The African Bishops
maintain their former
Judgment.
The African Bishops were no less surprised to find Zosimus so warmly engaged in favour of Pelagius and Cælestius, than Zosimus was surprised at their having condemned them. However, they were determined to stand to the Judgment which they had given, though sensible that such a Determination would not fail to produce, if Zosimus did not yield, a Misunderstanding, and perhaps an intire Separation, between Rome and Africa. This St. Austin seems chiefly to have apprehended, and to have been resolved, if it should so happen, to abdicate and retire[[1519]]. To prevent this Evil, which would have proved very detrimental to the common Cause, many Letters passed between Rome and Africa[[1520]]: but as none of those that were written at this Juncture by the African Bishops have reached our Times, having been probably destroyed by those whose Interest it was to destroy them; all we know concerning this Affair is, that the Africans maintained, with great Steadiness, their former Judgment against the Pretensions of Zosimus; and would never allow a Cause, that had been determined in Africa, to be re-examined at Rome, the rather as Innocent, the Predecessor of Zosimus, had concurred with them in condemning both Cælestius and his Doctrine[[1521]]. |Paulinus, summoned to
Rome, refuses to
obey the Summons.| The Letter from Zosimus to the African Bishops was carried by one Basilius, Subdeacon of Rome, who was charged with a verbal Order for the Deacon Paulinus, the first who accused Cælestius, to repair to Rome. To this Summons Paulinus returned Answer, that as the Bishops of Africa had condemned Cælestius upon his Accusation, it was no longer incumbent upon him, but upon them, to shew that his Accusation was well grounded; and therefore he could not conceive why Zosimus should require him to take a Journey to Rome[[1522]].
The Council of
Carthage condemns
anew the Pelagian
Doctrine without
waiting for the Judg-
ment of Zosimus.
In the mean time Aurelius of Carthage was under the greatest Apprehension, lest Zosimus should be prevailed upon by Cælestius, and the other Pelagians at Rome, to take some hasty Step in their favour. Having therefore assembled, with all possible Expedition, a Council at Carthage, he first writ, in his own and their Name, to Zosimus, earnestly intreating him to suspend all further Proceedings in an Affair of such Moment, till he was more fully informed. This Letter was written, and a Messenger dispatched with it to Rome, while the Council was yet very thin; the Haste Aurelius was in to stop the Proceedings of Zosimus not allowing him to wait the Arrival of all. When the rest came, and they were in all Two hundred and Fourteen, they unanimously confirmed their former Sentence, and, without waiting for the Judgment of Zosimus, condemned anew the Doctrine of Pelagius and Cælestius[[1523]]. The Decrees which they made on this Occasion against the Pelagians were received, says Prosper, by Rome, by the Emperors, no doubt, Honorius and Arcadius, and by the whole World[[1524]]. And yet, in the making of these Decrees, the Bishop of Rome had no Hand; so that it was not Rome, but Africa, it was not the Pope, but the Bishops of Africa, or more truly St. Austin (for he governed intirely that Council), who taught the Church what she was to believe, and what disbelieve, concerning Grace and Original Sin. One of these Decrees is related by Prosper[[1525]], wherein the Two hundred and Fourteen Bishops declare, that we are aided by Grace, not only in the Knowlege, but in the Practice, of Virtue; and that without it we can neither think, speak, or do any thing whatsoever that is pious or holy[[1526]]. This, and the other Decrees of the Council, were sent immediately to Rome by the Fathers, who composed them, with a Letter for Zosimus, declaring that they were determined to adhere to the Judgment, which his Predecessor Innocent had formerly given against Pelagius and Cælestius, till such time as both owned, and in the most plain and unexceptionable Terms, the Necessity of Grace, and abjured the opposite Doctrine. |The Policy of the
African Bishops.| It was the Effect of a refined Policy in the African Bishops not to mention their own Judgment, but to lay the whole Stress on that of Innocent, though his was not only preceded, but produced, or rather extorted, by theirs. They hoped that the Regard, which they pretended to have for Innocent, would bring Zosimus to a better Temper, and divert him from absolving those whom his Predecessor had so lately condemned. As Zosimus had reproached them in his Letter for believing too easily those who had appeared against Cælestius, they in their turn represented to him, that he ought not so easily to have believed Cælestius, and those who spoke in his Favour. In the same Letter they gave him a particular Account of all that had passed in Africa concerning Cælestius. No wonder therefore, that Zosimus should have complained of the Length of the Letter, calling it a Volume, and saying,[[1527]] that he had got through it at last. With this Letter Marcellinus, Subdeacon of the Church of Carthage, was dispatched to Rome, and he arrived there in the Beginning of March 418.
Zosimus begins to
yield.
Zosimus was alarmed at the Steadiness of the Africans. He plainly saw from their Letter, and more plainly from their Decrees, that they were determined not to yield; and therefore, apprehending the evil Consequences that would infallibly attend his continuing to protect Pelagius and Cælestius against them, he resolved to yield, and withdraw, by Degrees, his Protection from both. |His boasting Letter to
the African Bishops.| Hence, in his Answer to the Council, he contented himself with setting forth and boasting the Pre-eminence, Authority, and Prerogatives of the Apostolic See; which however, more modest than his Predecessor, he did not ascribe to Divine Institution, but to the Canons of the Church, and Prescription. He tells the African Bishops, that though he is vested with a Power of judging all Causes, though his Judgment is irreversible, yet he had chosen to determine nothing without having first consulted them; and this he dwells upon as an extraordinary Favour. He expresses great Surprize at their seeming to be persuaded, that he had given an intire Credit to Cælestius; assures them that he had not been so hasty, being well apprised that the last and definitive Judgment ought not to be given but with the greatest Caution, and after the most mature Deliberation; and in the Close of his Letter lets them know, that, upon the Receipt of their first Letter, he had suspended all further Proceedings; and, to gratify them, left Things in the State they were in before[[1528]].
The Doctrine of Pel-
agius condemned again
in a Council at Carthage.
In the mean time the African Bishops, assembling in Council at Carthage, from all the Provinces of Africa, and some even from Spain, the more effectually to oppose and defeat any further Attempts of Zosimus, in favour of Pelagius and Cælestius, condemned their Doctrine anew, and more distinctly than they had hitherto done. This Council met on the 1st of May 418. consisted of 225 Bishops, and enacted Eight Canons, anathematizing the Pelagian Doctrine concerning Grace and Original Sin[[1529]]. To these Eight Canons they added Ten more, calculated to establish some Points of Discipline. Among the latter the Ninth deserves particular Notice; for it is there decreed, That Presbyters, Deacons, and inferior Clerks, if they complain of the Judgment of their own Bishop, may appeal, with his Consent, to the neighbouring Bishops, and from them to the Primate or Council of Africa. |Appeals beyond Sea
forbidden by the
Council, on Pain of
Excommunication.| But, if any one should presume, say they, to appeal beyond Sea, let no Man receive him to his Communion[[1530]]. To this Decree Gratian has added, to save the Jurisdiction of the Pope, unless they appeal to the See of Rome; than which nothing can be more absurd, since it was to restrain the encroaching Power of the See of Rome that this Canon was made. We must not forget, that St. Austin was present at this Council, and signed this, as well as the other Canons and Decrees, that were, on this Occasion, enacted by the 225 Bishops.
Law enacted by
Honorius against the
Pelagians.
The Africans had dispatched, the Year before, the Bishop Vindemialis to the Court of Honorius, with the Decrees of the Council held against Pelagius, of which I have spoken above. And those Decrees the Emperor not only approved, but enacted this Year 418. a severe Law against the Pelagians, dated from Ravenna, the 30th of April, and addressed to Palladius then Præfectus Prætorio. Honorius there declares, he had been informed, that Pelagius and Cælestius taught, in Opposition to the Authority of the Catholic Church, that God had created the first Man mortal; that he would have died, whether he had or had not sinned; that his Sin did not pass to his Descendents; and several other impious Errors, that disturbed the Peace and Tranquillity of the Church. To put a Stop therefore to the growing Evil, he commands Pelagius and Cælestius to be driven from Rome; orders it to be every-where notified, that all Persons shall be admitted before the Magistrates, as Informers against those who are suspected of holding their wicked Doctrines; and such as are found guilty shall be sent into Exile[[1531]]. In virtue of this Law, an Order was issued by the Præfecti Prætorio, viz. by Junius Quartus Palladius Prefect of Italy, Monaxius Prefect of the East, and Agricola Prefect of Gaul, commanding Pelagius and Cælestius to be driven out of Rome, and the Accomplices of their Errors to be stript of their Estates, and condemned to perpetual Banishment[[1532]]. A most barbarous Treatment for holding Opinions, which, if erroneous, were certainly harmless. But it is usual for a persecuting Spirit to be as violent upon the most unessential as the most weighty Points: and the Rage of Disputation is never more keen, than when the Disputants can hardly define what they quarrel about; especially when the Sword of the Magistrate is drawn on that Side which has least to say for itself in Reason and Argument. I do not affirm this was the Case in the present Dispute; but this is certain, that if Pelagius went too far in his Opinion, so did his Opposers in theirs: and so far his Conduct was infinitely better than theirs, that he declared his own Notions to be Matters very indifferent to Catholic Faith, and professed a general Assent to that Faith; whereas they anathematized his Opinions as execrable Errors, and punished them with all the Severity that the most implacable Malice could exert[[N62]].