Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Jeremiah 8:4
There are 14 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 54, footnote 4 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Ignatius (HTML)
Epistle to the Ephesians: Shorter and Longer Versions (HTML)
Chapter X.—Exhortations to prayer, humility, etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 557 (In-Text, Margin)
And pray ye without ceasing in behalf of other men; for there is hope of the repentance, that they may attain to God. For “cannot he that falls arise again, and he that goes astray return?”[Jeremiah 8:4] Permit them, then, to be instructed by you. Be ye therefore the ministers of God, and the mouth of Christ. For thus saith the Lord, “If ye take forth the precious from the vile, ye shall be as my mouth.” Be ye humble in response to their wrath; oppose to their blasphemies your earnest prayers; while they go astray, stand ye stedfast in the faith. Conquer ye their harsh temper by gentleness, their ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 3, page 663, footnote 12 (Image)
Tertullian (I, II, III)
Ethical. (HTML)
On Repentance. (HTML)
Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord's Willingness to Pardon. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 8496 (In-Text, Margin)
... “fornication,” and “eating of things sacrificed to idols;” accuses the Sardians of “works not full;” censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance—under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one un repentant if He did not forgive the repentant. The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Saith He not,[Jeremiah 8:4] “He who hath fallen shall rise again, and he who hath been a verted shall be con verted?” He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.” The heavens, and the angels who are there, are glad at a man’s repentance. Ho! ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 556, footnote 12 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
In the fifth Psalm: “But in the grave who will confess unto Thee?” Also in the twenty-ninth Psalm: “Shall the dust make confession to Thee?” Also elsewhere that confession is to be made: “I would rather have the repentance of the sinner than his death.” Also in Jeremiah: “Thus saith the Lord, Shall not he that falleth arise? or shall not he that is turned away be converted?”[Jeremiah 8:4]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 593, footnote 7 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
Treatises Attributed to Cyprian on Questionable Authority. (HTML)
Exhortation to Repentance. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4908 (In-Text, Margin)
Also in the same: “Thus saith the Lord, Does not he that falleth arise? or he that turns away, shall he not be turned back? Because this people hath turned itself away by a shameless vision, and they have persisted in their presumption, and would not be converted.”[Jeremiah 8:4]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 6, page 367, footnote 8 (Image)
Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius
Methodius. (HTML)
From the Discourse on the Resurrection. (HTML)
Part I. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2879 (In-Text, Margin)
... earth.” For it is not that which is not dead, but that which is dead, that is laid down. But it is the flesh which dies; the soul is immortal. So, then, if the soul be immortal, and the body be the corpse, those who say that there is a resurrection, but not of the flesh, deny any resurrection; because it is not that which remains standing, but that which has fallen and been laid down, that is set up; according to that which is written, “Does not he who falls rise again, and he who turns aside return?”[Jeremiah 8:4]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, page 400, footnote 10 (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. III.—How the Bishop is to Treat the Innocent, the Guilty, and the Penitent (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2652 (In-Text, Margin)
XIV. But if thou refusest to receive him that repents, thou exposest him to those who lie in wait to destroy, forgetting what David says: “Deliver not my soul, which confesses to Thee, unto destroying beasts.” Wherefore Jeremiah, when he is exhorting men to repentance, says thus: “Shall not he that falleth arise? or he that turneth away, cannot he return? Wherefore have my people gone back by a shameless backsliding? and they are hardened in their purpose.[Jeremiah 8:4-5] Turn, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.” Receive, therefore, without any doubting, him that repents. Be not hindered by such unmerciful men, who say that we must not be defiled with such as those, nor so much as speak to them: for such advice ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 617, footnote 6 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
The Decretals. (HTML)
The Epistles of Pope Callistus. (HTML)
To All the Bishops of Gaul. (HTML)
As to whether a priest may minister after a lapse. (HTML)
... the keys committed to the Church, whereof it is said: “Whatsoever ye shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven.” And in short, this opinion either is not the Lord’s, or it is true. But be that as it may, we believe without hesitation, that both the priests of the Lord and other believers may return to their honours after a proper satisfaction for their error, as the Lord Himself testifies by His prophet: “Shall he who falls not also rise again? and shall he who turns away not return?”[Jeremiah 8:4] And in another passage the Lord says: “I desire not the death of the sinner, but that he may turn, and live.” And the prophet David, on his repentance, said: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.” And he ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 96, footnote 1 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall. (HTML)
Letter I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 237 (In-Text, Margin)
... and commands, we shall not have anything less on account of the short space of time: many at least who were last have far outstripped those who were first. For to have fallen is not a grievous thing, but to remain prostrate after falling, and not to get up again; and, playing the coward and the sluggard, to conceal feebleness of moral purpose under the reasoning of despair. To whom also the prophet spoke in perplexity saying “Doth he who falleth not rise up, or he who turneth away not turn back?”[Jeremiah 8:4] But if you inquire of me for instances of persons who have fallen away after having believed, all these things have been said with reference to such persons, for he who has fallen belonged formerly to those who were standing, not to those who were ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 9, page 114, footnote 7 (Image)
Chrysostom: On the Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the Statutes
An Exhortation to Theodore After His Fall. (HTML)
Letter II (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 324 (In-Text, Margin)
... obtained what they asked for, long ago, if only thou hadst been willing to withdraw thyself a little space out of the hands of the enemy. Now then is it not strange that, whilst others do not even now despair of thy salvation, but are continually praying that they may have their member restored to them, thou thyself, having once fallen, art unwilling to get up again, and remainest prostrate, all but crying aloud to the enemy: “Slay me, smite me, spare not?” “Does he who falls not rise up again?”[Jeremiah 8:4] speaks the divine oracle. But thou art striving against this and contradicting it; for if one who has fallen despairs it is as much as to say that he who falls does not rise up again. I entreat thee do not so great a wrong to thyself; do not pour ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 56, footnote 5 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Marcella. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 886 (In-Text, Margin)
... but third. For while they put first the patriarchs of Pepusa in Phrygia, and place next to these the ministers called stewards, the bishops are relegated to the third or almost the lowest rank. No doubt their object is to make their religion more pretentious by putting that last which we put first. Again they close the doors of the Church to almost every fault, whilst we read daily, “I desire the repentance of a sinner rather than his death,” and “Shall they fall and not arise, saith the Lord,”[Jeremiah 8:4] and once more “Return ye backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings.” Their strictness does not prevent them from themselves committing grave sins, far from it; but there is this difference between us and them, that, whereas they in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 225, footnote 17 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Rusticus. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3130 (In-Text, Margin)
... Nothing makes God so angry as when men from despair of better things cleave to those which are worse; and indeed this despair in itself is a sign of unbelief. One who despairs of salvation can have no expectation of a judgment to come. For if he dreaded such, he would by doing good works prepare to meet his Judge. Let us hear what God says through Jeremiah, “withhold thy foot from a rough way and thy throat from thirst” and again “shall they fall, and not arise? Shall he turn away, and not return?”[Jeremiah 8:4] Let us hear also what God says by Isaiah: “When thou shalt turn and bewail thyself, then shalt thou be saved, and then shalt thou know where thou hast hitherto been.” We do not realize the miseries of sickness till returning health reveals them to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 147, footnote 3 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a lapsed Monk. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2096 (In-Text, Margin)
... shake off the stupor that enwraps you, make a stand against the foe who has struck you down. Make an effort to rise from the ground. Remember the good Shepherd who will follow and rescue you. Though it be but two legs or a lobe of an ear, spring back from the beast that has wounded you. Remember the mercies of God and how He cures with oil and wine. Do not despair of salvation. Recall your recollection of how it is written in the Scriptures that he who is falling rises and he who turns away returns;[Jeremiah 8:4] the wounded is healed, the prey of beasts escapes; he who owns his sin is not rejected. The Lord willeth not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn and live. Do not despise, like the wicked in the pit of evil. There is a time of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 151, footnote 6 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
The Letters. (HTML)
To a fallen virgin. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2143 (In-Text, Margin)
5. In such a state of things as this, “Shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return?”[Jeremiah 8:4] Why did the virgin turn shamefully away, though she had heard Christ her bridegroom saying through the mouth of Jeremiah, “And I said, after she had done all these things (committed all these fornications, LXX.), turn thou unto me, but she returned not?” “Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?” You might indeed find many remedies for evil in Scripture, many ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 423, footnote 5 (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 XIII. The Third Conference of Abbot Chæremon. On the Protection of God. (HTML)
Chapter III. The answer that without God's help not only perfect chastity but all good of every kind cannot be performed. (HTML)
... fruits of your righteousness to increase.” But it is for us, humbly to follow day by day the grace of God which is drawing us, or else if we resist with “a stiff neck,” and (to use the words of Scripture) “uncircumcised ears,” we shall deserve to hear the words of Jeremiah: “Shall he that falleth, not rise again? and he that is turned away, shall he not turn again? Why then is this people in Jerusalem turned away with a stubborn revolting? They have stiffened their necks and refused to return.”[Jeremiah 8:4-5]