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On the Sacraments
St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919
Book 2, Our Lord’s Command to Baptize. Further O.T. Types of Baptism
It is, then, the same baptism which our Lord Jesus Christ speaks of in his Gospel to the Apostles: Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.1 This is the word of the Saviour.
Tell me, O man. Elijah called fire from heaven, and fire came down from heaven.2 Elisha called on the name of the Lord, and the axe-head which had sunk came up out of the water.3 Here is another kind of baptism. Why? Because every man before baptism is weighed down like iron, and sinks: when he has been baptized he is no longer like iron, but now rises like the fruit-bearing wood, which is a lighter kind of thing.4 Therefore in this instance there is also another figure. The axe was that with which wood was cut down. The haft fell from the axe, that is, the iron sank. The son of the prophet knew not what to do; but this alone he knew, to ask the prophet Elisha and to demand help. Then he cast in wood, and the iron was raised. Dost thou see, therefore, how the weakness of all men is raised on the cross of Christ?
Another example—though we are not keeping to our order, for who can recount all the deeds of Christ, as the Apostles said?5 When Moses came into the desert and the people thirsted, and came to the spring of Marah, and wished to drink water (because, as soon as they drew, they tasted the bitterness, and began to be unable to drink), therefore Moses cast wood into the spring, and the water which previously was bitter began to be sweet.6
What does it mean, but that every creature is subject to corruption, that water is bitter to all. Although it is sweet for a time, although it is pleasant for a time, yet it is bitter, since it cannot take away sin. When thou hast drunk, thou wilt thirst; when thou hast imbibed the sweetness of the draught, thou wilt taste its bitterness. Water, therefore, is bitter. But when thou hast received the cross of Christ,7 and the heavenly sacrament, it begins to be sweet and pleasant; and rightly sweet, because guilt is thereby cancelled. Therefore, if baptisms by way of figure could do so much, how much more can baptism in reality do?
Notes
- Mt. xxviii. 19.
- 1 Kings xix. 38, quoted in a different connexion in de Myst. ix. 52.
- 2 Kings vi. 4-6, quoted in a different connexion, de Myst. ix. 51.
- “sed tanquam iam levior fructuosi ligni species elevatur.” On species see note, de Myst. ix. 52.
- Cf. Jn. xxi. 25.
- Ex. xv. 23 f. For this and the following section see de Myst. iii. 14.
- Probably a reference to the signing of the catechumen with the cross, as in de Myst. iv. 20 (see note). In the passage of de Myst. (iii. 14), parallel to this section, the symbolism of the incident is applied to the signing of the water at the consecration of the font. (See note there.)