On the Baptism of Christ.

 The time, then, has come, and bears in its course the remembrance of holy mysteries, purifying man,—mysteries which purge out from soul and body even

 Christ, then, was born as it were a few days ago—He Whose generation was before all things, sensible and intellectual. To-day He is baptized by John t

 Let us then leave the task of searching into what is beyond human power, and seek rather that which shows signs of being partly within our comprehensi

 As, however, examples always render an argument more vivid to the hearers, I propose to instruct the mind of the blasphemers by an illustration, expla

 I find that not only do the Gospels, written after the Crucifixion, proclaim the grace of Baptism, but, even before the Incarnation of our Lord, the a

 Hagar, the handmaid of Abraham (whom Paul treats allegorically in reasoning with the Galatians ), being sent forth from her master’s house by the ange

 Again, at a later time, Isaac—the same for whose sake Ishmael was driven with his mother from his father’s home—was to be wedded. Abraham’s servant is

 According to the same force of the text, Jacob also, hastening to seek a bride, met Rachel unexpectedly at the well. And a great stone lay upon the we

 Again, the great Moses, when he was a goodly child, and yet at the breast, falling under the general and cruel decree which the hard-hearted Pharaoh m

 Even these instances might be enough to confirm our present position but the lover of good thoughts must yet not neglect what follows. The people of

 Now herein, by that wondrous sacrifice, Elijah clearly proclaimed to us the sacramental rite of Baptism that should afterwards be instituted. For the

 Let us for the rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried saying, “Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your souls

 But do ye all, as many as are made glad, by the gift of regeneration, and make your boast of that saving renewal, show me, after the sacramental grace

 Therefore, also, it is that after the dignity of adoption the devil plots more vehemently against us, pining away with envious glance, when he beholds

 And now we have spoken sufficiently for the holy subject of the day, which the circling year brings to us at appointed periods. We shall do well in wh

 For all these things then let us sing to God that hymn of joy, which lips touched by the Spirit long ago sang loudly: “Let my soul be joyful in the Lo

As, however, examples always render an argument more vivid to the hearers, I propose to instruct the mind of the blasphemers by an illustration, explaining, by means of earthly and lowly matters, those matters which are great, and invisible to the senses. If it befel thee to be enduring the misfortune of captivity among enemies, to be in bondage and in misery, to be groaning for that ancient freedom which thou once hadst—and if all at once three men, who were notable men and citizens in the country of thy tyrannical masters, set thee free from the constraint that lay upon thee, giving thy ransom equally, and dividing the charges of the money in equal shares among themselves, wouldst thou not then, meeting with this favour, look upon the three alike as benefactors, and make repayment of the ransom to them in equal shares, as the trouble and the cost on thy behalf was common to them all—if, that is, thou wert a fair judge of the benefit done to thee? This we may see, so far as illustration goes14    The meaning of this clause may be, either that Gregory does not propose to follow this point out, as the subject of his discourse is Baptism, not the doctrine of the Trinity; or, that the example he has given is not to be so pressed as to imply tritheism, being merely an illustration of moral obligation, not a parallel from which anything is to be inferred as to the exact relation between the Three Persons., for our aim at present is not to render a strict account of the Faith. Let us return to the present season, and to the subject it sets before us.

Ἐπειδὴ δὲ τὰ ὑποδείγματα ἐμψυχότερον ἀεὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀκούοντας τὸν λόγον ἐργάζεται, εἰκόνι βούλομαι παιδεῦσαι τῶν βλασφημούντων τὴν γνώμην ἐκ τῶν γηίνων καὶ ταπεινῶν σαφηνίζων τὰ μεγάλα καὶ καθ' αἴσθησιν μὴ βλεπόμενα. εἰ γάρ σοι συνέβη συμφορὰν αἰχμαλωσίας ὑπομείναντι εἶναι παρὰ τοῖς πολεμίοις, δουλεύειν δὲ καὶ ταλαιπωρεῖσθαι καὶ στένειν τὴν παλαιὰν ἐλευθερίαν ἣν εἶχες, ἀθρόον δέ τινες γνώριμοι καὶ πολῖται ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τῶν σῶν δεσποτῶν καὶ τυράννων γενόμενοι ἠλευθέρωσάν σε τῆς ἐπικειμένης ἀνάγκης λύτρα δόντες ἐξ ἴσης καὶ τὴν δαπάνην τῶν χρημάτων ἐξ ἰσομοιρίας πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς διελόμενοι, ἆρα τῆς χάριτος ἐκείνης τυχὼν οὐκ ἂν ὁμοίως τοὺς τρεῖς ὡς εὐεργέτας ἑώρας καὶ τῶν λύτρων τὴν ἀμοιβὴν εἰς ἰσομοιρίας εἰσέφερες κοινῆς ὑπὲρ σοῦ καὶ τῆς σπουδῆς καὶ τῆς δαπάνης γεγενημένης, ἄν περ δίκαιος ὑπάρχῃς τῆς εὐεργεσίας κριτής; Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ὅσον ἐν ὑποδείγμασιν: οὐ γὰρ νῦν ἡμῖν σκοπὸς τὸν τῆς πίστεως ἀπευθύνειν λόγον, πρὸς δὲ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα καιρὸν καὶ τὴν προκειμένην ὑπόθεσιν ἀναδράμωμεν.