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to become new; for to make men new is of the laver only; For your youth, he says, will be renewed like the eagle's. But it is of repentance to release from oldness and make new those who have been made new, and then have grown old through sins; yet it is not possible to bring them to that brightness; for there the whole was grace. Crucifying to themselves, he says, the Son of God and putting Him to an open shame. And what he says is this: Baptism is a cross; for our old man was crucified with him. And again, We have been made conformable to the likeness of his death; and again, We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death. As then it is not possible for Christ to be crucified a second time—for this is to put him to an open shame—so neither is it to be baptized. For if death will no longer have dominion over him, if he arose, becoming by his resurrection superior to death, if through death he wrestled down death, and then is crucified again, all those things are a myth and a public shaming. He therefore who baptizes himself a second time, crucifies him again. But what is, Crucifying afresh? Crucifying again from the beginning. For as Christ died on the cross, so we in baptism, not to the flesh, but to sin. Behold a death, and a death; he died in the flesh, but we to sin. Through our baptism the old man was buried, and the new man arose, he who was made conformable to the likeness of his death. If then it is necessary to be baptized again, it is necessary for this one to die again; for baptism is nothing else than the putting to death of the one being baptized, and his resurrection. And he said well, Crucifying to themselves; for he who does this, as though forgetting the former grace, and carelessly managing his own life, as if there were another baptism, thus commits all things. Therefore one must pay attention and be secure. What is, Who have tasted of the heavenly gift? That is, of the remission of sins; for this is God's alone to bestow, and grace is once grace. What then, shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? By no means. But if we are always to be saved by grace, we shall never be good. For where there is one grace, we are even so slothful; if we knew that it is possible to wash away our sins again, would we ever cease from sinning? I do not think so. Here he shows many gifts; and that you may learn, listen: You were counted worthy, he says, of so great a remission, you who were sitting in darkness, the enemy, the adversary, the estranged, the God-hated, the one perishing; such a one therefore, having been suddenly enlightened, deemed worthy of the Spirit, of the heavenly gift, of adoption, of the kingdom of heaven, of the other good things, of the unspeakable 63.80 mysteries, and not even so having become better, but while being worthy of destruction, yet obtaining salvation and honor, as having accomplished great things, how could he be baptized again? In two ways therefore he said the thing was impossible, and he put the stronger one last; first, that he who was counted worthy of such things, and betrayed all that was given to him, is not worthy to be renewed again; and secondly, that it is not possible for him to be crucified again; for this is to put him to an open shame. There is not therefore a second laver, there is not; but if there is, there is also a third, and a fourth, and the first is always abolished by the later, and this again by another, and this to infinity. And having said, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, he does not reveal it, but hints at it, and all but says these things: that to live as angels, to need nothing of the things here, to know that our adoption becomes the cause of the enjoyment of the ages to come, to expect to enter into those innermost shrines, it is possible to learn these things through the Spirit. What is, And the powers of the age to come? Eternal life, the angelic way of life. Of these we have already received the pledge through faith from the Spirit. Tell me then if, having been brought into a palace, and entrusted with all things there, you then betrayed them all, would you then

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καινὸν γενέσθαι· τὸ γὰρ καινοὺς ποιῆσαι, τοῦ λουτροῦ μόνον ἐστίν· Ἀνακαινισθήσεται γὰρ, φησὶν, ὡς ἀετοῦ ἡ νεότης σου. Τῆς δὲ μετανοίας ἐστὶ τὸ, καινοὺς γενομένους, εἶτα παλαιωθέντας ὑπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων, ἀπαλλάξαι τῆς παλαιότητος καὶ καινοὺς ἐργάσασθαι· εἰς ἐκείνην μέντοι τὴν λαμπρότητα ἀγαγεῖν οὐκ ἔνι· ἐκεῖ γὰρ τὸ ὅλον ἡ χάρις ἦν. Ἀνασταυροῦντας ἑαυτοῖς, φησὶ, τὸν Υἱὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ παραδειγματίζοντας. Ὃ δὲ λέγει, τοῦτό ἐστι· Τὸ βάπτισμα σταυρός ἐστι· Συνεσταυρώθη γὰρ ὁ παλαιὸς ἡμῶν ἄνθρωπος. Καὶ πάλιν· Σύμμορφοι γεγόναμεν τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ· καὶ πάλιν· Συνετάφημεν οὖν αὐτῷ διὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος εἰς τὸν θάνατον. Ὥσπερ οὖν οὐκ ἔνι δεύτερον σταυρωθῆναι τὸν Χριστόν· τοῦτο γὰρ παραδειγματίσαι αὐτόν ἐστιν· οὕτως οὐδὲ βαπτισθῆναι. Εἰ γὰρ θάνατος αὐτοῦ οὐκέτι κυριεύσει, εἰ ἀνέστη, τῇ ἀναστάσει κρείττων γενόμενος τοῦ θανάτου, εἰ διὰ τοῦ θανάτου τὸν θάνατον κατεπάλαισεν, εἶτα πάλιν σταυροῦται· μῦθος πάντα ἐκεῖνα καὶ παραδειγματισμός. Ὁ τοίνυν δεύτερον ἑαυτὸν βαπτίζων, πάλιν αὐτὸν σταυροῖ. Τί δέ ἐστιν, Ἀνασταυροῦντας; Ἄνωθεν πάλιν σταυροῦντας. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἀπέθανεν ὁ Χριστὸς ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ, οὕτως ἡμεῖς ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι, οὐ τῇ σαρκὶ, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. Ὅρα θάνατον, καὶ θάνατον· ἐκεῖνος ἀπέθανεν ἐν τῇ σαρκὶ, ἡμεῖς δὲ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ. ∆ιὰ τοῦ βαπτίσματος ἡμῶν ὁ παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος ἐτάφη, καὶ ἀνέστη ὁ καινὸς, ὁ σύμμορφος γενόμενος τῷ ὁμοιώματι τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ. Εἰ τοίνυν ἀνάγκη πάλιν βαπτισθῆναι, ἀνάγκη πάλιν αὐτὸν ἀποθανεῖν τοῦτον· τὸ γὰρ βάπτισμα οὐδέν ἐστιν ἄλλο, ἢ ἀναίρεσις τοῦ βαπτιζομένου, καὶ ἔγερσις ἐκείνου. Καὶ καλῶς εἶπεν, Ἑαυτοῖς ἀνασταυροῦντας· ὁ γὰρ τοῦτο ποιῶν, ὡς τῆς προτέρας χάριτος ἐπιλαθόμενος, καὶ ῥᾳθύμως τὸν ἑαυτοῦ βίον οἰκονομῶν, ὡς ὄντος ἑτέρου βαπτίσματος, οὕτω πάντα διαπράττεται. ∆ιόπερ προσέχειν χρὴ καὶ ἀσφαλίζεσθαι. Τί ἐστι, Γευσαμένους τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς ἐπουρανίου; Τουτέστι, τῆς ἀφέσεως τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων· τοῦτο γὰρ Θεοῦ μόνου χαρίζεσθαι, καὶ ἡ χάρις ἅπαξ ἐστὶ χάρις. Τί οὖν ἐπιμενοῦμεν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, ἵνα ἡ χάρις πλεονάσῃ; Μὴ γένοιτο. Εἰ δὲ ἀεὶ μέλλομεν χάριτι σώζεσθαι, οὐδέποτε ἐσόμεθα ἀγαθοί. Ὅπου γὰρ μία ἐστὶ χάρις, καὶ οὕτω ῥᾳθυμοῦμεν· εἰ ᾔδειμεν ὅτι πάλιν ἔστιν ἀπολούσασθαι τὰ ἁμαρτήματα, ἆρα ἂν ἐπαυσάμεθα ἁμαρτάνοντες; Οὐκ ἔγωγε οἶμαι. Πολλὰ ἐνταῦθα δείκνυσι τὰ δῶρα· καὶ ἵνα μάθῃς, ἄκουσον· Κατηξιώθης, φησὶ, τοσαύτης ἀφέσεως, ἐν σκότῳ καθεζόμενος ὁ ἐχθρὸς, ὁ πολέμιος, ὁ ἀπηλλοτριωμένος, ὁ θεοστυγὴς, ὁ ἀπολλύμενος· ὁ τοιοῦτος οὖν ἐξαίφνης φωτισθεὶς, Πνεύματος ἀξιωθεὶς, δωρεᾶς ἐπουρανίου, υἱοθεσίας, βασιλείας οὐρανῶν, τῶν ἄλλων ἀγαθῶν, μυστηρίων ἀποῤ 63.80 ῥήτων, καὶ οὐδὲ οὕτω βελτίων γενόμενος, ἀλλ' ἄξιος μὲν ὢν ἀπωλείας, τυχὼν δὲ σωτηρίας καὶ τιμῆς, ὡς τὰ μεγάλα κατωρθωκὼς, πῶς ἂν δύναιτο βαπτισθῆναι πάλιν; ∆ύο τοίνυν τρόποις τὸ πρᾶγμα ἀδύνατον ἔφησεν εἶναι, καὶ τὸν ἰσχυρότερον ὕστερον ἔθηκεν· ἑνὶ μὲν, ὅτι οὐκ ἄξιος ὁ τοιούτων καταξιωθεὶς, καὶ πάντα προδοὺς τὰ δωρηθέντα αὐτῷ, πάλιν ἀνακαινισθῆναι· δευτέρῳ δὲ, ὅτι οὐ δυνατόν ἐστιν αὐτὸν πάλιν ἀνασταυροῦσθαι· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι παραδειγματίσαι. Οὐκ ἔστι τοίνυν δεύτερον λουτρὸν, οὐκ ἔστιν· εἰ δὲ ἔστι, καὶ τρίτον ἐστὶ, καὶ τέταρτόν ἐστι, καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑστέρου ἀεὶ τὸ πρῶτον καταλύεται, καὶ τοῦτο πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄλλου, καὶ τοῦτο εἰς ἄπειρον. Εἰπὼν δὲ, Καὶ καλὸν Θεοῦ γευσαμένους Ῥῆμα, δυνάμεις τε αἰῶνος μέλλοντος, οὐκ ἀποκαλύπτει αὐτὸ, ἀλλ' αἰνίττεται, καὶ μονονουχὶ ταῦτα λέγει· ὅτι τὸ ζῇν ὡς ἀγγέλους, τὸ μηδενὸς δεῖσθαι τῶν ἐνταῦθα, τὸ εἰδέναι ὅτι τῆς τῶν μελλόντων αἰώνων ἀπολαύσεως πρόξενος ἡμῖν ἡ υἱοθεσία γίνεται, τὸ εἰς τὰ ἄδυτα ἐκεῖνα εἰσελθεῖν προσδοκᾷν, διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἔστι ταῦτα μαθεῖν. Τί ἐστι, ∆υνάμεις τε τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος; Ἡ ζωὴ ἡ αἰώνιος, ἡ ἀγγελικὴ διαγωγή. Τούτων ἤδη τὸν ἀῤῥαβῶνα ἐλάβομεν διὰ τῆς πίστεως παρὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος. Εἰπέ μοι τοίνυν εἰ εἰς βασίλεια εἰσαχθεὶς, καὶ πάντα ἐμπιστευθεὶς τὰ ἐκεῖ, εἶτα προὔδωκας ἅπαντα, ἆρα ἂν