Cyprian of Carthage, On the Unity of the Church 11
The Lord cries out against men of this kind; He restrains and calls back His erring people. He says: "Do not listen to the speeches of false prophets, because the visions of their hearts deceive them. They speak, but not from the mouth of the Lord" (Jeremiah 23:16-17). To those who reject the word of God they say, "Peace will be yours, and it will belong to all who walk in their own wills. No evil will come upon anyone who walks in the error of his heart" (Jeremiah 23:17). "I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in My substance and heard My words, and if they had taught My people, I would have turned them away from their evil thoughts" (Jeremiah 23:21-22).
The Lord identifies and points out these same men once more, saying: "They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug out broken cisterns for themselves, which cannot hold water" (Jeremiah 2:13). Since no baptism can exist besides the one, they think they are able to baptize themselves. Having deserted the fountain of life, they promise the grace of vital and salutary water. Men are not cleansed there; rather, they are defiled. Sins are not purified; rather, they are accumulated. That birth is not of God but of the devil, and it generates sons for him. Born through falsehood, they do not receive the promises of Truth; born of perfidy, they lose the grace of faith. They cannot come to the reward of peace, because they have broken the peace of the Lord with the fury of discord (Jeremiah 23:25-26, 30-32).
Latin
Contra ejusmodi clamat Dominus, ab his refraenat et revocat errantem plebem suam, dicens: Nolite audire sermones pseudoprophetarum, quoniam visiones cordis eorum frustrantur eos. Loquuntur, sed non ab ore Domini. Dicunt eis qui abjiciunt verbum Dei: Pax erit vobis et omnibus ambulantibus in voluntatibus suis. Omnis qui ambulat in errore cordis sui, non venient super eum mala. Non locutus sum ad eos, et ipsi prophetaverunt. Si stetissent in substantia mea, et audissent verba mea, et si docuissent populum meum, convertissem eos a malis cogitationibus eorum. Hos eosdem denuo Dominus designat et denotat dicens: Me dereliquerunt fontem aquae vivae, et effoderunt sibi lacus detricos, qui non possunt aquam portare. Quando aliud baptisma praeter unum esse non possit, baptizare se posse opinantur. Vitae fonte deserto, vitalis et salutaris aquae gratiam pollicentur. Non abluuntur illic homines, sed potius sordidantur; nec purgantur delicta, sed immo cumulantur. Non Deo nativitas illa, sed diabolo filios generat. Per mendacium nati Veritatis promissa non capiunt: de perfidia procreati fidei gratiam perdunt. Ad pacis praemium venire non possunt, qui pacem Domini discordiae furore ruperunt.