Doctrinal and Moral Treatises (NPNF I/III: Enchiridion, On the Catechising, On Faith and the Creed, On Continence, On Lying, etc.)

" I also wrote a book on Faith, Hope, and Charity, at the request of the person to whom I addressed it, that he might have a work of mine which should never be out of his hands, such as the Greeks call an Enchiridion [Hand-Book). There I think I have pretty carefully treated of the manner in which God is to be worshipped, which knowledge divine Scripture defines to be the true wisdom of man. The book begins: ' I cannot express,' " etc.1 The Enchiridion is among the latest books of Augustin. It was written after the death of Jerome, which occurred Sept. 30, 420; for he alludes in ch. 87 to Jerome "of blessed memory" (sanctce memoriae Hieronymus presbyter). It is addressed to Laurentius, in answer to his questions. This person is otherwise unknown. One MS. calls him a deacon, another a notary of the city of Rome. He was probably a layman. The author usually calls the book " On Faith, Hope and Love," because he treats the subject under these three heads (comp. I Cor. xiii. 13). He follows under the first head the order of the Apostles' Creed, and refutes, without naming them, the Manichaean, Apollinarian, Arian, and Pelagian heresies. Under the second head he gives a brief exposition of the Lord's Prayer. The third part is a discourse on Christian love. The original is in the sixth volume of the Benedictine edition. A neat edition of the Latin text, with three other small tracts of Augustin, [De Catechizandis Rudibus ; De Fide Rerum quce non creduntur j De Utilitate Credendi), is also published in C. Marriott's S. Anrelius A ugustinus, 4th ed. by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London (Parker and Comp.), 1885 (pp. 150-251.) An English edition of the same tracts by H. de Romestin, Oxford and London, 1885 (pp. 151-251). His English translation is based on that of C. L.…