Augustine of Hippo, on 1John 4:1

“Dearly beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.”

“This Spirit is denoted by the Lord under the name of water: and we have heard from this epistle, "Believe not every spirit;" and those words of Solomon bear witness, "From strange water keep thee far." What meaneth, "water"? Spirit. Does water always signify spirit? Not always: but in some places it signifies the Spirit, in some places it signifies baptism, in some places signifies peoples, in some places signifies counsel: thus thou findest it said in a certain place, "Counsel is a fountain of life to them that possess it." So then, in divers places of the Scriptures, the term "water" signifies divers things.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.