Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Psalms 50

There are 95 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 14, footnote 17 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Clement of Rome (HTML)

First Epistle to the Corinthians (HTML)

Chapter XXXV.—Immense is this reward. How shall we obtain it? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 152 (In-Text, Margin)

... tongue contrived deceit. Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest, wicked one, that I should be like to thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set thyself before thee. Consider now these things, ye that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces, like a lion, and there be none to deliver. The sacrifice of praise will glorify Me, and a way is there by which I will show him the salvation of God.”[Psalms 50:16-23]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 19, footnote 8 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Clement of Rome (HTML)

First Epistle to the Corinthians (HTML)

Chapter LII.—Such a confession is pleasing to God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 234 (In-Text, Margin)

The Lord, brethren, stands in need of nothing; and He desires nothing of any one, except that confession be made to Him. For, says the elect David, “I will confess unto the Lord; and that will please Him more than a young bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it, and be glad.” And again he saith, “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon Me in the day of thy trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.”[Psalms 50:14-15] For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 206, footnote 1 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Justin Martyr (HTML)

Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)

Chapter XXII.—So also were sacrifices and oblations. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2003 (In-Text, Margin)

... evil, and thy tongue has enfolded deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I would be like thyself in wickedness. I will reprove thee, and set thy sins in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me; and there is the way in which I shall show him My salvation.’[Psalms 50] Accordingly He neither takes sacrifices from you nor commanded them at first to be offered because they are needful to Him, but because of your sins. For indeed the temple, which is called the temple in Jerusalem, He admitted to be His house or ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 419, footnote 3 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter VI—The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made mention of no other God or Lord, save him who is the true God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3333 (In-Text, Margin)

... designates both [of them] by the name, of God—both Him who is anointed as Son, and Him who does anoint, that is, the Father. And again: “God stood in the congregation of the gods, He judges among the gods.” He [here] refers to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks: “The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth.”[Psalms 50:1] Who is meant by God? He of whom He has said, “God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silence;” that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, “I have openly appeared to those who seek Me not.” But of what gods [does he speak]? ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 419, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)

Chapter VI—The Holy Ghost, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, made mention of no other God or Lord, save him who is the true God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3334 (In-Text, Margin)

... is, the Father. And again: “God stood in the congregation of the gods, He judges among the gods.” He [here] refers to the Father and the Son, and those who have received the adoption; but these are the Church. For she is the synagogue of God, which God—that is, the Son Himself—has gathered by Himself. Of whom He again speaks: “The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken, and hath called the earth.” Who is meant by God? He of whom He has said, “God shall come openly, our God, and shall not keep silence;”[Psalms 50:3] that is, the Son, who came manifested to men who said, “I have openly appeared to those who seek Me not.” But of what gods [does he speak]? [Of those] to whom He says, “I have said, Ye are gods, and all sons of the Most High.” To those, no doubt, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 482, footnote 13 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XVII.—Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake, or as requiring such service; for He does, in fact, need nothing from men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4012 (In-Text, Margin)

... the Lord will not despise.” Because, therefore, God stands in need of nothing, He declares in the preceding Psalm: “I will take no calves out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy fold. For Mine are all the beasts of the earth, the herds and the oxen on the mountains: I know all the fowls of heaven, and the various tribes of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”[Psalms 50:9] Then, lest it might be supposed that He refused these things in His anger, He continues, giving him (man) counsel: “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High; and call upon Me in the day of thy trouble, and I will ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 482, footnote 14 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)

Chapter XVII.—Proof that God did not appoint the Levitical dispensation for His own sake, or as requiring such service; for He does, in fact, need nothing from men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4013 (In-Text, Margin)

... fowls of heaven, and the various tribes of the field are Mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” Then, lest it might be supposed that He refused these things in His anger, He continues, giving him (man) counsel: “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High; and call upon Me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me;”[Psalms 50:14-15] rejecting, indeed, those things by which sinners imagined they could propitiate God, and showing that He does Himself stand in need of nothing; but He exhorts and advises them to those things by which man is justified and draws nigh to God. This ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 547, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)

Chapter XVIII.—God the Father and His Word have formed all created things (which They use) by Their own power and wisdom, not out of defect or ignorance. The Son of God, who received all power from the Father, would otherwise never have taken flesh upon Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4615 (In-Text, Margin)

... it is He who has power from the Father over all things, since He is the Word of God, and very man, communicating with invisible beings after the manner of the intellect, and appointing a law observable to the outward senses, that all things should continue each in its own order; and He reigns manifestly over things visible and pertaining to men; and brings in just judgment and worthy upon all; as David also, clearly pointing to this, says, “Our God shall openly come, and will not keep silence.”[Psalms 50:3-4] Then he shows also the judgment which is brought in by Him, saying, “A fire shall burn in His sight, and a strong tempest shall rage round about Him. He shall call upon the heaven from above, and the earth, to judge His people.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 400, footnote 10 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2634 (In-Text, Margin)

... affiictionem Jacob et laborera generis Isræl?” ait Esdras propheta. “Nullus est a sorde mundus,” ait Job, “nee si sit quidera una dies vita ejus.” Dicant ergo nobis, ubi fornicatus est infans natus? vel quomodo sub Adæcecidit exsecrationem, qui nihil est operatus? Restat ergo eis, ut videtur, consequenter, ut dicant malam esse generationem, non solum corporis, sed etiam animæ, per quam exsistit corpus. Et quando dixit David: “In peccatis conceptus sum, et in iniquitatibus concepit me mater mea:”[Psalms 50:7] dicit prophetice quidem matrem Evam; sed Eva quidem fuit “mater viventium;” et si is “in peccatis fuit conceptus,” at non ipse in peccato, neque vero ipse peccatum. Utrum vero quicunque etiam a peccato ad fidem convertitur, a peccandi consuetudine ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 430, footnote 1 (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)
CCEL Footnote 2852 (In-Text, Margin)

... the visitation of the kingdom of Christ.” Love permits not to sin; but if it fall into any such case, by reason of the interference of the adversary, in imitation of David, it will sing: “I will confess unto the Lord, and it will please Him above a young bullock that has horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it, and be glad.” For he says, “Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise, and pay to the Lord thy vows; and call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”[Psalms 50:14-15] “For the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 437, footnote 7 (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)
CCEL Footnote 2905 (In-Text, Margin)

... account of sins committed by them, are punished for them alone; for what is done is past, and what is done can never be undone. The sins committed before faith are accordingly forgiven by the Lord, not that they may be undone, but as if they had not been done. “But not all,” says Basilides, “but only sins involuntary and in ignorance, are forgiven;” as would be the case were it a man, and not God, that conferred such a boon. To such an one Scripture says, “Thou thoughtest that I would be like thee.”[Psalms 50:21] But if we are punished for voluntary sins, we are punished not that the sins which are done may be undone, but because they were done. But punishment does not avail to him who has sinned, to undo his sin, but that he may sin no more, and that no one ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 462, footnote 4 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book V (HTML)
Chapter XI.—Abstraction from Material Things Necessary in Order to Attain to the True Knowledge of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3081 (In-Text, Margin)

... invisible, and incapable of being circumscribed; and somehow leading the Hebrews to the conception of God by the honour for His name in the temple. Further, the Word, prohibiting the constructing of temples and all sacrifices, intimates that the Almighty is not contained in anything, by what He says: “What house will ye build to Me? saith the Lord. Heaven is my throne,” and so on. Similarly respecting sacrifices: “I do not desire the blood of bulls and the fat of lambs,”[Psalms 50:13] and what the Holy Spirit by the prophet in the sequel forbids.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 506, footnote 11 (Image)

Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (HTML)

The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)
Chapter XIV.—Degrees of Glory in Heaven. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3411 (In-Text, Margin)

... And the perfect inheritance belongs to those who attain to “a perfect man,” according to the image of the Lord. And the likeness is not, as some imagine, that of the human form; for this consideration is impious. Nor is the likeness to the first cause that which consists in virtue. For this utterance is also impious, being that of those who have imagined that virtue in man and in the sovereign God is the same. “Thou hast supposed iniquity,” He says, “[in imagining] that I will be like to thee.”[Psalms 50:21] But “it is enough for the disciple to become as the Master,” saith the Master. To the likeness of God, then, he that is introduced into adoption and the friendship of God, to the just inheritance of the lords and gods is brought; if he be perfected, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 314, 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 Brazen Serpent and the Golden Cherubim Were Not Violations of the Second Commandment.  Their Meaning. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2973 (In-Text, Margin)

... of prohibition, because they are not found in that form of similitude, in reference to which the prohibition is given. We have spoken of the rational institution of the sacrifices, as calling off their homage from idols to God; and if He afterwards rejected this homage, saying, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” —He meant nothing else than this to be understood, that He had never really required such homage for Himself. For He says, “I will not eat the flesh of bulls;”[Psalms 50:13] and in another passage: “The everlasting God shall neither hunger nor thirst.” Although He had respect to the offerings of Abel, and smelled a sweet savour from the holocaust of Noah, yet what pleasure could He receive from the flesh of sheep, or ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 634, footnote 2 (Image)

Tertullian (I, II, III)

Anti-Marcion. (HTML)

Scorpiace. (HTML)

Chapter I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8221 (In-Text, Margin)

... when and before whom we must confess, or ought, save that this, to die for God, is, since He preserves me, not even artlessness, but folly, nay madness. If He kills me, how will it be His duty to preserve me? Once for all Christ died for us, once for all He was slain that we might not be slain. If He demands the like from me in return, does He also look for salvation from my death by violence? Or does God importune for the blood of men, especially if He refuses that of bulls and he-goats?[Psalms 50:13] Assuredly He had rather have the repentance than the death of the sinner. And how is He eager for the death of those who are not sinners? Whom will not these, and perhaps other subtle devices containing heretical poisons, pierce either for doubt if ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 98, footnote 11 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Modesty. (HTML)

Of the Difference Between Discipline and Power, and of the Power of the Keys. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 968 (In-Text, Margin)

... apostles and their power. Discipline governs a man, power sets a seal upon him; apart from the fact that power is the Spirit, but the Spirit is God. What, moreover, used (the Spirit) to teach? That there must be no communicating with the works of darkness. Observe what He bids. Who, moreover, was able to forgive sins? This is His alone prerogative: for “who remitteth sins but God alone?” and, of course, (who but He can remit) mortal sins, such as have been committed against Himself,[Psalms 50:6] and against His temple? For, as far as you are concerned, such as are chargeable with offence against you personally, you are commanded, in the person of Peter, to forgive even seventy times sevenfold. And so, if it were agreed that even the blessed ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 104, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Tertullian: Part Fourth. (HTML)

On Fasting. (HTML)

The Principle of Fasting Traced Back to Its Earliest Source. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1021 (In-Text, Margin)

... been able, have habitually accounted food as poison, and taken the antidote, hunger; through which to purge the primordial cause of death—a cause transmitted to me also, concurrently with my very generation; certain that God willed that whereof He nilled the contrary, and confident enough that the care of continence will be pleasing to Him by whom I should have understood that the crime of in continence had been condemned. Further: since He Himself both commands fasting, and calls “a soul[Psalms 50:19] wholly shattered”—properly, of course, by straits of diet—“a sacrifice;” who will any longer doubt that of all dietary macerations the rationale has been this, that by a renewed interdiction of food and observation of precept the primordial sin ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 4, page 642, footnote 1 (Image)

Tertullian (IV), Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen

Origen. (HTML)

Origen Against Celsus. (HTML)

Book VIII (HTML)
Chapter III (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4847 (In-Text, Margin)

... is “a great Lord above all gods.” And by this name “gods” we are not to understand the objects of heathen worship (for we know that “all the gods of the heathen are demons”), but the gods mentioned by the prophets as forming an assembly, whom God “judges,” and to each of whom He assigns his proper work. For “God standeth in the assembly of the gods: He judgeth among the gods.” For “God is Lord of gods,” who by His Son “hath called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.”[Psalms 50:1] We are also commanded to “give thanks to the God of gods.” Moreover, we are taught that “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Nor are these the only passages to this effect; but there are very many others.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 88, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Hippolytus. (HTML)

The Refutation of All Heresies. (HTML)

Book VI. (HTML)
Valentinus' Explanation of the Existence of Jesus; Power of Jesus Over Humanity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 695 (In-Text, Margin)

... so she sought refuge in entreaty and supplication. And the animal essence is, he says, of a fiery nature, and is also termed by them the super-celestial Topos, and Hebdomad, and “Ancient of Days.” And whatever other such statements they advance respecting this (Æon), these they allege to hold good of the animalish (one), whom they assert to be creator of the world. Now he is of the appearance of fire. Moses also, he says, expresses himself thus: “The Lord thy God is a burning and consuming fire.”[Psalms 50:3] For he, likewise, wishes (to think) that it has been so written. There is, however, he says, a twofold power of the fire; for fire is all-consuming, (and) cannot be quenched. According, therefore, to this division, there exists, subject to death, a ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 320, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To Cornelius, About Cyprian's Approval of His Ordination, and Concerning Felicissimus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2411 (In-Text, Margin)

... should exert ourselves, as it is fitting for prelates and priests to do, that such things, when they are written by any, should be repudiated as far as we are concerned. For otherwise, what will become of that which we learn and which we declare to be laid down in Scripture: “Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile?” And elsewhere: “Thy mouth abounded in malice, and thy tongue embraced deceit. Thou satest and spakest against thy brother, and slanderedst thine own mother’s son.”[Psalms 50:19-20] Also what the apostle says: “Let no corrupt communication proceed from thy mouth, but that which is good to the edifying of faith, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Further, we show what the right course of conduct to pursue is, if, when ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 363, footnote 6 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

Cæcilius, on the Sacrament of the Cup of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2703 (In-Text, Margin)

18. To neglect these things any further, and to persevere in the former error, what is it else than to fall under the Lord’s rebuke, who in the psalm reproveth, and says, “What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant into thy mouth, seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee? When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.”[Psalms 50:16-18] For to declare the righteousness and the covenant of the Lord, and not to do the same that the Lord did, what else is it than to cast away His words and to despise the Lord’s instruction, to commit not earthly, but spiritual thefts and adulteries? While any one is stealing from ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 372, footnote 4 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Epistles of Cyprian. (HTML)

To the Clergy and People Abiding in Spain, Concerning Basilides and Martial. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2781 (In-Text, Margin)

9. Wherefore, although there have been found some among our colleagues, dearest brethren, who think that the godly discipline may be neglected, and who rashly hold communion with Basilides and Martialis, such a thing as this ought not to trouble our faith, since the Holy Spirit threatens such in the Psalms, saying, “But thou hatest instruction, and castedst my words behind thee: when thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst unto him, and hast been partaker with adulterers.”[Psalms 50:17-18] He shows that they become sharers and partakers of other men’s sins who are associated with the delinquents. And besides, Paul the apostle writes, and says the same thing: “Whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, injurious, proud, boasters of themselves, ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 430, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

On the Dress of Virgins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3174 (In-Text, Margin)

... and to attain to the heavenly promises and to the divine rewards. To follow her is wholesome, and to turn away from her and neglect her is deadly. The Holy Spirit says in the Psalms, “Keep discipline, lest perchance the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the right way, when His wrath is quickly kindled against you.” And again: “But unto the ungodly saith God, “Why dost thou preach my laws, and takest my covenant into thy mouth? Whereas thou hatest discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee.”[Psalms 50:17] And again we read: “He that casteth away discipline is miserable.” And from Solomon we have received the mandates of wisdom, warning us: “My son, despise not thou the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the Lord ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 490, footnote 8 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

On the Advantage of Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3634 (In-Text, Margin)

... read also in the Psalms, where the approach of God the Judge is announced as worthy to be reverenced for the majesty of His judgment: “God shall come manifest, our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and round about Him a great tempest. He shall call the heaven above, and the earth beneath, that He may separate His people. Gather His saints together unto Him, who establish His covenant in sacrifices; and the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is the Judge.”[Psalms 50:3-6] And Isaiah foretells the same things, saying: “For, behold, the Lord shall come like a fire, and His chariot as a storm, to render vengeance in anger; for in the fire of the Lord they shall be judged, and with His sword shall they be wounded.” And ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 490, footnote 11 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

On the Advantage of Patience. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3637 (In-Text, Margin)

... cheeks to the palms of the hands; neither turned away His face from the foulness of spitting. Surely it is He who, when He was accused by the priests and elders, answered nothing, and, to the wonder of Pilate, kept a most patient silence. This is He who, although He was silent in His passion, yet by and by will not be silent in His vengeance. This is our God, that is, not the God of all, but of the faithful and believing; and He, when He shall come manifest in His second advent, will not be silent.[Psalms 50:3] For although He came first shrouded in humility, yet He shall come manifest in power.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 512, footnote 2 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
That the ancient sacrifice should be made void, and a new one should be celebrated. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 3882 (In-Text, Margin)

... Isaiah: “For what purpose to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? saith the Lord: I am full; I will not have the burnt sacrifices of rams, and fat of lambs, and blood of bulls and goats. For who hath required these things from your hands?” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “I will not eat the flesh of bulls, nor drink the blood of goats. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee: and thou shalt glorify me.”[Psalms 50:13-15] In the same Psalm, moreover: “The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: therein is the way in which I will show him the salvation of God.” In the fourth Psalm too: “Sacrifice the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.” Likewise in ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 512, footnote 3 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
That the ancient sacrifice should be made void, and a new one should be celebrated. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 3883 (In-Text, Margin)

... and fat of lambs, and blood of bulls and goats. For who hath required these things from your hands?” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “I will not eat the flesh of bulls, nor drink the blood of goats. Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee: and thou shalt glorify me.” In the same Psalm, moreover: “The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: therein is the way in which I will show him the salvation of God.”[Psalms 50:23] In the fourth Psalm too: “Sacrifice the sacrifice of righteousness, and hope in the Lord.” Likewise in Malachi: “I have no pleasure concerning you, saith the Lord, and I will not have an accepted offering from your hands. Because from the rising of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 526, footnote 16 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
That Jesus Christ shall come as a Judge. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4113 (In-Text, Margin)

... spoken, and called the earth. From the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof, out of Sion is the beauty of His glory. God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall burn before Him, and round about Him shall be a great storm. He hath called the heaven above, and the earth, that He may separate His people. Gather together His saints unto Him, those who arrange His covenant with sacrifices. And the heavens shall announce His righteousness, for God is the judge.”[Psalms 50:1-6] Also in Isaiah: “The Lord God of strength shall go forth, and shall break war in pieces: He shall stir up contest, and shall cry over His enemies with strength. I have been silent; shall I always be silent?” Also in the sixty-seventh Psalm: “Let God ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 543, footnote 4 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That what any one has vowed to God, he must quickly repay. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4375 (In-Text, Margin)

... hast vowed a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God inquiring shall seek it of thee; and it shall be for a sin. Thou shalt observe those things that shall go forth out of thy lips, and shalt perform the gift which thou hast spoken with thy mouth.” Of this same matter in the forty-ninth Psalm: “Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”[Psalms 50:14-15] Of this same thing in the Acts of the Apostles: “Why hath Satan filled thine heart, that thou shouldst lie to the Holy Ghost, when thy estate was in thine own power? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.” Also in Jeremiah: “Cursed is he who ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 551, footnote 10 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That the discipline of God is to be observed in Church precepts. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4521 (In-Text, Margin)

... discipline of God, nor fail when rebuked by Him. For whom God loveth, He rebuketh.” Also in the second Psalm: “Keep discipline, lest perchance the Lord should be angry, and ye perish from the right way, when His anger shall burn up quickly against you. Blessed are all they who trust in Him.” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “But to the sinner saith God, For what dost thou set forth my judgments, and takest my covenant into thy mouth? But thou hatest discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee.”[Psalms 50:16] Also in the Wisdom of Solomon: “He who casteth away discipline is miserable.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 551, footnote 14 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That we must depart from him who lives irregularly and contrary to discipline. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4525 (In-Text, Margin)

Paul to the Thessalonians: “But we have commanded you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that ye depart from all brethren who walk disorderly, and not according to the tradition which they have received from us.” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “If thou sawest a thief, at once thou rannest with him, and placedst thy portion with the adulterers.”[Psalms 50:28]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 555, footnote 18 (Image)

Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix

Cyprian. (HTML)

The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)

Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
That we must not use detraction. (HTML)CCEL Footnote 4607 (In-Text, Margin)

In Solomon, in the Proverbs: “Love not to detract, lest thou be taken away.” Also in the forty-ninth Psalm: “Thou sattest, and spakest against thy brother; and against the son of thy mother thou placedst a stumbling-block.”[Psalms 50:20] Also in the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians: “To speak ill of no man, nor to be litigious.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 383, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Methodius. (HTML)

Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2992 (In-Text, Margin)

... bear sway, but the grace of the Lord reigneth, drawing all men to itself by saving long-suffering. No second time is an Uzziah invisibly punished, for daring to touch what may not be touched; for God Himself invites, and who will stand hesitating with fear? He says: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” Who, then, will not run to Him? Let no Jew contradict the truth, looking at the type which went before the house of Obededom. The Lord has “ manifestly come to His own.”[Psalms 50] And sitting on a living and not inanimate ark, as upon the mercy-seat, He comes forth in solemn procession upon the earth. The publican, when he touches this ark, comes away just; the harlot, when she approaches this, is remoulded, as it were, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 383, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Methodius. (HTML)

Oration Concerning Simeon and Anna On the Day that They Met in the Temple. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2992 (In-Text, Margin)

... bear sway, but the grace of the Lord reigneth, drawing all men to itself by saving long-suffering. No second time is an Uzziah invisibly punished, for daring to touch what may not be touched; for God Himself invites, and who will stand hesitating with fear? He says: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden.” Who, then, will not run to Him? Let no Jew contradict the truth, looking at the type which went before the house of Obededom. The Lord has “ manifestly come to His own.”[Psalms 50:3] And sitting on a living and not inanimate ark, as upon the mercy-seat, He comes forth in solemn procession upon the earth. The publican, when he touches this ark, comes away just; the harlot, when she approaches this, is remoulded, as it were, and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 193, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book VI. Of True Worship (HTML)
Chap. XXV.—Of sacrifice, and of an offering worthy of God, and of the form of praising God (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1273 (In-Text, Margin)

... that incense and other odours for divine sacrifice were offered to his father, exclaimed: “Speak words of good omen, O Asclepius. For it is the greatest impiety to entertain any such thought concerning that being of pre-eminent goodness. For these things, and things resembling these, are not adapted to Him. For He is full of all things, as many as exist, and He has need of nothing at all. But let us give Him thanks, and adore Him. For His sacrifice consists only of blessing.” And he spoke rightly.[Psalms 50:23]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 193, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Lactantius (HTML)

The Divine Institutes (HTML)

Book VI. Of True Worship (HTML)
Chap. XXV.—Of sacrifice, and of an offering worthy of God, and of the form of praising God (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1274 (In-Text, Margin)

For we ought to sacrifice to God in word; inasmuch as God is the Word, as He Himself confessed. Therefore the chief ceremonial in the worship of God is praise from the mouth of a just man directed towards God.[Psalms 50:23] That this, however, may be accepted by God, there is need of humility, and fear, and devotion in the greatest degree, lest any one should chance to place confidence in his integrity and innocence, and thus incur the charge of pride and arrogance, and by this deed lose the recompense of his virtue. But that he may obtain the favour of God, and be free from every stain, let him always implore ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 459, footnote 2 (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 3269 (In-Text, Margin)

... succeeded, without being required, but only moved of themselves by the law of nature, did offer sacrifice to God out of a grateful mind; so He did now permit the Hebrews, not commanding, but, if they had a mind, permitting them; and if they offered from a right intention, showing Himself pleased with their sacrifices. Therefore He says: “If thou desirest to offer, do not offer to me as to one that stands in need of it, for I stand in need of nothing; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.”[Psalms 50:12] But when this people became forgetful of that, and called upon a calf as God, instead of the true God, and to him did ascribe the cause of their coming out of Egypt, saying, “These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 460, footnote 8 (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 3287 (In-Text, Margin)

... sacrifice: “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and hearkening than the fat of rams. For, behold, the Lord does not so much delight in sacrifice, as in obeying Him.” And He says by David: “I will take no calves out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy flock. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the whole world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High.”[Psalms 50:9] And in all the Scriptures in like manner He refuses their sacrifices on account of their sinning against Him. For “the sacrifices of the impious are an abomination with the Lord, since they offer them in an unlawful manner.” And again: “Their ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 460, footnote 8 (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 3287 (In-Text, Margin)

... sacrifice: “Obedience is better than sacrifice, and hearkening than the fat of rams. For, behold, the Lord does not so much delight in sacrifice, as in obeying Him.” And He says by David: “I will take no calves out of thine house, nor he-goats out of thy flock. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the whole world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Sacrifice to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows to the Most High.”[Psalms 50:12] And in all the Scriptures in like manner He refuses their sacrifices on account of their sinning against Him. For “the sacrifices of the impious are an abomination with the Lord, since they offer them in an unlawful manner.” And again: “Their ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 313, footnote 14 (Image)

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

Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)

The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)

Homily XVI. (HTML)
Simon Appeals to the Old Testament to Prove that There are Many Gods. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1266 (In-Text, Margin)

... who had made them were not to perish. And in another place, when it says, ‘Take heed to thyself lest thou go and serve other gods whom thy fathers knew not,’ it speaks as if other gods existed whom they were not to follow. And again: ‘The names of other gods shall not ascend upon thy lips.’ Here it mentions many gods whose names it does not wish to be uttered. And again it is written, ‘Thy God is the Lord, He is God of gods.’ And again: ‘Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods?’ And again:[Psalms 50:1] ‘God is Lord of gods.’ And again: ‘God stood in the assembly of gods: He judgeth among the gods.’ Wherefore I wonder how, when there are so many passages in writing which testify that there are many gods, you have asserted that we ought neither to ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 240, footnote 3 (Image)

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

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

Immense is This Reward.  How Shall We Obtain It? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4188 (In-Text, Margin)

... consentedst with him, and didst make thy portion with adulterers. Thy mouth has abounded with wickedness, and thy tongue contrived deceit. Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest, wicked one, that I should be like to thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set thyself before thee. Consider now these things, ye that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces, like a lion, and there be none to deliver.[Psalms 50:17-22] The sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and a way is there by which I will show him the salvation of God.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 240, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

Immense is This Reward.  How Shall We Obtain It? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4189 (In-Text, Margin)

... tongue contrived deceit. Thou sittest, and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things thou hast done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest, wicked one, that I should be like to thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set thyself before thee. Consider now these things, ye that forget God, lest He tear you in pieces, like a lion, and there be none to deliver. The sacrifice of praise will glorify me, and a way is there by which I will show him the salvation of God.”[Psalms 50:16-23]

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 245, footnote 4 (Image)

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

The Epistles of Clement. (HTML)

The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians. (HTML)

Such a Confession is Pleasing to God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4281 (In-Text, Margin)

The Lord, brethren, stands in need of nothing; and He desires nothing of any one except that confession be made to Him. For, says the elect David, “I will confess unto the Lord; and that will please Him more than a young bullock that hath horns and hoofs. Let the poor see it, and be glad.” And again he saith, “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon me in the day of thy trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”[Psalms 50:15] For “the sacrifice of God is a broken spirit.”

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 315, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

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

Book I. (HTML)
Christ as the First and the Last; He is Also What Lies Between These. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4612 (In-Text, Margin)

... some the second, some the third, and so on to the last. To pronounce exactly, however, which is the first, what kind of a being the second is, which may truly be designated third, and to carry this out to the end of the series, this is not a task for man, but transcends our nature. We shall yet venture, such as we are, to stand still a little at this point, and to make some observations on the matter. There are some gods of whom God is god, as we hear in prophecy, “Thank ye the God of gods,” and[Psalms 50:1] “The God of gods hath spoken, and called the earth.” Now God, according to the Gospel, “is not the God of the dead but of the living.” Those gods, then, are living of whom God is god. The Apostle, too, writing to the Corinthians, says: “As there are ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 323, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Epistle to Gregory and Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John. (HTML)

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

Book II. (HTML)
In What Way the Logos is God.  Errors to Be Avoided on This Question. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4666 (In-Text, Margin)

... (Autotheos, God of Himself); and so the Saviour says in His prayer to the Father, “That they may know Thee the only true God;” but that all beyond the Very God is made God by participation in His divinity, and is not to be called simply God (with the article), but rather God (without article). And thus the first-born of all creation, who is the first to be with God, and to attract to Himself divinity, is a being of more exalted rank than the other gods beside Him, of whom God is the God, as it is written,[Psalms 50:1] “The God of gods, the Lord, hath spoken and called the earth.” It was by the offices of the first-born that they became gods, for He drew from God in generous measure that they should be made gods, and He communicated it to them according to His own ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 178, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of those who allege a distinction among demons, some being good and others evil. (HTML)

That the Name of Gods is Falsely Given to the Gods of the Gentiles, Though Scripture Applies It Both to the Holy Angels and Just Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 363 (In-Text, Margin)

... by the supreme God, blessed but by cleaving to their Creator and not by their own power, they say what we say, whatever name they call these beings by. And that this is the opinion either of all or the best of the Platonists can be ascertained by their writings. And regarding the name itself, if they see fit to call such blessed and immortal creatures gods, this need not give rise to any serious discussion between us, since in our own Scriptures we read, “The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken;”[Psalms 50:1] and again, “Confess to the God of gods;” and again, “He is a great King above all gods.” And where it is said, “He is to be feared above all gods,” the reason is forthwith added, for it follows, “for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 183, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Porphyry’s doctrine of redemption. (HTML)

Of the Sacrifices Which God Does Not Require, But Wished to Be Observed for the Exhibition of Those Things Which He Does Require. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 384 (In-Text, Margin)

... pleasant to Himself, the old law would never have enjoined their presentation; and they were destined to be merged when the fit opportunity arrived, in order that men might not suppose that the sacrifices themselves, rather than the things symbolized by them, were pleasing to God or acceptable in us. Hence, in another passage from another psalm, he says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?”[Psalms 50:12-13] as if He should say, Supposing such things were necessary to me, I would never ask thee for what I have in my own hand. Then he goes on to mention what these signify: “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 183, footnote 4 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Porphyry’s doctrine of redemption. (HTML)

Of the Sacrifices Which God Does Not Require, But Wished to Be Observed for the Exhibition of Those Things Which He Does Require. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 385 (In-Text, Margin)

... psalm, he says, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?” as if He should say, Supposing such things were necessary to me, I would never ask thee for what I have in my own hand. Then he goes on to mention what these signify: “Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High. And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me.”[Psalms 50:14-15] So in another prophet: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 445, footnote 1 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

Of the last judgment, and the declarations regarding it in the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)

Passages from the Psalms of David Which Predict the End of the World and the Last Judgment. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1448 (In-Text, Margin)

It is the last judgment of God which is re ferred to also in the 50th Psalm in the words, “God shall come manifestly, our God, and shall not keep silence: fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call the heaven above, and the earth, to judge His people. Gather His saints together to Him; they who make a covenant with Him over sacrifices.”[Psalms 50:3-5] This we understand of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom we look for from heaven to judge the quick and the dead. For He shall come manifestly to judge justly the just and the unjust, who before came hiddenly to be unjustly judged by the unjust. He, I say, shall come manifestly, and shall not keep silence, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 520, footnote 6 (Image)

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

Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)

Of the Work of Monks. (HTML)

Section 35 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2587 (In-Text, Margin)

... in this ministry which is due to His Sacrament, we should take thought, not for these, but for His kingdom and righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto us, whether working by our hands, or whether by infirmity of body hindered from working, or whether bound by such occupation of our very warfare that we are able to do nothing else. For neither does it follow that because the Lord hath said, “Call upon Me in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me,”[Psalms 50:15] therefore the Apostle ought not to have fled, and to be let down by the wall in a basket that he might escape the hands of a pursuer, but should rather have waited to be taken, that, like the three children from the midst of the fires, the Lord ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 262, footnote 3 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)

Reply to Faustus the Manichæan. (HTML)

Faustus repels the charge of sun-worship, and maintains that while the Manichæans believe that God’s power dwells in the sun and his wisdom in the moon, they yet worship one deity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They are not a schism of the Gentiles, nor a sect.  Augustin emphasizes the charge of polytheism, and goes into an elaborate comparison of Manichæan and pagan mythology. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 753 (In-Text, Margin)

... is a different thing from sacrificing to God in memory of the martyrs, as we do constantly, in the manner required since the revelation of the New Testament, for this belongs to the worship or latria which is due to God alone. But it is vain to try to make these heretics understand the full meaning of these words of the Psalmist: "He that offereth the sacrifice of praise glorifieth me, and in this way will I show him my salvation."[Psalms 50:23] Before the coming of Christ, the flesh and blood of this sacrifice were foreshadowed in the animals slain; in the passion of Christ the types were fulfilled by the true sacrifice; after the ascension of Christ, this sacrifice is commemorated in the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 504, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which the remaining judgments of the Council of Carthage are examined. (HTML)
Chapter 15 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1804 (In-Text, Margin)

29. To him we answer: We say that heretics have no authority to baptize in the same sense in which we say that defrauders have no authority to baptize. For not only to the heretic, but to the sinner, God says, "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" To the same person He assuredly says, "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him."[Psalms 50:16] How much worse, therefore, are those who did not consent with thieves, but themselves were wont to plunder farms with treacherous deceits? Yet Cyprian did not consent with them, though he did tolerate them in the corn-field of the Catholic Church, lest the wheat should be rooted out together ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 504, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

In which the remaining judgments of the Council of Carthage are examined. (HTML)
Chapter 15 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1804 (In-Text, Margin)

29. To him we answer: We say that heretics have no authority to baptize in the same sense in which we say that defrauders have no authority to baptize. For not only to the heretic, but to the sinner, God says, "What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?" To the same person He assuredly says, "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him."[Psalms 50:18] How much worse, therefore, are those who did not consent with thieves, but themselves were wont to plunder farms with treacherous deceits? Yet Cyprian did not consent with them, though he did tolerate them in the corn-field of the Catholic Church, lest the wheat should be rooted out together ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 543, footnote 4 (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 23 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2049 (In-Text, Margin)

... one of your party was extolled to the skies. But you reproach us with the deeds of men with whom we never lived, whose faces we never saw, in whose lifetime we were either boys, or perhaps as yet not even born. What is the meaning, then, of your great unfairness and perversity, that you should wish to impose on us the burdens of those whom we never knew, whilst you will not bear the burdens of your friends? The divine Scriptures exclaim: "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him."[Psalms 50:18] If he whom you saw did not pollute you, why do you reproach me with one whom I could not have seen? Or do you say, I did not consent with him, because his deeds were displeasing to me? But, at any rate, you went up to the altar of God with him. Come ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 575, footnote 5 (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 87 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2211 (In-Text, Margin)

... among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering; for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts." On this brother’s sacrifice you show that you look with malignant eyes, over and above the respect which God pays to it; and if ye have ever heard that "from the rising of the sun, unto the going down of the same, the Lord’s name is to be praised," which is that living sacrifice of which it is said, "Offer unto God thanksgiving,"[Psalms 50:14] then will your countenance fall like that of yonder murderer. But inasmuch as you cannot kill the whole world, you are involved in the same guilt by your mere hatred, according to the words of John, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." And ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 265, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels

Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)

Of the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, 'Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.' Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1879 (In-Text, Margin)

... somewhat to meditation and to silence. Enter into thine own self; separate thyself from all tumult. Look into thine inner self; see if thou have there some sweet retiring place of conscience, where there may be no noise, no disputation, no strife, or debatings; where there will be not a thought of dissensions, and obstinate contention. Be meek to hear the word, that so thou mayest understand. Perhaps thou mayest soon have to say, “Thou wilt make me hear of joy and gladness, and my bones shall rejoice;”[Psalms 50:10] the bones, that is, which are humbled, not those that are lifted up.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 26, 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 I. 19–33. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 73 (In-Text, Margin)

2. But will not He who at first came con cealed, because humble, come again manifested, because exalted? You have just listened to the Psalm: “God shall come manifestly, and our God shall not keep silence.”[Psalms 50:3] He was silent that He might be judged, He will not be silent when He begins to judge. It would not have been said, “He will come manifestly,” unless at first He had come concealed; nor would it have been said, “He shall not keep silence,” unless He had first kept silence. How was He silent? Interrogate Isaiah: “He was brought as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 180, footnote 7 (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. 1–13. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 557 (In-Text, Margin)

... judging them that have lived ill shall be hereafter. “Until righteousness,” saith he, “is turned into judgment.” The time of judgment will be that of which the Lord has here said, “My time is not yet come.” For there will be a time of glory, when He who came in humility will come in loftiness; He who came to be judged will come to judge; He who came to be slain by the dead will come to judge the quick and the dead. “God,” saith the psalm, “will come manifest, our God, and He will not be silent.”[Psalms 50:3] What is “shall come manifest”? Because He came concealed. Then He will not be silent; for when He came concealed, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer, He opened not His mouth.” He shall come, and shall not keep ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 182, footnote 4 (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. 1–13. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 569 (In-Text, Margin)

... is a good man;” others, “Nay; but he deceiveth the people.” Whence is this? “Because our life is hid with Christ in God.” On this account people may say during the winter, This tree is dead; for example, a fig tree, pear tree, or some kind of fruit tree, it is like a withered tree, and so long as it is winter it does not appear whether it is so or not. But the summer proves, the judgment proves. Our summer is the appearing of Christ: “God shall come manifest, our God, and He will not be silent;”[Psalms 50:3] “fire shall go before Him:” that fire “shall burn up His enemies:” that fire shall lay hold of the withered trees. For then shall the dry trees be apparent, when it shall be said to them, “I was hungry, and ye gave me not to eat;” but on the other ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 217, 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 VIII. 19, 20. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 686 (In-Text, Margin)

... at their words, He would be thought to have been overcome by the sting of their insults. He did not come down; there He remained fixed, to depart when He would. For what great matter was it for Him to descend from the cross, when He could rise again from the sepulchre? Let us, then, to whom this is ministered, understand that the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, then concealed, will be made manifest in the judgment, of which it is said, “God will come manifest; our God, and He will not be silent.”[Psalms 50:3] Why is it said, “will come manifest”? Because He, our God,—namely, Christ,—came hidden, will come manifest. “And will not be silent:” why this “will not be silent”? Because at first He did keep silence. When? When He was judged; that this, too, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 506, footnote 1 (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 IV. 12–16. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2390 (In-Text, Margin)

“If we love one another, God abideth[Psalms 50] in us, and His love will be perfected in us. In this know we that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and are witnesses that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour ofthe world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in him.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 506, footnote 2 (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 IV. 12–16. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2391 (In-Text, Margin)

1. is a sweet word, but sweeter the deed. To be always speaking of it, is not in our power: for we have many things to do, and divers businesses draw us different ways, so that our tongue has not leisure to be always speaking of love: as indeed our tongue could have nothing better to do. But though we may not always be speaking of it, we may always keep it. Just as it is with the Alleluia which we sing at this present time,[Psalms 50] are we always doing this? Not one hour, I do not say for the whole space of it, do we sing Alleluia, but barely during a few moments of one hour, and then give ourselves to something else. Now Alleluia, as ye already know, means, Praise ye the Lord. He that praises God with ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 85, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XXXV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 803 (In-Text, Margin)

23. “This Thou hast seen, O Lord; keep not silence” (ver. 22). What is, “keep not silence”? Judge Thou. For of judgment is it said in a certain place, “I have kept silence; shall I keep silence for ever?” And of the delaying of judgment it is said to the sinner, “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;” “Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself.”[Psalms 50:21] How keepeth He silence, who speaketh by the Prophets, who speaketh with His own mouth in the Gospel, who speaketh by the Evangelists, who speaketh by us, when we speak the truth? What then? He keepeth silence from judgment, not from precept, not from doctrine. But this His judgment the Prophet in a manner ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 208, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1971 (In-Text, Margin)

... heart, at another’s speaking thereof, unless in himself he hath tasted it? What is, “Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee”?… For what sacrifice here shall I take, brethren? or what worthily shall I offer to the Lord for His mercy? Victims shall I seek from flock of sheep, ram shall I select, for any bull in the herds shall I look out, frankincense indeed from the land of the Sabæans shall I bring? What shall I do? What offer; except that whereof He speaketh, “Sacrifice of praise shall honour Me”?[Psalms 50:23] Wherefore then “voluntarily”? Because truly I love that which I praise. I praise God, and in the self-same praise I rejoice: in the praise of Himself I rejoice, at whom being praised, I blush not. For He is not praised in the same manner as by those ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 299, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2879 (In-Text, Margin)

... forasmuch as from thence He is to come, to judge quick and dead, observe what followeth: “behold, He shall give His voice, the voice of power.” He that like a lamb before the shearer of Him was without voice, “behold shall give His voice,” and not the voice of weakness, as though to be judged; but “the voice of power,” as though going to judge. For God shall not be hidden, as before, and in the judgment of men not opening His mouth; but “God shall come manifest, our God, and He shall not be silent.”[Psalms 50:3] Why do ye despair, ye unbelieving men? Why do ye mock? What saith the evil servant? “My Lord delayeth to come.” “Behold, He shall give His voice, the voice of power.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 310, footnote 11 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3020 (In-Text, Margin)

31. “And it shall please God:” that I shall praise Him, shall please: “above a new calf, bearing horns and hoofs.” More grateful to Him shall be the sacrifice of praise than the sacrifice of a calf. “The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me.”[Psalms 50:23] “Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise.” So then His praise going forth from my mouth shall please God more than a great victim led up to His altar.…Therefore above this calf my praising shall please Thee, such as hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the eternal society of Angels, where neither adversary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor sluggard from ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 310, footnote 12 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3021 (In-Text, Margin)

31. “And it shall please God:” that I shall praise Him, shall please: “above a new calf, bearing horns and hoofs.” More grateful to Him shall be the sacrifice of praise than the sacrifice of a calf. “The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me.” “Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise.”[Psalms 50:14] So then His praise going forth from my mouth shall please God more than a great victim led up to His altar.…Therefore above this calf my praising shall please Thee, such as hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the eternal society of Angels, where neither adversary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor sluggard from earth to be stirred up. ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 352, footnote 6 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3416 (In-Text, Margin)

8. “Be not therefore lifted up: speak not iniquity against God” (ver. 5).…What saith He in another Psalm? “These things thou hast done,” having enumerated certain sins. “These things thou hast done,” He saith, “and was silent.”[Psalms 50:21] What is, “I was silent”? He is never silent with commandment, but meanwhile He is silent with punishment: He is keeping still from vengeance, He doth not pronounce sentence against the condemned. But this man saith thus, I have done such and such things, and God hath not taken vengeance; behold I am whole, nought of ill hath befallen me. “These things thou hast done, and I was ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 352, footnote 7 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm LXXV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3417 (In-Text, Margin)

... done such and such things, and God hath not taken vengeance; behold I am whole, nought of ill hath befallen me. “These things thou hast done, and I was silent: thou hast suspected iniquity, that I shall be like unto thee.” What is, “that I shall be like unto thee”? Because thou art unjust, even Me thou hast deemed unjust; as though an approver of thy misdeeds, and no adversary, no avenger thereof. And what afterwards saith He to thee? “I will convict thee, and will set thee before thine own face”?[Psalms 50:21] What is this? Because now by sinning behind thy back thou settest thyself, seest not thyself, examinest not thyself; I will set thee before thyself, and will bring upon thee punishment from thyself. So also here, “Speak not iniquity against God.” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 319, footnote 14 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)

Letters of the Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus. (HTML)

To John the Œconomus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2088 (In-Text, Margin)

If then, because the name of the Christ is common, we ought not to glorify the Christ as God, we shall equally shrink from worshipping Him as Son, since this also is a name which has been bestowed upon many. And why do I say the Son? The very name of God itself has been given by God to many. “The Lord the God of gods hath spoken and called the earth.”[Psalms 50:1] And “I have said Ye are gods,” and “Thou shalt not revile the gods.” Many too have appropriated this name to themselves. The dæmons who have deceived mankind have given this title to idols; whence Jeremiah exclaims, “The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth even they shall perish from the earth and from ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 500, footnote 5 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)

Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus. (HTML)

Book I (HTML)
Also, a promise given in a dream must not be pressed. Why should such things be raked up by old friends against one another? (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3076 (In-Text, Margin)

... how I pray, like the Psalmist: “Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Incline not my heart to the words of malice;” and, as he says elsewhere: “While the wicked stood before me I was dumb and was humbled and kept silence even from good words;” and again: “I became as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs.” But for me the Lord the Avenger will reply, as he says through the Prophet: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord”: and in another place:[Psalms 50:20] “Thou satest and spakest against thy brother, and hast slandered thy mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest indeed by that I should be such an one as thyself; but I will reprove thee, and set them before thine ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 508, footnote 1 (Image)

Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome

Life and Works of Rufinus with Jerome's Apology Against Rufinus. (HTML)

Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus. (HTML)

Book II (HTML)
As to translating the Περὶ ᾽Αρχῶν, it is not a question, but a charge that you unjustifiably altered the book. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3114 (In-Text, Margin)

... errors of Origen himself unaltered into Latin. Tell me then, why you turned Origen’s heresies into Latin. Was it to expose the author of the evil, or to praise him? If your object is to expose him, why do you praise him in the Preface? If you praise him you are convicted of being a heretic. The only remaining hypothesis is that you published these things as being good. But if they are proved to be bad, then author and translator are involved in the same crime, and the Psalmist’s word is fulfilled:[Psalms 50:18] “When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst unto him and hast been partaker with the adulterers.” It is needless to make a plain matter doubtful by arguing about it. As to what follows, let him answer whence this suspicion arose in his mind of these ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 203, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

Life of Antony. (Vita Antoni.) (HTML)

His address to monks, rendered from Coptic, exhorting them to perseverance, and encouraging them against the wiles of Satan. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1045 (In-Text, Margin)

... evil along with the truth, and that He might accustom us never to give heed to them even though they appear to speak what is true. For it is unseemly that we, having the holy Scriptures and freedom from the Saviour, should be taught by the devil who hath not kept his own order but hath gone from one mind to another. Wherefore even when he uses the language of Scripture He forbids him, saying: “But to the sinner said God, Wherefore dost thou declare My ordinances and takest My covenant in thy mouth[Psalms 50:16]?” For the demons do all things—they prate, they confuse, they dissemble, they confound—to deceive the simple. They din, laugh madly, and whistle; but if no heed is paid to them forthwith they weep and lament as though vanquished.’

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 262, footnote 4 (Image)

Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters

Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)

Defence of His Flight. (Apologia de Fuga.) (HTML)

Same Subject Continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1479 (In-Text, Margin)

... according to the flesh; and he dispensed the blessings to the Patriarchs. And when Moses the beloved of God was in exile, then it was that he saw that great sight, and being preserved from his persecutors, was sent as a prophet into Egypt, and being made the minister of those mighty wonders and of the Law, he led that great people in the wilderness. And David when he was persecuted wrote the Psalm, ‘My heart uttered a good word;’ and, ‘Our God shall come even visibly, and shall not keep silence[Psalms 50:3].’ And again he speaks more confidently, saying, ‘Mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies;’ and again, ‘In God have I put my trust; I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.’ And when he fled and escaped from the face of Saul ‘to the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 524, footnote 22 (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 335. Easter-day iv Pharmuthi, iii Kal. April; xx Moon; Ær. Dioclet. 51; Coss. Julius Constantius, the brother of Augustus, Rufinus Albinus; Præfect, the same Philagrius; viii Indict. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4158 (In-Text, Margin)

4. Therefore, although wicked men press forward to keep the feast, and as at a feast praise God, and intrude into the Church of the saints, yet God expostulates, saying to the sinner, ‘Why dost thou talk of My ordinances?’ And the gentle Spirit rebukes them, saying, ‘Praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner[Psalms 50:16].’ Neither hath sin any place in common with the praise of God; for the sinner has a mouth speaking perverse things, as the Proverb saith, ‘The mouth of the wicked answereth evil things.’ For how is it possible for us to praise God with an impure mouth? since things which are contrary to each other cannot coexist. For what communion has ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 546, footnote 9 (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 347.) Coss. Rufinus, Eusebius; Præf. the same Nestorius; Indict. v; Easter-day, Prid. Id. Apr., Pharmuthi xvii; Æra Dioclet. 63; Moon 15. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4467 (In-Text, Margin)

5. Samuel, that great man, no less clearly reproved Saul, saying, ‘Is not the word better than a gift?’ For hereby a man fulfils the law, and pleases God, as He saith, ‘The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me.’ Let a man ‘learn what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice[Psalms 50:23],’ and I will not condemn the adversaries. But this wearied them, for they were not anxious to understand, ‘for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.’ And what their end is, the prophet foretold, crying, ‘Woe unto their soul, for they have devised an evil thought, saying, let us bind the just man, because he is not pleasing to ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 39, footnote 1 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 623 (In-Text, Margin)

... before leaving table thanks should be returned to the Creator. We should rise two or three times in the night, and go over the parts of Scripture which we know by heart. When we leave the roof which shelters us, prayer should be our armor; and when we return from the street we should pray before we sit down, and not give the frail body rest until the soul is fed. In every act we do, in every step we take, let our hand trace the Lord’s cross. Speak against nobody, and do not slander your mother’s son.[Psalms 50:20] “Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? To his own lord he standeth or falleth; yea, he shall be made to stand, for the Lord hath power to make him stand.” If you have fasted two or three days, do not think yourself better than others who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 80, footnote 8 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Domnio. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1213 (In-Text, Margin)

The complaining is of those who have no love for me, and seek an occasion against me in my sins. They speak against their brother, they slander their own mother’s son.[Psalms 50:20] You write to me of these—nay, of one in particular—a lounger who is to be seen in the streets, at crossings, and in public places; a monk who is a noisy news-monger, clever only in detraction, and eager, in spite of the beam in his own eye, to remove the mote in his neighbor’s. And you tell me that he preaches publicly against me, gnawing, rending, and tearing asunder with his fangs the books that I have written ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 95, footnote 10 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Nepotian. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1389 (In-Text, Margin)

14. Beware also of a blabbing tongue and of itching ears. Neither detract from others nor listen to detractors. “Thou sittest,” says the psalmist, “and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done and I kept silence; thou thoughtest wickedly that I was such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee and set them in order before thine eyes.”[Psalms 50:20-21] Keep your tongue from cavilling and watch over your words. Know that in judging others you are passing sentence on yourself and that you are yourself guilty of the faults which you blame in them. It is no excuse to say: “if others tell me things I cannot be rude to them.” No one cares to speak to an ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 213, footnote 3 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Riparius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3026 (In-Text, Margin)

2. I am surprised that the reverend bishop in whose diocese he is said to be a presbyter acquiesces in this his mad preaching, and that he does not rather with apostolic rod, nay with a rod of iron, shatter this useless vessel and deliver him for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved. He should remember the words that are said: “When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst unto him; and hast been partaker with adulterers;”[Psalms 50:18] and in another place, “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord;” and again “Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 250, footnote 9 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Rusticus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3486 (In-Text, Margin)

19. Men such as these you must never look at or associate with. Nor must you turn aside your heart unto words of evil lest the psalmist say to you: “Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son,”[Psalms 50:20] and lest you become as “the sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,” and as the man whose “words were softer than oil yet were they drawn swords.” The Preacher expresses this more clearly still when he says: “Surely the serpent will bite where there is no enchantment, and the slan derer is no better.” But you will say, ‘I am not given to detraction, but how can I check ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 278, footnote 11 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Ctesiphon. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3867 (In-Text, Margin)

... Answer me this, then; do you or do you not wish to be free from sin? If you do, why on your principle do you not carry out your desire? And if you do not, do you not prove yourself a despiser of God’s commandments? If you are a despiser, then you are a sinner. And if you are a sinner, then the scripture says: “unto the wicked God saith, what hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction and castest my words behind thee.”[Psalms 50:16-17] So long as you are unwilling to do what God commands, so long do you cast His words behind you. And yet like a new apostle you lay down for the world what to do and what not to do. However, your words and your thoughts by no means correspond. For ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 47, footnote 1 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

The Father. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1013 (In-Text, Margin)

13. And not only stocks and stones, but even Satan himself, the destroyer of souls, have some ere now chosen for a father; to whom the Lord said as a rebuke, Ye do the deeds of your father, that is of the devil, he being the father of men not by nature, but by fraud. For like as Paul by his godly teaching came to be called the father of the Corinthians, so the devil is called the father of those who of their own will consent unto him[Psalms 50:18].

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 104, footnote 7 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1817 (In-Text, Margin)

... said, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord, so will we repeat the same at His second coming; that when with Angels we meet our Master, we may worship Him and say, Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord. The Saviour comes, not to be judged again, but to judge them who judged Him; He who before held His peace when judged, shall remind the transgressors who did those daring deeds at the Cross, and shall say, These things hast thou done, and I kept silence[Psalms 50:21]. Then, He came because of a divine dispensation, teaching men with persuasion; but this time they will of necessity have Him for their King, even though they wish it not.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 18 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)

On the Clause, And Shall Come in Glory to Judge the Quick and the Dead; Of Whose Kingdom There Shall Be No End. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1916 (In-Text, Margin)

... the voice of the sparrow. Let us know what sort of voice this is. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. The Archangel shall make proclamation and say to all, Arise to meet the Lord. And fearful will be that descent of our Master. David says, God shall manifestly come, even our God, and shall not keep silence; a fire shall burn before Him, and a fierce tempest round about Him, and the rest[Psalms 50:3]. The Son of Man shall come to the Father, according to the Scripture which was just now read, on the clouds of heaven, drawn by a stream of fire, which is to make trial of men. Then if any man’s works are of gold, he shall be made ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 223, footnote 15 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

In Defence of His Flight to Pontus, and His Return, After His Ordination to the Priesthood, with an Exposition of the Character of the Priestly Office. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2842 (In-Text, Margin)

95. Since then I knew these things, and that no one is worthy of the mightiness of God, and the sacrifice, and priesthood, who has not first presented himself to God, a living, holy sacrifice, and set forth the reasonable, well-pleasing service, and sacrificed to God the sacrifice of praise and the contrite spirit,[Psalms 50:14] which is the only sacrifice required of us by the Giver of all; how could I dare to offer to Him the external sacrifice, the antitype of the great mysteries, or clothe myself with the garb and name of priest, before my hands had been consecrated by holy works; before my eyes had been accustomed to gaze safely upon created things, with ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 250, footnote 2 (Image)

Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen

Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)

On His Father's Silence, Because of the Plague of Hail. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3096 (In-Text, Margin)

8. What shall we do in the day of visitation, with which one of the Prophets terrifies me, whether that of the righteous sentence of God against us, or that upon the mountains and hills, of which we have heard, or whatever and whenever it may be, when He will reason with us, and oppose us, and set before us[Psalms 50:21] those bitter accusers, our sins, comparing our wrongdoings with our benefits, and striking thought with thought, and scrutinising action with action, and calling us to account for the image which has been blurred and spoilt by wickedness, till at last He leads us away self-convicted and self-condemned, no longer able to say that we are being ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 19, footnote 4 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

Statement of the reason why in the writings of Paul the angels are associated with the Father and the Son. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 964 (In-Text, Margin)

30. And not only Paul, but generally all those to whom is committed any ministry of the word, never cease from testifying, but call heaven and earth to witness on the ground that now every deed that is done is done within them, and that in the examination of all the actions of life they will be present with the judged. So it is said, “He shall call to the heavens above and to earth, that he may judge his people.”[Psalms 50:4] And so Moses when about to deliver his oracles to the people says, “I call heaven and earth to witness this day;” and again in his song he says, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth;” and Isaiah, “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;” and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 39, footnote 8 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)

That the word “in,” in as many senses as it bears, is understood of the Spirit. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1250 (In-Text, Margin)

... me” and concerning the Spirit “behold there is place by me, and stand upon a rock.” Plainly meaning the place or contemplation in the Spirit wherein, after Moses had entered thither, he was able to see God intelligibly manifested to him. This is the special and peculiar place of true worship; for it is said “Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place…but in the place the Lord thy God shall choose.” Now what is a spiritual burnt offering? “The sacrifice of praise.”[Psalms 50:14] And in what place do we offer it? In the Holy Spirit. Where have we learnt this? From the Lord himself in the words “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” This place Jacob saw and said “The Lord is in this place.” It ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 151, footnote 9 (Image)

Basil: Letters and Select Works

The Letters. (HTML)

To a fallen virgin. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2146 (In-Text, Margin)

... distress, the gasping for breath, the hour of death, the imminent sentence of God, the angels hastening on their way, the soul fearfully dismayed, and lashed to agony by the consciousness of sin, turning itself piteously to things of this life and to the inevitable necessity of that long life to be lived elsewhere. Picture to me, as it rises in your imagination, the conclusion of all human life, when the Son of God shall come in His glory with His angels, “For he shall come and shall not keep silence;”[Psalms 50:3] when He shall come to judge the quick and dead, to render to every one according to his work; when that terrible trumpet with its mighty voice shall wake those that have slept through the ages, and they that have done good shall come forth unto the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 90b, footnote 22 (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)
Regarding the things said concerning Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2555 (In-Text, Margin)

Some, again, have a prophetic sense, and of these some are in the future tense: for instance, He shall come openly[Psalms 50:3], and this from Zechariah, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, and this from Micah, Behold, the Lord cometh out of His place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. But others, though future, are put in the past tense, as, for instance, This is our God: Therefore He was seen upon the earth and dwelt among men, and The Lord created me in the beginning of His ways for His works, and ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 432, footnote 9 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose. (HTML)

Sermon Against Auxentius on the Giving Up of the Basilicas. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3483 (In-Text, Margin)

17. Thou, Lord Jesus, hast redeemed the world in one moment of time: shall Auxentius in one moment slay, as far as he can, so many peoples, some by the sword, others by sacrilege? He seeks my basilica with bloody lips and gory hands. Him to-day’s chapter answers well: “But unto the wicked said God: Wherefore dost thou declare My righteousness?”[Psalms 50:16] That is, there is no union between peace and madness, there is no union between Christ and Belial. You remember also that we read to-day of Naboth, a holy man who owned his own vineyard, being urged on the king’s request to give it up. When the king after rooting up the vines intended to plant common herbs, he answered him: ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 216, footnote 2 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)

Book III. Of the Canonical System of the Daily Prayers and Psalms. (HTML)
Chapter VI. How no change was made by the Elders in the ancient system of Psalms when the Mattin office was instituted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 741 (In-Text, Margin)

But this too we ought to know, viz., that no change was made in the ancient arrangement of Psalms by our Elders who decided that this Mattin service should be added;[Psalms 50] but that office was always celebrated in their nocturnal assemblies according to the same order as it had been before. For the hymns which in this country they used at the Mattin service at the close of the nocturnal vigils, which they are accustomed to finish after the cock-crowing and before dawn, these they still sing in like manner; viz., Ps. 148, beginning “O praise the Lord from heaven,” and the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 216, footnote 2 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)

Book III. Of the Canonical System of the Daily Prayers and Psalms. (HTML)
Chapter VI. How no change was made by the Elders in the ancient system of Psalms when the Mattin office was instituted. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 741 (In-Text, Margin)

But this too we ought to know, viz., that no change was made in the ancient arrangement of Psalms by our Elders who decided that this Mattin service should be added;[Psalms 50] but that office was always celebrated in their nocturnal assemblies according to the same order as it had been before. For the hymns which in this country they used at the Mattin service at the close of the nocturnal vigils, which they are accustomed to finish after the cock-crowing and before dawn, these they still sing in like manner; viz., Ps. 148, beginning “O praise the Lord from heaven,” and the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 237, 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)

Ephraim Syrus:  Nineteen Hymns on the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh. (HTML)

Hymn V. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 449 (In-Text, Margin)

The lamb bleated as it was offered before the First-born. It praised the Lamb, that had come to set free the flocks and the oxen from sacrifices:[Psalms 50:9] yea that Paschal Lamb, Who handed down and brought in the Passover of the Son.

Online Dictionary & Commentary of Early Church Beliefs