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is said to have been a broad set man ^ round shouldered and blind of one eye * . However that might be , as he was confessedl y a man of amiable manners , fervent piety , and extraordinary intellectual endowments , he must have possessed a respectability
of character which no bodily blemish covvld affect , nor any reputed heterodoxy obliterate or destroy . He appears to have been a modest and moderate man , and did not seem very forward in advancing his own particular opinions , or in urging and insisting upon those points in which he differed from other ' s .
He seemed to dwell chiefly upon those practical subjects that were admitted by all parties ; but was evidently at the same time a very close and deep thinker . During his stay at Rome , no suspicion appears to have been entertained about his heterodoxy ; and in the books he first wrote , particularly his comments on Paul ' s Epistles ^ the obnoxious sentiments are said to have been advanced ^ as the opinions of others rather than his own ; somewhat after the manner of bishop Taylor ^ in modern times , in that book of his called ^ The Liberty of l rophe ~
symg . Celesliusf however ^ and others who svere admirers of Pelagi-us were more open and forward , and did not scruple to advance divers opinions deemed very unsound and heretical by Austin , Jerome , and their adherents . The opinions here alluded to were these ^ ( if thei r enem i es have fairly represented them ,, which seems rather doubtful ) : —^ 1 . That Adam was created mortal , and would have died _ , whether he had sinned or not : —2 . That the sin of Adam hurt himself only , and not his posterity : —2 . That new-born infants are in the sam ^ state that Adam was before he fell : —4 . That men mav easilv keep the
commandments of God , if they will / ' As Celestius was reputed the friend and disciple of Pelagius , these opinions were ascribed to the latter of course ; but there seems to be no very certain or clear proof tkat he did really entertain them ; on the contrary , we are told that fee disavowed them ^ at least as they were stated and explained by Kis opponents , whom he complains of as false accusers and slanderers . It seems , therefore ., that we ought not to rely on the representation which his enemies have given of his opinions . It is , indeed , but very seldom ,, if ever ,
* Drych y pr . Oyodd . t It is said that Celestius was an Ix-ubmany and that the Irish were then called Scots ; and they were , it seems , fond of j > orriJge 9 which gave St . Jerome a fine pportunity to lampoon Celestius , saying that he had his belly filled , and his head ^ c dulled with Scotch porridge . Wall , Hist . Inf . Bapt . i . Z 75 .
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Some Account ef Morgant , commonly called Pelagivs . 511
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1807, page 511, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2385/page/3/
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