The Pelagian Doctrine
prevails in Britain.
About this time the Pelagian Doctrine began to prevail, almost universally, in Britain, being preached here either by the Natives, who had adhered to their Countryman Pelagius abroad, and were returned home, or by others, who, finding themselves, in virtue of the Imperial Laws, every-where persecuted on the Continent, had fled to this Island for Shelter. The leading Man of the Party here was one Agricola, the Son of a British Bishop named Severianus[[1606]]. But that Severianus himself, or any of his Collegues, countenanced their Doctrine, is not touched by any of the Antients. Fastidius indeed, a British Writer, who flourished at this time, betrays, in his Writings, a strong Byas to the Pelagian Tenets. But it may be justly questioned whether he was a Bishop. For in the Treatise which he wrote on the Duties of a Christian Life, he makes Excuses for taking upon him to instruct others; which a Bishop would hardly have done, that being his Province and Duty[[N73]]. However, if the British Bishops did not countenance the Pelagian Doctrine, neither did they oppose it, at least with the Vigour they might; else it had never made, in so short a time, the Progress it did. |The Britons recur to the Gallican Bishops, who send Germanus and Lupus into Britain.| The Catholics, having no Prospect of Relief from their own Pastors, had recourse to those of Gaul; who, being affected with their Complaints, immediately summoned a great Council, and chose, with one Voice, St. Germanus Bishop of Auxerre, and St. Lupus Bishop of Troyes, to pass over into Britain, and there maintain the Catholic Cause[[1607]]. Thus Constantius, a Presbyter of Lyons, who lived in this Century, and after him Bede. But Prosper, who flourished likewise in this Century, writes, that the Two Prelates were sent into Britain by Celestine[[1608]]. The Gallican Bishops, perhaps, acquainted the Pope with the Choice they had made, and he approved it; which was enough for Prosper, a notorious Flatterer of the Popes, to ascribe the Whole to Celestine. |Their Journey.| The Two Missionaries set out for Britain in the Latter-end of the Year 429. and, passing through Paris, had an Interview there with the famous St. Genevieve, who, at the Persuasion of St. Germanus, to whom her future Sanctity was revealed, promised to consecrate her Virginity to Jesus Christ. From Paris they pursued their Journey to the Sea-side, and embarqued; but were very near being cast away by a Storm, before they reached the British Coast. This Storm the Author supposes to have been raised by the Devil; but we may more reasonably suppose it to have been raised by himself, that he might have an Opportunity of displaying the Power of his Imagination in describing it, and make room for the Miracle by which it was laid. |Miracles wrought by them on the Sea, and after their Landing.| For St. Germanus, who had slept the whole time, being awaked by the Mariners just as the Vessel was on the point of sinking, first reprimanded the Sea, as Neptune did of old the Winds, for attempting to defeat their pious Undertaking; and then pouring into it a few Drops of Oil, asswaged at once the Fury of the Waves, and miraculously restored the wished for Calm. Upon their Landing, the People flocked to them from all Parts; and, being convinced of the Truth which they preached, by the Miracles which they wrought, abjured daily by Thousands the Pelagian Doctrine, which they had so rashly embraced. But their Teachers and Leaders kept out of the Way: they were unwilling to enter the Lists with Men, whom Heaven had endowed with such miraculous Powers. However, as the Whole of their Cause was now at stake, they agreed, at last, to meet the Two Prelates, and met them accordingly. But this Meeting proved fatal to the Pelagian Cause; for the Pelagians declining to undertake the Cure of a blind Girl that was presented to them, St. Germanus, by applying to her Eyes some Reliques, which he always carried about with him, cured her at once of her Blindness, and with her the whole Island[[1609]]. |The whole Island reclaimed.| But these Miracles were soon forgotten: according to the same Author, the Pelagian Heresy took root again, and new Miracles were wanted to check its Growth. |Germanus returns anew, and utterly roots out the Pelagian Heresy.| Germanus therefore, in the Year 447. returned to Britain; exerted here anew his wonder-working Power, confounded his Antagonists, and, not leaving behind him the least Shoot of so poisonous a Weed, returned in Triumph to Gaul[[1610]]. In his second Journey into Britain he is said to have been attended by St. Severus, Bishop of Treves.
[N73]. Besides, the Benedictines, in their Edition of the Works of St. Austin, assure us, that, in a very antient Manuscript Copy of Gennadius, Fastidius is not styled Bishop, the Word Bishop being added to the original Copy in a much fresher Hand. And yet most of our modern Writers not only suppose him to have been Bishop, but Bishop of London[[1]].
[1]. Vid. Miræum in not. ad Gennad.
Beginning of the Dis-
pute between Nestor-
ius and St. Cyril.
The following Year, 430. is one of the most remarkable Years in the Annals of the Church. For it was in that Year that the famous Dispute began between Nestorius Bishop of Constantinople, and St. Cyril Bishop of Alexandria, which rent the whole Church into Two opposite and irreconcileable Factions. |What occasioned this Dispute.| What gave Occasion to that Dispute was, the Title of Mother of God, which began at this time to be commonly given to the Virgin Mary. Such a Title Nestorius thought very improper, derogatory to the Majesty of the Eternal Creator, and only calculated to lead the Unwary into gross Mistakes concerning the Mystery of the Incarnation, and the Nature of Christ. For he argued, that it could not be said, without a kind of Blasphemy, that God was born of a Woman, that God had suffered, that God had died, nor, consequently, that the Virgin Mary was the Mother of God. We must not imagine, said he, that God, or the Word, was born of the Virgin Mary; but we ought to believe, that God, or the Word, was united to him, who was born of the Virgin Mary[[1611]]. The Title of Mother of Christ was that which he thought should be given to the Virgin, as containing all that was meant by the other, without the Impropriety and Offence of the Expression, and without Danger of confounding the Divine Nature of Christ with the Human. This Doctrine was received, and maintained with great Warmth by some, both Ecclesiastics and Laymen, and with no less Warmth opposed by others. The latter thought it was calling in question the Divinity of Christ, and degrading the Virgin Mary, to rob her of the glorious Title of the Mother of God; and her Glory was now become one of their highest Concerns. |The Characters of Cyril and Nestorius.| At the Head of these was St. Cyril, a Man of a most haughty and imperious Temper, impatient of Contradiction, obstinately wedded to his own Opinion, passionate, revengeful, and more eagerly bent, at least in the present Dispute, upon conquering his Adversary, than discovering the Truth. In some of there Qualities he was well matched by Nestorius; but the latter was not so eager for Victory, so tenacious of his own Opinion, or rather of his own Terms (for the whole Dispute was about Terms), as not to be ready to explain them; which had he been allowed to do, an End had been put at once to the Quarrel. But Cyril would hearken to no Explanations. |Cyril will not allow Nestorius to explain his Meaning. He defames him, and writes against him to the Emperor.| He peremptorily required Nestorius to acknowlege and confess the Virgin Mary to be the Mother of God, without any Distinction or Explanation; and because he would not comply, he defamed him all over the East, as a Reviver of the Heresy of Paul of Samosata, denying the real Union between the Human and the Divine Nature in the Person of Christ; stirred up the People of Constantinople, his own Flock, against him; and spared no Pains to discredit him with the Emperor, and other great Persons at Court. For he writ Three Letters to Court; one to the Emperor Theodosius, to his Wife Eudoxia, and to his Sister Pulcheria; another to the Queen’s Virgins, and Brides of Christ, that is, to Pulcheria and her Sisters; and a third to the Empresses, that is, to Eudoxia and Pulcheria. The Purport of these Letters was to prove, that the Virgin Mary was, and ought to be styled, the Mother of God; that to dispute such a Title was rank Heresy; and that whoever disputed it was unworthy of the Protection of the Imperial Family.
Nestorius, being now sensible, that Cyril was determined to keep no Measures with him, resolved, in his Turn, to keep none with one, who had given him so great Provocation. |Nestorius excommunicates and deposes those who side with Cyril. Causes some of them to be imprisoned and whipt.| He therefore assembled a Council at Constantinople, and there, with the unanimous Consent of the Bishops, who composed it, he solemnly excommunicated the Laymen, and deposed the Ecclesiastics, who rejected his Doctrine[[1612]]. He did not stop here; but caused several Ecclesiastics, Monks, and Laymen, the Friends of Cyril, to be apprehended, to be dragged to the public Prison, and to be there whipt very severely, as Disturbers of the public Peace, and Sowers of Heresy and Sedition. What chiefly provoked him, was a Paper posted up in a public Place of the City, declaring him a Heretic, and guilty of the Heresy formerly held by Paul of Samosata, denying a true Union between the Word and the Humanity in the Person of Christ; which was one of the many Calumnies broached against him by Cyril to blacken his Reputation.
Thus were the Christians in the East divided into two opposite Parties, irreconcileably incensed against each other, and reviling each other with all the opprobrious Names Malice and Rage could suggest. |Nestorius strives to gain Celestine and the Western Bishops.| But Cyril’s Party was by far the most numerous and powerful. Nestorius therefore, having strove in vain to strengthen his Party in the East, resolved in the End to try the West, being well apprised, that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome, and the other Western Bishops, would be abundantly sufficient to turn the Scale. He therefore writ a long Letter to Celestine, acquainting him with what had passed in the East, and explaining, without the least Disguise or Equivocation, the Doctrine he held; nay, he sent him all the Homilies, which he had preached on that Subject. In this Letter he owns his irreconcileable Aversion to the Words Mother of God, as raising Ideas, especially in the Minds of the Vulgar, inconsistent with the Majesty of the Supreme Being. He adds, that by disputing the Title of Mother of God, he only meant, that the Word was not born of the Virgin Mary[[1613]].