Error, defect and remedy

Meaning

The main treatise distinguishes four classes of material fault: premature rising or an oil-like red appearance, untimely reddening, failure of the final coagulation, and failure of the expected flowing, tinging, or fire-enduring behaviour. They are signs of misgovernment or neglect, not merely unattractive colours. Remediability is conditional: defects must not have gained the upper hand, and intervention must occur in time. The author assigns correction to experienced judgment and orderly means, even while addressing beginners.

These are the material faults, not the later spiritual failures with which the theological part compares them. The cross-reference to absolution and the keys preserves that other destination, including its binding as well as releasing authority; the two lists should not be collapsed into one diagnosis. This entry explains the remedial argument without converting the historical measures into instructions for handling hazardous substances.