a native of Great Britain; but whether of England, Scotland, or Wales, is as uncertain as it is immaterial (a). He was born towards the close of the fourth century, and educated in the monastery of

(a) Dr Henry thinks he was born in North Wales; that his real name was Morgan, of which Pelagius is a translation; and that he was born on the 13th of November A.D. 354, the same day with his great antagonist St Augustin. The same learned historian gives us the following account of Pelagius and his great coadjutor Celestine. "He received a learned education in his own country, most probably in the great monastery of Banor near Chester, to the government of which he was advanced A.D. 404. He was long esteemed and loved by St Jerome and St Augustin, who kept up a friendly correspondence with him by letters before..." Pelagius, of Banchor, in Wales, of which he became a monk, and afterwards abbot. In the early part of his life he went over to France, and thence to Rome, where he had the influence to promulgate certain opinions somewhat different from those of the infallible church. His morals being irreproachable, he gained many disciples; and the dreadful heresy made so rapid a progress, that, for the salvation of souls, it became necessary for the pope to exert his power. Pelagius, to avoid the danger, in the year 409 passed over to Sicily, attended by his friend and pupil Celestius. In 411 they landed in Africa, continued some time at Hippo, and were present at the famous conference between the Catholics and Donatists which was held at Carthage in 412. From thence they travelled to Egypt; and from Egypt, in 415, to Palestine, where they were graciously received by John bishop of Jerusalem. In the same year Pelagius was cited to appear before a council of seventeen bishops, held at Diofpolis. They were satisfied with his creed, and absolved him of heresy. The African bishops, however, being displeased with their proceedings, appealed to the Roman pontiff; he first approved, and afterwards condemned, the opinions of Pelagius, who, with his pupil Celestius, was publicly excommunicated; and all the bishops who refused to subscribe the condemnation of the Pelagian heresy were immediately deprived. What became of him after this period is entirely unknown; but it seems very probable that he retired to Banchor, and died abbot of that monastery. He wrote, 1. Expositionum in epist. Paulinar, lib. xiv. 2. Epistolae ad Demetriadem de virginitate.

before they discovered the heretical gravity of his opinions; for Pelagius, being a cautious and artful man, for some time vented his peculiar notions as the sentiments of others, without discovering that they were his own. At length, however, he threw off the mask, and openly published and defended his doctrines at Rome about the beginning of the fifth century. This involved him in many troubles, and drew upon him the indignation of his former friends St Jerome and St Augustin, who wrote against him with great acrimony. He is acknowledged, even by his adversaries, to have been a man of good sense and great learning, and an acute disputant, though they load him with the most bitter reproaches for his abuse of these talents. His personal blemishes are painted in very strong colours; and he is represented by these good fathers, in the heat of their zeal, as a very ugly fellow, 'broad-shouldered, thick-necked, fat-headed, lame of a leg, and blind of an eye.'

Even the most northern parts of this island (Britain) produced some men of learning in this period. Celestius, the disciple and friend of Pelagius, was a Scotman, who made a prodigious noise in the world by his writings and disputations about the beginning of the fifth century. He defended and propagated the peculiar opinions of his master Pelagius with so much learning, zeal, and success, that those who embraced these opinions were frequently called Celestians. Before he became acquainted with these doctrines he wrote several books, which were universally admired for their orthodoxy, learning, and virtuous tendency. After he had spent his youth in his own country in a studious privacy, he travelled for his further improvement to Rome, where he became acquainted with Rufinus and Pelagius, and was by them infected with their heresies. From that time he became the most indefatigable and undaunted champion of these heresies, and thereby brought upon himself the indignation of the orthodox fathers of these days, who gave him many very bad names in their writings. St Jerome, whose commentaries on the Ephesians he had presumed to criticize, calls him 'an ignorant, stupid fool, having his belly swelled and distended with Scots pottage; a great, corpulent, barking dog, who was fitter to kick with heels than to bite with his teeth; a Cerberus, who, with his master Pluto (Pelagius), deserved to be knocked on the head, that they might be put to eternal silence.' Such were the flowers of rhetoric which these good fathers employed against the enemies of the orthodox faith! But candour obliges us to observe, that this was perhaps more the vice of the age in which they lived than of the men. Both Pelagius and Celestius were very great travellers; having visited many different countries of Asia and Africa, as well as Europe, with a view to elude the persecutions of their enemies, and to propagate their opinions. It is no inconsiderable evidence of their superior learning and abilities, that their opinions gained great ground in all the provinces both of the eastern and western empire, in spite of the writings of many learned fathers, and the decrees of many councils against them. 'The Pelagian and Celestian heresy (says Photius) not only flourished in great vigour in the West, but was also propagated into the East.' at first sight, that it has suffered many revolutions; for it is rugged, ruinous, and subverted."