§ 14:7. EXIEK^TAL HISTOIiT OF THE PELAGIAN CONTROVEKSr. 791
the power to obey the command rtient must come from the same source as the commandment itself. Faith, with him, waa hardly more than a theoretical belief; the main thing in relig ion was moral action, the keeping of the commandments of God by one's own strength. This is also shown in the intro* ductory remarks of his letter to Demetrias, a noble Roman nun, of the gens Anicia, in which he describes a model virgin as a proof of the excellency of human nature : " As often as 1 have to speak concerning moral improvement and the leading of a holy life, I am accustomed first to set forth the power and quality of human nature, and to show what it can accomplish." For never are we able to enter upon the path of the virtues, unless hope, as companion, draws us to them. For every longing after anything dies within us, so soon as we despair of attaining that thing."
In the year 409, Pel agi us, already advanced in life, was in Rome, and composed a brief commentary on tlie Epistles of Paul. This commentary, which has been preserved among the works of Jerome, displays a clear and sober exegetical talent.* He labored quietly and peacefully for the improvement of the corrupt morals of Rome, and converted the advocate Coelestius,
meo fuissent eo praesente commemorata, ferre non potuit, et contradicens aliquanlo commotius pene cum eo, qui ilia commemoraverat, litigavit."
' "Soleo prius humange natunB vim qualitatemque monstrare, et quid efS«er© possit, ostendere." Ep. ad Demetr. c. 2.
- It found its way among the works of Jerome (torn. xi. ed. Vallars., and in Migne's edition, torn. xi. f. 643-902) before tiie breaking out of the controversy,, but has received doctrinal emendations from Cassiodorus, at least in the Epistle to the Romans. The confounding of Pelagius with Jerome arose partly fram his accommodation to the ecclesiastical terminology, partly from his actual agreement with the prevailing tendency of monasticism. It is remarkable that both wrote aa a-scetic letter to the nun Demetrias. Comp. Jerome, Ep. 130 (ed. Vall&rsi, and 5iigne, or 97 in the Bened. ed.) ad Demetriadem de servanda Virginitate (written iu 414). She had also correspondence with Augustine. Semler has published the letters of Augustine, Jerome, and Pelagius to Demetrias in a separate form (Halle, 1775). Some have also ascribed to Pelagius the ascetic Epistola ad Celan tiara matronam de ratione pie vivendi, which, like his Ep. ad Demetriadem, hat found its way into the Epistles of Jerome (Ep. 148 in VaUarsi'a ed. torn. i. 1095, and in Migne's ed. tom. i. 1204). The monasticism of Pelagius, however, was much cooler, more sober, and more philosophical than that of the enthusiaatio Jerome, inclined as he was to all manner of extravagances.
792 THIRD PERIOD, A .B. 311-590.
of distinguislied, but otherwise unknown birth, to his monastw life, and to his views. It was from this man, younger, more skilful in argument, more ready for controversy, and moro rigorously consistent than his teacher, that the controveraj took its rise. Pelagius was the moral autlior, Coelestius the intellectual author, of the system represented by them.' They did not mean actually to found a new system, but believed themselves in accordance with Scripture and established doctrine. They were more concerned with the ethical side of Ghristianity than with the dogmatic; but their endeavor after moral perfection was based upon certain views of the natural power of the will, and these views proved to be in conflict with anthropological principles which had been developed in the African church for the previous ten years under the influence of Augustine.
In the year 411, the two friends, thus united in sentiment, left Rome, to escape the dreaded Gothic King Alaric, and went to Africa. They passed through Hippo, intending to visit Augustine, but found that he was just then at Carthage^ occupied with the Donatists. Pelagius wrote him a very courteous letter, which Augustine answered in a similar tone; intimating, however, the importance of holding the true doctrine concerning sin. " Pray "for me," he said, " that God may really make me that which you already take me to be." Pelagius soon proceeded to Palestine. Coelestius applied for presbyters' orders in Carthage, the very place where he had most reason to expect o]iposition. Tliis inconsiderate step brought on the crisis. He gained many friends, it is true, by his talents and his ascetic zeal, but at the same time awakened suspicion by his novel opinions.
The deacon Paulinus of Milan, who was just then in Car-
. ' To this extent Pelagius and Coelestius appear to sustain a relation to Pcla panlstn similar to that which Dr. Pusey and John Henry Newman did to Puseyism Jerome (in his letter to Ctesiphon) says of Coelestius, that he was, altiiough the iisciple of Pelagius, yet teacher and leader of the wliole array (magister et totius ductor excrcitua)... Augustine calls Pelagius more dissembling and crafty, Coilcstius more frank and open (Dc peccato orig. c. 12). Marius Mercator ascribes to Coelestius an incredibilis loquacitas. But Augustine and Julian of Eclanum also mutuall) reproach e;icli other with a vagabunda loquacitas.