bishops, many of whom were charged with being SemiPelagians, should be so zealous for the defence of the Catholic faith in Britain. Vincentius Lirinensis was a great stickler in the Semi-Pelagian cause, and Lupus his brother is said to have been of the same society. The inference we may draw from hence is very obvious, that several respectable and judicious ecclesiastics were charged with Semi-Pelagianism, while they were strenuous opposers of the errors of Pelagius, merely because they could not subscribe to certain peculiar tenets of Jerome and Augustine. This was the cause of warm disputes between Celestine, bishop of Rome, and the Gallican clergy; and which renders it improbable, that Celestine should sanction the mission of persons obnoxious to him, and especially Lupus. But the bishops of that church now rejoiced at the opportunity offered them, of displaying their zeal against Pelagianism, by sending two of their number into Britain to oppose its progress.

What we are to understand by the charge of SemiPelagianism, the stigma fixed on the clergy of the church of Gaul, we may learn from two very particular circumstances. The first relates to Hilary, bishop of Arles, who by his writings had so far displeased Augustine, by advancing some things contrary to the doctrines he taught, that the holy father took up his pen, and wrote two books upon Predestination and Perseverance, in an swer to Hilary. We may from hence give a tolerable guess, as to what the unsoundness of Hilary consisted in: he unfortunately believed not in the Augustinian dogmas on predestination.*

* Prosper, in an epistle to Augustine, acknowledges that Hilary adhered in all things to the doctrines which he taught, with the exception only of what he advanced on the article of Predestination.See Usher, p. 186.

The other circumstance respects Vincentius Lirinensis, the author of the Commonitorium, or Rule of Faith; the whole design of which, according to Stillingfleet, was levelled against those who went about to broach a new doctrine respecting predestination, and that in Augustine's name. "They who carefully read over that discourse," adds the bishop, "and consider the drift of it, will find I am not mistaken: but Baronius is, when he would clear the author of the Commonitorium, far from favouring those who opposed St. Augustine's doctrine about Predestination. This was quite a different thing from favouring Pelagianism, which Cassianus, Faustus, and this Vincentius, all professed to abhor.'

From the consideration of these things, we may learn to form a judgment respecting the character and tenets of the bishops, who came over from Gaul to reclaim the Britons from the unsound doctrines which they had embraced. We see how little probability there is for the affirmation, that they were delegated by the bishop of Rome, or implicitly followed St. Augustine's doctrine ; and consequently with what degree of justice or truth a celebrated antiquarian could affirm what follows:

"The true object of the mission of Garmon, was to bring the British Christians under the discipline and power of the Catholic church (Mr. Owen, I apprehend, means the Roman church), then beginning to aspire to that universal dominion which, soon after, it established over the western empire."+

It remains with Mr. Owen to prove, wherein the church of Britain became more dependent on the church of Rome, after the mission of Garmon, than it was before. Bishop Stillingfleet has clearly shewn that every

* Origines Britannica.

+ See Cambrian Biography, article Garmon. Usher, p. 176. from Bede and Constantius. Whitaker's Cornwall, Vol. I. p. 266.

probability makes against the supposition, that either Garmon, or his coadjutor Lupus, or the bishops of Gaul, acted under the influence of the Roman see.

The two prelates being arrived in Britain, were welcomed by a multitude of orthodox Christians. They soon applied themselves with the greatest assiduity and zeal to their work. The ancient biographer of Germanus informs us, "that these apostolic priests quickly filled the island with their conversations, with their preachings, with their virtues and being daily surrounded with assembled crouds, the word of God was disseminated, not only in the churches, but also through the streets of the towns, through the lanes and villages of the country, through the wilds and mountains; so that the faithful and orthodox Christians were established every where, and the perverted recognized the truth under their correcting tongues. There was in them, as in the apostles, a glory and an authority derived from the consciousness of their Divine mission, an ability for instruction from their stores of literature, and virtues that rendered them illustrious. Moreover, an additional honour marked them; and thus truth itself seemed more venerable when defended by such able advocates: the people in general, therefore, wherever they went, passed over readily into their sentiments. The preachers of the sinister persuasion lay lurking in secret; and, like the malignant spirit, lamented the loss of the people, now leaving them in crouds. At length, after long deliberation, they presume to encounter them in a public debate. They come forward ostentatiously, displaying their wealth by the splendour of their dress, surrounded by a host of their admirers; and they choose to run the risk of an encounter, rather than incur from the people, whom they had perverted, the reproach of not replying to their opponents, and so appearing self-condemned by

their silence. A multitude of people, nearly immense, was collected together on the day, and in the place appointed, bringing their wives and their children with them. The people present, were at the same time spectators and judges. The parties stood forward, discriminated by the difference of their condition: here was Divine authority, there human presumption; here belief, there unbelief; here Christ, there Pelagius, was the patron.”

In this public disputation "the holy men, Garmon and Lupus," continues the narrator, "gave their adversaries the opportunity of first addressing the people; and, in availing themselves of it, they filled the ears of the people, and occupied their time, with their long and empty harangues. Then the venerable prelates poured forth torrents of eloquence, accompanied with the thunders of the apostles and evangelists. Their own words were mingled with the word of God, and their strongest assertions were corroborated by testimonies of Scripture. The heterodox were confuted, for they shewed their inability to defend their cause by declining to make any reply."

The multitude were now so amply satisfied, that in their exultation they were ready to lay hands on the abettors of Pelagianism, and their applauses were exhibited by the loudest acclamations.

This conference, according to ancient tradition, was held at Verolam, or St. Alban's, then one of our largest, if not the first, of all our towns; although in the present day it displays scarcely the slightest vestige of its former splendour: "but amidst its ruins, it presents," says Mr. Whitaker," the remains of a chapel constructed on the very ground upon which Germanus stood when he spoke at the conference, and still retaining his name."

It is the name of Germanus that is principally spoken

of, he being the senior, and, in all probability, the greatest divine, and the ablest speaker. But Lupus, or Bleiddian, his junior coadjutor, was not overlooked, for he has a church dedicated to his memory in the vale of Glamorgan, still called LLAN BLeiddian.

As to the nature and character of the debate, it would appear, that the Pelagians aimed at a train of metaphysical reasoning, and fine moral deductions, which took no hold either of the understandings or feelings of the common people. Garmon and his companion were, on the contrary, warm in the defence of truth, delivering themselves with a noble boldness, as men conscious of the soundness and superiority of their cause. Instead of dry sophistical reasonings, they made their appeal to the Sacred Oracles, and triumphed by being mighty in the Scriptures of truth.

These holy men pursued their work, by spreading themselves through the lant; and the people shewed, by their readiness to hear them, that they only wanted proper guides, and they were willing to embrace the truth, and adhere to it. Tradition speaks of Germanus in Cornwall, and that probably after he and Bleiddian had spent some time in Wales, where there are several churches consecrated to him; but particularly one in the county of Denbigh, known by the name of St. Harmon, or Lan Armon in Iale. Here we must attend to an extraordinary occurrence, noticed by Constantius and Bede, which, it shall be left to the reader's judgment, whether to class among the extraordinary interpositions of Providence; or to consider it as an event which may be accounted for without having recourse to Divine interference.

The Saxons and Picts had made an inroad into the country; and a body of them, with combined force, were advancing towards that part where Germanus was with