The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Enchiridion the Epistle
• Enchiridion
• We Must Watch and Look About Us Evermore While We Be In This Life.: Chap. I.
• Of the Weapons to Be Used In the War of a Christian Man.: Chap. II.
• That the First Point of Wisdom Is to Know Thyself, and of Two Manner Wisdoms, the True Wisdom, and the Apparent.: Chap. III.
• Of the Outward and Inward Man.: Chap. IV.
• Of the Diversity of Affections.: Chap. V.
• Of the Inward and Outward Man and of the Two Parts of Man, Proved By Holy Scripture.: Chap. VI.
• Of Three Parts of Man, the Spirit, the Soul, and the Flesh.: Chap. VII.
• Certain General Rules of True Christian Living.: Chap. VIII.
• Against the Evil of Ignorance. the First Rule.: Chap. IX.
• The Second Rule.: Chap. X.
• The Third Rule.: Chap. XI.
• The Fourth Rule.: Chap. XII.
• The Fifth Rule.: Chap. XIII.
• The Sixth Rule.: Chap. XIV.
• Here Follow Opinions Meet For a Christian Man.: Chap. XV.
• The Seventh Rule.: Chap. XVI.
• The Eighth Rule.: Chap. XVII.
• The Ninth Rule.: Chap. XVIII.
• The Tenth Rule.: Chap. XIX.
• The Eleventh Rule.: Chap. XX.
• The Twelfth Rule.: Chap. XXI.
• The Thirteenth Rule.: Chap. XXII.
• The Fourteenth Rule.: Chap. XXIII.
• The Fifteenth Rule.: Chap. XXIV.
• The Sixteenth Rule.: Chap. XXV.
• The Seventeenth Rule.: Chap. XXVI.
• The Eighteenth Rule.: Chap. XXVII.
• The Nineteenth Rule.: Chap. XXVIII.
• The Twentieth Rule.: Chap. XXIX.
• The Twenty-first Rule.: Chap. XXX.
• The Twenty-second Rule.: Chap. XXXI.
• Remedies Against Certain Sins and Special Vices, and First Against Bodily Lust.: Chap. XXXII.
• A Short Recapitulation of Remedies Against the Flame of Lust.: Chap. XXXIII.
• Against the Enticings and Provokings Unto Avarice.: Chap. XXXIV.
• The Recapitulation of the Remedies Against the Vice of Avarice.: Chap. XXXV.
• Against Ambition Or Desire of Honour and Authority.: Chap. XXXVI.
• Against Elation Otherwise Called Pride Or Swelling of the Mind.: Against Wrath and Desire of Vengeance.: Chap. XXXVIII.

The eighteenth rule.

Chap. xxvii.

And verily this manner of remedy, though it alone of all remedies be most present and ready, most sure and quick in working to them which be meanly entered in the way of living, nevertheless to the weaker sort these things also shall somewhat profit: Consider the filthiness of sin and the dignity of man. if when affection moveth unto iniquity, then at once they call before the eyes of the mind how filthy, how abominable, how mischievous a thing sin is: on the other side how great is the dignity of man. In trifles and matters such as skilleth not if all the world knew, we take some deliberation and advisement with ourselves. In this matter of all matters most weighty and worthy to be pondered, before that with consent as with our own hand writing we bind ourselves to the fiend, shall we not reckon and account with our mind of how noble a craftsman we were made, in how excellent estate we are set, with how exceeding great price we are bought, unto how great felicity we are called, and that man is that gentle and noble creature for whose sake only God hath forged the marvellous building of this world, that he is of the company of angels, the son of God, the heir of immortality, a member of Christ, a member of the church, that our bodies be the temple of the Holy Ghost, our minds the images and also the secret habitations of the deity. And on the other side that sin is the most filthy pestilence and consumption both of the mind and of the body also, for both of them through innocency springeth anew into their own natural kind, and through contagion of sin both putrefy and rot even in this world. Sin is that deadly poison of the most filthy serpent, the prest wages of the devil, and of that service which is not most filthy only, but also most miserable. After thou hast considered this and such like with thyself, ponder wisely and take sure advisement and deliberation whether it should be wisely done or no, for an apparent momentary and poisoned little short pleasure of sin, to fall from so great dignity into so vile and wretched estate, from whence thou canst not rid and deliver thyself by thine own power and help.