107. Thou art that victim. Contemplate
in silence each single point. The breath of the Holy Spirit
descends on thee, He seems to burn thee when He consumes thy
sins. The sacrifice which was consumed in the time of Moses was a
sacrifice for sin, wherefore Moses said, as is written in the book of
the Maccabees: “Because the sacrifice for sin was not to be
eaten, it was consumed.” 2 Macc. ii. 11. Does it not
seem to be consumed for thee when in the sacrament of baptism the whole
outer man perishes? “Our old man is
crucified,” Rom. vi. 6. the Apostle
exclaims. Herein, as the example of the fathers teaches us, the
Egyptian is swallowed up—the Hebrew arises renewed by the Holy
Spirit, as he also crossed the Red Sea dryshod—where our fathers
were baptized in the cloud and in the sea. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2.