Repentance]

XIV. Of this sort are they also who think to blot out and put
away their sin by "satisfaction," [7] and even regard their
baptism lightly, as though they had no more need of it after they
had been baptised,[8] and do not know that it is in force all
through life, even until death, nay, even at the Last Day, as was
said above.[9] For this cause they think to find some other way
of blotting out sin, viz., their own works; and so they make, for
themselves and for all others, evil, terrified, uncertain
consciences, and despair in the hour of death; and they know not
how they stand with God, thinking that by sin they have lost
their baptism and that it profits them no more.

Guard yourself, by all means, against this error. For, as has
been said, if any one has fallen into sin, he should the more
remember his baptism, and how God has there made a covenant with
him to forgive all his sins, if only he has the will to fight
against them, even until death. Upon this truth, upon this
alliance with God, a man must joyfully dare to rely, and then
baptism goes again into operation and effect, his heart becomes
again peaceful and glad, not in his own work or "satisfaction,"
but in God's mercy, promised him in baptism, and to be held fast
forever. This faith a man must hold so firmly that he would cling
to it even though all creatures and all sins attacked him, since
he who lets himself be forced away from it makes God a liar in
His covenant, the sacrament of baptism.

[Sidenote: Baptism and Penance]

XV. It is this faith that the devil most attacks. If he
overthrows it, he has won the battle. For the sacrament of
penance also (of which we have already spoken)[10] has its
foundation in this sacrament, since sins are forgiven only to
those who are baptised, i. e., to those whose sins God has
promised to forgive. The sacrament of penance thus renews and
points out again the sacrament of baptism, as though the priest,
in the absolution, were to say, "Lo, God hath now forgiven thee
thy sin, as He long since hath promised thee in baptism, and as
He hath now commanded me, by the power of the keys,[11] and now
thou comest again into that which thy baptism does and is.
Believe, and thou hast it; doubt, and thou art lost." So we find
that through sin baptism is, indeed, hindered in its work, i. e.,
in the forgiveness and the slaying of sin; yet only by unbelief
in its operation is baptism brought to naught. Faith, in turn,