Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Genesis 25
There are 62 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 145, footnote 22 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Barnabas (HTML)
The Epistle of Barnabas (HTML)
Chapter XIII.—Christians, and not Jews, the heirs of the covenant. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1631 (In-Text, Margin)
But let us see if this people is the heir, or the former, and if the covenant belongs to us or to them. Hear ye now what the Scripture saith concerning the people. Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife, because she was barren; and she conceived.[Genesis 25:21] Furthermore also, Rebecca went forth to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples in thy belly; and the one people shall surpass the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.” You ought to understand who was Isaac, who Rebecca, and concerning what persons He declared that this people should be greater than that. And in ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 145, footnote 23 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Barnabas (HTML)
The Epistle of Barnabas (HTML)
Chapter XIII.—Christians, and not Jews, the heirs of the covenant. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1632 (In-Text, Margin)
But let us see if this people is the heir, or the former, and if the covenant belongs to us or to them. Hear ye now what the Scripture saith concerning the people. Isaac prayed for Rebecca his wife, because she was barren; and she conceived. Furthermore also, Rebecca went forth to inquire of the Lord; and the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples in thy belly; and the one people shall surpass the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] You ought to understand who was Isaac, who Rebecca, and concerning what persons He declared that this people should be greater than that. And in another prophecy Jacob speaks more clearly to his son Joseph, saying, “Behold, the Lord hath not deprived me of thy ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 493, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXI.—Abraham’s faith was identical with ours; this faith was prefigured by the words and actions of the old patriarchs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4116 (In-Text, Margin)
... history of Isaac, too, is not without a symbolical character. For in the Epistle to the Romans, the apostle declares: “Moreover, when Rebecca had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac,” she received answer from the Word, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people are in thy body; and the one people shall overcome the other, and the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] From which it is evident, that not only [were there] prophecies of the patriarchs, but also that the children brought forth by Rebecca were a prediction of the two nations; and that the one should be indeed the greater, but the other the less; that ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 493, footnote 4 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXI.—Abraham’s faith was identical with ours; this faith was prefigured by the words and actions of the old patriarchs. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4118 (In-Text, Margin)
3. If any one, again, will look into Jacob’s actions, he shall find them not destitute of meaning, but full of import with regard to the dispensations. Thus, in the first place, at his birth, since he laid hold on his brother’s heel,[Genesis 25:26] he was called Jacob, that is, the supplanter —one who holds, but is not held; binding the feet, but not being bound; striving and conquering; grasping in his hand his adversary’s heel, that is, victory. For to this end was the Lord born, the type of whose birth he set forth beforehand, of whom also John says in the Apocalypse: “He went forth conquering, that He should ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 151, footnote 7 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)
Occasion of Writing. Relative Position of Jews and Gentiles Illustrated. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1133 (In-Text, Margin)
... ordained “two peoples and two nations” as about to proceed out of the womb of one woman: nor did grace make distinction in the nuncupative appellation, but in the order of birth; to the effect that, which ever was to be prior in proceeding from the womb, should be subjected to “the less,” that is, the posterior. For thus unto Rebecca did God speak: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be divided from thy bowels; and people shall overcome people, and the greater shall serve the less.”[Genesis 25:21-23] Accordingly, since the people or nation of the Jews is anterior in time, and “greater” through the grace of primary favour in the Law, whereas ours is understood to be “less” in the age of times, as having in the last era of the world ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 207, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1687 (In-Text, Margin)
... God has prescribed. I shall at last retire within our own lines and firmly hold my ground there, for the purpose of proving to the Christian (the soundness of) my answers to the Philosophers and the Physicians. Brother (in Christ), on your own foundation build up your faith. Consider the wombs of the most sainted women instinct with the life within them, and their babes which not only breathed therein, but were even endowed with prophetic intuition. See how the bowels of Rebecca are disquieted,[Genesis 25:22-23] though her child-bearing is as yet remote, and there is no impulse of (vital) air. Behold, a twin offspring chafes within the mother’s womb, although she has no sign as yet of the twofold nation. Possibly we might have regarded as a prodigy the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 207, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Soul. (HTML)
Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1688 (In-Text, Margin)
... was anticipated in birth, who was not yet fully brought forth, but whose hand only had been born. Now if he actually imbibed life, and received his soul, in Platonic style, at his first breath; or else, after the Stoic rule, had the earliest taste of animation on touching the frosty air; what was the other about, who was so eagerly looked for, who was still detained within the womb, and was trying to detain (the other) outside? I suppose he had not yet breathed when he seized his brother’s heel;[Genesis 25:26] and was still warm with his mother’s warmth, when he so strongly wished to be the first to quit the womb. What an infant! so emulous, so strong, and already so contentious; and all this, I suppose, because even now full of life! Consider, again, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 646, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
Scorpiace. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8306 (In-Text, Margin)
But how Paul, an apostle, from being a persecutor, who first of all shed the blood of the church, though afterwards he exchanged the sword for the pen, and turned the dagger into a plough, being first a ravening wolf of Benjamin, then himself supplying food as did Jacob,[Genesis 25:34] —how he, (I say,) speaks in favour of martyrdoms, now to be chosen by himself also, when, rejoicing over the Thessalonians, he says, “So that we glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations, in which ye endure a manifestation of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be accounted worthy of His ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 82, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Modesty. (HTML)
Of the Prodigal Son. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 797 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Jew at the present day, no less than the younger son, having squandered God’s substance, is a beggar in alien territory, serving even until now its princes, that is, the princes of this world. Seek, therefore, the Christians some other as their brother; for the Jew the parable does not admit. Much more aptly would they have matched the Christian with the elder, and the Jew with the younger son, “according to the analogy of faith,” if the order of each people as intimated from Rebecca’s womb[Genesis 25:21-24] permitted the inversion: only that (in that case) the concluding paragraph would oppose them; for it will be fitting for the Christian to rejoice, and not to grieve, at the restoration of Israel, if it be true, (as it is), that the whole of our hope ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 113, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On Fasting. (HTML)
Conclusion. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1117 (In-Text, Margin)
“Old” you are, if we will say the truth, you who are so indulgent to appetite, and justly do you vaunt your “priority:” always do I recognise the savour of Esau, the hunter of wild beasts: so unlimitedly studious are you of catching fieldfares, so do you come from “the field” of your most lax discipline, so faint are you in spirit.[Genesis 25:27-34] If I offer you a paltry lentile dyed red with must well boiled down, forthwith you will sell all your “primacies:” with you “love” shows its fervour in sauce-pans, “faith” its warmth in kitchens, “hope” its anchorage in waiters; but of greater account is “love,” because that is the means whereby your young men sleep with their ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 169, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Hippolytus. (HTML)
The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus. (HTML)
Exegetical. (HTML)
On Genesis. (HTML)
... expresses the Jews’ possession of the law; that the father loves his meat and venison, denotes the saving of men from error, whom every righteous man seeks to gain (lit. hunt for) by doctrine. The word of God here is the promise anew of the blessing and the hope of a kingdom to come, in which the saints shall reign with Christ, and keep the true Sabbath. Rebecca is full of the Holy Spirit, as understanding the word which she heard before she gave birth, “For the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] As a figure of the Holy Spirit, moreover, she cares for Jacob in preference. She says to her younger son, “Go to the flock and fetch me two kids,” prefiguring the Saviour’s advent in the flesh to work a mighty deliverance for them who were held ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 512, footnote 10 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
In Genesis: “And the Lord said unto Rebekah, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy belly; and the one people shall overcome the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] Also in Hosea: “I will call them my people that are not my people, and her beloved that was not beloved. For it shall be, in that place in which it shall be called not my people, they shall be called the sons of the living God.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 632, footnote 9 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)
That the Same Divine Majesty is Again Confirmed in Christ by Other Scriptures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5188 (In-Text, Margin)
... he had seen and heard; who “came not to do His own will, but rather to do the will of the Father,” by whom He had been sent for this very purpose, that being made the “Messenger of Great Counsel,” He might unfold to us the laws of the heavenly mysteries; and who as the Word made flesh dwelt among us, of us this Christ is proved to be not man only, because He was the son of man, but also God, because He is the Son of God? And if by the apostle Christ is called “the first-born of every creature,”[Genesis 25:31] how could He be the first-born of every creature, unless because according to His divinity the Word proceeded from the Father before every creature? And unless the heretics receive it thus, they will be constrained to show that Christ the man was ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 37, footnote 5 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. (HTML)
The Testament of Benjamin Concerning a Pure Mind. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 193 (In-Text, Margin)
11. And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf on account of your ravages, but a worker of the Lord, distributing food to them that work what is good. And one[Genesis 25:34] shall rise up from my seed in the latter times, beloved of the Lord, hearing upon the earth His voice, enlightening with new knowledge all the Gentiles, bursting in upon Israel for salvation with the light of knowledge, and tearing it away from it like a wolf, and giving it to the synagogue of the Gentiles. And until the consummation of the ages shall he be in the synagogues of the Gentiles, and among their ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 22 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)
He Compares the Doctrine of the Platonists Concerning the Λόγος With the Much More Excellent Doctrine of Christianity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 522 (In-Text, Margin)
15. And therefore also did I read there, that they had changed the glory of Thy incorruptible nature into idols and divers forms,—“into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things,” namely, into that Egyptian food for which Esau lost his birthright;[Genesis 25:33-34] for that Thy first-born people worshipped the head of a four-footed beast instead of Thee, turning back in heart towards Egypt, and prostrating Thy image—their own soul—before the image “of an ox that eateth grass.” These things found I there; but I fed not on them. For it pleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the reproach of diminution from Jacob, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 155, footnote 21 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 913 (In-Text, Margin)
... my God and Master, who dost knock at my ears and enlighten my heart; deliver me out of all temptation. It is not the uncleanness of meat that I fear, but the uncleanness of lusting. I know that permission was granted unto Noah to eat every kind of flesh that was good for food; that Elias was fed with flesh; that John, endued with a wonderful abstinence, was not polluted by the living creatures (that is, the locusts) which he fed on. I know, too, that Esau was deceived by a longing for lentiles,[Genesis 25:34] and that David took blame to himself for desiring water, and that our King was tempted not by flesh but bread. And the people in the wilderness, therefore, also deserved reproof, not because they desired flesh, but because, in their desire for food, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 10, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Augustin censures the pagans, who attributed the calamities of the world, and especially the recent sack of Rome by the Goths, to the Christian religion, and its prohibition of the worship of the gods. (HTML)
Reasons for Burying the Bodies of the Saints. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 68 (In-Text, Margin)
... the dress of a father, or his ring, or anything he wore, be precious to his children, in proportion to the love they bore him, with how much more reason ought we to care for the bodies of those we love, which they wore far more closely and intimately than any clothing! For the body is not an extraneous ornament or aid, but a part of man’s very nature. And therefore to the righteous of ancient times the last offices were piously rendered, and sepulchres provided for them, and obsequies celebrated;[Genesis 25:9] and they themselves, while yet alive, gave commandment to their sons about the burial, and, on occasion, even about the removal of their bodies to some favorite place. And Tobit, according to the angel’s testimony, is commended, and is said to have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 330, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
What is Meant by Abraham’s Marrying Keturah After Sarah’s Death. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 950 (In-Text, Margin)
... they belong to the new covenant? For both are called both the wives and the concubines of Abraham; but Sarah is never called a concubine (but only a wife). For when Hagar is given to Abraham, it is written. “And Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abraham had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” And of Keturah, whom he took after Sarah’s departure, we read, “Then again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah.”[Genesis 25:1] Lo! both are called wives, yet both are found to have been concubines; for the Scripture afterward says, “And Abraham gave his whole estate unto Isaac his son. But unto the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from his son ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 330, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
What is Meant by Abraham’s Marrying Keturah After Sarah’s Death. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 951 (In-Text, Margin)
... the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife.” And of Keturah, whom he took after Sarah’s departure, we read, “Then again Abraham took a wife, whose name was Keturah.” Lo! both are called wives, yet both are found to have been concubines; for the Scripture afterward says, “And Abraham gave his whole estate unto Isaac his son. But unto the sons of his concubines Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from his son Isaac, (while he yet lived,) eastward, unto the east country.”[Genesis 25:5-6] Therefore the sons of the concubines, that is, the heretics and the carnal Jews, have some gifts, but do not attain the promised kingdom; “For they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 331, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
What Was Indicated by the Divine Answer About the Twins Still Shut Up in the Womb of Rebecca Their Mother. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 953 (In-Text, Margin)
... his sons were born, the only memorable thing is, that when he prayed God that his wife, who was barren, might bear, and the Lord granted what he sought, and she conceived, the twins leapt while still enclosed in her womb. And when she was troubled by this struggle, and inquired of the Lord, she received this answer: “Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall overcome the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] The Apostle Paul would have us understand this as a great instance of grace; for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, the younger is chosen without any good desert and the elder is rejected, when beyond doubt, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 332, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
Of the Things Mystically Prefigured in Esau and Jacob. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 957 (In-Text, Margin)
... eyesight. He wished to bless the elder son, and instead of the elder, who was hairy, unwittingly blessed the younger, who put himself under his father’s hands, having covered himself with kid-skins, as if bearing the sins of others. Lest we should think this guile of Jacob’s was fraudulent guile, instead of seeking in it the mystery of a great thing, the Scripture has predicted in the words just before, “Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a simple man, dwelling at home.”[Genesis 25:27] Some of our writers have interpreted this, “without guile.” But whether the Greek ἄλαστος means “without guile,” or “simple,” or rather “without reigning,” in the receiving of that blessing what is the guile of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 335, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
The history of the city of God from Noah to the time of the kings of Israel. (HTML)
Of the Sons of Joseph, Whom Jacob Blessed, Prophetically Changing His Hands. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 977 (In-Text, Margin)
Now, as Isaac’s two sons, Esau and Jacob, furnished a type of the two people, the Jews and the Christians (although as pertains to carnal descent it was not the Jews but the Idumeans who came of the seed of Esau, nor the Christian nations but rather the Jews who came of Jacob’s; for the type holds only as regards the saying, “The elder shall serve the younger”[Genesis 25:23]), so the same thing happened in Joseph’s two sons; for the elder was a type of the Jews, and the younger of the Christians. For when Jacob was blessing them, and laid his right hand on the younger, who was at his left, and his left hand on the elder, who was at his right, this seemed wrong to their father, and he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 363, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
A parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham to the end of the world. (HTML)
What Kings Reigned in Assyria and Sicyon When, According to the Promise, Isaac Was Born to Abraham in His Hundredth Year, and When the Twins Esau and Jacob Were Born of Rebecca to Isaac in His Sixtieth Year. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1135 (In-Text, Margin)
... times also, by the promise of God, Isaac, the son of Abraham, was born to his father when he was a hundred years old, of Sarah his wife, who, being barren and old, had already lost hope of issue. Aralius was then the fifth king of the Assyrians. To Isaac himself, in his sixtieth year, were born twin-sons, Esau and Jacob, whom Rebecca his wife bore to him, their grandfather Abraham, who died on completing a hundred and seventy years, being still alive, and reckoning his hundred and sixtieth year.[Genesis 25:7] At that time there reigned as the seventh kings,—among the Assyrians, that more ancient Xerxes, who was also called Balæus; and among the Sicyons, Thuriachus, or, as some write his name, Thurimachus. The kingdom of Argos, in which Inachus reigned ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 546, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
On Christian Doctrine (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Folly of Observing the Stars in Order to Predict the Events of a Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1805 (In-Text, Margin)
... Whence it necessarily follows that twins are in many cases born under the same stars, while they do not meet with equal fortune either in what they do or what they suffer, but often meet with fates so different that one of them has a most fortunate life, the other a most unfortunate. As, for example, we are told that Esau and Jacob were born twins, and in such close succession, that Jacob, who was born last, was found to have laid hold with his hand upon the heel of his brother, who preceded him.[Genesis 25:24] Now, assuredly, the day and hour of the birth of these two could not be marked in any way that would not give both the same constellation. But what a difference there was between the characters, the actions, the labors, and the fortunes of these ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 286, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)
Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1348 (In-Text, Margin)
... wherewith also are united and numbered all the saints who lived in this world, even before His advent, and who believed then in His future coming, just as we believe in His past coming. For (to use an illustration) Jacob, at the time when he was being born, first put forth from the womb a hand, with which also he held the foot of the brother who was taking priority of him in the act of birth; and next indeed the head followed, and thereafter, at last, and as matter of course, the rest of the members:[Genesis 25:26] while, nevertheless the head in point of dignity and power has precedence, not only of those members which followed it then, but also of the very hand which anticipated it in the process of the birth, and is really the first, although not in the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 304, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)
Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1444 (In-Text, Margin)
... only-begotten Son of God, the Word of the Father, equal and co-eternal with the Father, by whom all things were made, was Himself also made man for our sakes, in order that of the whole Church, as of His whole body, He might be the Head. But just as when the whole man is in the process of being born, although he may put the hand forth first in the act of birth, yet is that hand joined and compacted together with the whole body under the head, even as also among these same patriarchs some were born[Genesis 25:26] with the hand put forth first as a sign of this very thing: so all the saints who lived upon the earth previous to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, although they were born antecedently, were nevertheless united under the Head with that universal ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 535, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Section 25 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2704 (In-Text, Margin)
... catholic, holding the godly faith; not the faith which works through elation or fear, but “which worketh by love;” nevertheless, even the sons of the concubines, when Abraham sent them away from his son Isaac, he did not omit to bestow upon them some gifts, that they might not be left in every way empty, but not that they should be held as heirs. For so we read: “And Abraham gave all his estate unto Isaac; and to the sons of his concubines gave Abraham gifts, and sent them away from his son Isaac.”[Genesis 25:5-6] If then we be sons of Jerusalem the free, let us understand that other be the gifts of them which are put out of the inheritance, other the gifts of them which be heirs. For these be the heirs, to whom is said, “Ye have not received the spirit of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 418, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)
He proves that baptism can be conferred outside the Catholic communion by heretics or schismatics, but that it ought not to be received from them; and that it is of no avail to any while in a state of heresy or schism. (HTML)
Chapter 10 (HTML)
... bond-woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac." But those who peacefully love the lawful wife of their father, whose sons they are by lawful descent, are like the sons of Jacob, born indeed of handmaids, but yet receiving the same inheritance. But those who are born within the family, of the womb of the mother herself, and then neglect the grace they have received, are like Isaac’s son Esau, who was rejected, God Himself bearing witness to it, and saying, "I loved Jacob, and I hated Esau;"[Genesis 25:24] and that though they were twin-brethren, the offspring of the same womb.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 470, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)
He examines the last part of the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, together with his epistle to Quintus, the letter of the African synod to the Numidian bishops, and Cyprian’s epistle to Pompeius. (HTML)
Chapter 16 (HTML)
... away with him what he could not give lawfully, but what would yet be according to law when given; or that he no longer has lawfully what yet is in accordance with law in his possession. But the birthright rests only in a holy conversation and good life, to which all belong of whom that bride consists as her members which has no spot or wrinkle, or that dove that groans amid the wickedness of the many crows,—unless it be that, while Esau lost his birthright from his lust after a mess of pottage,[Genesis 25:29-34] we are yet to hold that it is retained by defrauders, robbers, usurers, envious persons, drunkards and the like, over whose existence in the Church of his time Cyprian groaned in his epistles. Wherefore, either it is not the same thing to retain the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 249, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)
On Original Sin. (HTML)
Why the Circumcision of Infants Was Enjoined Under Pain of So Great a Punishment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2004 (In-Text, Margin)
... nature, however cleverly maintained, fall to pieces, struck down and fractured to atoms? For, pray tell me, what evil has an infant committed of his own will, that, for the negligence of another in not circumcising him, he himself must be condemned, and with so severe a condemnation, that that soul must be cut off from his people? It was not of any temporal death that this fear was inflicted, since of righteous persons, when they died, it used rather to be said, “And he was gathered unto his people;”[Genesis 25:17] or, “He was gathered to his fathers:” for no attempt to separate a man from his people is long formidable to him, when his own people is itself the people of God.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 391, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, Matt. xxi. 19, where Jesus dried up the fig-tree; and on the words, Luke xxiv. 28, where He made a pretence as though He would go further. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2977 (In-Text, Margin)
... his sleep saw a mysterious dream, ladders rising from the earth to heaven, and Angels ascending and descending, and the Lord standing upon the ladder, he understood what it was designed to figure, and took the stone for a figure of Christ, to prove to us thereby that he was no stranger to the understanding of that vision and revelation. Do not wonder then that he anointed it, for Christ received His Name from “the anointing.” Now this Jacob was said in the Scripture to be “a man without guile.”[Genesis 25:27] And this Jacob ye know was called Israel. Accordingly in the Gospel, when the Lord saw Nathanael, He said, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” And that Israelite not yet knowing who it was that talked with him, answered, “Whence ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 471, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, John i. 48,’When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3649 (In-Text, Margin)
3. Ye that are well instructed in the school of Christ, know that this Jacob is Israel too. They are two names; for they are one man. His first name Jacob, which is by interpretation supplanter, he received when he was born. For when those twins were born, his brother Esau was born first; and the hand of the younger was found on the elder’s foot.[Genesis 25:25-26] He held his brother’s foot who preceded him in his birth, and himself came after. And because of this occurrence, because he held his brother’s heel, he was called Jacob, that is, Supplanter. And afterwards, when he was returning from Mesopotamia, the Angel wrestled with him in the way. What comparison can there be between ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 332, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Again on the Same Passage. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1310 (In-Text, Margin)
... no light offense, on the part of the Israelites, to reject what wisdom was supplying, and ask for that which lust was craving: although they would not actually make the request, but murmured because it was wanting. But to let us know that the wrong lies not with any creature of God, but with obstinate disobedience and inordinate desire, it was not in swine’s flesh that the first man found death, but in an apple; and it was not for a fowl, but for a dish of pottage, that Esau lost his birthright.[Genesis 25:34]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 56, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 570 (In-Text, Margin)
2. “The Lord hear Thee in the day of trouble” (ver. 1). The Lord hear Thee in the day in which Thou saidst, “Father glorify Thy Son.” “The name of the God of Jacob protect Thee.” For to Thee belongeth the younger people. Since “the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 132, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1218 (In-Text, Margin)
... Me weak for a time: Thou hast made Me strong in Thy sight, Thou madest Me weak in sight of men. What then? Praise to Him, glory to Him. “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.” For He is the God of Israel, our God, the God of Jacob, the God of the younger son, the God of the younger people. Let none say, Of the Jews said He this, I am not Israel; rather the Jews are not Israel. For the elder son, he is the elder people reprobated; the younger, the people beloved. “The elder shall serve the younger:”[Genesis 25:13] now is it fulfilled: now, brethren, the Jews serve us, they are as our satchellers, we studying, they carry our books. Hear wherein the Jews serve us, and not without reason.…With them are the Law and the Prophets, in which Law, and in which ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 162, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1527 (In-Text, Margin)
5. “He hath chosen an inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom He loved” (ver. 4). A certain beauty of Jacob He hath chosen for our inheritance. Esau and Jacob were two brothers; in their mother’s womb both struggled, and by this struggle their mother’s bowels were shaken; and while they two were yet therein, the younger was elected and preferred to the elder, and it was said, “Two peoples are in thy womb, and the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] Among all nations is the elder, among all nations the younger; but the younger is in good Christians, elect, godly, faithful; the elder in the proud, unworthy, sinful, stubborn, defending rather than confessing their sins: as was also the very people of the Jews, “being ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 162, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1529 (In-Text, Margin)
... rather than confessing their sins: as was also the very people of the Jews, “being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness.” But for that it is said, “The elder shall serve the younger;” it is manifest that under the godly are subdued the ungodly, under the humble are subdued the proud. Esau was born first, and Jacob was born last; but he who was last born, was preferred to the first-born, who through gluttony lost his birthright. So thou hast it written,[Genesis 25:30-34] He longed for the pottage, and his brother said to him, If thou wilt that I give it thee, give me thy birthright. He loved more that which carnally he desired, than that which spiritually by being born first he had earned: and he laid aside his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 205, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1946 (In-Text, Margin)
... crown, upon the Cross ye lift up; whom? “Who shall give out of Sion salvation to Israel?” Shall not That Same of whom ye have said, “He is not God”? “In God’s turning away the captivity of His people.” For there turneth away the captivity of His people, no one but He that hath willed to be a captive in your own hands. But what men shall understand this thing? “Jacob shall exult, and Israel shall rejoice.” “Israel;” the true Jacob, and the true Israel, that younger, to whom the elder was servant,[Genesis 25:23] shall himself exult, for he shall himself understand.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 231, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2175 (In-Text, Margin)
... they have gone astray from the belly, they have spoken false things” (ver. 3). And when iniquity they speak, false things they speak; because deceitful is iniquity: and when justice they speak, false things they speak; because one thing with mouth they profess, another thing in heart they conceal. “Alienated are sinners from the womb.” What is this? Let us search more diligently: for perhaps he is saying this, because God hath foreknown men that are to be sinners even in the wombs of their mothers.[Genesis 25:23] For whence when Rebecca was yet pregnant, and in womb was bearing twins, was it said, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated”? For it was said, “The elder shall serve the younger.” Hidden at that time was the judgment of God: but yet from the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 252, footnote 16 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2381 (In-Text, Margin)
... besides Her whatsoever we have, is a sojourning in a strange land. I will say therefore that which ye may acknowledge, that of which ye may approve: I will call to your minds that which ye know, I will not teach that which ye know not. “Not first,” saith the Apostle, “that which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual.” Therefore the former city is greater by age, because first was born Cain, and afterwards Abel: but in these the elder shall serve the younger.[Genesis 25:23] The former greater by age, the latter greater in dignity. Wherefore is the former greater by age? Because “not first that which is spiritual, but that which is natural.” Wherefore is the latter greater in dignity? Because “the elder shall serve the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 252, footnote 18 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2383 (In-Text, Margin)
... Apostle, “that which is spiritual, but that which is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual.” Therefore the former city is greater by age, because first was born Cain, and afterwards Abel: but in these the elder shall serve the younger. The former greater by age, the latter greater in dignity. Wherefore is the former greater by age? Because “not first that which is spiritual, but that which is natural.” Wherefore is the latter greater in dignity? Because “the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23] …Cain first builded a city, and in that place he builded where no city was. But when Jerusalem was being builded, it was not builded in a place where there was not a city, but there was a city at first which was called Jebus, whence the Jebusites. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 355, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3435 (In-Text, Margin)
... both the circumcision of the flesh, for a seal of the faith, and circumcision of the heart, for the faith itself. From these fathers these men degenerating, who now in the name do glory, and have lost their deeds; from these fathers, I say, degenerating, they have remained Jews in flesh, in heart Heathens. For these are Jews, who are out of Abraham, from whom Isaac was born, and out of him Jacob, and out of Jacob the twelve Patriarchs, and out of the twelve Patriarchs the whole people of the Jews.[Genesis 25:26] But they were generally called Jews for this reason, that Judah was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, a Patriarch among the twelve, and from his stock the Royalty came among the Jews. For all this people after the number of the twelve sons of Jacob, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 369, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3557 (In-Text, Margin)
... hath set a law,” and “in Jacob,” is the same as “in Israel.” For as these are two names of one man, so law and testimony are two names of one thing. Is there any difference, saith some one, between “hath raised up” and “hath set”? Yea indeed, the same difference as there is between “Jacob” and “Israel:” not because they were two persons, but these same two names were bestowed upon one man for different reasons; Jacob because of supplanting, for that he grasped the foot of his brother at his birth:[Genesis 25:26] but Israel because of the vision of God. So “raised up” is one thing, “set” is another. For, “He hath raised up a testimony,” as far as I can judge, hath been said because by it something has been raised up; “For without the Law,” saith the Apostle, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 391, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3785 (In-Text, Margin)
... God our helper” (ver. 1). Ye who are gathered together to-day, ye are this day the congregation of the Lord, if indeed unto you the Psalm is sung, “Exult ye unto God our helper.” Others exult unto the Circus, ye unto God: others exult unto their deceiver, do ye exult unto your helper: others exult unto their god their belly, do ye exult unto your God your helper. “Jubilate unto the God of Jacob.” Because ye also belong to Jacob: yea, ye are Jacob, the younger people to which the elder is servant.[Genesis 25:23] “Jubilate unto the God of Jacob.” Whatsoever ye cannot explain in words, ye do not therefore forbear exulting: what ye shall be able to explain, cry out: what ye cannot, jubilate. For from the abundance of joys, he that cannot find words sufficient, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 424, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4079 (In-Text, Margin)
... understanding of Æman the Israelite:” words occurring at the end of this title. Æman is said to mean, “his brother:” for Christ deigns to make those His brethren, who understand the mystery of His Cross, and not only are not ashamed of it, but faithfully glory in it, not praising themselves for their own merits, but grateful for His grace: so that it may be said to each of them, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile,” just as holy Scripture says of Israel himself, that he was without guile.[Genesis 25:27]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 437, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4201 (In-Text, Margin)
... their completion in David. Further, lest when any Christian asserted these promises to have referred to Christ, another by applying them to David, because he described the fulfilment of all of them in David, might thus err; He cancelled them in David, thus obliging us when we see them unfulfilled in David, to look to another quarter for their fulfilment. Thus also in the case of Esau and Jacob, we find the elder worshipped by the younger, though it is written, “The elder shall serve the younger;”[Genesis 25:23] so when you see it unfulfilled in those two brothers, you look for two peoples in whom to discover the completion of what God in His truth deigns to promise. “From the fruit of thy body,” saith the Lord unto David, “shall I set upon thy sea.” He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 550, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5042 (In-Text, Margin)
... are not of this fold; them also I must bring, that there may be one fold and one Shepherd.” The Christian people then is rather Israel, and the same is preferably the house of Jacob; for Israel and Jacob are the same. But that multitude of Jews, which was deservedly reprobated for its perfidy, for the pleasures of the flesh sold their birthright, so that they belonged not to Jacob, but rather to Esau. For ye know that it was said with this hidden meaning, “That the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:23]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 550, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5042 (In-Text, Margin)
... are not of this fold; them also I must bring, that there may be one fold and one Shepherd.” The Christian people then is rather Israel, and the same is preferably the house of Jacob; for Israel and Jacob are the same. But that multitude of Jews, which was deservedly reprobated for its perfidy, for the pleasures of the flesh sold their birthright, so that they belonged not to Jacob, but rather to Esau. For ye know that it was said with this hidden meaning, “That the elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:33]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 583, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Tadze. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5334 (In-Text, Margin)
... forget”? save this, Those older than me have forgotten. For the Greek word is νεώτερος, the same as that used in the words above, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” This is a comparative, and is therefore well understood in its relation to some one older. Let us therefore here recognize the two nations, who were striving even in Rebecca’s womb; when it was said to her, not from works, but of Him that calleth, “The elder shall serve the younger.”[Genesis 25:22-23] But the younger saith here that he is of no reputation: for this reason he hath become greater: since “behold, they that were first are last, and they that were last first.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 590, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5401 (In-Text, Margin)
... progressing, and detract from them, and have deceitful tongues and unrighteous lips. Against these the Psalmist, when ascending, prayed, and hot coals that lay waste, and swift and sharp arrows of the Mighty One, were given him for his defence. For among these he still liveth, until the whole floor be winnowed: he therefore said, “I have dwelt among the tents of Kedar.” The tents of Ishmael are called those of Kedar. Thus the book of Genesis hath it: thus it hath, that Kedar belongeth unto Ishmael.[Genesis 25:13] Isaac therefore is with Ishmael: that is, they who belong unto Isaac, live among those who belong unto Ishmael. These wish to rise above, those wish to press them downwards: these wish to fly unto God, those endeavour to pluck their wings…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 195, footnote 5 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)
Birth and beginnings of Antony. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 987 (In-Text, Margin)
... Antony you must know was by descent an Egyptian: his parents were of good family and possessed considerable wealth, and as they were Christians he also was reared in the same Faith. In infancy he was brought up with his parents, knowing nought else but them and his home. But when he was grown and arrived at boyhood, and was advancing in years, he could not endure to learn letters, not caring to associate with other boys; but all his desire was, as it is written of Jacob, to live a plain man at home[Genesis 25:27]. With his parents he used to attend the Lord’s House, and neither as a child was he idle nor when older did he despise them; but was both obedient to his father and mother and attentive to what was read, keeping in his heart what was profitable in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 260, footnote 3 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)
An hour and a time for all men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1450 (In-Text, Margin)
... allotted to each, and how it is allotted; yet every one knows this, that as there is a time for spring and for summer, and for autumn and for winter, so, as it is written, there is a time to die, and a time to live. And so the time of the generation which lived in the days of Noah was cut short, and their years were contracted, because the time of all things was at hand. But to Hezekiah were added fifteen years. And as God promises to them that serve Him truly, ‘I will fulfil the number of thy days[Genesis 25:8],’ Abraham dies ‘full of days,’ and David besought God, saying, ‘Take me not away in the midst of my days.’ And Eliphaz, one of the friends of Job, being assured of this truth, said, ‘Thou shalt come to thy grave like ripe corn, gathered in due time, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 30, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Eustochium. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 487 (In-Text, Margin)
... to eunuchs it is said, “Say not, behold I am a dry tree,” for instead of sons and daughters you have a place forever in heaven. Now the poor are blessed, now Lazarus is set before Dives in his purple. Now he who is weak is counted strong. But in those days the world was still unpeopled: accordingly, to pass over instances of childlessness meant only to serve as types, those only were considered happy who could boast of children. It was for this reason that Abraham in his old age married Keturah;[Genesis 25:1] that Leah hired Jacob with her son’s mandrakes, and that fair Rachel—a type of the church—complained of the closing of her womb. But gradually the crop grew up and then the reaper was sent forth with his sickle. Elijah lived a virgin life, so also ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 52, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 842 (In-Text, Margin)
... from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned.” But under Jesus, that is, under the Gospel of Christ, who has unlocked for us the gate of paradise, death is accompanied, not with sorrow, but with joy. The Jews go on weeping to this day; they make bare their feet, they crouch in sackcloth, they roll in ashes. And to make their superstition complete, they follow a foolish custom of the Pharisees, and eat lentils, to show, it would seem, for what poor fare they have lost their birthright.[Genesis 25:34] Of course they are right to weep, for as they do not believe in the Lord’s resurrection they are being made ready for the advent of antichrist. But we who have put on Christ and according to the apostle are a royal and priestly race, we ought not to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 235, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ageruchia. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3301 (In-Text, Margin)
... the apostle’s explanations. Hagar and Sarah, or Sinai and Zion, are typical of the two testaments. Leah who was tender-eyed and Rachel whom Jacob loved signify the synagogue and the church. So likewise do Hannah and Peninnah of whom the former, at first barren, afterwards exceeded the latter in fruitfulness. In Isaac and Rebekah we see an early example of monogamy: it was only to Rebekah that the Lord revealed Himself in the hour of childbirth and she alone went of herself to enquire of the Lord.[Genesis 25:22-23] What shall I say of Tamar who bore twin sons, Pharez and Zarah? At their birth was broken down that middle wall of partition which typified the division existing between the two peoples; while the binding of Zarah’s hand with the scarlet thread even ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 249, footnote 6 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3466 (In-Text, Margin)
15. No art is ever learned without a master. Even dumb animals and wild herds follow leaders of their own. Bees have princes, and cranes fly after one of their number in the shape of a Y. There is but one emperor and each province has but one judge. Rome was founded by two brothers, but, as it could not have two kings at once, was inaugurated by an act of fratricide. So too Esau and Jacob strove in Rebekah’s womb.[Genesis 25:22] Each church has a single bishop, a single archpresbyter, a single archdeacon; and every ecclesiastical order is subjected to its own rulers. A ship has but one pilot, a house but one master, and the largest army moves at the command of one man. That I may not tire you by heaping up ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 349, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4278 (In-Text, Margin)
... all.” He then flies off to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of whom the first had three wives, the second one, the third four, Leah, Rachel, Billah, and Zilpah, and he declares that Abraham by his faith merited the blessing which he received in begetting his son. Sarah, typifying the Church, when it had ceased to be with her after the manner of women, exchanged the curse of barrenness for the blessing of child-bearing. We are informed that Rebekah went like a prophet to inquire of the Lord, and was told,[Genesis 25:23] “Two nations and two peoples are in thy womb,” that Jacob served for his wife, and that when Rachel, thinking it was in the power of her husband to give her children, said, “Give me children, or else I die,” he replied, “Am I in God’s stead, who ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 92, footnote 2 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Hexæmeron. (HTML)
The creation of moving creatures. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1621 (In-Text, Margin)
... that of the licentious, accommodating their feelings to the pleasure of each. It is difficult to escape them and to put ourselves on guard against their mischief; because it is under the mask of friendship that they hide their clever wickedness. Men like this are ravening wolves covered with sheep’s clothing, as the Lord calls them. Flee then fickleness and pliability; seek truth, sincerity, simplicity. The serpent is shifty; so he has been condemned to crawl. The just is an honest man, like Job.[Genesis 25:27] Wherefore God setteth the solitary in families. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. Yet a wise and marvellous order reigns among these animals. Fish do not always deserve our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 19, footnote 5 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter XXIV. There are three things to be noticed in the actions of our life. First, our passions are to be controlled by our reason; next, we ought to observe a suitable moderation in our desires; and, lastly, everything ought to be done at the right time and in the proper order. All these qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the holy men of Old Testament time, that it is evident they were well furnished with what men call the cardinal virtues. (HTML)
... prevailed over natural feelings. An exile from home, banished from his parents, yet everywhere, in all he did, he observed due measure, such as was fitting, and made use of his opportunities at the right time. So dear was he to his parents at home, that the one, moved by the promptness of his compliance, gave him his blessing, the other inclined towards him with tender love. In the judgment of his brother, also, he was placed first, when he thought that he ought to give up his food to his brother.[Genesis 25:34] For though according to his natural inclinations he wished for food, yet when asked for it he gave it up from a feeling of brotherly affection. He was a faithful shepherd of the flock for his master, an attentive son-in-law to his father-in-law; he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 277, footnote 2 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
Chapter IX. Various quibbling arguments, advanced by the Arians to show that the Son had a beginning of existence, are considered and refuted, on the ground that whilst the Arians plainly prove nothing, or if they prove anything, prove it against themselves, (inasmuch as He Who is the beginning of all cannot Himself have a beginning), their reasonings do not even hold true with regard to facts of human existence. Time could not be before He was, Who is the Author of time--if indeed at some time He was not in existence, then the Father was without His Power and Wisdom. Again, our own human experience shows that a person is said to exist before he is born. (HTML)
113. To show them, however, the weakness and transparency of their objection, though it has no real relation to any truth, divine or human, I will prove to them that men have existed before they were born. Else, let them show that Jacob, who whilst yet hidden in the secret chamber of his mother’s womb supplanted his brother, had not been appointed and ordained, ere ever he was born;[Genesis 25:23] let them show that Jeremiah had not likewise been so, before his birth,—Jeremiah, to whom the message comes: “Before I formed thee in thy mother’s womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth from the belly, I sanctified thee, and appointed thee for a prophet amongst the nations.” What testimony can we ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 407, footnote 4 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Widows. (HTML)
Chapter XV. St. Ambrose meets the objection of those who make the desire of having children an excuse for second marriage, and especially in the case of those who have children of their former marriage; and points out the consequent troubles of disagreements amongst the children, and even between the married persons, and gives a warning against a wrong use of Scripture instances in this matter. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3407 (In-Text, Margin)
... and yet mutual love remains a difficult matter. For God took a rib from the man, and formed the woman so as to join them one to the other, and said: “They shall be one flesh.” He said this not of a second marriage but of the first, for neither did Eve take a second husband, nor does holy Church recognize a second bridegroom. “For that is a great mystery in Christ and in the Church. Neither, again, did Isaac know another wife besides Rebecca, nor bury his father, Abraham, with any wife but Sarah.”[Genesis 25:10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 146, footnote 2 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Sermons. (HTML)
On the Feast of the Epiphany, III. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 865 (In-Text, Margin)
... the priests and teachers of the Law what the Scripture has predicted about the birth of Christ, he ascertains what had been prophesied: truth enlightens the wise men, unbelief blinds the experts: carnal Israel understands not what it reads, sees not what it points out; refers to the pages, whose utterances it does not believe. Where is thy boasting, O Jew? where thy noble birth drawn from the stem of Abraham? is not thy circumcision become uncircumcision? Behold thou, the greater servest the less[Genesis 25:23], and by the reading of that covenant which thou keepest in the letter only, thou becomest the slave of strangers born, who enter into the lot of thy heritage. Let the fulness of the nations enter into the family of the patriarchs, yea let it enter, ...