_What are such words and promises of God?_
_Ans._ Those which our Lord Jesus Christ spoke, as they are recorded in
the last chapter of Mark, verse 16: "He that believeth and is baptized,
shall be saved; but he that believeth not, shall be damned."
III. _How can water produce such great effects?_
_Ans._ It is not the water indeed that produces these effects, but the
Word of God which accompanies and is connected with the water, and our
faith, which relies on the Word of God connected with the water. For the
water, without the Word of God, is simply water and no baptism. But when
connected with the Word of God, it is a baptism, that is, a gracious
water of life, and a "washing of regeneration" in the Holy Ghost; as St.
Paul says to Titus, in the third chapter, verses 5-8: "According to His
mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our
Saviour; that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life.
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