I 



CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 161 



The British. Church being' troubled with the heresy of 

 Pelagius, who taught that man could fulfil all righteounness 

 unassisted by Divine Grrace, sent to the Bishops of Graul for 

 counsel. A synod was called and Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, 

 and Lupus, Bishop of Troyes, were appointed to visit Britain. 



In 429 these prelates came to our Island. They had a rough 

 crossing, but happily having some casks of olive oil on board 

 they broached them and poured the contents on the waves, and 

 this served to still the waves immediately about the boat. 



" When they got to work in Britain, they proceeded on a 

 definite plan. Some sixty or seventy years before, Hilary, the 

 Bishop of Poitiers, dealing in Gaul with the great heresy which 

 preceded this, had found it of great service to go about from 

 place to place and collect in different parts small assemblies of 

 the bishops, for free discussion and mutual explanation. He found 

 that misunderstandings were in this way, better than in any 

 other, got rid of, and differences of opinion were reduced to a 

 minimum. Germanus and Lupus dealt with the people of 

 Britain as their predecessors had dealt with the Bishops of Gaul. 

 They went all over discussing the great question with the people 

 whom they found. They preached in the churches, they 

 addressed the people on the highroads, they sought for -them in 

 the fields, and followed them up by-paths. It is clear that the 

 visitors from Gaul could speak to the people, both in town and 

 in country in their own tongue, or in a tongue well understood 

 by them. No doubt the native speech of Gaul and that of 

 Britain were still so closely akin that no serious diflficulty was felt 

 in this respect. They met with success so great that the leaders 

 on the other side were forced to take action. They undertook to 

 dispute with the Galicans in public. The biographer is not an 

 impartial chronicler. The Pelagians came to the disputation with 

 many outward signs of pomp and wealth, richly dressed, and 

 attended by a crowd of spectators. Beside the principals, we are 

 told that immense numbers of people came to hear the dispu.te, 

 bringing with them their wives and childi'en ; coming, in the 

 important phrase of the biographer, to play the part of spectator 

 and judge. The disputants were now face to face .... The bishops 

 set the Pelagians to begin, and a weary business the Pelagians 

 made of it. Then their turn came. They quoted the scriptures. 



