ight to reproach or to punish those who are in error, and who
cannot sin, for it is none of their fault that they act thus.
Without grace they cannot do otherwise, nor can they do anything to
merit grace; all we should do, then, is to pray for them" (Neander,
Vol. IV., p. 373). Augustine endeavoured to neutralise these
opinions by writing two books explaining his views. Regarding these
answers, Neander observes, "But such persons," as the monks, "must
rather have found in this a further confirmation of their doubts."

Whilst the monks of Adrumetum drew natural conclusions from the
dogmas of Augustine, there came determined opposition to the new
creed. It came from the south of France. John Cassian, who had been
a deacon under Chrysostom, had established a cloister at Massila
(Marseilles), and had become its abbot, entered the lists against
the Bishop of Hippo. He departed from the opinions of Pelagius
regarding the corruption of human nature, and he recognised "grace"
as well as justification in the sense of Augustine. But he widely
differed from him, as will be seen from the summary of Semi
-pelagianism given by Buck. It is as follows: "(1.) That God did not
dispense His grace to one man more than another in consequence of an
absolute and eternal decree, but was willing to save all men if they
complied with the terms of the Gospel. (2.) That Christ died for all
mankind. (3.) That the grace purchased by Christ, and necessary to
salvation, was offered to all men. (4.) That man before he received
this grace was capable of faith and holy desires. (5.) That man was
born free, and consequently capable of resisting the influence of
grace, or of complying with its suggestions." Buck remarks, "The
Semi-pelagians were very numerous, and the doctrine of Cassian,
though variously explained, was received in the greatest part of the
monastic schools in Gaul, from whence it spread itself far and wide
through the European provinces. As to the Greeks and other Eastern
Churches, they had embraced the Semi-pelagian doctrine before
Cassian." Yet when, as in 1843, similar opinions were proclaimed in
Scotland, they were everywhere met with the cry of "New Views,"
although they had been held so extensively 1400 years before! So
much for ignorance.

The name "Semi-pelagians" was not assumed by the party, lest they
should be held as maintaining the dogmas of Pelagius; neither was it
given until long after the early heat of the controversy. T