Early Church Fathers Scripture Index : Texts
Wisdom of Solomon 8
There are 37 footnotes for this reference.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 98, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Attaining his thirtieth year, he, under the admonition of the discourses of Ambrose, discovered more and more the truth of the Catholic doctrine, and deliberates as to the better regulation of his life. (HTML)
Being Troubled by His Grievous Errors, He Meditates Entering on a New Life. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 470 (In-Text, Margin)
... myself. Being enamoured of a happy life, I yet feared it in its own abode, and, fleeing from it, sought after it. I conceived that I should be too unhappy were I deprived of the embracements of a woman; and of Thy merciful medicine to cure that infirmity I thought not, not having tried it. As regards continency, I imagined it to be under the control of our own strength (though in myself I found it not), being so foolish as not to know what is written, that none can be continent unless Thou give it;[Wisdom of Solomon 8:2] and that Thou wouldst give it, if with heartfelt groaning I should knock at Thine ears, and should with firm faith cast my care upon Thee.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 153, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
All Hope is in the Mercy of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 878 (In-Text, Margin)
40. And my whole hope is only in Thy exceeding great mercy. Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt. Thou imposest continency upon us, “nevertheless, when I perceived,” saith one, “that I could not otherwise obtain her, except God gave her me; . . . that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift she was.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] For by continency are we bound up and brought into one, whence we were scattered abroad into many. For he loves Thee too little who loves aught with Thee, which he loves not for Thee, O love, who ever burnest, and art never quenched! O charity, my God, kindle me! Thou commandest continency; give what Thou commandest, and command what ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 1, page 154, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Prolegomena: St. Augustine's Life and Work, Confessions, Letters
The Confessions (HTML)
Having manifested what he was and what he is, he shows the great fruit of his confession; and being about to examine by what method God and the happy life may be found, he enlarges on the nature and power of memory. Then he examines his own acts, thoughts and affections, viewed under the threefold division of temptation; and commemorates the Lord, the one mediator of God and men. (HTML)
About to Speak of the Temptations of the Lust of the Flesh, He First Complains of the Lust of Eating and Drinking. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 892 (In-Text, Margin)
45. I hear the voice of my God commanding, let not “your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness.” “Drunkenness,” it is far from me; Thou wilt have mercy, that it approach not near unto me. But “surfeiting” sometimes creepeth upon Thy servant; Thou wilt have mercy, that it may be far from me. For no man can be continent unless Thou give it.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] Many things which we pray for dost Thou give us; and what good soever we receive before we prayed for it, do we receive from Thee, and that we might afterwards know this did we receive it from Thee. Drunkard was I never, but I have known drunkards to be made sober men by Thee. Thy doing, then, was it, that they who ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 242, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: The City of God, Christian Doctrine
City of God (HTML)
Of the creation of angels and men, and of the origin of evil. (HTML)
That God Alone is the Creator of Every Kind of Creature, Whatever Its Nature or Form. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 569 (In-Text, Margin)
... energy, which cannot be made, but makes, and which gave to the earth and sky their roundness,—this same divine, effective, and creative energy gave their roundness to the eye and to the apple; and the other natural objects which we anywhere see, received also their form, not from without, but from the secret and profound might of the Creator, who said, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” and whose wisdom it is that “reacheth from one end to another mightily; and sweetly doth she order all things.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] Wherefore I know not what kind of aid the angels, themselves created first, afforded to the Creator in making other things. I cannot ascribe to them what perhaps they cannot do, neither ought I to deny them such faculty as they have. But, by their ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 2, page 286, footnote 1 (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)
That Sarah’s Barrenness was Made Productive by God’s Grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 773 (In-Text, Margin)
... husband, to whom she herself had been unable to bear children. From him she required this conjugal duty, exercising her own right in another’s womb. And thus Ishmael was born according to the common law of human generation, by sexual intercourse. Therefore it is said that he was born “according to the flesh,”—not because such births are not the gifts of God, nor His handiwork, whose creative wisdom “reaches,” as it is written, “from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she order all things,”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] but because, in a case in which the gift of God, which was not due to men and was the gratuitous largess of grace, was to be conspicuous, it was requisite that a son be given in a way which no effort of nature could compass. Nature denies children ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 40, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
The Son and Holy Spirit are Not Therefore Less Because Sent. The Son is Sent Also by Himself. Of the Sending of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
... the prophet, that God said, “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” If this is said of the Son (for some will have it understood that the Son Himself spoke either by the prophets or in the prophets), whither was He sent except to the place where He already was? For He who says, “I fill heaven and earth,” was everywhere. But if it is said of the Father, where could He be without His own word and without His own wisdom, which “reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly ordereth all things?”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] But He cannot be anywhere without His own Spirit. Therefore, if God is everywhere, His Spirit also is everywhere. Therefore, the Holy Spirit, too, was sent thither, where He already was. For he, too, who finds no place to which he might go from the ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 49, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
Of the Appearance on Sinai. Whether the Trinity Spake in that Appearance or Some One Person Specially. (HTML)
... howsoever wise, can be seen with the eyes of the flesh; or if, because it is written of the elders of Israel, that “they saw the place where the God of Israel had stood,” and that “there was under His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness,” therefore we are to believe that the word and wisdom of God in His own substance stood within the space of an earthly place, who indeed “reacheth firmly from end to end, and sweetly ordereth all things;”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] and that the Word of God, by whom all things were made, is in such wise changeable, as now to contract, now to expand Himself; (may the Lord cleanse the hearts of His faithful ones from such thoughts!) But indeed all these visible and sensible ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 52, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (HTML)
How the Back Parts of God Were Seen. The Faith of the Resurrection of Christ. The Catholic Church Only is the Place from Whence the Back Parts of God are Seen. The Back Parts of God Were Seen by the Israelites. It is a Rash Opinion to Think that God the Father Only Was Never Seen by the Fathers. (HTML)
... But they who believe this, but believe it not in the Catholic Church, but in some schism or in heresy, do not see the back parts of the Lord from “the place that is by Him.” For what does that mean which the Lord says, “Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock?” What earthly place is “by” the Lord, unless that is “by Him” which touches Him spiritually? For what place is not “by” the Lord, who “reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth order all things,”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] and of whom it is said, “Heaven is His throne, and earth is His footstool;” and who said, “Where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For has not my hand made all those things?” But manifestly the Catholic Church ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 57, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
The appearances of God to the Old Testament saints are discussed. (HTML)
What is to Be Said Thereupon. (HTML)
... such as put their trust in Thee. Therefore, even then was it altered into all fashions, and was obedient to Thy grace, that nourisheth all things according to the desire of them that longed for Thee.” For the power of the will of God reaches through the spiritual creature even to visible and sensible effects of the corporeal creature. For where does not the wisdom of the omnipotent God work that which He wills, which “reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth order all things”?[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 79, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. (HTML)
The Death of Christ Voluntary. How the Mediator of Life Subdued the Mediator of Death. How the Devil Leads His Own to Despise the Death of Christ. (HTML)
... the price paid for themselves, and in trust upon it abandon their enemy, and gather together to their Redeemer. For the devil does not know how the most excellent wisdom of God makes use of both his snares and his fury to bring about the salvation of His own faithful ones, beginning from the former end, which is the beginning of the spiritual creature, even to the latter end, which is the death of the body, and so “reaching from the one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] For wisdom “passeth and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness, and no defiled thing can fall into her.” And since the devil has nothing to do with the death of the flesh, whence comes his exceeding pride, a death of another kind is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 202, footnote 5 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Holy Trinity. (HTML)
He embraces in a brief compendium the contents of the previous books; and finally shows that the Trinity, in the perfect sight of which consists the blessed life that is promised us, is here seen by us as in a glass and in an enigma, so long as it is seen through that image of God which we ourselves are. (HTML)
How Difficult It is to Demonstrate the Trinity by Natural Reason. (HTML)
... eternal, or immortal, or incorruptible, or unchangeable; and it is likewise one and the same thing to say that He is living, and that He is intelligent, that is, in truth, wise. For He did not receive wisdom whereby to be wise, but He is Himself wisdom. And this is life, and again is power or might, and yet again beauty, whereby He is called powerful and beautiful. For what is more powerful and more beautiful than wisdom, “which reaches from end to end mightily, and sweetly disposes all things”?[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] Or do goodness, again, and righteousness, differ from each other in the nature of God, as they differ in His works, as though they were two diverse qualities of God—goodness one, and righteousness an other? Certainly not; but that which is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 323, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
A Treatise on Faith and the Creed. (HTML)
Of the Son of God, and His Peculiar Designation as the Word. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1540 (In-Text, Margin)
... possessed both the will and the power to declare Himself with the utmost truth to minds designed to obtain knowledge of Him, with the purpose of thus declaring Himself begot this [Word] which He Himself is who did beget; which [Person] is likewise called His Power and Wisdom, inasmuch as it is by Him that He has wrought all things, and in order disposed them; of whom these words are for this reason spoken: “She (Wisdom) reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she order all things.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 379, footnote 1 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 1 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1807 (In-Text, Margin)
... is difficult to treat of the virtue of the soul, which is called Continence, in a manner fully suitable and worthy; but He, whose great gift this virtue is, will help our littleness under the burden of so great a weight. For He, who bestows it upon His faithful ones when they are continent, Himself gives discourse of it to His ministers when they speak. Lastly, of so great a matter purposing to speak what Himself shall grant, in the first place we say and prove that Continence is the gift of God.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] We have it written in the Book of Wisdom, that no one can be continent, unless God grant it. But the Lord, concerning that greater and more glorious Continence itself, whereby there is continence from the marriage bond, says, “Not all can receive ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 391, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On Continence. (HTML)
Section 28 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1912 (In-Text, Margin)
28. Far be it therefore that we say of continence, of which Scripture saith. “And this very thing was wisdom, to know whose gift it was,”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] that even they possess it, who, by containing, either serve errors, or overcome any lesser desires for this purpose, that they may fulfill others, by the greatness of which they are overcome. But that continence which is true, coming from above, wills not to repress some evils by other evils, but to heal all evils by goods. And, briefly to comprehend its mode of action, it is the place of continence to keep watch to restrain ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 433, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
Of Holy Virginity. (HTML)
Section 43 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2177 (In-Text, Margin)
43. Concerning continence also itself hath it not been most openly said, “And when I knew that no one can be continent unless God give it, this also itself was a part of wisdom, to know whose gift it was?”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] But perhaps continence is the gift of God, but wisdom man bestows upon himself, whereby to understand, that that gift is, not his own, but of God. Yea, “The Lord maketh wise the blind:” and, “The testimony of the Lord is faithful, it giveth wisdom unto little ones:” and, “If any one want wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth unto all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given to ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 3, page 450, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin (HTML)
On the Good of Widowhood. (HTML)
Section 21 (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 2272 (In-Text, Margin)
... (among the rest of the gifts of God to speak of this rather, of which I am speaking to you,) who, I say, would have continence, unless willing? forasmuch as also no one would receive unless willing. But if you ask, Whose gift it is, that it can be by our will received and had? listen to Scripture; yea, rather, because thou knowest, recollect what thou hast read, “Whereas I knew,” saith he, “that no one can be continent, unless God give it, and this itself was of wisdom, to know whose gift it was.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] Great are these two gifts, wisdom and continence; wisdom, forsooth, whereby we are formed in the knowledge of God; but continence, whereby we are not conformed unto this world. But God bids us that we be both wise and continent, without which goods ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 49, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 68 (In-Text, Margin)
... to teaching. There remains action to correspond with the virtue, to complete the truth we wish to prove. Read then what comes next: "But if," he says, "the possession which is desired in life is honorable, what is more honorable than wisdom, which works all things?" Could anything be brought forward more striking or more distinct than this, or even more fully expressed? Or, if you wish more, hear another passage of the same meaning. "Wisdom," he says, "teaches sobriety, and justice, and virtue."[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] Sobriety refers, I think, to the knowledge of the truth, or to teaching; justice and virtue to work and action. And I know nothing comparable to these two things, that is, to efficiency in action and sobriety in contemplation, which the virtue of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 49, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 68 (In-Text, Margin)
... to teaching. There remains action to correspond with the virtue, to complete the truth we wish to prove. Read then what comes next: "But if," he says, "the possession which is desired in life is honorable, what is more honorable than wisdom, which works all things?" Could anything be brought forward more striking or more distinct than this, or even more fully expressed? Or, if you wish more, hear another passage of the same meaning. "Wisdom," he says, "teaches sobriety, and justice, and virtue."[Wisdom of Solomon 8:4] Sobriety refers, I think, to the knowledge of the truth, or to teaching; justice and virtue to work and action. And I know nothing comparable to these two things, that is, to efficiency in action and sobriety in contemplation, which the virtue of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 49, footnote 4 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 68 (In-Text, Margin)
... to teaching. There remains action to correspond with the virtue, to complete the truth we wish to prove. Read then what comes next: "But if," he says, "the possession which is desired in life is honorable, what is more honorable than wisdom, which works all things?" Could anything be brought forward more striking or more distinct than this, or even more fully expressed? Or, if you wish more, hear another passage of the same meaning. "Wisdom," he says, "teaches sobriety, and justice, and virtue."[Wisdom of Solomon 8:7] Sobriety refers, I think, to the knowledge of the truth, or to teaching; justice and virtue to work and action. And I know nothing comparable to these two things, that is, to efficiency in action and sobriety in contemplation, which the virtue of ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 49, footnote 6 (Image)
Augustine: The Anti-Manichaean Writings, The Anti-Donatist Writings
Writings in Connection with the Manichæan Controversy. (HTML)
On the Morals of the Catholic Church. (HTML)
Harmony of the Old and New Testaments. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 70 (In-Text, Margin)
28. Perhaps some may think that those passages do not refer to the Son of God. What, then, is taught in the following words: "She displays the nobility of her birth, having her dwelling with God?"[Wisdom of Solomon 8:3] To what does birth refer but to parentage? And does not dwelling with the Father claim and assert equality? Again, as Paul says that the Son of God is the wisdom of God, and as the Lord Himself says, "No man knoweth the Father save the only-begotten Son," what could be more concordant than those words of the prophet: "With Thee is wisdom which knows Thy works, which was present at the time of Thy ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 4, page 316, 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 recurs to the genealogical difficulty and insists that even according to Matthew Jesus was not Son of God until His baptism. Augustin sets forth the Catholic view of the relation of the divine and the human in the person of Christ. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 982 (In-Text, Margin)
... no existence beyond it, as if He had abandoned the government of heaven and earth, or as if He had left the presence of the Father. The mistake is with the Manichæans, whose understanding is so incapable of forming a conception of anything except what is material, that they cannot comprehend how the Word of God, who is the virtue and wisdom of God, while remaining in Himself and with the Father, and while governing the universe, reaches from end to end in strength, and sweetly orders all things.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] In the faultless procedure of this adorable providence, He appointed for Himself an earthly mother; and to free His servants from the bondage of corruption He took in this mother the form of a servant, that is, a mortal body; and this body which He ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 29, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book I (HTML)
What ‘Lighteth’ Means. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 328 (In-Text, Margin)
... inserted in order to distinguish spiritual illumination from that bodily one which enlightens the eyes of the flesh either by means of the luminaries of the sky, or by the lights of ordinary fire. So that he mentioned the inner man as coming into the world, because the outward man is of a corporeal nature, just as this world itself; as if he said, “Which lighteth every man that cometh into the body,” in accordance with that which is written: “I obtained a good spirit, and I came in a body undefiled.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:19-20] Or again, the passage, “Which lighteth every one that cometh into the world,”—if it was added for the sake of expressing some distinction,—might perhaps mean: Which lighteth every inner man, because the inner man, when he becomes truly wise, is ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 46, footnote 8 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants. (HTML)
Book II (HTML)
The Will of Man Requires the Help of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 468 (In-Text, Margin)
... you,” and we say to Him, “Turn us, O God of our salvation,” and again, “Turn us, O God of hosts;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Understand now, ye simple among the people,” and we say to Him, “Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Go not after thy lusts,” and we say to Him, “We know that no man can be continent, except God gives it to him;”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” When He commands us, saying, “Do justice,” and we say, “Teach me Thy judgments, O Lord;” what else do we say than, “Give what Thou commandest?” In like manner, when He says: “Blessed are they ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 92, footnote 9 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
No Man Justified by Works. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 803 (In-Text, Margin)
What the difference between them is, I will 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.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] 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.” 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. ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 108, footnote 10 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Spirit and the Letter. (HTML)
The Faith of Those Who are Under the Law Different from the Faith of Others. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1028 (In-Text, Margin)
... which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” When, therefore, that strength of sin, the law, inflamed the sting of death, even sin, to take occasion and by the commandment work all manner of concupiscence in them, of whom were they to ask for the gift of continence but of Him who knows how to give good gifts to His children? Perhaps, however, a man, in his folly, is unaware that no one can be continent except God give him the gift. To know this, indeed, he requires Wisdom herself.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] Why, then, does he not listen to the Spirit of his Father, speaking through Christ’s apostle, or even Christ Himself, who says in His gospel, “Seek and ye shall find;” and who also says to us, speaking by His apostle: “If any one of you lack wisdom, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 162, footnote 11 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise Concerning Man’s Perfection in Righteousness. (HTML)
The Eleventh Breviate. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1395 (In-Text, Margin)
... words, “Be not conformed to this world,” and the command in these, “But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The former falls under the negative precept, not to covet; the latter under the positive one, to love. The one has reference to continence, the other to righteousness. The one enjoins avoidance of evil; the other, pursuit of good. By eschewing covetousness we put off the old man, and by showing love we put on the new. But no man can be continent unless God endow him with the gift;[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] nor is God’s love shed abroad in our hearts by our own selves, but by the Holy Ghost that is given to us. This, however, takes place day after day in those who advance by willing, believing, and praying, and who, “forgetting those things which are ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 447, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on Grace and Free Will. (HTML)
Abstract. (HTML)
Conjugal Chastity is Itself the Gift of God. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3003 (In-Text, Margin)
... are written in the law of God, forbidding all fornication and adultery, indicate anything else than free will? Surely such precepts would not be given unless a man had a will of his own, wherewith to obey the divine commandments. And yet it is God’s gift which is indispensable for the observance of the precepts of chastity. Accordingly, it is said in the Book of Wisdom: “When I knew that no one could be continent, except God gives it, then this became a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] “Every man,” however, “is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” not to observe and keep these holy precepts of chastity. If he should say in respect of these commandments, “I wish to keep them, but am mastered by my ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 5, page 543, footnote 3 (Image)
Augustine: Anti-Pelagian Writings
A Treatise on the Predestination of the Saints. (HTML)
A Treatise on the Gift of Perseverance. (HTML)
Further Development of the Foregoing Argument. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3666 (In-Text, Margin)
... let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.” It is written also in the Proverbs of Solomon, “Because theLord giveth wisdom.” And of continency it is read in the book of Wisdom, whose authority has been used by great and learned men who have commented upon the divine utterances long before us; there, therefore, it is read, “When I knew that no one can be continent unless God gives it, and that this was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:21] Therefore these are God’s gifts,—that is, to say nothing of others, wisdom and continency. Let those also acquiesce: for they are not Pelagians, to contend against such a manifest truth as this with hard and heretical perversity. “But,” say they, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 252, 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)
Of the agreement of the evangelists Matthew and Luke in the generations of the Lord. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1745 (In-Text, Margin)
... servant.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] then were they also made by the Son of God to whom He Himself as Son of Man was afterwards to be subject; and the Apostle says that He is the Son of David, “who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” But yet the Lord Himself proposes ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 6, page 260, footnote 7 (Image)
Augustine: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels
Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament. (HTML)
Of the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel, Chap. iii. 13, 'Then Jesus cometh from Galilee to the Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.' Concerning the Trinity. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1840 (In-Text, Margin)
... that it might have existence! But let us show by the testimony of the same Scripture that not only were all things created and made by Him as we have quoted from the Gospel, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made,” but that the things which were made are also governed and ordered by Him. You acknowledge Christ then to be the Power and Wisdom of God; acknowledge too what is said of Wisdom, “She reacheth from one end to another mightily, and sweetly doth she order all things.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] Let us not then doubt that by Him are all things ruled, by whom all things were made. So then the Father doeth nothing without the Son, nor the Son without the Father.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 7, page 138, footnote 4 (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 V. 20–23. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 423 (In-Text, Margin)
... work of the Father be shown to the Son, as though He were doing and sitting outside, and the Son attentively watching the Father’s hand how it maketh? Where is that inseparable Trinity? Where the Word, of which it is said that the same is “the power and the wisdom of God”? Where that which the Scripture saith of the same wisdom: “For it is the brightness of the eternal light?” Where what was said of it again: “It powerfully reaches from the end even to the end, and ordereth all things sweetly”?[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] Whatever the Father doeth, He doeth through the Son: through His wisdom and his power He doeth; not from without doth He show to the Son what He may see, but in the Son Himself He showeth Him what He doeth.
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 8, page 671, footnote 2 (Image)
Augustine: Expositions on the Psalms
Expositions on the Book of Psalms. (HTML)
Psalm CXLVII (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 5943 (In-Text, Margin)
... the Angels; is any of these as great as swiftness itself, “even unto swiftness”? What is swiftness itself, breth ren? It is everywhere; it is not in part. This belongeth to the Word of God, not to be in part, to be everywhere by Himself the Word, whereby He is “the Power of God and the Wisdom of God,” before He had taken flesh upon Him. If we think of God in the Form of God, the Word equal to the Father, this is the Wisdom of God, of which is said, “It reacheth from one end to the other mightily.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:1] What mighty speed! “It reacheth from one end to the other mightily.”…
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 95, footnote 8 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Nepotian. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1387 (In-Text, Margin)
... riches, nor does he shrink into himself because of poverty. Joy and sorrow he alike despises. The sun does not burn him by day nor the moon by night. Do not pray at the corners of the streets, lest the applause of men interrupt the straight course of your prayers. Do not broaden your fringes and for show wear phylacteries, or, despite of conscience, wrap yourself in the self-seeking of the Pharisee. Would you know what mode of apparel the Lord requires? Have prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:7] Let these be the four quarters of your horizon, let them be a four-horse team to bear you, Christ’s charioteer, at full speed to your goal. No necklace can be more precious than these; no gems can form a brighter galaxy. By them you are decorated, ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 6, page 135, footnote 7 (Image)
Jerome: Letters and Select Works
The Letters of St. Jerome. (HTML)
To Pammachius. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 1923 (In-Text, Margin)
3. Let me use for a moment the language of philosophy. According to the Stoics there are four virtues so closely related and mutually coherent that he who lacks one lacks all. They are prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance.[Wisdom of Solomon 8:7] While all of you possess the four, yet each is remarkable for one. You have prudence, your mother has justice, your virgin sister has fortitude, your wedded wife has temperance. I speak of you as wise, for who can be wiser than one who, despising the folly of the world, has followed Christ “the power of God and the wisdom of God”? Or what better instance can there be of justice ...
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 53, footnote 5 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
On the Duties of the Clergy. (HTML)
Book II. (HTML)
Chapter XIII. The beauty of wisdom is made plain by the divine testimony. From this he goes on to prove its connection with the other virtues. (HTML)
65. We have spoken of its beauty, and proved it by the witness of Scripture. It remains to show on the authority of Scripture that there can be no fellowship between it and vice, but that it has an inseparable union with the rest of the virtues. “It has a spirit sagacious, undefiled, sure, holy, loving what is good, quick, that never forbids a kindness, kind, steadfast, free from care, having all power, overseeing all things.” And again:[Wisdom of Solomon 8:7] “She teacheth temperance and justice and virtue.”
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 245, footnote 5 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Exposition of the Christian Faith. (HTML)
Book III. (HTML)
Chapter III. That the Father and the Son must not be divided is proved by the words of the Apostle, seeing that it is befitting to the Son that He should be blessed, only Potentate, and immortal, by nature, that is, and not by grace, as even the angels themselves are immortal, and that He should dwell in the unapproachable light. How it is that the Father and the Son are alike and equally said to be “alone.” (HTML)
... blessings, for “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.” He cannot but be called “Blessed,” Who hath given us wholesome teaching, even as it is written: “Which is according to the Gospel of the beauty of the Blessed God.” His Power cannot be denied, of Whom the Father saith: “I have laid help upon One that is mighty.” And who dare refuse to acknowledge Him to be immortal, when He Himself hath made others also immortal, as it is written of the Wisdom of God: “By her shall I possess immortality.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:13]
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Volume 10, page 402, footnote 1 (Image)
Ambrose: Select Works and Letters
Dogmatic Treatises, Ethical Works, and Sermons. (HTML)
Concerning Widows. (HTML)
Chapter X. St. Ambrose returns again to the subject of Christ, speaking of His goodness in all misery. The various ways in which the good Physician treats our diseases, and the quickness of the healing if only we do not neglect to call upon Him. He touches upon the moral meaning of the will, which he shows was manifested in Peter's mother-in-law, and lastly points out what a minister of Christ and specially a bishop ought to be, and says that they specially must rise through grace. (HTML)
CCEL Footnote 3371 (In-Text, Margin)
64. And in this place can be seen the disposition of the will of Peter’s mother-in-law, from which she received for herself, as it were, the seed corn of what was to come, for to each his will is the cause of that which is to come. For from the will springs wisdom, which the wise man takes in marriage to himself, saying: “I desire to make her my spouse.”[Wisdom of Solomon 8:2] This will, then, which at first was weak and languid under the fever of various desires, afterwards by the office of the apostles rose up strong to minister unto Christ.