Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenæus

"And dipped himself," says [the Scripture], "seven times in Jordan." It was not without purpose that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon being baptized; rather, it served as a sign for us. For just as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as newborn babes, just as the Lord has declared: "Unless a man is born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."