15. And since we seem to have divided all spiritual baptism in a threefold manner, let us come also to the proof of the statement proposed, that we may not appear to have done this of our own judgment, and with rashness. For John says of our Lord in his epistle, teaching us: “This is He who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood:  and it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. For three bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three are one;”51    1 John v. 6.—that we may gather from these words both that water is wont to confer the Spirit, and that men’s own blood is wont to confer the Spirit, and that the Spirit Himself also is wont to confer the Spirit. For since water is poured forth even as blood, the Spirit also was poured out by the Lord upon all who believed. Assuredly both in water, and none the less in their own blood, and then especially in the Holy Spirit, men may be baptized. For Peter says: “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet; It shall come to pass in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, and their young men shall see visions, and their old men shall dream dreams: and upon my servants, and upon my handmaidens, will I pour out of my Spirit;”52    Acts ii. 17, 18.—which Spirit we discover to have been communicated in the Old Testament, not indeed everywhere nor at large, but with other gifts; or, moreover, to have sprung of His own will into certain men, or to have invested them, or to have been upon them, even as we observe that it was said by the Lord to Moses, about the seventy elders, “And I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them.”53    Num. xi. 17. For which reason also, according to His promise, God put upon them from another of the Spirit which had been upon Moses, and they prophesied in the camp. And Moses, as a spiritual man, rejoiced that this had so happened, although he was unwillingly persuaded by Jesus the son of Nave to oppose this thing, and was not thereby induced. Further, also in the book of Judges, and in the books of Kings too, we observe that upon several, there either was the Spirit of the Lord, or that He came unto them, as upon Gothoniel, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Saul, David, and many others. Which comes to this result, that the Lord has taught us most plainly by them the liberty and power of the Holy Spirit, approaching of His own will, saying, “The Spirit breathes where He will; and thou hearest His voice, and knowest not whence He cometh or whither He goeth.”54    John iii. 5. [Greek, πνευμα.  Syriac as here rendered.] So that the same Spirit is, moreover, sometimes found to be upon those who are unworthy of Him; not certainly in vain or without reason, but for the sake of some needful operation; as He was upon Saul, upon whom came the Spirit of God, and he prophesied. However, in later days, after the Spirit of the Lord departed from him, and after a malign spirit from the Lord vexed him, because then he had come, after the messengers whom he had previously sent before with care, with intent to kill David; and they therefore fell into the chorus of the prophets, and they prophesied, so that they neither were able nor willing to do what they had been bidden. And we believe that the Spirit which was upon them all effected this with an admirable wisdom, by the will of God. Which Spirit also filled John the Baptist even from his mother’s womb; and it fell upon those who were with Cornelius the centurion before they were baptized with water. Thus, cleaving to the baptism of men, the Holy Spirit either goes before or follows it; or failing the baptism of water, it falls upon those who believe. We are counselled that either we ought duly to maintain the integrity of baptism, or if by chance baptism is given by any one in the name of Jesus Christ, we ought to supplement it, guarding the most holy invocation of the name of Jesus Christ, as we have most abundantly set forth; guarding, moreover, the custom and authority which so much claim our veneration for so long a time and for such great men.

XV. Et quoniam videmur omne Baptisma spiritale trifariam divisisse, veniamus etiam ad probationem 1199D narrationis propositae, ne videamur proprio 1200A sensu et temere hoc fecisse. Ait enim Joannes de Domino nostro in Epistola sua nos docens: Hic est qui venit per aquam et sanguinem, Jesus Christus, non in aqua tantum, sed in aqua et sanguine. Et Spiritus est qui testimonium perhibet, quia Spiritus est veritas; quia tres testimonium perhibent, Spiritus et aqua et sanguis. Et isti tres unum sunt (I Joann. VI, 8). Ut ex illis colligamus, et aquam praestare (Spiritum) solitum, et sanguinem proprium hominibus praestare Spiritum solitum, et ipsum quoque spiritum praestare Spiritum solitum. Nam cum effundatur aqua sicuti et sanguis, spiritus etiam effusus sit a Domino super omnes qui crediderunt, utique et aqua et nihilominus proprio sanguine, tunc deinde et Spiritu sancto possunt homines baptizari. Ait 1200B enim Petrus: (Act. II, 17, 18) Sed hoc est quod dictum est per Prophetam: Erit in novissimis diebus, dicit Dominus, effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem, et prophetabunt filii eorum et filiae eorum, et juvenes visiones videbunt, et seniores somnia somniabunt. Et quidem super servos et super ancillas effundam de spiritu meo. Quem Spiritum in Veteri Testamento, non quidem passim nec effuse, sed communicatum cum aliis, aut etiam sponte insiluisse in quosdam homines, vel induisse illos vel fuisse super eos deprehendimus, sicuti Moysi de septuaginta presbyteris a Domino dictum esse animadvertimus: Et auferam spiritum qui super te est, et imponam super eos (Num. XI, 17). Propter quod etiam secundum pollicitationem suam Deus ab alio ex spiritu qui super Moysen fuerat, imposuit super 1200C illos, et prophetaverunt in castris: Quod Moyses, ut homo spiritalis, ita contigisse gaudebat, licet ab Jesu filio Nave ut huic rei intercederet invito suadebatur, et idcirco non fuisse permotus. Porro autem in libro Judicum, item in Regnorum libris animadvertimus super plerosque aut fuisse spiritum Domini aut insiluisse in eos, tamquam super Gothoniel, Gedeon, Jepthe, Samson, Saul, David et caeteros alios. Quod usque adeo ita se habet, ut Spiritus sancti sponte accedenti ab eis libertatem ac facultatem manifestissime nos Dominus docuerit dicens: Spiritus ubi vult spirat, et vocem ejus audis, et nescis unde veniat aut quo vadat (Joan. III, 8). Ita ut idem Spiritus etiam super indignos quoque sui nonnumquam inveniatur 1200D esse; non utique otiose nec sine ratione, sed necessariae 1201A alicujus operationis gratia, sicuti super Saul fuit, super quem factus est Spiritus Dei, et prophetavit. Quamquam posteriore tempore postquam recessit ab eo Spiritus Domini, et postquam angebat eum spiritus malignus a Domino, quoniam tunc ad hoc postremus venerat post nuntios quos ante assidue praemiserat ut interficeret David: qui idcirco inciderunt in chorum Prophetarum et prophetaverunt, ne id quod jussi fuerant perficere possent aut vellent. Quod admirabili ratione per voluntatem Dei spiritum qui super illos omnes fuit, credimus operatum esse. Qui spiritus implevit etiam Joannem Baptistam adhuc ab utero matris suae, et incubuit super eos qui cum Cornelio centurione erant priusquam baptizarentur aqua. Ita dum cohaeret Baptismati hominum, Spiritus 1201B sanctus aut antecedit aut sequitur, vel cessante Baptismate aquae, incumbit super eos qui credunt, dat nobis consilium quod aut ex integro rite Baptisma servare, aut forte dato a quocumque in nomine Jesu Christi Baptismate supplere id debeamus, custodita nominis Jesu Christi, sicuti plenissime exposuimus, sanctissima invocatione, custodita praeterea tanti temporis, tot virorum, veneranda nobis consuetudine et auctoritate.