trine [of
predestination] there was a far-reaching difference between the Lutheran
and the Calvinistic theology." (559.) F. Pieper declares that Luther and
Calvin agree only in certain expressions, but differ entirely as to
substance. (_Dogm_. 3, 554.)

The _Visitation Articles_, adopted 1592 as a norm of doctrine for
Electoral Saxony, enumerate the following propositions on
"Predestination and the Eternal Providence of God" which must be upheld
over against the Calvinists as "the pure and true doctrine of our
[Lutheran] churches": "1. That Christ has died for all men, and as the
Lamb of God has borne the sins of the whole world. 2. That God created
no one for condemnation, but will have all men to be saved, and to come
to the knowledge of the truth. He commands all to hear His Son Christ in
the Gospel, and promises by it the power and working of the Holy Ghost
for conversion and salvation. 3. That many men are condemned by their
own guilt who are either unwilling to hear the Gospel of Christ, or
again fall from grace, by error against the foundation or by sins
against conscience. 4. That all sinners who repent are received into
grace and no one is excluded, even though his sins were as scarlet,
since God's mercy is much greater than the sins of all the world, and
God has compassion on all His works." (CONC. TRIGL. 1153.) Not one of
these propositions, which have always been regarded as a summary of the
Lutheran teaching in contradistinction from Calvinism, was ever denied
by Luther.

235. Summary of Luther's Views.

Luther distinguished between the hidden and the revealed or "proclaimed"
God, the secret and revealed will of God; the majestic God in whom we
live and move and have our being, and God manifest in Christ; God's
unsearchable judgments and ways past finding out, and His merciful
promises in the Gospel. Being truly God and not an idol, God, according
to Luther, is both actually omnipotent and omniscient. Nothing can exist
or occur without His power, and everything surely will occur as He has
foreseen it. This is true of the thoughts, volitions, and acts of all
His creatures. He would not be God if there were any power not derived
from, or supplied by Him, or if the actual course of events could annul
His decrees and stultify His knowledge. Also the devils and the wicked
are not beyond His control.

As for evil, though God does not will or cause it,--for, on the
contrary, He prohibits sin and truly deplore