o
small but it would condemn us. For the judgment of God can endure
no sin. Therefore there is on earth no greater comfort than
baptism, for through it we come under the judgment of grace and
mercy, which does not condemn our sins, but drives them out by
many trials. There is a fine sentence of St. Augustine, which
says, "Sin is altogether forgiven in baptism; not in such wise
that it is no longer present, but in such wise that it is not
taken into account." As though he were to say, "Sin remains in
our flesh even until death, and works without ceasing; but so
long as we do not consent thereto or remain therein, it is so
overruled by our baptism that it does not condemn us and is not
harmful to us, but is daily more and more destroyed until our
death."

For this reason no one should be terrified if he feel evil lust
or love, nor should he despair even if he fall, but he should
remember his baptism, and comfort himself joyfully with it, since
God has there bound Himself to slay his sin for him, and not to
count it a cause for condemnation, if only he does not consent to
sin or remain in sin. Moreover, these wild thoughts and
appetites, and even a fall into sin, should not be regarded as an
occasion for despair, but rather as a warning from God that man
should remember his baptism and what was there spoken, that he
should call upon God's mercy, and exercise himself in striving
against sin, that he should even be desirous of death in order
that he may be rid of sin.

[Sidenote: The Office of Faith]

XII. Here, then, is the place to discuss the third thing in the
sacrament, i. e., faith, to wit, that a man should firmly believe
all this; viz., that this sacrament not only signifies death and
the resurrection at the Last Day, by which man is made new for an
everlasting, sinless life; but also that it assuredly begins and
effects this, and unites us with God, so that we have the will to
slay sin, even till the time of our death, and to fight against
it; on the other hand, that it is His will to be merciful to us,
to deal graciously with us, and not to judge us with severity,
because we are not sinless in this life until purified through
death. Thus you understand how a man becomes in baptism
guiltless, pure and sinless, and yet continues full of evil
inclinations, that he is called pure only because he has begun to
be pure, and has a sign and covenant of this purity, and is
always to become more pure. Because of this G