Without free will in spiritual matters man would have no means of establishing a mutual link with the Lord. The result would be not imputation, but complete predestination, which is a detestable doctrine.

It was fully shown in the chapter on faith that without free will in spiritual matters no one could possibly possess either charity or faith, much less the two linked together. From this it follows that without free will in spiritual matters man would have nothing by which the Lord could link Himself to him; yet without a reciprocal link there could be no reformation or regeneration, and consequently salvation would be impossible. It is an irrefutable consequence that without a reciprocal link of man with the Lord and of the Lord with man there could be no imputation. Many things have followed from the attempt to prove that without free will in spiritual matters there can be no imputation of good and evil. These aberrant doctrines will be discussed in the last part of this book [Chapter 11] dealing with the heresies, paradoxes and contradictions which stem from the present-day belief that the merit and righteousness of the Lord God the Saviour is imputed to man.