man has not been able because he has not been willing, or has not been
willing because he has not been able, to understand anything about
providence beyond the mere fact that it exists, or to do more than argue
whether it exists or not, also whether it is only general or also
detailed. Closed up on divine things in the name of religion,
understanding could advance no further.

[3] But it is acknowledged in the church that man cannot of himself do
good which is in itself good or of himself think truth which is in itself
truth. This acknowledgment is at one with divine providence; these are
interdependent beliefs. Lest therefore one be affirmed and the other
denied and both fail, what divine providence is must by all means be
revealed. It cannot be revealed unless the laws by which the Lord
oversees and governs the volitions and thoughts of the human being are
disclosed. The laws enable one to know the nature of providence, and only
one who knows its nature can acknowledge providence, for then he beholds
it. The laws of divine providence, hitherto hidden with angels in their
wisdom, are therefore to be revealed now.

V. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL ACT FROM FREEDOM
ACCORDING TO REASON

71. As is known, man is free to think and will as he wishes, but not to
speak whatever he thinks or to do whatever he wills. The freedom meant
here, therefore, is spiritual freedom and natural freedom only as they
make one; for thinking and willing are spiritual, and speaking and acting
are natural. The two are readily distinguishable in man, for he can think
what he does not utter and will what he does not do; plainly, spiritual
and natural are discriminated in him. He can pass from the former to the
latter therefore only on a decision to do so--a decision which can be