The Enchiridion

Contents (124 chapters)

1. 1. Introductory Notice.
2. 2. Argument.
3. 3. The Author Desires the Gift of True Wisdom for Laurentius.
4. 4. The Fear of God is Man’s True Wisdom.
5. 5. God is to Be Worshipped Through Faith, Hope, and Love.
6. 6. The Questions Propounded by Laurentius.
7. 7. Brief Answers to These Questions.
8. 8. Controversy Out of Place in a Handbook Like the Present.
9. 9. The Creed and the Lord’s Prayer Demand the Exercise of Faith, Hope, and Love.
10. 10. The Distinction Between Faith and Hope, and the Mutual Dependence of Faith, Hope, and Love.
11. 11. What We are to Believe. In Regard to Nature It is Not Necessary for the Christian to Know More Than that the Goodness of the Creator is the Cause of All Things.
12. 12. The Supremely Good Creator Made All Things Good.
13. 13. What is Called Evil in the Universe is But the Absence of Good.
14. 14. All Beings Were Made Good, But Not Being Made Perfectly Good, are Liable to Corruption.
15. 15. There Can Be No Evil Where There is No Good; And an Evil Man is an Evil Good.
16. 16. Good and Evil are an Exception to the Rule that Contrary Attributes Cannot Be Predicated of the Same Subject. Evil Springs Up in What is Good, and Cannot Exist Except in What is Good.
17. 17. The Preceding Argument is in No Wise Inconsistent with the Saying of Our Lord: ‘A Good Tree Cannot Bring Forth Evil Fruit.’
18. 18. It is Not Essential to Man’s Happiness that He Should Know the Causes of Physical Convulsions; But It Is, that He Should Know the Causes of Good and Evil.
19. 19. The Nature of Error. All Error is Not Hurtful, Though It is Man’s Duty as Far as Possible to Avoid It.
20. 20. It is Never Allowable to Tell a Lie; But Lies Differ Very Much in Guilt, According to the Intention and the Subject.
21. 21. Men’s Errors Vary Very Much in the Magnitude of the Evils They Produce; But Yet Every Error is in Itself an Evil.
22. 22. Every Error is Not a Sin. An Examination of the Opinion of the Academic Philosophers, that to Avoid Error We Should in All Cases Suspend Belief.
23. 23. Error, Though Not Always a Sin, is Always an Evil.
24. 24. A Lie is Not Allowable, Even to Save Another from Injury.
25. 25. Summary of the Results of the Preceding Discussion.
26. 26. The Secondary Causes of Evil are Ignorance and Lust.
27. 27. God’s Judgments Upon Fallen Men and Angels. The Death of the Body is Man’s Peculiar Punishment.
28. 28. Through Adam’s Sin His Whole Posterity Were Corrupted, and Were Born Under the Penalty of Death, Which He Had Incurred.
29. 29. The State of Misery to Which Adam’s Sin Reduced Mankind, and the Restoration Effected Through the Mercy of God.
30. 30. When the Rebellious Angels Were Cast Out, the Rest Remained in the Enjoyment of Eternal Happiness with God.
31. 31. The Restored Part of Humanity Shall, in Accordance with the Promises of God, Succeed to the Place Which the Rebellious Angels Lost.
32. 32. Men are Not Saved by Good Works, Nor by the Free Determination of Their Own Will, But by the Grace of God Through Faith.
33. 33. Faith Itself is the Gift of God; And Good Works Will Not Be Wanting in Those Who Believe.
34. 34. The Freedom of the Will is Also the Gift of God, for God Worketh in Us Both to Will and to Do.
35. 35. Men, Being by Nature the Children of Wrath, Needed a Mediator. In What Sense God is Said to Be Angry.
36. 36. The Ineffable Mystery of the Birth of Christ the Mediator Through the Virgin Mary.
37. 37. Jesus Christ, Being the Only Son of God, is at the Same Time Man.
38. 38. The Grace of God is Clearly and Remarkably Displayed in Raising the Man Christ Jesus to the Dignity of the Son of God.
39. 39. The Same Grace is Further Clearly Manifested in This, that the Birth of Christ According to the Flesh is of the Holy Ghost.
40. 40. Jesus Christ, According to the Flesh, Was Not Born of the Holy Spirit in Such a Sense that the Holy Spirit is His Father.
41. 41. Not Everything that is Born of Another is to Be Called a Son of that Other.
42. 42. Christ’s Birth Through the Holy Spirit Manifests to Us the Grace of God.
43. 43. Christ, Who Was Himself Free from Sin, Was Made Sin for Us, that We Might Be Reconciled to God.
44. 44. The Sacrament of Baptism Indicates Our Death with Christ to Sin, and Our Resurrection with Him to Newness of Life.
45. 45. Baptism and the Grace Which It Typifies are Open to All, Both Infants and Adults.
46. 46. In Speaking of Sin, the Singular Number is Often Put for the Plural, and the Plural for the Singular.
47. 47. In Adam’s First Sin, Many Kinds of Sin Were Involved.
48. 48. It is Probable that Children are Involved in the Guilt Not Only of the First Pair, But of Their Own Immediate Parents.
49. 49. It is Difficult to Decide Whether the Sins of a Man’s Other Progenitors are Imputed to Him.
50. 50. The Guilt of the First Sin is So Great that It Can Be Washed Away Only in the Blood of the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
51. 51. Christ Was Not Regenerated in the Baptism of John, But Submitted to It to Give Us an Example of Humility, Just as He Submitted to Death, Not as the Punishment of Sin, But to Take Away the Sin of the World.
52. 52. Christ Took Away Not Only the One Original Sin, But All the Other Sins that Have Been Added to It.
53. 53. All Men Born of Adam are Under Condemnation, and Only If New Born in Christ are Freed from Condemnation.
54. 54. In Baptism, Which is the Similitude of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, All, Both Infants and Adults, Die to Sin that They May Walk in Newness of Life.
55. 55. Christ’s Cross and Burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and Sitting Down at the Right Hand of God, are Images of the Christian Life.
56. 56. Christ’s Second Coming Does Not Belong to the Past, But Will Take Place at the End of the World.
57. 57. The Expression, ‘Christ Shall Judge the Quick and the Dead,’ May Be Understood in Either of Two Senses.
58. 58. The Holy Spirit and the Church. The Church is the Temple of God.
59. 59. The Condition of the Church in Heaven.
60. 60. We Have No Certain Knowledge of the Organization of the Angelic Society.
61. 61. The Bodies Assumed by Angels Raise a Very Difficult, and Not Very Useful, Subject of Discussion.
62. 62. It is More Necessary to Be Able to Detect the Wiles of Satan When He Transforms Himself into an Angel of Light.
63. 63. The Church on Earth Has Been Redeemed from Sin by the Blood of a Mediator.
64. 64. By the Sacrifice of Christ All Things are Restored, and Peace is Made Between Earth and Heaven.
65. 65. The Peace of God, Which Reigneth in Heaven, Passeth All Understanding.
66. 66. Pardon of Sin Extends Over the Whole Mortal Life of the Saints, Which, Though Free from Crime, is Not Free from Sin.
67. 67. God Pardons Sins, But on Condition of Penitence, Certain Times for Which Have Been Fixed by the Law of the Church.
68. 68. The Pardon of Sin Has Reference Chiefly to the Future Judgment.
69. 69. Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man.
70. 70. The True Sense of the Passage I Cor. III. 11–15 About Those Who are Saved, Yet So as by Fire.
71. 71. It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life.
72. 72. Almsgiving Will Not Atone for Sin Unless the Life Be Changed.
73. 73. The Daily Prayer of the Believer Makes Satisfaction for the Trivial Sins that Daily Stain His Life.
74. 74. There are Many Kinds of Alms, the Giving of Which Assists to Procure Pardon for Our Sins.
75. 75. The Greatest of All Alms is to Forgive Our Debtors and to Love Our Enemies.
76. 76. God Does Not Pardon the Sins of Those Who Do Not from the Heart Forgive Others.
77. 77. The Wicked and the Unbelieving are Not Made Clean by the Giving of Alms, Except They Be Born Again.
78. 78. To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own Souls.
79. 79. If We Would Give Alms to Ourselves, We Must Flee Iniquity; For He Who Loveth Iniquity Hateth His Soul.
80. 80. What Sins are Trivial and What Heinous is a Matter for God’s Judgment.
81. 81. Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious.
82. 82. Sins, However Great and Detestable, Seem Trivial When We are Accustomed to Them.
83. 83. There are Two Causes of Sin, Ignorance and Weakness; And We Need Divine Help to Overcome Both.
84. 84. The Mercy of God is Necessary to True Repentance.
85. 85. The Man Who Despises the Mercy of God is Guilty of the Sin Against the Holy Ghost.
86. 86. The Resurrection of the Body Gives Rise to Numerous Questions.
87. 87. The Case of Abortive Conceptions.
88. 88. If They Have Ever Lived, They Must of Course Have Died, and Therefore Shall Have a Share in the Resurrection of the Dead.
89. 89. The Case of Monstrous Births.
90. 90. The Material of the Body Never Perishes.
91. 91. But This Material May Be Differently Arranged in the Resurrection Body.
92. 92. If There Be Differences and Inequalities Among the Bodies of Those Who Rise Again, There Shall Be Nothing Offensive or Disproportionate in Any.
93. 93. The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies.
94. 94. The Resurrection of the Lost.
95. 95. Both the First and the Second Deaths are the Consequence of Sin. Punishment is Proportioned to Guilt.
96. 96. The Saints Shall Know More Fully in the Next World the Benefits They Have Received by Grace.
97. 97. God’s Judgments Shall Then Be Explained.
98. 98. The Omnipotent God Does Well Even in the Permission of Evil.
99. 99. In What Sense Does the Apostle Say that ’God Will Have All Men to Be Saved,’ When, as a Matter of Fact, All are Not Saved?
100. 100. Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God’s Free Grace.
101. 101. As God’s Mercy is Free, So His Judgments are Just, and Cannot Be Gainsaid.
102. 102. The Will of God is Never Defeated, Though Much is Done that is Contrary to His Will.
103. 103. The Will of God, Which is Always Good, is Sometimes Fulfilled Through the Evil Will of Man.
104. 104. The Will of the Omnipotent God is Never Defeated, and is Never Evil.
105. 105. Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. II. 4: ‘Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved.’
106. 106. God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly.
107. 107. Man Was So Created as to Be Able to Choose Either Good or Evil: in the Future Life, the Choice of Evil Will Be Impossible.
108. 108. The Grace of God Was Necessary to Man’s Salvation Before the Fall as Well as After It.
109. 109. Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God.
110. 110. A Mediator Was Necessary to Reconcile Us to God; And Unless This Mediator Had Been God, He Could Not Have Been Our Redeemer.
111. 111. The State of the Soul During the Interval Between Death and the Resurrection.
112. 112. The Benefit to the Souls of the Dead from the Sacraments and Alms of Their Living Friends.
113. 113. After the Resurrection There Shall Be Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal Happiness, the Other of Eternal Misery.
114. 114. There is No Ground in Scripture for the Opinion of Those Who Deny the Eternity of Future Punishments.
115. 115. The Death of the Wicked Shall Be Eternal in the Same Sense as the Life of the Saints.
116. 116. Having Dealt with Faith, We Now Come to Speak of Hope. Everything that Pertains to Hope is Embraced in the Lord’s Prayer.
117. 117. The Seven Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, According to Matthew.
118. 118. Luke Expresses the Substance of These Seven Petitions More Briefly in Five.
119. 119. Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the Holy Ghost.
120. 120. The Four Stages of the Christian’s Life, and the Four Corresponding Stages of the Church’s History.
121. 121. The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.
122. 122. Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have Received the Grace of Regeneration.
123. 123. Love is the End of All the Commandments, and God Himself is Love.
124. 124. Conclusion.