. Though he sees and feels
the wrath of God, yet, caught in these promises, he dreams, and
likewise his followers, that his throne and power are secure. Hence
the Papists blatantly use the name of the Church to overwhelm us,
promising themselves the utmost success, as if they could force God to
establish the Church according to their dreams and desires.

65. Fitly, then, do we here raise the question how the flood, by which
all mankind perished, agrees with the will of God, who created human
nature and gave it the promise and endowment of dominion. The answer
to this question will likewise settle the one concerning the Church.
It is this: God remains truthful, preserving, ruling and governing his
Church though in a manner transcending the observation and
understanding of the world. He permits the Roman pontiff and his
adherents to think that the pope is the Church. He suffers him to feel
secure and to enjoy his dignity and title. But in fact God has
excommunicated the pontiff, because he rejects the Word and
establishes idolatrous worship.

66. On the other hand, God has chosen for himself another Church,
which embraces the Word and flees idolatry, a Church so oppressed and
shamefully afflicted that it is not considered a Church but a band of
heretics and the devil's school. Thus Paul writes to the Romans (ch 2,
17) that the Jews do not fear God yet they glory in the Law and in
God, at the same time denying, blaspheming and offending God. And
while the Jews, who take pride in being God's people, are doing this,
God prepares for himself a Church from the gentiles, who truly glory
in God and embrace his Word.

67. But who should dare to accuse God of untruthfulness because he
preserves the Church in a manner unknown and undesired by man? Of
similar nature were the promises concerning the preservation of
Jerusalem and the temple. These promises were not violated when that
city and temple were laid waste by the Babylonians. For God
established another Jerusalem and another temple in the Spirit and by
the Word; Jeremiah promised (Jer 29, 10-11) that the people should
return after seventy years and that then both the temple and the
nation should be re-established.

68. As regards the Jews, these were destroyed at that time, but not as
regards God who had promised in his Word that they should be rebuilt.
The Jews argue correctly that God will not desert the nation and
temple; but God keeps his promise in a way foreign to