The sixth and last passage in which whipping is mentioned, in the New Testament, is therefore the only one from which any specious conclusion may be drawn in support of the practice of voluntary flagellation: it is contained in the first Epistle to the Corinthians (ix. 22); St. Paul in it says, _I chastise my body, and keep it under subjection_. Indeed this passage is well worth examining attentively. Several men of great authority have given it as their opinion, that the Apostle expressly meant to say, by the above words, that it was his practice to lash himself, in order to overcome his vicious inclinations. Among others, James Gretzer, an able Theologian and one of the Fathers Jesuits, vehemently asserts that the Greek words in the text literally signify, “I imprint on my own body the stripes or marks of the whip, and render it livid by dint of blows,” and the same Father supports his assertion by the authority of _Septalius_ and _Guastininius_, two celebrated Interpreters of Aristotle, who, in their Commentaries, quote _Gallienus_ as having used the Greek word in question (ὑπωπιάζω) in the same sense which he (Father Gretzer) attributes to St. Paul. To these authorities Gretzer moreover adds those of St. Irenæus, St. Chrysostom, Paulinus, and Theophylactus, who (he says) have all explained the above passage in the same manner as himself does: so that, if we were to credit all the comments of Father Gretzer, there would, indeed, remain little doubt but that St. Paul meant to say, he fustigated himself with his own hands; and that he was thereby left an example which all faithful Christians ought in duty to imitate.