Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Matthew 8:11
There are 31 footnotes for this reference.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 236, footnote 10 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter LXXVI.—From other passages the same majesty and government of Christ are proved. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2236 (In-Text, Margin)
... of those truths which He did teach when He came [to earth]? For He alone taught openly those mighty counsels which the Father designed both for all those who have been and shall be well-pleasing to Him, and also for those who have rebelled against His will, whether men or angels, when He said: ‘They shall come from the east [and from the west], and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven: but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’[Matthew 8:11] And, ‘Many shall say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not eaten, and drunk, and prophesied, and cast out demons in Thy name? And I will say to them, Depart from Me.’ Again, in other words, by which He shall condemn those who are unworthy of ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 259, footnote 8 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter CXX.—Christians were promised to Isaac, Jacob, and Judah. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2410 (In-Text, Margin)
... nation in two, and to raise those worthy of the honour to the everlasting kingdom along with the holy patriarchs and prophets; but He has said that He will send others to the condemnation of the unquenchable fire along with similar disobedient and impenitent men from all the nations. ‘For they shall come,’ He said, ‘from the west and from the east, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’[Matthew 8:11] And I have mentioned these things, taking nothing whatever into consideration, except the speaking of the truth, and refusing to be coerced by any one, even though I should be forthwith torn in pieces by you. For I gave no thought to any of my ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 269, footnote 10 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Justin Martyr (HTML)
Dialogue with Trypho (HTML)
Chapter CXL.—In Christ all are free. The Jews hope for salvation in vain because they are sons of Abraham. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2489 (In-Text, Margin)
... Isaiah says: ‘They shall look on the carcases of them that have transgressed: their worm shall not cease, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh.’ And our Lord, according to the will of Him that sent Him, who is the Father and Lord of all, would not have said, ‘They shall come from the east, and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’[Matthew 8:11] Furthermore, I have proved in what has preceded, that those who were foreknown to be unrighteous, whether men or angels, are not made wicked by God’s fault, but each man by his own fault is what he will appear to be.
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 470, footnote 15 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter VIII.—Vain attempts of Marcion and his followers, who exclude Abraham from the salvation bestowed by Christ, who liberated not only Abraham, but the seed of Abraham, by fulfilling and not destroying the law when He healed on the Sabbath-day. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3882 (In-Text, Margin)
... Abraham from the inheritance, to whom the Spirit through many men, and now by Paul, bears witness, that “he believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.” And the Lord [also bears witness to him,] in the first place, indeed, by raising up children to him from the stones, and making his seed as the stars of heaven, saying, “They shall come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven;”[Matthew 8:11] and then again by saying to the Jews, “When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven, but you yourselves cast out.” This, then, is a clear point, that those who disallow his salvation, and frame the ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 518, footnote 7 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book IV (HTML)
Chapter XXXVI.—The prophets were sent from one and the same Father from whom the Son was sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4393 (In-Text, Margin)
... and those [who lived under the first covenant], is the same Word of God who did both visit them through the prophetic Spirit, and us also who have been called together from all quarters by His advent; in addition to what has been already said, He truly declared, “Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[Matthew 8:11-12] If, then, those who do believe in Him through the preaching of His apostles throughout the east and west shall recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven, partaking with them of the [heavenly] banquet, one and the same God is ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1, page 560, footnote 2 (Image)
Apostolic Fathers, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus
Irenæus (HTML)
Against Heresies: Book V (HTML)
Chapter XXX.—Although certain as to the number of the name of Antichrist, yet we should come to no rash conclusions as to the name itself, because this number is capable of being fitted to many names. Reasons for this point being reserved by the Holy Spirit. Antichrist’s reign and death. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4709 (In-Text, Margin)
... three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared, that “many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”[Matthew 8:11]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 451, footnote 3 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
On the Lord's Prayer. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3337 (In-Text, Margin)
... earthly, but heavenly kingdoms. But there is need of continual prayer and supplication, that we fall not away from the heavenly kingdom, as the Jews, to whom this promise had first been given, fell away; even as the Lord sets forth and proves: “Many,” says He, “shall come from the east and from the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[Matthew 8:11] He shows that the Jews were previously children of the kingdom, so long as they continued also to be children of God; but after the name of Father ceased to be recognised among them, the kingdom also ceased; and therefore we Christians, who in our ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 5, page 514, footnote 18 (Image)
Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix
Cyprian. (HTML)
The Treatises of Cyprian. (HTML)
Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
In the Gospel the Lord says: “Many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall lie down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall go out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”[Matthew 8:11-12]
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 135, footnote 5 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Recognitions of Clement. (HTML)
Book IV. (HTML)
The Harvest Plenteous. (HTML)
... see, brethren, how every word of the Lord spoken prophetically is fulfilled. For I remember that He said, ‘The harvest indeed is plenteous, but the labourers are few; ask therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send out labourers into His harvest.’ Behold, therefore, the things which are foretold in a mystery are fulfilled. But whereas He said also, ‘Many shall come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and shall recline in the bosom of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob;’[Matthew 8:11] this also is, as you see, in like manner fulfilled. Wherefore I entreat you, my fellow-servants and helpers, that you would learn diligently the order of preaching, and the ways of absolutions, that ye may be able to save the souls of men, which by ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 271, footnote 2 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Pseudo-Clementine Literature. (HTML)
The Clementine Homilies. (HTML)
Homily VIII. (HTML)
Many Called. (HTML)
Then Peter, wondering at the eagerness of the multitudes, answered, “You see, brethren, how the words of our Lord are manifestly fulfilled. For I remember His saying, ‘Many shall come from the east and from the west, the north and the south, and shall recline on the bosoms of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’[Matthew 8:11] ‘But many,’ said He also, ‘are called, but few chosen.’ The coming, therefore, of these called ones is fulfilled. But inasmuch as it is not of themselves, but of God who has called them and caused them to come, on this account alone they have no reward, since it is not of themselves but of Him who has wrought in them. But if, after being ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 8, page 469, footnote 7 (Image)
Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Clementina, Apocryphal Gospels and Acts, Syriac Documents
Apocrypha of the New Testament. (HTML)
The Narrative of Joseph. (HTML)
Chapter 3. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2043 (In-Text, Margin)
And the robber having thus spoken, Jesus says to him: Amen, amen; I say to thee, Demas, that to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise. And the sons of the kingdom, the children of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.[Matthew 8:11-12] And thou alone shalt dwell in paradise until my second appearing, when I am to judge those who do not confess my name. And He said to the robber: Go away, and tell the cherubim and the powers, that turn the flaming sword, that guard paradise from the time that Adam, the first created, was in paradise, and sinned, and kept not my commandments, ...
Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 9, page 60, footnote 40 (Image)
Gospel of Peter, Diatessaron, Apocalypses, Visio Pauli, Testament of Abraham, Acts of X/P, Zosimus, Aristides, Clement, Origen
The Diatessaron of Tatian. (HTML)
The Diatessaron. (HTML)
Section XI. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 830 (In-Text, Margin)
... sufficeth [11] that thou speak a word, and my lad shall be healed. And I also am a man in obedience to authority, having under my hand soldiers: and I say to this one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant that he do this, [12] and he doeth it. And when Jesus heard that, he marvelled at him, and turned and said unto the multitude that were coming with him, Verily I say unto you, I have [13] not found in Israel the like of this faith.[Matthew 8:11] I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob [14] [Arabic, p. 43] in the kingdom of heaven: but the children of the kingdom shall be cast [15] forth into the outer darkness: and ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 413, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Marriage. (HTML)
Section 35 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2024 (In-Text, Margin)
... hath? Therefore let them add to this so high purpose conduct suitable, that they may have an assured security of the surpassing reward; knowing of a truth, that, unto themselves and unto all the faithful, beloved and chosen members of Christ, coming many from the East, and from the West, although shining with light of glory that differeth one from another, according to their deserts, there is this great gift bestowed in common, to sit down in the kingdom of God with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,[Matthew 8:11] who not for the sake of this world, but for the sake of Christ, were husbands, for the sake of Christ were fathers.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 229, 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 willing to believe not only that the Jewish but that all Gentile prophets wrote of Christ, if it should be proved; but he would none the less insist upon rejecting their superstitions. Augustin maintains that all Moses wrote is of Christ, and that his writings must be either accepted or rejected as a whole. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 613 (In-Text, Margin)
... with which Christ answered the Sadducees we may answer the Manichæans, for they too deny the resurrection, though in a different way. Again, when Christ said, in praise of the centurion’s faith, "Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel," He added, "And I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness."[Matthew 8:10-12] If, then, as Faustus must admit, the God of whom Moses spoke was the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, of whom Christ also spoke, as these passages prove, it follows that Christ did not try to turn away the people from their God. On the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 340, 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 does not think it would be a great honor to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose moral characters as set forth in the Old Testament he detests. He justifies his subjective criticism of Scripture. Augustin sums up the argument, claims the victory, and exhorts the Manichæans to abandon their opposition to the Old Testament notwithstanding the difficulties that it presents, and to recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1073 (In-Text, Margin)
1. said: You quote from the Gospel the words, "Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven,"[Matthew 8:11] and ask why we do not acknowledge the patriarchs. Now, we should be the last to grudge to any human being that God should have compassion on him, and bring him out of perdition to salvation. At the same time, we should acknowledge in such a case the clemency shown in this act of compassion, and not the merit of the person whose life is undeniably blameworthy. Thus, in the case of the Jewish fathers, Abraham, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 341, footnote 5 (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 does not think it would be a great honor to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose moral characters as set forth in the Old Testament he detests. He justifies his subjective criticism of Scripture. Augustin sums up the argument, claims the victory, and exhorts the Manichæans to abandon their opposition to the Old Testament notwithstanding the difficulties that it presents, and to recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1078 (In-Text, Margin)
... length in Matthew’s ingenious narrative? But the passage is corrupt. For, in describing the centurion’s application to Jesus, Matthew says that he came himself to ask for a cure; while Luke says he did not, but sent elders of the Jews, and that they, in case Jesus should despise the centurion as a Gentile (for they will have Jesus to be a thorough Jew), set about persuading Him, by saying that he was worthy for whom He should do this, because he loved their nation, and had built them a synagogue;[Matthew 8:5-13] here again taking for granted that the Son of God was concerned in a pagan centurion having thought it proper to build a synagogue for the Jews. The words in question are, indeed, found in Luke also, perhaps because on reflection he thought they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 344, footnote 1 (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 does not think it would be a great honor to sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose moral characters as set forth in the Old Testament he detests. He justifies his subjective criticism of Scripture. Augustin sums up the argument, claims the victory, and exhorts the Manichæans to abandon their opposition to the Old Testament notwithstanding the difficulties that it presents, and to recognize the authority of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1083 (In-Text, Margin)
... Jesus "beseeching Him, and saying;" while Luke says that he sent to Jesus the elders of the Jews with this same request, that He would heal his servant who was sick; and that when He came near the house he sent others, through whom he said that he was not worthy that Jesus should come into his house, and that he was not worthy to come himself to Jesus. How, then, do we read in Matthew, "He came to Him, beseeching Him, and saying, My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and grievously tormented?"[Matthew 8:5-13] The explanation is, that Matthew’s narrative is correct, but brief, mentioning the centurion’s coming to Jesus, without saying whether he came himself or by others, or whether the words about his servant were spoken by himself or through others. But ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 126, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
The Harmony of the Gospels. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
An Explanation of the Circumstance that Matthew Tells Us How the Centurion Came to Jesus on Behalf of His Servant, While Luke’s Statement is that the Centurion Despatched Friends to Him. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 862 (In-Text, Margin)
48. After these things, Matthew proceeds with his narrative in the following terms: “And when Jesus was entered into Capharnaum, there came unto Him a centurion, beseeching Him, and saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, and he is grievously tormented;” and so forth, on to the place where it is said, “And his servant was healed in the self-same hour.”[Matthew 8:5-13] This case of the centurion’s servant is related also by Luke; only Luke does not bring it in, as Matthew does, after the cleansing of the leper, whose story he has recorded as something suggested to his recollection at a later stage, but introduces it after the conclusion of that lengthened sermon already ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 300, footnote 1 (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, Matt. viii. 8, ‘I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof,’ etc., and of the words of the apostle, 1 Cor. viii. 10, ‘For if a man see thee who hast knowledge sitting at meat in an idol’s temple,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2177 (In-Text, Margin)
6. See ye how that which ye have heard out of the Gospel was at that time to come is now present. Therefore, said He, on occasion of the commendation of the Centurion’s faith, as in the flesh an alien, but of the household in heart, “Therefore I say unto you, Many shall come from the east and west.”[Matthew 8:11] Not all, but “many;” yet they shall “come from the East and West;” the whole world is denoted by these two parts. “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.” “But the children of the kingdom,” the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 346, 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, Matt. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2634 (In-Text, Margin)
13. Lastly, mark what follows. “Therefore,”—that is, because “I have not found so great faith in Israel,” that is, so great humility with faith,—“Therefore I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”[Matthew 8:11] “Shall sit,” that is, “shall rest.” For we must not form notions of carnal banquets there, or desire any such thing in that kingdom, as to change not vices for virtues, but only to make an exchange of vices. For it is one thing to desire the kingdom of heaven for the sake of wisdom and life eternal; another, for the sake of earthly felicity, as ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 346, footnote 5 (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, Matt. xv. 21,’Jesus went out thence, and withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanitish woman,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2636 (In-Text, Margin)
... absolutely necessary that every one who is born should die of this. He dies of it, he cannot do otherwise. This the physician and the unskilled both pronounce upon; and though he die somewhat more slowly, does he on that account not die? Where then is there true health, except where there is true immortality? But if it be true immortality, and no corruption, no wasting, what need will there be there of nourishment? Therefore, when you hear it said, “They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;”[Matthew 8:11] get not your body, but your soul in order. There shall thou be filled; and this inner man has its proper food. In relation to it is it said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” And so truly ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 386, footnote 12 (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, Matt. xx. 30, about the two blind men sitting by the way side, and crying out, ‘Lord, have mercy on us, Thou Son of David.’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2935 (In-Text, Margin)
... thinkest thou, shall He find faith on the earth?” and by this denomination are signified all those who by transgression of the law imitate him to whom it was said,” Earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return;” yet because of the abundance of the good also, and because of him to whom it was said, “Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea;” is that also written, “Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, in the kingdom of God.”[Matthew 8:11] “Both” then “grow together until the harvest,” and both the tares or chaff have their passages in the Scriptures, and the wheat theirs. And they who do not understand them, confound them and are themselves confounded; and in their blind desire they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 393, footnote 9 (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, Matt. xxii. 2, etc., about the marriage of the king’s son; against the Donatists, on charity. Delivered at Carthage in the Restituta. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3005 (In-Text, Margin)
... bad, they are few. In the crop there is much wheat; compare it with the chaff, and the grains of corn are few. The same persons considered in themselves are many, in comparison with the bad are few. How do we prove that in themselves they are many? “Many shall come from the East and from the West.” Whither shall they come? To that feast, into which both good and bad enter. But speaking of another feast, He subjoined, “and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.”[Matthew 8:11] That is the feast to which the bad shall not approach. Be that feast which now is, received worthily, that we may attain to the other. The same then are many, who are also few; in themselves many; in comparison with the bad few. Therefore what saith ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 428, footnote 13 (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 x. 38, ‘And a certain woman named Martha received him into her house,’ etc. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3327 (In-Text, Margin)
... saith of His servants: “Verily I say unto you, that He will make them to sit down to meat, and will pass by and serve them.” What is “to sit down to meat,” but to “be still”? What is, “to sit down to meat,” but to rest? What is, “He will pass by and serve them”? First, He passeth by, and so serveth. And where? In that heavenly Banquet, of which he saith, “Verily I say unto you, Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”[Matthew 8:11] There will the Lord feed us, but first He passeth on from hence. For (as ye should know) the Pasch is by interpretation Passing-over. The Lord came, He did divine things, He suffered human things. Is He still spit upon? Is He still struck with the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 446, footnote 4 (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 xiii. 21 and 23, where the kingdom of God is said to be ‘like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal;’ and of that which is written in the same chapter, ‘Lord, are they few that are saved?’ (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3467 (In-Text, Margin)
... chaff scoff at the wheat; in this He speaketh truth, and deceiveth no one. Be ye then in yourselves among many a many, few though ye be in comparison of a certain many. So large a mass is to come out of this floor, as to fill the garner of heaven. For the Lord Christ would not contradict Himself, who hath said, “Many there are who enter in by the narrow gate, many who go to ruin through the wide gate;” contradict Himself, who hath in another place said, “Many shall come from the East and West.”[Matthew 8:11] “Many” then are the “few;” both “few” and “many.” Are the “few” one sort, and the “many” another? No. But the “few” are themselves the “many;” “few” in comparison of the lost, “many in the society of the Angels. Hearken, dearly Beloved. The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 110, 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 IV. 43–54. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 352 (In-Text, Margin)
... may not wither? “And shall sit down,” saith He, “with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.” At what banquet, in case thou dost not invite to ever living, but to much drinking? Where, “shall sit down? In the kingdom of heaven.” And how will it be with them who came of the stock of Abraham? What will become of the branches with which the tree was full? What but to be cut off, that these may be grafted in? Show us that they shall be cut off: “But the children of the kingdom shall go into outer darkness.”[Matthew 8:5-12]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 117, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm XXXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1076 (In-Text, Margin)
... chastening me “because of iniquity.” When chastening makes us weak, there is a kind of strength that would be a fault.…It was by a kind of strength that man offended, so as to require to be corrected by weakness: for it was by a certain “pride” that he offended; so as to require to be chastened by humility. All proud persons call themselves strong men. Therefore have many “come from the East and the West,” and have attained “to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven.”[Matthew 8:11] Wherefore was it that they so attained? Because they would not be strong. What is meant by “would not be strong”? They were afraid to presume of their own merits. They did not “go about to establish their own righteousness,” that they might “submit ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 299, footnote 26 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm LXIX (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2899 (In-Text, Margin)
1. We have been born into this world, and added to the people of God, at that period wherein already the herb from a grain of mustard seed hath spread out its branches; wherein already the leaven, which at first was contemptible, hath leavened three measures, that is, the whole round world repeopled by the three sons of Noe: for from East and West and North and South shall come they that shall sit down with the Patriarchs,[Matthew 8:11] while those shall have been driven without, that have been born of their flesh and have not imitated their faith. Unto his glory then of Christ’s Church our eyes we have opened; and that barren one, for whom joy was proclaimed and foretold, because she was to have more sons than she ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 522, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CV (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4795 (In-Text, Margin)
... and this taken ten times amounts to a thousand. “Even the covenant,” he saith, “which He made with Abraham: and the oath that He sware unto Isaac; and appointed the same unto Jacob,” that is, Jacob himself, “for a law.” These are the very three patriarchs, whose God He calleth Himself in a special sense, whom the Lord also doth name in the New Testament, where He saith, “Many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”[Matthew 8:11] This is everlasting inheritance.…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 152, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Lucinius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2204 (In-Text, Margin)
... suddenly arrived was not expected by me, and coming in an unlooked for way it has helped to rouse me from my torpor by the glad tidings which it conveys. I hasten to embrace with the arms of love one whom my eyes have never seen, and silently say to myself:—‘“oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I flee away and be at rest.”’ Then would I find him “whom my soul loveth.” In you the Lord’s words are now truly fulfilled: “many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham.”[Matthew 8:11] In those days the faith of my Lucinius was foreshadowed in Cornelius, “centurion of the band called the Italian band.” And when the apostle Paul writes to the Romans: “whensoever I take my journey into Spain I will come to you: for I trust to see ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 190, footnote 9 (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 1602 (In-Text, Margin)
101. We see, then, that heaven is open to virtue, and that this is the privilege not only of a few: “For many shall come from the east and from the west, and the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God,”[Matthew 8:11] giving expression to the enjoyment of perpetual rest since the motions of their souls are stilled. Let us follow Abraham in our habits, that he may receive us into his bosom, and cherish us with loving embrace, like Lazarus the in heritor of his humility surrounded by his own special virtues. The followers of the holy patriarch, approved of God, cherish us not in a bodily bosom, but ...