrary, the Scriptures speak of it as honourable in all, without the least restriction as to persons.-Heb. xiii. 4; Matt. xix. 10, 12; 1 Cor. vii. 2, 9. Paul even assigns forbidding to marry as characteristic of the apostacy of the latter times.-1 Tim. iv. 3. The fathers, without making any distinction between clergy and laity, asserted the lawfulness of the marriage of all Christians. Marriage was not forbidden to bishops in the Eastern Church till the close of the seventh century. Celibacy was not imposed on the Western clergy in general till the end of the eleventh century, though attempts had been made long before. Superstitious zeal for a sanctimonious appearance in the clergy seems to have promoted it at first; and crafty policy, armed with power, no doubt riveted this clog on the sacerdotal order in later periods of the church. Pope Gregory VII. appears in this business to have had a view to separate the clergy as much as possible from all other interests, and to bring them into a total dependence upon his authority; to the end that all temporal power might, in a high degree, be subjugated to the papal jurisdiction. Forbidding to marry, therefore, has evidently the mark of the beast upon it. See MARRIAGE.

CELSUS, a philosopher of the second century, and of the Epicurean school, who composed a book against Christianity, to which he gave the title of 'Aanens 20yos, which Origen, in his refutation of it, has, to a considerable extent, rescued from oblivion. It is invaluable, on account of the admissions of the grand facts and doctrines of the gospel, as preached by the apostles, 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 Testament, 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 references to the circumstances of the life of Christ and his apostles, which shows that he was well acquainted with them, and that no one denied them. He everywhere ridicules the idea of our

and popish ceremonies, which he exemplifies in the use of incense, holy water, lamps and candles before the shrines of saints, votive gifts round the shrines of the deceased, &e. In fact, the altars, images, crosses, processions, miracles, and legends, nay, even the very hierarchy, pontificate, religious orders, &c. of the present Romans, he shows, are all copied from their heathen ancestors. An ample and magnificent representation in figures of the religious ceremonies and customs of all nations in the world, de signed by Picart, is added, with historical explanations, and many curious dissertations.

It has been a question, whether we ought to use such rites and ceremonies, which are merely of human appointment. On one side it has been observed that we ought not. Christ alone is king in his church; he hath instituted such ordinances and forms of worship as he hath judged fit and necessary; and to add to them seems, at least, to carry in it an imputation on his wisdom and authority, and hath this unanswerable objection to it, that it opens the door to a thousand innovations (as the history of the church of Rome hath sufficiently shown), which are not only indifferent in themselves, but highly absurd, and extremely detrimental to religion. That the ceremonies were numerous under the Old Testament dispensation is no argument; for, say they, 1. We respect Jewish ceremonies, because they were appointed of God; and we reject human ceremonies because God hath not appointed them. 2. The Jewish ceremonies were established by the universal consent of the nation; human ceremonies are not so. 3. The former were fit and proper for the purposes for which they were appointed; but the latter are often the contrary. 4. The institutor of the Jewish ceremonies provided for the expense of it; but no provision is made by God to support human ceremonies, or what he has not appointed.

These arguments seem very powerful; but on the other side it has been observed, that the desire of reducing religious worship to the greatest possible simplicity, however rational it may appear in itself, and abstractedly considered, will be considerably moderated in such as bestow a moment's attention upon the imperfection and infirmities of human nature in its present state. Mankind, generally speaking, have too little elevation of mind to be much affected

with those forms and methods of wor ship in which there is nothing striking to the outward senses. The great difficulty here lies in determining the length which it is prudent to go in the accommodation of religious ceremonies to human infirmity; and the grand point is to fix a medium in which a due regard may be shown to the senses and imagination, without violating the dictates of right reason, or tarnishing the purity of true religion. It has been said, that the Romish church has gone too far in its condescension to the infirmities of mankind; and this is what the ablest defenders of its motley worship have alleged in its behalf. But this observation is not just; the church of Rome has not so much accommodated itself to human weakness, as it has abused that weakness, by taking occasion from it to establish an endless variety of ridiculous ceremonies, destructive of true religion, and only adapted to promote the riches and despotism of the clergy, and to keep the multitude still hoodwinked in their ignorance and superstition. How far a just antipathy to the church puppetshows of the Papists has unjustly driven some Protestant churches into the opposite extreme, is a matter that certainly deserves a serious consideration. Dr. Stennett's Ser. on Conformity to the World; Robinson's Ser. on Ceremonies; Booth's Essay on the Kingdom of Christ; Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History; with Mac Laine's Note, vol. i. p. 203. quarto edition. Jones's Works, vol. iv. p. 267.

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CERINTHUS, one of the earliest heretics, by birth a Jew, who, after having studied philosophy in Egypt, went into Asia Minor, where he disseminated his erroneous doctrines. Various opinions have obtained respecting the time at which he flourished, but it is now pretty generally agreed, that it must have been in the first century. Waterland, Michaelis, and others, are decided in their conviction, that the Apostle John wrote to confute his heresy; and, indeed, it seems impossible to entertain a doubt on the subject, considering the direct bearing of many passages of his writings on the principles of which it consisted; and especially the express declaration of Irenæus, who was well acquainted with Polycarp, that “ John wished, by the publication of his Gospel, to remove the error which had been sown in men's minds by Cerinthus." Some have asserted that he was one of the Judaizers