we teach in vain, we admonish in vain; the
world has no desire to be better.

53. It is as if one in the present perverse times should say: We teach
and make ample effort to summon the world back to sobriety and
godliness, but we are derided, persecuted, killed, and all men, in the
end, rush to destruction with blind eyes and deaf ears; therefore we
are constrained to desist. These are the words of a soul planning
appropriate action and full of anxiety, because it is clear that the
human race, at the height of its peril, cannot be healed.

54. This exposition conforms to faith and Holy Scriptures. When the
Word is revealed from heaven, we see that some are converted, who are
freed from damnation. The remaining multitude despises it and securely
indulges in avarice, lust and other vices, as Jeremiah says (ch 51,
9): "We should have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake
her, and let us go everyone into his own country."

The more diligently Moses and Aaron importuned and instructed, the
more obstinate Pharaoh became. The Jews were not made better by even
the preaching of Christ and the apostles. The same befalls us who
teach in our day. What, in consequence, are we to do? Deplore the
blindness and obstinacy of men we may, correct it we cannot. Who would
rejoice in the eternal damnation of the popes and their followers? Who
would not prefer that they should embrace the Word and recover their
senses?

55. A similar exhibition of obstinacy Methuselah, Lamech and Noah saw
in their day. Therefore there bursts from them this voice of despair:
My Spirit, namely the Word of healing truth, shall no longer bear
witness among men. For inasmuch as you refuse to embrace the
Word--will not yield to healing truth--you shall perish.

These are the words of a heart filled with anxiety after the manner
that the Scriptures say God is anxious; that is, the hearts of Noah,
Lamech, Methuselah and other holy men who are filled with love toward
all. Beholding this wickedness of men, they are troubled and pained.

56. Such grief is really the grief of the Holy Spirit, as Paul says,
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the
day of redemption," Eph 4, 30. This means that the Holy Spirit is
grieved when we miserable men are distracted and tormented by the
wickedness of the world, that despises the Word we preach by the Holy
Spirit. Thus Lot was troubled in Sodom, and the pious Jews in Babylon
under the godl