§ 146. CIIARACTEE OF THE PELAGtiiT CON'iROVEKSY T8'l
the natural will, a%-'rding to I'elaf^n'funsin, is competoMt. to good, so is the natural reason, according to rationalism, competent to the knowledge of the truth. All rationalists are Pela giau in their anthropology ; but Pelagius and Co3lestiua were not consistent, and declared their agreement with the • traditional orthodoxy in all other doctrines, though without entering into their deeper meaning and connection. Even divine mysteries may he believed in a purely external, mechanical way, by inheritance from the past, as the history of theology, especially in the East, abundantly proves.
The true solution of the difficult question respecting the relation of divine grace to human freedom in the work of conversion, is not found in the denial of either factor ; for this would either elevate man to the dignity of a self-redeemer, or degrade him to an irrational machine, and would ultimately issue either in fatalistic pantheism or in atheism ; but it must be sought in such a reconciliation of the two factors as gives full weight both to the sovereignty of God and to the responsibility of man, yet assigns a preeminence to the divine agency corresponding to the infinite exaltation of the Creator and Redeemer above the sinful creature. And although Augusr tine's solution of the problem is not altogether satisfactory, and although in his zeal against the Pelagian error he has inclined to the opposite extreme ; yet in all essential points, he has the Scriptures, especially the Epistles of Paul, as well as Christian experience, and the profoundest speculation, on his side. Whoever reads the tenth volume of his works, which contains his Anti-Pelagian writings in more than fourteen hundred folio columns (in the Benedictine edition), will be moved to wonder at the extraordinary wealth of thought and experience treasured in them for all time; especially if he considers that Augustine, at the breaking out of the Pelagian controversy, was already fifty-seven years old, and had passed through the Manichsean and Donatist controversies. Such giants in theology could only arise in an age when this queen of the sciences drew into her service the whole mental activity of the time.
The Pelagian controversy was conducted with as great an
l\)y) niiKij I'jCRioL*. A.i). 3ll-5'J0.
expenditure cf mental energy, and as much of moral and religious earnestness, but with less passion and fewer intrigaea, than the Trinitarian and Christological conflicts in the East, In the foreground stood the mighty genius and pure zeal ol Augustine, who never violated theological dignity, and, though of thoroughly energetic convictions, had a heart full of love. Yet even he yielded so far to the intolerant spirit of his time as to justify the repression of the Donatist and Pelagian eiToi-a by civil penalties.
§ 147. External History of the Pelagian Controversy^ A. D. 411-431.
Pelagiiis' was a simple monk, born about the middle of the fourth century in Britain, the extremity of the then civilized world. He was a man of clear intellect, mild disposition, learned culture, and spotless character ; even Augustine, with all his abhorrence of his doctrines, repeatedly speaks respectfully of the man." He studied the Greek theology, especially that of the Antiochian school, and early showed great zeal for the improvement of himself and of the world. But his morality was not so much the rich, deep life of faith, us it was the external legalism, the ascetic self-discipline and self-righteousness of monkery. It was characteristic, that, even before the controversy, he took great offence at the wellknown saying of Augustine : " Give what thou commandcst, and command what thou wilt." ' He could not conceive, that
' His British name is said to have been Morgan, that is, Of the sea, Marigena^ in Greek XltXayioi.
" Comp. the passages where Augustine speaks of Pelagius, in Wiggers, 1. c. L p. 35 f. Yet Augustine, not without reason, accuses him of duplicity, on a<v count of his conduct at the synod of Diospolis in Palestine. Wiggers (i. p. 40) Bays of him: "It must be admitted that PcLigius was not always sufHciently straightforward ; that he did not always express his views without ambiguity ; that, in fact, he sometimes in synods condemned opinions which w re manifestly his own. This may have arisen, it is true, in great part from his love of peace and the slight value which he attached to theoretical opinions."
' " Da quod jubes, ct jube quod vis," Confess. I. x. c. 20, et passim. Augxistine himself relates the above-mentioned fact, De dono j^erscv. c. 20 (or § C3, torn X. f S51): *'Qua3 mea verba, Pelagius Romse, cum a quod am fratre ct coepiscop*