Basil of Caesarea

Although, however, waters above the heaven are invited to give glory to the Lord of the Universe, do not let us think of them as intelligent beings; the heavens are not alive because they "declare the glory of God," nor the firmament a sensible being because it "sheweth His handiwork." And if they tell you that the heavens mean contemplative powers, and the firmament active powers which produce good, we admire the theory as ingenious without being able to acknowledge the truth of it. …

Homilies On The Hexaemeron 3:9 ↗

Augustine of Hippo

For you [God] evil does not exist, and not only for you but for the whole of your creation as well, because there is nothing outside it that could invade it and break down the order that you have imposed on it. Yet in the separate parts of your creation there are some things that we think of as evil because they are at variance with other things. But there are other things again with which they are in accord, and then they are good. In themselves, too, they are good. …

Confessions 7.13 ↗

Jerome

Praise the Lord from the earth. Since the angels have praised, the heaven has praised: let the earth also praise. Let us see which things of the earth praise first. Dragons and all deeps: fire, hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms, which do his word: mountains and all hills, fruit-bearing trees, and all cedars: beasts, and all cattle, serpents and feathered fowl. After such great things, what is said? After the dragons, after the serpents, after the fire, after the hail, after the beasts and all the cattle? …

Homily 58, on Psalm 148 ↗