XVII.- Let us consider the water of Holy Baptism, which is not
improperly called the fountain of life, because it renews those who descend
into it by the renewal of a better life, and from the death of sin bestows upon
them the life of righteousness. Does it obtain this power according to what is
seen to be merely the element of water? And yet, unless it obtained the virtue
of sanctification, it could by no means wash away the stain of vices. Unless
it contained within it a living power (vigorem vitæ) it could not in any
way bestow life on the dead-the dead that is, not as it regards the body, but
the soul. Yet in that fountain, if it be considered only as far as bodily
sense perceives, a fluid element is beheld, subject to corruption, which can
only cleanse the body. But by the consecration of the priest the grace of the
Holy Spirit is added, and it becomes efficacious, not only to cleanse the
body, but the soul, and to remove spiritual defilement by spiritual power. (The
Book of Bertram, Monk of Corbie, A.D. 840, on The Body and Blood of the Lord
("De Corpore et Sanguine Domini") [trans. W. F. Taylor;
Liverpool: Simpkin Marshall & Co., 1880], 13-14)
