Handbook of the Militant Christian

Desiderius Erasmus, John P. Dolan

• Publisher: Barakaldo Books
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781839744921
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Handbook of the Militant Christian (Latin: Enchiridion militis Christiani), which has also been translated as Handbook of a Christian Knight and The Manual of a Christian Knight, is a work written by Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1503. First published in English in 1533 by William Tyndale, this is the 1962 English edition by John Patrick Dolan.During a stay in Tournehem, a castle near Saint-Omer in the north of modern-day France, Erasmus encountered an uncivilized, yet friendly soldier who was an acquaintance of Battus, Erasmus' close friend. On the request of the soldier's pious wife, who felt slighted by her husband's behaviour, Battus asked Erasmus to write a text which would convince the soldier of the necessity of mending his ways, which he did. The resulting work was eventually re-drafted by Erasmus and expanded into the Enchiridion militis Christiani. The Enchiridion is an appeal on Christians to act in accordance with the Christian faith rather than merely performing the necessary rites. It became one of Erasmus' most influential works.

II—HANDBOOK OF THE MILITANT CHRISTIAN (Enchiridion Militis Christiani)

“Non faciat ad disputationem theologicam.

modo faciat ad vitam theologicam.”

“Let this book lead to a theological life

rather than theological disputation.”

Letter of Erasmus to Abbott Volz, August, 1518.

I.

You have requested, my dearly beloved in Christ, that I compose for you a kind of compendium, or guide for spiritual living, so that being instructed by it you may attain those virtues of mind that should characterize him who is truly Christian. In this request you have also indicated that your preoccupation with mundane affairs has forced you to perceive the need you have of abandoning worldly pursuits and turning your efforts rather to the attainment of virtue. Our own close friendship only adds to the joy with which I undertake this proposal, and I sincerely hope that He who is solely responsible for your decision will aid me in this endeavor. So that what I have to write will not in the end prove fruitless, let us begin by calling upon the kindly spirit of Jesus so that He will fill my mind with words of salvation, and that what I write will be for you a source of strength and determination.

1. In this life it is necessary that we be on our guard.

To begin with we must be constantly aware of the fact that life here below is best described as being a type of continual warfare. This is a fact that Job, that undefeated soldier of vast experience, tells us so plainly. Yet in this matter the great majority of mankind is often deceived, for the world, like some deceitful magician, captivates their minds with seductive blandishments, and as a result most individuals behave as if there had been a cessation of hostilities. They celebrate as if they were assured of victory when, as a matter of fact, genuine peace could never be further away. It is amazing to see in what false security these people live and in what a complacent manner they close their minds to reality. In the meantime the vices, our armored enemies, attack us unceasingly; we are entrapped by their espionage and assaulted with their endless deceptions. If you but look around, you will see that regardless of where you go they are observing you. They are prepared to attack us with a thousand stratagems and, evil demons that they are, they concentrate on wounding our minds with inflammable and poisonous weapons. Unless we ward them off with the impenetrable shield of faith they will prove to wield weapons of certain death. Nor is there any slackening in the manner of their attack, as it comes from all sides.

This is that world that St. John describes so well as being constituted entirely of vice. It is a world that is both contrary and hateful to Christ. It must be pointed out that the type of warfare it wages is anything but simple and straightforward. From time to time, especially in adverse circumstances, this raging world shakes the very walls of the mind. At other times it incites the mind to betrayal with vain promises. Or again, whenever it finds us unaware, in idle and false security, it unexpectedly and with secret contrivances captures the mind. Most important of all, that slimy snake, the first betrayer of our peace and the father of restlessness, never ceases to watch and lie in wait beneath the heel of woman, whom he once poisoned. By “woman” we mean of course the carnal or sensual part of man. For this is our Eve, through whom the crafty serpent entices and lures our minds to deadly pleasures. And yet, as if it were not enough that he threatens us from all directions on the outside, he also penetrates into the inner recesses of our minds. This is the ancient and earthly Adam, more intimate than our closest companions and more zealous than our deadliest enemy, since he cannot be contained by entrenchment or expelled with an army. He must be watched, then, with a hundred eyes, lest he expose God’s fortress to demons.

Since it is quite plain that all of us are engaged in a major and difficult effort against an enemy who is numerically superior, better armed, and more experienced than we are, are we not insane if we fail to take up arms against him? Are we not extremely foolish if we do not stand continually on our guard and hold all things suspect? The fact of the matter is, however, that we slumber complacently through the whole siege. Indulgence in pleasure rather than hard work seems to be the norm. The self-interest we display would convince one that we are living in peaceful times. It seems that life is a drinking bout rather than a war. We clothe ourselves with boudoir trappings rather than armor. Ease and self-indulgence are everywhere preferred to the rigors of military preparedness. We practice on the peaceful harp rather than on the weapons of warfare, unaware that this sort of peace is the most terrible of all wars.

Anyone who concludes a treaty with vice violates the agreement made with God in Baptism. You foolishly cry, “peace, peace,” and at the same time treat as an enemy God, who alone is peace and the author of peace. He Himself has made it quite plain through His prophet: “There is no peace for the wicked.” The condition that He lays down for peace is that we fight in the garrison of the body against all of our vices. If we compromise, if we consort with vice, we will make a foe of Him who alone, as a friend, is able to bless us, but who as an enemy will surely damn us. He will be our enemy for two reasons. First of all we will be siding with those vices which are diametrically opposed to the divine, for how can light and darkness be in agreement? In the second place, in so doing we ungratefully fail to abide by the pledge that we have made to Him violating what we have solemnized with sacred ceremonies. Perhaps you are not aware, O Christian soldier, that when you were initiated into the mysteries of life-giving Baptism, you gave yourself by name to Christ as your leader. That is the reason you are doubly indebted to Him. He not only gave you life in the first place but He also restored it. You owe Him more than you could ever owe to yourself. If you break this contract does it not occur to you that you are violating a pledge to such a kindly leader? Does it not become quite plain to you that you have dedicated yourself in this sacrament to His most noble cause? Why did He see to it that you were signed on the brow with the sign of the cross unless He intended that you fight under His banner during this life? For what purpose were you anointed with sacred oils except to take up arms in this struggle against vice? What could be more shameful, more degrading, than to separate yourself from this princely leader? Is there any reason why you should hold Christ the King in derision? Does not the fact that He is God at least instill you with fear? Are you not moved by the love of Him who for your sake became man? Has no one ever warned you of the promise you once laid before Him? Will you actually betray Him who once redeemed you with the price of His blood?

Certainly you show the greatest impudence if you dare raise a hostile standard against a King who gave His life for your sake. He Himself has told us clearly that he who does not stand for Him stands against Him, and he who does not gather with Him, scatters. Not only do you fight under a disgraceful banner, but consider for a moment what your reward will be. St. Paul, the standard-bearer of Christian warfare, tells us “the wages of sin is death.” Would anyone engage in warfare if death were the only reward? Death of the soul is hardly a reward. Look at the actual condition of misery that accompanies human warfare. What motivates the soldiers to endure such hardships and deprivation? Is it not the promise of booty, the dread of loss, and the fear of being accused of cowardice? If all they get is the praise of their officers, or the hope of a little more pay, that is not much of a reward. Our motives can be neither the fear of shame nor the hope of reward. The same Person witnesses our struggle who will one day reward us. Our reward is that which “neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man.” I think this in itself ought to be of great consolation as we carry on the battle, for it is eternal happiness that will be ours.

In all earthly engagements a reputation for bravery is the goal, and even the material rewards are handed out by lot. With us in our struggle against vice the case is not quite the same. We do not fight for praise but for Life itself. And the very highest reward will go to him who perseveres, just as the most severe punishment will be meted out to him who deserts. Heaven itself is the promise we seek and certainly the very hope of such a prize ought to encourage our efforts, especially when it is promised by Him who can neither deceive nor be deceived. Then too our struggle takes place before the all-seeing eye of God and is witnessed by the entire populace of heaven. The shame of defeat in the presence of such an audience ought to at least help inspire us to bravery. He will praise our effort whose mere approval alone is the equivalent of the greatest happiness. If the tepid mind is not aroused by the prospect of reward, it must be admitted that fear of punishment can awaken even the most indolent.

In ancient times it was customary, in war, to violate the corpses of the enemy. It was considered a great calamity if the body were separated by the sword from the soul. This enemy of ours is not only determined to destroy the body but he intends to cast both the body and the soul into hell. For this is actually what occurs when life, which is God Himself, is taken away from the soul. We know well enough that it is the nature of the body to eventually perish because, even though no one attempts to kill it, it cannot live on forever. But for the soul to die is another matter and one of extreme misfortune. I do not have to point out to you the great care and solicitude we exercise in caring for the wounds of the body; we doctor them with the greatest of concern. And yet at the same time we woefully neglect the wounds of the soul. All of us are horrified at the sight of a dying body because we are able to witness it with our bodily eyes. Yet since the death of the soul is something we cannot witness, there are very few who believe in it and even fewer who are actually frightened at the thought of it. I might point out that the death of the soul is certainly more frightful than the death of the body. This is evident enough from the fact that the soul is something far greater than the body and God, whose loss it entails, is greater than the soul.

Let me give you some signs, some evidence, whereby you can determine whether or not your soul is diseased or perhaps even dead. If you are troubled with indigestion, if it is difficult to retain food, it is quite apparent that there is something physically wrong with your body. Now the Word of God has been referred to as the food of the soul. If it is unpalatable, if it nauseates you, there can be little doubt that the palate of your soul is infected with diseases. If food is not retained, if it does not proceed along the digestive tract, it is pretty clear that your soul is sick. When your knees totter and it is only with difficulty that you drag your ailing limbs about it is quite evident that you have an ailing body. Now you must certainly have a disease of the soul when the performance of an act of piety is done with great reluctance and hesitancy, when you have no strength to bear up under a slight rebuke, or when the loss of a few pennies makes you troubled and angry. There can be no doubt that after the sight leaves the body, when the ears fail to hear, and the whole body loses its sensitivity, then the soul has departed. When the eyes of the heart are so obscured that you cannot perceive the brightest light (that is, truth), when you are no longer aware with your inner ears of the divine voice, do you think your soul is really alive? You see your brother suffering indignities. Provided your own affairs are not endangered, your mind is not in the least moved. Why at this point does your soul feel absolutely nothing? It certainly must be because it is dead. Why dead? Because God, its very life, is not present. Where God is, there is charity, for God is charity. Otherwise, if you are a living member, how can any part of the body be in pain without your feeling anything?

Let me give you another sign that is even more certain. Supposing that you have deceived a friend, or that you have committed adultery; in other words, you should have received a major wound, and yet not only are you unaware of any pain but you actually take pleasure in recalling your wickedness. Can there be any doubt that your soul is dead? We generally assume that the body is not alive if it is insensible to the prick of a pin. Can a soul be considered alive if it is unfeeling in this matter? Let us take another example. You happen to be in the company of someone who is using filthy language, who is raging in anger against his neighbor. If you think that his soul is alive, you are deceiving yourself. It is more like a stinking corpse whose foulness infects all who come near it. Christ referred to the Pharisees as whitened sepulchers. Why? Because they carried their dead souls about within themselves. The bodies of holy people are temples of the Holy Spirit. The bodies of evil men are sepulchers of dead corpses. No cadaver is so dead as that soul which has been abandoned by God. And certainly no corpse offends the nostrils of men to the extent that the evil odor of the buried soul offends the sensibility of the heavenly court. When dying words proceed from the heart we can assume that a dead soul lies within. For, according to the saying of the Gospel, “the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart,” and if God, the life of the soul, is present, the soul will speak divine words.

If we read the Gospel we find that the disciples once asked our Lord, “Whither shall we go? You have the words of life.” Why “words of life”? The only answer to be found is the fact that these words flowed from a soul that was never for a moment separated from the divinity and which alone restores us to everlasting life. It is not a rare thing that pious men have recalled a dead body to life. But we must never forget that God does not revive a dead soul except by an extraordinary and gratuitous power, and certainly He does not resuscitate it if it is already dead when it leaves the body. I think that we can agree that the sensation of death in the body is very slight or at least it is very brief. The sensation of death in the case of the soul is entirely different; it is more than death itself, because it is everlasting.

With these remarks in mind need I point out further the tremendous powers of our adversary? It would be sheer stupidity not to be aroused to this fearful danger, and to take the necessary precautions against it. On the other hand you must avoid the pitfall of losing courage or feeling unable to cope with the situation. For we must never forget that regardless of the strength of the enemy we have an ever-present and an all-powerful auxiliary. “If God is for us, who is against us?” If He sustains us, what can be lacking? We must be ever inflamed with the hope and conviction of final victory. Let us not forget that our encounter is not with an undefeated...

Table of contents

• Title page
• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• I-INTRODUCTION-The Theology of Erasmus and Christocentric Piety
• II-HANDBOOK OF THE MILITANT CHRISTIAN (Enchiridion Militis Christiani)