Now these "new spirits" are so crazy that they separate faith and the object to which faith clings and is bound, even if it is something outward. Yes, it shall and must be something outward, so that it may be grasped by our senses and understood, and by them be brought into the heart. For indeed, the entire Gospel is an outward, verbal preaching. In short, what God does and works in us He intends to work through such outward ordinances. Therefore, wherever He speaks--indeed, no matter what direction or by whatever means He speaks--faith must look there. It must hold to that object. Now here we have the words "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16). What else can these words refer to but Baptism, that is, to the water included in God's ordinance? Therefore, it makes sense that whoever rejects Baptism rejects God's Word, faith, and Christ, who directs us to Baptism and binds us to Baptism.
~BOC, LC, IV, 30-31
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