Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ecclesiastes 4
There are 9 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 397, footnote 5 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. II.—On the Character and Teaching of the Bishop (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2602 (In-Text, Margin)
... sickness, or the bringing up many children, or infirmity of her hands, let him stretch out his hand in charity rather to this latter. But if any one be in want by gluttony, drunkenness, or idleness, he does not deserve any assistance, or to be esteemed a member of the Church of God. For the Scripture, speaking of such persons, says: “The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom, and is not able to bring it to his mouth again.” And again: “The sluggard folds up his hands, and eats his own flesh.”[Ecclesiastes 4:5] “For every drunkard and whoremonger shall come to poverty, and every drowsy person shall be clothed with tatters and rags.” And in another passage: “If thou give thine eyes to drinking and cups, thou shalt afterwards walk more naked than a ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 425, footnote 3 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book II. Of Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons (HTML)
Sec. VIII.—On the Duty of Working for a Livelihood (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2861 (In-Text, Margin)
... thy sleep? Thou sleepest awhile thou liest down awhile, thou slumberest awhile, thou foldest thy hands on thy breast to sleep awhile. Then poverty comes on thee like an evil traveller, and want as a swift racer. But if thou beest diligent, thy harvest shall come as a fountain, and want shall fly from thee as an evil runagate.” And again: “He that manageth his own land shall be filled with bread.” And elsewhere he says: “The slothful has folded his own hands together, and has eaten his own flesh.”[Ecclesiastes 4:5] And afterwards: “The sluggard hides his hand; he will not be able to bring it to his mouth.” And again: “By slothfulness of the hands a floor will be brought low.” Labour therefore continually; for the blot of the slothful is not to be healed. But ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 200, footnote 6 (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 1022 (In-Text, Margin)
... all the earth and were to renounce it, that which he gives up is little, and he receives a hundredfold. But if not even the whole earth is equal in value to the heavens, then he who has given up a few acres leaves as it were nothing; and even if he have given up a house or much gold he ought not to boast nor be low-spirited. Further, we should consider that even if we do not relinquish them for virtue’s sake, still afterwards when we die we shall leave them behind—very often, as the Preacher saith[Ecclesiastes 4:8], to those to whom we do not wish. Why then should we not give them up for virtue’s sake, that we may inherit even a kingdom? Therefore let the desire of possession take hold of no one, for what gain is it to acquire these things which we cannot take ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 157, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Abigaus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2307 (In-Text, Margin)
... the dishonesty and negligence of which others have been guilty. For why should I, when called on to respond to your kind advances, continue dumb and repel by my silence the friendship which you offer? I who am always forward to seek intimate relations with the good and even to thrust myself upon their affection. “Two,” we read, “are better than one.…for if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow.…a three fold cord is not quickly broken, and a brother that helps his brother shall be exalted.”[Ecclesiastes 4:9-12] Write to me, therefore, boldly, and overcome the effect of absence by frequent colloquies.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 175, footnote 4 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2544 (In-Text, Margin)
... salvation of all. If he will shew himself such, I am ready freely to yield and to hold out my arms; he will find me a friend and a kinsman, and will perceive that in Christ I am submissive to him as to all the saints. “Charity,” writes the apostle, “suffereth long and is kind; charity envieth not;…is not puffed up…beareth all things, believeth all things.” Charity is the mother of all virtues, and the apostle’s words about faith, hope and charity are like that threefold cord which is not quickly broken.[Ecclesiastes 4:12] We believe, we hope, and through our faith and hope we are joined together in the bond of charity. It is for these virtues that I and others have left our homes, it is for these that we would live peaceably without any contention in the fields and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 178, footnote 5 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Decease of His Brother Satyrus. (HTML)
Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1507 (In-Text, Margin)
... him. For he, before these philosophers in time, but later than many of our writers, spoke thus in Ecclesiastes: “And I praised all the departed, which are already dead, more than the living, who are yet alive. And better than both they is he who hath not yet been born, and who hath not seen this evil work which hath been done under the sun. And I saw all travail, and all the good of this labour, that for this a man is envied of his neighbour. And, indeed, this is vanity and vexation of spirit.”[Ecclesiastes 4:2]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 62, footnote 7 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)
The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)
Letter II. A Letter of Sulpitius Severus to His Sister Claudia Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
Chapter X. (HTML)
... with gold or gems or any other earthly ornament, because it already shines with the radiance of heavenly adornment. It is undoubtedly a grave insult to Divine grace to prefer to it any mundane and worldly ornament. And next, cleanse thy forehead, that it may blush at human, and not at Divine works, and may display that shame which gives rise not to sin, but to the favor of God, as the sacred Scripture declares, “There is a shame that causes sin, and there is a shame that brings with it the favor[Ecclesiastes 4:21] of God.” Cleanse, too, thy neck, that it may not carry thy locks in a golden net and necklaces hung round it, but may rather bear about it those ornaments of which the Scripture says, “Let not mercy and faith depart from thee,” and hang them upon ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 63, footnote 9 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)
The Doubtful Letters of Sulpitius Severus. (HTML)
Letter II. A Letter of Sulpitius Severus to His Sister Claudia Concerning Virginity. (HTML)
Chapter X. (HTML)
... discourse, that they never admit into them obscene, or infamous, or worldly words, or tolerate any one detracting from another, on account of that which is written, “Hedge up thine ears with thorns, and do not listen to a wicked tongue, that you may have your part with him, of whom it is said, that he was righteous in hearing and seeing; i.e. he sinned neither with his eyes nor his ears. Cleanse, too, thy hands, “that they be not stretched out to receive, but shut against giving,” and that they[Ecclesiastes 4:31] be not prompt to strike, but ever ready for all the works of mercy and piety. In fine, cleanse thy feet, that they follow not the broad and ample way which leads to grand and costly worldly banquets, but that they tread rather the difficult and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 537, footnote 2 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part III. Containing Conferences XVIII.-XXIV. (HTML)
Conference XXIV. Conference of Abbot Abraham. On Mortification. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. A story of a barber's payments, introduced for the sake of recognizing the devil's illusions. (HTML)
... pride of vainglory and vanity can detract, and which the pressure of no daily wants can lessen (for “a small thing that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly”) rather than to pursue those larger profits which even if they are procured by the most valuable conversion of many, are yet absorbed by the claims of secular life and the daily leakage of distractions. For, as Solomon says, “Better is a single handful with rest than both hands full with labour and vexation of mind.”[Ecclesiastes 4:6] And in these allusions and inconveniences all that are at all weak are sure to be entangled, as while they are even doubtful of their own salvation, and themselves stand in need of the teaching and instruction of others, they are incited by the ...