Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 7:9
There are 8 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 361, footnote 12 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Chapter XIV.—How a Thing May Be Involuntary. (HTML)
... involuntarily to gonorrhœa, but not equally with him who did so voluntarily. Although he also shall be punished as for a voluntary action, if one transfer the affection to the truth. For, in reality, he that cannot contain the generative word is to be punished; for this is an irrational passion of the soul approaching garrulity. “The faithful man chooses to conceal things in his spirit.” Things, then, that depend on choice are subjects for judgment. “For the Lord searcheth the hearts and reins.”[Psalms 7:9] “And he that looketh so as to lust” is judged. Wherefore it is said, “Thou shalt not lust.” And “this people honoureth Me with their lips,” it is said, “but their heart is far from Me.” For God has respect to the very thought, since Lot’s wife, who ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 442, footnote 19 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Anti-Marcion. (HTML)
The Five Books Against Marcion. (HTML)
Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. (HTML)
St. Paul's Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover--A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of the Ancient Dispensation. Christ's True Corporeity. Married and Unmarried States. Meaning of the Time is Short. In His Exhortations and Doctrine, the Apostle Wholly Teaches According to the Mind and Purposes of the God of the Old Testament. Prohibition of Meats and Drinks Withdrawn by the Creator. (HTML)
“And the hidden things of darkness He will Himself bring to light,” even by Christ; for He has promised Christ to be a Light, and Himself He has declared to be a lamp, “searching the hearts and reins.”[Psalms 7:9] From Him also shall “praise be had by every man,” from whom proceeds, as from a judge, the opposite also of praise. But here, at least, you say he interprets the world to be the God thereof, when he says: “We are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” For if by world he had meant the people thereof, he would not have afterwards specially mentioned “ men.” To prevent, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 195, footnote 17 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)
That Out of the Children of the Night and of the Darkness, Children of the Light and of the Day are Made. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1256 (In-Text, Margin)
... quicken our mortal bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in us, because in mercy He was borne over our inner darksome and floating deep. Whence we have in this pilgrimage received “an earnest” that we should now be light, whilst as yet we “are saved by hope,” and are the children of light, and the children of the day,—not the children of the night nor of the darkness, which yet we have been. Betwixt whom and us, in this as yet uncertain state of human knowledge, Thou only dividest, who provest our hearts[Psalms 7:9] and callest the light day, and the darkness night. For who discerneth us but Thou? But what have we that we have not received of Thee? Out of the same lump vessels unto honour, of which others also are made to dishonour.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 14, page 150, footnote 2 (Image)
Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews
The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John. (HTML)
John 6.1,4 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1170 (In-Text, Margin)
... from the Old [Testament]. For there too it is said, “And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Take thy beloved son whom thou lovest” (Gen. xxii. 1, 2); yet it doth not appear in that place either, that when He saith this He waited to see the end of the trial, whether Abraham would obey or not, (how could He, who knoweth all things before they come into existence? but the words in both cases are spoken after the manner of men. For as when (the Psalmist[Psalms 7:9]) saith that He “searcheth the hearts of men,” he meaneth not a search of ignorance but of exact knowledge, just so when the Evangelist saith that He proved (Philip), he meaneth only that He knew exactly. And perhaps one might say another thing, that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 1, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Innocent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4 (In-Text, Margin)
... that his execution was just inasmuch as he had left to an innocent woman no means of self-defence. But the woman, stronger in virtue if weaker in sex, though her frame was stretched upon the rack, and though her hands, stained with the filth of the prison, were tied behind her, looked up to heaven with her eyes, which alone the torturer had been unable to bind, and while the tears rolled down her face, said: “Thou art witness, Lord Jesus, to whom nothing is hid, who triest the reins and the heart.[Psalms 7:9] Thou art witness that it is not to save my life that I deny this charge. I refuse to lie because to lie is sin. And as for you, unhappy man, if you are bent on hastening your death, why must you destroy not one innocent person, but two? I also, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 29, footnote 5 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
Of Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 759 (In-Text, Margin)
2. Here then it is further required, that each of you be found faithful in his conscience: for a faithful man it is hard to find: not that thou shouldest shew thy conscience to me, for thou art not to be judged of man’s judgment; but that thou shew the sincerity of thy faith to God, who trieth the reins and hearts[Psalms 7:9], and knoweth the thoughts of men. A great thing is a faithful man, being richest of all rich men. For to the faithful man belongs the whole world of wealth, in that he disdains and tramples on it. For they who in appearance are rich, and have many possessions, are poor in soul: since the more they gather, the more ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 103, footnote 2 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1809 (In-Text, Margin)
... again, (to come, but not from the earth; for be on your guard, O man, because of the deceivers who are to come;) Who sitteth on high, and is here present together with us, beholding the order of each, and the steadfastness of his faith. For think not that because He is now absent in the flesh, He is therefore absent also in the Spirit. He is here present in the midst of us, listening to what is said of Him, and beholding thine inward thoughts, and trying the reins and hearts[Psalms 7:9];—who also is now ready to present those who are coming to baptism, and all of you, in the Holy Ghost to the Father, and to say, Behold, I and the children whom God hath given Me:—To whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 155, footnote 9 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter XIX. Having proved above that the Spirit abides and speaks in the prophets, St. Ambrose infers that He knows all things which are of God, and therefore is One with the Father and the Son. This same point he establishes again from the fact that He possesses all that God possesses, namely, Godhead, knowledge of the heart, truth, a Name above every name, and power to raise the dead, as is proved from Ezekiel, and in this He is equal to the Son. (HTML)
146. God, again, searches the hearts and reins, for it is written: “God searcheth the hearts and reins.”[Psalms 7:9] The Son also has this power, Who said, “Why think ye evil in your hearts?” For Jesus knew their thoughts. And the Spirit has the same power, Who manifests to the prophets also the secrets of the hearts of others, as we said above: “for the secrets of his heart are made manifest.” And why do we wonder if He searches the hidden things of man Who searches even the deep things of God?