From the early Church Fathers to now.
6 Patristic · 1 Medieval
“If the spirit of him that hath power, ascend upon thee, leave not thy place: because care will make the greatest sins to cease.”
“He who sins gives place to the devil, taking no heed of him who said, "Do not give place to the devil," or to Ecclesiastes, "If the spirit of him that has power ascends upon you, leave not your place." Let us, then, who are in the Lord and who, as much as we are able, observe closely his wonders, so draw joy to our hearts from the contemplation of them.”
“You alone are not the source of the trouble, but there is also one who instigates you, the accursed devil. He makes his suggestions to all, but he does not prevail by force over those who do not give way to him. Therefore Ecclesiastes says, "Should the anger of the ruler burst upon you, forsake not your place." If you shut your door, you will be out of his reach and he will not harm you. But if you are so careless as to admit the lustful thought, reflection will cause it to strike roots within you; it will capture your mind and drag you down into an abyss of sins.”
“Let no one then say, We have no portion in Jacob nor inheritance in Israel. Let no one say, I am not among the Clergy, for it is written, Give unto Levi his lots; and again David says that he who lieth in the midst among the lots ascends to heaven with spiritual wings. Say not of your God, He is grievous to us, nor of your place, it is not for our turn, since Scripture says, Leave not thy place: For the adversary would fain deprive thee of it, he would fain drive thee away, for he envies thee thy hopes and thy function.”
“"If the anger of the ruler rises against you"—if he seems to have power over you, it is only because you have subjected yourself to him. For as "sin reigns in the mortal bodies" of those who want to "obey their passions," and as someone is ruled over if he is ruled by mammon and has focused his thinking on the desire for money, so he [the ruler] has power over the one who subjects himself as slave.”
“We also read in Ecclesiastes, "If the spirit of him that has power, ascend upon your heart, leave not your place." From this it is clearly evident that we have committed a sin if we surrender our place to him who ascends upon us and if we have not cast down headlong the enemy ascending upon the walls. However, it seems to me that when you call down upon the heads of your brothers, that is to say, upon your slanderers, eternal fires with the devil, you are not so much dashing your brothers to the ground as you are elevating the devil, since he is to be punished in the same fires as Christians.”
“"If the anger of a ruler flares up against you, do not leave your place, for defence appeases great offences. "Now the Scripture mentions the chief of that world, the creator of the darkness and he who toils for the sons of despair, whom the apostle also recalls. [Cfr. Eph. 2, 2; 6, 12.] For if he rises in our heart and the spirit of bad thoughts is wounded, we ought not to give way, but fight against the worst thoughts and free ourselves from the greatest sins, so that we do not fill our work with that thought, since it is one thing in thought, another in the deed of sinning. Reference to this great sin can also be found in the Psalm: "if they had not conquered me, I would be clean and purified from the greatest crime" [Ps. 18, 4.]. Symmachus translates the Hebrew word "marphe "as all the others do: "iama", that is, 'cleanliness' or 'neatness'. He has interpreted the meaning too, and he says, "if the spirit of a ruler defeats you, do not move from your place; since virtue wins over the greatest sin". That is, if the devil entices your mind and incites you to lust, do not follow the thought of sin and flattering desire, but stand firm and fast and extinguish the flame of desire with the cold of chastity. My Hebrew tutor suspected certain things about this passage for a reason I do not know. If you take any high-up position in the world, or are appointed a post higher than the other people, do not let go of your former works and start to forget your former virtues, or cease from your previous work, because the cure for sins is born out of doing good things, and not from pompous and overflowing rank.”
“The contempt of the wise man has been set forth above, and conversely his just commendation: here is subjoined thirdly the promotion of fools. And because the authority of fools is burdensome, therefore the armor of patience is set forth first, and the disordered authority of fools is subjoined, at the text: There is an evil which I have seen, etc. Therefore the armor of patience is set forth first, for the possession of which he says: If the spirit of him who has power, that is, the fury of a prelate: for spirit is called fury in Isaiah 2: "Cease from man, whose spirit is in his nostrils"; 3 Kings 19: "A great and strong spirit, overturning mountains and crushing," etc. Ascend upon you, namely to oppress: Jeremiah 4: "Behold, he shall ascend like a cloud, and his chariots like a tempest: woe to us, for we are laid waste." Do not leave your place, that is, the place of patience and constancy, in which the soul finds rest, according to that passage in Luke 21: "In your patience you shall possess your souls"; 1 Peter 2: "Servants, be subject in all fear to your masters, not only to the gentle, but also to the harsh: for this is grace, if for the sake of conscience toward God one endures," etc. And the reason for its usefulness is given: Because healing will cause the greatest sins to cease. Here healing is called the affliction of scourges, by which man is healed: Wisdom 6: "The care of discipline is love, and love is the keeping of the laws." The predication is causal in both cases, because if through many scourges one arrives at love, and through this the law is kept: therefore it causes sins to cease. It is expounded otherwise: If the spirit of him who has power, that is, if the spirit of ambition, that is, the malice of the ambitious, ascend upon you, that is, if it comes into your mind that you wish to be a prelate: do not leave your place, namely the place of subjection and servitude, concerning which Luke 14: "When you are invited to the wedding, recline in the last place," and Sirach 11: "Trust in God, and remain in your place." And the reason is given: Because healing will cause the greatest sins to cease. The translation of Symmachus has: Because modesty: whence 1 Corinthians 9: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps, having preached to others, I myself should become a castaway." It is expounded otherwise concerning the devil: If the spirit of him who has power, that is, of the devil: Job, the penultimate chapter: "There is no power on earth that can be compared to him"; ascend upon you, and this by tempting: Luke 11: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it." Do not leave your place, namely the place of penitence: Ephesians 4: "Do not give place to the devil." Because healing will cause the greatest sins to cease: Origen's text has: salvation, which indeed is through the medicine of penitence: Sirach 11: "The malice of one hour causes forgetfulness of the greatest pleasure," that is, brief penitence for a great sin.”
The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.