nd soulless conceptions of Christian duty, which were an
eyesore to him.

In point of form the _Enchiridion_ is a manual for an illiterate soldier
to attain to an attitude of mind worthy of Christ; as with a finger he
will point out to him the shortest path to Christ. He assumes the friend
to be weary of life at court--a common theme of contemporary literature.
Only for a few days does Erasmus interrupt the work of his life, the
purification of theology, to comply with his friend's request for
instruction. To keep up a soldierly style he chooses the title,
_Enchiridion_, the Greek word that even in antiquity meant both a
poniard and a manual:[6] 'The poniard of the militant Christian'.[7] He
reminds him of the duty of watchfulness and enumerates the weapons of
Christ's militia. Self-knowledge is the beginning of wisdom. The general
rules of the Christian conduct of life are followed by a number of
remedies for particular sins and faults.

Such is the outward frame. But within this scope Erasmus finds an
opportunity, for the first time, to develop his theological programme.
This programme calls upon us to return to Scripture. It should be the
endeavour of every Christian to understand Scripture in its purity and
original meaning. To that end he should prepare himself by the study of
the Ancients, orators, poets, philosophers; Plato especially. Also the
great Fathers of the Church, Jerome, Ambrose, Augustine will be found
useful, but not the large crowd of subsequent exegetists. The argument
chiefly aims at subverting the conception of religion as a continual
observance of ceremonies. This is Judaic ritualism and of no value. It
is better to understand a single verse of the psalms well, by this means
to deepen one's understanding of God and of oneself, and to draw a moral
and line of conduct from it, than to read the whole psalter without
attention. If the ceremonies do not renew the soul they are valueless
and hurtful. 'Many are wont to count how many masses they have heard
every day, and referring to them as to something very important, as
though they owed Christ nothing else, they return to their former habits
after leaving church.' 'Perhaps you sacrifice every day and yet you live
for yourself. You worship the saints, you like to touch their relics; do
you want to earn Peter and Paul? Then copy the faith of the one and the
charity of the other and you will have done more than if you had walked
to Rome ten times.' He