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On the Sacraments
St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919
Book 1, The Sacraments of Christians are More Divine, and Earlier, Than Those of the…
Therefore, let us say this first (hold my words as a pledge, and exact full payment). We marvel at the mysteries of the Jews, which were given to our fathers, pre-eminent first in the antiquity of their sacraments, then in their holiness. This I promise, that the sacraments cf Christians are more divine and older than those of the Jews.1
What stands out so much as the fact that the people of the Jews passed through the sea?2 — to speak for the present of baptism. Yet the Jews who passed through all died in the wilderness. But he who passes through this font, that is from earthly to heavenly things — for this is the “passing over,”3 therefore, pascha, that is, his passover, a passing over from sin to life, from guilt to grace, from defilement to sanctification — he who passes through this font, dies not, but rises again.
Notes
- Cf. de Myst. iii. 9 (init.).
- 1 Cor. x. 1. Cf. de Myst. iii. 12, which is here expanded.
- A reference to Ex. xii. 11, where the Latin has “est enim Phase (id est transitus) domini.” Cf. also Ex. xii. 27, “victima transitus domini est, quando transivit super domos filiorum Israel in Aegypto.” But the passages in Exodus refer to a “passing over” by “sparing”; the author applies “pass-over” (transitus) to the “passing through” the Red Sea by the Israelites (T.).