Exhortation

“ Every exhortation in scripture to satisfy only such wants as God would have satisfied; every exhortation to be spiritual and heavenly, pressing after a glorious change of our nature; every exhortation to love our neighbours as ourselves, is a command to be strictly religious in the use of our money. This use of our worldly goods, is so much the doctrine of the New Testament, that you cannot read a chapter without being taught something of it. ”

“ Hence the exhortation; "Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment; relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless ”

“ The evidence of ancient Versions, and of quotations by early Christian writers, inclines on the whole for ἔχωμεν. But in the study of a reading the argument and context of course claim attention; for most surely the original reading, whatever it was, was pertinent. Now here the question of pertinence seems to us to lead to a decided verdict for ἔχομεν. The Apostle is engaged here altogether with assertion, instruction; exhortation is to come later. Through this whole paragraph he does nothing but assert facts and principles. Is it to be believed that he begins it with a disjointed exhortation? ”

“ When we compare this message contained in the tenth verse, which is an exhortation to patience under persecution, with that in the eighteenth verse of this same chapter, where the exhortation is to wisdom against deception, we get a glimpse of the different kind of danger that is to be apprehended from each of the two beasts, the first persecuting men, the second deceiving them. ”

“ The morals have their proper place, as we shall remark in the peroration. It is, however, occasionally allowed, after a satisfactory proof has been adduced, to address a short exhortation; and this is particularly the case in the sermons of the Mission, in which the audience is generally composed of rude, uneducated persons, on whom moral exhortation makes more impression; but these moral exhortations that are incidentally introduced should not be too long or too frequent, so as to render the discourse tedious or languid. ”

“ Ger. bieten, to offer, gebieten, to command) , and the bidding-prayer has come practically to mean the exhortation itself. A form of exhortation which “preachers and ministers shall move the people to join with them in prayer” is given in the 55th canon of the Church of England (1603) . ”

“ I should here observe to the reader, that a decree of the general assembly in this country, is expressed by the word hnhloayn, which signifies an exhortation, as near as I can render it: for they have no conception how a rational creature can be compelled, but only advised, or exhorted; because no person can disobey reason, without giving up his claim to be a rational creature.
I was struck with the utmost grief and despair at my master's discourse ”

“ EXCOMMUNICATION. An ecclesiastical censure, whereby the person against whom it is pronounced is for the time cast out of the communion of the church. The first rubric in the Office for the Burial of the Dead prohibits the use of the Service for any that die excommunicate.
EXHORTATION. The name given to the various addresses in the Liturgy.
They are nearly all the production of the Reformers. The Burial
Office is the only Service of the Prayer Book which has not one or
more of these exhortations. ”

“ I observe that the exhortation to put on the character of another is meaningless, unless the persons so exhorted were known to have been thoroughly acquainted with the life and actions of him whom they are urged to imitate. The same observation is true when we are deliberately recommended to make another person our example. ”

“ We shall find them not only encouraging the good by exhortation, but terrifying the wicked by reproof and denunciation. In the earliest ages of the church, while religion was yet pure from secular advantages, the punishment of sinners was publick censure, and open penance ”

“ Now to render exhortation palatable, or even tolerable, requires a very considerable share of address and dexterity, more indeed than usually [Pg 184] falls to the lot of clerical or of laical gentry. It is easy enough to utter most majestically and authoritatively a mass of common places concerning the dangers to which young people are exposed in the world. It is easy to say, “Now let me advise you always to be upon your guard against the allurements of the world, and to conduct yourself circumspectly, and be very, very attentive to all the proper decorums and duties of your station.” ”

“ Excommunication is more fitting in your case than absolution.” I waited some time before I again spoke, during which she sobbed bitterly. “My daughter,” observed I, “before I can decide upon what is to be done to save you from everlasting perdition, it is necessary that you humble yourself before the religious man, whose person you have abused. Send to the convent to which he belongs, and entreat him to come; and when you have confessed your crime, offer to him the same implements of punishment, which through your instigation were so sacrilegiously applied. ”

“ Our great sin-offering is but one, yet that one perfects for ever those that are sanctified. 3. The king and the congregation (that is, the representatives of the congregation) laid their hands on the heads of the goats that were for the sin-offering (v. 23) , thereby owning themselves guilty before God and expressing their desire that the guilt of the sinner might be transferred to the sacrifice. By faith we lay our hands on the Lord Jesus, and so receive the atonement, Rom. v. 11. 4. Burnt-offerings were offered with the sin-offerings, seven bullocks, seven rams, and seven lambs. ”

“ Let not a little life be denied me, in which I may, by meditation and contrition, prepare myself to stand at the tribunal of Omnipotence, and support the presence of that Judge, who shall distribute to all according to their works: who will receive and pardon the repenting sinner, and from whom the merciful shall obtain mercy! For these reasons, my lords, amidst shame and misery, I yet wish to live; and most humbly implore, that I may be recommended by your lordship to the clemency of his majesty. ”

“ We are not only going behind with our rent every day by omissions of duty and in duty, but are daily incurring the penalty of the law, as well as the forfeiture of our bond, by our commissions. Every day adds to the score of our guilt, and it is a miracle of mercy that we have so much encouragement given us to come every day to the throne of grace, to pray for the pardon of our sins of daily infirmity. ”

“ Let not mercy be the only virtue of which your heart is unsusceptible! Pity me, most reverend! Restore my letter, nor doom me to inevitable destruction!"
"Your boldness confounds me. Shall I conceal your crime—I whom you have deceived by your feigned confession?—No, daughter, no. I will render you a more essential service. I will rescue you from perdition, in spite of yourself. Penance and mortification shall expiate your offence, and severity force you back to the paths of holiness. ”

“ But since the discourse has reminded us of the subjects of a future judgment and of retribution, and of the punishments of sinners, according to the threatenings of holy Scripture and the contents of the Church’s teaching—viz., that when the time of judgment comes, everlasting fire, and outer darkness, and a prison, and a furnace, and other punishments of like nature, have been prepared for sinners—let us see what our opinions on these points ought to be. ”

“ But if, even then, he do not better himself—if he understands how great the penalty is —he shall be subject to excommunication. But, if he is a wicked man, he shall be given over to corporal punishment.
24. What ought to he the measure of the excommunication. According to the amount of the fault the measure of the excommunication or of the discipline ought to be extended: which amount of the faults shall be determined by the judgment of the abbot. If any brother, however, be taken in lighter faults, he shall be prevented from participating at table. ”

“ Beloved brethren, ye must know how it is with pardon in our chapter, and who has not part therein; know, then, that those have no part either in the pardon of our chapter, or in the other good works of the chapter; who live as they should not; who depart from the righteousness of the order; who do not acknowledge their offences and do penance in the mode prescribed by the order; who treat the alms of the order as their own property, or in any other way contrary to law, and squander them in an unrighteous, scandalous, and foolish manner. ”

“ 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. ”

“ O GOD, whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare, receive our petitions, that we, and all Thy servants who are bound by the chain of sin, may, in the compassion of Thy goodness, mercifully be absolved.
Hear, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the prayer of Thy suppliants, and pardon the sins of them that confess to Thee, that of Thy bounty Thou mayest grant us pardon and peace. ”

“ Unless the people be able to convince them of errors and mistakes in their sentence, they are bound to joyn their judgment with theirs to the compleating of the sentence. (4) The sentence thus compleatly issued is to be solemnly passed and pronounced upon the delinquent by the ruling Elder whether it be of censure or excommunication.” In this passage it is clear that the effective power of discipline is regarded as being wholly in the power of the individual church or congregation. ”

“ One's confessor ought to be consulted who may, if necessary, seek a dispensation from the Bishop or the Pope, according to the character of the vow.
18. Is it sufficient not to dishonor the name of God?
No; we must also honor and revere it; i.e., we must gratefully praise it, devoutly call upon it, steadily confess it, and exert ourselves to promote its honor.
Application. Carefully avoid the shameful habit of cursing and swearing. 'A man that sweareth much shall be filled with iniquity, and a scourge shall not depart from his house' (Ecclus. xxiii. 12) . ”

“ With punishment barred Sin’s broad, tempting way.
And so our Father in Heaven doth wait,
Lovingly, patiently; once and again
Calling us back from the broad, gilded gate
Which leads down to death, through sorrow and shame.
His love, strong and tender to help and to bless,
Though stern and unyielding, is love no less
When it bars the way with punishment sore,
Than when it waits at the Open Door. PART THIRD. I.
FARMER VANCE.
“Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord.” ”

“ Note, As soon as ever God by his Spirit convinces our consciences of any sin or duty we must immediately set in with the conviction, and prosecute it, as those that are not ashamed to own our former mistake. 3. Rash swearing. If a man binds himself by an oath that he will do or not do such a thing, and the performance of his oath afterwards proves either unlawful or impracticable, by which he is discharged from the obligation, yet he must bring an offering to atone for his fully in swearing so rashly, as David that he would kill Nabal. ”

“ Behold me, then, an old man, and for many years a bishop, ready to learn from a young man, my colleague a year since only, how I should justify myself before God and men, if I inflicted a spiritual punishment on innocent souls for the sins of others. ”

“ By thy decree was spilt,
Whose head, upon the charger brought,
Appeased revengeful guilt,
His name, amid a deathless page,
Gleams forth with living ray,
While all thy royalty and pride
Are swept like foam away. ”

“ The third favor, my brothers, gives you the right to choose a confessor, who, every time that you fear you are about to die, will be bound—by virtue of the letter of absolution that you will have purchased and which you will display before him—to give you absolution not only for your ordinary sins, but also for those greater crimes the remission of which is reserved to the apostolic See, to wit, bestiality, the crime against nature, parricide and incest. ”

“ Accuse yourself sincerely and with a contrite heart both of the sins you have committed, and of the good which you have omitted to do, and make a very firm resolution of amendment. The Sacrament of Penance is the tribunal of God’s mercy. ”

“ If your superiors will not allow you to confess your secret sins to whomsoever you will, then take them yourself, and confess them to your brother or sister, to whomsoever you will; be absolved and comforted, and then go or do what your wish or duty commands; only believe firmly that you have been absolved, and nothing more is necessary. And let not their threats of excommunication, or irregularity, or what not, trouble or disturb you ”

“ Their very Petitions have the force of Invectives; and the Smoother, the Softer, you find the Surface of them, the Falser, and the more Dangerous they are at the Bottom: For betwixt the Persecution that is Insinuated, on the part of the Government, & the Innocence, the Piety, and the Modesty, on that of the Sufferers, Nothing can more Provoke, a Horror, and Indignation for the One, or a Tenderness, & Compassion, for the Other. ”

“ But the question is whether an heretic, after once or twice admonition, and so after conviction, or any other scandalous and heinous offender, may be tolerated, either in the Church without excommunication, or in the Commonwealth without such punishment as may preserve others from dangerous and damnable infection." [Footnote: From Cotton's Answer to the old Tract of "Scriptures and Reasons against Persecution" (see antè, p. 114) . The Answer is printed by Williams in his Bloody Tenent: See Hanserd Knollys Society edition (1848) , p. 30.] ”