, and yet many
receive it to their condemnation, that is, without faith.

168. But I return to Moses. He says that God sees man's wickedness and
repents. The scholastics explain this: He sees and repents, namely,
according to the expressed will, not that of his good pleasure, or the
essential will.

169. We say that Noah's heart is moved by the Holy Spirit to
understand that God is wroth with man and desires his destruction.
This interpretation commends itself to our intelligence and does not
draw us into discussions concerning the absolute will or majesty of
God, which are very dangerous, as I have seen in many. Such spirits
are first puffed up by the devil so that they believe themselves to be
in possession of the Holy Spirit, neglect the Word to the point of
blaspheming it and vaunt nothing but the Spirit and visions.

170. This is the first degree of error--that men, paying no heed to
the Deity as imaged and incarnate, seek after the unveiled God.
Afterward, when the hour of judgment comes, and they feel the wrath of
God, God himself judging and searching their hearts, the devil ceases
to puff them up and they despair and die. They go about in the
untempered sunlight and forsake the shade that delivers from the heat,
Is 4, 6.

171. Let no one therefore meditate upon divinity unveiled, but flee
from such thoughts as from the infernal regions and the very
temptations of Satan. But let us take care to abide in these symbols
through which God has revealed himself to us--the Son, born of the
Virgin Mary, lying among beasts in the manger, and the Word, Baptism,
the Lord's Supper and absolution. In these images we see and find God
in a way wherein we can endure him; he comforts us, lifts us up into
hope and saves. Other thoughts about the will of the good pleasure, or
the essential and eternal will, kill and damn.

172. However, to name this the will of "good pleasure" is a misnomer.
For that deserves to be called the will of good pleasure which the
Gospel discloses, concerning which Paul says, "that ye may prove what
is the good will of God," Rom 12, 2. And Christ says, "This is the
will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son should have
eternal life," Jn 6, 40. Also, "Whosoever shall do the will of my
Father who is in heaven, he is my brother," Mt 12, 50. Again, "This is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," Mt 3, 17. This will of
grace is correctly and properly called the will "of the divine goo