It remains for us, Christians, to do nothing else than the following:

1) For this supreme mercy of God to us and love for mankind, we should always thank Him from the bottom of our hearts.

2) To love Him as to the children of your Father.

3) Filial obedience and pleasing to Him should be shown without hypocrisy.

4) Guard against any sin with which He is offended, so that we do not offend Him.

5) To imitate Him, as children imitate a father, according to the apostolic admonition: "Imitate God, as beloved children" (Ephesians 5:1). He accepted us into His highest mercy – let us also remember His mercy. He created us His children – let us also be true, and not hypocritical children of Him, that is, we will do works befitting children of God. He is holy, let us also imitate His holiness, creating holiness in the fear of God. He is good and merciful – let us be kind to one another, compassionate, let us forgive one another, just as God in Christ forgave us (Ephesians 4:32). He commands His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt. 5:45) – let us also do good to all, acquaintances and strangers, friends and strangers, friends and enemies, who do good to us and those who do evil to us. For a long time He endures the sins of the whole world, waiting for everyone to repent, and let us also be patient with those who sin against us. Let us do all this and so on, not for our sake, but for His glory, according to the admonition of the Saviour: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven (Matt. 5:16).

About the same

If the said vile [1] man, honored by his benefactor, were to engage in dishonorable deeds, and thus lay off his honor and decent attire, and dress himself again in vile and shameful rags, then this deed would be worthy of wonder, pity, and laughter from all men. And indeed, this would be no small insult to the benefactor who honored him! And some people would regret, some would be surprised, others would laugh at the madness of this stupid man. This happens to a Christian who is accepted into such a high mercy of God and honored by God in holy Baptism. To such a Christian, I say, who goes into lawless deeds, fearlessly violates the law of God, the proverb becomes: the dog returns to his vomit, and the washed pig goes to wallow in the mud (2 Pet. 2:22). He is stripped of the beautiful and sacred garments in which his soul was dressed. He is deprived of the highest honor of the adoption of God and of the eternal inheritance. He puts on dishonorable and shameful sinful rags and becomes the lowest slave. There is sorrow and weeping for the holy Angels and all the chosen inhabitants of God in heaven, who all before rejoiced in his blessedness. Laughter begins, and mockery, and the joy of evil spirits, who previously envied him. Every Christian who is lawless after holy Baptism falls into such a poor state! Again, such a soul finds itself in the same calamity and the most terrible state in which it was before Baptism, and even more bitter. Of such the Apostle wrote: "The latter is worse for such than the first." It would be better for them not to know the way of righteousness, than, having known, to turn back from the holy commandment handed down to them (2 Peter 2:20-21). Such a poor person, to his misfortune, does not see both the bliss of which he is deprived of, and the calamity into which he falls, because both are not on the body, but inside, in the soul. Both true blessedness and Christian calamity are one – that is, that which is in the soul. Oh, if only a person would see what blessedness he is deprived of after Baptism through sin and into what calamity he falls, he would weep and weep incessantly and inconsolably! Poor sinners will see this when the glory of the sons of God is revealed and their own ugliness is revealed. They will see it, but to their greater grief. Then they will cry and weep, but it is useless.

The reason for such a disastrous state after Baptism is:

1) Weakness and corruption, which is hidden inside, in the human heart, and is born with it.

2) Unkind upbringing. The same reason is parents who do not care about themselves and their children, and so they themselves go and lead them to destruction.

3) Pastoral negligence of those who do not care about what has been entrusted to them and the flock of Christ.

4) Temptations of unkind parents and other evil people, looking at which young people are tempted and corrupted.