Obedience cannot be partial in the sense that the subject ever does, or can, partly obey and partly disobey at the same time. That is, consecration, to be real, must be, for the time being, entire and universal… Can the will at the same time choose opposite and conflicting ultimate ends? While one ultimate end is chosen, can the will choose anything inconsistent with this end?… Sin is the supreme preference of self-gratification. Holiness is the supreme preference of the good of being. Can then two supreme preferences coexist in the same mind? It is plainly impossible to make opposite choices at the same time, that is, to choose opposite and conflicting ultimate ends.
