John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;
Ver. 26. I baptize with water] The Baptist here meaneth the same that St Paul doth, 1 Corinthians 3:6,7. See Trapp on " Mat 3:11 " Christ rains down righteousness upon all his baptized; to whom it is not only a sign, but also a seal, as circumcision is called, not only by St Paul, Romans 4:11, but also by a Jewish doctor, more ancient than their Talmud. Of Wilfride, first Bishop of Chichester, A.D. 700, it is reported that he converted to the faith many pagans in those parts. And a day being appointed for their baptism, they had no sooner received the same, but immediately it rained plentifully, the want whereof had caused a dearth for three years before; so that many died daily for hunger, and serveral joining hand-in-hand (forty or fifty in a company) threw themselves headlong into the sea.