Chapter 12.—14. Accordingly, I too might use the words of the blessed Cyprian to turn the hearts of those that hear me to the consideration of something truly marvellous, if I were to say "that John, who was accounted greater among the prophets,—he who was filled with divine grace while yet in his mother’s womb; he who was upheld in the spirit and power of Elias; who was not the adversary, but a forerunner and herald of the Lord: who
not only foretold our Lord in words, but also showed Him to the sight; who baptized Christ Himself, through whom all others are baptized,"1495
| 1495 Cypr. Ep. lxxiii. 25.
|
—he was not worthy to
baptize in such
wise that those who were
baptized by him should not be
baptized again after him; and shall no one think that a man should be
baptized in the
Church after he had been
baptized by the covetous, by defrauders, by extortioners, by usurers? Is not the answer ready to this invidious
question, Why do you think this unmeet, as though either John were
dishonored, or the covetous man
honored? But His
baptism ought not
to be repeated, of whom John says, "The same is He which baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost."
1496
For whoever be the
minister by whose
hands it is given, it is His
baptism of whom it was said, "The same is He which baptizeth." But neither was the
baptism of John himself repeated, when the
Apostle Paul commanded those who had been
baptized by him to be
baptized in Christ. For what they had not received from the friend of the Bridegroom, this it was right that they should receive from the Bridegroom Himself, of whom that friend had said, "The same is He which
baptizeth with the Holy Ghost."
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