Tertullian: de Baptismo

[1] De Sacramento aquae nostrae qua ablutis delictis pristinae caecitatis in vitam aeternam liberamur non erit otiosum digestum istud, instruens tam eos qui cum maxime formantur quam et illos qui simpliciter credidisse contenti, non exploratis rationibus traditionum, temptabilem fidem per imperitiam portant.

[1] On the Sacrament of our water, by which, with sins washed away, we are freed from former blindness into eternal life, this digest will not be idle, instructing both those who are at the very moment being formed and those who, content with having simply believed, without having explored the rationales of traditions, carry a faith temptable through inexperience.

[2] atque, adeo nuper conversata istic quaedam de caina haeresi vipera venenatissima doctrina sua plerosque rapuit, imprimis baptismum destruens. plane secundum naturam: nam fere viperae et aspides ipsique reguli serpentes arida et inaquosa sectantur.

[2] And indeed, just recently, a certain viper from the Cainite heresy, most venomous, moving about here, has by her doctrine snatched away very many, chiefly destroying baptism. Plainly according to nature: for vipers and asps and the very basilisks themselves pursue arid and waterless places.

[3] sed nos pisciculi secundum i0xqu\n nostrum Iesum Christum in aqua nascimur, nec aliter quam in aqua permanendo salvi sumus. itaque illa monstrosissima, cui nec integre quidem docendi ius erat, optime norat necare pisciculos de aqua auferens.

[3] but we little fishes, according to our Ichthys, Jesus Christ, are born in water, nor otherwise than by remaining in water are we saved. and so that most monstrous one, who did not even properly have the right of teaching, knew very well how to kill the little fishes by removing them from the water.

CAP. 2.

CHAPTER 2.

[1] Sedenim quanta vis est perversitatis ad fidem labefactandam vel in totum non recipiendam, ut ex his eam impugnet ex quibus constat. nihil adeo est quod obduret mentes hominum quam simplicitas divinorum operum quae in actu videtur, et magnificentia quae in effectu repromittitur. et hinc quoque, quoniam tanta simplicitate, sine pompa sine apparatu novo aliquo, denique sine sumptu, homo in aqua demissus et inter pauca verba tinctus non multo vel nihilo mundior resurgit, eo incredibilis existimatur consecutio aeternitatis.

[1] And yet how great is the force of perversity for making the faith totter or for not receiving it at all, that it impugns it from those very things from which it consists. There is nothing so much that hardens the minds of men as the simplicity of the divine works which is seen in act, and the magnificence which is promised in effect. And hence also, since with such simplicity, without pomp, without any new apparatus, finally without expense, a man lowered into the water and, amid a few words, dipped, rises again not much, or not at all, cleaner, for that reason the attainment of eternity is judged incredible.

[2] mentior si non e contrario idolorum sollemnia vel arcana de suggestu et apparatu deque sumptu fidem et auctoritatem sibi extruunt. pro misera incredulitas, quae denegas deo proprietates suas, simplicitatem et potestatem. quid ergo?

[2] I would be lying if, on the contrary, the solemnities or arcana of idols do not build for themselves faith and authority from the platform and the apparatus and from the expense. Alas, wretched incredulity, you who deny to God his own properties, simplicity and power. What then?

nonne mirandum est lavacro dilui mortem? quia mirandum est, idcirco non creditur? atquin eo magis credendum est: qualia enim decet esse opera divina nisi super omnem admirationem?

Is it not a thing to be wondered at that death is washed away by the laver? Because it is to be wondered at, therefore it is not believed? Nay rather, it is all the more to be believed: for of what sort ought the divine works to be, if not beyond all admiration?

nos quoque ipsi miramur, sed quia credimus. ceterum incredulitas miratur quia non credit: miratur enim simplicia quasi vana, magnifica quasi impossibilia.

we too ourselves marvel, but because we believe. moreover, incredulity marvels because it does not believe: for it marvels at simple things as if vain, at magnificent things as if impossible.

[3] et sit plane ut putas: satis ad utrumque divina pronuntiatio praecucurrit: Stulta mundi elegit deus ut confundat sapientiam eius: et, Quae difficilia penes homines facilia penes deum. nam si deus et sapiens et potens, quod etiam praetereuntes eum non negant, merito in adversis sapientiae potentiaeque, id est in stultitia et impossibilitate, materias operationis suae instituit: quoniam virtus omnis ex his causam accipit a quibus provocatur.

[3] and let it plainly be as you suppose: for both sides the divine pronouncement has anticipated: “God chose the foolish things of the world to confound its wisdom”; and, “What is difficult with men is easy with God.” For if God is both wise and powerful, which even those merely passing him by do not deny, deservedly in the adversaries of wisdom and power, that is, in foolishness and impossibility, he has established the materials of his operation: since every virtue takes its cause from those things by which it is provoked.

CAP. 3.

CHAPTER 3.

[1] Huius memores pronuntiationis tanquam praescriptionis, nihilo minus quam stultum et impossibile sit aqua reformari tractamus. quod utique ista materia tantae dignationis meruit officium, ut opinor auctoritas liquidi elementi exigenda est. atquin plurima suppetit, et quidem a primordio.

[1] Mindful of this pronouncement as of a prescription, we nonetheless treat how, however foolish and impossible it be, one is re-formed by water. For that this very material has deserved the office of so great a condescension, as I suppose, the authority of the liquid element must be exacted. And indeed very many considerations offer themselves, even from the beginning.

[2] nam unum ex his est quae ante omnem mundi suggestum impolita adhuc specie penes deum quiescebant in principio. In primordio, inquit, fecit deus caelum et terram: terra autem erat invisibilis et incomposita, et tenebrae erant super abyssum, et spiritus dei ferebatur super aquas. habes, homo, imprimis aetatem venerari aquarum, quod antiqua substantia; dehinc dignationem, quod divini spiritus sedes, gratior scilicet ceteris tunc elementis.

[2] for one of these is among those which, before all the stage-setting of the world, with an as-yet-unpolished aspect, were at rest with God at the beginning. In the beginning, he says, God made heaven and earth: but the earth was invisible and uncomposed, and darknesses were over the abyss, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. You have, O man, first the age of the waters to venerate, inasmuch as an ancient substance; then the dignity, inasmuch as the seat of the divine Spirit, more in favor, to wit, than the other elements at that time.

nam et tenebrae totae adhuc sine cultu siderum informes, et tristis abyssus et terra imparata et caelum rude: solus liquor, semper materia perfecta laeta simplex de suo pura, dignum vectaculum deo subiciebat.

for even the whole darkness, still formless and without the ornament of the stars, and the drear abyss, and the unprepared earth, and the raw heaven: the liquid alone, always a material perfect, gladsome, simple, pure from its own nature, was furnishing a worthy conveyance for God.

[3] quid quod exinde dispositio mundi modulatricibus quodammodo aquis deo constitit? nam ut firmamentum caeleste suspenderet in medietate, distinctis aquis fecit; ut terram aridam expanderet, segregaris aquis expediit.

[3] What of the fact that thereafter the disposition of the world for God depended, as it were, upon modulatory waters? For when he was to suspend the celestial firmament in the middle, he made it with the waters distinguished; when he was to spread out the dry earth, he effected it with the waters segregated.

[4] ordinato dehinc per elementa mundo cum incolae darentur, primis aquis praeceptum est animas producere: primus liquor quod viveret edidit, ne mirum sit in baptismo si aquae animare noverunt.

[4] with the world then ordered through the elements, when inhabitants were being given, to the primal waters it was commanded to bring forth souls: the liquid first produced what would live; let it not be a wonder in baptism if the waters have known how to animate.

[5] non enim ipsius quoque hominis figulandi opus sociantibus aquis absolutum est? adsumpta est de terra materia [convenit], non tamen habilis nisi humecta et sucida, quam scilicet ante quartum diem segregatae aquae in stationem suam superstite humore limo temperarant.

[5] For was not even the work of potter-fashioning the man himself completed with the waters as associates? Material was taken from the earth [it is agreed], yet not workable unless moistened and succous, which indeed, before the fourth day, the waters, having been separated into their own station, by the surviving moisture had tempered with mud.

[6] si exinde universa vel plura prosequar quae de elementi istius auctoritate commemorem, quanta vis eius aut gratia, quot ingenia quot officia quantum instrumenti mundo ferat, vereor ne laudes aquae potius quam baptismi rationes videar congregasse: licet eo plenius docerem non esse dubitandum si materiam quam in omnibus rebus et operibus suis deus disposuit, etiam in sacramentis propriis parere fecit, si quae vitam terrenam gubernat etiam caelestia procura.

[6] if thereafter I should pursue all or more of the things which I would commemorate concerning the authority of this element—how great its force or grace, how many ingenia, how many offices, how much instrument it bears to the world—I fear lest I may seem to have gathered praises of water rather than the reasons of baptism: although by this I would more fully teach that there is no doubting that the matter which God has disposed in all things and in his works, he has also caused to obey in his own sacraments, that what governs earthly life should also administer the heavenly.

CAP. 4.

CHAPTER 4.

[1] Sed ea satis erit praecerpsisse in quibus et ratio baptismi recognoscitur prima illa quae iam tunc etiam ipso habitu praenotabatur ad baptismi figuram, dei spiritum qui ab initio super aquas vectabatur super aquas intinctorem moraturum. sanctum autem utique super sanctum ferebatur, aut ab eo quod superferebatur id quod ferebat sanctitatem mutuabatur, quoniam subiecta quaeque materia eius quae desuper imminet qualitatem rapiat necesse est, maxime corporalis spiritalem et penetrare et insidere facilem per substantiae suae subtilitatem. ita de sancto sanctificata natura aquarum et ipsa sanctificare concepit.

[1] But it will be enough to have pre‑sketched those points in which the rationale of baptism too is recognized—that first one, which even then, by its very habit, was pre‑noted toward the figure of baptism: the Spirit of God, who from the beginning was borne over the waters, would linger over the waters as the immerser. And assuredly the Holy was being borne over a holy thing; or else, from that which was borne above, that which was bearing it was borrowing sanctity, since it is necessary that every subjacent matter seize the quality of that which overhangs from above—most of all the corporeal [kind] the spiritual, which, through the subtlety of its substance, is easy both to penetrate and to settle within. Thus from the Holy, the nature of the waters, having been sanctified, itself conceived to sanctify.

[2] ne quis ergo dicat, 'numquid ipsis enim aquis tinguimur quae tunc in primordio fuerunt?' non utique ipsis, si non ex ea parte ipsis qua genus quidem unum, species vero complures. quod autem generi attributum est etiam in species redundat.

[2] Lest therefore someone say, 'Surely are we dipped in the very waters which then were in the beginning?' Not in those very ones, to be sure—unless in that respect they are those same ones wherein the genus is indeed one, but the species are truly multiple. But what is attributed to the genus also redounds into the species.

[3] ideoque nulla distinctio est mari quis an stagno, flumine an fonte, lacu an alveo diluatur, nec quicquam refert inter eos quos Ioannes in Iordane et quos Petrus in Tiberi tinxit: nisi si et ille spado quem Philippus inter vias fortuita aqua tint plus salutis aut minus rettulit.

[3] And so there is no distinction whether one be washed in the sea or in a pool, in a river or a spring, in a lake or a channel; nor does it matter at all between those whom John dipped in the Jordan and those whom Peter dipped in the Tiber: unless perhaps even that eunuch whom Philip dipped by the roadside with fortuitous water brought back more or less salvation.

[4] igitur omnes aquae de pristina originis praerogativa sacramentum sanctificationis consequuntur invocato deo. supervenit enim statim spiritus de caelis et aquis superest sanctificans eas de semetipso, et ita sanctificatae vim sanctificandi combibunt.

[4] therefore all waters, from the prerogative of their pristine origin, obtain the sacrament of sanctification with God invoked. For immediately the Spirit comes upon from the heavens and is over the waters, sanctifying them from himself; and thus sanctified they drink in the power of sanctifying.

[5] quanquam ad simplicem actum competat similitudo, ut quoniam vice sordium delictis inquinamur aquis abluamur. sed delicta sicut in carne non comparent, quia nemo super cutem portat maculasidololatriae aut stupri aut fraudis, ita et eiusmodi in spiritu sordent, qui est auctor delicti: spiritus enim dominatur, caro famulatur. tamen utrumque inter se communicant reatum, spiritus ob imperium, caro ob ministerium.

[5] although the similarity suits the simple act, namely that, since in the stead of filth we are stained by delicts, we are washed by waters. But delicts do not appear in the flesh, since no one carries upon the skin the stains of idolatry or of debauchery or of fraud; so too things of this sort are filthy in the spirit, which is the author of the delict: for the spirit rules, the flesh serves. Nevertheless, both share the guilt between themselves—the spirit on account of command, the flesh on account of ministry.

igitur medicatis quodammodo aquis per angeli interventum et spiritus in aquis corporaliter diluitur et caro in eisdem spiritaliter emundatur.

therefore, the waters, in a certain manner medicated through the intervention of an angel, and the spirit is washed in the waters corporeally, and the flesh in the same is cleansed spiritually.

CAP. 5.

CHAPTER 5.

[1] Sedenim nationes extraneae ab omni intellectu spiritalium potestatem eadem efficacia idolis suis subministrant. sed viduis aquis sibi mentiuntur. nam et sacris quibusdam per lavacrum initiantur Isidis alicuius aut Mithrae.

[1] But indeed the foreign nations, estranged from all understanding of spiritual things, furnish to their idols a potency with the same efficacy. But with widowed waters they deceive themselves. For even by certain sacred rites they are initiated through a laver of some Isis or of Mithras.

ipsos etiam deos suos lavationibus efferunt. ceterum villas domos templa totasque urbes aspergine circumlatae aquae expiant. passim certe ludis Apollinaribus et Pelusiis tinguuntur, idque se in regenerationem et impunitatem periuriorum suorum agere praesumunt.

they even bring forth their very gods by lavations. moreover, they expiate villas, houses, temples, and whole cities by the aspersion of water carried around. everywhere, to be sure, in the Apollinarian and Pelusian games they are dipped, and they presume that they do this for regeneration and for the impunity of their perjuries.

item penes veteres quisque se homicidio infecerat purgatrices aquas explorabat.

likewise among the ancients, whoever had infected himself with homicide would explore purgative waters.

[2] igitur si idolo, natura aquae quod propria [materia] sit abluendi, auspici emundationis blandiuntur, quanto id verius aquae praestabunt per dei auctoritatem a quo omnis natura earum constituta est: si religione aquas medicari putant, quae potior religio quam dei vivi agnitio?

[2] therefore, if to an idol they flatter the nature of water—since its proper “matter” is that of washing—under the auspice of cleansing, how much more truly will waters furnish this through the authority of God, by whom all their nature has been constituted: if by religion they think to medicate the waters, what religion is more potent than the recognition of the living God?

[3] hic quoque studium diaboli recognoscimus res dei aemulantis, cum et ipse baptismum in suis exercet. quid simile? immundus emundat, perditor liberat, damnatus absolvit?

[3] Here too we recognize the zeal of the Devil emulating the things of God, since he likewise exercises baptism among his own. What is like this? The unclean one cleanses, the destroyer frees, the condemned absolves?

suam videlicet operam destruet diluens delicta quae inspirat ipse. haec quidem in testimonium posita sort repellentibus fidem, si minime credant rebus dei, quarum adfectationibus apud aemulatorem dei credunt.

He will, to be sure, destroy his own work, washing away the delicts he himself inspires. These things, indeed, are set as testimony for those repelling faith, if they in no wise believe the things of God, to the affectations of which they give credence with the emulator of God.

[4] an non et alias sine ullo sacramento immundi spiritus aquis incubant adfectantes illam in primordio divini spiritus gestationem? sciunt opaci quique fontes et avii quique rivi, et in balneis piscinae et euripi in domibus vel cisternae, et putei qui rapere dicuntur, scilicet per vim spiritus nocentis. nam et esetos et lymphaticos et hydrophobas vocant quos aquae necaverunt aut amentia vel formidine exercuerunt.

[4] Or do not unclean spirits also otherwise, without any sacrament, incubate upon waters, affecting that gestation of the divine Spirit in the beginning? Shady springs and out-of-the-way streams know it, and in the baths the pools and the euripi in houses, as well as the cisterns, and the wells which are said to snatch—namely by the force of the harmful spirit. For they call “fevered ones” (eseti) and “lymphatics” and “hydrophobes” those whom the waters have killed, or have harried with madness or with dread.

[5] quorsum ista rettulimus? ne quis durius credat angelum dei sanctum aquis in salutem hominis temperandis adesse, cum angelus mali profanus commercium eiusdem elementi in perniciem hominis frequentet. angelum aquis intervenire si novum videtur, exemplum futuri praecucurrit.

[5] To what purpose have we related these things? Lest anyone think it too hard to believe that a holy angel of God is present to the waters, tempering them for the salvation of man, when a profane angel of evil frequents the commerce of that same element to the ruin of man. If it seems new that an angel intervenes with the waters, an example of the future has anticipated it.

piscinam Bethsaidam angelus interveniens commovebat. observabant qui valetudinem querebantur. nam si quis praevenerat descendere illuc, queri post lavacrum desinebat.

an angel, intervening, would stir the pool of Bethsaida. Those who were complaining of infirmity kept watch. For if anyone had been first to descend there, he ceased to complain after the laver.

figura ista medicinae corporalis spiritalem medicinam canebat, ex forma qua semper carnalia in figura spiritalium antecedunt.

That figure of corporeal medicine was prefiguring spiritual medicine, after the form by which carnal things always precede in the figure of spiritual things.

[6] proficiente itaque in omnibus gratia dei plus aquis et angelo accessit: qui vitia corporis remediabant nunc spiritum medentur, qui temporalem operabantur salutem nunc aeternam reformant, qui unum semel in anno liberabant nunc quotidie populos conservant deleta morte per ablutionem delictorum. exempto scilicet reatu eximitur et poena.

[6] Therefore, as the grace of God advanced in all things, there was added something more to the waters and to the angel: they who used to remedy the defects of the body now heal the spirit; they who were effecting a temporal salvation now refashion it as eternal; they who once in the year used to free one, now daily preserve peoples, with death destroyed through the ablution of sins. With the guilt removed, to wit, the penalty also is removed.

[7] ita restituitur homo deo ad similitudinem eius qui retro ad imaginem dei fuerat: imago in effigie, similitudo in aeternitate censetur: recipit enim illum dei spiritum quem tunc de adflatu eius acceperat sed post amiserat per delictum.

[7] thus man is restored to God to His likeness, he who formerly had been after the image of God: image is accounted in effigy, likeness in eternity: for he receives back that Spirit of God which then he had received from His afflatus, but afterward had lost through transgression.

CAP. 6.

CHAPTER 6.

[1] Non quod in aqua spiritum sanctum consequimur, sed in aqua emundati sub angelo spiritui sancto praeparamur. hic quoque figura praecessit. sicut enim Ioannes antepraecursor domini fuit praeparans vias eius, ita et angelus baptismi arbiter superventuro spiritui sancto vias dirigit abolitione delictorum, quam fides impetrat obsignata in patre et filio et spiritu sancto.

[1] Not that in the water we obtain the Holy Spirit, but in the water, cleansed under an angel, we are prepared for the Holy Spirit. Here too the figure preceded. For just as John was the forerunner of the Lord, preparing his ways, so also the angel, arbiter of baptism, directs the ways for the Holy Spirit who is to come, by the abolition of sins, which faith obtains, sealed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

[2] nam si in tribus testibus stabit omne verbum, dei quarto magis donum? habemus benedictione eosdem arbitros fidei quos et sponsores salutis. sufficit ad fiduciam spei nostrae etiam numerus nominum divinorum.

[2] for if in three witnesses every word will stand, how much more by a fourth—the gift of God? by the benediction we have the same arbiters of faith as also the sponsors of salvation. even the number of the divine names suffices for the confidence of our hope.

cum autem sub tribus et testatio fidei et sponsio salutis pigneretur, necessario adicitur ecclesiae mentio, quoniam ubi tres, id est pater et filius et spiritus sanctus; ibi ecclesia quae trium corpus est.

but since under three both the attestation of faith and the sponsion of salvation are pledged, the mention of the Church is necessarily added, since where the three are, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; there is the Church which is the body of the three.

CAP. 7.

CHAPTER 7.

[1] Exinde egressi de lavacro perungimur beriedicta unctione de pristina disciplina qua ungui oleo de cornu in sacerdotium solebant, ex quo Aaron a Moyse unctus est. unde christus dicitur a chrismate quod est unctio, quae domino nomen accommodavit, facta spiritalis quia spiritu unctus est a deo patre: sicut in Actis, Collecti sunt enim vero in ista civitate adversus sanctum filium tuum quem unxisti.

[1] Thereafter, having gone out from the laver, we are anointed all over with a blessed unction, from the pristine discipline by which it was customary to be anointed with oil from a horn into the priesthood, whence Aaron was anointed by Moses. Whence Christ is so called from the chrism, which is an unction, which furnished the Lord with a name, having become spiritual because he was anointed with the Spirit by God the Father: as in the Acts, For truly there were gathered together in this city against your holy son whom you anointed.

[2] sic et in nobis carnaliter currit unctio sed spiritaliter proficit, quomodo et ipsius baptismi carnalis actus quod in aqua mergimur, spiritalis effectus quod delictis liberamur.

[2] Thus also in us the unction runs carnally, but profits spiritually, just as the carnal act of the baptism itself is that we are immersed in water, the spiritual effect is that we are freed from sins.

CAP. 8.

CHAPTER 8.

[1] Dehinc manus imponitur per benedictionem advocans et invitans spiritum sanctum. sane humano ingenio licebit spiritum in aquam arcessere et concorporationem eorum accommodatis desuper manibus alio spiritu tantae claritatis animare, deo autem in suo organo non licebit per manus sanctas sublimitatem modulari spiritalem?

[1] Then the hand is laid on through a benediction, calling and inviting the Holy Spirit. Surely it will be permitted to human ingenuity to summon a spirit into the water and to animate their concorporation, with the hands applied from above, by another spirit of such brightness; but to God, in his own organ, will it not be permitted to modulate spiritual sublimity through holy hands?

[2] sed est hoc quoque de veteri sacramento quo nepotes suos ex Ioseph, Ephrem et Manassem, Iacob [capitibus] impositis et intermutatis manibus benedixit, et quidem ita transversim obliquatis in se ut Christum deformantes iam tunc portenderent benedictionem in Christo futuram.

[2] but this too is from the ancient sacrament, by which Jacob, with hands laid upon their [heads] and interchanged, blessed his grandsons from Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh; and indeed in such a crosswise oblique fashion upon them that, fashioning Christ, they already then portended the benediction that would be in Christ.

[3] tunc ille sanctissimus spiritus super emundata et benedicta corpora libens a patre descendit superque baptismi aquas tanquam pristinam sedem recognoscens conquiescit: columbae figura delapsus in dominum ut natura spiritus sancti declararetur per animal simplicitatis et innocentiae, quod etiam corporaliter ipso felle careat columba.

[3] then that most holy Spirit, upon the purified and blessed bodies, willingly from the Father descended, and upon the waters of baptism, as recognizing its pristine seat, he reposes: having descended in the figure of a dove upon the Lord, in order that the nature of the Holy Spirit might be declared through an animal of simplicity and innocence, since even corporeally the dove lacks gall itself.

[4] ideoque Estote, inquit, simplices ut columbae: ne hoc quidem sine argumento praecedentis figurae: quemadmodum enim post aquas diluvii quibus iniquitas antiqua purgata est, post baptismum ut ita dixerim mundi, pacem caelestis irae praeco columba terris adnuntiavit dimissa ex arca et cum olea reversa - quod signum etiam ad nationes pacis praetenditureadem dispositione spiritalis effectus terrae, id est carni nostrae, emergenti de lavacro post vetera delicta columba sancti spiritus advolat pacem dei adferens, emissa de caelis ubi ecclesia est arcae figura.

[4] and so “Be,” he says, “simple as doves”: not even this without the argument of the preceding figure: for just as after the waters of the deluge, by which ancient iniquity was purged—after, so to speak, the baptism of the world—the dove, as the herald that the heavenly wrath was pacified, announced peace to the lands, having been sent from the ark and returned with an olive - which sign also is held forth to the nations as peace by the same disposition: by the spiritual effect upon the earth, that is, upon our flesh, as it emerges from the laver after former transgressions, the dove of the Holy Spirit flies to it, bringing the peace of God, sent from the heavens where the Church is the figure of the ark.

[5] 'sed mundus rursus deliquit, quo male comparetur baptismus diluvio.' itaque igni destinatur, sicut et homo cum post baptismum delicta restaurat: ut hoc quoque in signum admonitionis nostrae debeat accipi.

[5] 'but the world sinned again, whereby baptism is ill compared with the deluge.' and so it is destined for fire, just as also man, when after baptism he restores his delicts: so that this too ought to be received as a sign for our admonition.

CAP. 9.

CHAPTER 9.

[1] Quot igitur patrocinia naturae, quot privilegia gratiae, quot sollemnia disciplinae, figurae praestructiones praedicationes, religionem aquae ordinaverunt. primum quidem, cum populus de Aegypto [libere] expeditus vim regis Aegypti per aquam transgressus evadit, ipsum regem cum totis copiis aqua extinguit. quae figura manifestior in baptismi Sacramento?

[1] How many, therefore, patronages of nature, how many privileges of grace, how many solemnities of discipline, figures, pre‑structures, proclamations, have ordained the religion of water. First indeed, when the people, [freely] disencumbered from Egypt, having crossed through the water escaped the force of the king of Egypt, the water extinguished the king himself with all his forces. What figure is more manifest in the Sacrament of baptism?

liberantur de saeculo nationes per aquam scilicet, et diabolum dominatorem pristinum in aqua oppressum derelinquunt.

nations are liberated from the world, to wit, through water, and they leave behind the devil, their former dominator, oppressed in the water.

[2] item aqua de amaritudinis vitio in suum commodum suavitatis Mosei ligno remediatur. lignum illud erat Christus venenatae et amarae retro naturae venas in saluberrimam aquam, baptismi scilicet, ex sese remedians.

[2] likewise the water, from the vice of bitterness, is remediated into its own advantage of suavity by the wood of Moses. That wood was Christ, remedying from himself the veins of a formerly venomous and bitter nature into the most salubrious water, namely of baptism.

[3] haec est aqua quae de comite petra populo profluebat: si enim petra Christus, sine dubio aqua in Christo baptismum videmus benedici. quanta aquae gratia penes deum et Christum eius ad baptismi confirmationem.

[3] this is the water which flowed forth from the companion rock for the people: for if the rock is Christ, without doubt we see the water in Christ blessed for baptism. How great is the grace of water with God and His Christ for the confirmation of baptism.

[4] nunquam sine aqua Christus: siquidem et ipse aqua tinguitur, prima rudimenta potestatis suae vocatus ad nuptias aqua auspicatur, cum sermonem facit sitientes ad aquam suam invitat sempiternam, cum de agape docet aquae calicem parvo oblatum inter opera dilectionis probat: ad puteum vires resumit, super aquam incedit, libenter transfretat, aquam discentibus ministrat. perseverat testimonium baptismi usque ad passionem: cum deditur in crucem aqua intervenit - sciunt Pilati manus: cum vulneratur aqua de latere prorumpit - scit lancea militis.

[4] never without water is Christ: since indeed he himself is baptized with water, the first rudiments of his power, when invited to a wedding, he inaugurates with water; when he delivers a discourse he invites the thirsty to his own everlasting water; when he teaches about agape he approves, among works of love, a chalice of water offered as a small gift: at a well he resumes his strength, he walks upon water, he gladly crosses over, he ministers water to the disciples. the testimony of baptism perseveres even unto the Passion: when he is delivered to the cross water intervenes — Pilate’s hands know it: when he is wounded water bursts forth from his side — the soldier’s lance knows it.

CAP. 10.

CHAPTER 10.

[1] Diximus quantum mediocritati nostrae licuit de universis quae baptismi religionem instruunt. nunc ad reliquum statum eius aeque ut potero progrediar de quaestiunculis quibusdam. baptismus a Ioanne denuntiatus iam tunc habuit quaestionem ab ipso quidem domino propositam ad pharisaeos, caelestisne is baptismus esset an veto terrenus: de quo illi non valuerunt constanter respondere, utpote non intelligentes quia nec credentes.

[1] We have said, so far as our mediocrity permitted, about all the things which instruct the religion of baptism. Now as to its remaining status, likewise as I shall be able, I will proceed concerning certain small inquiries. The baptism announced by John already then had a question, proposed by the Lord himself to the Pharisees, whether that baptism were celestial or indeed terrene: about which they were not able to respond consistently, inasmuch as they did not understand, because they did not believe either.

[2] nos quidem quantula fide sumus tantulo et intellectu possumus aestimare divinum quidem eum baptismum fuisse, mandatu tamen non et potestate, quod et Ioannem a domino missum legimus in hoc munus, ceterum humanum condicione. nihil enim caeleste praestabat, sed caelestibus praeministrabat, paenitentiae scilicet praepositus quae est in hominis voluntate.

[2] we indeed, with how little faith we are and with so small an intellect, can estimate that that baptism was indeed divine, by mandate yet not also by power, since we read that John was sent by the Lord for this office, but otherwise human in condition. for it furnished nothing celestial, but pre-ministered to celestial things, being, namely, set over repentance, which is in the will of man.

[3] denique legis doctores et pharisaei, qui credere noluerunt, nec paententiam inire voluerunt. quodsi paenitentia humanum est et baptismus ipsius eiusdem condicionis fuerit necesse est: aut daret et spiritum sanctum et remissionem peccatorum si caelestis fuisset. sed neque peccata dimittit neque spiritum indulget nisi solus deus.

[3] Finally the doctors of the Law and the Pharisees, who were unwilling to believe, were not willing to enter upon penitence either. But if penitence is human, then the baptism thereof must necessarily be of the same condition: or else it would give both the Holy Spirit and the remission of sins, if it were celestial. But neither are sins forgiven nor is the Spirit indulged—save by God alone.

[4] etiam ipse dominus nisi ipse prius ascenderet ad patrem aliter negavit spiritum descensurum. ita quod dominos nondum conferebat servus utique praestare non posset. adeo postea in Actin Apostolorum invenimus [quoniam] qui Ioannis baptismum habebant spiritum accepisse sanctum, quem ne auditu quidem noverant.

[4] even the Lord himself said that unless he himself first should ascend to the Father, otherwise he denied that the Spirit would descend. thus what the Lord was not yet conferring, the servant certainly could not confer. so much so that afterward in the Acts of the Apostles we find that those who had John’s baptism received the Holy Spirit, whom they had not known even by hearing.

[5] ergo non erat caeleste quod caelestia non exhibebat, cum ipsum quod caeleste in Ioanne fuerat, spiritus prophetiae, post totius spiritus in dominum translationem usque adeo defecerit ut quem praedicaverat, quem advenientem designaverat, postmodum an ipse esset miserit sciscitatum. agebatur itaque baptismus paenitentiae quasi candidatus remissionis et sanctificarionis in Christo subsecuturae.

[5] therefore, it was not heavenly, since it did not exhibit heavenly things, seeing that that which had been heavenly in John himself—the spirit of prophecy—after the transference of the whole Spirit into the Lord so failed that he sent afterward to inquire whether he was the one whom he had proclaimed, whom he had designated as coming. thus the baptism of repentance was being conducted as, as it were, a candidate for the remission and sanctification to follow in Christ.

[6] nam quod legimus, Praedicabat baptismum paenitentiae in remissionem peccatorum, in futuram remissionem enuntiatum est, siquidem paenitentia antecedit, remissio sequitur, et hoc est viam praeparare: qui autem praeparat non idem ipse perficit sed alii perficiendum procurat.

[6] for what we read, “He was preaching a baptism of penitence unto the remission of sins,” is announced as for a future remission, since indeed penitence precedes, remission follows, and this is to prepare the way: but he who prepares does not himself perfect, but procures that it be perfected by another.

[7] ipse profitetur sua non esse caelestia sed Christi dicendo, Qui de terra est terrena loquitur, qui de supernis venit super omnes est: item soli se paenitentiae tinguere, venturum mox qui tingueret in spiritu et igni: scilicet quia vera et stabilis fides spiritu tinguitur in salutem, simulata autem et infirma igni tinguitur in iudicium.

[7] He himself professes that his are not celestial things but Christ’s, by saying, He who is of the earth speaks earthly things, he who comes from the supernal is above all: likewise that he himself baptizes only for penitence, but that there would soon come one who would baptize in spirit and in fire: namely because true and stable faith is baptized with the Spirit unto salvation, but simulated and feeble faith is baptized with fire unto judgment.

CAP. 11.

CHAPTER 11.

[1] 'Sed ecce', inquiunt, 'venit dominus et non tinxit: legimus enim, Et tamen Iesus non ipse tinguebat verum discipuli eius.' quasi revera ipsum suis manibus tincturum Ioannes praedicasset.

[1] 'But behold,' they say, 'the Lord came and did not baptize: for we read, And yet Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples.' as if in truth John had preached that he himself would baptize with his own hands.

[2] non utique sic intelligendum est, sed simpliciter dictum more communi, sicut est verbi gratia 'imperator proposuit edictum' aut 'praefectus fustibus cecidit'. numquid ipse proponit aut numquid ipse caedit? semper is dicitur facere cui praeministratur. ita erit accipiendum Ipse vos tinguet pro eo quod est 'per ipsum tinguemini', vel 'in ipsum'.

[2] it is certainly not to be understood thus, but said simply in the common manner, as, for example, 'the emperor published an edict' or 'the prefect beat with cudgels'. Does he himself publish, or does he himself beat? The one at whose behest it is administered is always said to do it. Thus 'He himself will baptize you' is to be taken for what is 'through him you will be baptized', or 'into him'.

[3] sed nec moveat quosdam quod non ipse tinguebat. in quem enim tingueret? in paenitentiam?

[3] but let it not even trouble some that he himself was not baptizing. into what, indeed, would he baptize? into repentance?

quo ergo illi praecursorem? in peccatorum remissionem, quam verbo dabat? in semetipsum, quem in humilitate celabat?

For what, then, a precursor for him? Into the remission of sins, which he was granting by a word? Into himself, whom he was concealing in humility?

in spiritum sanctum, qui nondum ad patrem ascenderat? in ecclesiam, quam nondum apostolis struxerat?

into the Holy Spirit, who had not yet ascended to the Father? into the church, which he had not yet constructed for the apostles?

[4] itaque tinguebant discipuli eius ut ministri, ut Ioannes antepraecursor, eodem baptismo Ioannis, ne quo alio putes: quia nec extat alias nisi postea Christi, qui tunc utique a discentibus dari non poterat utpote nondum adimpleta gloria domini nec instructa efficacia lavacri per passionem et resurrectionem, quia nec mors nostra dissolvi posset nisi domini passione nec vita restitui sine resurrectione ipsius.

[4] therefore his disciples were baptizing as ministers, as John the forerunner, with the same baptism of John, lest you suppose it was by any other: for otherwise there exists no other except afterwards that of Christ, which at that time certainly could not be given by learners, inasmuch as the glory of the Lord had not yet been fulfilled nor the efficacy of the laver established through the Passion and Resurrection, since neither could our death be dissolved except by the Lord’s Passion, nor life be restored without his Resurrection.

CAP. 12.

CHAPTER 12.

[1] Cum vero praescribitur nemini sine baptismo competere salutem, ex illa maxime pronuntiatione domini qui ait, Nisi natus ex aqua quis erit non habebit vitam, suboriuntur scrupulosi immo temerarii retractatus quorundam quomodo ex ista praescriptione [praestructione] apostolis salus competat quos tinctos non inveniamus in domino praeter Paulum:

[1] But when it is prescribed that salvation pertains to no one without baptism—especially from that pronouncement of the Lord who said, Unless someone is born of water he will not have life—there arise scrupulous, nay rather rash reconsiderations by certain persons as to how, from this prescription [pre-struction], salvation should pertain to the apostles, whom we do not find baptized in the Lord, except Paul.

[2] immo cum Paulus solus ex illis baptismum Christi induerit, aut praeiudicatum esse de ceterorum periculo qui careant aqua Christi ut praescriptio salva sit, aut rescindi praescriptionem si etiam et non tinctis salus statuta est. audivi, domino teste, eiusmodi, ne qui me tam perditum existimet ut ultro excogitem libidine stili quae aliis scrupulum incutiant.

[2] Indeed, since Paul alone among them has put on the baptism of Christ, either it is prejudged concerning the peril of the rest who lack the water of Christ, so that the prescription may remain safe, or the prescription is rescinded if salvation has been established even for the not-baptized. I have heard things of this sort, the Lord as witness, lest anyone think me so depraved as to contrive, unbidden, by the lust of the pen matters that strike scruple into others.

[3] et nunc illis ut potero respondebo qui negant apostolos tinctos. nam si [humanum] Ioannis baptismum impetrarant, domini cur desiderabant, quatenus unum baptismum definierat ipse dominus dicens Petro perfundi volenti, Qui semel lavit non habet necesse rursum, quod utique non tincto non omnino dixisset? et haec est probatio exerta adversus illos qui adimunt apostolis etiam Ioannis baptismum, ut destruant aquae sacramentum.

[3] and now, as I can, I will answer those who deny the apostles were baptized. For if they had obtained John’s [human] baptism, why were they desiring the Lord’s, inasmuch as the Lord himself had defined one baptism, saying to Peter, who wished to be washed, He who has once washed has no need again—which assuredly he would not at all have said to one not baptized? And this is a proof brought forth against those who take away from the apostles even John’s baptism, in order to destroy the sacrament of water.

[4] an credibile videri potest in eis personis viam tunc domino non praeparatam, id est baptismum Ioannis, quae ad viam domini per totum orbem aperiendam destinabantur? ipse dominos nullius paenitentiae debitor tinctus est: peccatoribus non fuit necesse? quod ergo alii tincti non sint, non iam comites Christi sed aemuli fidei, legis doctores et pharisaei.

[4] Or can it seem credible, in the case of those persons who were destined for opening the way of the Lord through the whole world, that the way was not then prepared for the Lord—that is, the baptism of John? The Lord himself, debtor to no repentance, was baptized: was it not necessary for sinners? Therefore, that others were not baptized—these were no longer companions of Christ but rivals of the faith, doctors of the law and Pharisees.

[5] unde et suggeritur, cum adversantes domino tingui noluerint, eos qui dominum sequebantur tinctos fuisse nec cum aemulis [suis] sapuisse, maxime quando dominus cui adhaerebant testimonio Ioannem extulisset, Nemo, dicens, maior inter natos feminarum Ioanne baptizatore.

[5] whence also it is suggested that, since those opposing the Lord were unwilling to be baptized, those who were following the Lord had been baptized and had not thought with their rivals [their], especially since the Lord to whom they were adhering had extolled John by testimony, saying, No one greater among those born of women than John the baptizer.

[6] alii plane satis coacte iniciunt tunc apostolos baptismi vicem implesse cum in navicula fluctibus mergerentur: ipsum quoque Petrum [per] mare ingredientem satis mersum. ut opinor autem aliud est aspergi vel intercipi violentia maris, aliud tingui disciplina religionis.

[6] Others, plainly quite forcedly, put forward that then the apostles fulfilled the role of baptism when, in the little boat, they were being submerged by the waves: Peter himself too, entering [through] the sea, was quite immersed. As I suppose, however, it is one thing to be sprinkled or to be caught by the violence of the sea, another to be dipped by the discipline of religion.

[7] ceterum navicula illa figuram ecclesiae praeferebat quod in mari, id est in saeculo, fluctibus id est persecutionibus et temptationibus inquietetur, domino per patientiam velut dormiente donec orationibus sanctorum in ultimis suscitatus compescat saeculum et tranquillitatem suis reddat.

[7] But that little ship bore the figure of the Church, in that on the sea, that is, in the age, that is, in the world, it is disquieted by waves, that is, by persecutions and temptations, with the Lord, through patience, as if sleeping, until, roused by the prayers of the saints in the last extremities, he restrains the age and restores tranquility to his own.

[8] nunc sive tincti quoquo modo fuerunt sive illoti perseveraverunt ut et illud dictum domini de uno lavacro sub Petri persona ad nos tantummodo spectet, de salute tamen apostolorum satis temerarium est aestimare: quia illis vel primae adlectionis et exinde individuae familiaritatis praerogativa compendium baptismi conferre posset, cum illum opinor sequebantur [illum] qui credenti cuique salutem pollicebatur: Fides tua te, aiebat, salvum fecit, et, Remittuntur tibi peccata, credenti utique nec tamen tincto.

[8] now whether they were baptized in whatever way, or persisted unwashed, so that even that saying of the Lord about the one laver under the persona of Peter looks only to us, nevertheless about the salvation of the apostles it is quite rash to form a judgment: because to them the prerogative of their first adlection, and thereafter of indivisible familiarity, could confer a compendium of baptism, since they were following, I suppose, him [him] who was promising salvation to anyone believing: “Your faith,” he used to say, “has saved you,” and, “Your sins are remitted to you,” to one believing, of course, and yet not baptized.

[9] id si apostolis defuit nescio quorum fides tuta sit. uno verbo domini suscitatus teloneum dereliquit, patrem et navem et artem qua vitam sustentabat deseruit, [qui] patris exsequias despexit, summum illud domini praeceptum, Qui patrem aut matrem mihi praeposuerit non est me dignus, ante perfecit quam audivit.

[9] If that was lacking to the apostles, I do not know whose faith is secure. Roused by one word of the Lord, he left the tollbooth, he abandoned father and ship and the art by which he sustained his life, [he] despised a father’s obsequies, he fulfilled that highest precept of the Lord, “Whoever has preferred father or mother to me is not worthy of me,” before he heard it.

CAP. 13.

CHAPTER 13.

[1] Hinc ergo scelestissimi illi provocantes quaestiones, Adeo, dicunt, baptismus non est necessarius quibus fides satis est: nam et Abraham nullius aquae nisi fidei Sacramento deo placuisse. sed in omnibus posteriora concludunt et sequentia antecedentibus praevalent.

[1] From this, therefore, those most wicked men, provoking questions, say: So then, baptism is not necessary for those to whom faith is sufficient; for even Abraham is said to have pleased God by no sacrament of water, but by the sacrament of faith. But in all things they conclude from the posterior things, and the things that follow prevail over the antecedent.

[2] fuerit salus retro per fidem nudam ante domini passionem et resurrectionem: at ubi fides aucta est, credentibus in nativitatem passionem resurrectionemque eius addita est ampliato sacramento obsignatio baptismi, vestimentum quodammodo fidei quae retro erat nuda, nec potest iam sine sua lege.

[2] There may have been salvation back then through bare faith before the Lord’s passion and resurrection: but when faith has been augmented, for those believing in his nativity, passion, and resurrection, with the sacrament amplified the sealing of baptism was added, as in a certain manner a garment of the faith which formerly was naked, nor can it now without its own law.

[3] lex enim tinguendi imposita est, et forma praescripta: Ite, inquit, docete nationes tinguentes eas in nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti. huic legi collata definitio illa, Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et spiritu sancto non introibit in regno caelorum, obstrinxit fidem ad baptismi necessitatem. itaque omnes exinde credentes tinguebantur.

[3] for a law of dipping has been imposed, and a form prescribed: “Go,” he says, “teach the nations, dipping them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit.” To this law that definition being brought together, “Unless someone shall have been reborn of water and the holy spirit, he will not enter into the kingdom of the heavens,” bound faith to the necessity of baptism. And so from then on all who believed were dipped.

[4] tunc et Paulus ubi credidit tunc tinctus est: et hoc est quod ei dominus in illa plaga orbationis praeceperat; Exsurge, dicens, et introi in Damascum: illic tibi demonstrabitur quid debeas agere, scilicet tingui, quod solum ei deerat. alioquin satin didicerat atque crediderat Nazarenum esse dominum dei filium.

[4] then also Paul, when he believed, then was baptized: and this is what the Lord had enjoined upon him in that stroke of deprivation; Rise, he says, and go into Damascus: there it will be shown to you what you ought to do, namely, to be baptized, which alone was lacking to him. otherwise, he had sufficiently learned and believed that the Nazarene is the Lord, the Son of God.

CAP. 14.

CHAPTER 14.

[1] Sed et de ipso apostolo revolvunt, quod dixerit, Non enim me ad tinguendum Christus misit, quasi hoc argumento baptismus adimatur. cur ergo tint Gaium et Crispum et Stephanae domum? quanquam etsi non eum miserat Christus ad tinguendum, attamen aliis apostolis praeceperat tinguere.

[1] But they also bring up about the apostle himself that he said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize,” as if by this argument baptism were taken away. Why then did he baptize Gaius and Crispus and the household of Stephanas? Although even if Christ had not sent him to baptize, nevertheless he had commanded the other apostles to baptize.

[2] verum haec pro condicione tunc temporis ad Corinthios scripta sunt, quoniam schismata inter illos et dissensiones movebantur dum alius Paulo se deputet, alius Apollo. propter quod pacificus apostolus, ne sibi omnia defendere videretur, non ad tinguenduxn se missum ait sed ad praedicandum. nam et prius est praedicare, posterius tinguere si prius praedicatum.

[2] but these things were written to the Corinthians according to the condition of that time, since schisms and dissensions were being stirred up among them, while one assigns himself to Paul, another to Apollos. For which reason the pacific apostle, lest he should seem to claim everything for himself, says that he was sent not to baptize but to preach. For it is first to preach, afterward to baptize, if there has first been preaching.

puto autem licuit et tinguere cui licuit et praedicare.

But I think, however, that he to whom it was permitted to preach was also permitted to baptize.

CAP. 15.

CHAPTER 15.

[1] Nescio si quid amplius ad controversiam baptismi ventilatur. sane retexam quod supra omisi, ne imminentes sensus videar interscindere. unus omnino baptismus est nobis tam ex domini evangelio quam et apostoli litteris, quoniam unus deus et unum baptisma et una ecclesia in caelis.

[1] I do not know whether anything further is being ventilated concerning the controversy about baptism. Surely I will reweave what I omitted above, lest I seem to sever the senses that are impending. There is altogether one baptism for us, both from the Lord’s gospel and from the Apostle’s letters, since there is one God and one baptism and one church in the heavens.

[2] sed circa haereticos sane quae custodiendum sit digne quis retractet. ad nos enim editum est: haeretici autem nullum consortium habent nostrae disciplinae, quos extraneos utique testatur ipsa ademptio communicationis. non debeo in illis cognoscere quod mihi est praeceptum, quia non idem deus est nobis et illis, nec unus Christus, id est idem: ergo nec baptismus unus, quia non idem.

[2] but as regards heretics, indeed let someone worthily reconsider what is to be kept. for it has been promulgated to us: however, heretics have no consortium with our discipline, whom the very deprivation of communion surely attests as outsiders. I ought not to acknowledge in them that which has been enjoined upon me, because the same God is not ours and theirs, nor one Christ, that is, the same: therefore neither is the baptism one, because it is not the same.

quem cum rite non habeant sine dubio non habent, nec capit numerare quod non habetur: ita nec possunt accipere, quia non habent. sed de isto plenius iam nobis in Graeco digestum est.

which, since they do not have it ritely, without doubt they do not have; nor does it admit the enumerating of what is not held: thus neither can they receive, because they do not have. But on this matter a fuller digest has already been set forth by us in Greek.

[3] semel ergo lavacrum inimus, semel delicta abluuntur, quia ea iterari non oportet. ceterum Israel Iudaeus quotidie lavat quia quotidie inquinatur. quod ne in nobis quoque factitaretur propterea de uno lavacro definitum est.

[3] therefore we enter the laver once, sins are washed away once, because these ought not to be repeated. moreover, Jewish Israel washes daily because he is defiled daily. so that this should not be done habitually among us as well, for this reason it has been defined concerning the one laver.

felix aqua quae semel abluit, quae ludibrio peccatoribus non est, quae non adsiduitate sordium infecta rursus quos diluit inquinat.

Felicitous water which washes once, which is not a mockery to sinners, which, not infected by the assiduity of filth, does not again defile those whom it has cleansed.

CAP. 16.

CHAPTER 16.

[1] Est quidem nobis etiam secundum lavacrum, unum et ipsum, sanguinis scilicet, de quo dominos Habeo, inquit, baptismo tingui, cum iam tinctus fuisset. venerat enim per aquam et sanguinem, sicut Ioannes scripsit, ut aqua tingueretur sanguine glorificaretur.

[1] There is indeed for us also a second lavacre, one and the same, namely of blood, concerning which the Lord says, “I have, he says, to be tinged with a baptism,” although he had already been tinged. For he had come through water and blood, as John wrote, that by water he might be tinged, by blood he might be glorified.

[2] proinde nos faceret aqua vocatos sanguine electos hos duos baptismos de vulnere percussi lateris emisit, quia qui in sanguinem eius crederent aqua lavarentur, qui aqua lavissent et sanguine oporterent. hic est baptismus qui lavacrum et non acceptum repraesentat et perditum reddit.

[2] Accordingly he would make us by water called, by blood elect; these two baptisms he sent forth from the wound of the pierced side, because those who would believe in his blood should be washed with water, and those who had washed with water should also be by blood. This is the baptism which makes present the laver when it has not been received, and gives back what has been lost.

CAP. 17.

CHAPTER 17.

[1] Superest ad concludendam materiolam de observatione quoque dandi et accipiendi baptismi commonefacere. dandi quidem summum habet ius summus sacerdos, si qui est episcopus: dehinc presbyteri et diaconi, non tamen sine episcopi auctoritate, propter ecclesiae honorem quo salvo salva pax est.

[1] It remains, for bringing this little material to a close, also to remind about the observance of giving and receiving baptism. As to giving, the highest right belongs to the high priest, that is, whoever is bishop; thereafter to presbyters and deacons, yet not without the authority of the bishop, on account of the church’s honor, with which being safe the peace is safe.

[2] alioquin etiam laicis ius est: 'quod enim ex aequo accipitur ex aequo dari potest; nisi episcopi iam aut presbyteri aut diaconi vocabuntur discentes domini: id est, ut sermo non debet abscondi ab ullo, proinde et baptismus segue dei census ab omnibus exerceri potest'. sed quanto magis laicis disciplina verecundiae et modestiae incumbit cum ea [quae] maioribus competat, ne sibi adsumant [dicatum] episcopi ofFicium. episcopates aemulatio schismatum mater est. omnia licere dixit sanctissimus apostolus sed non omnia expedire.

[2] otherwise the right belongs even to laics: 'for what is received on equal terms can on equal terms be given; unless bishops now or presbyters or deacons are to be called the Lord’s disciples: that is, since the word ought not to be hidden by anyone, accordingly baptism too, and likewise the census of God, can be exercised by all'. But the more does the discipline of reverence and modesty press upon laics, since things [which] belong to the greater are involved, that they should not assume to themselves the bishop’s [dedicated] office. Emulation of the episcopate is the mother of schisms. The most holy apostle said that all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient.

[3] sufficit scilicet in necessitatibus [ut] utaris sicubi aut loci aut temporis aut personae condicio compellit: tunc enim constantia succurrentis excipitur cum urguetur circumstantia periclitantis, quoniam reus erit perditi hominis si supersederit praestare quod libere potuit.

[3] it suffices, of course, in necessities, [that] you make use of it wherever the condition of place or of time or of person compels: for then the constancy of the one succoring is accepted when the circumstance of the one in peril is urgent, since he will be guilty of the lost man if he has refrained from furnishing what he was freely able.

[4] petulantia autem mulieris quae usurpavit docere utique non etiam tinguendi ius sibi rapiet, nisi si quae nova bestia venerit similis pristinae, ut quemadmodum illa baptismum auferebat ita aliqua per se [eum] conferat.

[4] but the petulance of a woman who has usurped to teach will surely not also snatch to herself the right of baptizing, unless some new beast should come, like the former one, so that, just as that one was taking away baptism, so some woman might by herself confer [it].

[5] quod si quae Acta Pauli, quae perperam scripta sunt, exemplum Theclae ad licentiam mulierum docendi tinguendique defendant, sciant in Asia presbyterum qui eam scripturam construxit, quasi titulo Pauli de suo cumulans, convictum atque confessum id se amore Pauli fecisse loco decessisse. quam enim fidei proximum videtur ut is docendi et tinguendi daret feminae potestatem qui ne discere quidem constanter mulieri permisit? Taceant, inquit, et domi viros suos consulant.

[5] But if any Acts of Paul, which have been written amiss, defend the example of Thecla as a license for women to teach and to baptize, let them know that in Asia the presbyter who constructed that scripture, as if piling on a title of Paul from his own, having been convicted and having confessed that he did this out of love for Paul, was removed from his post. For how close to the faith does it seem that he should grant to a woman the power of teaching and baptizing who did not even consistently permit a woman to learn? “Let them be silent,” he says, “and at home let them consult their husbands.”

CAP. 18.

CHAPTER 18.

[1] Ceterum baptismum non temere credendum esse sciunt quorum officium est. Omni petenti te dato, suum habet titulum proprie ad eleemosynam pertinentem. immo illud potius respiciendum, Nolite dare sanctum canibus et porcis proicere margaritam vestram, et, Manus ne facile imposueritis nechamartiis alienis communicaveritis.

[1] Moreover, those whose office it is know that baptism is not to be rashly entrusted. To everyone asking you, give, has its own title, belonging properly to alms. nay rather that should be looked to, Do not give the holy thing to dogs and do not throw your pearl to swine, and, Do not readily lay on hands nor share in others’ sins.

[2] quodsi quia Philippus tam facile tinxit eunuchum, recogitemus manifestam et exertam dignationem domini intercessisse. spiritus Philippo praeceperat in eam viam tendere: spado et ipse inventus est non otiosus nec qui subito tingui concupisceret, sed ad templum orandi gratia profectus scripturae divinae impressus: sic oportebat deprehendi cui ultro deus apostolum miserat, [ad] quem rursus spiritus ut se curriculo eunuchi adiungeret iussit: scriptura ipsius fidei | occurrit in tempore, exhortatus adsumitur, dominos ostenditur, fides non moratur, aqua non expectatur, apostolus perfecto negotio abripitur.

[2] But if, because Philip so easily dipped the eunuch, let us consider that a manifest and overt dignation of the Lord had intervened. The Spirit had enjoined Philip to tend into that road; a spado himself was found not idle nor one who would suddenly long to be dipped, but having set out to the temple for the sake of praying, impressed with divine Scripture: thus it was fitting that he be caught, for whom God, unbidden, had sent an apostle, [to] whom in turn the Spirit ordered that he join himself to the chariot of the eunuch: the Scripture itself of the faith | meets in time, he is taken up when exhorted, the Lord is shown, faith does not delay, water is not waited for, the apostle is snatched away with the business perfected.

[3] sed et Paulus revera cito tinctus est: cito enim cognoverat Simon hospes vas eum esse electionis constitutum. dei dignatio suas praemittit praerogativas: omnis petitio et decipere et decipi potest.

[3] but Paul too was indeed quickly baptized: for quickly Simon the host had recognized that he was a vessel of election appointed. God’s dignation sends ahead its own prerogatives: every petition can both deceive and be deceived.

[4] itaque pro cuiusque personae condicione ac dispositione, etiam aetate, cunctatio baptismi utilior est, praecipue tamen circa parvulos. quid enim necesse, si non tam necesse est, sponsores etiam periculo ingeri, qui et ipsi per mortalitatem destituere promissiones suas possunt et proventu malae indolis falli?

[4] And so, according to the condition and disposition of each person, even the age, the postponement of baptism is more useful, especially, however, in the case of little children. For what necessity is there—if it is not so necessary—that sponsors also be thrust into peril, who both themselves can through mortality fail their promises and be deceived by the outgrowth of an evil disposition?

[5] ait quidem dominos, Nolite illos prohibere ad me venire: veniant ergo, dum adolescunt, dum discunt, dum quo veniant docentur: fiant Christiani cum Christum nosse potuerint. quid festinat innocens aetas ad remissionem peccatorum? cautius agetur in saecularibus, ut cui substantia terrena non creditur divina credatur?

[5] He indeed says, the Lord, “Do not forbid them to come to me”: let them come, then, while they are adolescent, while they learn, while they are taught whither they should come: let them become Christians when they will have been able to know Christ. Why does the innocent age hasten to the remission of sins? Will we act more cautiously in secular matters, so that to one to whom earthly substance is not entrusted the divine is entrusted?

norint petere salutem, ut petenti dedisse videaris.

let them know to seek salvation, so that you may seem to have given to the one asking.

[6] non minore de causa innupti quoque procrastinandi, in quibus temptatio praeparata est tam virginibus per maturitatem quam viduis per vagationem, donec aut nubant aut continentiae corroborentur. si qui pondus intellegant baptismi magis timebunt consecutionem quam dilationem. fides integra secura est de salute.

[6] for no less cause the unmarried too are to be postponed, in whom temptation is prepared both for virgins by maturity and for widows by wandering, until either they marry or are corroborated for continence. If any understand the weight of baptism, they will fear the attainment more than the delay. An integral faith is secure about salvation.

CAP. 19.

CHAPTER 19.

[1] Diem baptismo sollemniorem pascha praestat, cum et passio domini in qua tinguimur adimpleta est. nec incongruenter ad figuram interpretabitur quod cum ultimum pascha dominus esset acturus, missis discipulis ad praeparandum, Convenietis, inquit, hominem aquam baiulantem: paschae celebrandae locum de signo aquae ostendit.

[1] Pascha affords a more solemn day for baptism, since also the Passion of the Lord, in which we are dipped, has been fulfilled. Nor will one interpret incongruently according to the figure that, when the Lord was about to celebrate the last Pascha, having sent the disciples to prepare, “Convenietis,” he says, “a man bearing water”: he showed the place for celebrating Pascha by the sign of water.

[2] exinde pentecoste ordinandis lavacris laetissimum spatium est, quo et domini resurrectio inter discipulos frequentata est et gratia spiritus sancti dedicata et spes adventus domini subostensa, quod tunc in caelos recuperato eo angeli ad apostolos dixerunt sic venturum quemadmodum et in caelos conscendit, utique in pentecoste. sedenim Hieremias cum dicit, Et congregabo illos ab extremis terrae in die festo paschae, diem significat et pentecostes, qui est proprie dies festus.

[2] Thereafter Pentecost is the most joyous span for the ordaining of the washings, during which both the Lord’s resurrection was often celebrated among the disciples, and the grace of the Holy Spirit was dedicated, and the hope of the Lord’s advent was foreshown—since then, when He had been received back into the heavens, the angels said to the apostles that He would come in the same manner as He also ascended into the heavens, assuredly at Pentecost. But indeed Jeremiah, when he says, “And I will gather them from the ends of the earth on the festal day of Pascha,” signifies also the day of Pentecost, which is properly the festal day.

[3] ceterum omnis dies domini est: omnis hora, omne tempus habile baptismo. si de sollemnitate interest, de gratia nihil refert.

[3] moreover, every day is the Lord’s: every hour, every time is apt for baptism. if it matters with respect to the solemnity, it matters nothing with respect to grace.

CAP. 20.

CHAPTER 20.

[1] Ingressuros baptismum orationibus crebris, ieiuniis et geniculationibus et pervigiliis orare oportet, et cum confessione omnium retro delictorum, ut exponant etiam baptismumIoannis: Tinguebantur, inquit, confitentes delicta sua - nobis gratulandum est si non publice confitemur iniquitates aut turpitudines nostras - simul enim de pristinis satisfacimus conflictatione carnis et spiritus, et subsecuturis temptationibus munimenta praestruimus. Vigilate et orate, inquit, ne incidatis in temptationem.

[1] Those about to enter baptism ought to pray with frequent prayers, fasts, genuflections, and all-night vigils, and with a confession of all past delicts, so that they may also set forth the baptism of John: “They were dipped,” he says, “confessing their sins” — we may congratulate ourselves if we do not publicly confess our iniquities or our turpitudes — for at the same time we make satisfaction for former things by the conflict of flesh and spirit, and we pre-build fortifications against the temptations to follow. “Watch and pray,” he says, “lest you fall into temptation.”

[2] et ideo credo temptati sunt quoniam obdormierunt, ut adprehensum dominum destituerint et qui cum eo perstiterit et gladio sit usus ter etiam negaverit. nam et praecesserat dictum, neminem intemptatum regna caelestia consecuturum.

[2] and therefore I believe they were tempted because they fell asleep, so that, when the Lord had been apprehended, they deserted him, and he who had persisted with him and had used the sword even denied him three times. For the dictum had preceded as well, that no one untempted will attain the heavenly realms.

[3] ipsum dominum post lavacrum statim temptationes circumsteterunt quadraginta diebus ieiuniis functum. 'ergo et nos' dicet aliquis, 'a lavacro potius ieiunare oportet.' et quis enim prohibet, nisi necessitas gaudii gratulatio salutis?

[3] temptations immediately surrounded the Lord himself after the laver, having performed fasts for forty days. 'Therefore we too,' someone will say, 'ought rather to fast after the laver.' And who indeed forbids it, if not the necessity of joy, the congratulation of salvation?

[4] sed dominus, quantulum aestimo, de figura Israelis exprobrationem in ipsum retorsit. namque populus mare transgressus et in solitudinem translatus, per quadraginta annos illic cum divinis copiis aleretur, nihilominus ventris et gulae meminerat quam dei. deinde dominos, post aquam segregates in deserta quadraginta dierum ieiunia emensus, ostendit non pane vivere hominem dei sed dei verbo, temptationesque plenitudini et immoderantiae ventris appositas abstinentia elidi.

[4] but the Lord, so far as I reckon, turned back upon himself the reproach from the figure of Israel. For the people, having crossed the sea and transferred into the wilderness, though for forty years there they were nourished with divine supplies, nonetheless remembered the belly and the gullet rather than God. Then the Lord, after the water, having been segregated into the deserts and having completed a fast of forty days, showed that the man of God lives not by bread but by the word of God, and that temptations applied to the fullness and the immoderation of the belly are crushed by abstinence.

[5] igitur benedicti, quos gratia dei expectat, cum de illo sanctissimo lavacro novi natalis ascenditis et primas manus apud matrem cum fratribus aperitis, petite de patre, petite de domino, peculia gratiae, distributiones charismatum subiacere. Petite et accipietis, inquit. quaesistis enim et invenistis, pulsastis et apertum est vobis.

[5] therefore, blessed ones, whom the grace of God awaits, when you ascend from that most holy laver of new birth and open your hands for the first time before the mother with the brothers, ask from the Father, ask from the Lord, that the peculiar allotments of grace, the distributions of charismata, be at your disposal. “Ask and you will receive,” he says. For you have sought and you have found, you have knocked and it has been opened to you.

tantum oro, ut cum petitis etiam Tertulliani peccatoris memineritis.

I only beg, that when you petition, you also remember Tertullian the sinner.

EXPLICIT LIBER TERTULLIANI DE BAPTISMO

HERE ENDS THE BOOK OF TERTULLIAN ON BAPTISM