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

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 made against the men-children, was exposed on the banks of the river—not naked, but laid in an ark, for it was fitting that the Law should typically be enclosed in a coffer23    Cf. Ex. ii. And he was laid near the water; for the Law, and those daily sprinklings of the Hebrews which were a little later to be made plain in the perfect and marvellous Baptism, are near to grace. Again, according to the view of the inspired Paul24    Cf. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2; and see Ex. xiv, the people itself, by passing through the Red Sea, proclaimed the good tidings of salvation by water. The people passed over, and the Egyptian king with his host was engulfed, and by these actions this Sacrament was foretold. For even now, whensoever the people is in the water of regeneration, fleeing from Egypt, from the burden of sin, it is set free and saved; but the devil with his own servants (I mean, of course, the spirits of evil), is choked with grief, and perishes, deeming the salvation of men to be his own misfortune.

Μωϋσῆς δὲ ὁ μέγας βρέφος ὑπάρχων ἀστεῖον καὶ ὑπομάζιον ὑποπεσὼν τῇ κοινῇ καὶ σκυθρωπῇ ψήφῳ, ἣν ὁ σκληρὸς Φαραὼ κατὰ τῶν βρεφῶν τῶν ἀρρένων ἐξήνεγκεν, ἐξετέθη πρὸς ταῖς ὄχθαις τοῦ ποταμοῦ οὐ γυμνός, ἀλλ' ἐμβληθεὶς λάρνακι (ἔδει γὰρ εἶναι τυπικῶς τὸν νόμον ἐν κιβωτῷ), ἐγγὺς δὲ κατετέθη τοῦ ὕδατος: γειτνιᾷ γὰρ ὁ νόμος τῇ χάριτι καὶ τὰ ἐφήμερα τῶν Ἑβραίων ῥαντίσματα, ἃ μικρὸν ὕστερον ἔμελλε τῷ τελείῳ καὶ θαυμαστῷ βαπτίσματι καλυφθήσεσθαι. ὡς δὲ Παύλῳ τῷ θεσπεσίῳ δοκεῖ καὶ ὁ λαὸς αὐτὸς τὴν Ἐρυθρὰν περαιωθεὶς θάλασσαν τὴν ἐξ ὕδατος σωτηρίαν εὐηγγελίζετο: παρῆλθεν ὁ λαὸς καὶ βασιλεὺς ὁ Αἰγύπτιος μετὰ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἐβυθίσθη καὶ τὸ μυστήριον διὰ τῶν ἔργων προεφητεύετο. καὶ νῦν γὰρ ἡνίκα ἂν ὁ λαὸς ἐν τῷ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας ὕδατι γένηται φεύγων τὴν Αἴγυπτον τὴν μοχθηρὰν ἁμαρτίαν, αὐτὸς μὲν ἐλευθεροῦται καὶ σῴζεται, ὁ δὲ διάβολος μετὰ τῶν ἰδίων ὑπηρετῶν (λέγω δὴ τῶν πνευμάτων τῆς πονηρίας) ἀποπνίγεται τῇ λύπῃ καὶ φθείρεται συμφορὰν ἰδίαν τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίαν ἡγούμενος.