Chastisement

“ He knows that we are fallible, He has seen that you have suffered, and in ordaining that the chastisement for your faults should come as death from the very ones you have instigated to crime, we can see His infinite mercy. ”

“ May every chastisement He sends to us, individually or nationally, be viewed by us as a scourge with which He is cleansing His temple of them that sell and them that buy in it,—of our corrupt traffickings with our own consciences and with Him! ”

“ A savage has outraged me even in the very manner of punishing me! He has inflicted upon me that chastisement, the first effect of which is to shock one’s modesty; that most humiliating of chastisements, which takes one back to one’s childhood. ”

“ If Chastisement had not existed, all creatures would have ground one another. Through fear of Chastisement, O Yudhishthira, living creatures do not slay one another. The subjects, O king, always protected by Chastisement, enhance the might of their ruler. It is for this that Chastisement is regarded as the foremost refuge of all. ”

“ And certainly it will come to them all of a sudden, while they perceive not.
54 They ask thee to hasten on the chastisement, and surely hell encompasses the disbelievers --
55 The day when the chastisement will cover them from above them, and from beneath their feet And He will say: Taste what you did.
56 O My servants who believe, surely My earth is vast, so serve Me only.
57 Every soul must taste of death then to Us you will be returned.
58 And those who believe and do good, We shall certainly give them an abode in high places in the Garden wherein flow rivers, abiding therein. ”

“ There are two sorts of judgments mentioned in the Scripture,—the chastisement of God’s children, and the final p. 13punishment of the wicked. Of these, the chastisement is laid on those whom God loves; “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth” (Heb. xii. 6) ; but the final punishment is on the unbelieving. Chastisement is limited and proportioned to his people’s strength, whereas the final punishment is an unmixed cup of horror. Chastisement is for the improvement and sanctification of those who are to reign with Christ; the final punishment is for the vindication of God’s righteous law. ”

“ Nay, it is that which you sought to hasten, a wind wherein is painful chastisement,
25 Destroying every thing by the command of its Lord. So at dawn naught could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We reward the guilty people. ”

“ He should always display his prowess. Himself without laches, he should mark the laches of his foes. Indeed, his eyes should ever be used for that purpose. At the sight of a king who has the rod of chastisement ever uplifted in his hand, every one is struck with fear. For this reason, the king should rule all creatures with the rod of chastisement. Men possessed of learning and knowledge of truth applaud Chastisement. Hence, of the four requisites of rule, viz., Conciliation, Gift, Disunion, and Chastisement, Chastisement is said to be the foremost. ”

“ There is a chastisement which proceeds from God's love to the man as being pardoned and which is designed to purify or to prove him, and a chastisement which proceeds from God's wrath against the man as striving obstinately against, or as fallen away from, favour, and which satisfies divine justice. ”

“ Thither where foe-destroying chastisement is well applied, no sin, no deception, and no wickedness, is to be seen. If the rod of chastisement be not uplifted, the dog will lick the sacrificial butter. ”

“ A just chastisement may benefit a man, though it seldom does, but an unjust one changes all his blood to gall. ”

“ He will endure it patiently, and, by and bye, he will get over it, and see that he has been chastised for his faults, and will banish the evil, and the chastisement will yield to him the peaceable fruits of righteousness, because he exercises himself profitably therein. ”

“ When we thus see the punishment of guilt accumulated on the head of him who has not participated in it, and vice triumph in the security that should seem the lot of innocence, we can only adduce new motives to fortify ourselves in this great truth of our religion—that the chastisement of the one, and reward of the other, must be looked for beyond the inflictions or enjoyments of our present existence. ”

“ The object of the punishment which the law pronounces is not vindictive chastisement of the culprit. The object of punishment is purely reformatory. Only it must not be forgotten that there can be no reformation without penitence, and no penitence without self-abasement. And this consists in confessing one's self guilty, admitting that the guilt has become a part of one's being, and humbling one's pride to the ground. ”

“ The immediate connection of sin and punishment is the teaching intended by this close juxtaposition of these two halves of our narrative. However long the chastisement may be in bursting, the divine resolve to send it is instantaneously consequent on the crime. The chain that binds departure from God with loss of blessing may be of many or few links, but it is riveted on when the evil is done. ”

“ What shall we do with such men? Shall we reveal their faults? Yes, whenever we deem it right and proper. I know it is hard to receive chastisement, for no chastisement is joyous, but grievous at the time it is given; but if a person will receive chastisement and pray for the Holy Spirit to rest upon him, that he may have the Spirit of truth in his heart, and cleave to that which is pleasing to the Lord, the Lord will give him grace to bear the chastisement, and he will submit to and receive it, knowing that it is for his good. ”

“ This punishment is felt by the chaste and pure, who, without doubt, would rather beget children by mere natural desire than by voluptuous pruriency; while unchaste persons, who are impelled by this diseased passion, and bestow their love upon harlots as well as wives, are excited by a still heavier mental remorse in consequence of this carnal chastisement. ”

“ This was a grievous chastisement for them, who had formerly offered to spare me twenty men or more upon occasion, and a never-sufficiently-to-be-acknowledged mercy to us, that they should be in so pitiable a case, while we had not lost one man, and were even all in good health. ”

“ Personal chastisement is only for the lower orders who are incapable of feeling the shame of disgrace and may probably be had recourse to in cases of wilful perjury where the falsehood of the witness is palpable and his object particularly mischievous. In all cases let it be considered as no less an object of the Law to afford redress to the party injured than to punish the offender. ”

“ But the context seems to teach us that the leading idea in the apostle’s mind was chastisement for he proceeds to say—“For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.” It is plain that he here speaks of chastisement. ”

“ Chastisement leads to the acceptance of God’s will. ”

“ Because God teaches His people and seeks by means of chastisements to bring them back to the good way when they fail to keep His commandments, He must forgive when they recognise the punishment as a divine chastisement and come to Him with penitential prayer. ”

“ Peradventure, already these poor people by reason of thy chastisement weep, sigh, blame, and murmur against themselves; in thy presence they blame and bear witness against their bad deeds and 203 punish themselves therefor. Our Lord most compassionate, pitiful, noble, and precious, let a time be given the people to repent; let the past chastisement suffice, let it end here, to begin again if the reform endure not. Pardon and overlook the sins of the people; cause thine anger and thy resentment to cease ”

“ Thus out of the brooding melancholy of this secondary grief we are led to a distinct confession of sin on the part of the people. [287]
This is the main result aimed at throughout the whole course of chastisement. Until it has been reached little good can be effected. When it is attained the discipline has already wrought its greatest work. As we saw at the outset, it is the shame of the situation that awakens a consciousness of guilt. Humbled and penitent, the chastened people are just in the position at which God can meet them in gracious pardon. ”

“ Let us not deceive ourselves. These images are, it is true, in their primary signification to be understood as indicating the doom of sinful nations, but, in a wider and a higher sense, according to the interpretation given of them by the exponents of Scripture, they are predictions of the judicial chastisement which, after the final judgment, will be the portion of reprobate sinners. ”

“ When idleness or any other misdemeanour requires chastisement, the young culprit undergoes the same punishment as that which royalty at times inflicts on any offending nobleman—namely, the bastinado on the soles of the feet. ”

“ The chastisement of sins belongs to me, and I will execute vengeance on them when the time of vengeance shall arrive. “The man that with a stiff neck despiseth him that reproveth him, shall suddenly be destroyed, and health shall not follow him. ”

“ And since it is by Chastisement that the misappropriation of other people's possessions is stopped, therefore Chastisement has come to be called by the name of Vyavahara. The aggregate of three always rests on well applied Chastisement. Chastisement is a great god. ”

“ In certain rough communities, blunders endangering life are immediately punished by physical chastisement,—not in anger, but on traditional principle. Once I witnessed at a fishing-settlement, a chastisement of this kind. Men were killing tunny in the surf ”

“ That Gentiles in thir Parables condemn
To thir abyss and horrid pains confin'd.
Man.⁠Be penitent and for thy fault contrite,
But act not in thy own affliction, Son,
Repent the sin, but if the punishment
Thou canst avoid, self-preservation bids;
Or th' execution leave to high disposal,
And let another hand, not thine, exact
Thy penal forfeit from thy self; perhaps
God will relent, and quit thee all his debt;510
Who evermore approves and more accepts
(Best pleas'd with humble and filial submission)
Him who imploring mercy sues for life,
Then who self-rigorous chooses death as due ”

“ To one that hath committed Murther, if the Judge should only ordain a Fine, it were a madness to call this a punishment, and to repine at the sentence, rather than admire the clemency of the Judge. Thus, our offences being mortal, and deserving not only Death, but Damnation, if the goodness of God be content to traverse and pass them over with a loss, misfortune, or disease, what frensie were it to term this a punishment, rather than an extremity of mercy, and to groan under the rod of His Judgements, rather than admire the Scepter of His Mercies! ”

“ Io, I have not only broken God’s law, but the laws of my country. Justice demands a victim. My cross is to let the world know my guilt, publicly to confess my crime and accept its penalty, even should it be a death of shame. ”

“ Well, 'tis true you seem made after such a prescription;
But it does not do justice, as I can assure ye.
I'll remand you till eve, when assemble the jury,
And then if this gown that I've bought you'll appear in,
The verdict of guilty I'm certain of hearing:
For all of your guests will of envy be dying,—
The women, because you their charms are out-vieing;
The men, 'cause I've won you while vain they were trying. ”

“ Spare, O Lord, spare me, a sinner, and although everlasting punishment is my due, for that I am so constantly offending Thee, grant, I beseech Thee, that what I deserve as a punishment may become the means of correction, and that I may confess it to be the effect of Thy mercy alone that the temptations of the devil, which so often have prevailed over me because of my sins, now no longer assault me. ”

“ When found out disgrace the name of man;
Let those who steal, repent and sin no more,
Ere Law decrees, it’s vengeance on them pour:
From trifling things, we greater ills pursue,
Till the Law’s fangs are brought within our view ”

“ Nothing is so capable of setting the soul in a heavenly tune, as the consideration of God as a pardoner and as a healer.
5. Where sin is pardoned, the punishment is remitted (ver. 3, 4) : “Who forgives all thy iniquities, and redeems thy life from destruction.” A malefactor’s pardon puts an end to his chains, frees him from the stench of the dungeon, and fear of the gibbet. Pardon is nothing else but the remitting of guilt, and guilt is nothing else but an obligation to punishment as a penal debt for sin. A creditor’s tearing a bond frees the debtor from payment and rigor. ”

“ Which is more in extreme, he who exacts a penalty for murder, or for mere anger? He who subjects the adulterer to vengeance after the fact, or he who enjoins a penalty even for the very desire, and that penalty everlasting? See ye not how their reasoning comes round to the very contrary? how the God of the old covenant, whom they call cruel, will be found mild and meek: and He of the new, whom they acknowledged to be good, will be hard and grievous, according to their madness? ”

“ Instances of punishment in visions, apprehensions, and inward wretchedness, while there was no outward infliction of penalty.
11. There is really no need that punishment be inflicted; guilt is in the consciousness of the guilty its own adequate punishment.
12. Objection is made by one of the interlocutors to the justice of punishing children or posterity for the guilt of fathers or ancestors, and he heaps up an incongruous collection of cases in which he mingles confusedly the action of the Divine Providence and that of human caprice or malignity. ”

“ A destiny towards ruin in fortune and in life has pursued me. I feel as if deserted by God and man; yet I know, or at least would persuade myself, that Heaven will one day vindicate my innocence of this foul charge. To think of being hanged like a dog for a crime at which my soul revolts! Great is the crime of those imbecile jurors and that false and hard-hearted judge, who thus, by an irreversible decree, consign a fellow-mortal to a death of violence and disgrace. ”