CCLXIX. Corollary LXV

COROLLARY LXV.

So great is the connection of ideas and signs that opinions conceived in the mind can neither be rightly expressed nor arranged into the harmonious account of a system unless there are at hand certain formulas, and meanings of the formulas, which conduce to expressing and representing them¹. Now among these formulas and fixed meanings, that one is not the least by which the Calvinists divide the divine will into that which they call revealed and that which they call hidden. For they chiefly rely upon this, repeatedly insist upon it, and expend no slight labor in embellishing it. For they teach: a) that the hidden will is and is called that by which God governs all things and directs them unto his own ends, but that the revealed will is comprised by divine manifestations, whether commanding, prohibiting, promising, or threatening; b) that the hidden will differs from the revealed will in this: that the former really inheres in God, while the latter belongs to him only by way of a sign; c) that the two wills are distinguished from one another to such an extent that the very things which God, by commanding, prohibiting, affirming, promising, and threatening, shows that he wills by his revealed will, he more than once does not will to be done by his hidden will; for d) it can happen that God by his hidden will does not will that to be done which by his revealed will he signifies that he wills to be done, and that by his hidden will he wills that to be done which by his revealed will he signifies that he does not will to be done. For example, it can happen that by his hidden will he does not will the salvation of those whose salvation he declares by his revealed will that he wills; and that by his revealed will he declares that he wills all men to repent, believe, obey the Gospel, and be saved, while by his hidden will he does not will all to repent, believe, obey the Gospel, and obtain salvation. But he does not will this because by his hidden will he has reprobated a great multitude of men from all eternity and has determined by a horrible decree to deprive them of the means necessary for attaining salvation.

But will there be men so good-natured that they would not rather—

—obey Christian tradition², which professes a wondrous harmony and full agreement between the two wills? Men who would allow not indeed such a distinction but an opposition of the revealed and hidden will to be thrust upon them? Certainly, 1) the Calvinists who abuse it ascribe to God two wills hostilely opposed to one another: a hidden will by which God of himself wills the destruction of many, and a revealed will by which he bears witness that he does not will the destruction of anyone. But this is plainly unworthy of God and of divine veracity, and is so absurd and ἀκατάληπτον, incomprehensible, that Calvin himself, when he had willed to assert it with every effort, finally concluded³: “How God in the same matter in a diverse manner does not will it to be done and wills it to be done, we do not grasp.” But we grasp entirely that it is discordant and plainly ἀδύνατον, impossible, for the same God of himself both not to will and to will. Moreover, 2) we can know nothing certain either concerning the inclined benignity of the Father toward men, or concerning the most generous pledge of the Son, or concerning the remedies most wisely established, unless it is disclosed to us by a manifestation of the divine word. What, then, do the Calvinists do? They themselves extinguish this torch and, having introduced a separation between the hidden and revealed will, open for themselves the broadest road by which they may establish the incredible παράδοξον, paradox, concerning particular restoration and grace, and concerning absolute predestination and reprobation. But 3) we will adhere to the preaching of the Scriptures⁴, which announces τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς σωτηρίας, the Gospel of salvation, to all men⁵, and announces to all⁶ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς εἰρήνης, the Gospel of peace, marked with this name because, as Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, and Theophylact bear witness⁷, in it the most equitable conditions—

—of peace reconciled between God and men are offered to the human race through the benefit of preaching.