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that intolerant bigots , and fierce disputants , ( suck as those whom Pelagius had to deal with ) give a fair an < l just statement of the tenets of their adversaries . It seems , however , pretty evident that Pelagius differed considerably from those far-famed saints Jerome and Austin , and the African Bishops , in regard to the
original state of man , th £ effects of the fall 3 the condition of infants , and the power of man to do the will , or keep the commandments of God ; but it does not appear ^ that he held the ^ above opinions ^ as his enemies chose to understand and explain them . The principal articles of his heresy are generally said to be comprised under these two heads : —* f A denial of
original sin , and of the necessity of divine grace to perform good works : " or , as they are sometimes stated , " Thathuman nature was not affected by the sin of Adam , and that it is in the power of man to believe the gospel without any internal operations of Grace . ** ( Beeves Ap 6 l . vol . ii . p . 338 , note . ) As to
original sin , or man ' s transgression and fall by eating of the for * bidden fruity he did not deny it ; nor did he deny that it proved injurious to his posterity ; but he denied that God imputed it to them , and considered them as actually guilty of that transgress sion , or of the &ct of tasting of the forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden * The guilt of original sin , or of Adam ' s first act of
disobedience could not * as bethought , consistently with the justice and goodness of God > be imputable to any but to him * by whom it was personally and actually committed ; and he was said to declare * that it ought not to be granted that Gdd ^ who
forgives us our own sins , should impute to us those of other people . He therefore maintained that men are born without guilt or demerit , as well as without roerit ; without vice , as well as without virtue ; without sin , as well ^ s without holiness : and that they became sinners , not by nature or necessity , but by choice , after having attained some measure of understanding and become moral agents . His enemies alleged that he held
infants to be in thesame state with Adajn before the fall , which he denied , as infants are without reason and understanding , which was not Adam ' s case . He thought that mail came into the world without any propensity to evil more than to good ., and equally capable of receiving good as evil impressions : or , in the druidical language , " that in the state of humanity good
and evil are so equally balanced , that liberty takes place , and th £ will is freej whence man becomes accountable for his actions , having a power of attaching himself either to the good or the ¦ evil , as he may or may not subject his propensities to the con * tro ) pf reason and ^ sop histicated nature . ' That the 3014 J
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512 Some Account of Morgant , commonly called Pelag ius *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1807, page 512, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2385/page/4/
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