§ 150. THE PELAGIAN SYSTEM. 80 1
And there are exceptions to it. Tlie "all" in Rom. v. 12 is to be taken relatively for the majority. Even before Christ there were men who lived free from sin^ such as righteous Abel, Abraham, Isaac, the Yirgiu Marj''", and many others.' From the silence of the Scriptures respecting the sins of many righteous men, he inferred that such men were without sin.' In reference to Mary, Pelagius is nearer the present Roman Catholic view than Augustine, who exempts her only from actual sin, not from original.^ Jerome, with all his rev erence for the blessed Yirgin, does not even make this exception, but says, without qualification, that every creature is under the power of sin and in need of the mercy of God.*
With original sin, of course, hereditary guilt also disappears ; and even apart from this connection, Pelagius views il
mur ; atque ante actionem propriae voluntatis id solum in houwDe est, quod Deua condidit." It is not, however, very congruous with this, that in another place he speaks of a natural or inborn holiness. Ad Demet. c. 4 : " Est in animis nostris «a<Mrrt^is-qua3dara, ut ita dixerim, sanditas."
' Comp. Pelagius, Com. in Rom. v. 12, and in August. De natura et gratia, cap. 36 (§42, Opera, tom. x. fol. 144): "Deinde commemorat [Pelagius] eos, qui non modo non peccasse, verum etiam juste vixisse referuntur, Abel, Enoch, Melchisedech, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesu Nove, Phineas, Samuel, Nathan, Elias, Joseph, Elizaeus, ilicheas, Daniel, Ananias, Agarias, Meisael, Ezechiel, Mardochaeus, Simeon, Joseph, cui despondata erat virgo Maria, Johannes. Adjuugit etiam feminas, Debboram, Annam, Samuelis matrem, Judith, Esther, alteram Annam filiam Phanuel, Elizabeth, ipsam etiam Domini ac Salvatoris nostri matrem, quam dicit sine peccato confiteri necesse esse pietati."
'■' " De illis, quorum justitiae memiuit [Scriptura sacra] et pcccatoram sine dubio meminisset, si qua eos peccasse sensisset." In Aug. De nat. et grat. c. 37 (§ 43 ; tom. X. fol. 145).
' In the passage cited, Augustine agrees with Pelagius in reference to Mar} 'propter honorem Domuu," but only as respects actual sin, of which the connection shows him to be speaking ; for in other passages he affirms the conception of Mary in sin. Comp. Enarratio in Psahnum xxxiv. vs. 13 (ed. Migne, tom. iv. 335): " Maria ex Adam mortua propter pcccatum, Adam mortuus propter peccatum, et caro Domini ex Maria mortua est propter delenda peccata." De Genes: ad literam, lib. X. c. 18 (§ 32), where he discusses the origin of Christ's soul, and says: "Quid iucoinquinatius illo utero Virginis, cujus caro etiamsi de peccati propagme venit, non tameu de peccati propagine concepit . . .?" See above, § 80, p. 418.
* Adv. Pelag. 1. ii. c. 4 (tom. ii. 744, ed. Vallarsi): " 'Ai'ajuapTTjroj', id est .siue peccato esse [hominem posse] nego, id enim soli Deo competit, omnisque crcatura peccato subjacet, et indiget misericordia Dei, dicente Scriptura: MiserijorUi* D'lraini plena est teiTa."
808 THLED PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
as irreconcilable with tlie justice of God. From this position a necessai'j deduction is the salvation of unbaptized infants. Pelagius, however, made a distinction between vita OBterna^ oi a lower degree of salvation, and the regnum codorum of the baptized saints ; and he affirmed the necessity of baptism for entrance into the kingdom of heaven,'
In this doctrine of the fall we meet witli the same disintegrating view of humanity as before. Adam is isolated from his posterity ; his disobedience is disjoined from other sins. He is simply an individual, like any other man, not the representative of the whole race. There are no creative startingpoints ; every man begins history anew. In this system Paul's exhibitions of Adam and Ciirist as the representative ancestors of mankind have no meaning. If the act of the former has merely an individual significance, so also has that of the latter. If the sin of Adam cannot be imputed, neither can the merit of Christ. In both cases there is nothing left but the idea of example, the influence of which depends solely upon our oavii free will. But there is an undeniable solidarity between the sin of the first man and that of his posterity.
In like manner sin is here regarded almost exclusively as an isolated act of the will, while yet there is also such a thing as sinfulness; there are sinful states and sinful habits, which are consummated and strengthened by sins of act, and which in turn give birth to other sins of act.
There is a deep truth in the couplet of Schiller, which can easily be divested of its fatalistic intent :
" This is the very onrse of evil deed, That of new evil it becomes the seed." *
Finally, the essence and root of sin is not sensuality, as Pelagius was inclined to assume (though he did not ex]^resa himself very definitely on this point), but self-seeking, including pride and sensuality as the two main forms of sin. The
' August- Dc pcccatorum mcritis et reniissionc, lib. i. c. 21 (§ 30, torn. x. £ 17); De haeresibus, cap. 88.
* " Das eben 5st der Fluch der boscn Tliat,
Dass sic, for'.zeugend, immcr Boseo muss gebiiren."