THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
in Augustine's view, nothing good could happen, it being the inward communication of supernatural strength for good, and the bestowal of a share in the well-being of God, without which justification does not fulfil itself. It is true that Pelagius speaks of a " strength through the Holy Ghost " given by Christ to his followers, and of a " seal of the Spirit " received by the Christian in baptism, and that he was also aware that the Spirit aids man's infirmity (Rom. viii. 26); but he understood this aid of the Spirit to be either the baptismal sealing of the earnest of future inheritance, or the strengthening of man's weak powers by reviving the hope of recompense (Rom. v. 5). It is true, not every mention of " aid of the Spirit " is explained in this way by Pelagius, but his general tendency was to stamp Biblical ideas with clear concepts in accordance with his general purview. And this was opposed to every physical or hyperphysical basis of morality, and had its source in the intellectualism of ancient ethics. Augustine was influenced by the mysticism of the Neoplatonic school (see Neoplatonism) ; Pelagius, by the older moral, rational, popular philosophy, especially that of the Stoics (see Stoicism) . Consequently his opinion of " natural and common death" has few parallels in the Eastern Church. It is to be noted that his idea of the sinful state of man is more closely analogous to that of collective sin and collective guilt in the modern Church than the Augustinian, and that his doctrine of justification squares more closely in many respects with that of Paul than does Augustine's. His concept of faith, in like manner, is deeper, though he is prevented from perfectly understanding the religious by his intellectualistic moralism, just as Augustine is prevented by his mystical bias. But, again like Augustine, Pelagius meant more than his teaching expressed. To him the hope of recompense is founded on the remission of sins, and remission rests upon the cross. For this reason he frequently emphasizes gratitude; and such words as "he proveth that he hath God in mind who, having God ever before him, dareth not sin " (on Rom. i. 21) conclusively proved that Pelagius knew of a personal relation to God and Christ which his moralistic formulas could no more describe than could Augustine's physical and hyperphysical concepts do justice to the depths of his personal piety.
It is clear, nevertheless, that the main interests of Pelagius were not centered where his thoughts most closely approximated those of Paul. This is shown by his letter to the virgin Demetrias (cf . Augustine, De gestis Pelagii, ii. 1099-1120; Eng. transl., NPNF, 1 ser. v. 225 sqq.), written in 413 or 414 and preserved among the works of Jerome 7. Letter to (MPL, xxx. 15-45). While maintain- Demetrias ing that God forgives in baptism all and the sins of the Christian, the letter Celestius. lays special stress on the admonition that the baptized " must so be mindful of their heavenly birth that, living among the wicked, they may conquer every evil." The power of good and evil is a fundamental presupposition, and the glory of the rational soul; even many philosophers, although strangers to God, had been able to
please him in virtue of the " good of nature." The letter also alludes to the " grace of the remission of sins," laying more stress, however, on the "grace of doctrine," with mention of the "graces of assistance " (by the Holy Ghost) ; though the latter graces are but obscurely developed in this epistle. Even meditation on the Bible is here urged by Pelagius only in the interest of moral instruction and stimulus. It is thus evident that the religious concept of Pelagius retired into the background when he spoke on morality or holiness of living; and he lived, despite his thorough acquaintance with the writings of Paul, in an atmosphere of ascetic morality more akin to the views of Seneca than to those of the great Apostle. More energetically than Pelagius, and at an earlier date, his pupil Celestius, a lawyer of noble birth, emphasized the negative side of the views which he and his teacher held in common. According to the testimony of the Liber prcedestinatus (i. 88; cf. Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium, xxiv., xxxiv.; MPL, 1. 670-671), Pelagius derived from Celestius the theses set up against original sin; but this does not say that these were citations from a book by Celestius entitled " Against Original Sin." The citations of Jerome from a work by Celestius, probably entitled " Syllogisms," as well as a series of sentences by which Celestius was challenged at Carthage in 411, may be derived from the same book from which Pelagius drew. It is not impossible, on the other hand, that the author of the Liber prcedestinatus and Vincent may have had in mind several works of Celestius when they termed him the first opponent of the doctrine of original sin. At all events, the literary activity of Celestius, so far as is known, no more caused a controversy at Rome than the commentaries of Pelagius.
II. Pelagian Controversies: The Pelagian controversy began when Pelagius and Celestius visited northern Africa. According to Marius Mercator, the latter left Rome before the end of 409. Pelagius, on the other hand, may still have been i. Rejection in Rome when the city was sacked by of Celestius. Alaric in 410. By 411 Pelagius was at Carthage, probably with Celestius, during the colloquy with the Donatists. Soon afterward Pelagius went to the East, while Celestius remained in Carthage, where he hoped to be ordained presbyter. He was denounced as a heretic in a brief presented by Paulinus, a deacon of Milan, however, and in 411 was refused ordination by a synod of Carthage, though apparently spared excommunication. The theses for which he was rejected were as follows: (1) Adam was created mortal, and would have died whether he had sinned or not; (2) the sin of Adam injured himself only, not the human race; (3) infants are born in the state in which Adam was before the fall; (4) neither does the whole human race die through the death or sin of Adam, nor does it rise again through the resurrection of Christ; (5) the law, as well as the Gospel, gives access to the kingdom of heaven; and (6) men had been without sin even before the advent of Christ. It is noteworthy that even at this synod which rejected him, Celestius was attacked on the problem of infant baptism, so that he was forced