CHAPTER VI.

DOCTRINE.

CORRUPTIONS. HERESIES.

GERMANUS.

It was in the year 312 that Constantine attained to the imperial dignity. He embraced the Christian faith, and the persecution of its followers was therefore at an end throughout the dominions of Rome. But this took place in a degenerate age, when corruptions of every kind, both secular and religious, were making rapid and destructive progress. The Christian world, freed from the apprehension of external persecution, soon began to display the workings of a fallen nature, by internal disputes; sometimes on points of no importance, beyond what was given to them by the bitterness of the disputants; and sometimes on difficult questions, which man never will in this world, be able fully to comprehend. The records of the British Church are sufficient to shew to us, that it did not escape this destructive evil. The Christian faith having been planted here in all probability by Paul, may be assumed to have been made known in all purity; there can be no doubt that the British Church received all those articles of the Christian

faith which are embodied in the Apostles Creed. The doctrine of the Trinity-the Fall of Man-the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of the Son, the second person of the Trinity-the Divine nature and offices of the Holy Ghost-the Church of Christ, consisting of all such as from the beginning to the end of time, attain to be just and holy the resurrection of the dead and future judgment, may all be traced in the records of those early times, which have come down to us.

The justification of man, as in our Eleventh Article, was ascribed to the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and not to our works or deservings. Sedulius, (a writer of the Irish Church, which appears to have agreed with the British,) quoted by Archbishop Usher, says, "God hath purposed to forgive our sins freely, and by faith only to save the believers ;" and that when men have fallen they are to be renewed "only by the faith of Christ, which worketh by love:" intimating by this last clause, that howsoever faith only be it which justifieth the man, yet the work of faith is necessarily required to justify the faith. "There fore the root of righteousness doth not grow out of works, but the fruit of works out of the root of righteousness, namely, out of that root of righteousness, which God doth accept for righteousness

CHAP. VI.]

ARIAN HERESY.

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without works."

"The conclusion is," adds the Archbishop, that "saving faith is always a fruitful faith."

But these doctrines did not continue to be held whole, and uncorrupt: when the spirit of professing Christians declined, and they became more worldly, the purity of Gospel doctrine was impaired, to render it more palatable to a vitiated taste. We learn from Bede, that the Arian heresy began to spread in Britain. It denies the Divine nature of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and therefore destroys the very foundations on which our faith is built. There does not exist any full information respecting its progress; but we are told, that shortly after this heresy had infected the kingdom; the pagan nations in the northern part of the island, the Picts and Scots, made a general and desperate invasion; on which Fuller remarks, that, "it is just with God, when His vineyard begins to bring forth wild grapes, then to let loose the wild boar to take his full and free repast upon it."

Another heresy, which made extensive progress in Britain, was the Pelagian. Pelagius, or Morgan, was a native of Wales, he was a man of learning, who left Britain in early life, and travelled in Italy and the East. He became acquainted with Chrysostom, and Augustine Bishop of Hippo,

D

and was highly esteemed by them, and his fall into heresy was, to them, a cause of much sorrow. The doctrines which he taught, (and which are censured in the Ninth Article of the Church of England), were subversive of the Gospel; he denied the sinfulness of our nature, our need of God's grace, but maintained that man was able to do for himself all that he required, both in his conflict against spiritual enemies, and for obtaining salvation. Doctrine so flattering to human pride, readily obtained followers among such as were Christians in word, rather than in power. He did not himself teach in Britain, but his errors were brought here and made considerable progress. The British Christians, finding that those errors were gaining disciples, sought the aid of some eminent defenders of the faith from abroad. Germanus Bishop of Auxerre, and Lupus Bishop of Troyes, were invited to come over and silence the opposers of the truth. They were received in this country with great respect, their preaching was attended by large congregations, who were convinced by their instruction; and at a public disputation which was held at Verulam, the Pelagians attended in great numbers; and with much shew of learning and eloquence, but were completely defeated by the clear arguments and scriptural truths advanced by

CHAP. VI. •]

GERMANUS. LUPUS.

59

Germanus and Lupus, so that the decision of the council was against the doctrines of the Pelagians, and the very leaders themselves are said to have acknowledged their error.

It has generally been found that the Church has been most pure, and has shone the brightest, in seasons of persecution, or other temporal affliction; times of ease and quiet and worldly prosperity have dimmed its lustre. So it was in the days above referred to; there was little tendency to such evils while the rage of Diocletian and other persecutors raised the cry, "the Christians to the lions:" but when there was little external to hinder the spread of the Gospel, when dangers were removed, and a spirit of worldliness crept in; then were new and strange opinions set forth, seeds were sown which soon brought forth an abundant crop of heresy, division, and corruption.

The same aid which helped the British Christians against Pelagian errors, was afterwards sought by them to help against some Pict and Saxon invaders; the account which we have, is, that Germanus having assembled his troops in a valley, near Mold in Flintshire, where a considerable echo existed, commanded the whole body, on a given signal, to join in singing "hallelujah." The pagans hearing this, and hearing the same