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Untitled Article
of an infant is not depraved or polluted , he maintained from its proceeding immediately from God ^ ( who al one is the Fa * therof our spirits ) , and not from the parents ,, in the way of na ^ tural generation : hence , he pleaded that the soul must , in newborn infants , be pure and undefiled , and remain sp till polluted
by actual transgression * As to the other charge concerning the power of man to believe the gospel , or do the will of God > and obtain salvation , he did not exclude or deny the necessity of divine grace : what he held and said was , that it is possible for man to do the will of Gad , and refrain from sin , by the help , ofGod or through the assistance of his grace ; even tHat grace that
bringeth salvation ^ and that teacheth us that 3 denying ungod ^ liness and worldly lusts * we should live soberly , righteously and crodly in this present world ; by which he meant the divine re * velation or the gospel . To that Austin loudly objected , calling it outward or external grace and pleading for an inward , im *
luediate and irresistible divine work separate from the gospel , and seemingly somewhat like what Mr * Fuller has been con ** tending for , Inhisl ^ te dispute with Mr * M'JLean * The possi ** biljity of men ' s attaining to a sinless state Jby their diligent en * deavours , and the help of God , Pelagius instanced in Abel , jEnoch , Melchisedeehj the Virgin Mary , &c , which Austin would not allow , except in the case of the latter , who , as he
supposed , had received extraordinary grace to enable her to overcome all sin ; and so Was not-a case in point * The Pelagians pleaded , that God ' s commands are either possible or impossible , practicable or impracticable ; if the former , sinless obedience is attainable ; if the latter , disobedience cannot be
blameable , as no one would think of imputing blame to the non-performance of impossibilities . Pclagius distinguished between articles of faith and mere matters of opinion $ and h « seemed to allow that an error in regard to the former would amount to heresy * but not so in . regard to the latter ; and he insisted that the points at issue ^ between hfrn and his opponents
Were entirely of the latter sort , and therefore his opinions , if erroneous ,, could -not amount to heresy . Even in the point of original sin ^ the Catholics themselves , he said , had entertained different opinions without censure : therefore he seemed to think it notalUtle strange and unreasonable that such a hubbub
had been raised because he happened to think differently from Austin and Jerome . Being told at the Synod of Diospolis ot pome who broached certain absurd or silly notions , t * nd asked , if he would condemn p . r censure iUem ^ he said , " Ycs as foote d &ot as heretics /*
Untitled Article
Some Account of Morg&nU commonly galled Pilagius * 313
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1807, page 513, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2385/page/5/
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