A denomination which arose in the fifth century, so called from Pelagius, a monk, who looked upon the doctrines which were commonly received, concerning the original corruption of human nature, and the necessity of divine grace to enlighten the understanding and purify the heart, as prejudicial to the progress of holiness and virtue, and tending to establish mankind in a presumptuous and fatal security. He maintained the following doctrines:— “1. That the sins of our first parents were imputed to them only, and not to their posterity; and that we derive no corruption from their fall, but are born as pure and unspotted as Adam came out of the forming hand of his Creator. “2. That mankind, therefore, are capable of repentance and amendment, and of arriving to the highest degrees of piety and virtue, by the use of their natural faculties and powers. That, indeed, external grace is necessary to excite their endeavors, but that they have no need of the internal succors of the divine Spirit. “3. That Adam was, by nature, mortal, and, whether he had sinned or not, would certainly have died. “4. That the grace of God is given in proportion to our merits. “5. That mankind may arrive at a state of perfection in this life. “6. That the law qualified men for the kingdom of heaven, and was founded upon equal promises with the gospel.” PRE-ADAMITES. This denomination began about the middle of the sixteenth century. Their principal tenet is _that there must have been men before Adam_. One proof of this they bring from Rom. 5:12, 13, 14. The apostle says, “_Sin was in the world till the law_;” meaning the law given to Adam. But sin, it is evident, was not imputed, though it might have been committed, till the time of the pretended first man. “_For sin is not imputed when there is no law._” The election of the Jews, they say, is a consequence of the same system. It began at Adam, who is called their father or founder. God is also their Father, having espoused the Judaical church. The Gentiles are only adopted children, as being Pre-Adamites. Men (or Gentiles) are said to be made by the word of God. (Gen. 1:26, 27.) Adam, the founder of the Jewish nation, whose history alone Moses wrote, is introduced in the second chapter, as the workmanship of God’s own hands, and as created apart from other men. They argue thus:—Cain, having killed his brother Abel, was afraid of being killed himself. By whom? He married—yet Adam had then no daughter. What wife could he get? He built a town—what architects, masons, carpenters, and workmen, did he employ? The answer to all these questions is in one word—Pre-Adamites. This reasoning is opposed by sundry texts of Scripture, (See Gen. 1:26; 2:7; 3:20. Mark 10:6. I Cor. 15:45, 47.) PREDESTINARIANS.