Fathers

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What the Fathers say

Ecclesiastes 7:18

Western Saints

Jerome

"Do not be too wicked, and do not be foolish: why should you die before your time? "When God says, "I do not want the death of the dying, only let him return and live" [Ezek. 18, 32.], it suffices to have sinned only once. We ought to raise ourselves up after a catastrophe. For just like those who argue about worldly matters, the swallow knows how to protect its young from poppy seeds, and wounded roes seek wild marjoram to cure themselves. Then why are we ignorant that the cure of repentance is proposed for sinners? …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes ↗

Bonaventure

Here is noted the third instruction, in which he counsels the display of mercy: and he sets forth first the exhortation and then adds the reason. He exhorts, when he says: "It is good for you to support the just one," namely in justice: Proverbs 24: "Do not lie in wait nor seek wickedness in the house of the just, and do not lay waste to his rest"; because it is said in Proverbs 17: "It is not good to inflict harm upon the just, nor to strike the prince who judges rightly." Not only is the just one to be supported in a just cause, …

Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Chapter 7 ↗