Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts

Song of Solomon 2

There are 50 footnotes for this reference.

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 80, footnote 8 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Ignatius (HTML)

Epistle to the Philadelphians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)

Chapter III.—Avoid schismatics. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 896 (In-Text, Margin)

... of Jesus Christ, may obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of Christ. Brethren, be not deceived. If any man follows him that separates from the truth, he shall not inherit the kingdom of God; and if any man does not stand aloof from the preacher of falsehood, he shall be condemned to hell. For it is obligatory neither to separate from the godly, nor to associate with the ungodly. If any one walks according to a strange opinion, he is not of Christ, nor a partaker of His passion; but is a fox,[Song of Solomon 2:15] a destroyer of the vineyard of Christ. Have no fellowship with such a man, lest ye perish along with him, even should he be thy father, thy son, thy brother, or a member of thy family. For says [the Scripture], “Thine eye shall not spare him.” You ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 358, footnote 4 (Image)

Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus

Irenæus (HTML)

Against Heresies: Book I (HTML)

Chapter XXXI.—Doctrines of the Cainites. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2984 (In-Text, Margin)

4. Wherefore I have laboured to bring forward, and make clearly manifest, the utterly ill-conditioned carcase of this miserable little fox.[Song of Solomon 2:15] For there will not now be need of many words to overturn their system of doctrine, when it has been made manifest to all. It is as when, on a beast hiding itself in a wood, and by rushing forth from it is in the habit of destroying multitudes, one who beats round the wood and thoroughly explores it, so as to compel the animal to break cover, does not strive to capture it, seeing that it is truly a ferocious beast; but those ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 331, footnote 7 (Image)

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

Methodius. (HTML)

The Banquet of the Ten Virgins; or Concerning Chastity. (HTML)

Procilla. (HTML)

What the True and Seemly Manner of Praising; The Father Greater Than the Son, Not in Substance, But in Order; Virginity the Lily; Faithful Souls and Virgins, the One Bride of the One Christ. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2684 (In-Text, Margin)

... Father, should have the Father, who alone is greater than Himself, as His witness. And so I will not bring forward the praises of virginity from mere human report, but from Him who cares for us, and who has taken up the whole matter, showing that He is the husbandman of this grace, and a lover of its beauty, and a fitting witness. And this is quite clear, in the Song of Songs, to any one who is willing to see it, where Christ Himself, praising those who are firmly established in virginity, says,[Song of Solomon 2:2] “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters;” comparing the grace of chastity to the lily, on account of its purity and fragrance, and sweetness and joyousness. For chastity is like a spring flower, always softly exhaling ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 386, footnote 13 (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 3029 (In-Text, Margin)

... horror of darkness has been chased away; the power of the tyrant has been broken, death hath been destroyed, hell swallowed up, and all enmity dissolved before the face of peace; noxious diseases depart now that salvation looks forth; and the whole universe has been filled with the pure and clear light of truth. To which things Solomon alludes in the Book of Canticles, and begins thus: “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feedeth among the lilies until the day break, and the shadows flee away.”[Song of Solomon 2:16-17] Since then, the God of gods hath appeared in Sion, and the splendour of His beauty hath appeared in Jerusalem; and “a light has sprung up for the righteous, and joy for those who are true of heart.” According to the blessed David, the Perfecter and ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 457, footnote 11 (Image)

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

Constitutions of the Holy Apostles (HTML)

Book VI (HTML)

Sec. III.—The Heresies Attacked by the Apostles (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3248 (In-Text, Margin)

... come;” who are both more wicked than the Jews and more atheistical than the Gentiles; who blaspheme the God over all, and tread under foot His Son, and do despite to the doctrine of the Spirit; who deny the words of God, or pretend hypocritically to receive them, to the affronting of God, and the deceiving of those that come among them; who abuse the Holy Scriptures, and as for righteousness, they do not so much as know what it is; who spoil the Church of God, as the “little foxes do the vineyard;”[Song of Solomon 2:15] whom we exhort you to avoid, lest you lay traps for your own souls. “For he that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but he that walketh with the foolish shall be known.” For we ought neither to run along with a thief, nor put in our lot with an ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 593, footnote 4 (Image)

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

Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)

The Passing of Mary: First Latin Form. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2648 (In-Text, Margin)

And when the Lord’s day came, at the third hour, just as the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles in a cloud, so Christ descended with a multitude of angels, and received the soul of His beloved mother. For there was such splendour and perfume of sweetness, and angels singing the songs of songs, where the Lord says, As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters,[Song of Solomon 2:2] that all who were there present fell on their faces, as the apostles fell when Christ transfigured Himself before them on Mount Thabor, and for a whole hour and a half no one was able to rise. But when the light went away, and at the same time with the light itself, the soul of the blessed virgin Mary was ...

Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 316, footnote 5 (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 a Sword. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 4623 (In-Text, Margin)

... came not to bring peace on the earth, that is, to corporeal and sensible things, but a sword, and to cut through, if I may say so, the disastrous friendship of soul and body, so that the soul, committing herself to the spirit which was against the flesh, may enter into friendship with God. Hence, according to the prophetic word, He made His mouth as a sword, as a sharp sword. Can any one behold so many wounded by the divine love, like her in the Song of Songs, who complained that she was wounded:[Song of Solomon 2:5] “I am wounded with love,” and find the dart that wounded so many souls for the love of God, in any but Him who said, “He hath made Me as a chosen shaft.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 195, footnote 8 (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)

That Out of the Children of the Night and of the Darkness, Children of the Light and of the Day are Made. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1247 (In-Text, Margin)

... Unto it doth my faith speak which Thou hast kindled to enlighten my feet in the night, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God;” His “word is a lamp unto my feet.” Hope and endure until the night,—the mother of the wicked,—until the anger of the Lord be overpast, whereof we also were once children who were sometimes darkness, the remains whereof we carry about us in our body, dead on account of sin, “until the day break and the shadows flee away.”[Song of Solomon 2:17] “Hope thou in the Lord.” In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and contemplate Thee; I shall for ever confess unto Thee. In the morning I shall stand in Thy presence, and shall see “the health of my countenance,” my God, who also shall ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 196, footnote 10 (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 Firmament and Upper Works, Ver. 6. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1282 (In-Text, Margin)

... end of the world. Yea, both heaven and earth shall pass away, but Thy Words shall not pass away. Because the scroll shall be rolled together, and the grass over which it was spread shall with its goodliness pass away; but Thy Word remaineth for ever, which now appeareth unto us in the dark image of the clouds, and through the glass of the heavens, not as it is; because we also, although we be the well-beloved of Thy Son, yet it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. He looketh through the lattice[Song of Solomon 2:9] of our flesh, and He is fair-speaking, and hath inflamed us, and we run after His odours. But “when He shall appear, then shall we be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” As He is, O Lord, shall we see Him, although the time be not yet.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 303, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine

City of God (HTML)

The progress of the earthly and heavenly cities traced by the sacred history. (HTML)

Of the Fall of the Sons of God Who Were Captivated by the Daughters of Men, Whereby All, with the Exception of Eight Persons, Deservedly Perished in the Deluge. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 841 (In-Text, Margin)

But if the Creator is truly loved, that is, if He Himself is loved and not another thing in His stead, He cannot be evilly loved; for love itself is to be ordinately loved, because we do well to love that which, when we love it, makes us live well and virtuously. So that it seems to me that it is a brief but true definition of virtue to say, it is the order of love; and on this account, in the Canticles, the bride of Christ, the city of God, sings, “Order love within me.”[Song of Solomon 2:4] It was the order of this love, then, this charity or attachment, which the sons of God disturbed when they forsook God, and were enamored of the daughters of men. And by these two names (sons of God and daughters of men) the two cities are sufficiently ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 205, footnote 2 (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 asserts that even if the Old Testament could be shown to contain predictions, it would be of interest only to the Jews, pagan literature subserving the same purpose for Gentiles. Augustin shows the value of prophesy for Gentiles and Jews alike. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 518 (In-Text, Margin)

... judgment to himself, while he who neglects to eat it shall not have life in him, and so shall never reach eternal life. He will understand, too, that the good are called few as compared with the multitude of the evil, but that as scattered over the world there are very many growing among the tares, and mixed with the chaff, till the day of harvest and of purging. As this is taught in the Gospel, so is it foretold by the prophets. We read, "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved among the daughters;"[Song of Solomon 2:2] and again, "I have dwelt in the tabernacles of Kedar; peaceful among them that hated peace;" and again, "Mark in the forehead those who sigh and cry for the iniquities of my people, which are done in the midst of them." The inquirer would be ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 477, footnote 2 (Image)

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

Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)

On Baptism, Against the Donatists. (HTML)

He examines the last part of the epistle of Cyprian to Jubaianus, together with his epistle to Quintus, the letter of the African synod to the Numidian bishops, and Cyprian’s epistle to Pompeius. (HTML)

Chapter 27 (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1571 (In-Text, Margin)

... some one would tell me how they "crept into the garden enclosed and the fountain sealed," of whom Cyprian bears witness that they renounced the world in word and not in deed, and that yet they were within the Church. For if they both are themselves there, and are themselves the bride of Christ, can she then be as she is described "without spot or wrinkle," and is the fair dove defiled with such a portion of her members? Are these the thorns among which she is a lily, as it is said in the same Song?[Song of Solomon 2:2] So far therefore, as the lily extends, so far does "the garden enclosed and the fountain sealed," namely, through all those just persons who are Jews inwardly in the circumcision of the heart (for "the king’s daughter is all glorious within"), in ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 421, 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)

On the words of the Gospel, Luke ix. 57, etc., where the case of the three persons is treated of, of whom one said, ‘I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest,’ and was disallowed: another did not dare to offer himself, and was aroused; the third wished to delay, and was blamed. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3254 (In-Text, Margin)

... dead bury their dead.’ Thy father is dead: there are other dead men to bury the dead.” Who are the dead who bury the dead? Can a dead man be buried by dead men? How can they lay him out, if they are dead? How can they carry him, if they are dead? How can they bewail him, if they are dead? Yet they do lay him out, and carry, and bewail him, and they are dead; because they are unbelievers. That which is written in the Song of Songs is a lesson to us, when the Church says, “Set in order love in me.”[Song of Solomon 2:4] What is, “Set in order love in me”? Make the proper degrees, and render to each what is his due. Do not put what should come before, below that which should come after it. Love your parents, but prefer God to them. Mark the mother of the Maccabees, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 167, footnote 2 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm XLVIII (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1589 (In-Text, Margin)

... who heareth, and holdeth, and doeth what the Apostle saith, “We beseech you that ye receive not the Grace of God in vain.” Whoso then receiveth not the Grace of God in vain, the same receiveth not only the Sacrament, but also the Mercy of God as well.…So those who have the Sacraments, and have not good manners, are both said to be of God, and not of God; are both said to be His, and to be strangers: His because of His own Sacraments, strangers because of their own vice. So also strange daughters:[Song of Solomon 2:2] daughters, because of the form of godliness; strange, because of their loss of virtue. Be the lily there; let it receive the Mercy of God: hold fast the root of a good flower, be not ungrateful for soft rain coming from heaven. Be thorns ungrateful, ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 640, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXXXIX (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5738 (In-Text, Margin)

19. Since then the Body of Christ is in the end to be severed in body also from the unholy and wicked, but now meanwhile groaneth among them, what doeth the “love of Christ among the daughters, as the lily among thorns”?[Song of Solomon 2:2] What are her words? what her conscience? what is the “appearance of the king’s daughter within”? Lo, hear what she saith. “Prove me, O God, and know my heart” (ver. 23). Do Thou, O God, Thou prove me, Thou know; not man, not an heretic, who neither knoweth how to prove, nor can know my heart, whereas Thou provest, and knowest that I consent not to the deeds of the wicked, while they ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 643, footnote 3 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXL (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5754 (In-Text, Margin)

... life, here “coals of fire shall fall upon them.” What are, “coals of fire”? We know these coals. Are they different from those of which we are about to speak? For these I see avail for punishment, those that I am about to speak of, for salvation. For we have spoken of certain coals, when man was seeking aid against a treacherous tongue.…The examples of the “coals” are added to the wound of the arrows (for I need not fear to say “the wound,” when the Spouse herself saith, “I am wounded with love”[Song of Solomon 2:5]), and then the hay is consumed, and so they are called “devouring coals.” The hay is devoured, but the gold is purified, and the man exchanges death for life, and begins to be himself too a burning coal; such a coal as was the Apostle, “who before ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 655, footnote 10 (Image)

Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms

Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)

Psalm CXLIV (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 5851 (In-Text, Margin)

... “gather themselves together against the Lord, and against His Christ.” They have come together, they have conspired. “Flash forth Thy lightnings, and Thou shalt scatter them.” Abound with Thy miracles, and their conspiracy shall be broken.…“Send forth Thine arrows, and Thou shalt confound them.” Let the unsound be wounded, that, being well wounded, they may be made sound; and let them say, being set now in the Church, in the Body of Christ, let them say with the Church, “I am wounded with Love.”[Song of Solomon 2:5] “Send forth Thine Hand from on high.” What afterward? What in the end? How conquereth the Body of Christ? By heavenly aid. “For the Lord Himself shall come with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God shall He descend from heaven,” ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 389, footnote 3 (Image)

Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes

The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch. (HTML)

Homily VI (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1331 (In-Text, Margin)

... make him manifest to all who are amended, that by reproving, rebuking, and correcting, we may quickly deliver him from this evil habit. For better it is that he should amend through being reproached here, than that he should be put to shame, and punished, in the presence of the whole assembled universe, on that Day, when our sins shall be revealed to the eyes of all men! But God forbid that any in this fair assembly should appear there suffering such things! but by the prayers of the holy fathers,[Song of Solomon 2:5] correcting all our offences, and hav ing shown forth the abundant fruit of virtue, may we depart hence with much confidence, through the grace and lovingkindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom, and with whom, be glory to the Father together ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 320, 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 2110 (In-Text, Margin)

They who are blessed by the boons of God and have learnt to know these passages and others like them, kindled with warm love for their bountiful Master, constantly carry on their lips this His dearest name and cry in the words of the Song of Songs “My beloved is mine and I am his;” “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”[Song of Solomon 2:3] And besides all this that name of ours which we love so well we have derived from the name of Christ. We are called Christians.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 320, 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 2110 (In-Text, Margin)

They who are blessed by the boons of God and have learnt to know these passages and others like them, kindled with warm love for their bountiful Master, constantly carry on their lips this His dearest name and cry in the words of the Song of Songs “My beloved is mine and I am his;” “I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”[Song of Solomon 2:16] And besides all this that name of ours which we love so well we have derived from the name of Christ. We are called Christians.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 18, footnote 10 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pope Damasus. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 262 (In-Text, Margin)

1. Since the East, shattered as it is by the long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the Lord, “woven from the top throughout,” since the foxes are destroying the vineyard of Christ,[Song of Solomon 2:15] and since among the broken cisterns that hold no water it is hard to discover “the sealed fountain” and “the garden inclosed,” I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ. The wide space of sea and land that lies between ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 29, footnote 17 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 470 (In-Text, Margin)

... that virginity is natural while wedlock only follows guilt, what is born of wedlock is virgin flesh, and it gives back in fruit what in root it has lost. “There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a flower shall grow out of his roots.” The rod is the mother of the Lord—simple, pure, unsullied; drawing no germ of life from without but fruitful in singleness like God Himself. The flower of the rod is Christ, who says of Himself: “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.”[Song of Solomon 2:1] In another place He is foretold to be “a stone cut out of the mountain without hands,” a figure by which the prophet signifies that He is to be born a virgin of a virgin. For the hands are here a figure of wedlock as in the passage: “His left hand ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 29, footnote 19 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 472 (In-Text, Margin)

... unsullied; drawing no germ of life from without but fruitful in singleness like God Himself. The flower of the rod is Christ, who says of Himself: “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valleys.” In another place He is foretold to be “a stone cut out of the mountain without hands,” a figure by which the prophet signifies that He is to be born a virgin of a virgin. For the hands are here a figure of wedlock as in the passage: “His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace me.”[Song of Solomon 2:6] It agrees, also, with this interpretation that the unclean animals are led into Noah’s ark in pairs, while of the clean an uneven number is taken. Similarly, when Moses and Joshua were bidden to remove their shoes because the ground on which they ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 41, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 668 (In-Text, Margin)

... meet you, accompanied by her virgin choirs! When, the Red Sea past and Pharaoh drowned with his host, Miriam, Aaron’s sister, her timbrel in her hand, shall chant to the answering women: “Sing ye unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Then shall Thecla fly with joy to embrace you. Then shall your Spouse himself come forward and say: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo! the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.”[Song of Solomon 2:10-11] Then shall the angels say with wonder: “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun?” “The daughters shall see you and bless you; yea, the queens shall proclaim and the concubines shall praise you.” And, after ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 61, footnote 13 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

Paula and Eustochium to Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 955 (In-Text, Margin)

3. Perhaps you will tacitly reprove us for deserting the order of Scripture, and letting our confused account ramble this way and that, as one thing or another strikes us. If so, we say once more what we said at the outset: love has no logic, and impatience knows no rule. In the Song of Songs the precept is given as a hard one: “Regulate your love towards me.”[Song of Solomon 2:4] And so we plead that, if we err, we do so not from ignorance but from feeling.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 138, footnote 6 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pammachius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1964 (In-Text, Margin)

... the treasure which in the scriptures a man finds in his field. He is the peerless gem which is bought by selling many pearls. But if you love a captive woman, that is, worldly wisdom, and if no beauty but hers attracts you, make her bald and cut off her alluring hair, that is to say, the graces of style, and pare away her dead nails. Wash her with the nitre of which the prophet speaks, and then take your ease with her and say “Her left hand is under my head, and her right hand doth embrace me.”[Song of Solomon 2:6] Then shall the captive bring to you many children; from a Moabitess she shall become an Israelitish woman. Christ is that sanctification without which no man shall see the face of God. Christ is our redemption, for He is at once our Redeemer and our ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 138, footnote 16 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pammachius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1974 (In-Text, Margin)

... your soul loveth, and boldly say: “I sleep, but my heart waketh.” And when you have found him and taken hold of him, let him not go. And if you fall asleep for a moment and He escapes from your hands, do not forthwith despair. Go out into the streets and charge the daughters of Jerusalem: then shall you find him lying down in the noontide weary and drunk with passion, or wet with the dew of night by the flocks of his companions, or fragrant with many kinds of spices, amid the apples of the garden.[Song of Solomon 2:5] There give to him your breasts, let him suck your learned bosom, let him rest in the midst of his heritage, his feathers as those of a dove overlaid with silver and his inward parts with the brightness of gold. This young child, this mere boy, who ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 155, footnote 5 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Theodora. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2273 (In-Text, Margin)

... by the word of the Lord. For it is said: “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction,” and in the next verse: “An east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up.” For, as Isaiah says, “there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots”: and He says Himself in the Song of Songs, “I am the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley.”[Song of Solomon 2:1] Our rose is the destruction of death, and died that death itself might die in His dying. But, when it is said that He is to be brought “from the wilderness,” the virgin’s womb is indicated, which without sexual intercourse or impregnation has given ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 187, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Pammachius and Marcella. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 2646 (In-Text, Margin)

1. Once more with the return of spring I enrich you with the wares of the east and send the treasures of Alexandria to Rome: as it is written, “God shall come from the south and the Holy One from Mount Paran, even a thick shadow.” (Hence in the Song of Songs the joyous cry of the bride: “I sat down under his shadow with great delight and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”[Song of Solomon 2:3]) Now truly is Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled: “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the land of Egypt.” “Where sin hath abounded, grace doth much more abound.” They who fostered the infant Christ now with glowing faith defend Him in His manhood; and they who once saved Him from the hands of Herod are ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 211, footnote 2 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Eustochium. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3006 (In-Text, Margin)

... (which comes at last to all) into the praise of the Lord. The bishop of Jerusalem and some from other cities were present, also a great number of the inferior clergy, both priests and levites. The entire monastery was filled with bodies of virgins and monks. As soon as Paula heard the bridegroom saying: “Rise up my love my fair one, my dove, and come away: for, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone,” she answered joyfully “the flowers appear on the earth; the time to cut them has come”[Song of Solomon 2:10-12] and “I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.”

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 265, footnote 16 (Image)

Jerome: Letters and Select Works

The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)

To Demetrius. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3679 (In-Text, Margin)

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 96, footnote 6 (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 1698 (In-Text, Margin)

9. And whence hath the Saviour risen? He says in the Song of Songs: Rise up, come, My neighbour[Song of Solomon 2:10]: and in what follows, in a cave of the rock! A cave of the rock He called the cave which was erewhile before the door of the Saviour’s sepulchre, and had been hewn out of the rock itself, as is wont to be done here in front of the sepulchres. For now it is not to be seen, since the outer cave was cut away at that time for the sake of the present adornment. For before the decoration of the sepulchre by the royal munificence, there was a ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 96, footnote 9 (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 1701 (In-Text, Margin)

... the outer cave was cut away at that time for the sake of the present adornment. For before the decoration of the sepulchre by the royal munificence, there was a cave in the front of the rock. But where is the rock that had in it the cave? Does it lie near the middle of the city, or near the walls and the outskirts? And whether is it within the ancient walls, or within the outer walls which were built afterwards? He says then in the Canticles: in a cave of the rock, close to the outer wall[Song of Solomon 2:14].

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 96, footnote 10 (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 1702 (In-Text, Margin)

10. At what season does the Saviour rise? Is it the season of summer, or some other? In the same Canticles immediately before the words quoted He says, The winter is past, the rain is past and gone[Song of Solomon 2:11]; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the pruning is come. Is not then the earth full of flowers now, and are they not pruning the vines? Thou seest how he said also that the winter is now past. For when this month Xanthicus is come, it is already spring. And this is the season, the first month with the Hebrews, in which occurs the festival of the Passover, the typical formerly, but now ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 96, footnote 11 (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 1703 (In-Text, Margin)

10. At what season does the Saviour rise? Is it the season of summer, or some other? In the same Canticles immediately before the words quoted He says, The winter is past, the rain is past and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the pruning is come[Song of Solomon 2:12]. Is not then the earth full of flowers now, and are they not pruning the vines? Thou seest how he said also that the winter is now past. For when this month Xanthicus is come, it is already spring. And this is the season, the first month with the Hebrews, in which occurs the festival of the Passover, the typical formerly, but now the true. This is the season of the ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 116, footnote 6 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)

Introduction. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1018 (In-Text, Margin)

11. Here, again, other mysteries come up, in that his wife is taken away, and for this foxes set fire to the sheaves of the aliens. For their own cunning often deceives those who contend against divine mysteries. Wherefore it is said again in the Song of Songs: “Take us the little foxes which destroy the vineyards, that our vineyards may flourish.”[Song of Solomon 2:15] He said well “little,” because the larger could not destroy the vineyards, though to the strong even the devil is weak.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 119, footnote 10 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

On the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

Book II. (HTML)

Chapter V. The Holy Spirit, as well as the Father and the Son, is pointed out in holy Scripture as Creator, and the same truth was shadowed forth even by heathen writers, but it was shown most plainly in the Mystery of the Incarnation, after touching upon which, the writer maintains his argument from the fact that worship which is due to the Creator alone is paid to the Holy Spirit. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1055 (In-Text, Margin)

... is the Fruit of thy womb.” The flower from the root is the work of the Spirit, that flower, I say, of which it was well prophesied: “A rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his root.” The root of Jesse the patriarch is the family of the Jews, Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, Who, about to spread the good odour of faith throughout the whole world, budded forth from a virgin womb, as He Himself said: “I am the flower of the plain, a lily of the valley.”[Song of Solomon 2:1]

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 370, footnote 1 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Virgins. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)

Chapter VIII. Taking the passage concerning the honeycomb in the Song of Songs, he expounds it, comparing the sacred virgins to bees. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3201 (In-Text, Margin)

43. And I also point out to you what flower is to be culled, that one it is Who said: “I am the Flower of the field, and the Lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns,”[Song of Solomon 2:1-2] which is a plain declaration that virtues are surrounded by the thorns of spiritual wickedness, so that no one can gather the fruit who does not approach with caution.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 370, footnote 6 (Image)

Ambrose: Select Works and Letters

Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)

Concerning Virgins. (HTML)

Book I. (HTML)

Chapter IX. Other passages from the Song of Songs are considered with relation to the present subject, and St. Ambrose exhorting the virgin to seek for Christ, points out where He may be found. A description of His perfections follows, and a comparison is made between virgins and the angels. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 3206 (In-Text, Margin)

46. To work, then, O Virgin, and if you wish your garden to be sweet after this sort, enclose it with the precepts of the prophets: “Set a watch before thy mouth, and a door to thy lips,” that you, too, may be able to say: “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. In His shadow I delighted and sat down, and His fruit was sweet to my palate.[Song of Solomon 2:3] I found Him Whom my soul loved, I held Him and would not let him go. My beloved came down into His garden to eat the fruit of His trees. Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the field. Set me as a signet upon Thine heart, and as a seal upon Thine arm. My Beloved is white and ruddy.” For it is fitting, O ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 357, footnote 2 (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 VI. Conference of Abbot Theodore. On the Death of the Saints. (HTML)

Chapter X. Of the excellence of the perfect man who is figuratively spoken of as ambidextrous. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1396 (In-Text, Margin)

... lang="EL">ἀμφοτεροδέξιον, i.e., ambidextrous. For they can use either hand as the right hand, and passing through those things which the Apostle enumerates can fairly say: “Through the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, through honour and dishonour, through evil report and good report, etc.” And of this right and left hand Solomon speaks as follows in the Song of songs, in the person of the bride: “His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.”[Song of Solomon 2:6] And while this passage shows that both are useful, yet it puts one under the head, because misfortunes ought to be subject to the control of the heart, since they are only useful for this; viz., to train us for a time and discipline us for our ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 454, footnote 9 (Image)

Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian

The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)

The Conferences of John Cassian. Part II. Containing Conferences XI-XVII. (HTML)

Conference XVI. The First Conference of Abbot Joseph. On Friendship. (HTML)

Chapter XIV. On the different grades of love. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 1987 (In-Text, Margin)

... coldness in love for the rest of the disciples, but only a fuller and more abundant love towards the one, which his prerogative of virginity and the purity of his flesh bestowed upon him. And therefore it is marked by exceptional treatment, as being something more sublime, because no hateful comparison with others, but a richer grace of superabundant love singled it out. Something of this sort too we have in the character of the bride in the Song of Songs, where she says: “Set in order love in me.”[Song of Solomon 2:4] For this is true love set in order, which, while it hates no one, yet loves some still more by reason of their deserving it, and which, while it loves all in general, singles out for itself some from those, whom it may embrace with a special ...

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 246, footnote 2 (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 XI. The Virgin Mother to Her Child. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 480 (In-Text, Margin)

The little flower was faint, because the smell of the Lily[Song of Solomon 2:1] of Glory was great. The Treasure-house of spices stood in no need of flower or its smells! Flesh stood aloof because it perceived in the womb a Conception from the Spirit.

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 246, footnote 6 (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 XII. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 484 (In-Text, Margin)

The free woman, my Son, is Thy handmaid: also if she who is in bondage serve Thee, in Thee she is free: in Thee she shall be comforted, because she is freed; hidden apples in her bosom are stored up,[Song of Solomon 2:3] if she love Thee!

Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 13, page 298, footnote 5 (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: The Pearl. Seven Hymns on the Faith. (HTML)

Hymn VI. (HTML)

CCEL Footnote 545 (In-Text, Margin)

He blamed the righteous, and He held up and lifted up [to view] their delinquencies: He pitied sinners, and restored them without cost: and made low the mountains of their sins: He proved that God is not to be arraigned by men, and as Lord of Truth, that His servants were His shadow; and whatsoever way His will looked, they directed also their own wills; and because Light was in Him,[Song of Solomon 2:17] their shadows were enlightened.