of its instability. He
plays off the sects against the Catholic Church, the primitive age
against the present, Christ against the apostles, the various revisions
of the Bible against the trustworthiness of the text and so forth,
though he admits that everything was not really so bad at first as it is
at present."

The _True Word_ had very little influence either on the mutual
relations of Church and State, or on classical literature. Echoes of it
are found in Tertullian and in Minucius Felix, and then it lay forgotten
until Origen gave it new life. A good deal of the neo-Platonic polemic
naturally went back to Celsus, and both the ideas and phrases of the
_True Word_ are found in Porphyry and Julian, though the closing of the
New Testament canon in the meantime somewhat changed the method of
attack for these writers.

Of more importance than these matters is the light which the book sheds
on the strength of the Church about the year 180. It is of course easy
to see that Celsus had no apprehension of the spiritual needs even of
his own day which it was the Christian purpose to satisfy, that he could
not grasp anything of the new life enjoyed by the poor in spirit, and
that he underrated the significance of the Church, regarding it simply
as one of a number of warring sections (mostly Gnostic), and so seeing
only a mark of weakness. And yet, there is all through an undercurrent
which runs hard against his surface verdicts, and here and there comes
to expression. He is bound to admit that Christianity has been stated
reasonably; against the moral teaching of Jesus he can only bring the
lame charge of plagiarism, and with the Christian assertion that the
Logos is the Son of God he completely accords. Most suggestive, however,
is his closing appeal to the Christians. "Come," he says, "don't hold
aloof from the common regime. Take your place by the emperor's side.
Don't claim for yourselves another empire, or any special position." It
is an overture for peace. "If all were to follow your example and
abstain from politics, the affairs of the world would fall into the
hands of wild and lawless barbarians" (viii. 68). Forced to admit that
Christians are not _infructuosi in negotiis_, he wants them to be good
citizens, to retain their own belief but conform to the state religion.
It is an earnest and striking appeal on behalf of the Empire, which was
clearly in great danger, and it shows the terms offered to the Church,
as well