ART. IX.-A BRITISH PELAGIAN.

Briefe, Abhandlungen und Predigten aus den zwei letzten Jahrhunderten des kirchlichen Alterthums und dem Anfang des Mittelalters. Von Dr. C. P. CASPARI, Professor der Theologie an der norwegischen Universität. (Christiania, 1890.)

WE are all familiar with the tradition, however insecure its foundation, that Pelagius was a Welshman of the name of Morgan, and the learned researches of Dr. Caspari now reveal to us, I will not say the fact, but at least the probability, that another Pelagian writer, named Agricola, was a native of Britain, and, both by his writings and in person, vigorously disseminated Pelagian doctrines in Britain early in the fifth century. Anything which throws new light on the history of the Church in this country is full of interest to Englishmen, and we ought, therefore, to be grateful to the author for discovering and publishing the writings of this early British Pelagian. Both from an historical and a literary point of view, Caspari's work is valuable. The critical discussion of the time and place of composition of the several writings, and of the difficult question of their authorship, is worked out with the utmost skill, and we may rest with some confidence on the author's conclusions. Besides the six pieces which he assigns to the Pelagian Agricola, and which he playfully terms a Corpus Pelagianum,' Caspari has also disinterred from their literary graves eight other letters or sermons, which now appear for the first time, and are variously dated from the fifth to the seventh centuries.

Of the six Pelagian pieces, the first two, which are letters, are here edited for the first time; the remaining four, which are rather treatises, although the last three are in form Letters, are edited for the second time, the first edition being that of Solanius, a Spaniard from Murcia, which he published at Rome in 1573. Solanius found them ascribed in the Vatican MS. to a bishop and martyr, Sixtus. He entirely failed to perceive their Pelagian tone; but this was soon after discovered, and the authorship of Sixtus disclaimed, after which they sank into complete obscurity. Their existence was first pointed out to Caspari by Dr. Ernst, to whom Caspari also revealed his discovery of the two Pelagian letters.

It will, perhaps, be advisable to give some account of the

letters themselves before we proceed to discuss the critical question of their authorship. For the sake of convenience, we shall refer to them as letters, although the 'De Divitiis is not strictly a letter. The following is a brief analysis of the contents of the first letter:

'I have read your letter, respected Sir, in which you express your opinion that what I have done is worthy of blame, and declare your vexation at the dangerous expedition which I have undertaken. You say that God is everywhere and can be worshipped everywhere. True-He is everywhere; but, as a matter of fact, He is not worshipped everywhere. For God is in France and Saxony and amongst all the barbarians, but He is not worshipped there. Consider, my dear Sir, not only where God is to be served, but how. God requires a great deal of the true Christian. The Christian must never lie, nor curse, nor use an oath of any kind he must not render evil for evil, but contrariwise good; he must bless those that speak evil of him, do good to those who despitefully use him, love his enemies, pray for his slanderers and persecutors; his every thought must be free from wickedness and impurity. . . in a word, he must live free from sin. If you say, Who can be without sin? I reply, God requires it, and He would not require an impossibility. If you say, again, The whole world will perish, I reply, In the time of Noah all the world did perish. When I was at home, I lived a self-pleasing life; now for the first time I begin to know how I can be a true Christian. If the dangers of the journey, and of the sea, which I endured, were great, the dangers which I have avoided are greater-the bonds of endless death, the flames of eternal fire. You ask me soon to return home. But I must not soon leave what I have only found with such difficulty, after the labours of my long journey and the boundless dangers of the sea. I have discovered in Sicily a woman, highly distinguished among men, still more so with God, who has now for a long time entirely dedicated herself to God: she has shown me the way of truth. I have committed myself entirely to her guidance. I am indeed anxious to return home, as I promised before, but not for some time. I would have my daughter become a virgin dedicated to God. And do you, beloved parent, remember that you are a Christian, and act up to your profession.' 1

Caspari seems to think that the person here addressed was a near relation of the writer. We agree with him that it could not have been his father, but would suggest that it was his father in the faith. We shall see presently that he was not improbably a British bishop of the name of Severianus. In the second letter the writer pictures a soul before the judgment-seat of Christ :

'Such a soul will not be able to say that God required anything 1 Caspari, p. 3.

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impossible of it, and if it urged that it was ignorant of God's will, the Lord would say, "Why wast thou ignorant?" and it would have to reply, "By my own fault." God requires a perfect obedience, and as Jonathan was condemned for a trivial fault, so shall we be if guilty of such. You find plenty of time to read your Virgil, Sallust, Terence, Cicero, and all other such foolish and baleful authors; but you find many things to hinder you from studying the Prophets, Christ, and the Apostles, and the teachers of Divine wisdom and eternal life. There are three things which should be found in a Christian man-knowledge, faith, obedience, and that, too, a perfect obedience. "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."' (p. 16.)

Then there follows a list of Christian duties as before:

'The Christian must not lie, curse, use any oath, &c. He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also to walk even as He walked.' (p. 19.)

2

The letter is addressed to the same person as before. We gather this from the style of address, 'honorificentiæ tuæ.' The third letter, or rather treatise, is on riches. We could wish that we had space to give a fuller analysis of this, but we must content ourselves with a few typical passages. As Caspari remarks, it is interesting as an early expression of Christian socialism. After defining wealth as having more than enough for one's needs, and expatiating on the sin of avarice, the writer proceeds:

"3

" 6

'We reach a higher standard in the New Testament. Our Lord said: "Whosoever shall not renounce all that he hath cannot be my disciple." And the Apostle saith: "Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor." And ought not we to follow His example? "He that saith he abideth in Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." 5 And "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.' Do you say that wealth is the gift of God? I reply: Consider the analogies of nature. Does the sun shed more heat on the rich than on the poor? When it rains, do larger drops fall on the fields of the rich than on those of the poor? Do brighter rays from the moon or the stars illume the rich than the poor? Or, if you look to the mysteries of religion, are not the sacraments common to all? Are not rich and poor alike born again in baptism? Do they not alike receive the forgiveness of sins, and sanctification? the gift of one spirit, and communion at the same altar? . . . Are you not bound to mould your life after the pattern of Christ? I ask you, By whose death were you restored? By whose blood and passion were you set free? Who was it that Himself took upon Him your infirmities?' (pp. 30, 35, 38.)

Then follows an eloquent and impassioned appeal to the sufferings and crucifixion of Christ, but, it must be confessed, with the avowed object of awakening the desire to follow the example of Christ's self-renunciation. The writer, as a Pelagian, appears to have looked upon the Atonement rather as an appeal to the love of mankind than as a sacrifice for sin, and so he proceeds:

'It is He whom we must imitate; He whom we must follow. . . And if we are to imitate Him, we must imitate Him in His poverty. . . He said: "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, give to the poor."' (pp. 39, 42.)

Presently he continues in a somewhat socialistic strain: 'Take away the rich man, and you will find no poor men; let no one have more than enough, and all will have sufficient; for a few rich men make many poor men.' (p. 48.)

But he rises above the vulgar type of socialist by supposing that only perfect Christians will thus surrender their wealth. Catechumens and the newly baptized are not to be put to so severe a test. We find him presently dwelling on the fact that wealth is generally amassed by dishonest means, and dilating in an eloquent passage on the sin and wickedness which spring from the desire of wealth. We have already quoted so much that we can only allow ourselves to add his amusing exposition of the text, 'It is easier for a camel,' &c.2:

'It is only necessary to point out to the rich that they must either find a needle large enough for a camel to pass through, or a camel small enough to pass through a needle. It is no way out of the difficulty to say that some understand a camel to mean a ship's cable! But the rich man will say, "The Lord adds, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.'" "Certainly it is possible," he replies, "for God to take not only the rich man to Heaven with all his baggage and his wealth, but even the camels themselves."' (p. 55.)

3

He bases his own interpretation of this text on the Apostles' exclamation, Who then can be saved!' He imagines the Apostles to have thought that without wealth, or the means of doing good, it was impossible to please God, and that our Lord meant to say that it was quite possible for God to enable poor men to please Him.

The fourth letter is on 'Evil teachers and works of faith

1 St. Matt. xix. 21; St. Mark x. 21; St. Luke xii. 33.

2 St. Mark x. 25; St. Luke xviii. 25.

3 St. Mark x. 27; St. Luke xviii. 27.

and future judgment.' It is addressed to 'your excellency' (eximietati vestra), or, as he is styled lower down, 'your holiness' (sanctitati vestræ). Perhaps this may be taken as signifying that the person addressed was a 'religiosus.' letter opens somewhat as follows:

The

'Doctrine which does not edify is like medicine which does the patient no good. Now, at the present time there are very many who suffer from the spiritual disease of imagining that by the prerogative of faith, and the confidence begotten of credulity, they will not perish in spite of the fact that they do not observe most of the precepts of God's law. . . . They think that a barren and unfruitful faith without works of holiness will avail them. . . . Under the covenant of grace there is a more rigorous law than under the old "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven."1 Yet how utterly discordant with the evangelical and apostolic precepts is our own modern life.' (pp. 69, 70, 72, 82, 85.)

covenant.

The writer then proceeds in a vigorous passage to scourge the vices of every class of society, beginning with the Ascetics themselves :

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'Holy Scripture speaks of God's people as sheep, or lambs, or doves; but they must be called wolves rather than sheep, kites rather than doves. Nay, we are fiercer than wolves, more rapacious than kites, and we cover our evil deeds under a hypocritical garb of religion. How severe Christ's judgment will be appears from His words, For every idle word that men shall speak, &c.,' 2 and "Whosoever shall say to his brother 'Thou fool,' &c.," and how terrible His words will be to those who have not so much done anything wrong as left undone what they should have done. "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire." But you will say, "The fire is eternal, but the punishment is not endless," or "these words were meant to terrify sinners, and not to be taken as absolutely true." Methinks I hear in these words the hiss of the old serpent. As he said to Eve, "Ye shall not surely die," 5 so he tries to persuade you that God's words are not true. Yet they who maintain the truth, as we do, are oppressed by wicked and impious factions, are assailed with false charges, are covered with infamy as heretics. But how will it be when we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ?' (pp. 87, 89, 93-5, 98, 101-2.)

The writer then draws a vivid and dramatic picture, in which he represents in turn Christ Himself, St. Peter (whom he designates as the Keeper of the Gate of Heaven), St. Paul, St. John, and St. James addressing the souls of the lost. Each of them records the witness of the truth which he had

1 St. Matt. v. 20.

4 St. Matt. xxv. 41.

2 St. Matt. xii. 36.
5 Gen. iii. 4.

3 St. Matt. v. 22.