"by the laver of water;" [1] and in the epistle of St. John, we read these words: " There are three that give testimony on earth; the spirit, and the water, and the blood." [2] The Scripture affords other proofs which establish the same proof. When, however, the baptist says that the Lord will come, " who will baptise in the Holy Ghost, and in fire;" [3] he is not to be under stood to speak of the matter, but of the effect of baptism, produced in the soul by the interior operation of the Holy Ghost; or, if not, of the miracle performed on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost descended on the Apostles, in the form of lire, [4] as was foretold by our Lord, in these words; "John, indeed, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence." [5]
That water is the matter of Baptism, the Almighty signified both by figures and by prophecies, as we know from holy Scripture: According to the prince of the Apostles, in his first epistle, the deluge which swept the world, because " the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and all the thoughts of their hearts were bent upon evil," [6] was a figure of the waters of Baptism. [7] To omit the cleansing of Naaman the Syrian, [8] and the admirable virtue of the pool of Bethsaida, [9] and many similar types, manifestly symbolic of this mystery; the passage through the Red Sea, according to St. Paul, in his epistle to the Corinthians, was typical of the waters of Baptism. [10] With regard to the oracles of the prophets, the waters to which the prophet Isaias so freely invites all that thirst, [11] and those which Ezekiel saw in spirit, issue from the temple, [12] and also, " the fountain " which Zachary foresaw, " open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the unclean woman," [13] were, no doubt, so many types which prefigured the salutary effects of the waters of Baptism.
The propriety of constituting water the matter of baptism, of the nature and efficacy of which it is at once expressive, St. Jerome, in his epistle to Oceanus, proves by many arguments. [14] Upon this subject, however, the pastor will teach, that water, which is always at hand, and within the reach of all, was the fittest matter of a Sacrament which is essentially necessary to all; and, also, that water is best adapted to signify the effect of baptism. It washes away uncleanness, and is, therefore, strikingly illustrative of the virtue and efficacy of baptism, which washes away the stains of sin. We may also add that, like water which cools the body, baptism in a great measure extinguishes the fire of concupiscence in the soul. [15]
But, although, in case of necessity, simple water unmixed Chrism,
- ↑ Eph v 26.
- ↑ 1 John v. 8.
- ↑ Matt. ill. 11.
- ↑ Acts ii. 3
- ↑ Acts i. 5.
- ↑ Gen, vi. 5.
- ↑ 1 Pet. iii. 20, 21.
- ↑ 4 Kings v 14
- ↑ John v. 2
- ↑ 1 Cor. x. 1,
- ↑ Isaias lv. 1.
- ↑ Ezek. xlvii. 1.
- ↑ Zach. xiii. 1
- ↑ D; Hieronymns cpist. 85.
- ↑ De mnteria bapt. vid. Cone. Florent. et Trid. sess. 7, can. 2, & de consecrat dist. 4, item D. Thorn, p. 3. q. 56, art. 5.
