the state of a person who cannot sin, or a grace, privilege, or principle, which puts him out of the possibility of sinning.

The schoolmen distinguish several kinds and degrees of impeccability; that of God belongs to him by nature; that of Jesus Christ, considered as man, belongs to him by the hypostatical union; that of the blessed is a consequence of their condition; and that of men is the effect of a confirmation in grace, and is rather called impeccance than impeccability. Accordingly, divines distinguish between these two; and this distinction is found necessary in the disputes against the Pelagians, in order to explain certain terms in the Greek and Latin fathers, which without this distinction would be easily confounded.