Justly, therefore, the prophet says, “The ungodly are not so: but as the chaff which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. Wherefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment”[Psalms 1:4-5] (being already condemned, for “he that believeth not is condemned already”), “nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous,” inasmuch as they are already condemned, so as not to be united to those that have lived without stumbling. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 363, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book II (HTML)

Chapter XV.—On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding. (HTML)

... says, “The ungodly are not so: but as the chaff which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth. Wherefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment” (being already condemned, for “he that believeth not is condemned already”), “nor sinners in the counsel of the righteous,” inasmuch as they are already condemned, so as not to be united to those that have lived without stumbling. “For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish.”[Psalms 1:5-6]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 430, footnote 9 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book IV. (HTML)

Chapter XVIII.—On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires. (HTML)

... could not look on. Wherefore he took a veil for the glory, to those who looked carnally. For those, who demand toll, detain those who bring in any worldly things, who are burdened with their own passions. But him that is free of all things which are subject to duty, and is full of knowledge, and of the righteousness of works, they pass on with their good wishes, blessing the man with his work. “And his life shall not fall away”—the leaf of the living tree that is nourished “by the water-courses.”[Psalms 1:3] Now the righteous is likened to fruit-bearing trees, and not only to such as are of the nature of tall-growing ones. And in the sacrificial oblations, according to the law, there were those who looked for blemishes in the sacrifices. They who are ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 438, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book IV. (HTML)

Chapter XXIII.—The Same Subject Continued. (HTML)

... to receive injury. And there are two methods of correction—the instructive and the punitive, which we have called the disciplinary. It ought to be known, then, that those who fall into sin after baptism are those who are subjected to discipline; for the deeds done before are remitted, and those done after are purged. It is in reference to the unbelieving that it is said, “that they are reckoned as the chaff which the wind drives from the face of the earth, and the drop which falls from a vessel.”[Psalms 1:4]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 451, footnote 7 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book V (HTML)

Chapter V.—On the Symbols of Pythagoras. (HTML)

... the man whom Homer also says, wandering alone, “ate his own heart.” But again, seeing the Gospel supposes two ways—the apostles, too, similarly with all the prophets—and seeing they call that one “narrow and confined” which is circumscribed according to the commandments and prohibitions, and the opposite one, which leads to perdition, “broad and roomy,” open to pleasures and wrath, and say, “Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, and standeth not in the way of sinners.”[Psalms 1:1] Hence also comes the fable of Prodicus of Ceus about Virtue and Vice. And Pythagoras shrinks not from prohibiting to walk on the public thoroughfares, enjoining the necessity of not following the sentiments of the many, which are crude and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 556, footnote 2 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VII (HTML)

Chapter XVIII—The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics. (HTML)

“but as chaff which the wind drives away from the face of the earth,”[Psalms 1:4] and as a drop from a vessel.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 71, footnote 8 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

On Idolatry. (HTML)

Concerning Festivals in Honour of Emperors, Victories, and the Like. Examples of the Three Children and Daniel. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 287 (In-Text, Margin)

... remained in his duty so long as it was free from danger to his religion; for, to avoid undergoing that danger, he feared the royal lions no more than they the royal fires. Let, therefore, them who have no light, light their lamps daily; let them over whom the fires of hell are imminent, affix to their posts, laurels doomed presently to burn: to them the testimonies of darkness and the omens of their penalties are suitable. You are a light of the world, and a tree ever green.[Psalms 1:1-3] If you have renounced temples, make not your own gate a temple. I have said too little. If you have renounced stews, clothe not your own house with the appearance of a new brothel.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 81, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Apologetic. (HTML)

The Shows, or De Spectaculis. (HTML)

Chapter III. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 353 (In-Text, Margin)

... God’s servants. Well, we never find it expressed with the same precision, “Thou shalt not enter circus or theatre, thou shalt not look on combat or show;” as it is plainly laid down, “Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not worship an idol; thou shalt not commit adultery or fraud.” But we find that that first word of David bears on this very sort of thing: “Blessed,” he says, “is the man who has not gone into the assembly of the impious, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of scorners.”[Psalms 1:1] Though he seems to have predicted beforehand of that just man, that he took no part in the meetings and deliberations of the Jews, taking counsel about the slaying of our Lord, yet divine Scripture has ever far-reaching applications: after the ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 151, footnote 2 (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 1128 (In-Text, Margin)

For the occasion, indeed, of claiming Divine grace even for the Gentiles derived a pre-eminent fitness from this fact, that the man who set up to vindicate God’s Law as his own was of the Gentiles, and not a Jew “of the stock of the Israelites.” For this fact—that Gentiles are admissible to God’s Law—is enough to prevent Israel from priding himself on the notion that “the Gentiles are accounted as a little drop of a bucket,” or else as “dust out of a threshing-floor:”[Psalms 1:4] although we have God Himself as an adequate engager and faithful promiser, in that He promised to Abraham that “in his seed should be blest all nations of the earth;” and that out of the womb of Rebecca “two peoples and two nations were about to proceed,” —of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 312, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)

The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness.  Many Beautiful Passages from Them Quoted in Illustration of This Attribute. (HTML)

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 3, page 312, footnote 14 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)

The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness.  Many Beautiful Passages from Them Quoted in Illustration of This Attribute. (HTML)

... free:” dismiss the unjust sentence, “deal their bread to the hungry; bring the outcast into their house; cover the naked, when they see him; nor hide themselves from their own flesh and kin:” “keep their tongue from evil, and their lips from speaking guile: depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it:” be angry, and sin not; that is, not persevere in anger, or be enraged: “walk not in the counsel of the ungodly; nor stand in the way of sinners; nor sit in the seat of the scornful.”[Psalms 1:1] Where then? “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;” meditating (as they do) day and night in the law of the Lord, because “it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; better to hope in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 312, footnote 17 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God. (HTML)

The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness.  Many Beautiful Passages from Them Quoted in Illustration of This Attribute. (HTML)

... scornful.” Where then? “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;” meditating (as they do) day and night in the law of the Lord, because “it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man; better to hope in the Lord than in man.” For what recompense shall man receive from God? “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”[Psalms 1:3] “He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not taken God’s name in vain, nor sworn deceitfully to his neighbour, he shall receive blessing from the Lord, and mercy from the God of his salvation.” “For the eyes of the Lord are upon them ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 421, footnote 24 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)

Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that “The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New.“ It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man. (HTML)

Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy. Pilate and Herod. Barabbas Preferred to Jesus. Details of the Crucifixion. The Earthquake and the Mid-Day Darkness. All Wonderfully Foretold in the Scriptures of the Creator. Christ's Giving Up the Ghost No Evidence of Marcion's Docetic Opinions. In His Sepulture There is a Refutation Thereof. (HTML)

... then? If a phantom Christ was yet there. If Christ had departed, He had taken away the phantom also. The only shift left to the impudence of the heretics, is to admit that what remained there was the phantom of a phantom! But what if Joseph knew that it was a body which he treated with so much piety? That same Joseph “who had not consented” with the Jews in their crime? The “happy man who walked not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of the scornful.”[Psalms 1:1]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 659, footnote 13 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Ethical. (HTML)

On Repentance. (HTML)

Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 8448 (In-Text, Margin)

... hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection of some plank. This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God’s sight nothing but “a drop of a bucket,” and “dust of the threshing-floor,” and “a potter’s vessel,” may thenceforward become that “tree which is sown beside the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time,”[Psalms 1:3] and shall not see “fire,” nor “axe.” Having found “the truth,” repent of errors; repent of having loved what God loves not: even we ourselves do not permit our slave-lads not to hate the things which are offensive to us; for the principle of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 79, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Examples of Such Offences Under the Old Dispensation No Pattern for the Disciples of the New.  But Even the Old Has Examples of Vengeance Upon Such Offences. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 758 (In-Text, Margin)

... it is justly with that phase of the law which Christ has “not dissolved, but fulfilled.” For it is the “burdens” of the law which were “until John,” not the remedial virtues. It is the “yokes” of “works” that have been rejected, not those of disciplines. “Liberty in Christ” has done no injury to innocence. The law of piety, sanctity, humanity, truth, chastity, justice, mercy, benevolence, modesty, remains in its entirety; in which law “blessed (is) the man who shall meditate by day and by night.”[Psalms 1:1] About that (law) the same David (says) again: “The law of the Lord (is) unblameable, converting souls; the statutes of the Lord (are) direct, delighting hearts; the precept of the Lord far-shining, enlightening eyes.” Thus, too, the apostle: “And so ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 94, footnote 4 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Answer to a Psychical Objection. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 914 (In-Text, Margin)

... not be wiped away for the age. For indignation, full of jealousy, will not spare the man in the day of judgment.” If you think this said about a heathen, at all events about believers you have already heard (it said) through Isaiah: “Go out from the midst of them, and be separate, and touch not the impure.” You have at the very outset of the Psalms, “Blessed the man who hath not gone astray in the counsel of the impious, nor stood in the way of sinners, and sat in the state-chair of pestilence;”[Psalms 1:1] whose voice, withal, (is heard) subsequently: “I have not sat with the conclave of vanity; and with them who act iniquitously will I not enter”—this (has to do with “ the church ” of such as act ill—“and with the impious will I not sit;” and, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 391, footnote 3 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

A Letter from Origen to Africanus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3054 (In-Text, Margin)

... analogy to it. Here is an instance of this in our Scripture. When the woman was made by God from the rib of the man, Adam says, “She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of her husband.” Now the Jews say that the woman was called “ Essa,” and that “taken” is a translation of this word as is evident from “ chos isouoth essa,” which means, “I have taken the cup of salvation;” and that “ is ” means “man,” as we see from “ Hesre aïs,” which is, “Blessed is the man.”[Psalms 1:1] According to the Jews, then, “ is ” is “man,” and “ essa,” “woman,” because she was taken out of her husband (is). It need not then surprise us if some interpreters of the Hebrew “Susanna,” which had been concealed among them at ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 543, footnote 9 (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 Gospel according to John: “He that believeth not is already judged, because he hath not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light.” Of this also in the first Psalm: “Therefore the ungodly shall not rise up in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous.”[Psalms 1:5]

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 6, page 346, footnote 5 (Image)

Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Tusiane. (HTML)

How Each One Ought to Prepare Himself for the Future Resurrection. (HTML)

Such fruit it is necessary that we bring when we come to the judgment-seat of Christ, on the first day of the feast; for if we are without it we shall not be able to feast with God, nor to have part, according to John, in the first resurrection. For the tree of life is wisdom first begotten of all. “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her,” says the prophet; “and happy is every one that retaineth her.” “A tree planted by the waterside, that will bring forth his fruit in due season;”[Psalms 1:3] that is, learning and charity and discretion are imparted in due time to those who come to the waters of redemption.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 117, footnote 1 (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. XVI.—Of the passion of Jesus Christ; that it was foretold (HTML)

For both David, in the beginning of his Psalms, foreseeing in spirit what a crime they were about to commit, says,[Psalms 1:1] “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the way of the ungodly; “and Solomon in the book of Wisdom used these words: “Let us defraud the righteous, for he is unpleasant to us, and upbraideth us with our offences against the law. He maketh his boast that he has the knowledge of God; and he calleth himself the Son of God. He is made to reprove our thoughts: it grieveth us even to look upon him: for his life is not like the life of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 216, footnote 1 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book VII. Of a Happy Life (HTML)

Chap. XX.—Of the judgment of Christ, of Christians, and of the soul (HTML)

Not all men, however, shall then be judged by God, but those only who have been exercised in the religion of God. For they who have not known God, since sentence cannot be passed upon them for their acquittal, are already judged and condemned, since the Holy Scriptures testify that the wicked shall not arise to judgment.[Psalms 1:5] Therefore they who have known God shall be judged, and their deeds, that is, their evil works, shall be compared and weighed against their good ones: so that if those which are good and just are more and weighty, they may be given to a life of blessedness; but if the evil exceed, they may be condemned to punishment. Here, perhaps, some ...

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 8, page 469, footnote 2 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Narrative of Joseph. (HTML)

Chapter 2. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2038 (In-Text, Margin)

And Nicodemus and I Joseph, seeing the seat of the plagues,[Psalms 1:1] stood off from them, not wishing to perish along with the counsel of the ungodly.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 628, footnote 3 (Image)

Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents

The Decretals. (HTML)

The Epistle of Pope Anterus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2812 (In-Text, Margin)

... them. When the head languisheth, the other members of the body are affected thereby. And viler are those who corrupt the life and morals of the good, than those who spoil the property and goods of others. Let each one take care that he have neither an itching tongue nor itching ears; that is to say, that he neither be a detractor of others himself, nor listen to others in their detractions. “Thou sattest,” saith he, “and spakest against thy brother; and thou didst slander thine own mother’s son.”[Psalms 1:20] Let every individual abstain from a detracting tongue, and keep a guard upon his own words, and understand that all that they say of others shall enter into the judgment wherewith they themselves shall be judged. No one readily refers to an ...

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 3, page 523, footnote 11 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)

Section 40 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2617 (In-Text, Margin)

... then they who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God are no longer men.” O dotage unparalleled! Well may the person who says this arm himself against Holy Scripture’s most manifest proclamations, with counsel of outrageous impiety, and persevere in a tortuous path, and essay to bring in a pestiferous doctrine that not “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and in the way of sinners hath not stood, and in the chair of noisome wickedness hath not sat.”[Psalms 1:1] For if he would meditate in God’s law day and night, there he should find the Apostle Paul himself, who assuredly professing highest chastity saith, “I would that all men were even as I:” and yet shows himself a man, not only in so being, but also ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 558, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)

Chapter 46 (HTML)

... And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.’ He blindeth their eyes, so that they should not see. ‘Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.’"[Psalms 1]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 560, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)

In which Augustin replies to all the several statements in the letter of Petilianus, as though disputing with an adversary face to face. (HTML)

Chapter 51 (HTML)

117. said: "If you wretched men claim for yourselves a seat, as we said before, you assuredly have that one of which the prophet and psalmist David speaks as being the seat of the scornful.[Psalms 1:1] For to you it is rightly left, seeing that the holy cannot sit therein."

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 440, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings

A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)

Two Letters Written by Augustin to Valentinus and the Monks of Adrumetum. (HTML)

Letter II (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2944 (In-Text, Margin)

... on the right hand are praised, and those on the left hand are blamed. This is why he added, “Turn away thy foot from the evil way,”—that is, from the left-hand path. This he makes manifest in the following words, saying, “For the Lord knoweth the ways on the right hand; but those on the left are perverse.” In those ways we ought surely to walk which the Lord knows; and it is of these that we read in the Psalm, “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish;”[Psalms 1:6] for this way, which is on the left hand, the Lord does not know. As He will also say at last to such as are placed on His left hand at the day of judgment: “I know you not.” Now what is that which He knows not, who knows all things, both good 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 7, page 474, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies

Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John. (HTML)

1 John II. 12–17. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2120 (In-Text, Margin)

... three things he hath said, which are not of the Father, but are of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever, even as He abideth for ever.” Why am I not to love what God made? What wilt thou? Whether wilt thou love the things of time, and pass away with time; or not love the world, and live to eternity with God? The river of temporal things hurries one along: but like a tree sprung up beside the river is our Lord Jesus Christ.[Psalms 1:3] He assumed flesh, died, rose again, ascended into heaven. It was His will to plant Himself, in a manner, beside the river of the things of time. Art thou rushing down the stream to the headlong deep? Hold fast the tree. Is love of the world whirling ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 22, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm VII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 217 (In-Text, Margin)

... whereas whatever souls the devil shall have taken by his persecutions, he will keep. “And let him tread my life upon the earth:” that is, by treading let him make my life earth, that is to say, his food. For he is not only called a lion, but a serpent too, to whom it was said, “Earth shalt thou eat.” And to the sinner was it said, “Earth thou art, and into earth shalt thou go.” “And let him bring down my glory to the dust.” This is that dust which “the wind casteth forth from the face of the earth,”[Psalms 1:4] to wit, vain and silly boasting of the proud, puffed up, not of solid weight, as a cloud of dust carried away by the wind. Justly then has he here spoken of the glory, which he would not have brought down to dust. For he would have it solidly ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 27, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm VIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 277 (In-Text, Margin)

To the end, for the wine-presses, a psalm of David himself.[Psalms 1]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 55, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 554 (In-Text, Margin)

... earth, in time, or in manifestation, set so to say His military dwelling, that is, the dispensation of His incarnation. “And He as a bridegroom coming forth out of His chamber” (ver. 5). And He, coming forth out of the Virgin’s womb, where God was united to man’s nature as a bridegroom to a bride. “Rejoiced as a giant to run His way.” Rejoiced as One exceeding strong, and surpassing all other men in power incomparable, not to inhabit, but to run His way. For, “He stood not in the way of sinners.”[Psalms 1:1]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 59, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 606 (In-Text, Margin)

16. “My strength dried up as a potsherd” (ver. 15). My strength dried up by My Passion; not as hay, but a potsherd, which is made stronger by fire. “And My tongue cleaved to My jaws.” And they, through whom I was soon to speak, kept My precepts in their hearts. “And Thou broughtest Me down to the dust of death.” And to the ungodly appointed to death, whom the wind casteth forth as dust from the face of the earth,[Psalms 1:4] Thou broughtest Me down.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 80, footnote 5 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 752 (In-Text, Margin)

6. What of others? For all are not so conquered as to be converted and believe: many continue in obstinacy, many preserve in heart the spirit of going before, and if they exert it not, yet they labour with it, and finding opportunity bring it forth. Of such, what followeth? “Let them be as dust before the wind” (ver. 5). “Not so are the ungodly, not so; but as the dust which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth.”[Psalms 1:4] The wind is temptation; the dust are the ungodly. When temptation cometh, the dust is raised, it neither standeth nor resisteth. “Let them be as dust before the wind, and let the Angel of the Lord trouble them.” “Let their way be darkness and slipping” (ver. 6). A horrible way! ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 87, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXVI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 815 (In-Text, Margin)

5. “He hath set himself in every way that is not good.” What is, “he hath set himself”? He hath sinned perseveringly. Whence also of a certain pious and good man it is said, “He hath not stood in the way of sinners.”[Psalms 1:1] As this “hath not stood,” so that “hath set himself.” “But wickedness hath he not hated.” There is the end, there the fruit: if a man cannot but have wickedness, let him at least hate it. For when thou hatest it, it scarcely occurs to thee to do any wickedness. For sin is in our mortal body, but what saith the Apostle? “Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 93, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXVII (HTML)

Part 1 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 864 (In-Text, Margin)

... high by wickedness, he deigns not to notice me. In these circumstances, how shall I hold out with patience?” This is a sickness; drink, by way of remedy. “Fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way.” He prospereth, but it is “in his way:” thou sufferest, but it is in God’s way! His portion is prosperity on his way, misery on arriving at its end: yours, toil on the road, happiness in its termination. “The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; and the way of the ungodly shall perish.”[Psalms 1:6] Thou walkest those ways which “the Lord knoweth,” and if thou dost suffer toil in them, they do not deceive thee. The “way of the ungodly” is but a transitory happiness; at the end of the way the happiness is at an end also. Why? Because that way is ...

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 1, Volume 8, page 145, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1360 (In-Text, Margin)

20. “For our soul is bowed down to the dust” (ver. 25). Where is it bowed down? “To the dust:” i.e. dust persecutes us. They persecute us, of whom Thou hast said, “The ungodly are not so; but are like the dust, which the wind driveth away from the face of the earth.”[Psalms 1:4] “Our belly hath cleaved to the earth.” He seems to me to have expressed the punishment of the extreme of humiliation, in which, when any one prostrates himself, “his belly cleaveth to the earth.” For whosoever is humbled so as to be on his knees, has yet a lower degree of humiliation to which he can come: but he who is so humbled, that his “belly cleaveth to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 233, footnote 9 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2192 (In-Text, Margin)

... along. Let all ungodly men, all proud men resounding against the rocks of their pride as it were with waters rushing along and flowing together, not terrify you, winter waters they are, they cannot alway flow: it must needs be that they run down unto their place, unto their end. And nevertheless of this torrent of the world the Lord hath drunk. For He hath suffered here, the very torrent He hath drunk, but in the way He hath drunk, but in the passage over: because in way of sinners He hath not stood.[Psalms 1:1] But of Him saith the Scripture what? “Of the torrent in the way He shall drink, therefore He shall lift up His Head;” that is, for this reason glorified He hath been, because He hath died; for this reason hath risen again, because He hath suffered.…

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 264, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2496 (In-Text, Margin)

3. “Thou hast protected me from the gathering together of malignants, and from the multitude of men working iniquity” (ver. 2). Now upon Himself our Head let us look. Like things many Martyrs have suffered: but nothing doth shine out so brightly as the Head of Martyrs; in Him rather let us behold what they have gone through. Protected He was from the multitude of malignants, God protecting Himself, the Son Himself and the Manhood[Psalms 1] which He was carrying protecting His flesh: because Son of Man He is, and Son of God He is; Son of God because of the form of God, Son of Man because of the form of a servant: having in His power to lay down His life: and to take it again. To Him what could enemies do? They killed ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 270, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2560 (In-Text, Margin)

... of themselves, there is not one to be taken to Him. But they that abide in the bond of Christ and are the members of Him, make in a manner one man, of whom saith the Apostle, “Until we all arrive at the acknowledging of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ.” Therefore one man is taken to Him, to which the Head is Christ; because “the Head of the man is Christ.” The same is that blessed man that “hath not departed in the counsel of ungodly men,”[Psalms 1:1] and the like things which there are spoken of: the same is He that is taken to Him. He is not without us, in His own members we are, under one Head we are governed, by one Spirit we all live, one fatherland we all long for.…And to us He will give ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 348, footnote 13 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3381 (In-Text, Margin)

... have been darkened have been filled of the earth of unrighteous houses:” because they had unrighteous hearts. Our “houses” are our hearts: therein gladly dwell they that are blessed with pure heart. “Have regard,” therefore, “unto Thy Testament:” and let the remnant be saved: for many men that give heed to earth are darkened, and filled with earth. For there hath entered into their eyes dust, and it hath blinded them, and they have become dust which the wind sweepeth from the face of the earth.[Psalms 1:4] “They that have been darkened have been filled of the earth of unrighteous houses.” For by giving heed to earth they have been darkened, concerning whom there is said in another Psalm, “Let their eyes be blinded, that they see not, and their back ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 499, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4615 (In-Text, Margin)

... of what? What then followeth? “and pity the dust thereof.” I understand by the stones of Sion all the Prophets: there was the voice of preaching sent before, thence the ministry of the Gospel assumed, through their preaching Christ became known. Therefore thy servants have taken pleasure in the stones of Sion. But those faithless apostates from God, who offended their Creator by their evil deeds, have returned to the earth, whence they were taken. They have become dust, they have become ungodly.[Psalms 1:4] But wait, Lord; bear with us, Lord; be long-suffering, O Lord: let not the wind rush in, and sweep away this dust from the face of the earth. Let thy servants come, let them come, let them acknowledge in the stones thy voice, let them pity the dust ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 102, footnote 1 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall. (HTML)

Letter I (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 268 (In-Text, Margin)

... some picture both to those who have committed the sins and to those who are ignorant of them, how is it not natural that every power should be confounded and shake? For if there were no river of fire winding by, nor any terrible angels standing by the side of the throne, but men were merely summoned some to be praised and admired, others to be dismissed with ignominy that they might not see the glory of God, (“For let the ungodly” we read “be taken away that he may not see the glory of the Lord”[Psalms 1:5]) and if this were the only punishment would not the loss of such blessings sting the souls of those who were deprived of them more bitterly than all hell itself? For how great an evil this is cannot possibly be represented now in words; but then we ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 397, footnote 3 (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 VIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1387 (In-Text, Margin)

... about virtue of soul, though thou wert the most powerful of men, thou wilt easily be worsted by all that assail thee. And the examples already quoted proved this. But if thou art desirous, I will also endeavour to teach thee by actual facts the unconquerableness of the righteous, and the vulnerable condition of sinners. Hear then how the prophet intimates both these particulars. “The ungodly,” saith he, “are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth.”[Psalms 1:5] For even as chaff lies exposed to the gusts of wind, and is easily caught up and swept along, so is also the sinner driven about by every temptation; for whilst he is at war with himself, and bears the warfare about with him, what hope of safety ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 462, footnote 6 (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 XVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1749 (In-Text, Margin)

... have? On this account we should call no man happy, save him only who lives according to God. These only the Scripture terms blessed. For “blessed,” it is said, “is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly. Blessed is he whom Thou chastenest, and teachest him out of Thy law. Blessed are the undefiled in the way. Blessed are all they who trust in Him. Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord. Blessed is he whom his soul condemneth not. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord.”[Psalms 1:1] And again, Christ speaks thus: “Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the humble; blessed are the meek; blessed are the peacemakers; blessed are they who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake.” Seest thou how the divine laws everywhere pronounce ...

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 4, page 535, footnote 7 (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 339. Coss. Constantius Augustus II, Constans I; Præfect, Philagrius the Cappadocian, for the second time; Indict. xii; Easter-day xvii Kal. Mai, xx Pharmuthi; Æra Dioclet. 55. (HTML)

... kingdom of heaven, and bring forth from it things new and old;’ and who ‘meditate on the words of the Lord, when sitting in the house, when lying down or rising up, and when walking by the way;’—since they are of good hope because of the promise of the Spirit which said, ‘Blessed is the man that 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];’—being grounded in faith, rejoicing in hope, fervent in spirit, they have boldness to say, ‘My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.’ And again, ‘I have meditated on all Thy works, and on the work of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 569, footnote 8 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Letters of Athanasius with Two Ancient Chronicles of His Life. (HTML)

The Festal Letters, and their Index. (HTML)

Personal Letters. (HTML)

Second Letter to Orsisius. (HTML)

I have heard about the decease of the blessed Theodorus, and the tidings caused me great anxiety, knowing as I did his value to you. Now if it had not been Theodorus, I should have used many words to you, with tears, considering what follows after death. But since it is Theodorus whom you and I have known, what need I say in my letter save ‘Blessed is’ Theodorus, ‘who hath not walked in the council of the ungodly[Psalms 1:1]?’ But if ‘he is blessed that feareth the Lord,’ we may now confidently call him blessed, having the firm assurance that he has reached as it were a haven, and has a life without care. Would that the same had also befallen each one of us; would that each of us in his running might thus ...

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 137, footnote 5 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Words, And in One Holy Catholic Church, and in the Resurrection of the Flesh, and the Life Everlasting. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2268 (In-Text, Margin)

14. These questions, therefore, are for them, the unbelievers: but the words of the Prophets are for us who believe. But since some who have also used the Prophets believe not what is written, and allege against us that passage, The ungodly shall not rise up in judgment[Psalms 1:5], and, For if man go down to the grave he shall come up no more, and, The dead shall not praise Thee, O Lord,—for of what is well written, they have made ill use—it will be well in a cursory manner, and as far as is now possible, to meet them. For if it is said, that the ungodly shall not rise up in judgment, this shews that they shall ...

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 8, page 147, footnote 6 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To a lapsed Monk. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2099 (In-Text, Margin)

... how it is written in the Scriptures that he who is falling rises and he who turns away returns; the wounded is healed, the prey of beasts escapes; he who owns his sin is not rejected. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live. Do not despise, like the wicked in the pit of evil. There is a time of endurance, a time of long suffering, a time of healing, a time of correction. Have you stumbled? Arise. Have you sinned? Cease. Do not stand in the way of sinners,[Psalms 1:1] but spring away. When you are converted and groan you shall be saved. Out of labour comes health, out of sweat salvation. Beware lest, from your wish to keep certain obligations, you break the obligations to God which you professed before many ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 89b, footnote 6 (Image)

Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus

John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)

Book IV (HTML)

Concerning Scripture. (HTML)

All Scripture, then, is given by inspiration of God and is also assuredly profitable. Wherefore to search the Scriptures is a work most fair and most profitable for souls. For just as the tree planted by the channels of waters, so also the soul watered by the divine Scripture is enriched and gives fruit in its season[Psalms 1:3], viz. orthodox belief, and is adorned with evergreen leafage, I mean, actions pleasing to God. For through the Holy Scriptures we are trained to action that is pleasing to God, and untroubled contemplation. For in these we find both exhortation to every virtue and dissuasion from every vice. If, therefore, we are lovers of learning, ...

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 ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 408, footnote 1 (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 Death and the Latter Times. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1189 (In-Text, Margin)

17. And the wicked shall not arise in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.[Psalms 1:5] And even as the righteous who are perfected in good works shall not come into the judgment to be judged, so of the wicked also whose sins are many, and the measure of whose offences is overflowing, it shall not be required that they should draw nigh unto the judgment, but when they have risen again they shall turn back to Sheol, as David said, The wicked shall turn back to Sheol, and all the nations that forget God. And Isaiah said, ...