I am not, I confess, without fear that the design I have formed of tracing the origin of those Flagellations which have in process of time been introduced among Christians, will be looked upon as a rash undertaking, and that I may be accused of having, in that respect, fallen into the errors of the Protestants, whether Lutherans, or Calvinists. In fact, those two Sects, under pretence of shewing their obedience to the commands of God, who orders the Israelites _not to make incisions in their own flesh for the sake of the dead_, trample upon all laws concerning Penitence, extinguish that kind of virtue which consists in repressing the lustful appetites of the flesh, and ridicule those mortifications and penances to which Tertullian advises us to submit. Indeed, I am far from wishing to favour the relaxed Doctrine of Heretics. That kind of enthusiastic fury which the Calvinists manifestest, in the last Century, against the laborious exercises of the Monastic life, rather heightens, in my opinion, the glory of the Catholic Church. I think that the manner of the antient Anchorites of Syria, of Thebaid, and of Egypt, the purity of their virtue, and the surprising penances to which they submitted, deserve our utmost reverence, however impossible it may be for us to imitate them. I have no other object in view, on this occasion, than to bring back those happy times of the primitive Church, in which the true Science of conquering lustful appetites flourished among our holy Forefathers. All I propose to myself, is, to render it manifest to every candid Reader, that those methods of doing Penance, which are in our days called _Disciplines_[4], were unknown in the happy periods of the primitive Church. By Disciplines I mean here to speak of those voluntary Flagellations which Penitents inflict upon themselves with their own hands; lashing their own backs, or posteriors, either with scourges or whips, or willow and birch rods. A practice this, which, we are not to doubt, prevails much in the Societies of modern Monks and Nuns, especially among those who, under pretence of reformation, have abolished their antient Rules, and substituted new Constitutions in their stead. But before I enter upon this subject, I must inform the Reader of two facts, which it is necessary he should know, at the same time that they are undeniable, and confirmed by every day’s practice. The first is, that Penitents, as we have above-mentioned, both inflict those Disciplines on themselves with their own hands, and receive the same from other persons, either with scourges, or rods, or whip-cords. The second is, that those chastisements are inflicted on them, either on the bare back or shoulders, or on the posteriors: the former method is usually called the _upper_, and the latter, the _lower_ discipline[5].