In the second place, they were actuated by a sense of love for Jesus Christ, and a desire of uniting themselves to him in his sufferings. The intention we speak of, is particularly recommended in the Statutes of different religious Orders; and the Brothers are exhorted in them, ‘when they inflict discipline upon themselves, to call to their mind Jesus Christ, their most amiable Lord, fastened to the column, and to endeavour to experience a few of those excessive pains he was made to endure.’ This notion of religious persons, which proceeds from an unbounded sense of gratitude towards their Divine Saviour, from a wish of repaying in any manner the immense service he had conferred upon them in saving them from destruction, and of at least sharing his sufferings, since they cannot alleviate them, has certainly something interesting in its principle. But the most universal use, by far, that has been made of flagellatory disciplines among Christians, in these parts of the world, has been to atone for past sins. And indeed it is no wonder that a practice of so convenient a kind, which enabled every one, by means of an operation of the duration and severity of which he was the sole judge, to pay, as he thought, an adequate price for every offence he might have committed, and silence a troublesome conscience whenever he pleased, should so easily gain ground, and meet with so much favour, not only from the vulgar, but also from great Men, and even Kings; to whom we may no doubt add their Ministers. Among the superstitious notions that may be hurtful to Society, it is difficult to imagine one of a worse tendency than that here mentioned, the immediate consequence of which is to render useless all the distinctions implanted in the human mind between evil and good, and, by making offenders easy with themselves, to take off the only punishment that is left for the greater number of crimes. When notions like these were adopted by Kings, with respect to whom human laws are silent, the consequences were pernicious in the extreme; practices of this sort became as dangerous to the peace and happiness of their subjects, as they would have been conducive to them, if the disciplines we speak of, instead of being inflicted upon such high Offenders, every time they were conscious they deserved them, by the hands of Confessors aiming at Bishopricks, or under fear of dungeons, had been dealt them to the full satisfaction of a Jury composed of impartial persons, and nowise afraid to speak their minds.