f _virtue_, notwithstanding all his acts are
foreordained and rendered infallibly certain by a power which he
cannot successfully resist, he is still incapable of _vice_. He
cannot sin, for this plain, all-sufficient reason--he cannot act
otherwise than according to the will of God. "Nothing comes to
pass in time but what was decreed from eternity." "None of the
decrees of God can be defeated or fail of execution." So
Calvinism explicitly affirms.

Further, while the inference that there is and can be no sin is
fairly deducible from the supposition that man is not a free
agent, it does not depend upon that supposition. Let it be
admitted, for the purpose of the argument, that man is a free
agent, and capable of sinning, notwithstanding all his actions
were predetermined, and what is the state of the case? _Still he
has not sinned_. He has done nothing but what God freely willed
and ordained he should do. The perfect obedience of Christ
consisted in his doing in all respects the will of the Father.
Either, then, it may be sinful to do the will of God, or there
is--there can be no sin. I do not know of any way in which this
consequence can be avoided. I do not believe that it can.

Let us take another view of this point. Let the advocates of this
doctrine succeed in proving that man is a free agent, in the
proper sense of the term, and capable of sinning, notwithstanding
all his actions are decreed and brought to pass by God, and we
have before us this remarkable result: _Every individual of the
human race, while in a state of probation, without a knowledge of
God's predetermination respecting him, and without any controlling
influence brought to bear upon him, has, in every instance, willed
and acted in accordance with the will of God_. The result is
_universal voluntary holiness_. Here, then, is a dilemma. Either
there is _no possibility of sin or of holiness_, or, if there be
a possibility of sin or of holiness, there is, in fact, _no sin_
--there is, in fact, _universal holiness_.

4. If it be asserted that sin exists, notwithstanding this
perfect coincidence between the will of God and the conduct of
his creatures, it will follow, most conclusively, that _God is
the author of sin_. He has decreed and brings to pass all the
sensations, perceptions, emotions, inclinations, volitions, and
overt actions, of the whole human race. Various attempts have
been made to avoid this result, but they are all futile. The
_Con