7.  This man was baptizing in Jordan, and there went out unto him all Jerusalem Matt. iii. 5., to enjoy the first-fruits of baptisms:  for in Jerusalem is the prerogative of all things good.  But learn, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, how they that came out were baptized by him:  confessing their sins, it is said Matt. iii. 6..  First they shewed their wounds, then he applied the remedies, and to them that believed gave redemption from eternal fire.  And if thou wilt be convinced of this very point, that the baptism of John is a redemption from the threat of the fire, hear how he says, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come Ib. iii. 7.?  Be not then henceforth a viper, but as thou hast been formerly a viper’s brood, put off, saith he, the slough The Greek word (ὑπόστασις) is used by Polybius (xxxiv. 9) for the deposit of silver from crushed ore, and by Hippocrates for any sediment or deposit.  Here it means, as the context clearly shews, the old skin cast by a snake.  Compare ii. 5. of thy former sinful life.  For every serpent creeps into a hole and casts its old slough, and having rubbed off the old skin, grows young again in body.  In like manner enter thou also through the strait and narrow gate Matt. vii. 13, 14.:  rub off thy former self by fasting, and drive out that which is destroying thee.  Put off the old man with his doings Col. iii. 9., and quote that saying in the Canticles, I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on Cant. v. 3.  In the Song, this saying is an excuse for not rising from bed.  S. Cyril applies it in a different way.?