Conclusion

A word to the regenerated. — You have experienced the truth of the promise; and being introduced by that promise, you have become like Isaac, children of promise. You heard God's testimony concerning Jesus of Nazareth, and you believed it. As a result of your faith, you were so disposed toward Jesus that you were willing to put yourselves under his guidance. This faith, and this will, brought you to the water. You were not ashamed or afraid to confess him before others. You solemnly declared you regarded him as God's only Son and the Savior of humanity. You pledged allegiance to him. You were led down into the water. Then the name of the Holy One was pronounced upon your faith and upon your person. You were then buried in the water under that name. It closed over you. In its womb you were concealed. Into the Lord, as in the water, you were immersed. But you did not remain in the water. From it you were born, and from it you came forth, raised with Jesus, and rising in his strength. There your consciences were released; for there your old sins were washed away. And although you did not receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which confirmed the testimony of the first disciples, you felt the powers of the world to come, were enlightened, and tasted God's goodness: for seasons of refreshment from God's presence came upon you. Your hearts were cleansed from evil consciences when your bodies were washed in the cleansing water. Then you entered into Jesus' kingdom. The King of righteousness, peace, and joy extended his scepter over you, and sanctified you in your state and in your whole person. You rejoiced in the Lord with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Being washed, you were sanctified as well as acquitted. And now you find yourselves under the great Advocate, so that sin cannot rule over you; for you always look to the great Advocate to intercede for you; and thus, if sin should overtake you, you confess and forsake it, and always find mercy. Adopted into God's family, you have not only received the name, rank, and dignity but also the spirit of a son of God, and find, as such, that you are kings, priests, and heirs of God. You now feel that all things are yours because you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. The hope of the coming renewal of the heavens and the earth, at the resurrection of the just, motivates you. You look for the redemption, the adoption of your bodies, and their transformation. For this reason, you purify yourselves just as he is pure. Be zealous, then, children of God; proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you into this marvelous light and blessing. Be diligent so that you may receive the crown that never fades, and that you may eat from the tree of life, which grows in the midst of the Paradise of God. If you suffer with Jesus, you will reign with him. If you deny him, he will deny you. Add, then, to your faith, courage, knowledge, self-control, patience, brotherly kindness, and universal love; for if you continue in these things and abound, you will not be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if you lack these things, your light will be dimmed, and you will forget that you have been purified from your old sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, work to make your calling and election sure; for by practicing this, you will never fall, but will have a secure and abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A word to the unregenerate. — Among you are various types of character. Some of you who believe the gospel and have been changed in heart, quickened by the Spirit, are not generally considered unregenerate. In the popular sense of the term, you are regenerate. But we use it in its scriptural meaning. Like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, you believe in Jesus and are willing to learn from him in private. You have confidence in his mission, respect and honor, and even love his person; and you desire to be under his government. Do not be surprised when I say to you, You must be born again. Pious as you may be, and as you may think yourselves to be, unless you are born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Cornelius and his family were as devout and pious as any of you. "He feared God, gave generously to the people, and prayed to God continually." Yet, mark this well, I urge you, it was necessary "to tell him words by which he and his household might be saved." These words were told to him: he believed them and received the Holy Spirit, yet still he had to be born again. For a person cannot be said to be born again by anything he receives; and even less by miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit. He was immersed, and into the Kingdom of God he came. He was then saved. You need not ask how or why these things are so. Do as Cornelius did, and then you will see it differently — then you would not for the world be unregenerate. To have the pledge, the promise, and seal of God of the forgiveness of all your sins, to be adopted into his family, and to receive the spirit of a son of God, be assured, my pious friends, are matters of no everyday occurrence; and when you feel yourselves truly invested with all these blessings, in God's own way, you will say, "His ways are not like our ways, nor his thoughts like our thoughts; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts." It is hard to make a slave feel and act like a freeman. As difficult, we often find it, to make the unregenerate feel and understand the value and importance of regeneration. But the regenerate would not be unregenerate for the universe.

God has one way of bestowing everything. We cannot gather grapes from thornbushes, nor figs from thistles. The reason is, they do not grow there. We can give no other reason why they cannot grow there except that they do not grow there. We cannot have any blessing except in God's own way of giving it. We cannot find wool except on the back of the sheep, nor silk except from the worm that spins it from itself. Corn and wheat cannot be obtained except from the plants that yield them. Without the plant, we cannot have the fruit. This is the economy of the whole material system. And in the world of spirits and spiritual influences, is it not the same? Moral law is as unchangeable as the laws of nature. Moral means and ends are as inseparable as natural means and ends. God cannot bestow grace upon the proud, and cannot withhold it from the humble. He does not do it, and that is enough. He could shower down wheat and corn, and give us rivers of milk and wine, if it were a question of mere power. But considering all together, his wisdom, power, and goodness, he cannot do it. Likewise, he cannot give us faith without testimony, hope without a promise, love without a worthy object, peace without purity, nor heaven without holiness. He cannot give the unborn infant the light of the sun, the vitality that the air imparts, nor the agility and activity that freedom provides. He does not do it, and therefore, we say, he cannot do it. Neither can he bestow the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven upon those who are children of disobedience.

I know how reluctant people are to submit to God's government; yet they must all bow to it eventually. "To Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess." But they will object to bowing now, and invent excuses. They will tell me all that I said is true of natural and moral means and ends; but immersion is not a moral means because God forgave sins and saved people before immersion was appointed. "It is a positive institution, not a moral one." And is there no moral influence connected with positive institutions? A written law is a positive institution: moral law existed before written law. But because it has become a positive institution, has its moral power ceased? The moral influence of all positive institutions is God's will expressed in them. And it does not matter whether it is the eating or not eating of an apple, the building of an altar, or building it with or without the aid of iron tools; the offering of a kid, a lamb, a bullock, or a pigeon: it is just as morally binding and has the same moral influence as "You shall honor your father and mother," or "You shall not kill." It is the will of God in any institution that gives it all its moral and physical power. No one could now be pardoned as Abel was — as Enoch was — as David was — as the thief on the cross was. They all lived before the second will of God was declared. He took away "the first will," says Paul, "that he might establish the second will," by which we are sanctified. We are not pardoned as the Jews or the patriarchs were. It was not until Jesus was buried and rose again that an acceptable offering for sin was presented in heaven. By one offering of himself, he has perfected the conscience of the immersed or sanctified. Since his sacrifice, a new institution for remission has been appointed. Do not flatter yourselves that God will save or pardon you except for Christ's sake; and if you have not taken his name, if you have not put him on, if you have not come under his advocacy, you do not have the name of Christ to plead, nor his intercession on your behalf — and therefore, for Christ's sake, you cannot be forgiven. Could Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Aaron, if living now — could they, I ask, find forgiveness as the altar? And will you imagine that he who honored every institution given by Moses, by connecting rewards and punishments with obedience or disobedience to his commands, will be less jealous for the honor of his Son's institution? And will that Son, who for no other purpose than to honor his Father's institution was immersed in the Jordan, grant pardon or salvation to anyone who refuses to honor him and the one who sent him? He has graciously adapted means to ends. He has commanded immersion for the remission of sins; and do you think he will change his institutions because of your stubborn or uncooperative attitudes? It would be as unreasonable to pray for loaves from heaven or manna because Israel ate it in the desert, as to pray for pardon while refusing remission of sins by immersion. Demur not because of the simplicity of the thing. Remember how simple was the eating of the fruit of that tree, "whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe." How simple was the rod in the hand of Moses, when stretched over Egypt and the Red Sea? How simple was looking at the brazen serpent? And how simple are God's institutions? How simple the elements of nature; — the poisons too, and their remedies? Where the will of God is, there is omnipotence. It was simple to speak the universe into existence. But God's will gives power to everything. And obedience always was, and always will be the happiness of man. It is the happiness of heaven. It is God's love for humanity that has given us something to obey. To the angels who sinned he has given no command. It was gracious to give us a command to live — a command to reform — a command to be born again — to live forever. Remember light and life first came by obedience. If God's voice had not been obeyed, the water would not have brought forth the earth, nor would the sun have blessed it with his rays. The obedience of law was goodness and mercy; but the obedience of faith is favor, and life, and glory everlasting. None to whom this gospel is announced will perish, except those who do not know God, and do not obey the gospel of his Son. Kiss, then, the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish forever.

To the unregenerate of all classes, whose education and prejudices compel them to accept the testimony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude. — You acknowledge the mission of Jesus from the bosom of the Eternal — and that is all you do! Each of you is living without God, and without hope in the world — aliens from the family of God — of various ranks and grades among men; but all involved in one condemnation, because light has come into the world, and you love darkness, and the works of darkness, rather than light. To live without hope is bad enough; but to live in constant dread of the vengeance of Heaven, is still worse. But do you not tremble at the word of God?

If you can be saved here, or hereafter, then there is no meaning in language, no pain in the universe, no truth in God — death, the grave, and destruction have no meaning. The frowns of Heaven are all smiles, if you do not perish in your ways.

But you plan to bow to Jesus, and to throw yourselves upon his mercy at last. Impious thought! When you have given the strength of your intellect, the vigor of your constitution, the warmth of your affections, the best energies of your life, to the world, the flesh and the devil; you will stretch out your palsied hands and turn your dim eyes to the Lord and say, "Lord, have mercy upon me!" The first fruits, and fatlings of the devil, the lame and the blind for God, is the purpose of your heart; and the best resolution you can form!

The thief on the cross, had he done so, could not have found mercy. It is one thing to have known the way of salvation, accepted it, and to have in deliberate resolution rejected it for the present, with a promise of obeying it at some future time; and to have never known it, or accepted it, to the end of life. Promise not, then, to yourselves, what has never happened to others. The devil has always said, "You may give tomorrow to the Lord — only give to me today." This has been all that he has asked, and this is what you are willing to give. Promise not tomorrow to the Lord, for you will be even less willing to give it when it comes; and the Lord has not asked you for tomorrow. He says, today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. But you say, you are willing to come to the Lord today if you knew the way, or if you were prepared! Well, what does the Lord require of you as preparation? He once said, "Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God for he will abundantly pardon." He also says, "Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you;" "Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded;" "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings;" "Repent and be converted;" "Turn to the Lord;" "Be baptized for the remission of your sins;" and "Submit to the government of Jesus." "What! just as I am!" Pray, how are you? Do you have such a conviction in your heart of the mission of Jesus, as God's own Son, and the only Savior; and do you have so much confidence in his personal character, as to be willing to surrender yourself to him for the present and future — for time and eternity? "I have," you say. As one who has heard his voice, I say, then, Come and be born again, and seasons of refreshment from the Lord will come to you.

"But I thought I ought to feel like a Christian first, and to have the experience of a Christian before I came to the Lord." Indeed! Did the Lord tell you so? "His ministers taught me so." It is hard knowing who are his ministers nowadays. His commissioned ministers did not teach you so. They were not taught to say so. The Master knew that to wait for health before we went to the physician — to seek warmth before we approached the fire — to wait until we ceased to be hungry before we approached the table — was not reasonable. And therefore he never asked, as he never expected, anyone to feel like a Christian before they were baptized and began to live like a Christian. None but the citizens of any country can experience the good or evil of the government which presides over it. None but the married can experience the conjugal relation and feelings. None but sons and daughters can have the experience of sons and daughters; and none but those who obey the gospel can experience the blessings of obedience. I need not add, that none but the disobedient can experience the pains, the fears, and terrors of the Lord — the shame and remorse which are the first fruits of the anguish and misery, which await them in another world. As the disobedient, who stumble at the word, have the first fruits of the awful destruction from the presence of the Lord which awaits them; so the disobedient have the first fruits of the Spirit — the salvation of their souls, as a guarantee of the salvation to be revealed at the coming of the Lord.

And now let me ask all the unregenerate, What do you plan to accomplish by either delaying or refusing to come to the Lord? Will delaying have any effect to fit you or prepare you for his salvation? Will your lusts have less power, or sin have less control over you, by continuing under their influence? Has the intoxicating cup, by indulgence, lessened a taste for it? Has the greed of the miser been weakened, or cured, by yielding to it? Has any tendency been destroyed by gratifying it, in any other way than as it destroyed the body? Can you, then, promise yourselves that, by continuing in disobedience, you will love obedience, and be more willing to submit when you have resisted the Spirit of God longer! Do not presume on the mercy of God, but in the way that mercy flows. Grace has its channels, as the waters have their courses; and its path, as the lightning of the clouds. Each has its law, as fixed as the throne of God; and do not think God will work a miracle for your salvation.

Do you think the family of Noah could have been saved if they had refused to enter the Ark? Could the firstborn of Israel have escaped the destroying angel, but in houses sprinkled with blood? Or could Israel have escaped the wrath of Pharaoh, but by being baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea? These things are written for our instruction, upon whom the end of past ages has come. Arise, then, and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord. The many who refuse grace will neither prove you wise nor safe in disobedience.

• Multitudes are no mark

  That you will rightly be found;
  A few were saved in the Ark,
  For many millions drowned.
  Obey the gospel call,

  And enter while you may;

  Christ's flock have long been small,
  Yet none are safe but they."

Effects of Modern Christianity

Our greatest objection to the systems we oppose is their powerlessness on the heart. Alas! what multitudes of prayerless, saintless, Christless, joyless hearts have crowded Christianity out of the congregations by their experiences before baptism! They seem to have had all their religion before they professed it. They can relate no experience since baptism comparable to that professed before the "mutual pledge" was offered and received.

It was the undeniable proof of the abundance of this fruit that first caused me to suspect the much-praised tree of evangelical orthodoxy. That cold-heartedness — that stiff and mercenary formality — that tithing of mint, anise, and dill — that neglect of mercy, justice, truth, and the love of God, which stalked through the communions of sectarian altars — that apathy and indifference about "thus says the Lord" — that zeal for human rules — and, above all, that willing ignorance of the sayings and actions of Jesus Christ and his apostles, which so generally appeared, first of all created, fostered, and matured my distrust in the reformed systems of evangelical sectaries. Communion, with me, was communion of kindred souls, immersed into one God, that heavenly magnet which turns our aspirations and worship to him who washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests to God.

To sit in the same pew; to gather around the same pulpit; to put our names on the same covenant, or subscription list; to contribute for a weekly sermon; to recite the same opinions, extracted from the same creed, always seemed to me unworthy bonds of union or communion, and therefore my soul abhorred them as substitutes for the love of God poured out in the heart, for the communion of the Holy Spirit. "If a man would give all the wealth of his house as a substitute for love, it should be utterly despised." The Divine Philosopher preached reformation by addressing himself to the heart. We begin with the heart. "Make the tree good," and then good fruit may be expected. But this appears to be the error of all sects to a greater or lesser degree; they set about mending the heart as a preliminary to that which alone can create a new heart. Jesus gives us the philosophy of his scheme in an address to a sinner of that time — "Your sins," he says, "are forgiven you: go, and sin no more." He first changes the sinner's state, not external but internal, and then says, "Go, and sin no more." He openly forgave the debt. The sinner loved him.

There was much of this philosophy in question, "Who loves most — the one who was forgiven five hundred pence, or the one who was forgiven fifty? How much does he love who is not forgiven at all?" Yes, that question brings us a little further to the reason why the first act of obedience to Jesus Christ should be baptism into his name, and that for the remission of sins.

But now we speak of the exercises of the heart. While any man believes the words of Jesus, "Out of the heart proceed the actions which defile the man," he can never lose sight of the heart as the object on which all evangelical arguments are to end, and as the fons et principium, the fountain and origin, of all piety and humanity.

Once and for all, let it be distinctly noted that we value nothing in religion which does not tend directly and immediately, both proximally and remotely, to the purification and perfection of the heart. Paul acts as a philosopher fully once, and, if we recall correctly, but once, in all his writings on this subject. It has been a favorite topic with me for many years. It is in his first epistle to Timothy — "Now the goal of the commandment is love out of a pure heart — out of a good conscience — out of sincere faith." Sincere faith brings a person to remission, or to a good conscience; a good conscience precedes, in the natural order, a pure heart; and that is the only soil in which love, that plant of heavenly origin, can grow. This is our philosophy of Christianity — of the gospel. And thus it is the wisdom and power of God to salvation. We proceed upon these as our axioms in all our reasoning, preaching, writings — 1st. sincere faith; 2nd. a good conscience; 3rd. a pure heart; 4th. love. The testimony of God, understood, produces sincere or genuine faith; faith obeyed produces a good conscience. This Peter defines as the use of baptism, the answer of a good conscience. This produces a pure heart, and then the culmination is love — love to God and man.

Paul's order or arrangement is adopted by us as infallible. Testimony — sincere faith — remission, or a good conscience — a pure heart — love. Preaching, praying, singing, commemorating, meditating, all flow from here. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Immersion Not a Mere Bodily Act

Views of baptism as a mere external and bodily act have a very harmful influence on the understanding and practice of people. Hence, many attribute so little importance to it in the Christian economy. "Physical exercise," says Paul, "profits little." We have been taught to regard immersion in water, into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as an act of the whole person — body, soul, and spirit. The soul of the intelligent subject is as fully immersed into the Lord Jesus as his body is immersed in the water. His soul rises with the Lord Jesus, as his body rises out of the water; and into one spirit with all the family of God he is immersed. It is not like circumcising a Hebrew infant or proselytizing a Gentile adult to Moses. — The candidate, believing in the person, mission, and character of the Son of God, and willing to submit to him, immediately, upon recognizing him, hastens to be buried with the Lord, and to rise with him, not physically but spiritually, with his whole soul.

Reader, be warned how you speak of bodily acts in obedience to divine institutions. Remember Eve, Adam, and all transgressors on the one hand. Remember Abel, Noah, Enoch, Moses, Abraham, down to the prostitute Rahab, on the other; and be cautious how you speak of bodily acts! Rather remember the sacrifice of a body on Mount Calvary, and do not speak lightly of bodily acts. There are no mere outward bodily acts in the Christian institution; and less than in all others, in the act of immersion. Then it is that the spirit, soul, and body of man become one with the Lord. Then it is that the power of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comes upon us. Then it is that we are enrolled among the children of God, and enter the ark, which will, if we remain in it, carry us to the Mount of God.

Justification Ascribed to Seven Causes

In examining the New Testament, we find that a man is said to be "justified by faith," Rom. 5:1; Gal. 2:16; Gal. 3:24. "Justified freely by his grace," Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7. "Justified by his blood," Rom. 5:9. "Justified by works," James 2:21; James 2:24-25. "***Justified in or by the name of the Lord Jesus,***" 1 Cor. 6:11. "Justified by Christ," Gal. 2:16. "Justified by knowledge," Is. 53:11. "It is God who justifies," Rom. 8:33, namely by these seven means — by Christ, his name, his blood, by knowledge, grace, faith, and by works. Are these all literal? Is there no room for interpretation here? He who selects faith out of seven must either act arbitrarily or show his reason; but the reason does not appear in the text. He must reason it out; he must infer it. Why, then, assume that faith alone is the reason for our justification? Why not assume that the name of the Lord alone is the main matter, since his name "is the only name given under heaven by which anyone can be saved;" and people "who believe receive the remission of sins by his name:" and especially because the name of Jesus, or of the Lord, is mentioned more frequently in the New Testament, in reference to all spiritual blessings, than anything else!! Call all these causes, or means of justification, and what then? We have the grace of God as the moving cause, Jesus Christ as the efficient cause, his blood the procuring cause, knowledge the disposing cause, the name of the Lord the immediate cause, faith the formal cause, and works the concurring cause. For example: a man on the seashore sees the wreck of a vessel some distance from land, drifting out into the ocean, and covered with a miserable and dying sea-soaked crew. Moved by pure philanthropy, he sends his son in a boat to save them. When the boat arrives at the wreck, he invites them in, on the condition that they submit to his guidance. A number of the crew stretch out their arms, seize the boat with their hands, jump in, take hold of the oars, and row to shore, while some, out of cowardice, and others because of some difficulty in reaching the boat, wait for a second trip; but before it returns, the wreck breaks apart, and they all perish. The moving cause of the salvation of those who escaped was the goodwill of the man on the shore; the son who took the boat was the efficient cause; the boat itself, the procuring cause; the knowledge of their dying condition and his invitation, the disposing cause; the seizing the boat with their hands and jumping in, the immediate cause; their agreeing to his condition, the formal cause; and their rowing to shore, under the guidance of his son, was the concurring cause of their salvation. — Thus men are justified or saved by grace, by Christ, by his blood, by faith, by knowledge, by the name of the Lord, and by works. But of the seven causes, three of which are purely instrumental, why choose one of the instrumental causes and emphasize it as the justifying or saving cause, to the exclusion of, or in preference to, the others? Each one in its own place is essentially necessary.

If we examine the word saved in the New Testament, we shall find that we are said to be saved by as many causes, though some of them differently named, as those by which we are said to be justified. Let us see: we are said to be "saved by grace," Eph. 2:5; "saved through his life," Rom. 5:9-10; "saved through faith," Eph. 2:8, Acts 16:31; "saved by baptism," 1 Peter 3:21; or "by faith and baptism," Mark 16:16; or "by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit," Titus 3:5; or "by the gospel," 1 Cor. 15:2; or "by calling upon the Lord," and by "enduring to the end," Acts 2:21, Rom. 10:13, Matt. 10:22. Here we have salvation ascribed to grace, to Jesus Christ, to his death and resurrection — three times to baptism, either by itself or in conjunction, once with faith, and once with the Holy Spirit; to works, or to calling upon the Lord, or to enduring to the end. To these we might add other similar phrases, but these include all the causes we have just mentioned. Saved by grace the moving cause; by Jesus the efficient cause; by his death, resurrection, and life, the procuring cause; by the gospel, the disposing cause; by faith, the formal cause; by baptism, the immediate cause; and by enduring to the end, or persevering in the Lord, the concurring cause.

Peter in Jerusalem, Paul in Philippi, Reconciled

Thousands ask Peter, What shall we do? The jailer asks Paul, What shall I do? to be saved, if the reader prefers. Peter says, Repent, and be baptized every one of you, etc. Paul answers, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." How is this, Paul and Peter? Why do you not preach the same gospel, and answer the same question in the same or similar terms? Paul, do you preach a different gospel to the Gentiles than Peter preached to the Jews? What do you say, Paul? Paul replies — "Strike, but hear me. Had I been in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, I would have spoken as Peter did. Peter spoke to believing and repentant Jews; I spoke to an ignorant Roman jailer. I caught his attention after the earthquake by simply announcing that there was salvation for him and all his household through belief in Jesus." — But why did you not mention repentance, baptism, the Holy Spirit? "Who told you I did not?" Luke adds nothing about it; and I concluded you said nothing about them. — Luke was a faithful historian, was he not? "Yes, very faithful: and why did you not faithfully listen to his account? Does he not immediately add that as soon as I got the jailer's attention, I spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house?" Why do you reason like a Paedobaptist? You think, do you, that the jailer's children were saved by his faith! I spoke the whole gospel, or word of the Lord, to the jailer and to his family. In speaking the word of the Lord, I mentioned repentance, baptism, remission, the Holy Spirit, the resurrection, judgment, and eternal life: otherwise why would I have baptized him and all his household; and why would he have rejoiced afterward with all his family! Paul, I beg your pardon. I will not question Peter, for I know how he will answer me: he would say — "Had I been in Philippi, I would have spoken to an ignorant pagan as Paul did, to show that salvation came through faith in Jesus; and when he believed this and repented, I would then have said, Be baptized for the remission of your sins."