hold of him, while those who
vaunt and follow visions, revelations and illuminations will either be
overwhelmed by his majesty or remain in densest ignorance of God.

164. Thus the Jews also had their representations in which God
manifested himself to them, as the mercy-seat, the ark of the
covenant, the tabernacle, the pillars of smoke and fire. God says in
Exodus 33, 20, "Man shall not see me and live," therefore he gives a
representation of himself in which he so manifests himself to us that
we may lay hold of him. In the new covenant we have Baptism, the
Lord's Supper, absolution and the ministry of the Word.

165. These are what the scholastics call _voluntas signi_, the will
expressed through signs, which we must view when we desire to know the
will of God. Another is the _voluntas beneplaciti_, the will of his
good pleasure, the essential will of God, or his unveiled majesty,
which is God himself. From this our eyes are to be turned away. It
cannot be laid hold of; for in God is nothing but divinity, and the
essence of God is his infinite wisdom and almighty power. These are
absolutely inaccessible to reason: what he has willed according to the
will of his good pleasure, that he has seen from eternity.

166. Into this essential and divine will we should not pry, but should
absolutely refrain from it as from the divine majesty, for it is
inscrutable, and God has had no desire to declare it in this life. He
desires to show it under certain tokens or coverings, as Baptism, the
Word and the Lord's Supper. These are the images of the deity and are
his will as expressed through signs, by which he deals with us on the
plane of our intelligence. Hence, we should look to these alone. The
will of his good pleasure is to be left entirely out of contemplation,
unless you happen to be Moses, or David, or some similarly perfect
man, although even they so looked to the will of the divine good
pleasure as never to turn their eyes from the will expressed by signs.

167. This will of God is called his activity (_effectus Dei_), wherein
he comes out to us and deals with us garbed in the drapery of things
extraneous to himself; these we can lay hold of--the Word of God and
the ceremonies instituted by himself. This will of God is not that of
his omnipotence, for though God in the ten commandments enjoins what
ought to be done it is yet not done. Thus, Christ has instituted the
Lord's Supper to strengthen in us faith in his mercy