Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
James 1:17
There are 30 footnotes for this reference.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 63, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth years of his age, passed at Carthage, when, having completed his course of studies, he is caught in the snares of a licentious passion, and falls into the errors of the Manichæans. (HTML)
Deceived by His Own Fault, He Falls into the Errors of the Manichæans, Who Gloried in the True Knowledge of God and in a Thorough Examination of Things. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 233 (In-Text, Margin)
... sounded out Thy name to me, though it was but a voice! And these were the dishes in which to me, hungering for Thee, they, instead of Thee, served up the sun and moon, Thy beauteous works—but yet Thy works, not Thyself, nay, nor Thy first works. For before these corporeal works are Thy spiritual ones, celestial and shining though they be. But I hungered and thirsted not even after those first works of Thine, but after Thee Thyself, the Truth, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning;”[James 1:17] yet they still served up to me in those dishes glowing phantasies, than which better were it to love this very sun (which, at least, is true to our sight), than those illusions which deceive the mind through the eye. And yet, because I supposed them ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 76, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Then follows a period of nine years from the nineteenth year of his age, during which having lost a friend, he followed the Manichæans—and wrote books on the fair and fit, and published a work on the liberal arts, and the categories of Aristotle. (HTML)
While Writing, Being Blinded by Corporeal Images, He Failed to Recognise the Spiritual Nature of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 335 (In-Text, Margin)
... contaminate the life, if the reasonable soul itself be depraved, as it was at that time in me, who was ignorant that it must be enlightened by another light that it may be partaker of truth, seeing that itself is not that nature of truth. “For Thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness; and “of His fulness have all we received,” for “that was the true Light which lighted every man that cometh into the world;” for in Thee there is “no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”[James 1:17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 216, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Augustin passes to the second part of the work, in which the origin, progress, and destinies of the earthly and heavenly cities are discussed.—Speculations regarding the creation of the world. (HTML)
Of God’s Eternal and Unchangeable Knowledge and Will, Whereby All He Has Made Pleased Him in the Eternal Design as Well as in the Actual Result. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 493 (In-Text, Margin)
... are not yet, and the present are now, and the past no longer are; but all of these are by Him comprehended in His stable and eternal presence. Neither does He see in one fashion by the eye, in another by the mind, for He is not composed of mind and body; nor does His present knowledge differ from that which it ever was or shall be, for those variations of time, past, present, and future, though they alter our knowledge, do not affect His, “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”[James 1:17] Neither is there any growth from thought to thought in the conceptions of Him in whose spiritual vision all things which He knows are at once embraced. For as without any movement that time can measure, He Himself moves all temporal things, so He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 18, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son. (HTML)
This Work is Written Against Those Who Sophistically Assail the Faith of the Trinity, Through Misuse of Reason. They Who Dispute Concerning God Err from a Threefold Cause. Holy Scripture, Removing What is False, Leads Us on by Degrees to Things Divine. What True Immortality is. We are Nourished by Faith, that We May Be Enabled to Apprehend Things Divine. (HTML)
... sense of the term. So, too, that which the Apostle says, “Who only hath immortality.” Since the soul also both is said to be, and is, in a certain manner immortal, Scripture would not say “only hath,” unless because true immortality is unchangeableness; which no creature can possess, since it belongs to the creator alone. So also James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”[James 1:17] So also David, “Thou shall change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 428, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 32 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2111 (In-Text, Margin)
... there follows the divine judgment, “Verily I say unto you, the Publican went down from the Temple justified more than that Pharisee.” Then the cause is shown, why this is just; “Forasmuch as he who exalteth himself shall be humbled, and whoso humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Therefore it may come to pass, that each one both shun real evils, and reflect on real goods in himself, and render thanks for these unto “the Father of lights, from Whom cometh down every best gift, and every perfect gift,”[James 1:17] and yet be rejected by reason of the sin of haughtiness, if through pride, even in his thought alone, which is before God, he insult other sinners, and specially when confessing their sins in prayer, unto whom is due not upbraiding with arrogance, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 433, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 42 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2172 (In-Text, Margin)
42. Wherefore let this be the first thought for the putting on of humility, that God’s virgin think not that it is of herself that she is such, and not rather that this best “gift cometh down from above from the Father of Lights, with Whom is no change nor shadow of motion.”[James 1:17] For thus she will not think that little hath been forgiven her, so as for her to love little, and, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and wishing to establish her own, not to be made subject to the righteousness of God. In which fault was that Simon who was surpassed by the woman, unto whom many sins were forgiven, because she loved much. But she ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 452, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)
Section 26 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2288 (In-Text, Margin)
26. Therefore let spiritual delights succeed to the place of carnal delights in holy chastity; reading, prayer, psalm, good thought, frequency in good works, hope of the world to come, and a heart upward; and for all these giving of thanks unto the Father of lights, from Whom, without any doubt, every good gift, and every perfect gift, as Scripture bears witness, cometh down.[James 1:17] For when, in stead of the delights of married women, which they have in the flesh of their husbands, the use of other carnal delights is taken, as it were to solace them, why should I speak of the evils which follow, when the Apostle hath said in short, that the widow, who lives in delights, living is dead. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 531, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Patience. (HTML)
Section 12 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2654 (In-Text, Margin)
... not which it hath by Divine assistance, but which it hath of free-will. Now this error is a proud one: for it is the error of them which abound, of whom it is said in the Psalm, “A scornful reproof to them which abound, and a despising to the proud.” It is not therefore that “patience of the poor” which “perisheth not forever.” For these poor receive it from that Rich One, to Whom is said, “My God art Thou, because my goods Thou needest not:” of Whom is “every good gift, and every perfect gift;”[James 1:17] to Whom crieth the needy and the poor, and in asking, seeking, knocking, saith, “My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, and from the hand of the lawless and unjust: because Thou art my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth up.” But these ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 356, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
Concerning the Nature of Good, Against the Manichæans. (HTML)
It is Proved by the Testimonies of Scripture that God is Unchangeable. The Son of God Begotten, Not Made. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1099 (In-Text, Margin)
... Accordingly, that God is unchangeable is written in the Psalms: "Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed; but Thou thyself art the same." And in the book of Wisdom, concerning wisdom: "Remaining in herself, she renews all things." Whence also the Apostle Paul: "To the invisible, incorruptible, only God." And the Apostle James: "Every best giving and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of light, with whom there is no changeableness, neither obscuring of influence."[James 1:17] Likewise because what He begat of Himself is what He Himself is, it is said in brief by the Son Himself: "I and the Father are one." But because the Son was not made, since through Him were all things made, thus it is written: "In the beginning was ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 597, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Donatist Controversy. (HTML)
Answer to the Letters of Petilian, the Donatist. (HTML)
In this book Augustin refutes the second letter which Petilianus wrote to him after having seen the first of Augustin’s earlier books. This letter had been full of violent language; and Augustin rather shows that the arguments of Petilianus had been deficient and irrelevant, than brings forward arguments in support of his own statements. (HTML)
Chapter 2 (HTML)
... puffed up for one against another." "Therefore let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s." Again I say, "Let no man glory in men;" nay, oftentimes I repeat it, "Let no man glory in men." If you perceive anything in us which is deserving of praise, refer it all to His praise, from whom is every good gift and every perfect gift; for it is "from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."[James 1:17] For what have we which we did not receive? and if we have received it, let us not boast as though we had not received it. And in all these things which you know to be good in us, be ye our followers, at any rate, if we are Christ’s; but if, on the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 87, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
From What Fountain Good Works Flow. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 744 (In-Text, Margin)
... stand.” Since by that impiety which leads each to attribute to himself the excellence which is God’s, he is cast out into his own native darkness, in which consist the works of iniquity. For it is manifestly these works which he does, and for the achievement of such alone is he naturally fit. The works of righteousness he never does, except as he receives ability from that fountain and that light, where the life is that wants for nothing, and where is “no variableness, nor the shadow of turning.”[James 1:17]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 92, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
No Man Justified by Works. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 804 (In-Text, Margin)
... briefly explain. What the law of works enjoins by menace, that the law of faith secures by faith. The one says, “Thou shalt not covet;” the other says, “When I perceived that nobody could be continent, except God gave it to him; and that this was the very point of wisdom, to know whose gift she was; I approached unto the Lord, and I besought Him.” This indeed is the very wisdom which is called piety, in which is worshipped “the Father of lights, from whom is every best giving and perfect gift.”[James 1:17] This worship, however, consists in the sacrifice of praise and giving of thanks, so that the worshipper of God boasts not in himself, but in Him. Accordingly, by the law of works, God says to us, Do what I command thee; but by the law of faith we ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 111, footnote 12 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
An Objection. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1082 (In-Text, Margin)
... statement than is necessary, although I seem to myself to have said too little against the opponents of the grace of God. And I am never so much delighted in my treatment of a subject as when Scripture comes most copiously to my aid; and when the question to be discussed requires that “he that glorieth should glory in the Lord;” and that we should in all things lift up our hearts and give thanks to the Lord our God, from whom, “as the Father of lights, every good and every perfect gift cometh down.”[James 1:17] Now if a gift is not God’s gift, because it is wrought by us, or because we act by His gift, then it is not a work of God that “a mountain should be removed into the sea,” inasmuch as, according to the Lord’s statement, it is by the faith of men ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 438, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Two Letters Written by Augustin to Valentinus and the Monks of Adrumetum. (HTML)
Letter I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2928 (In-Text, Margin)
4. Therefore I have in this letter, which has reached you, shown by passages of Holy Scripture, which you can examine for yourselves, that our good works and pious prayers and right faith could not possibly have been in us unless we had received them all from Him, concerning whom the Apostle James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”[James 1:17] And so no man can say that it is by the merit of his own works, or by the merit of his own prayers, or by the merit of his own faith, that God’s grace has been conferred upon him; nor suppose that the doctrine is true which those heretics hold, that the grace of God is given us in proportion to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 450, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
The Pelagians Profess that the Only Grace Which is Not Given According to Our Merits is that of the Forgiveness of Sins. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3036 (In-Text, Margin)
... thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?” To a man who holds such views, it is perfect truth to say: It is His own gifts that God crowns, not your merits,—if, at least, your merits are of your own self, not of Him. If, indeed, they are such, they are evil; and God does not crown them; but if they are good, they are God’s gifts, because, as the Apostle James says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”[James 1:17] In accordance with which John also, the Lord’s forerunner, declares: “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven” —from heaven, of course, because from thence came also the Holy Ghost, when Jesus ascended up on high, led captivity ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 465, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
Understanding and Wisdom Must Be Sought from God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3232 (In-Text, Margin)
Peruse attentively this treatise, and if you understand it, give God the praise; but where you fail to understand it, pray for understanding, for God will give you understanding. Remember what the Scriptures say: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given to him.” Wisdom itself cometh down from above, as the Apostle James himself tells us.[James 1:17] There is, however, another wisdom, which you must repel from you, and pray against its remaining in you; this the same apostle expressed his detestation of when he said, “But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, . . . this is not the wisdom which descendeth from above, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 475, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Rebuke and Grace. (HTML)
All Perseverance is God’s Gift. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3271 (In-Text, Margin)
... possession as this is ours in such wise that if any one have it the apostle could not say to him, ‘For what hast thou which thou hast not received?’ since he has this in such a manner as that he has not received it?” To this, indeed, we are not able to deny, that perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also a great gift of God; and that it exists not save it come from Him of whom it is written, “Every best gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”[James 1:17] But the rebuke of him who has not persevered must not on that account be neglected, “lest God perchance give unto him repentance, and he recover from the snares of the devil;” since to the usefulness of rebuke the apostle has subjoined this ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 550, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
Prayer to Be Inculcated, Nevertheless. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3702 (In-Text, Margin)
But I do not think that manner which I have said should be adopted in the preaching of predestination ought to be sufficient for him who speaks to the congregation, except he adds this, or something of this kind, saying, “You, therefore, ought also to hope for that perseverance in obedience from the Father of Lights, from whom cometh down every excellent gift and every perfect gift,[James 1:17] and to ask for it in your daily prayers; and in doing this ought to trust that you are not aliens from the predestination of His people, because it is He Himself who bestows even the power of doing this. And far be it from you to despair of yourselves, because you are bidden to have your hope in Him, not ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 3, page 45, footnote 9 (Image)
Theodoret, Jerome and Gennadius, Rufinus and Jerome
The Ecclesiastical History, Dialogues, and Letters of Theodoret. (HTML)
The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
Confutation of Arianism deduced from the Writings of Eustathius and Athanasius. (HTML)
“But when the Arians, who seemed few in number, were again interrogated by the Bishops as to whether they admitted ‘that the Son is not a creature, but Power, and sole Wisdom, and eternal unchangeable[James 1:17] Image of the Father; and that He is very God,’ the Eusebians were noticed making signs to one another to shew that these declarations were equally applicable to us. For it is said, that we are ‘ the image and glory of God;’ and ‘ for always we who live:’ there are, also, they said, many powers; for it is written—‘ All the power of God went out of the land of Egypt.’ The ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 4, page 493, footnote 1 (Image)
Athanasius: Select Writings and Letters
Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Africa. (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica.) (HTML)
Synodal Letter to the Bishops of Africa. (Ad Afros Epistola Synodica.) (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3760 (In-Text, Margin)
... not willing, and of moral progress, that you hold the Son to be like the Father; while these things fall under the category of quality; clearly you call God compound of quality and essence. But who will tolerate you when you say this? For God, who compounded all things to give them being, is not compound, nor of similar nature to the things made by Him through the Word. Far be the thought. For He is simple essence, in which quality is not, nor, as James says, ‘any variableness or shadow of turning[James 1:17].’ Accordingly, if it is shewn that it is not from virtue (for in God there is no quality, neither is there in the Son), then He must be proper to God’s essence. And this you will certainly admit if mental apprehension is not utterly destroyed in ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 5, page 105, footnote 6 (Image)
Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises; Select Writings and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises. (HTML)
Against Eunomius. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
He next skilfully confutes the partial, empty and blasphemous statement of Eunomius on the subject of the absolutely existent. (HTML)
... speaks the truth Who says, “I am in the Father, and the Father in Me,”—plainly, the One in His entirety, in the Other in His entirety, the Father not superabounding in the Son, the Son not being deficient in the Father,—and Who says also that the Son should be honoured as the Father is honoured, and “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,” and “no man knoweth the Father save the Son,” in all which passages there is no hint given to those who receive these declarations as genuine, of any variation[James 1:17] of glory, or of essence, or anything else, between the Father and the Son.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 377, footnote 3 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
Treatises. (HTML)
Against Jovinianus. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 4550 (In-Text, Margin)
... of the Old Testament, who had shone with the brightness of virginity. Let us pass on to James, who was called the brother of the Lord, a man of such sanctity and righteousness, and distinguished by so rigid and perpetual a virginity, that even Josephus, the Jewish historian, relates that the overthrow of Jerusalem was due to his death. He, the first bishop of the Church at Jerusalem, which was composed of Jewish believers, to whom Paul went, accompanied by Titus and Barnabas, says in his Epistle:[James 1:16-18] “Be not deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no difference, neither shadow that is cast by turning. Of his own will he brought us forth by the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 7, page 45, footnote 5 (Image)
Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen
The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril. (HTML)
The Father. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 975 (In-Text, Margin)
... since by change of purpose become a Father: but before every substance and every intelligence, before times and all ages, God hath the dignity of Father, magnifying Himself in this more than in His other dignities; and having become a Father, not by passion, or union, not in ignorance, not by effluence, not by diminution, not by alteration, for every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, neither shadow of turning[James 1:17]. Perfect Father, He begat a perfect Son, and delivered all things to Him who is begotten: (for all things, He saith, are delivered unto Me of My Father:) and is honoured by the Only-begotten: for, I honour My Father, saith the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 8, page 14, footnote 1 (Image)
Basil: Letters and Select Works
De Spiritu Sancto. (HTML)
In how many ways “Through whom” is used; and in what sense “with whom” is more suitable. Explanation of how the Son receives a commandment, and how He is sent. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 890 (In-Text, Margin)
... the creating Cause came thence to Him. We are not to suppose that He used assistance in His action, or yet was entrusted with the ministry of each individual work by detailed commission, a condition distinctly menial and quite inadequate to the divine dignity. Rather was the Word full of His Father’s excellences; He shines forth from the Father, and does all things according to the likeness of Him that begat Him. For if in essence He is without variation, so also is He without variation in power.[James 1:17] And of those whose power is equal, the operation also is in all ways equal. And Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God. And so “all things are made through [by, A.V.] him,” and “all things were created through [by, A.V.] him and for him,” ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 87b, footnote 13 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
Concerning the honour due to the Saints and their remains. (HTML)
... impure, but these are not dead. For from the time when He that is Himself life and the Author of life was reckoned among the dead, we do not call those dead who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and in faith on Him. For how could a dead body work miracles? How, therefore, are demons driven off by them, diseases dispelled, sick persons made well, the blind restored to sight, lepers purified, temptations and troubles overcome, and how does every good gift from the Father of lights[James 1:17] come down through them to those who pray with sure faith? How much labour would you not undergo to find a patron to introduce you to a mortal king and speak to him on your behalf? Are not those, then, worthy of honour who are the patrons of the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 9, page 89b, footnote 10 (Image)
Hilary of Poitiers, John of Damascus
John of Damascus: Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. (HTML)
Book IV (HTML)
Concerning Scripture. (HTML)
... fair garden of the Scriptures, so fragrant and sweet and blooming, with its varied sounds of spiritual and divinely-inspired birds ringing all round our ears, laying hold of our hearts, comforting the mourner, pacifying the angry and filling him with joy everlasting: which sets our mind on the gold-gleaming, brilliant back of the divine dove, whose bright pinions bear up to the only-begotten Son and Heir of the Husbandman of that spiritual Vineyard and bring us through Him to the Father of Lights[James 1:17]. But let us not knock carelessly but rather zealously and constantly: lest knocking we grow weary. For thus it will be opened to us. If we read once or twice and do not understand what we read, let us not grow weary, but let us persist, let us talk ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 203, footnote 14 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book I. (HTML)
Chapter II. The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with distinction of Person. In no other way can the unity of God be maintained. (HTML)
14. Therefore we ought to believe that God is good, eternal, perfect, almighty, and true, such as we find Him in the Law and the Prophets, and the rest of the holy Scriptures,[James 1:17-18] for otherwise there is no God. For He Who is God cannot but be good, seeing that fulness of goodness is of the nature of God: nor can God, Who made time, be in time; nor, again, can God be imperfect, for a lesser being is plainly imperfect, seeing that it lacks somewhat whereby it could be made equal to a greater. This, then, is the teaching of our faith—that God is not evil, that with God nothing is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 282, footnote 21 (Image)
Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian
The Works of John Cassian. (HTML)
The Twelve Books on the Institutes of the Cœnobia, and the Remedies for the Eight Principal Faults. (HTML)
Book XII. Of the Spirit of Pride. (HTML)
Chapter X. How no one can obtain perfect virtue and the promised bliss by his own strength alone. (HTML)
... class="sc">For the will and course of no one, however eager and anxious, is sufficiently ready for him, while still enclosed in the flesh which warreth against the spirit, to reach so great a prize of perfection, and the palm of uprightness and purity, unless he is protected by the divine compassion, so that he is privileged to attain to that which he greatly desires and to which he runs. For “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”[James 1:17] “For what hast thou which thou didst not receive? But if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 328, footnote 3 (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 III. Conference of Abbot Paphnutius. On the Three Sorts of Renunciations. (HTML)
Chapter XVI. That faith itself must be given us by the Lord. (HTML)
... of itself except it abide in the vine, so no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” And again: “for without me ye can do nothing.” How foolish and wicked then it is to attribute any good action to our own diligence and not to God’s grace and assistance, is clearly shown by the Lord’s saying, which lays down that no one can show forth the fruits of the Spirit without His inspiration and co-operation. For “every good gift and every perfect boon is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.”[James 1:17] And Zechariah too says, “For whatever is good is His, and what is excellent is from Him.” And so the blessed Apostle consistently says: “What hast thou which thou didst not receive? But if thou didst receive it, why boastest thou as if thou hadst ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 11, page 423, footnote 2 (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)
... of what he has vainly hoped and looked for, but actually loses the abundant fruits which he has already gathered and stored up in the threshing floor or in the barn. From which we clearly infer that the initiative not only of our actions but also of good thoughts comes from God, who inspires us with a good will to begin with, and supplies us with the opportunity of carrying out what we rightly desire: for “every good gift and every perfect gift cometh down from above, from the Father of lights,”[James 1:17] who both begins what is good, and continues it and completes it in us, as the Apostle says: “But He who giveth seed to the sower will both provide bread to eat and will multiply your seed and make the fruits of your righteousness to increase.” But ...