3. And I, beloved brethren,—as I not heedlessly meditate these things, and not in harmony with human wisdom, but as it is permitted to our minds by the condescension of the heavenly Lord, needfully and pertinently to conceive,—say that that dove signifies to us of itself a double type. Formerly, that is, from the beginning of the divine administration, it suggests its own figure, the first indeed and chief—that is, the figure of the Spirit. And by its mouth the sacrament of baptism which is provided for the salvation of the human race, and that by the heavenly plan it is celebrated in the Church only.13    This passage is altogether corrupt and unintelligible: some force is necessary even to give it an appearance of meaning. Moreover, three times sent forth from the ark, flying about through the air over the water, it already signified the sacraments of our Church. Whence also the Lord Christ charges upon Peter, and moreover also upon the rest of His disciples, “Go ye and preach the Gospel to the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”14    Matt. xxviii. 19. [For the next sentence see Acts ii. 33.] That is, that that same Trinity which operated figuratively in Noah’s days through the dove, now operates in the Church spiritually through the disciples.

III. Et ego quidem, fratres dilectissimi, non temere ista cogitans, nec humana sapientia conspirans, sed ut coelestis Domini dignatione necessarie et pertinenter mentibus nostris concipere permittitur; dico illam, id est, columbam, duplicem nobis per semetipsam significare figuram. Primam quidem et principalem, suam, hoc est spiritalem, olim, id est, ab initio divinae administrationis insistit, et sacramentum Baptismatis quod in salutem generis humani provisum, et soli Ecclesiae coelesti ratione celebrare, per os suum praeostendit. Ter enim emissa ex arca, volitans per aerem super aquam, significabat jam 1209B tunc Ecclesiae nostrae sacramenta. Unde et Dominus Christus Petro, sed et caeteris discipulis suis mandat, dicens: Euntes evangelizate gentibus, baptizantes eos in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus sancti (Matth. XXVIII, 19). Hoc est, ut Trinitas illa quae sub Noe per columbam figuraliter operata est, haec nunc in Ecclesia per hos spiritaliter operetur.