ANTITRINITARIAN BIOGRAPHY.

1.

MARTIN CELLARIUS, called also BORRHAUS, was born at Stuttgard in the year of our Lord 1499; and was the first Protestant, who openly avowed Antitrinitarian sentiments. He received the rudiments of his education, together with Melanchthon, under the celebrated John Reuchlin, or Capnio, at Tübingen. From Tübingen he proceeded to Heidelberg, where he made great proficiency in languages, and in those branches of literature and science, which were commonly cultivated among the learned of that age. His first settlement was at Wittenberg, where he was kindly received by Melanchthon, who procured him some private teaching, which he found very profitable.

He began to rise into eminence about the year 1520; and when Luther threw off the papal yoke, Cellarius, who was at that time upon intimate terms with him, was among the first of those who embraced his principles. But it soon became evident, that he was not destined to be a servile follower of Luther, or any other merely human teacher. Having engaged in a controversy with Stübner and Storck, two of the most active leaders of the German Anabaptists, he was convinced by their arguments, and had the candour to acknowledge himself in the wrong. In his twenty-sixth year he went into Prussia, where he was

imprisoned by order of the government, but nevertheless published several works in favour of his Anabaptistical opinions.

Pursuing his religious inquiries with a freedom before unknown, he was ultimately led to embrace Unitarian sentiments, and became very zealous for their diffusion. The public profession, however, of these new opinions, which were equally obnoxious to Catholics and Protestants, exposed him to a succession of persecutions; and compelled him, in the year 1536, after his liberation from prison at Königsberg by Prince Albert, to flee, for safety and protection, into Switzerland, where he spent the remainder of his life in comparative tranquillity.

The Ministers of Poland and Transylvania, speaking of Cellarius, say, "What has not Martin Cellarius attempted, that he might clear the way for posterity?-Read his writings." In another place they observe, that "God gave to Luther and Zwingle the honour of reforming the received doctrines concerning Justification and the Eucharist; but that it was Martin Cellarius, Servetus and Erasmus,* who were first employed by him, as instruments, in inculcating a knowledge of the true God and of Christ." In a manuscript history of the life of Servetus, attributed by Allwoerden to Castalio, honourable mention is made of Cellarius, who is described as " chief Professor of Theology in the city of Geneva," at the time of Servetus's martyrdom; and is mentioned as the principal opponent of Calvin in that dark transaction. Faustus Socinus, in a letter to Peter Statorius, dated October 15th, 1590, says, that his uncle Lælius collected testimonies concerning Cellarius; and this collection, if it were still in existence, would probably throw some light upon the early history of the Protestant Reformation. Andrew Althamer, one of the ⚫ APPENDIX, No. i.

Reformers, who pushed his sentiments to the very verge of Antinomianism, charges Cellarius with holding the opinions of Paul of Samosata; and represents him as having taught that Jesus Christ was a human prophet. His Commentaries, indeed, contain expressions, which savour of orthodoxy, and differ widely from the language commonly used by Antitrinitarians. It may nevertheless be doubted, whether, in any part of his life, after he had arrived at years of discretion, he was a believer in the doctrine of the Trinity, as laid down in the Athanasian Creed. Perhaps his opinion, under its latest modification, could not be more concisely or correctly expressed, than in the following words, with which he concludes the Preface to his Commentaries on the Books of Moses, published A.D. 1555, and which certainly do not come up to the full standard of approved orthodoxy. "Spiritus sacer in pectora nostra de coelo fundatur, quo Patrem cœlestem per filium Jesum Christum dominum nostrum lege Mosaica variè adumbratum, per prophetas promissum, à majoribus jam inde à contracta culpa expectatum, et postremis temporibus cum variis signis ostentisque mundo exhibitum et declaratum, verè sanctèque revereamur, colamus, amplificemus: cui sit gloria et honos in æternum. Amen." Rendered into English, these words express the following sentiment:"May the Holy Spirit be poured into our breasts from heaven, and by this Spirit may we truly and holily revere, worship and magnify our Heavenly Father, through his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, variously shadowed forth by the Mosaic Law, promised through the prophets, expected by our forefathers from the first introduction of sin, and exhibited and declared to the world in later times with various signs and wonders: to whom be glory and honour for ever. Amen."

His celebrated work, "De Operibus Dei," exhibits

still more decisive indications of heterodoxy. Among the "Loci Insigniores," or More Remarkable Passages, is one entitled, "Consilium creationis secundi Adam," or Design of the creation of the second Adam, (§ iii. p. 3,) and another," Christus deus et electi dii," Christ a god and the elect gods (§ ix. p. 23). Under the latter head he says, "Let him be a god fully through a full participation of the Deity which dwells in him bodily, and through a full participation of the Holy Spirit which he has without measure; yet we also are all gods, and sons of the Highest, by a participation of the Deity, and of the same Spirit, but after the measure of the gift of Christ Jesus,—of whose fulness we have all received, according to this Scripture, 'I said ye are gods, and all of you are sons of the Most High."" And that the word god, here applied to Christ, is used in an inferior sense, is evident from the fact, that it is printed deus, and not Deus, the latter being used only to designate the Supreme God. This remarkable treatise concludes with the following ascription of "praise and glory to the Father of glory, and to his exalted Messiah." "Laus et gloria Patri gloriæ, et Messiah suo exaltato, in sæcula sæculorum. Amen."

Cellarius died on the 11th of October, 1564, and was interred within the precincts of the Cathedral Church at Basle, where a monument was afterwards erected to his memory; and consecrated, with singular impropriety, to the Triune God.

Cellarius was of short stature, but robust, and inclined to corpulency. His biographers represent him as an excellent theologian; and well skilled in the Hebrew, Chaldee and Syriac languages. He took no part in the politics of the day, but devoted himself wholly to literary pursuits. His writings, of which the following is a list, were partly philosophical, and partly theological.

The

1. On the Works of God. Strasb. 1527, 8vo. Preface to this book was written by Wolfgang Fabricius Capito. The book itself is mentioned by Faustus Socinus, in his "Brief Treatise concerning the Use and End of the Lord's Supper." He says, "If there is any one who has the book of Martin Cellarius, or Borrhaüs, 'On the Works of God,' unless my memory deceives me, he will have enough to convince him, that my opinion is neither new, nor heard of for the first time in our age."

2. A Homily on the Restoration of the Church, being an extract from the preceding work. Weissenburg, 1568, 4to.

3. A Commentary on Ecclesiastes. Basle, 1539, Fol. This Commentary was reprinted in 1564. Vide No. 14. 4. On the Distinction between the True and the False. Three Books. Basle, 1541, 4to.

5. Annotations on the Politics of Aristotle. Eight Books. Basle, 1545, 8vo.

6. Axioms on the Origin and Nature of the Old and New Man, propounded to the Theological Students in the University of Basle, for knowing the true Way of Piety and Salvation. Basle, 1548.

7. On the Use which may be made of the Example and Doctrine of Francis Spire. Basle, 1550.

8. On the Origin, Nature, Use and Distinction of the Jubilees instituted by God, and the Difference between these and the false ones counterfeited by the Adversary. Basle, 1550.

9. Elements of Astronomy and Geography. 1539, 8vo. 10. Commentaries on Aristotle's Three Books on the Art of Speaking. Basle, 1551, Fol.

11. Commentaries on the Pentateuch. 1555, Fol. 12. A Commentary on the Books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel and Kings. Basle, 1557, Fol.