[9] Decrees of Trent, Session V, 5: "If any one asserts that the whole of that which has the proper nature of sin is not taken away, but only evaded or not imputed, let him be accursed." [10] Book of Concord, Eng. Trans., p. 475. [11] Luther recurs to this subject in a subsequent treatise, the Confitendi Ratio, below pp. 81 ff. [12] i. e. The theory of the Roman Church that even without the faith of a recipient, the blessing of the sacrament is bestowed. [13] Erl. Ed., XXVI, 268. [14] Ibid., 269. [15] Erl. Ed., XXVI, 292. [16] Ibid., 275. [17] Ibid., 275. [18] Book of Concord, English Translation, p. 473. [19] Erl. Ed., XI, 63, 48, 2d Ed., XI, 65, 61. See discussion by writer in Lutheran Church Review, XVIII, 598-657, where passages cited may be found with full context translated, together with other statements of Luther and those who followed him, on the same subject. A TREATISE ON BAPTISM [Sidenote: Meaning of the Word] I. Baptism [German, die Taufe] is called in the Greek language baptismos, in Latin mersio, which means to plunge something entirely into the water, so that the water closes over it. And although in many places it is the custom no longer to thrust and plunge children into the font of baptism, but only to pour the baptismal water upon them out of the font, nevertheless the former is what should be done; and it would be right, according to the meaning of the word Taufe, that the child, or whoever is baptised, should be sunk entirely into the water, and then drawn out again; for even in the German tongue the word Taufe comes undoubtedly from the word tief, and means that what is baptised is sunk deep into the water. This usage is also demanded by the significance of baptism, for baptism signifies that the old man and the sinful birth of flesh and blood are to be wholly drowned by the grace of God, as we shall hear. We should, therefore, do justice to its meaning and make baptism a true and complete sign of the thing it signifies. [Sidenote: The Sign] II. Baptism is an external sign or token, which so divides us from all men not baptised, that thereby we are known as a people of Christ, [Heb. 2:10] our Captain, under Whose banner (i. e., the Holy Cross) we continually fight against sin. Therefore in this Holy Sacrament we must have regard to three things—the sign, the significance thereof, and the faith. The sign consists in this, that we are thrust into the water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; but we are not left there, for we are drawn out again. Hence the saying, Aus der Taufe gehoben.[1] The sign must, therefore, have both its parts, the putting in and the drawing out. [Sidenote: The Thing Signified]