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On the Sacraments
St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919
Book 2, The Interpretation of the “captive maid” in the Story of Naaman. Summary of Types…
Now look at the types one by one. We said that baptism was prefigured in the Jordan, when Naaman the leper was cleansed. Who is that captive maid, but one who had the likeness of the Church, and exhibited a figure of it?1 For the people of the nations was captive. It was captive: I do not mean a captivity under some hostile people; but I mean that captivity which is worse, when the devil and his minions rule with cruel sway, and subject to themselves the captive necks of sinners.
Therefore thou hast one baptism here, another in the flood; thou hast a third kind when the fathers were baptized in the Red Sea; thou hast a fourth kind in the pool, when the water was troubled. Now I ask thee whether thou oughtest not to believe that thou hast the presence of the Trinity in this baptism which is administered in the Church.
Notes
- For this application see de Myst. iii. 18.