To all the above proofs, I know it will be objected that St. Petrus Chrysologus, archbishop of Ravenna, is clearly of opinion that St. Paul lashed himself with his own hands. The following is the manner in which he expresses himself on this head, at least if we are to credit the account given of his words by that great Patron of flagellations, Father Gretzer, in his Book printed at Ingolstadt in the year 1609. “This St. Paul used to do, who wrote in the following words the title-deed of his own Servitude, _I render my body livid, and bring it into subjection_: like a faithful Slave, himself supplied the rod, (_vindictam_) and severely lashed his own back, till it grew livid[16].” Now, who would not from these words, thus standing alone, as Father Gretzer recites them, conclude that St. Paul really used to cover his back with stripes? But, if we consult the original itself, we shall see that St. Chrysologus meant no more than to borrow a simile from the punishment usually inflicted on Slaves; which punishment he mentions in the beginning of the very passage we discuss here, and of which Father Gretzer has artfully quoted only the conclusion. “After all (says _Peter Chrysologus_) if the Servant does not awake early the next day, and rise before his Master, whether he be weary or not, he will be tied up and lashed. If the Servant therefore knows what he owes to another Man, the Master is thence taught what himself owes to the Lord of Lords, and is made sensible that he also is subject to a Master.” ‘This is what St. Paul practised, who wrote the title-deeds of his own servitude, and exposed himself to thirst, hunger, and nakedness. Like a good slave, he himself supplied the rod, and severely lashed himself.’ If we examine into the works of St. Hierom, St. Austin, Pope Gregory the Great, and other Latin Fathers, we shall find that they also understood, that St. Paul had expressed himself in a figurative manner. And it is only by misquotations, or arts of the like kind, that Father Gretzer, Cardinal Demian, and others, have attempted to prove that self-flagellations were in use so early as the time of St. Paul among Christians. FOOTNOTES: