vine term, and can be applicable to none but the Divine Majesty
only."(8) ... He even says, If free-will "be ascribed unto men, it is not
more properly ascribed, than the divinity of God himself would be ascribed
unto them; which would be the greatest of all sacrilege. Wherefore, it
becomes theologians to refrain from the use of this term altogether,
whenever they wish to speak of human ability, and to leave it to be
applied to God only."(9) And we may add, if they would apply it to God, it
becomes them to refrain from all such arguments as would show even such an
application of it to be absurd.

In like manner, Calvin admits that the human soul possessed a free-will in
its primitive state, but has been despoiled of it by the fall, and is now
in bondage to a "miserable slavery." But if the necessity which arises
from the power of sin over the will be inconsistent with its freedom, how
are we to reconcile the freedom of the first man with the power exercised
by the Almighty over the wills of all created beings? So true it is, that
the most systematic thinker, who begins by denying the truth, will be sure
to end by contradicting himself.

In one respect, as we have seen, Calvin differs from his followers at the
present day; the denial of free-will he regards as perfectly reconcilable
with the idea of accountability. Although our volitions are absolutely
necessary to us, although they may be produced in us by the most
uncontrollable power in the universe, yet are we accountable for them,
because they are our volitions. The bare fact that we will such and such a
thing, without regard to how we come by the volition, is sufficient to
render us accountable for it. We must be free from an external
_co-action_, he admits, to render us accountable for our external actions;
but not from an internal necessity, to render us accountable for our
internal volitions. But this does not seem to be a satisfactory reply to
the difficulty in question. We ask, How a man can be accountable for his
acts, for his volitions, if they are caused in him by an infinite power?
and we are told, Because they are _his_ acts. This eternal repetition of
the fact in which all sides are agreed, can throw no light on the point
about which we dispute. We still ask, How can a man be responsible for an
act, or volition, which is necessitated to arise in his mind by
Omnipotence? If any one should reply, with Dr. Dick, that we do not know
how he can be accountable