Let us for the rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried saying, “Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your souls29    Is. i. 16 (LXX.).;” and David, “Draw nigh to Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed30    Ps. xxxiv. 5 (LXX.)..” And Ezekiel, writing more clearly and plainly than them both, says, “And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I give you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh, and my Spirit will I put within you31    Ez. xxxvi. 25–27 (not exactly as LXX.)..” Most manifestly also does Zechariah prophesy of Joshua32    Cf. Zech. iii. 3. It is to be remembered, of course, that the form of the name in the Septuagint is not Joshua but Jesus., who was clothed with the filthy garment (to wit, the flesh of a servant, even ours), and stripping him of his ill-favoured raiment adorns him with the clean and fair apparel; teaching us by the figurative illustration that verily in the Baptism of Jesus33    If “the Baptism of Jesus” here means (as seems most likely) the Baptism of our Lord by S. John, not the Baptism instituted by our Lord, then we are apparently intended to understand that our Lord, summing up humanity in Himself, represented by His Baptism that of all who should thereafter be baptized. all we, putting off our sins like some poor and patched garment, are clothed in the holy and most fair garment of regeneration. And where shall we place that oracle of Isaiah, which cries to the wilderness, “Be glad, O thirsty wilderness: let the desert rejoice and blossom as a lily: and the desolate places of Jordan shall blossom and shall rejoice34    Is. xxxv. 1, 2 (LXX.).”? For it is clear that it is not to places without soul or sense that he proclaims the good tidings of joy: but he speaks, by the figure of the desert, of the soul that is parched and unadorned, even as David also, when he says, “My soul is unto Thee as a thirsty land35    Ps. cxliii. 6 (LXX.).,” and, “My soul is athirst for the mighty, for the living God36    Ps. xlii. 2 (not as LXX.)..” So again the Lord says in the Gospels, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink37    S. John vii. 37;” and to the woman of Samaria, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst38    S. John iv. 13, 14..” And “the excellency of Carmel”39    Is. xxxv. 2. is given to the soul that bears the likeness to the desert, that is, the grace bestowed through the Spirit. For since Elijah dwelt in Carmel, and the mountain became famous and renowned by the virtue of him who dwelt there, and since moreover John the Baptist, illustrious in the spirit of Elijah, sanctified the Jordan, therefore the prophet foretold that “the excellency of Carmel” should be given to the river. And “the glory of Lebanon40    Is. xxxv. 2.,” from the similitude of its lofty trees, he transfers to the river. For as great Lebanon presents a sufficient cause of wonder in the very trees which it brings forth and nourishes, so is the Jordan glorified by regenerating men and planting them in the Paradise of God: and of them, as the words of the Psalmist say, ever blooming and bearing the foliage of virtues, “the leaf shall not wither41    Ps. i. 4.,” and God shall be glad, receiving their fruit in due season, rejoicing, like a good planter, in his own works. And the inspired David, foretelling also the voice which the Father uttered from heaven upon the Son at His Baptism, that He might lead the hearers, who till then had looked upon that low estate of His Humanity which was perceptible by their senses, to the dignity of nature that belongs to the Godhead, wrote in his book that passage, “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the voice of the Lord in majesty42    Ps. xxix. 3, 4 (LXX.)..” But here we must make an end of the testimonies from the Divine Scriptures: for the discourse would extend to an infinite length if one should seek to select every passage in detail, and set them forth in a single book.

Κατίδωμεν δὲ λοιπὸν τὰς διὰ λόγων καὶ φωνῶν προφητείας. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἠσαΐας κέκραγε λέγων: Λούσασθε, καθαροὶ γένεσθε, ἀφέλετε τὰς πονηρίας ἀπὸ τῶν ψυχῶν ὑμῶν. ὁ δὲ Δαβίδ: Προσέλθετε πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ φωτίσθητε καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν οὐ μὴ καταισχυνθῇ. Ἰεζεκιὴλ δὲ τῶν δύο σαφέστερον καὶ λευκότερον γράφων ὑπισχνεῖται τὴν καλὴν ἐπαγγελίαν: Καὶ ῥανῶ ἐφ' ὑμᾶς καθαρὸν ὕδωρ καὶ καθαρισθήσεσθε ἀπὸ πασῶν τῶν ἀκαθαρσιῶν ὑμῶν καὶ ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν εἰδώλων ὑμῶν καθαριῶ ὑμᾶς καὶ δώσω ὑμῖν καρδίαν καινὴν καὶ πνεῦμα καινὸν δώσω ὑμῖν καὶ ἀφελῶ τὴν καρδίαν τὴν λιθίνην ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν καὶ δώσω ὑμῖν καρδίαν σαρκίνην καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά μου δώσω ἐν ὑμῖν. ἐναργέστατα δὲ καὶ ὁ Ζαχαρίας τόν τε Ἰησοῦν προφητεύει τὸν ἐνδεδυμένον τὸ ῥυπαρὸν ἱμάτιον τὴν δουλικὴν καὶ ἡμετέραν σάρκα, ἐκδύων δὲ αὐτὸν τῆς σκυθρωπῆς ἐσθῆτος κοσμεῖ τῇ καθαρᾷ καὶ λαμπούσῃ στολῇ διδάσκων ἡμᾶς διὰ τοῦ εἰκονικοῦ ὑποδείγματος, ὅτι δὴ ἐν τῷ βαπτίσματι τοῦ Ἰησοῦ πάντες ἡμεῖς ἐκδυόμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας ὡς χιτῶνα πτωχικόν τε καὶ πολυκόλλητον τὸν ἱερὸν καὶ κάλλιστον τὸν τῆς παλιγγενεσίας μετενδυόμεθα. ποῦ δὲ θήσομεν κἀκεῖνο τοῦ Ἠσαΐου τὸ λόγιον τὸ πρὸς τὴν ἔρημον κράζον: Εὐφράνθητι ἔρημος διψῶσα, ἀγαλλιάσθω ἔρημος καὶ ἀνθείτω ὡς κρίνον, καὶ ἐξανθήσει καὶ ἀγαλλιάσεται τὰ ἔρημα τοῦ Ἰορδάνου. πρόδηλον γὰρ ὡς οὐ τόποις ἀψύχοις καὶ ἀναισθήτοις τὴν εὐφροσύνην εὐαγγελίζεται, ἀλλὰ τροπολογεῖ διὰ τῆς ἐρήμου τὴν αὐχμώδη ψυχὴν καὶ ἀκόσμητον, ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ ὁ Δαβὶδ ὅταν λέγῃ: Ἡ ψυχή μου ὡς γῆ ἄνυδρός σοι, καὶ πάλιν: Ἐδίψησεν ἡ ψυχή μου πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν ἰσχυρὸν τὸν ζῶντα. καὶ αὖθις ἐν εὐαγγελίοις ὁ κύριος: Ἐάν τις διψᾷ, ἐρχέσθω πρός με καὶ πινέτω, καὶ πρὸς τὴν Σαμαρῖτιν: Πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν, ὃς δ' ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. καὶ ἡ τιμὴ δὲ τοῦ Καρμήλου δίδοται τῇ ψυχῇ τῇ ἐχούσῃ τὴν ὁμοίωσιν πρὸς τὴν ἔρημον, τουτέστιν ἡ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος χάρις. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ Ἠλίας μὲν ᾤκει τὸν Κάρμηλον (ὀνομαστὸν δὲ τὸ ὄρος ἐγένετο διὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐποικοῦντος ἀρετὴν καὶ ἀοίδιμον) ὁ δέ γε Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς ἐν τῷ πνεύματι Ἠλίου διαλάμπων τὸν Ἰορδάνην ἡγίαζε, διὰ τοῦτο ὁ προφήτης ἐθέσπιζε τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ Καρμήλου τῷ ποταμῷ δοθήσεσθαι. καὶ τὴν δόξαν δὲ τοῦ Λιβάνου ἐκ τῆς παραβολῆς τῶν ὑψηλῶν δένδρων ἐπὶ τὸν ποταμὸν μετήνεγκεν: ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖνος ὁ Λίβανος ἱκανὴν ἔχει θαύματος ἀφορμὴν αὐτὰ τὰ δένδρα, ἃ φύει καὶ τρέφει, οὕτως ὁ Ἰορδάνης δοξάζεται ἀνθρώπους ἀναγεννῶν καὶ φυτεύων ἐν τῷ τοῦ θεοῦ παραδείσῳ, ὧν κατὰ τὴν ψαλμικὴν φωνὴν ἀνθούντων ἀεὶ καὶ ταῖς ἀρεταῖς κομώντων τὸ μὲν φύλλον οὐκ ἀπορρυήσεται, τὸν δὲ καρπὸν ἐν καιρῷ δεξάμενος ὁ θεὸς εὐφρανθήσεται ὡς ἀγαθὸς φυτοκόμος τοῖς ἰδίοις ἔργοις ἐπαγαλλόμενος. ὁ δὲ θεσπέσιος Δαβὶδ καὶ τὴν φωνὴν προφητεύων, ἣν ἐξ οὐρανῶν ὁ πατὴρ ἐπαφῆκε τῷ υἱῷ βαπτιζομένῳ, ἵνα πρὸς τὸ φυσικὸν τῆς θεότητος ἀξίωμα τοὺς ἀκούοντας ὁδηγήσῃ πρὸς τὴν αἰσθητὴν τέως τὴν κατὰ τὸν ἄνθρωπον εὐτέλειαν βλέποντας, ἐνέγραψεν ἐκεῖνο τῇ βίβλῳ τό: Φωνὴ κυρίου ἐπὶ τῶν ὑδάτων, φωνὴ κυρίου ἐν μεγαλοπρεπείᾳ. ἀλλὰ τὰς μὲν ἐκ τῶν θείων γραφῶν μαρτυρίας μέχρι τούτου παυστέον: χωρήσοι γὰρ ὁ λόγος εἰς ἄπειρον, εἴ τις βουληθῇ τὰ καθέκαστον ἐκλέγων ἑνὶ παραθέσθαι βιβλίῳ.