for the fulfilling of His commandments, the which is confirmed in us
each day by the taking of His Body and Blood, we cannot be purified
from the passions, and we cannot vanquish demons, and we cannot
perform the works of spiritual excellence.
burial and death, resurrection and life; and these take place all at
once. For when we plunge our heads down in the water, the old man
is buried in a tomb below, and wholly sunk for ever; then, as we raise
them again, the new man rises in his place. As it is easy for us to dip
and to lift our heads again, so it is easy for God to bury the old man,
and to show forth the new. And this is done thrice, that you may
learn that the power of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
fulfils all this. To show that what we say is no conjecture, hear Paul
saying, "We were buried with Him by Baptism into death"; and again,
"Our old man was crucified with Him"; and again, "We have been
planted together in the likeness of His death." And not only is
Baptism called a "cross," but the Cross is called Baptism. "With the
Baptism," says Christ, "that I am baptized with, shall ye be baptized";
and "I have a Baptism to be baptized with, which ye know not." For
as we easily dip and lift our heads again, so He also easily died and
rose again when He willed; or rather, much more easily, though He
tarried the three days for the dispensation of a certain mystery.
gives us the freedom no longer to be tyrannized by the devil unless
we choose to be. After baptism it is in our power either to persist
willingly in the practice of the commandments of Christ, into whom