Early church fathers

Over the centuries, many documents, letters and sermons have been written and preserved from which we can gain insight into the beliefs and understanding of early Christians.  I am beginning a study of volume one of the Ante-Nicene Fathers.  From this reading I hope to gain one of two things.  Either some further text that will help me understand scripture better, or show me how errors were present, even in the first/second century church, thus validating the exclusion of these texts from the Bible.
Let's see how this goes....