Contents

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introductory Note by the Editior

Contents of Christian Doctrine

On Christian Doctrine

Preface

Book I. Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture

Chap. 1. The interpretation of Scripture depends on the discovery and enunciation of the meaning, and is to be undertaken in dependence on God's aid.

Chap. 2. What a thing is, and what a sign

Chap. 3. Some things are for use, some for enjoyment

Chap. 4. Difference of use and enjoyment

Chap. 5. The Trinity the true object of enjoyment

Chap. 6. In what sense God is ineffable

Chap. 7. What all men understand by the term God

Chap. 8. God to be esteemed above all else because He is unchangeable Wisdom

Chap. 9. All acknowledge the superiority of unchangeable: wisdom to that which is variable

Chap. 10. To see God, the soul must be purified

Chap. 11. Wisdom becoming incarnate, a pattern to us of purification

Chap. 12. In what sense the Wisdom of God came to us

Chap. 13. The Word was made flesh

Chap. 14. How the wisdom of God healed man

Chap. 15. Faith is buttressed by the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and is stimulated by His coming to judgment

Chap. 16. Christ purges His church by medicinal afflictions

Chap. 17. Christ, by forgiving our sins, opened the way to our home

Chap. 18. The keys given to the Church

Chap. 19. Bodily and spiritual death and resurrection

Chap. 20. The resurrection to damnation

Chap. 21. Neither body nor soul extinguished at death

Chap. 22. God alone to be enjoyed

Chap. 23. Man needs no injunction to love himself and his own body

Chap. 24. No man hates his own flesh, not even those who abuse it

Chap. 25. A man may love something more than his body, but does not therefore hate his body

Chap. 26. The command to love God and our neighbour includes a command to love ourselves

Chap. 27. The order of love

Chap. 28. How we are to decide whom to aid

Chap. 29. We are to desire and endeavour that all men may love God

Chap. 30. Whether angels are to be reckoned our neighbours

Chap. 31. God uses rather than enjoys us

Chap. 32. In what way God uses man

Chap. 33. In what way man should be enjoyed

Chap. 34. Christ the first way to God

Chap. 35. The fulfilment and end of Scripture is the love of God and our neighbour

Chap. 36. That interpretation of Scripture which builds us up in love is not perniciously deceptive nor mendacious, even though it be faulty. The interpreter, however should be corrected

Chap. 37. Dangers of mistaken interpretation

Chap. 38. Love never faileth

Chap. 39. He who is mature in faith hope and love, needs Scripture no longer

Chap. 40. What manner of reader Scripture demands

Book II.

Argument

Chap. 1. Signs, their nature and variety

Chap. 2. Of the kind of signs we are now concerned with

Chap. 3. Among signs, words hold the chief place

Chap. 4. Origin of writing

Chap. 5. Scripture translated into various languages

Chap. 6. Use of the obscurities in Scripture which arise from its figurative language

Chap. 7. Steps to wisdom: first, fear; second, piety; third, knowledge; fourth, resolution; fifth, counsel; sixth, purification of heart; seventh, stop or termination, wisdom

Chap. 8. The canonical books

Chap. 9. How we should proceed in studying Scripture

Chap. 10. Unknown or ambiguous signs prevent Scripture from being understood

Chap. 11. Knowledge of languages especially of Greek and Hebrew, necessary to remove ignorance of signs

Chap. 12. A diversity of interpretations is useful. Errors arising from ambiguous words

Chap. 13. How faulty interpretations can be emended

Chap. 14. How the meaning of unknown words and idioms is to be discovered

Chap. 15. Among versions a preference is given to the Septuagint and the Itala

Chap. 16. The knowledge both of language and things is helpful for the understanding of figurative expressions

Chap. 17. Origin of the legend of the nine Muses

Chap. 18. No help is to be despised even though it come from a profane source

Chap. 19. Two kinds of heathen knowledge

Chap. 20. The superstitious nature of human institutions

Chap. 21. Superstition of astrologers

Chap. 22. The folly of observing the stars in order to predict the events of a life

Chap. 23. Why we repudiate arts of divination

Chap. 24. The intercourse and agreement with demons which superstitious observances maintain

Chap. 25. In human institutions which are not superstitious, there are some things superfluous and some convenient and necessary

Chap. 26. What human contrivances we are to adopt, and what we are to avoid

Chap. 27. Some departments of knowledge, not of mere human invention, aid us in interpreting Scripture

Chap. 28. To what extent history is an aid

Chap. 29. To what extent natural science is an exegetical aid

Chap. 30. What the mechanical arts contribute to exegetics

Chap. 31. Use of dialectics. Of fallacies

Chap. 32. Valid logical sequence is not devised but only observed by man

Chap. 33. False inferences may be drawn from valid seasonings, and vice versa

Chap. 34. It is one thing to know the laws of inference, another to know the truth of opinions

Chap. 35. The science of definition is not false, though it may be applied to falsities

Chap. 36. The rules of eloquence are true, though sometimes used to persuade men of what is false

Chap. 37. Use of rhetoric and dialectic

Chap. 38. The science of numbers not created, but only discovered, by man

Chap. 39. To which of the above-mentioned studies attention should be given, and in what spirit

Chap. 40. Whatever has been rightly said by the heathen, we must appropriate to our uses

Chap. 41. What kind of spirit is required for the study of Holy Scripture

Chap. 42. Sacred Scripture compared with profane authors

Book III.

Argument.

Chap. 1. Summary of the foregoing books, and scope of that which follows

Chap. 2. Rule for removing ambiguity by attending to punctuation

Chap. 3. How pronunciation serves to remove ambiguity—different kinds of interrogation

Chap. 4. How ambiguities may be solved

Chap. 5. It is a wretched slavery which takes the figurative expressions of Scripture in a literal sense

Chap. 6. Utility of the bondage of the Jews

Chap. 7. The useless bondage of the gentiles

Chap. 8. The Jews liberated from their bondage in one way, the gentiles in another

Chap. 9. Who is in bondage to signs, and who not

Chap. 10. How we are to discern whether a phrase is figurative

Chap. 11. Rule for interpreting phrases which seem to ascribe severity to God and the saints

Chap. 12. Rule for interpreting those sayings and actions which are ascribed to God and the saints and which yet seem to the unskilful to be wicked

Chap. 13. Same subject, continued

Chap. 14. Error of those who think that there is no absolute right and wrong

Chap. 15. Rule for interpreting figurative expressions

Chap. 16. Rule for interpreting commands and prohibitions

Chap. 17. Some commands are given to all in common, others to particular classes

Chap. 18. We must take into consideration the time at which anything was enjoyed or allowed

Chap. 19. Wicked men judge others by themselves

Chap. 20. Consistency of good men in all outward circumstances

Chap. 21. David not lustful, though he fell into adultery

Chap. 22. Rule regarding passages of Scripture in which approval is expressed of actions which are now condemned by good men

Chap. 23. Rule regarding the narrative of sins of great men

Chap. 24. The character of the expressions used is above all to have weight

Chap. 25. The same word does not always signify the same thing

Chap. 26. Obscure passages are to be interpreted by those which are clearer

Chap. 27. One passage susceptible of various interpretations

Chap. 28. It is safer to explain a doubtful passage by other passages of Scripture than by reason

Chap. 29. The knowledge of tropes is necessary

Chap. 30. The rules of Tichonius the Donatist examined

Chap. 31. The first rule of Tichonius

Chap. 32. The second rule of Tichonius

Chap. 33. The third rule of Tichonius

Chap. 34. The fourth rule of Tichonius

Chap. 35. The fifth rule of Tichonius

Chap. 36. The sixth rule of Tichonius

Chap. 37. The seventh rule of Tichonius

Book IV. Containing a General View of the Subjects Treated in Holy Scripture

Argument.

Chap. 1.This work not intended as a treatise on rhetoric

Chap. 2. It is lawful for a Christian teacher to use the art of rhetoric

Chap. 3. The proper age and the proper means for acquiring rhetorical skill

Chap. 4. The duty of the Christian teacher

Chap. 5. Wisdom of more importance than eloquence to the Christian teacher

Chap. 6. The sacred writers unite eloquence with wisdom

Chap. 7. Examples of true eloquence drawn from the epistles of Paul and the prophecies of Amos

Chap. 8. The obscurity of the sacred writers, though compatible with eloquence, not to be imitated by Christian teachers

Chap. 9. How, and with whom, difficult passages are to be discussed

Chap. 10. The necessity for perspicuity of style

Chap. 11. The Christian teacher must speak clearly, but not inelegantly

Chap. 12. The aim of the orator, according to Cicero, is to teach, to delight, and to move. Of these, teaching is the most essential

Chap. 13. The hearer must be moved as well as instructed

Chap. 14. Beauty of diction to be in keeping with the matter

Chap. 15. The Christian teacher should pray before preaching

Chap. 16. Human directions not to be despised though God makes the true teacher

Chap. 17. Threefold division of the various styles of speech

Chap. 18. The Christian orator is constantly dealing with great matters

Chap. 19. The Christian teacher must use different styles on different occasions

Chap. 20. Examples of the various styles drawn from Scripture

Chap. 21. Examples of the various styles, drawn from the teachers of the church, especially Ambrose and Cyprian

Chap. 22. The necessity of variety in style

Chap. 23. How the various styles should be mingled

Chap. 24. The effects produced by the majestic style

Chap. 25. How the temperate style is to be used

Chap. 26. In every style the orator should aim at perspicuity, beauty, and persuasiveness

Chap. 27. The man whose life is in harmony with his teaching will teach with greater effect

Chap. 28. Truth is more important than expression. What is meant by strife about words

Chap. 29. It is permissible for a preacher to deliver to the people what has been written by a more eloquent man than himself

Chap. 30. The preacher should commence his discourse with prayer to God

Chap. 31. Apology for the length of the work

Indexes

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