17. Moreover, if a man of this sort should again return to thee, thou wilt assuredly hesitate whether he may have baptism or no; and yet it will behove thee, in whatever way thou canst, to aid even this man if he repent. For of this adulterous, yea, murderous baptism, if there is any other author, it is then certainly a book devised by these same heretics on behalf of this same error, which is inscribed The Preaching of Paul;56    Rigaltius says that Jerome mentions this document, and regards it as apocryphal. And Eusebius refers to the Περίοδοι Πέτρου, which, according to the common reading of Peter for Paul in the text, may point to the same document. [Vol. ii. 341, note 10; and vol. iv. p. 246.] in which book, contrary to all Scriptures, thou wilt find both Christ confessing His own sin—although He alone did no sin at all—and almost compelled by His mother Mary unwillingly to receive John’s baptism. Also, that when He was baptized, fire was seen to be upon the water, which is written in neither of the Gospels. And that after such long time, Peter and Paul, after the collation of the Gospel in Jerusalem, and the mutual consideration and altercation and arrangement of things to be done finally, were known to one another, as if then for the first time; and certain other things devised of this kind disgracefully and absurdly;—all which things thou wilt find gathered together into that book. But they who are not ignorant of the nature of the Holy Spirit, understand that what is said of fire is said of the Spirit Himself. For in the Acts of the Apostles, according to that same promise of our Lord, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon the disciples, that they might be baptized in Him, there were seen sitting upon each one tongues as if of fire, that it might be manifest that they were baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire—that is, with that Spirit which was, whether fire, or as fire, such as was the fire which burned in the bush, and did not consume the bush; and such as is that fire which is the Spirit of the Angel, as saith the Scripture, “Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire;”57    Ps. civ. 4. whom if thou shouldst resemble, or be a companion or sharer with, thou shalt be able to dread no fire, not even that which, going before the Lord in the day of judgment, shall burn up the whole world, save those who are baptized in the Holy Spirit and in fire.

XVII. Item si hujusmodi homo rursus ad te redeat, utique haesitabis utrum habeat Baptisma necne; 1202B et tamen oportebit te huic quoque poenitentiam agenti quibuscumque modis potueris subvenire. Est autem adulterini hujus, immo internecini baptismatis, si quis alius auctor, tum etiam quidam ab eisdem ipsis haereticis propter hunc eumdem errorem confictus liber qui inscribitur PAULI PRAEDICATIO. In quo libro contra omnes Scripturas et de peccato proprio confitentem invenies Christum, qui solus omnino nihil deliquit, et ad accipiendum Joannis Baptisma pene invitum a matre sua Maria esse compulsum: item cum baptizaretur, ignem super aquam esse visum; quod in Evangelio nullo est scriptum: et post tanta tempora Petrum et Paulum post collationem Evangelii in Hierusalem et mutuam cogitationem et altercationem et rerum agendarum dispositionem, 1202C postremo in Urbe quasi tunc primum invicem sibi esse cognitos: et quaedam alia hujuscemodi absurde ac turpiter conficta: quae omnia in illum librum invenies congesta. Qui autem non ignorant Spiritus sancti qualitatem, intelligunt quod dictum est de igni, de ipso Spiritu dictum esse. Nam in Actis Apostolorum secundum hanc eamdem promissionem Domini nostri (Act. II), ipso die Pentecostes cum descendisset Spiritus sanctus super discipulos ut in illo baptizarentur, visae sunt insidentes super singulos linguae quasi ignis, ut constaret eos Spiritu sancto et in igne baptizatos, hoc est, eo Spiritu qui esset sive ignis sive quasi ignis: qualis ignis fuit qui in rubo ardebat et rubum non comburebat, qualisque est ille ignis qui est Angelorum spiritus, sicut Scriptura dicit: Qui facit Angelos suos spiritus, et ministros 1202D suos ignem ardentem (Psal. CIII, 4). Cui cum similis aut socius aut particeps fueris, poteris nullum ignem timere, nec illum quidem qui antecedens Domino in die judicii conflagrabit totum orbem terrae 1203A (Psal. XCVI, 3), absque eis qui baptizati sunt in Spiritu sancto et igni.