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(by the hidden light because of the visible one), you have that by which you will conquer; do not fear the contest. Bring forth the water, bring forth the Spirit, in which all the flaming darts of the Evil One will be quenched. It is Spirit, but one that dissolves mountains; it is water, but an extinguisher of fire. If he brings forward the need (for indeed he dared to do so to that One), and asks for the stones to become bread, imposing hunger; do not be ignorant of his devices. Teach him what he has not learned; set against him the living word, which is the bread sent from heaven, and bestowing life to the world. If he plots against you through vainglory (for indeed to that One, leading him up to the pinnacle of the temple, and, "Throw yourself down," he said, for a display of divinity), do not be carried away by pride. If he obtains this, he will not stop at this point. He is insatiable, he comes at everything. He fawns with what is good, but ends in what is evil. This is his way of battle. But the robber is also experienced in the Scriptures. From there comes the, "It is written," concerning the bread; from here the, "It is written," concerning the angels. For it is written, 36.372 he says, that "he will command his angels concerning you, and on their hands they will bear you up." O sophist of wickedness; how did you suppress what follows? For I understand this well, even if you are silent about it, that "I will tread upon the asp and the basilisk," and "I will trample upon snakes and scorpions," fortified by the Trinity. If he wrestles you down out of greed, showing all the kingdoms, as belonging to him, in a single moment of time and sight, demanding worship; despise him as a pauper. Say, taking courage in the seal; I too am an image of God; I have not yet been cast down from the glory above through pride, as you were; I have put on Christ; I have been transformed into Christ by baptism; you worship me. He will depart, I know well, defeated and ashamed by these things, just as from Christ the first light, so from those enlightened by him. Such things the washing bestows on those who have perceived it; such a banquet it offers to those who hunger rightly.

11. Let us be baptized then, that we may conquer; let us partake of cleansing waters, more purifying than hyssop, purer than the blood of the law, more sacred than the ashes of a heifer, which sprinkles those who have been defiled, and has a temporary cleansing of the body, not a complete removal of sin. For why would those once cleansed need to be cleansed again? Let us be baptized today, that we may not be compelled tomorrow. And let us not postpone the benefit, as if it were an injury; nor let us wait to become more evil, so that we may be forgiven more; nor let us become Christ-sellers and Christ-traffickers; nor let us be loaded more than we are able to bear, lest we be submerged with the ship and its crew, and make shipwreck of the gift, having lost everything in place of what more we hoped for. While you are still master of your thoughts, run to the gift; while you are not yet sick in both body and mind, or seem so to those present, even if you are of sound mind; while your good does not lie in the hands of others, but you yourself are master of it; while your tongue is not delirious, nor chilled, nor impaired, that I may not say anything more, from uttering the words of the initiation; while you are able to become a believer, not conjectured, but confessed; not pitied, but blessed; while the gift is clear to you, and not doubtful; and the grace touches the 36.373 depth, but the body is not receiving its funeral washing; while there are not tears around you, messages of your departure, and these perhaps being held back for your sake, and a wife, and children dragging out the departure, and seeking last words; while there is not an unskilled physician around you, granting you hours of which he is not master, and weighing your salvation with a nod, and philosophizing about the disease after death, or making his fees heavier by his concessions, or hinting at despair; while there is not a battle between the one who would baptize and the one who would get money, the one striving to provide the viaticum, the other, to be written in as heir, with the time allowing neither.

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κρυπτῷ φωτὶ διὰ τὸ φαινόμε νον), ἔχεις ᾧ νικήσεις· μὴ φοβηθῇς τὸν ἀγῶνα. Προβαλοῦ τὸ ὕδωρ, προβαλοῦ τὸ Πνεῦμα, ἐν ᾧ πάντα τὰ βέλη τοῦ Πονηροῦ τὰ πεπυρωμένα σβεσθή σεται. Πνεῦμα μὲν ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ διαλύον ὄρη· ὕδωρ μὲν ἔστιν, ἀλλὰ πυρὸς σβεστήριον. Ἐὰν προσ βάλῃ τὴν χρείαν (καὶ γὰρ κἀκείνῳ τετόλμηκε), καὶ ζητῇ τοὺς λίθους ἄρτους γενέσθαι, τὸ πει νεῖν ἐπιθέμενος· μὴ ἀγνοήσῃς αὐτοῦ τὰ νοή ματα. ∆ίδαξον ἃ μὴ μεμάθηκε· τὸν λόγον ἀντίθες τὸν ζωτικὸν, ὅς ἐστιν ἐξ οὐρανοῦ πεμπόμενος ἄρτος, καὶ τῷ κόσμῳ τὸ ζῇν χαριζόμενος. Ἐὰν διὰ κενοδοξίας ἐπιβουλεύῃ σοι (καὶ γὰρ ἐκείνῳ, ἀνάγων ἐπὶ τὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ πτερύγιον, καὶ, βάλε σεαυτὸν κάτω, λέγων, εἰς ἐπίδειξιν τῆς θεότητος), μὴ κατενεχθῇς διὰ τῆς ἐπάρσεως. Ἂν τοῦτο λάβῃ, οὐ μέχρι τούτου στήσεται. Ἄπληστός ἐστιν, εἰς πάντα ἐπέρχεται. Σαίνει μὲν τῷ χρηστῷ, τελευτᾷ δὲ εἰς πονηρόν. Οὗτος αὐτοῦ τῆς μάχης ὁ τρόπος. Ἀλλὰ καὶ Γραφῶν ἔμπειρος ὁ λῃστής. Ἐκεῖθεν τὸ, Γέγραπται, περὶ τοῦ ἄρτου· ἐντεῦθεν τὸ, Γέγραπται, περὶ τῶν ἀγγέλων. Γέγραπται γὰρ, 36.372 φησὶν, ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ, καὶ ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσί σε. Ὦ σοφιστὰ τῆς κακίας· πῶς τὸ ἑξῆς ὑπεκράτησας; Πάνυ γὰρ νοῶ τοῦτο, κἂν αὐτὸς ἀποσιωπήσῃς, ὅτι ἐπὶ τὴν ἀσπίδα σε καὶ τὸν βασιλίσκον ἐπιβήσομαι, καὶ καταπατήσω ἐπάνω ὄφεων καὶ σκορπίων, τῇ Τριάδι τετειχισμένος. Ἐὰν ἐξ ἀπληστίας καταπαλαίῃ σε, πάσας ὑποδεικνύων τὰς βασιλείας, ὡς αὐτῷ διαφερούσας, ἐν μιᾷ καιροῦ τε ῥοπῇ καὶ ὄψεως, ἀπαιτῶν τὴν προσκύνησιν· ὡς πένητος κα ταφρόνησον. Εἰπὲ, τῇ σφραγῖδι θαῤῥήσας· Εἰκών εἰμι καὶ αὐτὸς Θεοῦ· τῆς ἄνω δόξης οὔπω δι' ἔπαρ σιν, ὥσπερ σὺ, καταβέβλημαι· Χριστὸν ἐνδέδυμαι· Χριστὸν μεταπεποίημαι τῷ βαπτίσματι· σύ με προσκύνησον. Ἀπελεύσεται, σαφῶς οἶδα, τού τοις ἡττημένος καὶ ᾐσχυμμένος, ὥσπερ ἀπὸ Χριστοῦ τοῦ πρώτου φωτὸς, οὕτω τῶν ἀπ' ἐκείνου πεφωτι σμένων. Τοιαῦτα τὸ λουτρὸν τοῖς ᾐσθημένοις αὐτοῦ χαρίζεται· τοιαύτην προτείνει τοῖς καλῶς πεινῶσι τὴν πανδαισίαν.

ΙΑʹ. Βαπτισθῶμεν οὖν, ἵνα νικήσωμεν· μετάσχω μεν καθαρσίων ὑδάτων, ὑσσώπου ῥυπτικωτέρων, αἵματος νομικοῦ καθαρωτέρων, σποδοῦ δαμάλεως ἱερωτέρων, ῥαντιζούσης τοὺς κεκοινωμένους, καὶ πρόσκαιρον ἐχούσης σώματος κάθαρσιν, οὐ παντελῆ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀναίρεσιν. Τί γὰρ ἔδει καθαίρεσθαι τοὺς ἅπαξ κεκαθαρμένους; Βαπτισθῶμεν σήμερον, ἵνα μὴ αὔριον βιασθῶμεν. Καὶ μὴ ἀναβαλώ μεθα τὴν εὐεργεσίαν, ὡς ἀδικίαν· μηδὲ ἀναμείνω μεν πλεῖον γενέσθαι κακοὶ, ἵνα πλεῖον συγχω ρηθῶμεν· μηδὲ γενώμεθα Χριστοκάπηλοι καὶ Χριστέμποροι· μηδὲ φορτισθῶμεν πλέον ἢ δυνάμεθα φέρειν, ἵνα μὴ αὐτάνδρῳ τῇ νηὶ βαπτι σθῶμεν, καὶ τὸ χάρισμα ναυαγήσωμεν, ἀνθ' ὧν τὸ πλεῖον ἠλπίσαμεν, τὸ πᾶν ἀπολέσαντες. Ἕως ἔτι τῶν λογισμῶν κύριος εἶ πρόσδραμε τῷ δωρή ματι· ἕως οὔπω νοσεῖς καὶ τὸ σῶμα καὶ τὴν διάνοιαν, ἢ δοκεῖς οὕτω τοῖς παροῦσι, κἂν σωφρονῇς· ἕως οὐκ ἐπ' ἄλλοις κεῖται τὸ σὸν ἀγαθὸν, ἀλλ' αὐτὸς εἶ τούτου κύριος· ἕως οὐ παράφορος ἡ γλῶσσα, οὐδὲ κατεψυγμένη, οὐδὲ ζημιοῦται, ἵνα μὴ πλεῖόν τι λέγω, τὰ τῆς μυσταγωγίας ῥήματα· ἕως δύνασαι γενέσθαι πιστὸς, οὐκ εἰκαζόμενος, ἀλλ' ὁμολογού μενος· οὐκ ἐλεούμενος, ἀλλὰ μακαριζόμενος· ἕως δῆλόν σοι τὸ δῶρον, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἀμφίβολον· καὶ τοῦ 36.373 βάθους ἡ χάρις ἅπτεται, ἀλλ' οὐ τὸ σῶμα ἐπιτάφια λούεται· ἕως οὐ δάκρυα περὶ σὲ τῆς ἐξόδου μηνύ ματα, καὶ ταῦτα εἰς σὴν χάριν τυχὸν ἐπεχόμε να, καὶ γυνὴ, καὶ παῖδες τὴν ἐκδημίαν μεθέλ κοντες, καὶ ζητοῦντες ἐξόδια ῥήματα· ἕως οὐκ ἰατρὸς ἄτεχνος περὶ σὲ, ὥρας σοι χαριζόμενος, ὧν οὐκ ἔστι κύριος, καὶ νεύματι ταλαντεύων τὴν σωτη ρίαν, καὶ φιλοσοφῶν περὶ τῆς νόσου μετὰ τὸν θά νατον, ἢ τοὺς μισθοὺς βαρύνων ταῖς ὑποχωρήσεσιν, ἢ τὴν ἀπόγνωσιν αἰνιττόμενος· ἕως οὐ μάχη βα πτιστοῦ καὶ χρηματιστοῦ, τοῦ μὲν, ὅπως ἐφοδιάσῃ φιλονεικοῦντος, τοῦ δὲ, ὅπως γραφῇ κληρονόμος, ἀμ φότερα τοῦ καιροῦ μὴ συγχωροῦντος.