Blessed Augustine of Hippo

The Enchiridion

5th c.

Classic translation

Dogmatic & Doctrinal · English translation, 1890

Contents

• The Enchiridion
• Introductory Notice
• Argument
• The Author Desires the Gift of True Wisdom for Laurentius
• The Fear of God is Man’s True Wisdom
• God is to Be Worshipped Through Faith, Hope, and Love
• The Questions Propounded by Laurentius
• Brief Answers to These Questions
• Controversy Out of Place in a Handbook Like the Present
• The Creed and the Lord’s Prayer Demand the Exercise of Faith, Hope, and Love
• The Distinction Between Faith and Hope, and the Mutual Dependence of Faith…
• What We Are to Believe. In Regard to Nature It is Not Necessary for the…
• The Supremely Good Creator Made All Things Good
• What is Called Evil in the Universe is But the Absence of Good
• All Beings Were Made Good, But Not Being Made Perfectly Good, Are Liable to…
• There Can Be No Evil Where There is No Good; And an Evil Man is an Evil Good
• Good and Evil Are an Exception to the Rule That Contrary Attributes Cannot Be…
• The Preceding Argument is in No Wise Inconsistent With the Saying of Our Lord…
• It is Not Essential to Man’s Happiness That He Should Know the Causes of…
• The Nature of Error. All Error is Not Hurtful, Though It is Man’s Duty as Far…
• It is Never Allowable to Tell a Lie; But Lies Differ Very Much in Guilt…
• Men’s Errors Vary Very Much in the Magnitude of the Evils They Produce; But Yet…
• Every Error is Not a Sin. An Examination of the Opinion of the Academic…
• Error, Though Not Always a Sin, is Always an Evil
• A Lie is Not Allowable, Even to Save Another From Injury
• Summary of the Results of the Preceding Discussion
• The Secondary Causes of Evil Are Ignorance and Lust
• God’s Judgments Upon Fallen Men and Angels. The Death of the Body is Man’s…
• Through Adam’s Sin His Whole Posterity Were Corrupted, and Were Born Under the…
• The State of Misery to Which Adam’s Sin Reduced Mankind, and the Restoration…
• When the Rebellious Angels Were Cast Out, the Rest Remained in the Enjoyment of…
• The Restored Part of Humanity Shall, in Accordance With the Promises of God…
• Men Are Not Saved by Good Works, Nor by the Free Determination of Their Own…
• Faith Itself is the Gift of God; And Good Works Will Not Be Wanting in Those…
• The Freedom of the Will is Also the Gift of God, for God Worketh in Us Both to…
• Men, Being by Nature the Children of Wrath, Needed a Mediator. In What Sense…
• The Ineffable Mystery of the Birth of Christ the Mediator Through the Virgin…
• Jesus Christ, Being the Only Son of God, is at the Same Time Man
• The Grace of God is Clearly and Remarkably Displayed in Raising the Man Christ…
• The Same Grace is Further Clearly Manifested in This, That the Birth of Christ…
• Jesus Christ, According to the Flesh, Was Not Born of the Holy Spirit in Such a…
• Not Everything That is Born of Another is to Be Called a Son of That Other
• Christ’s Birth Through the Holy Spirit Manifests to Us the Grace of God
• Christ, Who Was Himself Free From Sin, Was Made Sin for Us, That We Might Be…
• The Sacrament of Baptism Indicates Our Death With Christ to Sin, and Our…
• Baptism and the Grace Which It Typifies Are Open to All, Both Infants and Adults
• In Speaking of Sin, the Singular Number is Often Put for the Plural, and the…
• In Adam’s First Sin, Many Kinds of Sin Were Involved
• It is Probable That Children Are Involved in the Guilt Not Only of the First…
• It is Difficult to Decide Whether the Sins of a Man’s Other Progenitors Are…
• The Guilt of the First Sin is So Great That It Can Be Washed Away Only in the…
• Christ Was Not Regenerated in the Baptism of John, But Submitted to It to Give…
• Christ Took Away Not Only the One Original Sin, But All the Other Sins That…
• All Men Born of Adam Are Under Condemnation, and Only If New Born in Christ Are…
• In Baptism, Which is the Similitude of the Death and Resurrection of Christ…
• Christ’s Cross and Burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and Sitting Down at the…
• Christ’s Second Coming Does Not Belong to the Past, But Will Take Place at the…
• The Expression, ‘Christ Shall Judge the Quick and the Dead,’ May Be Understood…
• The Holy Spirit and the Church. The Church is the Temple of God
• The Condition of the Church in Heaven
• We Have No Certain Knowledge of the Organization of the Angelic Society
• The Bodies Assumed by Angels Raise a Very Difficult, and Not Very Useful…
• It is More Necessary to Be Able to Detect the Wiles of Satan When He Transforms…
• The Church on Earth Has Been Redeemed From Sin by the Blood of a Mediator
• By the Sacrifice of Christ All Things Are Restored, and Peace is Made Between…
• The Peace of God, Which Reigneth in Heaven, Passeth All Understanding
• Pardon of Sin Extends Over the Whole Mortal Life of the Saints, Which, Though…
• God Pardons Sins, But on Condition of Penitence, Certain Times for Which Have…
• The Pardon of Sin Has Reference Chiefly to the Future Judgment
• Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man
• The True Sense of the Passage I Cor. III. 11–15 About Those Who Are Saved, Yet…
• It is Not Impossible That Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in…
• Almsgiving Will Not Atone for Sin Unless the Life Be Changed
• The Daily Prayer of the Believer Makes Satisfaction for the Trivial Sins That…
• There Are Many Kinds of Alms, the Giving of Which Assists to Procure Pardon for…
• The Greatest of All Alms is to Forgive Our Debtors and to Love Our Enemies
• God Does Not Pardon the Sins of Those Who Do Not From the Heart Forgive Others
• The Wicked and the Unbelieving Are Not Made Clean by the Giving of Alms, Except…
• To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin With Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own…
• If We Would Give Alms to Ourselves, We Must Flee Iniquity; For He Who Loveth…
• What Sins Are Trivial and What Heinous is a Matter for God’s Judgment
• Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, Are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious
• Sins, However Great and Detestable, Seem Trivial When We Are Accustomed to Them
• There Are Two Causes of Sin, Ignorance and Weakness; And We Need Divine Help to…
• The Mercy of God is Necessary to True Repentance
• The Man Who Despises the Mercy of God is Guilty of the Sin Against the Holy…
• The Resurrection of the Body Gives Rise to Numerous Questions
• The Case of Abortive Conceptions
• If They Have Ever Lived, They Must of Course Have Died, and Therefore Shall…
• The Case of Monstrous Births
• The Material of the Body Never Perishes
• But This Material May Be Differently Arranged in the Resurrection Body
• If There Be Differences and Inequalities Among the Bodies of Those Who Rise…
• The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies
• The Resurrection of the Lost
• Both the First and the Second Deaths Are the Consequence of Sin. Punishment is…
• The Saints Shall Know More Fully in the Next World the Benefits They Have…
• God’s Judgments Shall Then Be Explained
• The Omnipotent God Does Well Even in the Permission of Evil
• In What Sense Does the Apostle Say That ’God Will Have All Men to Be Saved,’…
• Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God’s Free Grace
• As God’s Mercy is Free, So His Judgments Are Just, and Cannot Be Gainsaid
• The Will of God is Never Defeated, Though Much is Done That is Contrary to His…
• The Will of God, Which is Always Good, is Sometimes Fulfilled Through the Evil…
• The Will of the Omnipotent God is Never Defeated, and is Never Evil
• Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. II. 4: ‘Who Will Have All Men to Be…
• God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly
• Man Was So Created as to Be Able to Choose Either Good or Evil: in the Future…
• The Grace of God Was Necessary to Man’s Salvation Before the Fall as Well as…
• Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God
• A Mediator Was Necessary to Reconcile Us to God; And Unless This Mediator Had…
• The State of the Soul During the Interval Between Death and the Resurrection
• The Benefit to the Souls of the Dead From the Sacraments and Alms of Their…
• After the Resurrection There Shall Be Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal…
• There is No Ground in Scripture for the Opinion of Those Who Deny the Eternity…
• The Death of the Wicked Shall Be Eternal in the Same Sense as the Life of the…
• Having Dealt With Faith, We Now Come to Speak of Hope. Everything That Pertains…
• The Seven Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, According to Matthew
• Luke Expresses the Substance of These Seven Petitions More Briefly in Five
• Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the…
• The Four Stages of the Christian’s Life, and the Four Corresponding Stages of…
• The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt
• Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have Received the Grace of Regeneration
• Love is the End of All the Commandments, and God Himself is Love
• Conclusion