Page:Works of Martin Luther, with introductions and notes, Volume 1.djvu/70

 A TREATISE ON BAPTISM 1519 I. Baptism [German, ] is called in the Greek language , in Latin  , 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, 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   comes undoubtedly from the word  , 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.

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, 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,  (56)