Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Ecclesiastes 12
There are 22 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 24, footnote 8 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
The Pastor of Hermas (HTML)
Book Second.—Commandments (HTML)
Commandment Seventh. On Fearing God, and Not Fearing the Devil. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 197 (In-Text, Margin)
“Fear,” said he, “the Lord, and keep His commandments.[Ecclesiastes 12:13] For if you keep the commandments of God, you will be powerful in every action, and every one of your actions will be incomparable. For, fearing the Lord, you will do all things well. This is the fear which you ought to have, that you may be saved. But fear not the devil; for, fearing the Lord, you will have dominion over the devil, for there is no power in him. But he in whom there is no power ought on no account to be an object of fear; but He in whom there is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 2, page 564, footnote 1 (Image)
Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alexandria
Clement of Alexandria (HTML)
The Stromata, or Miscellanies (HTML)
Book VIII (HTML)
Chapter VII.—On the Causes of Doubt or Assent. (HTML)
But among the principal causes of scepticism is the instability of the mind, which is productive of dissent. And dissent is the proximate cause of doubt. Whence life is full of tribunals and councils; and, in fine, of selection in what is said to be good and bad; which are the signs of a mind in doubt, and halting through feebleness on account of conflicting matters. And there are libraries full of books,[Ecclesiastes 12:12] and compilations and treatises of those who differ in dogmas, and are confident that they themselves know the truth that there is in things.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 62, footnote 1 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book II. Of the Origin of Error (HTML)
Chap. XIII.—Why man is of two sexes; what is his first death, and what the second and of the fault and punishment of our first parents (HTML)
We term that punishment the second death, which is itself also perpetual, as also is immortality. We thus define the first death: Death is the dissolution of the nature of living beings; or thus: Death is the separation of body and soul. But we thus define the second death: Death is the suffering of eternal pain; or thus: Death is the condemnation of souls for their deserts to eternal punishments. This does not extend to the dumb cattle, whose spirits, not being composed of God,[Ecclesiastes 12:7] but of the common air, are dissolved by death. Therefore in this union of heaven and earth, the image of which is developed in man, those things which belong to God occupy the higher part, namely the soul, which has dominion over the body; but those which ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 69, footnote 1 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Lactantius (HTML)
The Divine Institutes (HTML)
Book III. Of the False Wisdom of the Philosophers (HTML)
Chap. I.—A comparison of the truth with eloquence: why the philosophers did not attain to it. Of the simple style of the scriptures (HTML)
it is supposed that the truth still lies hidden in obscurity—either through the error and ignorance of the common people, who are the slaves of various and foolish superstitions, or through the philosophers, who by the perverseness of their minds confuse rather than throw light upon it—I could wish that the power of eloquence had fallen to my lot, though not such as it was in Marcus Tullius, for that was extraordinary and admirable, but in some degree approaching it;[Ecclesiastes 12:10] that, being supported as much by the strength of talent as it has weight by its own force, the truth might at length come forth, and having dispelled and refuted public errors, and the errors of those who are considered wise, might introduce among the human race ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 440, footnote 4 (Image)
Lactantius, Venantius, Asterius, Victorinus, Dionysius, Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions, 2 Clement, Early Liturgies
Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)
Book V (HTML)
Sec. I.—Concerning the Martyrs (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2994 (In-Text, Margin)
... the firmament, and as the stars.” Therefore the most holy Gabriel foretold that the saints should shine like the stars: for His sacred name did witness to them, that they might understand the truth. Nor is a resurrection only declared for the martyrs, but for all men, righteous and unrighteous, godly and ungodly, that every one may receive according to his desert. For God, says the Scripture, “will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”[Ecclesiastes 12:14] This resurrection was not believed by the Jews, when of old they said, “Our bones are withered, and we are gone.” To whom God answered, and said: “Behold, I open your graves, and will bring you out of them; and I will put my Spirit into you, and ye ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 574, footnote 3 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
Revelation of Esdras. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2521 (In-Text, Margin)
... and ye righteous, because I have gone to the pit of Hades. And God said to him: Hear, Esdras, my beloved. I, who am immortal, endured a cross; I tasted vinegar and gall; I was laid in a tomb, and I raised up my chosen ones; I called Adam up out of Hades, that I might save the race of men. Do not therefore be afraid of death: for that which is from me—that is to say, the soul—goes to heaven; and that which is from the earth—that is to say, the body—goes to the earth, from which it was taken.[Ecclesiastes 12:7] And the prophet said: Woe’s me! woe’s me! what shall I set about? what shall I do? I know not. And then the blessed Esdras began to say: O eternal God, the Maker of the whole creation, who hast measured the heaven with a span, and who holdest the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 583, footnote 5 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
Revelation of John. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2570 (In-Text, Margin)
... righteous John. Then will I send forth mine angels, and they shall take the ram’s horns that lie upon the cloud; and Michael and Gabriel shall go forth out of the heaven and sound with those horns, as the prophet David foretold, With the voice of a trumpet of horn. And the voice of the trumpet shall be heard from the one quarter of the world to the other; and from the voice of that trumpet all the earth shall be shaken, as the prophet foretold, And at the voice of the bird every plant shall arise;[Ecclesiastes 12:4] that is, at the voice of the archangel all the human race shall arise.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 413, footnote 4 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
From the Second Book of the Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5157 (In-Text, Margin)
... third peacemaker as he demonstrates that that which appears to others to be a conflict in the Scriptures is no conflict, and exhibits their concord and peace, whether of the Old Scriptures with the New, or of the Law with the Prophets, or of the Gospels with the Apostolic Scriptures, or of the Apostolic Scriptures with each other. For, also, according to the Preacher, all the Scriptures are “words of the wise like goads, and as nails firmly fixed which were given by agreement from one shepherd;”[Ecclesiastes 12:11] and there is nothing superfluous in them. But the Word is the one Shepherd of things rational which may have an appearance of discord to those who have not ears to hear, but are truly at perfect concord. For as the different chords of the psalter or ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 496, footnote 6 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew. (HTML)
Origen's Commentary on Matthew. (HTML)
Book XIV. (HTML)
Harmony of the Old and New Covenants. (HTML)
... at concord so that there is no discord between them would be found prayers, to the effect that about anything whatever they shall ask it shall be done to them from the Father in heaven. And if also you desire the third that unites the two, do not hesitate to say that it is the Holy Spirit, since “the words of the wise,” whether they be of those before the advent, or at the time of the advent, or after it, “are as goads, and as nails firmly fixed, which were given by agreement from one shepherd.”[Ecclesiastes 12:11] And do not let this also pass unobserved, that He did not say, where two or three are gathered together in My name, there “shall I be” in the midst of them, but “there am I,” not going to be, not delaying, but at the very moment of the concord being ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 423, footnote 3 (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)
What Solomon, in the Book of Ecclesiastes, Says Regarding the Things Which Happen Alike to Good and Wicked Men. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1320 (In-Text, Margin)
... regards the acquirement of the blessings or the evasion of the calamities of this transitory and vain life, but in connection with the future judgment which shall make over to good men good things, and to bad men bad things, in permanent, inalienable possession. In fine, this wise man concludes this book of his by saying, “Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is every man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every despised person, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”[Ecclesiastes 12:13-14] What truer, terser, more salutary enouncement could be made? “Fear God, he says, and keep His commandments: for this is every man.” For whosoever has real existence, is this, is a keeper of God’s commandments; and he who is not this, is nothing. For ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 165, footnote 5 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
Instructions to Catechumens. (HTML)
Second Instruction. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 523 (In-Text, Margin)
... virtue with boldness. Hear, at least, what he says concerning Job. For in saying that “there was a man in the land of Ausis,” he does not describe him in those terms in which they who are without describe him, nor does he say this because he had two feet and broad nails, but he added the evidences of his piety and said, “just, true, fearing God, eschewing every evil deed,” showing that this is a man; even as therefore another says, “Fear God, and keep his commandments, because this is the whole man.”[Ecclesiastes 12:13] But if the name man affords such a great incentive to virtue, much rather the term faithful. For thou art called faithful on this account, because thou hast faith in God, and thyself art entrusted from Him with righteousness, sanctification, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 2, page 150, footnote 2 (Image)
Socrates: Church History from A.D. 305-438; Sozomenus: Church History from A.D. 323-425
The Ecclesiastical History of Socrates Scholasticus. (HTML)
Book VI (HTML)
Conflict between the Constantinopolitans and Alexandrians on Account of Heraclides; Flight of Theophilus and the Bishops of his Party. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 880 (In-Text, Margin)
... to him was exceedingly increased by the shameless way in which he continued to read Origen’s works. And when he was asked why he thus countenanced what he had publicly condemned, he replied, ‘Origen’s books are like a meadow enameled with flowers of every kind. If, therefore, I chance to find a beautiful one among them, I cull it: but whatever appears to me to be thorny, I step over, as that which would prick.’ But Theophilus gave this answer without reflecting on the saying of the wise Solomon,[Ecclesiastes 12:11] that ‘the words of the wise are as goads’; and those who are pricked by the precepts they contain, ought not to kick against them. For these reasons then Theophilus was held in contempt by all men. Dioscorus bishop of Hermopolis, one of those termed ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 351, footnote 4 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) (HTML)
Discourse II (HTML)
Texts explained; Fourthly, Hebrews iii. 2. Introduction; the Regula Fidei counter to an Arian sense of the text; which is not supported by the word 'servant,' nor by 'made' which occurs in it; (how can the Judge be among the 'works' which 'God will bring into judgment?') nor by 'faithful;' and is confuted by the immediate context, which is about Priesthood; and by the foregoing passage, which explains the word 'faithful' as meaning trustworthy, as do 1 Pet. iv. fin. and other texts. On the whole made may safely be understood either of the divine generation or the human creation. (HTML)
6. For consider how grave an error it is, to call God’s Word a work. Solomon says in one place in Ecclesiastes, that ‘God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil[Ecclesiastes 12:14].’ If then the Word be a work, do you mean that He as well as others will be brought into judgment? and what room is there for judgment, when the Judge is on trial? who will give to the just their blessing, who to the unworthy their punishment, the Lord, as you must suppose, standing on trial with the rest? by what law shall He, the Lawgiver, Himself be judged? These things are proper ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 3, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Innocent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 12 (In-Text, Margin)
13. Meantime an aged woman, supported out of the funds of the church, gave back her spirit to heaven from which it came.[Ecclesiastes 12:7] It seemed as if the course of events had been thus purposely ordered, for her body took the place of the other beneath the mound. In the gray dawn the devil comes on the scene in the form of a constable, asks for the corpse of her who had been slain, and desires to have her grave pointed out to him. Surprised that she could have died, he fancies her to be still alive. The clergy show him the fresh turf, and meet his demands by pointing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 49, footnote 11 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Paula. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 793 (In-Text, Margin)
... pardon me, because what I would have done I have not been able to do.” Be at peace, dear Blæsilla, in full assurance that your garments are always white. For yours is the purity of an everlasting virginity. I feel confident that my words are true: conversion can never be too late. The words to the dying robber are a pledge of this: “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” When at last her spirit was delivered from the burden of the flesh, and had returned to Him who gave it;[Ecclesiastes 12:7] when, too, after her long pilgrimage, she had ascended up into her ancient heritage, her obsequies were celebrated with customary splendor. People of rank headed the procession, a pall made of cloth of gold covered her bier. But I seemed to hear a ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 10 (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 1908 (In-Text, Margin)
... out of the windows be darkened; (signifying the faculty of sight;) or ever the silver cord be loosed; (meaning the assemblage of the stars, for their appearance is like silver;) and the flower of gold be broken; (thus veiling the mention of the golden sun; for the camomile is a well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way[Ecclesiastes 12:5]. What shall they see? Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe. And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come? The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 110, footnote 12 (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 1910 (In-Text, Margin)
... well-known plant, having many ray-like leaves shooting out round it;) and they shall rise up at the voice of the sparrow, yea, they shall look away from the height, and terrors shall be in the way. What shall they see? Then shall they see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven; and they shall mourn tribe by tribe. And what shall come to pass when the Lord is come? The almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall grow heavy, and the caper-berry shall be scattered abroad[Ecclesiastes 12:5]. And as the interpreters say, the blossoming almond signifies the departure of winter; and our bodies shall then after the winter blossom with a heavenly flower. And the grasshopper shall grow in substance (that means the winged soul clothing ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 372, footnote 9 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen. (HTML)
The Oration on Holy Baptism. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4118 (In-Text, Margin)
... thyself bad after the blessing thou hast received. You have heard the loud voice, Lazarus, come forth, as you lay in the tomb; not, however, after four days, but after many days; and you were loosed from the bonds of your graveclothes. Do not again become dead, nor live with those who dwell in the tombs; nor bind yourself with the bonds of your own sins; for it is uncertain whether you will rise again from the tomb till the last and universal resurrection, which will bring every work into judgment,[Ecclesiastes 12:14] not to be healed, but to be judged, and to give account of all which for good or evil it has treasured up.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 302, footnote 3 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To the Westerns. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3193 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Next comes Apollinarius, who is no less a cause of sorrow to the Churches. With his facility of writing, and a tongue ready to argue on any subject, he has filled the world with his works, in disregard of the advice of him who said, “Beware of making many books.”[Ecclesiastes 12:12] In their multitude there are certainly many errors. How is it possible to avoid sin in a multitude of words? And the theological works of Apollinarius are founded on Scriptural proof, but are based on a human origin. He has written about the resurrection, from a mythical, or rather Jewish, point of view; urging that we shall return again to the worship of the Law, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 245, footnote 10 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter III. That the Father and the Son must not be divided is proved by the words of the Apostle, seeing that it is befitting to the Son that He should be blessed, only Potentate, and immortal, by nature, that is, and not by grace, as even the angels themselves are immortal, and that He should dwell in the unapproachable light. How it is that the Father and the Son are alike and equally said to be “alone.” (HTML)
20. Do not hastily reject this, because Gabriel dies not, nor Raphaël, nor Uriel. Even in their nature there is a capacity of sin, though not one of improvement by discipline, for every reasonable creature is exposed to influences from without itself, and liable to judgment. It is on the influences which work upon us that the award of judgment, and corruption, or advance to perfection, do depend, and therefore Ecclesiastes saith: “For God shall bring all His work to judgment.”[Ecclesiastes 12:14] Every creature, then, has within it the possibility of corruption and death, even though it do not [at present] die or commit sin; nor, if in anything it deliver not itself over to sin, hath it this boon of its immortal nature, but of discipline or of grace. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 301, footnote 10 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book V. (HTML)
Chapter XI. We must refer the fact that Christ is said to speak nothing of Himself, to His human nature. After explaining how it is right to say that He hears and sees the Father as being God, He shows conclusively, by a large number of proofs, that the Son of God is not a creature. (HTML)
141. Every work of His God will bring into judgment;[Ecclesiastes 12:14] but the Son of God is not brought into judgment; for He Himself judges; therefore the Son of God is not a creature.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 386, footnote 8 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X. (HTML)
Conference VIII. The Second Conference of Abbot Serenus. On Principalities. (HTML)
Chapter XXV. How this that is said of the devil in the gospel is to be understood; viz., that “he is a liar, and his father.” (HTML)
... sinews;” and the Lord to Jeremiah: “Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee.” But Ecclesiastes very clearly and accurately gathers the nature of either substance, and its beginning, by an examination of the rise and commencement, from which each originated, and by a consideration of the end to which each is tending, and decides also of the division of this body and soul, and discourses as follows: “Before the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns unto God who gave it.”[Ecclesiastes 12:7] But what could be said with greater plainness than that he declares that the matter of the flesh which he styled dust, because it springs from the seed of man, and seems to be sown by his ministration, must, as it was taken from the earth, again ...