Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 25
There are 45 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 506, footnote 11 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXXIII.—Whosoever confesses that one God is the author of both Testaments, and diligently reads the Scriptures in company with the presbyters of the Church, is a true spiritual disciple; and he will rightly understand and interpret all that the prophets have declared respecting Christ and the liberty of the New Testament. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4253 (In-Text, Margin)
1. A spiritual disciple of this sort truly receiving the Spirit of God, who was from the beginning, in all the dispensations of God, present with mankind, and announced things future, revealed things present, and narrated things past—[such a man] does indeed “judge all men, but is himself judged by no man.”[Psalms 25:14] For he judges the Gentiles, “who serve the creature more than the Creator,” and with a reprobate mind spend all their labour on vanity. And he also judges the Jews, who do not accept of the word of liberty, nor are willing to go forth free, although they have a Deliverer present [with them]; but they pretend, at a time unsuitable [for such ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 21, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen
Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)
On the Apparel of Women. (HTML)
II (HTML)
Of Dyeing the Hair. (HTML)
... provided—may seem to be a sacrifice. But, however, God saith, “Which of you can make a white hair black, or out of a black a white?” And so they refute the Lord! “Behold!” say they, “instead of white or black, we make it yellow,—more winning in grace.” And yet such as repent of having lived to old age do attempt to change it even from white to black! O temerity! The age which is the object of our wishes and prayers blushes (for itself)! a theft is effected! youth, wherein we have sinned,[Psalms 25:7] is sighed after! the opportunity of sobriety is spoiled! Far from Wisdom’s daughters be folly so great! The more old age tries to conceal itself, the more will it be detected. Here is a veritable eternity, in the (perennial) youth of your head! Here ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 519, footnote 1 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
... will comfort Thee; and I have given Thee for a covenant of my people, for a light of the nations; to open the eyes of the blind, to bring forth them that are bound from chains, and those who sit in darkness from the prison-house. I am the Lord God, that is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my powers to graven images.” Also in the twenty-fourth Psalm: “Show me Thy ways, O Lord, and teach me Thy paths, and lead me unto Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou art the God of my salvation.”[Psalms 25:4-5] Whence, in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: “I am the light of the world. He that will follow me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Moreover, in that according to Matthew, the angel Gabriel says to Joseph: ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 71, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle. (HTML)
His Friend Being Snatched Away by Death, He Imagines that He Remains Only as Half. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 293 (In-Text, Margin)
... it to me to live, and dreadful to die, I suppose, the more I loved him, so much the more did I hate and fear, as a most cruel enemy, that death which had robbed me of him; and I imagined it would suddenly annihilate all men, as it had power over him. Thus, I remember, it was with me. Behold my heart, O my God! Behold and look into me, for I remember it well, O my Hope! who cleansest me from the uncleanness of such affections, directing mine eyes towards Thee, and plucking my feet out of the net.[Psalms 25:15] For I was astonished that other mortals lived, since he whom I loved, as if he would never die, was dead; and I wondered still more that I, who was to him a second self, could live when he was dead. Well did one say of his friend, “Thou half of my ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 108, footnote 16 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
He recalls the beginning of his youth, i.e. the thirty-first year of his age, in which very grave errors as to the nature of God and the origin of evil being distinguished, and the Sacred Books more accurately known, he at length arrives at a clear knowledge of God, not yet rightly apprehending Jesus Christ. (HTML)
He Compares the Doctrine of the Platonists Concerning the Λόγος With the Much More Excellent Doctrine of Christianity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 516 (In-Text, Margin)
... they are renewed, that they may be wise, is there. But that “in due time Christ died for the ungodly,” and that Thou sparedst not Thine only Son, but deliveredst Him up for us all, is not there. “Because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes;” that they “that labour and are heavy laden” might “come” unto Him and He might refresh them, because He is “meek and lowly in heart.” “The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way;”[Psalms 25:9] looking upon our humility and our distress, and forgiving all our sins. But such as are puffed up with the elation of would-be sublimer learning, do not hear Him saying, “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 143, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
That in His Confessions He May Do Good, He Considers Others. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 831 (In-Text, Margin)
... me. To such will I declare myself; let them breathe freely at my good deeds, and sigh over my evil ones. My good deeds are Thy institutions and Thy gifts, my evil ones are my delinquencies and Thy judgments. Let them breathe freely at the one, and sigh over the other; and let hymns and tears ascend into Thy sight out of the fraternal hearts—Thy censers. And do Thou, O Lord, who takest delight in the incense of Thy holy temple, have mercy upon me according to Thy great mercy, “for Thy name’s sake;”[Psalms 25:11] and on no account leaving what Thou hast begun in me, do Thou complete what is imperfect in me.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 157, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
Of the Very Dangerous Allurements of the Eyes; On Account of Beauty of Form, God, the Creator, is to Be Praised. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 935 (In-Text, Margin)
... that corporeal light of which I was speaking seasoneth the life of the world for her blind lovers, with a tempting and fatal sweetness. But they who know how to praise Thee for it, “O God, the world’s great Architect,” take it up in Thy hymn, and are not taken up with it in their sleep. Such desire I to be. I resist seductions of the eyes, lest my feet with which I advance on Thy way be entangled; and I raise my invisible eyes to Thee, that Thou wouldst be pleased to “pluck my feet out of the net.”[Psalms 25:15] Thou dost continually pluck them out, for they are ensnared. Thou never ceasest to pluck them out, but I, constantly remain fast in the snares set all around me; because Thou “that keepest Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 294, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Eudoxius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1683 (In-Text, Margin)
2. We exhort you in the Lord, brethren, to be stedfast in your purpose, and persevere to the end; and if the Church, your Mother, calls you to active service, guard against accepting it, on the one hand, with too eager elation of spirit, or declining it, on the other, under the solicitations of indolence; and obey God with a lowly heart, submitting yourselves in meekness to Him who governs you, who will guide the meek in judgment, and will teach them His way.[Psalms 25:9] Do not prefer your own ease to the claims of the Church; for if no good men were willing to minister to her in her bringing forth of her spiritual children, the beginning of your own spiritual life would have been impossible. As men must keep the way carefully in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 295, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
Letters of St. Augustin (HTML)
To Eudoxius (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1694 (In-Text, Margin)
... and wiles of the tempter, and by the shield of faith averting and extinguishing his fiery darts, or “singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,” or with voices in harmony with your hearts; —whatever you do, I say, “do all to the glory of God,” who “worketh all in all,” and be so “fervent in Spirit” that your “soul may make her boast in the Lord.” Such is the course of those who walk in the “straight way,” whose “eyes are ever upon the Lord, for He shall pluck their feet out of the net.”[Psalms 25:15] Such a course is neither interrupted by business, nor benumbed by leisure, neither boisterous nor languid, neither presumptuous nor desponding, neither reckless nor supine. “These things do, and the God of peace shall be with you.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 244, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil. (HTML)
That the Whole Plenitude of the Human Race Was Embraced in the First Man, and that God There Saw the Portion of It Which Was to Be Honored and Rewarded, and that Which Was to Be Condemned and Punished. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 577 (In-Text, Margin)
... merely say that in this first man, who was created in the beginning, there was laid the foundation, not indeed evidently, but in God’s foreknowledge, of these two cities or societies, so far as regards the human race. For from that man all men were to be derived—some of them to be associated with the good angels in their reward, others with the wicked in punishment; all being ordered by the secret yet just judgment of God. For since it is written, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth,”[Psalms 25:10] neither can His grace be unjust, nor His justice cruel.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 405, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
A review of the philosophical opinions regarding the Supreme Good, and a comparison of these opinions with the Christian belief regarding happiness. (HTML)
Of the Error of Human Judgments When the Truth is Hidden. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1273 (In-Text, Margin)
... acquit the judge of malice, we must none the less condemn human life as miserable. And if he is compelled to torture and punish the innocent because his office and his ignorance constrain him, is he a happy as well as a guiltless man? Surely it were proof of more profound considerateness and finer feeling were he to recognize the misery of these necessities, and shrink from his own implication in that misery; and had he any piety about him, he would cry to God “From my necessities deliver Thou me.”[Psalms 25:17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 299, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. (HTML)
Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1426 (In-Text, Margin)
... to all a mother. And when one, who has not gone through the kind of experience to which I refer in the same spirit of charity, sees us attaining, in virtue of some gift which has been conferred upon us, and which carries the power of pleasing, a certain repute of an eulogistic nature in the mouth of the multitude, he counts us happy on that account. But may God, into whose cognizance the “groaning of them that are bound enters,” look upon our humility, and our labor, and forgive us all our sins.[Psalms 25:18] Wherefore, if anything in us has so far pleased you as to make you desirous of hearing from us some remarks on the subject of the form of discourse which you ought to follow, you should acquire a more thorough understanding of the matter by ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 432, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 41 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2166 (In-Text, Margin)
... much the less love Him? May He Himself turn away so dreadful madness! Wherefore forasmuch as the Truth has spoken the truth, that he, unto whom little is forgiven, loveth little; do ye, in order that ye may love with full glow of affection Him, Whom ye are free to love, being loosened from ties of marriage, account as altogether forgiven unto you, whatever of evil, by His governance, ye have not committed. For “your eyes ever unto the Lord, forasmuch as He shall pluck out of the net your feet,”[Psalms 25:15] and, “Except the Lord shall have kept the city, in vain hath he watched who keepeth it.” And speaking of Continence itself the Apostle says, “But I would that all men were as I myself; but each one hath his own proper gift from God; one in this way, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 57, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 578 (In-Text, Margin)
... this is good will,—what have we that we have not received? But if we received, why do we glory as if we had not received? Therefore, as “he that glorieth must glory in the Lord,” it comes from His mercy, not their merit, that God wills to impart this to some, but from His truth that He wills not to impart it to others. For to sinners punishment is justly due, because “the Lord God loveth mercy and truth,” and “mercy and truth are met together;” and “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10] And who can tell the numberless instances in which Holy Scripture combines these two attributes? Sometimes, by a change in the terms, grace is put for merc y, as in the passage, “We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 67, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Turn to Neither Hand. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 646 (In-Text, Margin)
... said), instructed in the kingdom of heaven by the two Testaments—the Old and the New—turning neither to the right hand, in a proud assumption of righteousness, nor to the left hand, in a reckless delight in sin, shall enter into the land of promise, where we shall have no longer either to pray that sins may be forgiven to us, or to fear that they may be punished in us, having been freed from them all by that Redeemer, who, not being “sold under sin,” “hath redeemed Israel out of all his iniquities,”[Psalms 25:22] whether committed in the actual life, or derived from the original transgression.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 149, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
A Certain Necessity of Sinning. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1335 (In-Text, Margin)
... assertion: “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” By whom given if not by Him who “ascended up on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men?” Forasmuch, however, as there is, owing to the defects that have entered our nature, not to the constitution of our nature, a certain necessary tendency to sin, a man should listen, and in order that the said necessity may cease to exist, learn to say to God, “Bring Thou me out of my necessities;”[Psalms 25:17] because in the very offering up of such a prayer there is a struggle against the tempter, who fights against us concerning this very necessity; and thus, by the assistance of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ, both the evil necessity will be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 160, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Second Breviate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1368 (In-Text, Margin)
II. “We must next ask,” he says, “whether sin comes from will, or from necessity? If from necessity, it is not sin; if from will, it can be avoided.” We answer as before; and in order that we may be healed, we pray to Him to whom it is said in the psalm: “Lead Thou me out of my necessities.”[Psalms 25:17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 161, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Ninth Breviate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1380 (In-Text, Margin)
... which God bestows is certainly good. This cannot be gainsaid. On what principle, then, is a thing proved to be good, if it is more prone to evil than to good? For it is more prone to evil than to good if by means of it man can be with sin and cannot be without sin.” The answer is this: It came by the freedom of choice that man was with sin; but a penal corruption closely followed thereon, and out of the liberty produced necessity. Hence the cry of faith to God, “Lead Thou me out of my necessities.”[Psalms 25:17] With these necessities upon us, we are either unable to understand what we want, or else (while having the wish) we are not strong enough to accomplish what we have come to understand. Now it is just liberty itself that is promised to believers by ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 202, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius. (HTML)
The Twelfth Item in the Accusation. Other Heads of Cœlestius’ Doctrine Abjured by Pelagius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1742 (In-Text, Margin)
... cannot be called sons of God, unless they have become entirely free from all sin.” It follows from this statement, that not even the Apostle Paul is a child of God, since he said: “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” In the seventh chapter he makes this statement: “Forgetfulness and ignorance have no connection with sin, as they do not happen through the will, but through necessity;” although David says: “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my sins of ignorance;”[Psalms 25:7] although too, in the law, sacrifices are offered for ignorance, as if for sin. In his tenth chapter he says: “Our will is free, if it needs the help of God; inasmuch as every one in the possession of his proper will has either something to do or to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 404, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Against Two Letters of the Pelagians. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Baptism Puts Away All Sins, But It Does Not at Once Heal All Infirmities. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2701 (In-Text, Margin)
... thanksgiving, but on account of the latter, groaning in the utterance of prayers. On account of the former, saying, “What shall I render to the Lord for all that He has given me?” On account of the latter, saying, “Forgive us our debts.” On account of the former, saying, “I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.” On account of the latter, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord; for I am weak.” On account of the former, saying, “Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord; for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”[Psalms 25:15] On account of the latter, saying, “Mine eye is troubled with wrath.” And there are innumerable passages with which the divine writings are filled, which alternately, either in exultation over God’s benefits or in lamentation over our own evils, are ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 504, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
That Some Men are Elected is of God’s Mercy. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3461 (In-Text, Margin)
... therefore, even at this present time, the remnant has been saved by the election of grace. And if by grace, now it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” Therefore the election obtained what it obtained gratuitously; there preceded none of those things which they might first give, and it should be given to them again. He saved them for nothing. But to the rest who were blinded, as is there plainly declared, it was done in recompense. “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10] But His ways are unsearchable. Therefore the mercy by which He freely delivers, and the truth by which He righteously judges, are equally unsearchable.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 534, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
God’s Ways, Both in Mercy and Judgment, Past Finding Out. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3611 (In-Text, Margin)
... faith or of works, preceding; and does not come to the help of those who are more mature, although He foresaw that they would believe His miracles if they should be done among them, because He wills not to come to their help, since in His predestination He, secretly indeed, but yet righteously, has otherwise determined concerning them. For “there is no unrighteousness with God;” but “His judgments are unsearchable, and His ways are past finding out; all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10] Therefore the mercy is past finding out by which He has mercy on whom He will, no merits of his own preceding; and the truth is unsearchable by which He hardeneth whom He will, even although his merits may have preceded, but merits for the most part ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 537, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
On the words of the Gospel, John xvi. 7, ‘I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4259 (In-Text, Margin)
... itself by this, that it is hindered by the devil from believing on Christ. For to believers the prince of the world is cast out, that he work no more in the hearts of men whom Christ hath begun to possess by faith; as he worketh in the children of unbelief; whom he is constantly stirring up to tempt and disturb the righteous. For because he is cast out, who once had dominion interiorly he wageth war exteriorly. Although then by means of his persecutions, “the Lord doth direct the meek in judgment;”[Psalms 25:9] nevertheless in this very fact of his being cast out, is he “judged already.” And of this, “judgment” is the world convinced; for in vain doth he who will not believe on Christ complain of the devil whom, judged, that is, cast out, and for the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 152, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter V. 19–40. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 471 (In-Text, Margin)
... to you), recall to mind what you ought to demand, if perhaps, while preserving piety and wholesome humility, we may in some measure stretch out ourselves, not against God, but towards Him, and lift up our soul, pouring it out above us, like the Psalmist, to whom it was said, “Where is thy God?” “On these things,” saith he, “I meditated, and poured out my soul above me.” Therefore let us lift up our soul to God, not against God; for this also is said, “To Thee, O Lord, I have lifted up my soul.”[Psalms 25:1] And let us lift it up with His own assistance, for it is heavy. And from what cause is it heavy? Because the body which is corrupt weighs down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle depresses the mind while meditating on many things. Let us try, then, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 199, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter VII. 40–53; VIII. 1–11. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 625 (In-Text, Margin)
7. Let them take heed, then, who love His gentleness in the Lord, and let them fear His truth. For “The Lord is sweet and right.”[Psalms 25:8] Thou lovest Him in that He is sweet; fear Him in that He is right. As the meek, He said, “I held my peace;” but as the just, He said, “Shall I always be silent?” “The Lord is merciful and pitiful.” So He is, certainly. Add yet further, “Long-suffering;” add yet further, “And very pitiful:” but fear what comes last, “And true.” For those whom He now bears with as sinners, He will judge as despisers. “Or despisest thou the riches of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 277, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XI. 1–54. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 991 (In-Text, Margin)
... does that mean, “I know you not”? I see you not in that light of mine—in that righteousness which I know. So here, also, as if knowing nothing of such a sinner, He said, “Where have ye laid him?” Similar in character was God’s voice in Paradise after man had sinned: “Adam, where art thou?” “They say unto Him, Lord, come and see.” What means this “see”? Have pity. For the Lord sees when He pities. Hence it is said to Him, “Look upon my humility [affliction] and my pain, and forgive all my sins.”[Psalms 25:18]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 451, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter XXI. 19–25. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1984 (In-Text, Margin)
... declares, “It has not yet appeared what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Then accordingly shall we love the more that which we shall see. But the Lord Himself, in His predestinating knowledge, loveth more that future life of ours that is yet to come, such as He knows it will be hereafter in us, in order that by so loving us He may draw us onward to its possession. Wherefore, as all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,[Psalms 25:10] we know our present misery, because we feel it; and therefore we love more the mercy of the Lord, which we wish to be exhibited in our deliverance from misery, and we ask and experience it daily, especially in the remission of sins: this it is that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 86, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 812 (In-Text, Margin)
... and hate it.” He wrought so as not to find it. For there are men who as it were endeavour to seek out their iniquity, and fear to find it; because if they should find it, it is said to them, Depart from it: this thou didst before thou knewest; thou didst iniquity being in ignorance; God giveth pardon: now thou hast discovered it, forsake it, that to thy ignorance pardon may easily be given; and that with a clear face thou mayest say to God, “Remember not the sins of my youth, and of my ignorance.”[Psalms 25:7] Thus he seeketh it, thus he feareth lest he find it; for he seeketh it deceitfully. When saith a man, I knew not that it was sin? When he hath seen that it is sin, and ceaseth to do the sin, which he did only because he was ignorant: such an one in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 95, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXVII (HTML)
Part 2 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 881 (In-Text, Margin)
... righteous.” In what way does He strengthen them? “The Lord knoweth the ways of the spotless ones” (ver. 18). When they suffer ills, they are believed to be walking ill ways by those who are ignorant, by those who have not knowledge to discern “the ways of the spotless ones.” He who “knoweth those ways,” knoweth by what way to lead His own, “them that are gentle,” in the right way. Whence in another Psalm he said, “The meek shall He guide in judgment; them that are gentle will He teach His way.”[Psalms 25:9] How, think you, was that beggar, who lay covered with sores before the rich man’s door, spurned by the passers by! How did they, probably, close their nostrils and spit at him! The Lord, however, knew how to reserve Paradise for him. How did they, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 250, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2353 (In-Text, Margin)
8. “He shall abide for everlasting in the sight of God” (ver. 7); according to what, or because of what? “His mercy and truth who shall seek for Him?” He saith also in another place, “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to men seeking His testament and His testimonies.”[Psalms 25:10] Large is the discourse of truth and mercy, but shortness we have promised. Briefly hear ye what is truth and mercy: because no small thing is that which hath been said, “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.” Mercy is spoken of, because our merits God regarded not, but His own goodness, in order that He might forgive us all our sins, and might ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 287, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2701 (In-Text, Margin)
... sins, wherewith they were fettered so that they could not walk in the way of the commandments: but He leadeth them forth “in strength,” which before His Grace they had not. “Likewise men provoking that dwell in the tombs:” that is, every way dead, taken up with dead works. For these men provoke Him to anger by withstanding justice: for those fettered men perchance would walk, and are not able, and are praying of God that they may be able, and are saying to Him, “From my necessities lead me forth.”[Psalms 25:17] By whom being heard, they give thanks, saying, “Thou hast broken asunder my bonds.” But these provoking men that dwell in the tombs, are of that kind, which in another passage the Scripture pointeth out, saying, “From a dead man, as from one that is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 304, footnote 15 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2957 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Behold now the time acceptable, behold now the day of salvation.” “It is the time of Thy good pleasure, O God. In the multitude of Thy mercy.” This is the time of good pleasure, “in the multitude of Thy mercy.” For if there were not a multitude of Thy mercy, what should we do for the multitude of our iniquity? “In the multitude of Thy mercy; Hearken to me in the truth of Thy Salvation.” Because He hath said, “of Thy mercy,” he hath added truth also: for “mercy and truth” are all the ways of the Lord.[Psalms 25:10] Why mercy? In forgiving sins. Why truth? In fulfilling the promises.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 429, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4134 (In-Text, Margin)
... formerly worshipped images and stones could not be built up in Christ, without being destroyed as to their old error. While, unless some were destroyed not to be built up, it would not be written, “He shall destroy them, and not build them up.” … In what follows, he joins these two words, mercy and faithfulness; “For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy truth shall be established in the Heavens:” in which mercy and truth are repeated, “for all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,”[Psalms 25:10] for truth in the fulfilment of promises could not be shown, unless mercy in the remission of sins preceded. Next, as many things were promised in prophecy even to the people of Israel that came according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 433, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4165 (In-Text, Margin)
... are the preparation of Thy seat:” especially in the Day of Judgment. What then now? “mercy and truth go before Thy face.” I should fear the preparation of Thy seat, Thy justice, and Thy coming judgment, did not mercy and truth go before Thee: why should I at the end fear Thy righteousness, when with Thy mercy going before Thee Thou blottest out my sins, and by showing forth Thy truth fulfillest Thy promises? “Mercy and truth go before Thy face.” For “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 562, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Beth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5146 (In-Text, Margin)
... who compose them, if nothing but the ways of the Lord is regarded in them; but “All the ways of the Lord are,” as it is written, “mercy and truth;” the fulness of which both is found in Christ. Through this sweet exercise is gained also what he subjoineth: “My meditation shall be in Thy statutes, and I will not forget Thy word” (ver. 16). “My meditation” shall be therein, that I may not forget them. Thus the blessed man in the first Psalm “shall meditate in the law” of the Lord “day and night.”[Psalms 25:10] …
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 572, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Jod. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5237 (In-Text, Margin)
76. “I know,” she saith, “O Lord, that Thy judgments are righteous, and that in Thy truth Thou hast humbled me” (ver. 75). “O let Thy merciful kindness be my comfort, according to Thy word unto Thy servant” (ver. 76). Mercy and truth are so spoken of in the Divine Word, that, while they are found in many passages, especially in the Psalms, it is also so read in one place, “All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10] And here indeed he hath placed truth first, whereby we are humbled unto death, by the judgment of Him whose judgments are righteousness: next mercy, whereby we are renewed unto life, by the promise of Him whose blessing is His grace. For this reason he saith, “according to Thy Word unto ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 578, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Nun. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5296 (In-Text, Margin)
... law:” as if his memory were aided to remember God’s law by the hands of Him in whose hands is his soul. But how the words, “My soul is in my hands,” can be understood, I know not. For these are the words of the righteous, not of the ungodly; of one who is returning to the Father, not departing from the Father. …Is it perhaps said, “My soul is in my hands,” in this sense, as if he offered it to God to be quickened? Whence in another passage it is said, “Unto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.”[Psalms 25:1] Since here too he had said above, “Quicken Thou me.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 585, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Koph. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5350 (In-Text, Margin)
... “Thou art nigh at hand, O Lord, and all Thy ways are truth” (ver. 151). Even in their troubles, it hath been a wonted confession of the saints, to ascribe truth unto God, because they suffer them not undeservedly. So did Queen Esther, so did holy Daniel, so did the three men in the furnace, so do other associates in their sanctity confess. But it may be asked, in what sense it is here said, “All Thy ways are truth;” since in another Psalm it is read, “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.”[Psalms 25:10] But towards the saints, All the ways of the Lord are at once mercy and truth: since He aideth them even in judgment, and thus mercy is not wanting; and in having mercy upon them, He performeth that which He hath promised, so that truth is not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 647, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5784 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “Keep me from the trap which they have laid for me” (ver. 9). What was the trap? “If thou consentest, I spare thee.” In the trap was set the bait of the present life; if the bird love this bait, it falleth into the trap: but if the bird be able to say, “The day of man have I not desired: Thou knowest:” “He shall pluck his feet out of the net,” etc.[Psalms 25:15] Two things he hath mentioned to be distinguished the one from the other: the trap he said was set by persecutors; the stumbling-blocks came from those who have consented and apostatised: and from both he desires to be guarded. On the one side they threaten and rage, on the other consent and fall: I fear lest the one be ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 649, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5796 (In-Text, Margin)
... goodness I have. And men perhaps have heard that my spirit hath failed within me, and have despaired of me, and have said, “we have taken him captive, we have overpowered him;” “and Thou hast known my paths.” They thought me cast down, Thou didst see me standing upright. They who persecuted me and had seized me, thought my feet entangled, “but their feet were entangled, and they fell, but we are risen, and stand upright.” For mine eyes are ever unto the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net.”[Psalms 25:15] I have persevered in walking, for “he that shall persevere unto the end, the same shall be saved.” They thought me overpowered, but I continued walking. Where did I walk? In paths which they saw not, who thought me prisoner, in the paths of Thy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 157, footnote 1 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Abigaus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2300 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Although I am conscious of many sins and every day pray on bended knees, “Remember not the sins of my youth nor my transgressions,[Psalms 25:7] yet because I know that it has been said by the Apostle “let a man not be lifted up with pride lest he fall into the condemnation of the devil,” and that it is written in another passage, “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble,” there is nothing I have striven so much to avoid from my boyhood up as a swelling mind and a stiff neck, things which always provoke against themselves the wrath of God. For I know that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 276, footnote 13 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Ctesiphon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3840 (In-Text, Margin)
... vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings; all such rejoicing is evil.” You fancy that a wrong is inflicted on you and your freedom of choice is destroyed if you are forced to fall back on God as the moving cause of all your actions, if you are made dependent on His Will, and if you have to echo the psalmist’s words: “mine eyes are ever toward the Lord: for it is he that shall pluck my feet out of the net.”[Psalms 25:15] And so you presume rashly to maintain that each individual is governed by his own choice. But if he is governed by his own choice, what becomes of God’s help? If he does not need Christ to rule him, why does Jeremiah write: “the way of man is not in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 203, footnote 14 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter II. The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with distinction of Person. In no other way can the unity of God be maintained. (HTML)
14. Therefore we ought to believe that God is good, eternal, perfect, almighty, and true, such as we find Him in the Law and the Prophets, and the rest of the holy Scriptures,[Psalms 25:8] for otherwise there is no God. For He Who is God cannot but be good, seeing that fulness of goodness is of the nature of God: nor can God, Who made time, be in time; nor, again, can God be imperfect, for a lesser being is plainly imperfect, seeing that it lacks somewhat whereby it could be made equal to a greater. This, then, is the teaching of our faith—that God is not evil, that with God nothing is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 250, footnote 6 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter VII. Solomon's words, “The Lord created Me,” etc., mean that Christ's Incarnation was done for the redemption of the Father's creation, as is shown by the Son's own words. That He is the “beginning” may be understood from the visible proofs of His virtuousness, and it is shown how the Lord opened the ways of all virtues, and was their true beginning. (HTML)
51. Now the ways of the Lord are, we may say, certain courses taken in a good life, guided by Christ, Who says, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.” The way, then, is the surpassing power of God, for Christ, is our way, and a good way, too, is He, a way which hath opened the kingdom of heaven to believers. Moreover, the ways of the Lord are straight, as it is written: “Make Thy ways known unto me, O Lord.”[Psalms 25:4] Chastity is a way, faith is a way, abstinence is a way. There is, indeed, a way of virtue, and there is a way of wickedness; for it is written: “And see if there be any way of wickedness in me.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 12, page 14, footnote 2 (Image)
Leo the Great, Gregory the Great
The Letters and Sermons of Leo the Great. (HTML)
Letters. (HTML)
To All the Bishops of Mauritania Cæsariensis. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 105 (In-Text, Margin)
... widows have been promoted to the pastoral office, are there not the clearest reasons for requiring that the churches in which such things have been done should be cleansed by a severer judgment than usual, and that not only the rulers themselves, but also those who ordained them should receive condign punishment? But there stand on our one hand the gentleness of mercy, on our other the strictness of justice. And because “all the paths of the Lord are loving-kindness and truth[Psalms 25:10],” we are forced according to our loyalty to the Apostolic See so to moderate our opinion as to weigh men’s misdeeds in the balance (for of course they are not all of one measure), and to reckon some as to a certain extent pardonable, but others as ...