Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Exodus 23
There are 45 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 236, footnote 4 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter LXXV.—It is proved that Jesus was the name of God in the book of Exodus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2230 (In-Text, Margin)
... Father?[Exodus 23:20-21] Now understand that He who led your fathers into the land is called by this name Jesus, and first called Auses (Oshea). For if you shall understand this, you shall likewise perceive that the name of Him who said to Moses, ‘for My name is in Him,’ ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 497, footnote 10 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXVI.—The treasure hid in the Scriptures is Christ; the true exposition of the Scriptures is to be found in the Church alone. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4163 (In-Text, Margin)
... countenance, but the heart; and they shall hear those words, to be found in Daniel the prophet: “O thou seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust perverted thy heart. Thou that art waxen old in wicked days, now thy sins which thou hast committed aforetime are come to light; for thou hast pronounced false judgments, and hast been accustomed to condemn the innocent, and to let the guilty go free, albeit the Lord saith, The innocent and the righteous shalt thou not slay.”[Exodus 23:7] Of whom also did the Lord say: “But if the evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to smite the man-servants and maidens, and to eat and drink and be drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 114, footnote 3 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Theophilus (HTML)
Theophilus to Autolycus (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter IX.—Christian Doctrine of God and His Law. (HTML)
... class="sc">Lord God give thee.” Again, concerning righteousness: “Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, nor his land, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his beast of burden, nor any of his cattle, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s. Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of the poor in his cause.[Exodus 23:6] From every unjust matter keep thee far. The innocent and righteous thou shalt not slay; thou shalt not justify the wicked; and thou shalt not take a gift, for gifts blind the eyes of them that see and pervert righteous words.” Of this divine law, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 252, footnote 8 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter VII.—Directions for Those Who Live Together. (HTML)
... instructive, confirming as it does what is present by what is not present. Such, certainly, is the intention of him who says that a water-drinker and a sober man gets intoxicated and drunk. But if there are those who like to jest at people, we must be silent, and dispense with superfluous words like full cups. For such sport is dangerous. “The mouth of the impetuous approaches to contrition.” “Thou shalt not receive a foolish report, nor shalt thou agree with an unjust person to be an unjust witness,”[Exodus 23:1] neither in calumnies nor in injurious speeches, much less evil practices. I also should think it right to impose a limit on the speech of rightly regulated persons, who are impelled to speak to one who maintains a conversation with them. “For ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 278, footnote 2 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Instructor (HTML)
Book III (HTML)
Chapter IV.—With Whom We are to Associate. (HTML)
But those who impose on the women, spend the day with them, telling them silly amatory stories, and wearing out body and soul with their false acts and words. “Thou shalt not be with many,” it is said, “for evil, nor give thyself to a multitude;”[Exodus 23:2] for wisdom shows itself among few, but disorder in a multitude. But it is not for grounds of propriety, on account of not wishing to be seen, that they purchase bearers, for it were commendable if out of such feelings they put themselves under a covering; but it is out of luxuriousness that they are carried on their domestics’ shoulders, and desire to make a show.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 367, footnote 2 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter XVIII.—The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs. (HTML)
Now love is conceived in many ways, in the form of meekness, of mildness, of patience, of liberality, of freedom from envy, of absence of hatred, of forgetfulness of injuries. In all it is incapable of being divided or distinguished: its nature is to communicate. Again, it is said, “If you see the beast of your relatives, or friends, or, in general, of anybody you know, wandering in the wilderness, take it back and restore it;[Exodus 23:4] and if the owner be far away, keep it among your own till he return, and restore it.” It teaches a natural communication, that what is found is to be regarded as a deposit, and that we are not to bear malice to an enemy. “The command of the Lord being a fountain of life” truly, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 67, footnote 2 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Of Schoolmasters and Their Difficulties. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 227 (In-Text, Margin)
... partly it cannot be admitted, partly cannot be avoided. Learning literature is allowable for believers, rather than teaching; for the principle of learning and of teaching is different. If a believer teach literature, while he is teaching doubtless he commends, while he delivers he affirms, while he recalls he bears testimony to, the praises of idols interspersed therein. He seals the gods themselves with this name; whereas the Law, as we have said, prohibits “the names of gods to be pronounced,”[Exodus 23:13] and this name to be conferred on vanity. Hence the devil gets men’s early faith built up from the beginnings of their erudition. Inquire whether he who catechizes about idols commit idolatry. But when a believer learns these things, if he is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 73, footnote 19 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Concerning Idolatry in Words. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 324 (In-Text, Margin)
But, however, since the conduct according to the divine rule is imperilled, not merely by deeds, but likewise by words, (for, just as it is written, “Behold the man and his deeds;” so, “Out of thy own mouth shalt thou be justified”), we ought to remember that, even in words, also the inroad of idolatry must be foreguarded against, either from the defect of custom or of timidity. The law prohibits the gods of the nations from being named,[Exodus 23:13] not of course that we are not to pronounce their names, the speaking of which common intercourse extorts from us: for this must very frequently be said, “You find him in the temple of Æsculapius;” and, “I live in Isis Street;” and, “He has been made priest of Jupiter;” and ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 73, footnote 20 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
On Idolatry. (HTML)
Concerning Idolatry in Words. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 325 (In-Text, Margin)
... common intercourse extorts from us: for this must very frequently be said, “You find him in the temple of Æsculapius;” and, “I live in Isis Street;” and, “He has been made priest of Jupiter;” and much else after this manner, since even on men names of this kind are bestowed. I do not honour Saturnus if I call a man so, by his own name. I honour him no more than I do Marcus, if I call a man Marcus. But it says, “Make not mention of the name of other gods, neither be it heard from thy mouth.”[Exodus 23:13] The precept it gives is this, that we do not call them gods. For in the first part of the law, too, “Thou shalt not,” saith He, “use the name of the Lord thy God in a vain thing,” that is, in an idol. Whoever, therefore, honours an idol with ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 163, footnote 17 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Apologetic. (HTML)
An Answer to the Jews. (HTML)
Of the Prophecies of the Birth and Achievements of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1297 (In-Text, Margin)
... He who ever spake to Moses was the Son of God Himself; who, too, was always seen. For God the Father none ever saw, and lived. And accordingly it is agreed that the Son of God Himself spake to Moses, and said to the people, “Behold, I send mine angel before thy”—that is, the people’s—“face, to guard thee on the march, and to introduce thee into the land which I have prepared thee: attend to him, and be not disobedient to him; for he hath not escaped thy notice, since my name is upon him.”[Exodus 23:20-21] For Joshua was to introduce the people into the land of promise, not Moses. Now He called him an “angel,” on account of the magnitude of the mighty deeds which he was to achieve (which mighty deeds Joshua the son of Nun did, and you yourselves ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 335, footnote 3 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book III. Wherein Christ is shown to be the Son of God, Who created the world; to have been predicted by the prophets; to have taken human flesh like our own, by a real incarnation. (HTML)
The Sacred Name Jesus Most Suited to the Christ of the Creator. Joshua a Type of Him. (HTML)
... name, being called Joshua. This name Christ Himself even then testified to be His own, when He talked with Moses. For who was it that talked with him, but the Spirit of the Creator, which is Christ? When He therefore spake this commandment to the people, “Behold, I send my angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the land which I have prepared for thee; attend to him, and obey his voice and do not provoke him; for he has not shunned you, since my name is upon him,”[Exodus 23:20-21] He called him an angel indeed, because of the greatness of the powers which he was to exercise, and because of his prophetic office, while announcing the will of God; but Joshua also (Jesus), because it was a type of His own future ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 152, footnote 8 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
Appendix (HTML)
Five Books in Reply to Marcion. (HTML)
Of the Harmony of the Fathers of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
As partner in His name:[Exodus 23:20-23] hence did he cleave
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 345, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)
To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2577 (In-Text, Margin)
... degree, or they are so obstinately and firmly opposed by their brethren, that they cannot be received at all except with offence and risk to a great many. For neither must some putridities be so collected and brought together, that the parts which are sound and whole should be injured; nor is that pastor serviceable or wise who so mingles the diseased and affected sheep with his flock as to contaminate the whole flock with the infection of the clinging evil. (Do not pay attention to their number.[Exodus 23:2] For one who fears God is better than a thousand impious sons, as the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying, “O son, do not delight in ungodly sons, though they multiply to thee, except the fear of the Lord be with them.”) Oh, if you could, dearest ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 517, footnote 13 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... before them by day indeed in a pillar of cloud, to show them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire.” And afterwards, in the same place: “And the Angel of God moved forward, which went before the army of the children of Israel.” Also in the same place: “Lo, I send my Angel before thy face, to keep thee in the way, that He may lead thee into the land which I have prepared for thee. Observe Him, and obey Him, and be not disobedient to Him, and He will not be wanting to thee. For my Name is in Him.”[Exodus 23:20-21] Whence He Himself says in the Gospel: “I came in the name of my Father, and ye received me not. When another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” And again in the cxviith Psalm: “Blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord.” Also ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 521, footnote 12 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... most shameful death. These things they considered, and erred. For their maliciousness hath blinded them, and they knew not the sacraments of God.” Also in Isaiah: “See ye how the righteous perisheth, and no man understandeth; and righteous men are taken away, and no man regardeth. For the righteous man is taken away from the face of unrighteousness, and his burial shall be in peace.” Concerning this very thing it was before foretold in Exodus: “Thou shalt not slay the innocent and the righteous.”[Exodus 23:7] Also in the Gospel: “Judas, led by penitence, said to the priests and elders, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 628, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Novatian. (HTML)
A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)
Moreover Also, from the Fact that He Who Was Seen of Abraham is Called God; Which Cannot Be Understood of the Father, Whom No Man Hath Seen at Any Time; But of the Son in the Likeness of an Angel. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5153 (In-Text, Margin)
... another whose angel He would be. But they will say that it was an angel. How then shall He be God if He was an angel? Since this name is nowhere conceded to angels, except that on either side the truth compels us into this opinion, that we ought to understand it to have been God the Son, who, because He is of God, is rightly called God, because He is the Son of God. But, because He is subjected to the Father, and the Announcer of the Father’s will, He is declared to be the Angel of Great Counsel.[Exodus 23:20] Therefore, although this passage neither is suited to the person of the Father, lest He should be called an angel, nor to the person of an angel, lest he should be called God; yet it is suited to the person of Christ that He should be both God ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 19, footnote 3 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Gregory Thaumaturgus. (HTML)
Acknowledged Writings. (HTML)
Canonical Epistle. (HTML)
Canon IV. (HTML)
... thy brother seek after them, and thou shalt restore them to him again. And in like manner shalt thou do with his ass, and so shalt thou do with his raiment, and so shalt thou do with all lost things of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou mayest find.” Thus much in Deuteronomy. And in the book of Exodus it is said, with reference not only to the case of finding what is a friend’s, but also of finding what is an enemy’s: “Thou shalt surely bring them back to the house of their master again.”[Exodus 23:4] And if it is not lawful to aggrandize oneself at the expense of another, whether he be brother or enemy, even in the time of peace, when he is living at his ease and delicately, and without concern as to his property, how much more must it be the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 108, footnote 7 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. X.—Of the advent of Jesus; Of the fortunes of the Jews, and their government, until the passion of the Lord (HTML)
... that they might obtain a supply of corn; and sojourning there a long time, they were oppressed with an intolerable yoke of slavery. Then God pitied them, and led them out, and freed them from the hand of the king of the Egyptians, after four hundred and thirty years, under the leadership of Moses, through whom the law was afterwards given to them by God; and in this leading out God displayed the power of His majesty. For He made His people to pass through the midst of the Red Sea, His angel[Exodus 23:20] going before and dividing the water, so that the people might walk over the dry land, of whom it might more truly be said (as the poet says), that “the wave, closing over him after the appearance of a mountain, stood around him.” And when he heard ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 397, footnote 8 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. II.—On the Character and Teaching of the Bishop (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2605 (In-Text, Margin)
V. A bishop must be no accepter of persons; neither revering nor flattering a rich man contrary to what is right, nor overlooking nor domineering over a poor man. For, says God to Moses, “Thou shalt not accept the person of the rich, nor shalt thou pity a poor man in his cause: for the judgment is the Lord’s.”[Exodus 23:3] And again: “Thou shalt with exact justice follow that which is right.” Let a bishop be frugal, and contented with a little in his meat and drink, that he may be ever in a sober frame, and disposed to instruct and admonish the ignorant; and let him not be costly in his diet, a pamperer of himself, given to pleasure, or fond of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 399, footnote 5 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2630 (In-Text, Margin)
... not only himself give no offence, but must be no respecter of persons; in meekness instructing those that offend. But if he himself has not a good conscience, and is a respecter of persons for the sake of filthy lucre, and receiving of bribes, and spares the open offender, and permits him to continue in the Church, he disregards the voice of God and of our Lord, which says, “Thou shalt exactly execute right judgment.” “Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment: thou shalt not justify the ungodly.”[Exodus 23:7] “Thou shalt not receive gifts against any one’s life; for gifts do blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.” And elsewhere He says: “Take away from among yourselves that wicked person.” And Solomon says in his Proverbs: ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 399, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2631 (In-Text, Margin)
... not a good conscience, and is a respecter of persons for the sake of filthy lucre, and receiving of bribes, and spares the open offender, and permits him to continue in the Church, he disregards the voice of God and of our Lord, which says, “Thou shalt exactly execute right judgment.” “Thou shalt not accept persons in judgment: thou shalt not justify the ungodly.” “Thou shalt not receive gifts against any one’s life; for gifts do blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.”[Exodus 23:8] And elsewhere He says: “Take away from among yourselves that wicked person.” And Solomon says in his Proverbs: “Cast out a pestilent fellow from the congregation, and strife will go out along with him.”
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 415, footnote 6 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. V.—On Accusations, and the Treatment of Accusers (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2777 (In-Text, Margin)
... inward cause whence the pain is derived being drawn out, may keep the body free from pain. But if thou seest any one past repentance, and he is become insensible, then cut off the incurable from the Church with sorrow and lamentation. For: “Take out from among yourselves that wicked person.” And: “Ye shall make the children of Israel to fear.” And again: “Thou shalt not accept the persons of the rich in judgment.” And: “Thou shalt not pity a poor man in his cause: for the judgment is the Lord’s.”[Exodus 23:3]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 415, footnote 7 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. V.—On Accusations, and the Treatment of Accusers (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2778 (In-Text, Margin)
XLII. But if the slanderous accusation be false, and you that are the pastors, with the deacons, admit of that falsehood for truth, either by acceptance of persons or receiving of bribes, as willing to do that which will he pleasing to the devil, and so you thrust out from the Church him that is accused, but is clear of the crime, you shall give an account in the day of the Lord. For it is written: “The innocent and the righteous thou shalt not slay.”[Exodus 23:7-8] “Thou shalt not take gifts to smite the soul: for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and destroy the words of the righteous.” And again: “They that justify the wicked for gifts, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him.” Be careful, therefore, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 418, footnote 7 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. VI.—The Disputes of the Faithful to Be Settled by the Decisions of the Bishop, and the Faithful to Be Reconciled (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2807 (In-Text, Margin)
... continent, free from wickedness, faithful, religious; for the testimony of such persons is firm on account of their character, and true on account of their mode of life. But as to those of a different character, do not ye receive their testimony, although they seem to agree together in their evidence against the accused; for it is ordained in the law: “Thou shalt not be with a multitude for wickedness; thou shalt not receive a vain report; thou shalt not consent with a multitude to pervert judgment.”[Exodus 23:2] You ought also particularly to know him that is accused; what he is in his course and mode of life; whether he have a good report as to his life; whether he has been unblameable; whether he has been zealous in holiness; whether he be a lover of the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 425, footnote 5 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
The Gospel of Nicodemus; Part I.--The Acts of Pilate: First Greek Form. (HTML)
Chapter 16. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1859 (In-Text, Margin)
... seen it; for it is written in the law of the Lord, And Moses died from the mouth of the Lord, and no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And Rabbi Levi said: Why did Rabbi Symeon say, when he saw Jesus, “Behold, he lies for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign spoken against?” And Rabbi Isaac said: It is written in the law, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall go before thee to keep thee in every good way, because my name has been called upon him.[Exodus 23:20-21]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 298, footnote 6 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
The Study of the Gospels is the First Fruits Offered by These Priests of Christianity. (HTML)
... after the bodily separation we have undergone from each other, but in the study of the Gospel? For we may venture to say that the Gospel is the first fruits of all the Scriptures. Where, then, could be the first fruits of our activity, since the time when we came to Alexandria, but in the first fruits of the Scriptures? It must not be forgotten, however, that the first fruits are not the same as the first growth. For the first fruits are offered after all the fruits (are ripe), but the first growth[Exodus 23:16] before them all. Now of the Scriptures which are current and are believed to be divine in all the churches, one would not be wrong in saying that the first growth is the law of Moses, but the first fruits the Gospel. For it was after all the fruits ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 305, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Januarius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1754 (In-Text, Margin)
... perisheth, but the inward man is renewed day by day.” It is because of this beginning of a new life, because of the new man which we are commanded to put on, putting off the old man, “purging out the old leaven, that we may be a new lump, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us;” it is, I say, because of this newness of life in us, that the first of the months of the year has been appointed as the season of this solemnity. This very name is given to it, the month Abib, or beginning of months.[Exodus 23:15] Again, the resurrection of the Lord was upon the third day, because with it the third epoch of the world began. The first Epoch was before the Law, the second under the Law, the third under Grace, in which there is now the manifestation of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 226, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the less insist upon rejecting their superstitions. Augustin maintains that all Moses wrote is of Christ, and that his writings must be either accepted or rejected as a whole. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 603 (In-Text, Margin)
... name of Jesus? Then, again, it is the Word of God Himself who speaks when He promises to provide this successor to Moses, speaking of him as an angel,—a name commonly given in Scripture to those carrying any message. The words are: "Behold I send my angel before thy face, to preserve thee in the way, and to bring thee into the land which I have sworn to give thee. Take heed unto him, and obey, and beware of unbelief in him; for he will not take anything from thee wrongfully, for my name is in him."[Exodus 23:20-21] Consider these words. Let the Jew, not to speak of the Manichæan, say what other angel he can find in Scripture to whom these words apply, but this leader who was to bring the people into the land of promise. Then let him inquire who it was that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 313, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus recurs to the genealogical difficulty and insists that even according to Matthew Jesus was not Son of God until His baptism. Augustin sets forth the Catholic view of the relation of the divine and the human in the person of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 971 (In-Text, Margin)
1. said: On one occasion, when addressing a large audience, I was asked by one of the crowd, Do you believe that Jesus was born of Mary? I replied, Which Jesus do you mean? for in the Hebrew it is the name of several people. One was the son of Nun, the follower of Moses;[Exodus 23:11] another was the son of Josedech the high priest; again, another is spoken of as the son of David; and another is the Son of God. Of which of these do you ask whether I believe him to have been born of Mary? His answer was, The Son of God, of course. On what evidence, said I, oral or written, am I to believe this? He replied, On the authority of Matthew. What, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 336, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)
Faustus fails to understand why he should be required either to accept or reject the New Testament as a whole, while the Catholics accept or reject the various parts of the Old Testament at pleasure. Augustin denies that the Catholics treat the Old Testament arbitrarily, and explains their attitude towards it. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1050 (In-Text, Margin)
12. The Pentecost, too, we observe, that is, the fiftieth day from the passion and resurrection of the Lord, for on that day He sent to us the Holy Paraclete whom He had promised; as was prefigured in the Jewish passover, for on the fiftieth day after the slaying of the lamb, Moses on the mount received the law written with the finger of God.[Exodus 19-31] If you read the Gospel, you will see that the Spirit is there called the finger of God. Remarkable events which happened on certain days are annually commemorated in the Church, that the recurrence of this festival may preserve the recollection of things so important and salutary. If you ask, then, why we keep the passover, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 94, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Of the Fact that Idolatry Has Been Subverted by the Name of Christ, and by the Faith of Christians According to the Prophecies. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 616 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Hear, O Israel; the Lord thy God is one God.” “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath.” And again, in order that this peo ple might put an end to these things wherever it received power to do so, this commandment was also laid upon the nation: “Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them; thou shalt not do after their works, but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.”[Exodus 23:24] But who shall say that Christ and Christians have no connection with Israel, seeing that Israel was the grandson of Abraham, to whom first, as afterwards to his son Isaac, and then to his grandson Israel himself, that promise was given, which I have ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 227, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Homily to Those Who Had Not Attended the Assembly: and on the Apostolic Saying, 'If Thine Enemy Hunger, Feed Him, Etc. (Rom. xii. 20), and Concerning Resentment of Injuries.' (HTML)
To Those Who Had Not Attended the Assembly. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 752 (In-Text, Margin)
... and expelling all the ferocity of the irrational element within us, and committing a mode of government to us far more dignified than the empire. This is why I said that they who deprive themselves of this care receive a blow in the vital parts, sustaining greater damage than can be inflicted from any other quarter inasmuch as they who come here get greater gain than they could derive from any other source: even as Scripture has declared. The law said “Thou shalt not appear before the Lord empty;”[Exodus 23:15] that is, enter not into the temple without sacrifices. Now if it is not right to go into the house of God without sacrifices, much more ought we to enter the assembly accompanied by our brethren: for this sacrifice and offering is better than that, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 359, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)
Homily III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1159 (In-Text, Margin)
... unlawful or forbidden, it mars the fast; and upsets the whole safety of the soul; but if it be lawful and safe, it adorns fasting. For it would be among things the most absurd to abstain from lawful food because of the fast, but with the eyes to touch even what is forbidden. Dost thou not eat flesh? Feed not upon lasciviousness by means of the eyes. Let the ear fast also. The fasting of the ear consists in refusing to receive evil speakings and calumnies. “Thou shalt not receive a false report,”[Exodus 23:1] it says.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 11, page 546, footnote 4 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistle to the Romans
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Paul's Epistle to the Romans (HTML)
Homily XXIX on Rom. xv. 14. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1649 (In-Text, Margin)
... that we might learn how loving to man the righteous is. And he would not have left off beseeching, unless God had left off first (so he takes v. 33). And he seems indeed to be praying for the just, but is doing the whole for them. For the souls of the Saints are very gentle and, loving unto man, both in regard to their own, and to strangers. And even to the unreasoning creatures they extend their gentleness. Wherefore also a certain wise man said, “The righteous pitieth the souls of his cattle.”[Exodus 23:9] But if he doth those of cattle, how much more those of men. But since I have mentioned cattle, let us just consider the shepherds of the sheep who are in the Cappadocian land, and what they suffer in kind and degree in their guardianship of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 278, footnote 2 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To Eusebius, Bishop of Ancyra. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1764 (In-Text, Margin)
When, then, your holiness has heard this from me, I beg you to inform the ignorant and to persuade the unbridled tongues that revile me and all who are deceived by them, not to believe what they have heard of me from my calumniators. Beg them to believe rather the Lawgiver when he exclaims “Men shall not receive a false report.”[Exodus 23:1] Ask them to wait till the facts are proved.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 287, footnote 5 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To Bishop Basilius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1825 (In-Text, Margin)
... remember the plain proclamation of the commandment of the Lord “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones which believe in me, for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” If however it is the influence of my calumniators which imposes silence upon you, you must listen to the other law which says “Thou shalt not honour the person of the mighty” and “Judge righteous judgment” and “Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil”[Exodus 23:2] and “He that shutteth his eyes from seeing evil and stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood.” You may find innumerable similar passages in holy Scripture, which I have thought it needless to collect when writing to a man brought up in the divine ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 316, footnote 3 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)
To the Monks of Constantinople. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2044 (In-Text, Margin)
But these men will be called to account by God, as well for their devices against the faith as for the snares they have laid against me. I only charge those who have been influenced by the false accusations uttered against me to keep one ear for the accused, and not to give both to the accusers. In this manner they will fulfil the divine law which lays down “Thou shalt not raise a false report,”[Exodus 23:1] and “Judge righteously between every man and his brother.” In these words the divine law charges us not to believe the calumnies uttered against the absent but to judge the accused face to face.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 246, footnote 5 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)
Apology to the Emperor. (Apologia Ad Constantium.) (HTML)
History of his disobeying it. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1348 (In-Text, Margin)
... hearkened unto him. And Jezebel was able to injure the most religious Naboth by her false accusations; but then it was the wicked and apostate Ahab who hearkened unto her. But the most holy David, whose example it becomes you to follow, as all pray that you may, favours not such men, but was wont to turn away from them and avoid them, as raging dogs. He says, ‘Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I destroy.’ For he kept the commandment which says, ‘Thou shalt not receive a false report[Exodus 23:1].’ And false are the reports of these men in your sight. You, like Solomon, have required of the Lord (and you ought to believe yourself to have obtained your desire), that it would seem good unto Him to remove far from you vain and lying words.
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[Exodus 23:26],’ 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 4, page 506, footnote 10 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)
The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)
Festal Letters. (HTML)
For 329. Easter-day xi Pharmuthi; viii Id. April; Ær. Dioclet. 45; Coss. Constantinus Aug. VIII. Constantinus Cæs. IV; Præfect. Septimius Zenius; Indict. II. (HTML)
2. And, on this account, the blessed Paul, urging us to note this season, wrote, saying, ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’ At set seasons also He called the children of Israel to the Levitical feasts by Moses, saying, ‘Three times in a year ye shall keep a feast to Me[Exodus 23:14] ’ (one of which, my beloved, is that now at hand), the trumpets of the priests sounding and urging its observance; as the holy Psalmist commanded, saying, ‘Blow with the trumpet in the new moon, on the [solemn] day of your feast.’ Since this sentence enjoins upon us to blow both on the new moons, and on the solemn days, He hath made a solemn ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 344, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4245 (In-Text, Margin)
... to suppose that in praising virginity I have in the least disparaged marriage, and separated the saints of the Old Testament from those of the New, that is to say, those who had wives and those who altogether refrained from the embraces of women: I rather think that in accordance with the difference in time and circumstance one rule applied to the former, another to us upon whom the ends of the world have come. So long as that law remained, “Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth”; and[Exodus 23:26] “Cursed is the barren woman that beareth not seed in Israel,” they all married and were given in marriage, left father and mother, and became one flesh. But once in tones of thunder the words were heard, “The time is shortened, that henceforth those ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 361, footnote 15 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4372 (In-Text, Margin)
21. I must not linger over Moses when my purpose is at full speed to lightly touch on each topic and to sketch the outline of a proper knowledge of my subject. I will pass to Joshua the son of Nun, who was previously called Ause, or better, as in the Hebrew, Osee, that is, Saviour. For he,[Exodus 23:20] according to the epistle of Jude, saved the people of Israel and led them forth out of Egypt, and brought them into the land of promise. As soon as this Joshua reached the Jordan, the waters of marriage, which had ever flowed in the land, dried up and stood in one heap; and the whole people, barefooted and on dry ground, crossed over, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 130, footnote 4 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To Athanasius, father of Athanasius bishop of Ancyra. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1982 (In-Text, Margin)
... excellency. Yet not to give a handle by one’s own conduct, either to inquisitive critics of society, or to mischief makers who lie in wait to catch us tripping, is not only possible, but is the special characteristic of all who order their lives wisely and according to the rule of true religion. And do not think me so simple and credulous as to accept depreciatory remarks from any one without due investigation. I bear in mind the admonition of the Spirit, “Thou shalt not receive a false report.”[Exodus 23:1] But you, learned men, yourselves say that “The seen is significant of the unseen.” I therefore beg;—(and pray do not take it ill if I seem to be speaking as though I were giving a lesson; for “God has chosen the weak” and “despised things of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 70, footnote 6 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter III. The rule given about not seeking one's own gain is established, first by the examples of Christ, next by the meaning of the word, and lastly by the very form and uses of our limbs. Wherefore the writer shows what a crime it is to deprive another of what is useful, since the law of nature as well as the divine law is broken by such wickedness. Further, by its means we also lose that gift which makes us superior to other living creatures; and lastly, through it civil laws are abused and treated with the greatest contempt. (HTML)
20. Why, the very law of the Lord teaches us that this rule must be observed, so that we may never deprive another of anything for the sake of our own advantage. For it says: “Remove not the bounds which thy fathers have set.” It bids a neighbour’s ox to be brought back if found wandering.[Exodus 23:4] It orders a thief to be put to death. It forbids the labourer to be deprived of his hire, and orders money to be returned without usury. It is a mark of kindly feeling to help him who has nothing, but it is a sign of a hard nature to extort more than one has given. If a man has need of thy assistance because he has not enough of his own wherewith to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 466, footnote 3 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)
Conference XVII. The Second Conference of Abbot Joseph. On Making Promises. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. The answer, that leave to lie, which was not even granted under the old Covenant, has rightly been taken by many. (HTML)
... flourished in the synagogue, in accordance with that dispensation of the times, the buds of angelical virginity should spring, and the fragrant flowers of continence be produced in the Church. But that lying was even then condemned the text of the whole Old Testament clearly shows, as it says: “Thou shalt destroy all them that speak lies;” and again: “The bread of lying is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel;” and the Giver of the law himself says: “Thou shalt avoid a lie.”[Exodus 23:7] But we said that it was then properly employed as a last resort when some need or plan of salvation was linked on to it, on account of which it ought not to be condemned. As is the case, which you mentioned, of king David when in his flight from the ...