But even in the common transactions of life, and of human intercourse at home and in public, even to the care of the smallest vessels, He in every possible manner made distinct arrangement; in order that, when they everywhere encountered these legal instructions, they might not be at any moment out of the sight of God. For what could better tend to make a man happy, than having “his delight in the law of the Lord?” “In that law would he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2] It was not in severity that its Author promulgated this law, but in the interest of the highest benevolence, which rather aimed at subduing the nation’s hardness of heart, and by laborious services hewing out a fealty which was (as yet) untried in obedience: for I ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 557, footnote 5 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)

Book III. (HTML)

In the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians: “Be instant in prayer, and watch therein.” Also in the first Psalm: “But in the law of the Lord is his will, and in His law will he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 424, footnote 1 (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. VII.—On Assembling in the Church (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2849 (In-Text, Margin)

... of Christ, or the congregation of the wicked?—not hearkening unto him that says: “I have hated the congregation of the wicked, and I will not enter with the ungodly. I have not sat with the assembly of vanity, neither will I sit with the ungodly.” And again: “Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:1-2] But thou, forsaking the gathering together of the faithful, the Church of God, and His laws, hast respect to those “dens of thieves,” calling those things holy which He has called profane, and making such things unclean which He has sanctified. And ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 461, footnote 6 (Image)

Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)

Sec. IV.—Of the Law (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3305 (In-Text, Margin)

... symbols. Instead of the divine service confined to one place, He has commanded and appointed that He should be glorified from sunrising to sunsetting in every place of His dominion. He did not therefore take away the law from us, but the bonds. For concerning the law Moses says: “Thou shalt meditate on the word which I command thee, sitting in thine house, and rising up, and walking in the way.” And David says: “His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law will he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2] For everywhere would he have us subject to His laws, but not transgressors of them. For says He: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they that search out His testimonies; with their whole heart shall ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 422, footnote 19 (Image)

Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen

Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)

Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)

Book X. (HTML)

The Householder and His Treasury. (HTML)

... unto a man that is a householder who bringeth forth out of his treasury things new and old,” it clearly follows, by “conversion of the proposition,” as it is called, that every one who does not bring forth out of his treasury things new and old, is not a scribe who has been made a disciple unto the kingdom of heaven. We must endeavour, therefore, in every way to gather in our heart, “by giving heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching,” and by “meditating in the law of the Lord day and night,”[Psalms 1:2] not only the new oracles of the Gospels and of the Apostles and their Revelation, but also the old things in the law “which has the shadow of the good things to come,” and in the prophets who prophesied in accordance with them. And these things will ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 20, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)

The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)

What Augustin Requests from His Readers. The Errors of Readers Dull of Comprehension Not to Be Ascribed to the Author. (HTML)

... again, who says, when he reads my book, Certainly I understand what is said, but it is not true, assert, if he pleases, his own opinion, and refute mine if he is able. And if he do this with charity and truth, and take the pains to make it known to me (if I am still alive), I shall then receive the most abundant fruit of this my labor. And if he cannot inform myself, most willing and glad should I be that he should inform those whom he can. Yet, for my part, “I meditate in the law of the Lord,”[Psalms 1:2] if not “day and night,” at least such short times as I can; and I commit my meditations to writing, lest they should escape me through forgetfulness; hoping by the mercy of God that He will make me hold steadfastly all truths of which I feel ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 514, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)

Section 20 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2542 (In-Text, Margin)

... they can easily, even while working with their hands, say them, and like as rowers with a boat-song, so with godly melody cheer up their very toil. Or are we ignorant how it is with all workmen, to what vanities, and for the most part even filthinesses, of theatrical fables they give their hearts and tongues, while their hands recede not from their work? What then hinders a servant of God while working with his hands to meditate in the law of the Lord, and sing unto the Name of the Lord Most High?[Psalms 1:2] provided, of course, that to learn what he may by memory rehearse, he have times set apart. For to this end also those good works of the faithful ought not to be lacking, for resource of making up what is necessary, that the hours which are so taken ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 228, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on the Grace of Christ, and on Original Sin. (HTML)

On the Grace of Christ. (HTML)

Pelagius Professes Nothing on the Subject of Grace Which May Not Be Understood of the Law and Teaching. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1869 (In-Text, Margin)

... divine help.” Now you perceive, by the understanding which the Lord has given you, that these words of his are inadequate to solve the question. For it is still open to us to inquire what the help is by which he would say that the free will is assisted; lest perchance he should, as is usual with him, maintain that law and teaching are meant. If, indeed, you were to ask him why he used the word “ always, ” he might answer: Because it is written, And in His law will he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2] Then, after interposing a statement about the condition of man, and his natural capacity for sinning and not sinning, he added the following words: “Now this power of free will we declare to reside generally in all alike—in Christians, in Jews, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 445, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Abstract. (HTML)

The Divine Commands Which are Most Suited to the Will Itself Illustrate Its Freedom. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2959 (In-Text, Margin)

What is the import of the fact that in so many passages God requires all His commandments to be kept and fulfilled? How does He make this requisition, if there is no free will? What means “the happy man,” of whom the Psalmist says that “his will has been the law of the Lord”?[Psalms 1:2] Does he not clearly enough show that a man by his own will takes his stand in the law of God? Then again, there are so many commandments which in some way are expressly adapted to the human will; for instance, there is, “Be not overcome of evil,” and others of similar import, such as, “Be not like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding;” and, “Reject ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 124, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XL (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1136 (In-Text, Margin)

... it is written of me, that I should fulfil Thy will: O my God, I am willing, and Thy Law is within my heart” (ver. 8). Behold! He turns His regards to His members. Behold! He hath Himself “fulfilled the will” of the Father. But in what “beginning of a Book” is it written of Him? Perhaps in the beginning of this Book of Psalms. For why should we seek far for it, or examine into other books for it? Behold! It is written in the beginning of this Book of Psalms! “His will is in the Law of the Lord;”[Psalms 1:2] that is, “‘O my God, I am willing,’ and ‘Thy Law is within my heart;’” that is the same as, “And in His Law doth he meditate day and night.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 327, footnote 9 (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)

Letter or Address of Theodoret to the Monks of the Euphratensian, the Osrhoene, Syria, Phœnicia, and Cilicia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2181 (In-Text, Margin)

... and signs which God did by Him in the midst of you,” and the prophet Isaiah when predicting the sufferings of the Lord Christ, whom but just before he had called God, calls man in the passage “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.” I might have collected other consentient passages of holy Scripture and inserted them in my letter had I not known you to be practised in the divine oracles as befits the man called blessed in the Psalms.[Psalms 1:2] I now leave the collection of evidence to your own diligence and proceed with my subject.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 517, footnote 11 (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 333. Easter-day, Coss. Dalmatius and Zenophilus; Præfect, Paternus; vi Indict.; xvii Kal. Maii, xx Pharmuthi; xv Moon; vii Gods; Æra Dioclet. 49. (HTML)

... near, enlightening the minds of those who earnestly desire it. For therein is constant virtue, for those who are illuminated in their minds, and meditate on the divine Scriptures day and night, like the man to whom a blessing is given, as it is written in the sacred Psalms; ‘Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of corrupters. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth he meditate day and night[Psalms 1:1-2].’ For it is not the sun, or the moon, or the host of those other stars which illumines him, but he glitters with the high effulgence of God over all.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 7, footnote 15 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Florentius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 82 (In-Text, Margin)

... copy of Tertullian, and urgently requests that this may be returned. Next I have to ask you to get written on paper by a copyist certain books which the subjoined list will show you that I do not possess. I beg also that you will send me the explanation of the Psalms of David, and the copious work on Synods of the reverend Hilary, which I copied for him at Trêves with my own hand. Such books, you know, must be the food of the Christian soul if it is to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night.[Psalms 1:2]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 45, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Paula. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 724 (In-Text, Margin)

Some account of the so-called alphabetical psalms (XXXVII., CXI., CXII., CXIX., CXLV.). After explaining the mystical meaning of the alphabet, Jerome goes on thus: “What honey is sweeter than to know the wisdom of God? others, if they will, may possess riches, drink from a jewelled cup, shine in silks, and try in vain to exhaust their wealth in the most varied pleasures. Our riches are to meditate in the law of the Lord day and night,[Psalms 1:2] to knock at the closed door, to receive the ‘three loaves’ of the Trinity, and, when the Lord goes before us, to walk upon the water of the world.” Written at Rome 384.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 90, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Nepotian. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1324 (In-Text, Margin)

... Jesus, have obtained knowledge. I do not speak of these, or say that in them the love of wisdom is cold, for this withers in many of the old by reason of age. What I mean is that youth, as such, has to cope with the assaults of passion, and amid the allurements of vice and the tinglings of the flesh is stifled like a fire among green boughs, and cannot develop its proper brightness. But when men have employed their youth in commendable pursuits and have meditated on the law of the Lord day and night,[Psalms 1:2] they learn with the lapse of time, fresh experience and wisdom come as the years go by, and so from the pursuits of the past their old age reaps a harvest of delight. Hence that wise man of Greece, Themistocles, perceiving, after the expiration of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 97, footnote 20 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Paulinus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1420 (In-Text, Margin)

... answers to those who question them concerning the law. And in Deuteronomy we read “Ask thy father and he will shew thee; thy elders and they will tell thee.” Also in the one hundred and nineteenth psalm “thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.” David too, in the description of the righteous man whom he compares to the tree of life in paradise, amongst his other excellences speaks of this, “His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2] In the close of his most solemn vision Daniel declares that “the righteous shall shine as the stars; and the wise, that is the learned, as the firmament.” You can see, therefore, how great is the difference between righteous ignorance and instructed ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 254, footnote 7 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Principia. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3531 (In-Text, Margin)

4. Her delight in the divine scriptures was incredible. She was for ever singing, “Thy words have I hid in mine heart that I might not sin against thee,” as well as the words which describe the perfect man, “his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.”[Psalms 1:2] This meditation in the law she understood not of a review of the written words as among the Jews the Pharisees think, but of action according to that saying of the apostle, “whether, therefore, ye eat or drink or what soever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” She remembered also the prophet’s words, “through thy precepts I get understanding,” and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 273, footnote 14 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ctesiphon. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3791 (In-Text, Margin)

3. It is with no new doctrines that in their self-applauding perfidy they deceive the simple and untaught. They cannot, however, deceive theologians who meditate in the law of the Lord day and night.[Psalms 1:2] Let those blush then for their leaders and companions who say that a man may be “without sin” if he will, or, as the Greeks term it αναμάρτητος, “sinless.” As such a statement sounds intolerable to the Eastern churches, they profess indeed only to say that a man may be “without sin” and do not presume to allege that he may be “sinless” as well. As if, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 422, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

Treatises. (HTML)

Against Vigilantius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4977 (In-Text, Margin)

... Lord. It would take too long now if I purposed to repeat all the passages from the whole range of his Epistles in which he advocates and urges with all his heart that money be sent to Jerusalem and to the holy places for the faithful; not to gratify avarice, but to give relief; not to accumulate wealth, but to support the weakness of the poor body, and to stave off cold and hunger. And this custom continues in Judea to the present day, not only among us, but also among the Hebrews, so that they who[Psalms 1:2] meditate in the law of the Lord, day and night, and have no father upon earth except the Lord alone, may be cherished by the aid of the synagogues and of the whole world; that there may be equality—not that some may be refreshed while others are in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 286, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

The First Theological Oration.  A Preliminary Discourse Against the Eunomians. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3393 (In-Text, Margin)

V. Now, I am not saying that it is not needful to remember God at all times;…I must not be misunderstood, or I shall be having these nimble and quick people down upon me again. For we ought to think of God even more often than we draw our breath; and if the expression is permissible, we ought to do nothing else. Yea, I am one of those who entirely approve that Word which bids us meditate day and night,[Psalms 1:2] and tell at eventide and morning and noon day, and praise the Lord at every time; or, to use Moses’ words, whether a man lie down, or rise up, or walk by the way, or whatever else he be doing —and by this recollection we are to be moulded to purity. So that it is not the continual remembrance of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 45, footnote 2 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)

Chapter III. The definition of blessedness as drawn from the Scriptures is considered and proved. It cannot be enhanced by external good fortune, nor can it be weakened by misfortune. (HTML)

... is blessed in every circumstance, and that it is never enhanced by either corporal or other external good fortune, nor is it weakened by adversity. No state is so blessed as that wherein one is free from sin, is filled with innocence, and is fully supplied with the grace of God. For it is written: “Blessed is the man that hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and hath not stood in the way of sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of pestilence, but in the law of the Lord was his delight.”[Psalms 1:1-2] And again: “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 422, 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 XI. The First Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On Perfection. (HTML)

Chapter XV. The postponement of the explanation which is asked for. (HTML)

Chæremon: It is indeed a sign of the utmost blessedness and of singular goodness both continually to learn and to teach that love by which we cling to the Lord, so that meditation on Him may, as the Psalmist says, occupy all the days and nights of our life,[Psalms 1:2] and may support our soul, which insatiably hungers and thirsts after righteousness, by continually chewing the cud of this heavenly food. But we must also, in accordance with the kindly forethought of our Saviour, make some provision for the food of the body, that we faint not by the way, for “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And this ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 364, footnote 19 (Image)

Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat

Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)

Aphrahat:  Select Demonstrations. (HTML)

Of Monks. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 871 (In-Text, Margin)

... from all filthiness. Whosoever has put on armour from the water (of baptism), let him not put off his armour that he may not be condemned. Whosoever takes up the shield against the Evil One, let him keep himself from the darts which he hurls at him. Whosoever shall draw back, his Lord has no pleasure in him. Whosoever thinks upon the Law of his Lord, shall not be troubled with the thoughts of this world. Whosoever meditates on the Law of his Lord, is like a tree planted by the waters.[Psalms 1:2-3] Whosoever again has trust in his Lord, is like a tree that is set out by the river. Whosoever puts his trust in man shall receive the curses of Jeremiah. Whosoever is invited to the Bridegroom, let him prepare himself. Whosoever has lighted his ...