Augustine of Hippo : The Lord does not delay the promise. A little while and we shall see him, where we shall no more ask anything. We will no more ask anything because nothing will remain to be desired, nothing will be hidden to be inquired about. — TRACTATES 101.6.2 Bede : The Lord does not delay His promise, etc. Therefore, He who knows all times, the latest and the ancient, does not delay His promise, but indeed shows this at the time which He predestined before all times to come. And therefore He still defers, so that the full number of the elect, which He decreed with the Father before the ages, may be fulfilled. Hence, in the Apocalypse, the souls of the martyrs who longed for the coming of His judgment and resurrection heard that they should rest yet a little time, until the number of their fellow servants and brethren should be completed. But those who understand the aforementioned judgment of blessed Peter as if he were saying that the day of judgment would last as long as a thousand years, refer this to the cause that it is necessary for those who depart from the body with some sins, yet are predestined to the lot of the elect, to be purged by fire for such a time, and then finally, with all sins forgiven, to come to life. But these do not see how impudent it is to believe that such a great company of the perfect and just, having received blessed and immortal bodies in the blink of an eye, would have to wait in the air or on earth for the end of the judgment for a space of a thousand years, and then finally, with their companions fully prepared, to hear the long-desired judgment: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom" (Matt. XXV). — Commentary on the Catholic Epistles Fastidius : In his fatherly love, his kindness and his clemency, God does not punish immediately, so that you may recognize the extent of his loving regard for you and of his compassion. He would rather wait for you than punish you in your sin. — ON THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 21 Ignatius of Antioch : Now, as to Philo the deacon, a man of Cilicia, of high reputation, who still ministers to me in the word of God, along with Gaius and Agathopus, an elect man, who has followed me from Syria, not regarding his life,-these also bear testimony in your behalf. And I myself give thanks to God for you, because ye have received them: and the Lord will also receive you. But may those that dishonoured them be forgiven through the grace of Jesus Christ, "who wisheth not the death of the sinner, but his repentance." — Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians Pachomius the Great : Let us not look upon God's patience as ignorance. He holds back and delays so that, when we have been converted to a better state, we may not be handed over to torments. — BOOK OF OUR FATHER HORSIESIOS 3 Pseudo-Clement : And another Scripture says, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." This means that those who are perishing must be saved. For it is indeed a great and admirable thing to establish not the things which are standing, but those that are falling. Thus also did Christ desire to save the things which were perishing, [Matthew 18:11] and has saved many by coming and calling us when hastening to destruction. — Second Epistle To The Corinthians (Pseudo-Clement)