But changed from wild beasts by the faith of the Lord, they become men of God, advancing from the wish to change to the fact. For some the Lord exhorts, and to those who have already made the attempt he stretches forth His hand, and draws them up. “For the Lord dreads not the face of any one, nor will He regard greatness; for He hath made small and great, and cares alike for all.”[987] And David says, “For the heathen are fixed in the destruction they have caused; their foot is taken in the snare which they hid.”[988] “But the Lord was a refuge to the poor, a help in season also in affliction.”[989] Those, then, that were in affliction had the gospel seasonably proclaimed. And therefore it said, “Declare among the heathen his pursuits,”[990] that they may not be judged unjustly. If, then, He preached the gospel to those in the flesh that they might not be condemned unjustly, how is it conceivable that He did not for the same cause preach the gospel to those who had departed this life before His advent? “For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness: His countenance beholdeth uprightness.”[991] “But he that loveth wickedness hateth his own soul.”[992] If, then, in the deluge all sinful flesh perished, punishment having been inflicted on them for correction, we must first believe that the will of God, which is disciplinary and beneficent,[993] saves those who turn to Him. Then, too, the more subtle substance, the soul, could never receive any injury from the grosser element of water, its subtle and simple nature rendering it impalpable, called as it is incorporeal. But whatever is gross, made so in consequence of sin, this is cast away along with the carnal spirit which lusts against the soul.