Chapter 103.—234. Petilianus said: "Imitate indeed the prophets, who feared to have their holy souls deceived with false baptism. For Jeremiah says of old that among impious men water is as one that lies. ‘Water,’ he says, ‘that lies has not faith.’"
235. Augustin answered: Any one that hears these words, without being acquainted with the Scriptures, and who does not believe that you are either so far astray as not to know what you are saying, or deceiving in such wise that he whom you have deceived should not know what he says, would believe that the prophet Jeremiah, wishing to be baptized, had taken precautions not to be baptized by impious men, and had used these words with
this intent. For what was your object in saying, previous to your quotation of this passage, "Imitate indeed the prophets, who feared to have their holy souls deceived with false baptism?" Just as though, in the days of Jeremiah, any one were washed with the sacrament of baptism, except so far as the Pharisees almost every moment bathed themselves, and their couches and cups and platters, with the washings which the Lord condemned, as we read in the gospel.2282
How then could Jeremiah have said this, as though he desired to be
baptized, and sought to
avoid being
baptized by impious men? He said it, then, when he was complaining of a faithless people, by the
corruption of whose
morals he was
vexed, not wishing to associate with their
deeds; and yet he did not separate himself bodily from their
congregation, nor
seek other sacraments than those which the people received as suitable to that time, according to the
law of
Moses. To
this people, therefore, in their
evil mode of
life, he gave the name of "a
wound," with which the
heart of the
righteous man was grievously smitten, whether speaking thus of himself, or foreshadowing in himself what he foresaw would come to pass. For he speaks as follows: "O
Lord, remember me, and
visit me; make clear my
innocence before those who
persecute me in no spirit of long-suffering: know that for Thy sake I have
suffered rebuke from those that
scorn Thy words. Make their portion
complete; and Thy word shall be unto me the
joy and rejoicing of mine
heart: for I am called by Thy name, O
Lord God of
hosts. I sat not in the
assembly of the mockers, but was afraid of the presence of Thy
hand; I sat alone, because I was filled with
bitterness. Why do those who make me
sad prevail against me? My
wound is grievous; whence shall I be
healed? It is become unto me as
lying water, that has no
faith."
2283
In all this it is manifest what the
prophet wished to be understood, but manifest only to those who do not wish to distort to their own
perverse cause the meaning of what they read. For Jeremiah says that his
wound has become unto him as
lying water, which cannot inspire
faith; but he wished that by his
wound those should be understood who made him
sad by the
evil conduct of their lives. Whence also the
apostle says, "Without were fightings, within were
fears;"
2284
and again, "Who is
weak, and I am not
weak? who is offended, and I
burn not?"
2285
And because he had no hopes that they could be reformed, therefore he said, "Whence shall I be
healed?" as though his own
pain must needs continue so long as those among whom he was compelled to
live continued what they were. But that a people is commonly understood under the appellation of
water is shown in the
Apocalypse, where we understand "many waters" to mean "many peoples," not by any conjecture of our own, but by an express explanation in the place itself.
2286
Abstain then from blaspheming the sacrament of
baptism from any misunderstanding, or rather error, even when found in a man of most abandoned character; for not even in the
lying Simon was the
baptism which he received a
lying water,
2287
nor do all the
liars of your party
administer a
lying water when they
baptize in the name of the
Trinity. For neither do they begin to be
liars only when they are
betrayed and
convicted, and so forced to acknowledge their misdeeds; but rather they were already liars, when, being adulterers and accursed, they pretended to be chaste and innocent.
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