The Institutes, Book IX

Book IX

• The Institutes IX.1 — How our fifth combat is against the spirit of dejection, and of the harm which it inflicts upon the soul. How our fifth combat is against the spirit of dejection, and of the harm which it inflicts upon the soul. In…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.2 — Of the care with which the malady of dejection must be healed. Wherefore if we are anxious to exert ourselves lawfully in the struggle of our spiritual combat we ought with no less care to set about healing this…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.3 — To what the soul may be compared which is a prey to the attacks of dejection. For the garment that is moth-eaten has no longer any commercial value or good use to which it can be put; and in the same way the wood…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.4 — Whence and in what way dejection arises. But sometimes it is found to result from the fault of previous anger, or to spring from the desire of some gain which has not been realized, when a man has found that he has…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.5 — That disturbances are caused in us not by the faults of other people, but by our own. Whence it is clearly proved that the pains of disturbances are not always caused in us by other people’s faults, but rather by our…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.6 — That no one comes to grief by a sudden fall, but is destroyed by falling through a long course of carelessness. That no one comes to grief by a sudden fall, but is destroyed by falling through a long course of…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.7 — That we ought not to give up intercourse with our brethren in order to seek after perfection, but should rather constantly cultivate the virtue of patience. And so God, the creator of all things, having regard above…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.8 — That if we have improved our character it is possible for us to get on with everybody. We must then do our best to endeavour to amend our faults and correct our manners. And if we succeed in correcting them we shall…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.9 — Of another sort of dejection which produces despair of salvation. There is, too, another still more objectionable sort of dejection, which produces in the guilty soul no amendment of life or correction of faults, but…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.10 — Of the only thing in which dejection is useful to us. And so we must see that dejection is only useful to us in one case, when we yield to it either in penitence for sin, or through being inflamed with the desire of…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.11 — How we can decide what is useful and the sorrow according to God, and what is devilish and deadly. How we can decide what is useful and the sorrow according to God, and what is devilish and deadly. But that dejection…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.12 — That except that wholesome sorrow, which springs up in three ways, all sorrow and dejection should be resisted as hurtful. That except that wholesome sorrow, which springs up in three ways, all sorrow and dejection…vatican.va
• The Institutes IX.13 — The means by which we can root out dejection from our hearts. We should then be able to expel this most injurious passion from our hearts, so that by spiritual meditation we may keep our mind constantly occupied with…vatican.va