Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Psalms 85
There are 46 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 69, footnote 5 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Trallians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter VII.—The same continued. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 771 (In-Text, Margin)
... therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offence to all men, lest ye become as “a snare upon a watch-tower, and as a net which is spread out.” For “he that does not heal himself in his own works, is the brother of him that destroys himself.” If, therefore, ye also put away conceit, arrogance, disdain, and haughtiness, it will be your privilege to be inseparably united to God, for “He is nigh unto those that fear Him.”[Psalms 85:9] And says He, “Upon whom will I look, but upon him that is humble and quiet, and that trembles at my words?” And do ye also reverence your bishop as Christ Himself, according as the blessed apostles have enjoined you. He that is within the altar is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 417, footnote 8 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book III (HTML)
Chapter V.—Christ and His apostles, without any fraud, deception, or hypocrisy, preached that one God, the Father, was the founder of all things. They did not accommodate their doctrine to the prepossessions of their hearers. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3325 (In-Text, Margin)
1. Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, and is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him. As also David says, prophesying His birth from a virgin, and the resurrection from the dead, “Truth has sprung out of the earth.”[Psalms 85:11] The apostles, likewise, being disciples of the truth, are above all falsehood; for a lie has no fellowship with the truth, just as darkness has none with light, but the presence of the one shuts out that of the other. Our Lord, therefore, being the truth, did not ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 394, footnote 4 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
Oration on the Palms. (HTML)
Oration on the Palms. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3113 (In-Text, Margin)
... with joyfulness the churches of God that are everywhere amongst the nations. And, summoning the faithful from the exercise of holy fasting, and from the palæstra, wherein they struggle against the lusts of the flesh, they have taught them to sing a new hymn of conquest and a new song of peace to Christ who giveth the victory. Come then, every one, and let us rejoice in the Lord; O come, all ye people, and let us clap our hands, and make a joyful noise to God our Saviour, with the voice of melody.[Psalms 85:9] Let no one be without portion in this grace; let no one come short of this calling; for the seed of the disobedient is appointed to destruction.—Let no one neglect to meet the King, lest he be shut out from the Bridegroom’s chamber.—Let no one ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 16 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book IV. Of True Wisdom and Religion (HTML)
Chap. XII.—Of the birth of Jesus from the Virgin; of his life, death, and resurrection, and the testimonies of the prophets respecting these things (HTML)
... them: the testimony is sufficiently strong to prove the truth, when it is alleged by enemies themselves. But He was never called Emmanuel, but Jesus, who in Latin is called Saving, or Saviour, because He comes bringing salvation to all nations. But by this name the prophet declared that God incarnate was about to come to men. For Emmanuel signifies God with us; because when He was born of a virgin, men ought to confess that God was with them, that is, on the earth and in mortal flesh. Whence David[Psalms 85:12] says in the eighty-fourth Psalm, “Truth has sprung out of the earth;” because God, in whom is truth, hath taken a body of earth, that He might open a way of salvation to those of the earth. In like manner Isaiah also: “But they disbelieved, and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 162, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
That Jesus Christ, at the Same Time God and Man, is the True and Most Efficacious Mediator. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 979 (In-Text, Margin)
... But the true Mediator, whom in Thy secret mercy Thou hast pointed out to the humble, and didst send, that by His example also they might learn the same humility—that “Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” appeared between mortal sinners and the immortal Just One—mortal with men, just with God; that because the reward of righteousness is life and peace, He might, by righteousness conjoined with God, cancel the death of justified sinners, which He willed to have in common with them.[Psalms 85:5] Hence He was pointed out to holy men of old; to the intent that they, through faith in His Passion to come, even as we through faith in that which is past, might be saved. For as man He was Mediator; but as the Word He was not between, because equal ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 197, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the goodness of God explained in the creation of things, and of the Trinity as found in the first words of Genesis. The story concerning the origin of the world (Gen. I.) is allegorically explained, and he applies it to those things which God works for sanctified and blessed man. Finally, he makes an end of this work, having implored eternal rest from God. (HTML)
Allegorical Explanation of the Sea and the Fruit-Bearing Earth—Verses 9 and 11. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1293 (In-Text, Margin)
21. But as for the souls that thirst after Thee, and that appear before Thee (being by other bounds divided from the society of the sea), them Thou waterest by a secret and sweet spring, that the earth may bring forth her fruit, and, Thou, O Lord God, so commanding, our soul may bud forth works of mercy according to their kind,[Psalms 85:11] —loving our neighbour in the relief of his bodily necessities, having seed in itself according to its likeness, when from our infirmity we compassionate even to the relieving of the needy; helping them in a like manner as we would that help should be brought unto us if we were in a like need; not only in the things that are easy, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 82, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Son of God Became Incarnate in Order that We Being Cleansed by Faith May Be Raised to the Unchangeable Truth. (HTML)
... Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent:” when our faith by seeing shall come to be truth, then eternity shall possess our now changed mortality. And until this shall take place, and in order that it may take place,—because we adapt the faith of belief to things which have a beginning, as in things eternal we hope for the truth of contemplation, lest the faith of mortal life should be at discord with the truth of eternal life,—the Truth itself, co-eternal with the Father, took a beginning from earth,[Psalms 85:11] when the Son of God so came as to become the Son of man, and to take to Himself our faith, that He might thereby lead us on to His own truth, who so undertook our mortality, as not to lose His own eternity. For truth stands to faith in the relation ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 382, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 7 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1829 (In-Text, Margin)
... which He gives unto the weak, and wishing to establish his own, of which the weak is void, he was not made subject to the righteousness of God, reprobate and proud. But if the Law, as a schoolmaster, lead unto Grace one made an offender, as though for this purpose more grievously wounded, that he may desire a Physician; against the baneful sweetness, whereby lust prevailed, the Lord gives a sweetness that worketh good, that by it Continence may the more delight, and “our land giveth her fruit,”[Psalms 85:12] whereby the soldier is fed, who by the help of the Lord wars down sin.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 46, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 462 (In-Text, Margin)
... from Him, it is our own act; we then are wise according to the flesh, we then consent to the concupiscence of the flesh for unlawful deeds. When we turn to Him, therefore, God helps us; when we turn away from Him, He forsakes us. But then He helps us even to turn to Him; and this, certainly, is something that light does not do for the eyes of the body. When, therefore, He commands us in the words, “Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,” and we say to Him, “Turn us, O God of our salvation,”[Psalms 85:4] and again, “Turn us, O God of hosts;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Understand now, ye simple among the people,” and we say to Him, “Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments;” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 56, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Divine Remedy for Pride. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 568 (In-Text, Margin)
... knowledge which are hidden in Christ. Every one of us, therefore, now knows, now does not know—now rejoices, now does not rejoice—to begin, continue, and complete our good work, in order that he may know that it is due not to his own will, but to the gift of God, that he either knows or rejoices; and thus he is cured of vanity which elated him, and knows how truly it is said not of this earth of ours, but spiritually, “The Lord will give kindness and sweet grace, and our land shall yield her fruit.”[Psalms 85:12] A good work, moreover, affords greater delight, in proportion as God is more and more loved as the highest unchangeable Good, and as the Author of all good things of every kind whatever. And that God may be loved, “His love is shed abroad in our ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 56, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Grace is Given to Some Men in Mercy; Is Withheld from Others in Justice and Truth. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 577 (In-Text, Margin)
... is not possible, except He rouses and helps us, and this is good will,—what have we that we have not received? But if we received, why do we glory as if we had not received? Therefore, as “he that glorieth must glory in the Lord,” it comes from His mercy, not their merit, that God wills to impart this to some, but from His truth that He wills not to impart it to others. For to sinners punishment is justly due, because “the Lord God loveth mercy and truth,” and “mercy and truth are met together;”[Psalms 85:10] and “all the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth.” And who can tell the numberless instances in which Holy Scripture combines these two attributes? Sometimes, by a change in the terms, grace is put for merc y, as in the passage, “We ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 57, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
Through Grace We Have Both the Knowledge of Good, and the Delight Which It Affords. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 583 (In-Text, Margin)
... difficulty. There ensued, however, out of the penalty which was justly due such a defect, that henceforth it became difficult to be obedient unto righteousness; and unless this defect were overcome by assisting grace, no one would turn to holiness; nor unless it were healed by efficient grace would any one enjoy the peace of righteousness. But whose grace is it that conquers and heals, but His to whom the prayer is directed: “Convert us, O God of our salvation, and turn Thine anger away from us?”[Psalms 85:4] And both if He does this, He does it in mercy, so that it is said of Him, “Not according to our sins hath He dealt with us, nor hath He recompensed us according to our iniquities;” and when He refrains from doing this to any, it is in judgment that ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 134, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
Pride Even in Such Things as are Done Aright Must Be Avoided. Free Will is Not Taken Away When Grace is Preached. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1227 (In-Text, Margin)
... said, and must repeat again and again) has to be guarded against even in things which are rightly done, that is, in the very way of righteousness, lest a man, by regarding as his own that which is really God’s, lose what is God’s and be reduced merely to what is his own? Let us then carry out the concluding injunction of this same psalm, “Blessed are all they that trust in Him,” so that He may Himself indeed effect and Himself show His own way in us, to whom it is said, “Show us Thy mercy, O Lord;”[Psalms 85:7] and Himself bestow on us the pathway of safety that we may walk therein, to whom the prayer is offered, “And grant us Thy salvation;” and Himself lead us in the self-same way, to whom again it is said, “Guide me, O Lord, in Thy way, and in Thy truth ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 134, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Nature and Grace. (HTML)
Pride Even in Such Things as are Done Aright Must Be Avoided. Free Will is Not Taken Away When Grace is Preached. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1228 (In-Text, Margin)
... righteousness, lest a man, by regarding as his own that which is really God’s, lose what is God’s and be reduced merely to what is his own? Let us then carry out the concluding injunction of this same psalm, “Blessed are all they that trust in Him,” so that He may Himself indeed effect and Himself show His own way in us, to whom it is said, “Show us Thy mercy, O Lord;” and Himself bestow on us the pathway of safety that we may walk therein, to whom the prayer is offered, “And grant us Thy salvation;”[Psalms 85:7] and Himself lead us in the self-same way, to whom again it is said, “Guide me, O Lord, in Thy way, and in Thy truth will I walk;” Himself, too, conduct us to those promises whither His way leads, to whom it is said, “Even there shall Thy hand lead ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 448, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
Free Will and God’s Grace are Simultaneously Commended. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3014 (In-Text, Margin)
... our merits. Such passages do they collect out of the Scriptures,—like the one which I just now quoted, “Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,”—as if it were owing to the merit of our turning to God that His grace were given us, wherein He Himself even turns unto us. Now the persons who hold this opinion fail to observe that, unless our turning to God were itself God’s gift, it would not be said to Him in prayer, “Turn us again, O God of hosts;” and, “Thou, O God, wilt turn and quicken us;”[Psalms 85:6] and again, “Turn us, O God of our salvation,” —with other passages of similar import, too numerous to mention here. For, with respect to our coming unto Christ, what else does it mean than our being turned to Him by believing? And yet He says: “No ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 448, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
Free Will and God’s Grace are Simultaneously Commended. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3015 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the Scriptures,—like the one which I just now quoted, “Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,”—as if it were owing to the merit of our turning to God that His grace were given us, wherein He Himself even turns unto us. Now the persons who hold this opinion fail to observe that, unless our turning to God were itself God’s gift, it would not be said to Him in prayer, “Turn us again, O God of hosts;” and, “Thou, O God, wilt turn and quicken us;” and again, “Turn us, O God of our salvation,”[Psalms 85:4] —with other passages of similar import, too numerous to mention here. For, with respect to our coming unto Christ, what else does it mean than our being turned to Him by believing? And yet He says: “No man can come unto me, except it were given unto ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 473, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)
The Children of God are Led by the Spirit of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3253 (In-Text, Margin)
... Spirit of God to do that which should be done; and when they have done it, let them give thanks to Him by whom they act. For they are acted upon that they may act, not that they may themselves do nothing; and in addition to this, it is shown them what they ought to do, so that when they have done it as it ought to be done—that is, with the love and the delight of righteousness—they may rejoice in having received “the sweetness which the Lord has given, that their land should yield her increase.”[Psalms 85:12] But when they do not act, whether by not doing at all or by not doing from love, let them pray that what as yet they have not, they may receive. For what shall they have which they shall not receive? or what have they which they have not received?
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 499, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Continuation of the Preceding. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3427 (In-Text, Margin)
... had been made faithful by God, who also had made him an apostle. For the beginnings of his faith are recorded, and they are very well known by being read in the church on an occasion calculated to distinguish them: how, being turned away from the faith which he was destroying, and being vehemently opposed to it, he was suddenly by a more powerful grace converted to it, by the conversion of Him, to whom as One who would do this very thing it was said by the prophet, “Thou wilt turn and quicken us;”[Psalms 85:6] so that not only from one who refused to believe he was made a willing believer, but, moreover, from being a persecutor, he suffered persecution in defence of that faith which he persecuted. Because it was given him by Christ “not only to believe on ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 175, 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 VI. 60–72. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 533 (In-Text, Margin)
4. And He said, “It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing.” Before we expound this, as the Lord grants us, that other must not be negligently passed over, where He says, “Then what if ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before?” For Christ is the Son of man, of the Virgin Mary. Therefore Son of man He began to be here on earth, where He took flesh from the earth. For which cause it was said prophetically, “Truth is sprung from the earth.”[Psalms 85:12] Then what does He mean when He says, “When ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before”? For there had been no question if He had spoken thus: “If ye shall see the Son of God ascending where He was before.” But since He said, “The Son of man ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 203, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies
Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. 12. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 641 (In-Text, Margin)
... followeth me shall not walk in darkness”? For the Lord gives light to the blind. Therefore we, brethren, having the eye-salve of faith, are now enlightened. For His spittle did before mingle with the earth, by which the eyes of him who was born blind were anointed. We, too, have been born blind of Adam, and have need of Him to enlighten us. He mixed spittle with clay: “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” He mixed spittle with earth; hence it was predicted, “Truth has sprung from the earth;”[Psalms 85:11] and He said Himself, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” When we shall see face to face, we shall have the full fruition of the truth; for this also is promised to us. For who would dare hope for what God had not deigned either to promise or to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 230, 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. 31–36. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 738 (In-Text, Margin)
... so; for as now ye are believers, by so continuing ye shall be beholders. Hence there follows, “And ye shall know the truth.” The truth is unchangeable. The truth is bread, which refreshes our minds and fails not; changes the eater, and is not itself changed into the eater. The truth itself is the Word of God, God with God, the only-begotten Son. This Truth was for our sake clothed with flesh, that He might be born of the Virgin Mary, and the prophecy fulfilled, “Truth has sprung from the earth.”[Psalms 85:11] This Truth then, when speaking to the Jews, lay hid in the flesh. But He lay hid not in order to be denied, but to be deferred [in His manifestation]; to be deferred, in order to suffer in the flesh; and to suffer in the flesh, in order that flesh ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 116, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1069 (In-Text, Margin)
16. “I became dumb; and I opened not my mouth” (ver. 9). But it was to guard against “the foolish man,” that “I became dumb, and opened not my mouth.” For to whom should I tell what is going on within me? “For I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me; for He will speak peace unto His people.”[Psalms 85:8] But “There is no peace,” saith the Lord, “to the wicked.” “I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; because it is Thou that madest me.” Was this the reason that thou openedst not thy mouth, “because God made thee”? That is strange; for did not God make thy mouth, that thou shouldest speak? “He that planted the ear, doth He not hear? He that formed the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 149, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XLV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1402 (In-Text, Margin)
12. “Because of truth, meekness, and righteousness.” Truth was restored unto us, when “the Truth sprung out of the earth: and Righteousness looked out from heaven.”[Psalms 85:11] Christ was presented to the expectation of mankind, that in Abraham’s Seed “all nations should be blessed.” The Gospel has been preached. It is “the Truth.” What is meant by “meekness”? The Martyrs have suffered; and the kingdom of God has made much progress from thence, and advanced throughout all nations; because the Martyrs suffered, and neither “fell away,” nor yet offered resistance; confessing everything, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 187, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm L (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1775 (In-Text, Margin)
... may hear. But God would not dismiss without reproof them that speak: lest with their speaking alone, without care for themselves they should slumber in evil life, and say to themselves, “For God will not consign us to perdition, through whose mouth He has willed that so many good words should be spoken to His people.” Nay, but hear what thou speakest, whoever thou art that speakest: and thou that writ be heard thyself, first hear thyself; and speak what a certain man doth speak in another Psalm,[Psalms 85:8] “I will hear what in me speaketh the Lord God, for He shall speak peace to His people.” What am I then, that hear not what in me He speaketh, and will that other hear what through me He speaketh? I will hear first, will hear, and chiefly I will hear ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 289, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2732 (In-Text, Margin)
... Thee subject, not for themselves free; for Thee needy, not for themselves sufficient. Lastly, he continueth, “Thou hast prepared in Thine own sweetness for the needy, O God.” “In Thine own sweetness,” not in his meetness. For the needy he is, for he hath been made weak, in order that he may be made perfect: he hath acknowledged himself indigent, that he may be replenished. This is that sweetness, whereof in another place is said, “The Lord shall give sweetness, and our land shall give her fruit:”[Psalms 85:12] in order that a good work may be done not for fear, but for love; not for dread of punishment, but for love of righteousness. For this is true and sound freedom. But the Lord hath prepared this for one wanting, not for one abounding, whose reproach ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 295, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXVIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2823 (In-Text, Margin)
28. “The Lord hath said, Out of Basan I will be turned” (ver. 22): or, as some copies have, “Out of Basan I will turn.” For He turneth that we may be safe, of whom above hath been said, “God of our healths, and God of saving men.” For to Him elsewhere also is said, “O God of virtues, turn Thou us, and show Thy face, and safe we shall be.” Also in another place, “Turn us, O God of our healths.”[Psalms 85:4] But he hath said, “Out of Basan I will turn.” Basan is interpreted confusion. What is then, I will turn out of confusion, but that there is confounded because of his sins, he that is praying of the mercy of God that they may be put away? Thence it is that the Publican dared not even to lift up his ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 328, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3181 (In-Text, Margin)
6. Thus also most pertinently may be understood, “let the mountains bear peace to the people,” namely, that we understand the peace to consist in the reconciliation whereby we are reconciled to God: for the mountains receive this for His people.…“Let the mountains, therefore, receive peace for the people, and the hills justice:” so that in this manner, both being at one, there may come to pass that which hath been written, “justice and peace have kissed one another.”[Psalms 85:10] But that which other copies have, “let the mountains receive peace for the people, and let the hills:” I think must be understood of all sorts of preaching of Gospel peace, whether those that go before, or those that follow after. But in these copies this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 434, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4174 (In-Text, Margin)
... back to God. For as He showed us mercy that He might blot out our sins, and truth in fulfilling His promises; so also we, walking in His path, ought to give back to Him mercy and truth; mercy, in pitying the wretched; truth, in not judging unjustly. Let not truth rob you of mercy, nor mercy hinder truth: for if through mercy you shall have judged contrary to truth, or by rigorous truth shall have forgotten mercy, you will not be walking in the path of God, where “mercy and truth meet together.”[Psalms 85:10] “And in My name shall His horn be exalted.” Why should I say more? Ye are Christians, recognise Christ.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 483, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XCIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4508 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the Church, and well instructed in the school of Christ through all the books of our ancient fathers, who wrote the words of God and the great things of God, that their wish was to consult for our good, who were to live at this period, believers in Christ; who, at a seasonable time came unto us, the first time, in humility; at the second, destined to come in exaltation.…For thus it is said in the Psalms: “Truth shall flourish out of the earth: and righteousness hath looked down from heaven.”[Psalms 85:11] Now, therefore, our whole design is, when we hear a Psalm, a Prophet, or the Law, all of which was written before our Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, to see Christ there, to understand Christ there. Attend therefore, beloved, to this Psalm, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 508, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4683 (In-Text, Margin)
16. “Look, how wide the east is from the west; so far hath He set our sins from us” (ver. 12). They who know the Sacraments know this; nevertheless, I only say what all may hear. When sin is remitted, thy sins fall, thy grace riseth; thy sins are as it were on the decline, thy grace which freeth thee on the rise. “Truth springeth from the earth.”[Psalms 85:11] What meaneth this? Thy grace is born, thy sins fall, thou art in a certain manner made new. Thou shouldest look to the rising, and turn away from the setting. Turn away from thy sins, turn unto the grace of God; when thy sins fall, thou riseth and profitest.…One region of the heaven falleth, another riseth: but the region ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 512, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4712 (In-Text, Margin)
12. These beasts, then, drink those waters, but passing; not staying, but passing; for all that teaching which in all this time is dispensed passeth.…Unless perchance your love thinketh that in that city to which it is said, “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O Sion; for He hath made strong the bars of thy gates;” when the bars are now strengthened and the city closed, whence, as we said some time since,[Psalms 85:10] no friend goeth out, no enemy entereth; that there we shall have a book to read, or speech to be explained as it is now explained to you. Therefore is it now treated, that there it may be held fast: therefore is it now divided by syllables, that there it may be contemplated whole and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 512, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CIV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4713 (In-Text, Margin)
12. These beasts, then, drink those waters, but passing; not staying, but passing; for all that teaching which in all this time is dispensed passeth.…Unless perchance your love thinketh that in that city to which it is said, “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O Sion; for He hath made strong the bars of thy gates;” when the bars are now strengthened and the city closed, whence, as we said some time since, no friend goeth out, no enemy entereth;[Psalms 85] that there we shall have a book to read, or speech to be explained as it is now explained to you. Therefore is it now treated, that there it may be held fast: therefore is it now divided by syllables, that there it may be contemplated whole and entire. The Word of God ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 527, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CVI (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4824 (In-Text, Margin)
... “with Thy salvation,” that is, with Thy Christ. “To see the felicity of Thy chosen, and to rejoice in the gladness of Thy people” (ver. 5): that is, visit us for this reason with Thy salvation, that we may see the felicity of Thy chosen, and rejoice in the gladness of Thy people. For “felicity” some copies read “sweetness;” as in the former passage, “For He is gracious;” where others read, “for He is sweet.” And it is the same word in the Greek, as is elsewhere read, “The Lord shall show sweetness:”[Psalms 85:13] which some have translated “felicity,” others “bounty.” But what meaneth, “Visit us to see the felicity of Thy chosen:” that is, that happiness which Thou givest to Thine elect: except that we may not remain blind, as those unto whom it is said, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 577, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Mem. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5282 (In-Text, Margin)
103. Consider then what followeth: “O how sweet are Thy words unto my throat!” (ver. 103). Or, as it is more literally rendered from the Greek, “Thy utterances, above honey and the honeycomb unto my mouth.” This is that sweetness which the Lord giveth, “So that the earth yield her increase:”[Psalms 85:12] that we do good truly in a good spirit, that is, not from the dread of carnal evil, but from the gladness of spiritual good. Some copies indeed do not read “honeycomb:” but the majority do. Now the open teaching of wisdom is like unto honey; but that is like the comb which is squeezed from the more recondite mysteries, as if from cells of wax, by the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 581, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXIX (HTML)
Ain. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5312 (In-Text, Margin)
... therefore in the chaste fear of God hath his flesh crucified, and corrupted by no carnal allurement, dealeth judgment and the work of righteousness, ought to pray that he may not be given up to his adversaries; that is, that he may not, through his dread of suffering evils, yield unto his adversaries to do evil. For he receiveth power of endurance, which guardeth him from being overcome with pain, from Him from whom he receiveth the victory over lust, which preventeth his being seduced by pleasure.[Psalms 85:12]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 653, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLIII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5826 (In-Text, Margin)
7. “I stretched forth,” saith he, “my hands to Thee: my soul is as a land without water to Thee” (ver. 6). Rain upon me, saith he, to bring forth from me good fruit. “For the Lord shall give sweetness, that our land may give her fruit.”[Psalms 85:12] “I have stretched forth my hands to Thee; my soul is as a land without water,” not to me, but “to Thee.” I can thirst for Thee, I cannot water myself.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 394, footnote 11 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse III (HTML)
Texts Explained; Seventhly, John xiv. 10. Introduction. The doctrine of the coinherence. The Father and the Son Each whole and perfect God. They are in Each Other, because their Essence is One and the Same. They are Each Perfect and have One Essence, because the Second Person is the Son of the First. Asterius's evasive explanation of the text under review; refuted. Since the Son has all that the Father has, He is His Image; and the Father is the One God, because the Son is in the Father. (HTML)
... of the Father receives power, that from this his irreligion it may follow to say that in a son the Son was made a son, and the Word received a word’s authority; and, far from granting that He spoke this as a Son, He ranks Him with all things made as having learned it as they have. For if the Son said, ‘I am in the Father and the Father in Me,’ because His discourses were not His own words but the Father’s, and so of His works, then,—since David says, ‘I will hear what the Lord God shall say in me[Psalms 85:8],’ and again Solomon, ‘My words are spoken by God,’ and since Moses was minister of words which were from God, and each of the Prophets spoke not what was his own but what was from God, ‘Thus saith the Lord,’ and since the works of the Saints, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 120, footnote 18 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paulinus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1769 (In-Text, Margin)
... had witnessed the resurrection was occupied by a figure of Jupiter; while on the rock where the cross had stood, a marble statue of Venus was set up by the heathen and became an object of worship. The original persecutors, indeed, supposed that by polluting our holy places they would deprive us of our faith in the passion and in the resurrection. Even my own Bethlehem, as it now is, that most venerable spot in the whole world of which the psalmist sings: “the truth hath sprung out of the earth,”[Psalms 85:11] was overshadowed by a grove of Tammuz, that is of Adonis; and in the very cave where the infant Christ had uttered His earliest cry lamentation was made for the paramour of Venus.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 226, footnote 2 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3134 (In-Text, Margin)
... us that the mind must not through disbelief in the promised blessings give way to despair; and that the soul once marked out for perdition must not refuse to apply remedies on the ground that its wounds are past curing. Ezekiel describes God as swearing, that if we refuse to believe His promise in regard to our salvation we may at least believe His oath. It is with full confidence that the righteous man prays and says, “Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease,”[Psalms 85:4] and again, “Lord, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled.” He means to say, “when I forsook the foulness of my faults for the beauty of virtue, God strengthened my weakness with His ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 227, footnote 10 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3164 (In-Text, Margin)
3. Think how great that weeping must be which deserves to be compared to a flood of waters. Whosoever so weeps and says with the prophet Jeremiah “let not the apple of mine eye cease” shall straightway find the words fulfilled of him: “mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other;”[Psalms 85:10] so that, if righteousness and truth terrify him, mercy and peace may encourage him to seek salvation.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 291, footnote 12 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Sabinianus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3979 (In-Text, Margin)
... matrons who have suffered death because violated by you, or the greedy profligacy with which you have hied through dens of sin. For grave and serious as such sins are in themselves, they are trivial indeed when compared with those which I have now to narrate. How great must be the sin beside which seduction and adultery are insignificant? Miserable wretch that you are! when you enter the cave wherein the Son of God was born, where truth sprang out of the earth and the land did yield her increase,[Psalms 85:11-12] it is to make an assignation. Have you no fear that the babe will cry from the manger, that the newly delivered virgin will see you, that the mother of the Lord will behold you? The angels cry aloud, the shepherds run, the star shines down from ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 97, footnote 1 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
On the Words, And Rose Again from the Dead on the Third Day, and Ascended into the Heavens, and Sat on the Right Hand of the Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1708 (In-Text, Margin)
11. A garden was the place of His Burial, and a vine that which was planted there: and He hath said, I am the vine! He was planted therefore in the earth in order that the curse which came because of Adam might be rooted out. The earth was condemned to thorns and thistles: the true Vine sprang up out of the earth, that the saying might be fulfilled, Truth sprang up out of the earth, and righteousness looked down from heaven[Psalms 85:11]. And what will He that is buried in the garden say? I have gathered My myrrh with My spices: and again, Myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices. Now these are the symbols of the burying; and in the Gospels it is said, The women came unto the sepulchre ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 254, footnote 15 (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 3183 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the Lord by thy mediation: avert any succeeding blows of the scourge. He knoweth to respect the hoar hairs of a father interceding for his children. Intreat for our past wickedness: be our surety for the future. Present a people purified by suffering and fear. Beg for bodily sustenance, but beg rather for the angels’ food that cometh down from heaven. So doing, thou wilt make God to be our God, wilt conciliate heaven, wilt restore the former and latter rain: the Lord shall show loving-kindness[Psalms 85:13] and our land shall yield her fruit; our earthly land its fruit which lasts for the day, and our frame, which is but dust, the fruit which is eternal, which we shall store up in the heavenly winepresses by thy hands, who presentest both us and ours ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 374, footnote 9 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4155 (In-Text, Margin)
... in us be imperfect or of our first birth; let us leave nothing unilluminated. Let us enlighten our eyes, that we may look straight on, and not bear in ourselves any harlot idol through curious and busy sight; for even though we might not worship lust, yet our soul would be defiled. If there be beam or mote, let us purge it away, that we may be able to see those of others also. Let us be enlightened in our ears; let us be enlightened in our tongue, that we may hearken what the Lord God will speak,[Psalms 85:8] and that He may cause us to hear His lovingkindness in the morning, and that we may be made to hear of joy and gladness, spoken into godly ears, that we may not be a sharp sword, nor a whetted razor, nor turn under our tongue labour and toil, but ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 250, footnote 15 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter VIII. The prophecy of Christ's Godhead and Manhood, contained in the verse of Isaiah just now cited, is unfolded, and its force in refuting various heresies demonstrated. (HTML)
56. Some manuscripts read as follows: “A Child is born to us a Son is given to us;” that is to say, He, Who is Son of God, is born as Mary’s child for us, and given to us. As for the fact that He is “given,” listen to the prophet’s words: “And grant us Thy salvation.”[Psalms 85] But that which is above us is given: what is from heaven is given: even as indeed we read concerning the Spirit, that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who is given unto us.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 347, footnote 15 (Image)
Gregory the Great II, Ephriam Syrus, Aphrahat
Selections from the Hymns and Homilies of Ephraim the Syrian and from the Demonstrations of Aphrahat the Persian Sage. (HTML)
Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations. (HTML)
Of Faith. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 667 (In-Text, Margin)
... if that stone was laid as the foundation, how did it also become the head of the wall? How but that when our Lord came, He laid His faith in the earth like a foundation, and it rose above all the heavens like the head of the wall and all the building was finished with the stones, from the bottom to the top. And with regard to the faith about which I said that He laid His faith in the earth, this David proclaimed beforehand about Christ. For He said:— Faith shall spring up from the earth.[Psalms 85:12] And that again, it is above, he said:— Righteousness looked down from the heavens.