The Following of Christ, in Four Books / Translated from the Original Latin of Thomas a Kempis

Contents.

Chap.	Book I.	Page.
i.	Of following Christ and despising all the vanities of the world	3
ii.	Of having an humble sentiment of one's self	6
iii.	Of the doctrine of truth	8
iv.	Of prudence in our doings	13
v.	Of the reading the holy scriptures	14
vi.	Of inordinate affections	16
vii.	Of flying vain hope and pride	17
viii.	Of shunning too much familiarity	19
ix.	Of obedience and subjection	20
X.	Of avoiding superfluity of words	21
xi.	Of acquiring peace and zeal of spiritual progress	23
xii.	Of the advantage of adversity	26
xiii.	Of resisting temptation	28
xiv.	Of avoiding rash judgment	33
xv.	Of works done out of charity	34
xvi.	Of bearing the defects of others	36
xvii.	Of a monastic life	38
xviii.	Of the examples of the holy fathers	40
xix.	Of the exercises of a good religious man	44
xx.	Of the love of solitude and silence	49
xxi.	Of compunction of heart	54
xxii.	Of the consideration of the misery of man	58
xxiii.	Of the thoughts of death	63
xxiv.	Of judgment and the punishment of sins	69
XXV.	Of the fervent amendment of our whole life	75
	Book II.
i.	Of interior conversation	83
ii.	Of humble submission	89
iii.	Of a good peaceable man	90
iv.	Of a pure mind and simple intention	93
v.	Of the consideration of one's self	95
vi.	Of the joy of a good conscience	97
vii.	Of the love of Jesus above all things.	100
viii.	Of familiar friendship with Jesus	102
ix.	Of the want of all comfort	106
X.	Of gratitude for the grace of God	111
xi.	Of the small number of the lovers of the cross of Jesus	115
xii.	Of the King's highway of the Holy Cross	119
	Book III.
i.	Of the internal speech of Christ to a faithful soul	129
ii.	That truth speaks within us without noise of words	131
iii.	That the words of God are to be heard with humility, and that many weigh them not	133
	A prayer to implore the grace of devotion	136
iv.	That we ought to walk in truth and humility in God's presence	138
v.	Of the wonderful effect of divine love	141
vi.	Of the proof of a true lover	146
vii.	That grace is to be hid under the guardianship of humility	150
viii.	Of the mean esteem of one's self in the sight of God	155
ix.	That all things are to be referred to God, as to our last end	157
X.	That it is sweet to serve God, despising this world	159
xi.	That the desires of the heart are to be examined and moderated	163
xii.	Of learning patience, and of fighting against concupiscence	165
xiii.	Of the obedience of an humble subject after the example of Jesus Christ	168
xiv.	Of considering the secret judgments of God, lest we be puffed up by our good works	171
xv.	How we are to be disposed, and what we are to say when we desire any thing	173
	A prayer for the fulfilling of the will of God	175
xvi.	That true comfort is to be sought in God alone	177
xvii.	That we ought to cast all our care upon God	179
xviii.	That temporal miseries are to be borne with patience after the example of Jesus Christ	181
xix.	Of supporting injuries, and who is proved to be truly patient	183
xx.	Of the confession of our own infirmity, and of the miseries of this life	186
xxi.	That we are to rest in God above all goods and gifts	190
xxii.	Of the remembrance of the manifold benefits of God	195
xxiii.	Of four things which bring much peace	198
	A prayer against evil thoughts	200
	A prayer for the enlightening of the mind	201
xxiv.	That we are not to be curious in enquiring into the life of others	202
xxv.	In what things the firm peace of the heart and true progress doth consist	204
xxvi.	Of the eminence of a free mind, which humble prayer better procures than reading	207
xxvii.	That self love chiefly keeps a person back from the sovereign good	209
	A prayer for the cleansing of the heart and the obtaining of heavenly wisdom	211
xxviii.	Against the tongues of detracters	212
xxix.	How in the time of tribulation God is to be invoked and blessed	213
xxx.	Of asking the divine assistance, and of confidence of recovering grace	215
xxxi.	Of disregarding all things created, that so we may find the Creator	220
xxxii.	Of the denying ourselves, and renouncing all cupidity	224
xxxiii.	Of the inconstancy of our heart, and of directing our final intention to God	226
xxxiv.	That he that loves God relishes him above all things, and in all things	228
xxxv.	That there is no being secure from temptation in this life	231
xxxvi.	Against the vain judgments of men	234
xxxvii.	Of a pure and full resignation of ourselves, for the obtaining freedom of heart	236
xxxviii.	Of the good government of ourselves in outward things, and of having recourse to God in dangers	238
xxxix.	That a man must not be over eager in his affairs	240
xl.	That man hath no good of himself, and that he cannot glory in any thing	242
xli.	Of the contempt of all temporal honour	245
xlii.	That our peace is not to be placed in men	246
xliii.	Against vain and worldly learning	248
xliv.	Of not drawing to ourselves exterior things	251
xlv.	That credit is not to be given to all men; and that men are prone to offend in words	252
xlvi.	Of having confidence in God when words arise against us	256
xlvii.	That all grievous things are to be endured for life everlasting	260
xlviii.	Of the day of eternity, and of the miseries of this life	263
xlix.	Of the desire of eternal life, and how great things are promised to them that fight	268
l.	How a desolate person ought to offer himself into the hands of God	274
li.	That we must practise ourselves in humble works, when we cannot attain to high things	280
lii.	That a man ought not to esteem himself worthy of consolation, but rather guilty of stripes	282
liii.	That the grace of God is not communicated to the earthly-minded	285
liv.	Of the different motions of nature and grace	288
iv.	Of the corruption of nature, and of the efficacy of divine grace	295
lvi.	That we ought to deny ourselves, and to imitate Christ by the cross	300
lvii.	That a man should not be too much dejected when he falls into some defects	303
lviii.	Of not searching into high matters, nor into the secret judgments of God	306
lix.	That all hope and confidence is to be fixed in God alone	314
	Book IV. Of The Blessed Sacrament.
i.	With how great reverence Christ is to be received	319
ii.	That the great goodness and charity of God is shewed to man in this sacrament	328
iii.	That it is profitable to communicate often	333
iv.	That many benefits are bestowed on them who communicate devoutly	337
v.	Of the dignity of the sacrament, and of the priestly state	342
vi.	A petition concerning the exercise proper before communion	345
vii.	Of the discussion of one's own conscience, and of a resolution of amendment	346
viii.	Of the oblation of Christ on the cross, and of the resignation of ourselves	350
ix.	That we must offer ourselves, and all that is ours, to God, and pray for all	352
x.	That the holy communion is not lightly to be forborne	356
xi.	That the body of Christ and the holy scriptures are most necessary to a faithful soul	361
xii.	That he who is to communicate ought to prepare himself for Christ with great diligence	367
xiii.	That a devout soul ought to desire with her whole heart to be united to Christ in this sacrament	371
xiv.	Of the ardent desire of some devout persons to receive the body of Christ	374
XV.	That the grace of devotion is obtained by humility and self-denial	376
xvi.	That we ought to lay open our necessities to Christ, and crave his grace	379
xvii.	Of fervent love and vehement desire to receive Christ	382
xviii.	That a man be not a curious searcher into this sacrament; but an humble follower of Christ, submitting his sense to holy faith	386

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