Patristic A.D. 420
“Because John the Baptist was the first who preached repentance to the people, saying, Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand: rightly therefore from that day forth it may be said, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. For great indeed is the violence, when we who are born of earth, seek an abode in heaven, and obtain by excellence what we have not by nature.”
Catena Aurea: Gospel of Matthew, as excerpted in the Catena Aurea on Matthew 11:11-15
PD · J. H. Newman (Oxford, 1841) ↗