Eseniption designates, in ecclesiastical law, the release of persons or institutions from the jurisdiction of the regular superior, and their subordination to a higher or special superior.
1. Roman Catholic Church. — The first example of formal exemption is the release of monasteries from the episcopal jurisdiction. Many wealthy convents induced the popes, emperors, and kings to allow them a free election of their superiors, and a free adminis- tration of their property. Subsequently many of the monastic orders were altogether exempted from the jurisdiction of the bishops, the members being subor- dinate only to their monastic superiors and the pope. The bisliops incessantly labored for a restoration of their full jurisdiction, and the Council of Constance favored them, but most of the popes sided with the monks rather than with the bishops. The Council of Trent granted most of the demands of the bishops, but the difficulties between bishops and monastic orders have never wholly ceased. Bishops sometimes are ex- empt from the usual subordination to an archbishop, being subordinate directlj' to the pope. Sometimes (as in Austria) the army was exempted from the juris- diction of the bishops, and placed under the jurisdic- tion of a special army-bishop.
2. Protestant Churches. — The Protestant state church- es retained, with other parts of the ecclesiastical law, the idea of exemption. The princes claimed for them- selves exemption from the usual ecclesiastical juris- diction ; later, tlic same exemption was claimed for civil and military officers. In some countries tlie no- bility also were exempt. In Prussia, a circular of the government in 1817 abolished all exemptions, but it was not executed. Churches which are based on the voluntary principle know of no exemption, because they compel none of their members to belong to any particular congregation.
In many districts in Germany, Roman Catholic, Lu- theran, and lieformed pastors had jurisdiction even over members of the two other churches ; and the ex- emption of Protestants from Roman Catholic jurisdic- tion, and vice versa, is not yet fully carried through. — Herzog, Real-Enryklop. iv,"286 ; Wetzer und Welte, Kirchen-Lex. iii, 841. (A. J. S.)
Exercise, Bodily ((Ti,>i.iaTtK7i yif/^ivaala, i. e. phys- ical trtiining, i. q. gymnastics, 1 Tim. iv, 8). What the apostle seems to disparage under this term is not the athletic discipline which it classically imports (Arri- an, Epict. i, 27, G; Polj'b. iv, 7, fi), and which his fre- quent allusions to the Grecian games (q. v.) might im- ply, but rather that ascetic mortification of the fleshly- appetites, and even innocent affections (comp. ver. 3 ; Col. ii, 23), which characterized some of the Jewish
EXERCISES
394
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fanaticp(ver.7), especially the Essenes(q. v.). — Fleiscli- maiiii, Inkrpirtati), in luc. ; Scelcn, De Oi/mnudis ad guv Panlus (in hoc loc.) alludit (Lubec, 1758). See
TiJIOTllY.
Exercises, Spiritcat- (exercida spintualitC), a ti- tle f^iven l)y Komanists to certain exercises held under the leadership generally of a confessor (inagishr exerci- fioi-iim), for spiritual cdilication. They consist, gener- ally, ill alternate meditations and prayers at regular- ly appointt^l hours, -with seclusion, niortilication, etc. These exercises are practised both by clergy and laity, especially before communion, and as preparatory to the great Church festivals. Especiallj' before ordination to tiie priesthood, such exercises are not only com- mended, but required of candidates. The most elabo- rate form of the exercises is that of Ignatius Loj'ola. His method received the approbation of the pope, and Alexander YII granted, in a brief dated Oct. I'i, 1657, full absolution to all, whether priests or laj-men, who should submit to them for eight days in the houses of the Com])an\' of Jesus. These exercises consist in al- ternate meditations, readings, oral prayers, and self- scrutiny, as special preparation for the reception of the sacraments of penitence and communion. In case of there being several persons exercising together, silence is recommended as a dut}'. The new missions estab- lished by the Jesuits and Redemptorists make use of these exercises, transforming the work of sanctifica- tion into a dead mechanical action. — Herzog, Real-En- cyl-lop. iii, 289 ; Aschbach, Allj. Kirchen-Lex. ii, 707 ; Ferraris, Promtu Bibliotheca, iii, 916 sq. See Bellecius, Medulla asceseos seu exercitia Sancti Patris Ignatli (new ed. b}- Westhoff) ; and the articles Jesuits and Loy- ola.
Exhortation (Trnpn/cXj/a-ic, stricth' a calling near, invitation, and so '■'• entreaty ^^'' 2 Cor. viii, 4; hence ad- monifum, special hortatory instruction in public, Luke iii, 18 ; Acts xiii, 15 ; 1 Tim. iv, 13 ; also " consolation'''' or comfort, Itom. xv, 4, etc.) seems to have been rec- ognised in the Apostolic Church as a distinct super- natural or prophetic office or function (\;rtp((T/(«, "gift") bestowed liy the Holy Spirit (Rom. xii,8). As such, it was doubtless a subordinate exercise of the general faculty of teaching (1 Cor. xiv, 31). Olshauscn (Com- mei't. in loc.) thinks that Paul does not distinguish it as a special charis7n, but rather regards it as co-ordi- nate with eldership. See Gift (SriniTUAL).
2. It is defined as "the act of laying such motives before a person as maj'' excite him to the performance of any dutj-. It differs only from suasion in that the lat- ter principallj' endeavors to convince the understand- ing, and the former to work on the affections. It is considered as a great branch of preaching, though not confined to that, as a man maj' exhort, though he do not preach ; though a man can hardly be said to preach if he do not exhort. See P^xhorters. The Scrip- tures enjoin ministers to exhort men, that is, to rouse them to duty by proposing suital)le motives (Isa. Iviii, 1; 1 Tim. vi, 2; Ileb. iii, 13; Rom. xii, 8); it was likewise the constant practice of prophets, apostles, and Christ himself (Isa. i, 17 ; Jer. iv, 14 ; Ezek. xxxvii ; Luke iii, 18; xii, 3; Acts xi, 23)" (Buck, Theological Dictionary, s. v.). "The above, and numerous oth- er passages of Scripture, indicate several important particulars : 1. That it was not beneath the dignitj', or foreign to the office of the inspired apostles, fre- quently to exhort. 2. That they enjoined a similar practice and tlie duty of exhortation upon young min- isters of their day. 3. That exhortation, as separate from preaching, was the special office of a certain class of religious teachers in the New-Testament Church. 4. That mutual exhortation for their own profit and edification was enjoined by the apostles upon Chris- tians generally" (Kidder, Jlomiletics, p. 105). -See Ex-