he lump of clay,
and kneaded it, and afterwards made another pot, as it seemed
good to him. "So," says God, "are ye in My hands." [Jer. 18:4 f.]
In the first birth we are marred; therefore He thrusts us into
the earth again by death, and makes us over at the Last Day, that
then we may be perfect and without sin.

This plan He begins in baptism, which signifies death and the
resurrection at the Last Day, as has been said.[5] Therefore, so
far as the sign of the sacrament and its significance are
concerned, sins and the man are both already dead, and he has
risen again, and so the sacrament has taken place; but the work
of the sacrament has not yet been fully done, that is to say,
death and the resurrection at the Last Day are yet before us.

[Sidenote: Sins after Baptism]

VII. Man, therefore, is altogether pure and guiltless, but
sacramentally, which means nothing else than that he has the sign
of God, i. e., baptism, by which it is shown that his signs are
all to be dead, and that he too is to die in grace, and at the
Last Day to rise again, pure, sinless, guiltless, to everlasting
life. Because of the sacrament, then, it is true that he is
without sin and guilt; but because this is not yet completed, and
he still lives in sinful flesh, he is not without sin, and not in
all things pure, but has begun to grow into purity and innocence.

Therefore when a man comes to mature age, the natural, sinful
appetites--wrath, impurity, lust, avarice, pride, and the
like--begin to stir, whereas there would be none of these if all
sins were drowned in the sacrament and were dead. But the
sacrament only signifies that they are to be drowned through
death and the resurrection at the Last Day. [Rom. 7:18] So St.
Paul, in Romans vii, and all saints with him, lament that they
are sinners and have sin in their nature, although they were
baptised and were holy; and they so lament because the natural,
sinful appetites are always active so long as we live.

[Sidenote: Baptism a Covenant]

IX. But you ask, "How does baptism help me, if it does not
altogether blot out and put away sin?" This is the place for the
right understanding of the sacrament of baptism. The holy
sacrament of baptism helps you, because in it God allies Himself
with you, and becomes one with you in a gracious covenant of
comfort.

[Sidenote: Man's Pledge]

First of all, you give yourself up to the sacrament of baptism
and what it signifies, i. e., you desire