"At the present time, thanks to the boundless kindness of God, we have the most glorious honor of Christ, as is clear from our sermons and the whole ministry. Look at Baptism, the Lords Supper, absolution, and the Gospel. These great gifts of the Holy Spirit should be praised and proclaimed by all, and in them God, who has given such power to men (cf. Matt. 9:8), should be acknowledged and praised. I am not the patriarch Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. But observe what I do. I take an infant, and by baptizing it I redeem it from death, the devil, and sins, and translate it from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. This a pastor of the church does, and in an emergency any Christian does so.
Therefore it is meet and right that we should wonder at and proclaim such great mercy and goodness of God. He blesses us with an eternal and spiritual blessing, so that the devil is compelled to flee when he sees an infant being baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For here I am not destroying the kingdom of the Turk or of Augustus or of the king of the Persians. No, I am destroying the kingdom of the prince and god of this world.
In the same manner, when a sinner comes confessing his sins, I say to him: “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” For here I am recalling from the depths of hell one who was confused, lost, hopeless, swallowed up, and eternally dead in his sins.
Thus in the Lord’s Supper I eat the body and drink the blood of Christ, the Son of God, given and shed for me for the remission of sins, that is, for eternal life.
Accordingly, this glory is far greater and far more lustrous than that of the fathers. The only thing we lack is that we do not open our eyes, ears, and hearts and do not value these gifts in accordance with their importance and worth. It is true and certain that he who is baptized and absolved at the hand of a pastor, and, in case of necessity, at the hand of any brother, is undoubtedly holy and saved, and that the kingdom of the devil, death, and sin has been destroyed. How? Through the mouth of a miserable man, a priest or a brother.
Surely these are great and immeasurable miracles, and the power given to us by God is incomparably greater than that of the fathers, which nevertheless was surpassingly great. For Christ says to us: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matt. 28:20) and “I go away, and I will come to you” (John 14:28). Likewise: “We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23).
The church shall be my fortress, my castle, and my chamber, as is stated in Is. 31:9: “Says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.” Therefore when we baptize, Christ Himself is baptizing through the mouth and hand of the minister."
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