Reprimand

“ Reflection is often from mere ill feeling, and is likely to be more personal and less impartial than reprehension; we often speak of unkind or unjust reflections. Rebuke, literally a stopping of the mouth, is administered to a forward or hasty person; reproof is administered to one intentionally or deliberately wrong; both words imply authority in the reprover, and direct expression of disapproval to the face of the person rebuked or reproved. Reprimand is official censure formally administered by a superior to one under his command. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And the constable said, "I could say plenty more about you and your dirty tricks, but I've said enough for now."
Then the pardoner knelt down in the pulpit, and with his hands folded, and looking up toward heaven, he said: "Lord God, to Whom nothing is hidden and everything is manifest, for Whom nothing is impossible and everything is possible, Thou knowest the truth of how unjustly I have been accused. In so far as I am concerned, I forgive him so that Thou, Oh Lord, may forgive me. Pay no attention to this man who knows not what he says or does. ”

“ SIMILITUDE VII.
That they who repent, must bring forth, fruits worthy of repent once.
AFTER a few days I saw the same person that before talked with me, in the same field, in which I had seen those shepherds, And he said unto me; What seekest thou? Sir, said I, I came to entreat you that You would command the shepherd, who is the minister of punishment, to depart out of my house, because he greatly afflicts me.
3 And he answered, It is necessary for thee to endure inconveniencies and vexations; for so that good angel hath commanded concerning thee, because he would try thee. ”

“ The criminal, however, opened his small bag without dismay; and having stocked the scale with two or three trifling merits, he drew from the bottom of the bag a death-bed repentance, and placed it in the scale with a look of success, but to his amazement the accumulated vices on the other side were unmoved. He appealed to the Prophet against the decision of the scales, declaring that his repentance had been authentic, and without premeditation, not like the formal remorse of so many, who while they commit a crime design to evade punishment by a fiction at last. ”

“ Thus does our punishment bring our sin to our remembrance, and it invites us moreover to a sincere and hearty national repentance, (a repentance not in word, but in act,) for we cannot begin to show any sign of it, by restoring anything to God, without alleviating the evil, and any worthy and adequate act of national repentance and restitution would wholly remove it.
God grant that His mercy may not be thrown away upon us. May we repent and make restitution to Him as a nation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Note, The comfortable sense of pardoning mercy tends much to the disposing of our hearts to forgive our brethren. It was in the close of the day of atonement that the jubilee trumpet sounded a release of debts (Lev. xxv. 9) ; for we must have compassion on our brethren, as God has on us.
(2.) How he revoked his pardon and cancelled the acquittance, so that the judgment against him revived (v. 34) ; He delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. Though the wickedness was very great, his lord laid upon him no other punishment than the payment of his own debt. ”

“ Receive thou the cause of thine unworthy servant, and send them a writ or a notice immediately—sending into their conscience, and summoning them to consider what they are doing. O, frighten them with a summons from thy court, until they come and bow in contrition at thy feet; and take from their hands every revengeful weapon, and make them deliver up every gun of scandal, and every sword of bitter words, and every spear of slanderous expressions, and surrender them all at thy cross. ”

“ Punishment retained enough of the character of penance to justify the theologian in treating its non-performance as a proof that repentance had been feigned, and that the offender had relapsed into heresy, the penalty for which, under the canons, was death by fire without trial. ”

“ Let me add that worthy penance is that in which the measure of grief and pain corresponds to the measure of the pleasure and the sin, that according to the enormity of the sin should be the increase of punishment. A far heavier penance should be that of the adulterer than of the thief, of the parricide than of the manslayer. ”

“ The word ‘penalty’ is not technically exact. Strictly speaking, the Inquisition was concerned not with crimes and punishments, but with spiritual errors and penances.416 Thus, when the tribunal consigned some one to prison, its formula ran that the man in question shall betake himself to prison and there penance himself on a diet of bread and water. No confessor will regard the mere expression of contrition as sufficient in itself; nor will the genuine penitent be satisfied. Penance is the outward and visible sign of sincere repentance, and an earnest of future amendment of life. ”

“ To punish is, alas, too often necessary! To pardon is, I trust, still more. In a word, be a protector to the unfortunate who, through their confession or repentance, have already made in part penance for their guilt. ”

“ You know that the penance of every individual must be proportionate to his guilt: and can you reasonably entertain hopes of salvation, when your own penance is not regulated according to this maxim? Oh! be not deceived. The ways of repentance are far more painful than you imagine: the road to Heaven presents far greater difficulties to the sinner than you have hitherto experienced. ”

“ PARDONS. (See Indulgences.) In the Romish Church, pardons or indulgences are releasement from the temporal punishment of sin; the power of granting which is supposed to be lodged in the pope, to be dispensed by him to the bishops and inferior clergy, for the benefit of penitents throughout the Church. In the theory of pardons, the point is assumed, that holy men may accomplish more than is strictly required of them by the Divine law ”

“ Those of you who confess your guilt must leave the priesthood, but I will give you other clothes, and set you free without punishment. Those who say they are innocent must prove their innocence by the diving-test. ”

“ A priest, who causes discord, treachery, and misfortune in my house, is as much of a wretch as any other; whom I have a right to call to account for the evil he does to me and mine. Therefore, tell me immediately where are the children—or else, I give you fair warning, I will go and demand them of the confessor. Some crime is here hatching, of which you are an accomplice without knowing it, unhappy woman! ”

“ So the pretender cast about for the ruin of the defender, but could find no means of furthering his design; and when the affair grew longsome upon him, he said to his wife, "What deemest thou will gar us gain herein?" "What is it?" "I mean in the matter of yonder Minister, who inciteth my brother to worship with all his might and biddeth him unto devoutness, and indeed the king doteth upon his counsel and stablisheth him governor of all monies and matters." "True; but how shall we devise with him?" "I have a device, so thou wilt help me in that which I shall say to thee." ”

“ During the Middle Ages there were few greater pests of society than the quæstuarii, or pardoners—the sellers of indulgences and pardons, who wandered over the face of Europe with relics and commissions, with brazen faces and stout lungs, vending exemptions from penance and purgatory, and prospective admission to paradise ”

“ What pardon shall we have, when, being commanded to give to others, we plunder the property of others? What shall be our hope of salvation? Thou art punished if thou hast not fed the hungry; but if thou hast even stripped one who was clothed, what sort of pardon shalt thou obtain? ”

“ It was admitted, in excuse, that the most cunning, at times, may be accidentally overreached by his inferior in wit: on this plea the merry magistrate was conciliated, and induced to enter into another wager, precisely like the former, when a similar sum, against our hero, and in favor of his servant was laid and accepted. The man of shrewdness, as before, determined to use the utmost vigilance and caution to preserve his charge and redeem his reputation. ”

“ For if thou be not deceived by men’s traditions, thou shalt find no more diversity between these terms, than between fourpence and a groat. And this manner have I used in my translation, calling it in some place penance, that in another place I call [Pg 169] repentance; and that not only because the interpreters have done so before me, but that the adversaries of the truth may see, how that we abhor not this word penance, as they untruly report of us, no more than the interpreters of Latin abhor pœnitere, when they read resipiscere. ”

“ By this easy way of purchasing pardons, any notorious highwayman, any plundering soldier, any bribe-taking judge, shall disburse some part of his unjust gains and so think all his grossest impieties atoned for. ”

“ The reprover, if he would administer a “reproof of life,” must be wise and kind. He must desire to do good to the man whom he reproves, he must know how to administer the reproof, and must leave off reproving as soon as the necessary wound has been inflicted; if he does not, he may injure the soul instead of destroying the sin.
II. He who takes such reproof displays the highest wisdom and the truest humility. We admire the fortitude of a man who will bear without a murmur a painful operation for the sake of the good that will come to him afterwards. ”

“ The pardoner went up to the pulpit and began his sermon, trying to stir up the people, telling them that they shouldn't be without the blessings and the forgiveness that would come to them by buying the indulgences.
When he was into the sermon in full swing, the constable came in the church door, and after praying he got up, and with a loud and steady voice he began to speak very solemnly: "My fellow men, let me say a word; afterward, you can listen to whoever you like. I came here with this swindler who's preaching. ”

“ A command is the signification of a desire or wish, accompanied with the power and the purpose to inflict evil if that desire is not complied with. The person so desired is bound or obliged, or placed under a duty, to obey. Refusal is disobedience, or violation of duty. The evil to be inflicted is called a sanction, or an enforcement of obedience; the term punishment expresses one class of sanctions. ”

“ Then deliverances from trouble are granted in love, and are mercies indeed, when they are grounded upon the pardon of sin and flow from that; we should therefore be more earnest with God in prayer for the removal of our sins than for the removal of our afflictions, and the pardon of them is the foundation and sweetness of our deliverances. ”

“ These stories of these long terms of punishment in Purgatory must be received with caution. We know nothing regarding the duration of these expiatory sufferings.
9. Page 107. Does not this account of the punishment of priests seem a little one-sided? The dignity of the priesthood clearly enhances the guilt of sins that might seem more venial in a layman. And there are special duties and responsibilities attached to the pastoral office. ”

“ A magistrate's pardon may encourage a criminal to repeat the offense; because forgiveness, in the popular sense of the word, can neither extinguish a crime nor the motives leading to it. The belief in sin — its pleasure, pain, or power — must suffer, until it is self-destroyed. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” ”

“ If the inquisitor be considered as a confessor, the accused as a penitent paternally exhorted, lovingly urged to reconciliation, pardon being assured for the truly repentant, what possible need can there be for an advocate?397 The tribunal gave every facility for the escape of the prisoner from all the possible unhappy consequences of his defamation, down one avenue—confession, penance, reinstatement. ”

“ Servants, your masters and mistresses are harsh and ill-tempered: Masters, your servants are disobedient and careless; what noble opportunities does this give to each of offering up a daily penance most acceptable to God? Sickness and pain attack you; here also is a large and excellent field for making up your account with God to your great advantage. And so of all the other crosses which God sends upon us in this life, which there is no avoiding, but which may easily be turned to the best account by bearing them in penance for our sins. ”

“ The purpose of vindictive satisfaction has been eliminated without any substitute having been provided. Those who accept this view commonly advance retribution to the first place among the various aspects of punishment, the others being relegated to subordinate positions. ”

“ Finding him hardened as ever and ready with calumnies and insults, he knelt and asked his pardon. Finally, perceiving that nothing would move him, he left by his side the pardon he had obtained for him and took leave, saying: "I have rescued you from the hands of man's justice, and you are not converted. You will fall under the justice of God, from which you cannot escape." ”