We also find mention made in Leviticus of the punishment of Flagellation: this is the punishment awarded, in the nineteenth chapter, against those who should be guilty of the sin of Fornication. “And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman that is a bond-maid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.” The Hebrew words in the text, which are commonly translated by these, _shall be scourged_, are justly translated so, though in the version of the LXX. they are only translated by the words, _shall be punished_[8]; for the punishment used on those occasions was inflicted, as the learned Vatable observes, with thongs of ox-leather, that is to say, with scourges. To this I think it is needless to add, that the Israelites did not voluntarily impose on themselves the abovementioned scourgings, and that they never were suffered by any of them but much against their will. In the xxvth chapter of Deuteronomy, the number of lashes which Offenders of any kind were to receive, was limited to forty. V. 2. “And it shall be, if the wicked may be worthy to be beaten, that the Judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to a certain number.” 3. “Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed; but if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem vile unto thee.” Now, it is evident from the above passage, that the Israelites were very far from approving any cruel flagellations, like those which Monks in our days inflict on themselves with whip-cords filled with knots, or sometimes armed with nails or needles; since they were even forbidden to suffer their Brother to be too cruelly lashed in their presence. Nor was it the incisions made on the bodies of innocent persons before the altar of Moloch, or at the funerals of the dead, which God meant here to prevent; He even prescribed tenderness to the sufferings of a convicted offender, though he deserved the stripes that were inflicted on him. Therefore, if the law of God forbad any cruel excess in the chastising of persons who were guilty of crimes, much more did it disapprove that Men should unmercifully lash and flay themselves with rods and whip-cords. Indeed, the modern practice of lashing and whipping one’s self to the effusion of blood, is by no means intitled to our admiration. How could it be possible that an unhappy Friar, who lives in certain modern Monasteries, should not have his skin torn from head to foot, since it is a constant practice among them to discipline themselves three or four times every week, during the whole time that the _Miserere_, the _De Profundis_[9], and the _Salve Regina_, are singing, with a melodious, though slow, voice; and that too so heavily, and in such earnest, that the rattling of the blows resounds on all sides?