Chapter IV.

That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is shown by the witness of John and by the very form of the administration of the sacrament. And this is also declared to be signified by the pool in the Gospel and the man who was there healed. In the same passage, too, is shown that the Holy Spirit truly descended on Christ at His baptism, and the meaning of this mystery is explained.

19. The reason why you were told before not to believe only what you saw was that you might not say perchance, This is that great mystery “which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man.”18    1 Cor. ii. 9. I see water, which I have been used to see every day. Is that water to cleanse me now in which I have so often bathed without ever being cleansed? By this you may recognize that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.

20. Therefore read that the three witnesses in baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit,19    1 John v. 7. are one, for if you take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of Regeneration without water: “For except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”20    S. John iii. 5. Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace.

21. So that Syrian dipped himself seven times21    2 [4] Kings v. 14. under the law, but you were baptized in the Name of the Trinity, you confessed the Father. Call to mind what you did: you confessed the Son, you confessed the Holy Spirit. Mark well the order of things in this faith: you died to the world, and rose again to God. And as though buried to the world in that element, being dead to sin, you rose again to eternal life. Believe, therefore, that these waters are not void of power.

22. Therefore it is said: “An angel of the Lord went down according to the season into the pool, and the water was troubled; and he who first after the troubling of the water went down into the pool was healed of whatsoever disease he was holden.”22    S. John v. 4. This pool was at Jerusalem, in which one was healed every year, but no one was healed before the angel had descended. Because of those who believed not the water was troubled as a sign that the angel had descended. They had a sign, you have faith; for them an angel descended, for you the Holy Spirit; for them the creature was troubled, for you Christ Himself, the Lord of the creature, works.

23. Then one was healed, now all are made whole; or more exactly, the Christian people alone, for in some even the water is deceitful.23    Jer. xv. 18. The baptism of unbelievers heals not but pollutes. The Jew washes pots and cups, as though things without sense were capable of guilt or grace. But do you wash this living cup of yours, that in it your good works may shine and the glory of your grace be bright. For that pool was as a type, that you might believe that the power of God descends upon this font.

24. Lastly, that paralytic was waiting for a man. And what man save the Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin, at Whose coming no longer the shadow should heal men one by one, but the truth should heal the whole. He it is, then, Whose coming down was being waited for, of Whom the Father said to John the Baptist: “Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He Who baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.”24    S. John i. 33. And John bare witness of Him, and said: “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding upon Him.”25    S. John i. 32. And why did the Spirit descend like a dove, but in order that you might see, that you might acknowledge, that that dove also which just Noah sent forth from the ark was a likeness of this dove, that you might recognize the type of the sacrament?

25. Perhaps you may object: Since that was a real dove which was sent forth, and the Spirit descended like a dove, how is it that we say that the likeness was there and the reality here, whereas in the Greek it is written that the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove? But what is so real as the Godhead which abides for ever? Now the creature cannot be the reality, but only a likeness, which is easily destroyed and changed. So, again, because the simplicity of those who are baptized ought to be not in appearance but in reality, and the Lord says: “Be ye wise as serpents and simple as doves.”26    S. Matt. x. 16. Rightly, then, did He descend like a dove, in order to admonish us that we ought to have the simplicity of the dove. And further we read of the likeness being put for the reality, both as regards Christ: “And was found in likeness as a man;”27    Phil. ii. 8. and as regards God the Father: “Nor have ye seen His likeness.”28    S. John v. 37.

CAPUT IV.

0394B

Aquam non mundare sine Spiritu, Joannis testimonio et ipsis quibus idem sacramentum administratur, verbis declaratur. Quod etiam asseritur significatum per Evangelicam piscinam, et paralyticum a Domino ibi sanatum: quo loco Spiritus sanctus in ejusdem Christi baptismo vere descendisse ostenditur, et quid in hoc mysterio intelligendum?

19. Ideo tibi ante praedictum est, ut non hoc solum crederes quod videbas; ne forte et tu diceres: Hoc est illud magnum mysterium; quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, 330 nec in cor hominis ascendit (I Cor. II, 9)? Aquas video, quas videbam quotidie: istae me habent mundare, in quas 0394C saepe descendi, et numquam mundatus sum? Hinc cognosce quod aqua non mundat sine Spiritu.

20. Ideoque legisti quod tres testes in baptismate unum sunt, aqua, sanguis, et Spiritus (I Joan. V, 7); quia si in unum horum detrahas, non stat baptismatis sacramentum. Quid est enim aqua sine cruce Christi? Elementum commune, sine ullo sacramenti effectu. Nec iterum sine aqua, regenerationis mysterium est: Nisi enim quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu, non potest introire in regnum Dei (Joan. III, 5). Credit autem etiam catechumenus in crucem Domini Jesu, qua et ipse signatur: sed nisi baptizatus fuerit in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, remissionem non potest accipere peccatorum, nec spiritualis gratiae munus haurire.

0394D 21. Ergo ille Syrus septies mersit in Lege: (IV Reg. V, 14) tu autem baptizatus es in nomine Trinitatis, 0395A confessus es Patrem, recordare quid feceris; confessus es Filium, confessus es Spiritum sanctum. Tene ordinem rerum in hac fide; mundo mortuus es, et Deo resurrexisti. Et quasi in illo mundi consepultus elemento, peccato mortuus, ad vitam es resuscitatus aeternam. Crede ergo quia non sunt vacuae aquae.

22. Ideo tibi dictum est: Quia angelus Domini descendebat secundum tempus in natatoriam, et movebatur aqua; et qui prior descendisset in natatoriam post commotionem aquae, sanus fiebat a languore quocumque tenebatur (Joan. V, 4). Haec piscina in Hierosolymis erat, in qua unus annuus sanabatur: sed nemo ante sanabatur, quam descendisset angelus. Ut esset indicium quia descenderat angelus, movebatur aqua propter incredulos. Illis signum, 0395B tibi fides: illis angelus descendebat, tibi Spiritus sanctus: illis creatura movebatur, tibi Christus operatur ipse Dominus creaturae.

23. Tunc curabatur unus, nunc omnes sanantur: aut certe unus solus populus christianus; est enim in aliquibus et aqua mendax (Jerem. XV, 18). Non sanat baptismus perfidorum (I, q. 1, c. Non sanat), non mundat, sed 331 polluit. Judaeus urceos baptizat et calices (Marc. VII, 4), quasi insensibilia vel culpam possint recipere, vel gratiam. Tu baptiza hunc calicem tuum sensibilem, in quo bona opera tua luceant, in quo gratiae tuae splendor fulgeat. Ergo et illa piscina in figura; ut credas quia in hunc fontem vis divina descendit.

24. Denique paralyticus ille exspectabat hominem 0396A (Joan. V, 7). Quem illum, nisi Dominum Jesum natum ex Virgine: cujus adventu non jam umbra sanaret singulos, sed veritas universos? Iste est ergo qui exspectabatur ut descenderet, de quo dixit Deus Pater ad Joannem Baptistam: Super quem videris Spiritum descendentem de coelo, et manentem super eum, hic est qui baptizat in Spiritu sancto (Joan. I, 33). De quo testificatus est Joannes dicens: Quia vidi Spiritum descendentem de coelo quasi columbam et manentem super eum (Ibid., 32). Et hic quare Spiritus sicut columba descendit, nisi ut tu videres, nisi ut tu agnosceres columbam etiam illam quam Noe justus emisit ex arca, istius columbae speciem fuisse, ut typum agnosceres sacramenti (Gen., VIII, 8)?

0396B 25. Et fortasse dicas: Cum illa vera columba fuerit quae emissa est, hic quasi columba descenderit: quomodo illic speciem fuisse dicimus, hic veritatem; cum secundum Graecos in specie columbae Spiritum descendisse sit scriptum (Luc. III, 12)? Sed quid tam verum quam divinitas quae manet semper? Creatura autem non potest veritas esse, sed species, quae facile solvitur atque mutatur. Simul quia eorum qui baptizantur, non in specie esse debeat, sed vera simplicitas. Unde et Dominus ait: Estote astuti sicut serpentes, et simplices sicut columbae (Matth. X, 16). Merito ergo sicut columba descendit, ut admoneret nos simplicitatem columbae habere debere. Speciem autem et pro veritate accipiendam legimus et de Christo: Et specie inventus 0397A ut homo (Phil. II, 7); et de Patre Deo: Neque speciem ejus vidistis (Joan. V, 37).