Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II:
Subject Index: On Christian Doctrine

ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.

INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

Absolute right and wrong, treated of, 562.

Affections, change of, the way to heaven, 527.

Aids to interpreting Scripture history, 549; mechanical arts and dialectics as, 550.

Ambiguity, rules for removing, 557, 558.

Ambrose, examples of style from, 590, etc.

Amos, examples of eloquence from, 580.

Antony, a monk who committed the Scriptures to memory, 519.

Astrologers, superstition of, 545.

Body, love of one's, 528; the resurrection, wholly subject to the spirit, 529.

Bondage, to the letter, 559, etc.; to signs, 560.

Canonical Books, list of, 538.

Circumstantial considerations, 564.

Charms to be avoided by Christians, 550.

Child of grace, mature, 534.

Christ, purges the Church by affliction, 526; opens the way to our home, 527; is the first way to God, 532.

Christian teacher, duty of, 576, 581.

Church, the, purged by afflictions, 526; the keys given to, 527.

Cicero, on rhetoric, 576, 577; on style, 583, 586; on the aim of an orator, 583.

Claudian's description of Neptune, 559.

Commands, rules for interpreting, 563.

Crime as distinguished from vice, 561.

David, not lustful though he fell into adultery, 565.

Death, not destruction but change, 527.

Definition, the science of, not false, but may be applied to falsities, 552.

Devils arrange the language of omens, 547.

Dialectics, use of, in interpreting Scripture, 550.

Difficult passages, how and with whom to discuss, 581.

Discourses of others, when they may be preached, 596.

Divination, why we reject acts of, 546.

Egyptians, spoiling of the, typical import of, 554.

Eloquence, the rules of, are true, though sometimes used to persuade men of what is false, 552; of the sacred writers is united with wisdom, 577.

Enjoyment, distinction between, and use, 523; of man, 532.

Faith, strengthened by the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and stimulated by his coming to judgment, 526.

Figurative expressions not to be taken literally, 559; how to discern whether a phrase is figurative, 560; interpretation of, 561, etc.; variation of figure, 566.

Flesh, no man hates his own, expounded, 528, etc.

Gentiles, useless bondage of the, to the letter, 559.

God, in what sense ineffable, and what all men understand by the term, 524; is unchangeable wisdom, 524; is alone to be loved for his own sake, 528; uses rather than enjoys man, 531.

God, wisdom of, how He came to us and healed man, 525, 526.

Hearers, to be moved as well as instructed, 583.

History, to what extent an aid in interpreting Scripture, 549.

Holy life, power of, in a teacher, 595.

Hope, a buttress of faith, 526. See Faith.

Human institutions, superstitious nature of, 545; of those not superstitious, some convenient and necessary, 548.

Humility essential to the study of Scripture, 555.

Idioms, how to attain a knowledge of, 542.

Ineffable, in what sense God is, 524.

Inference, logical, how valid, 551.

Interpretation of Scripture, rules for, 519–521; depends on two things, understanding and making known its meaning, 522; dangers of mistaken, 533; a diversity of, useful, 540; how faulty, can be emended, 541; figures, 561, etc.; sayings and doings ascribed to God and the saints, 562; commands and prohibitions, 563; sins of great men, 565; obscure passages to be interpreted by clearer, 566; passages susceptible of various interpretations, 567; rules of Tichonius the Donatist, 568–573.

Israel, the spiritual, 571.

Itala, the, to be preferred to other Latin versions, 542.

Jews, bondage of, to the letter, and how liberated therefrom, 559, etc.

Keys, the, given to the Church, 527.

Knowledge, a step to wisdom, 537; from a profane source, not to be despised, 544.

Languages, knowledge of, useful, 539, 543.

Learning, what branches of, are useful to a Christian, 553.

Letter, the, killeth, expounded, 559, etc.

Logical sequence, valid, not devised, but only observed by man, 551.

Lot, the, for deciding whom to aid, 530.

Love to God and our neighbor, includes love to ourselves, 529; the order of, 530; never faileth, 533; its import, 561.

Lucus-quod minime luceat, 567.

Mechanical arts contributory to exegetics, 550.

Men, ministry of, employed for teaching and administering sacraments, 520.

Muses, the nine, legend of their origin, 544.

Natural science, an exegetical aid, 549.

Neighbor, who is our, 530; love to our, 533.

Neptune, described by Claudian, 560.

Number, the science of, not created but only discovered by man, 553.

Numbers, the mystical, 543, 571.

Omens, how far of force, and the part devils have in them, 547.

Orator, aim of the, 583, 594.

Paul, example of eloquence from, 577, etc.

Perspicuity, 582.

Persuasiveness, 594.

Philosophers, heathen, what they have said rightly to be appropriated to our uses, 554.

Plato, was in Egypt when Jeremiah was there, 549.

Prayer, ability to read granted in answer to, 520; to be engaged in before preaching, 584, 597.

Preaching the discourses of others, when permissible, 596.

Prohibitions, rules for interpreting, 563.

Pronunciation, how it serves to remove ambiguity, 557.

Punctuation, ambiguities of, 556.

Purification of soul, necessary in order to see God, 525.

Pythagoras, not prior to the Hebrew Scriptures, 549.

Rhetoric, use of, 552; what use a Christian is to make of the art, 575, etc.; it is better to listen to and imitate eloquent men than attend teachers of, 576.

Scripture, rules for interpretation of, 519, 539, 567, 568; its fulfillment and end is the love of God and our neighbor, 532; use of the obscurities in, 537; in what spirit. to be studied, 539, 553, 555; compared with profane authors, 555; what it enjoins and asserts, 561; See Interpretations.

Septuagint, the authority of, 542, etc.

Signs, as distinguished from things, 523; nature and variety of, 535, etc.; when unknown and ambiguous, they prevent Scripture from being understood, 539; knowledge of languages, especially of Greek and Hebrew, necessary to remove ignorance of, 540, etc.; conventional, 536, 547.

Solecism, what it is, 541.

Solomon, gave way to lust, 565.

Stars, folly of observing the, in order to predict the events of a life, 546.

Style, necessity for perspicuity of, 582, etc.; threefold division of—majestic, quiet, temperate, 586; to be different on different occasions, 587; examples of, from Scripture, 588; from Ambrose or Cvprian, 590; necessity of variety in, 593; effects of the different styles, 593, etc.

Superstitious nature of human institutions, 545, etc.

Teacher, the true, made by God, yet human directions for, are not to be despised, 585; power of a holy life in, 595.

Terence, quoted, 553.

Thing, what a, is, 523.

Tichonius the Donatist, rules of, for interpreting Scripture, 568–573.

Translations, usefulness of comparing, 540; preference among, to be given to the Latin, Itala, and the Greek Septuagint, 542.

Trinity, the, true object of enjoyment, 524.

Tropes, knowledge of, necessary, 567.

Truth, 552, 596.

Use, different from enjoyment, 523; what, God makes of us, 531.

Varro, on the nine Muses, 544.

Vice, as distinguished from crime, 561

Wicked men, judge others by themselves, 564.

Wisdom, unchangeable, 524; steps to, 537, 576.

Word, the, made flesh, 526. See Christ.

Words, hold the chief place among signs, 536; have special meanings, 566; strife about, expounded, 596.

Writing, origin of, 536.