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.