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278 THE HISTORY OF HERESIES,
plishmcnt of sin, and hence Calvin, as we have already remarked,
calls God the author of sin. This is condemned by the Council
of Trent (Sess. vi, can. 6) :
"
Si quis dixcrit, non esse in potestate
hominis vias suas malas facere, sed mala opera, ita ut bona, Deum
opcrari ;
non permissive solum, sed etiam proprie, et per se, adeo
ut sit proprium ejus opus, non minus proditio Juda?, quam vocatio
Pauli; anathema sit." If God, then, be the author of sin, since
he wishes it, and urges us on to commit it, and operates it with
us, how is it that man sins, and God does not sin? When this
answered :
God him
difficulty was put to Zuinglius, he "
only Ask
self; I am not one of his counsellors." When Calvin himself was
asked: How is it that God condemns men for executing sin, Avhen
he himself operates it through their means ; in every wicked
work it is not the instrument but the operator who is culpable ?
and hence, if man sins alone as the instrument of God,
it is not he but God who is culpable
? he answered that
"
our carnal minds could not understand it"
(9). Some sec
taries answer this by saying that God does not sin by operating
the sin, but man alone, for man does it for an evil end, but
God for a good end, to wit, exercising his justice by punishing
the sinner for his crime. But this answer will not excuse
God, because, according to Calvin, the Almighty decrees and
predestines man not alone to do the work of sin, but to do it
with an evil end, for otherwise he could not punish him. Hence
God is the true author of sin, and truly sins. Zuinglius gives
another answer (10) : Man, he says, sins because he acts against
the law, but God does not sin, because he has no law ; but this
ridiculous answer is rejected by Calvin himself (11), who says,
" we cannot suppose God without a law." And it stands to
reason, for though no one can give a law to God, still his own
goodness and justice are a law to him. Hence as sin is contrary
to the law of nature, it is also opposed to the goodness of God,
and he, therefore, never can will sin. Now, as Calvinists assert,
that whatever a man does, good or bad, he does through neces
sity, for it is all the work of God, I would like to see if one
broke another s head, and he asked him, Why do you strike
me ? and the other would answer, It is not I who strike you,
(9) Calvin. Inst. /. 1, c. 18, s. 1. (11) Calv. /. 3, c. 23. s. 2.
(10) Zuing. Serm. de Provident, c. 5.