Pope Hadrian I On The Gifts And Importance Of Baptism

Pope Hadrian I, To All The Bishops In Spain (Codex Epistolaris Carolinus 97), c. 785 or c. 787: “For [through baptism] they are not only free but also holy, not only holy but also justified, not only justified, but also sons, not only sons but also heirs, not only heirs but also brothers of Christ, not only brothers of Christ but also coheirs, not only coheirs but also members, not only members but also a temple, not only a temple but also instruments of the Spirit. Blessed be God…! Do you see what are the gifts of baptism? Many suppose that the heavenly grace consists simply in the forgiveness of sins; but we have counted ten honors. This is why we baptize infants… See, our most beloved, how the eastern fathers taught that adoption is a gift of charisms made to all of us who were born in sins and reborn in baptism…
     And later on in the same sermon [Pope St. Leo taught]: ‘We must follow the way which, as the Lord Himself testified, He Himself is [Jn. 14:6], who… counselled us with sacrament and example so that He might by the former [i.e. the Sacrament of Baptism] lead those called by adoption to salvation and by the latter train us for labor.’”