| | PAGES |
| I. The Introduction | [1]-66 |
| § 1. On the Authorship, Form, Design, and Contents of the Book | [3]-32 |
| § 2. On the History of the Captivity | [32]-66 |
| (1) The Babylonian Period | [38]-43 |
| (2) The Persian Period | [43]-66 |
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| II. The Translation | [67]-110 |
| § 1. The Prologue | [69]-70 |
| § 2. The First Section: or, The Quest of the Chief Good in Wisdom and in Pleasure | [71]-76 |
| § 3. The Second Section: or, The Quest in Devotion to the Affairs of Business | [77]-86 |
| § 4. The Third Section: or, The Quest in Wealth and in the Golden Mean | [87]-96 |
| § 5. The Fourth Section: or, The Quest Achieved | [97]-108 |
| § 6. The Epilogue | [109], 110 |
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| III. The Exposition | [111]-335 |
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| § 1. The Prologue | [113]-126 |
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| § 2. The First Section: or, The Quest in Wisdom and in Pleasure | [127]-141 |
| (a) The Quest in Wisdom | [127]-133 |
| (b) The Quest in Pleasure | [133]-137 |
| (c) Wisdom and Pleasure Compared | [138]-140 |
| (d) The Conclusion | [140], 141 |
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| § 3. The Second Section: or, The Quest in Devotion to the Affairs of Business | [142]-186 |
| (a) The Quest obstructed by Divine Ordinances | [143]-145 |
| (b) And by Human Injustice and Perversity | [145]-151 |
| (c) It is rendered hopeless by the base Origin of Human Industries | [151], 152 |
| (d) Yet these are capable of a nobler Motive and Mode | [153]-158 |
| (e) So also a happier and more effective Method of Worship is open to Man; | [158]-160 |
| (f) And a more helpful and consolatory Trust in the Divine Providence | [161]-164 |
| (g) The Conclusion | [164], 165 |
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| Application | [165]-186 |
| (a) Devotion to Business springs from Jealous Competition: | [168], 169 |
| (b) It tends to form a Covetous Temper; | [169]-171 |
| (c) To produce a Materialistic Scepticism; | [171]-173 |
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| (d) To make Worship Formal and Insincere; | [173], 174 |
| (e) And to take from Life its Quiet and Innocent Enjoyments | [175]-179 |
| (f) The Correctives of this Devotion are, |
| (1) A Sense of its Perils; | [179], 180 |
| (2) And the Conviction that it is opposed to the Will of God as expressed— |
| (a) In the Ordinances of his Providence, | [180] |
| (b) In the Wrongs which He permits Men to inflict upon us; | [181] |
| (c) But above all in the immortal Cravings which He has quickened in the Soul | [182], 183 |
| (g) Practical Maxims deduced from this View of the Business-Life | [184]-186 |
| (1) A Maxim on Co-operation | [184] |
| (2) A Maxim on Worship | [184], 185 |
| (3) A Maxim on Trust in God | [185], 186 |
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| § 4. The Third Section: or, The Quest in Wealth and in the Golden Mean | [187]-228 |
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| (A) The Quest in Wealth | [188]-193 |
| (a) The Man who makes Riches his Chief Good is haunted by Fears and Perplexities: | [188]-190 |
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| (b) For God has put Eternity into his heart; | [190], 191 |
| (c) And much that he gains only feeds Vanity; | [191], 192 |
| (d) Neither can he tell what it will be Good for him to have, | [192] |
| (e) Nor foresee what will become of his Gains | [192], 193 |
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| (B) The Quest in the Golden Mean | [193]-209 |
| (a) The Method of the Man who seeks a Competence | [195]-199 |
| (b) The Perils to which it exposes him | [199]-207 |
| (1) He is likely to compromise Conscience: | [200], 201 |
| (2) To be indifferent to Censure: | [201]-203 |
| (3) To despise Women: | [203]-205 |
| (4) And to be indifferent to Public Wrongs | [205]-207 |
| (c) The Preacher condemns this Theory of Human Life | [207]-209 |
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| Application | [209]-228 |
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| (A) The Quest in Wealth | [212]-218 |
| (a) The Man who makes Riches his Chief Good is haunted by Fears and Perplexities | [213], 214 |
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| (b) Much that he gains only feeds Vanity | [214], 215 |
| (c) He cannot tell what it will be Good for him to have; | [215] |
| (d) Nor foresee what will become of his Gains: | [215], 216 |
| (e) And because God has put Eternity into his heart, he cannot be content with Temporal Gains | [216]-218 |
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| (B) The Quest in the Golden Mean | [218]-228 |
| (a) The Method of the Man who seeks a Competence | [220]-222 |
| (b) The Perils to which it exposes him | [222]-226 |
| (1) He is likely to compromise Conscience: | [222]-224 |
| (2) To be indifferent to Censure: | [224] |
| (3) To despise Women: | [225] |
| (4) And to be indifferent to Public Wrongs | [226] |
| (c) The Preacher condemns this Theory of Human Life | [227], 228 |
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| § 5. The Fourth Section: or, The Quest Achieved | [229]-275 |
| (a) The Chief Good not to be found in Wisdom: | [230]-234 |
| (b) Nor in Pleasure: | [234]-237 |
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| (c) Nor in Devotion to Affairs and its Rewards: | [237]-246 |
| (d) But in a wise Use and a wise Enjoyment of the Present Life, | [247]-256 |
| (c) Combined with a stedfast Faith in the Life to come | [256]-275 |
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| § 6. The Epilogue: In which the Problem of the Book is conclusively Solved | [276]-335 |