§6Aqua nostra non est aliena, uirgo est et sancta.
Our water is not alien; it is virgin and holy.
in fontem nostrum descendit spiritus, quos irrorat sancti sunt.
Into our font the Spirit descends; those whom He sprinkles are holy.
uideant qua temeritate pollutos astruant, quos talibus undis aspersos nouerint.
Let them see with what temerity they assert to be polluted those whom they know to have been sprinkled with such waters.
o sacrilegam nouitatem, o uocem impiam! sanctificauit deus aquas in initio mundi per spiritus incubationem.
O sacrilegious novelty, o impious voice! God sanctified the waters in the beginning of the world through the brooding of the Spirit.
ex eis tot et tanta prodierunt miracula. , quae de aquarum nostrarum sanctitate nos erudirent et de ueritate quorum umbrae erant instruerent et de regeneratione quam in aquis haurimus certos facerent, et eas alienas uocant et ab his abstinent et mendaces dicunt et omnem eis fidem abrogant.
From them came forth so many and such great miracles, which were to instruct us concerning the holiness of our waters, and to teach us concerning the truth of which they were shadows, and to make us certain of the regeneration which we draw from the waters; and yet they call them alien, and abstain from them, and call them deceitful, and abrogate all trust in them.
erit itaque uerax aqua Primiani, quem tam immani anathemate percussistis, quem tantorum scelerum in uestro conuentu reum iudicastis nec tamen quos baptizauit iterum tinxistis, et ecclesiae catholicae, columbae nostrae, sponsae immaculatae, infideles impurae mendaces aquae apud eos erunt? dicent forsan: (mendaces erant qui Primianum innocentem damnarunt, et ideo eius aquae mendaces non fuerunt\'. sed quid dicent de Feliciano et Praetextato, qui Primianum damnauerunt et ab illo tam grandi schismate discesserant? an quos baptizauerant noua et recenti tinctione ecclesiae suae pepererunt? nequaquam.
Shall, therefore, the water of Primianus be true, whom you struck with so immense an anathema, whom you judged guilty of such great crimes in your council, and yet whose baptized ones you did not dip again—and shall the waters of the Catholic Church, our dove, the immaculate bride, be unfaithful, impure, and deceitful among them? Perhaps they will say: 'They were liars who condemned the innocent Primianus, and therefore his waters were not deceitful.' But what will they say about Felicianus and Prettextatus, who condemned Primianus and had departed from him in so great a schism? Did they, by a new and recent dipping, bear to their church those whom these men had baptized? By no means.
Feliciani et Praetextati aquae fideles, qui postmodum coierunt et aduersus ecclesiam catholicam insani foederis communione conspirauerunt, aquae uero nostrae infideles et profanae? o insana et peruersa cogitatio!
Shall the waters of Felicianus and Praetextatus be faithful—who afterwards united and conspired against the Catholic Church in the communion of an insane league—but our waters indeed be unfaithful and profane? O insane and perverse thought!
§7Addunt etiam: qui baptizatur a mortuo quid est lauacrum eius? erratis, miseri, non intellegentes scripturas.
They also add: 'He who is baptized by a dead man, what is his washing?' You err, wretched ones, not understanding the Scriptures.
non dicimus baptismum, quo tingunt illi quos uelut mortuos a uiuorum communione separamus, nihil esse, sed nihil prodesse, quamdiu inter mortuos uiuitur.
We do not say that the baptism with which those dip whom we separate, as if dead, from the communion of the living, is nothing, but that it profits nothing, as long as one lives among the dead.
tolle quod obest, iam prodest; quod extra accepisti proficiet cum intus fueris.
Take away what obstacles exist, and it already profits; what you received outside will be of benefit when you are inside.
emenda baptizatum, sufficit.
Amend the baptized person; that is enough.
latens in semine uirtus incrementa sumet, spiritum dei ex alto induet, et qui in Christo per baptismum sepultus fuerat licet foris, postquam in ecclesiae sinum admissus fuerit et mortuos reliquerit sepelire mortuos suos, sentiet aquam fidelem nec haereticorum contagiis pollutam et paternam uocem ad cor audiet: ecce filius meus mortuus erat et reuixit, perierat et inuentus est.
The power latent in the seed will take growth, he will put on the Spirit of God from on high, and he who had been buried through baptism in Christ, although outside, after he has been admitted into the bosom of the Church and has left the dead to bury their dead, will feel the faithful water, not polluted by the contagions of heretics, and will hear the paternal voice in his heart: 'Behold, my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.
filius meus, quem obstetricantibus undis genueram, mortuus erat, quia de spiritu meo non uiuebat, et reuixit, quia abiecto mortuorum consortio ad locum uitae rediit; perierat, quia eodem cum impiis naufragio abreptus fuerat, inuentus est,. quia per salutarem tabulam, hoc est paenitentiam, tandem portui, hoc est ecclesiae, redditus. ut hoc de illis eueniat, fratres, quam obnixe possumus a domino petamus, ut, quemadmodum unus est baptismus, una aqua, una fides, sic etiam una caritatis professio nec inter nos alia amplius audiatur quam meliorum charismatum aemulatio.
My son, whom I had begotten through the water serving as midwife, was dead because he did not live by my Spirit, and is alive again because, having cast off the fellowship of the dead, he returned to the place of life; he was lost because he had been carried away in the same shipwreck with the impious, and is found because, through the saving plank, which is repentance, he was finally restored to the port, which is the Church.' That this may happen concerning them, brothers, let us petition the Lord as earnestly as we can, so that, just as there is one baptism, one water, one faith, so also there may be one profession of charity, and no other rivalry may be heard among us henceforth than the emulation of the better gifts.