Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
TRACTATE 5 123 through him undefiled, which passes perfectly clear through him and comes to fertile soil. Suppose that [the proud minister] is made of stone because he cannot produce fruit from the water. The water passes through the stone conduit, the water passes on to garden plots; in the stone conduit it produces nothing but nevertheless brings forth plentiful fruit in gardens. For the spiritual power of a sacrament is like light in this way: it is both received pure by those to be enlightened, and if it passes through the impure, it is not defiled. Let the ministers be just, indeed, and let them not seek their own glory but his whose ministers they are. Let them not say, "It is my baptism," because it is not theirs. Let them pay heed to John himself.
(4) Look, John was filled with the Holy Spirit; and he had a baptism from heaven, not from men. But how long did he have it? He said, "Prepare the way for the Lord."^*^ But when the Lord was known, he himself became the way; there was no longer need for the baptism of John, by which the way was to be prepared for the Lord.
16. Yet what do they usually say to us? "Look, there was baptism after John." For before this question was thoroughly investigated in the Catholic church, many men, both great and good,^^ erred about it. But because they were from among the members of the dove, they did not cut themselves off, and what the Apostle said happened in them: "If you understand anything in^^another way, this also God will reveal to you."*^ Hence, those who separated themselves became impossible to teach. Well, then, what do they usually say? "Look, there was baptism after John; is there not baptism after the heretics? For
38. Cf.Jn 1.23; IS40.3. 39. Augustine probably has uppermost in his mind Cyprian and the Synod of Carthage held on September 1, 256 A.D. In the De Baptismo contra Donatistas (PL 43.107-244; and CSEL 51.10-376) he had discussed their arguments at some length. See Berrouard, Homelies I— XVI, 872—873. On Cyprian's views cf. G. Willis, Saint Augustine and the Donatist Heresy (London, 1950), 145-151; M. Sage, Cyprian (Cambridge, Mass., 1975), 295-355; W. Sparrow Simpson, St. Augustine and African Church Divisions (London, 1910), 80-89. 40. Cf. Phil 3.15.