_Containing the most ingenious arguments of the Abbé Boileau. The
practice of scourging one’s-self was unknown to the first Fathers
of the Church; and also to the first Anchorites, or Hermits._
Flagellations of different kinds being universally practised among
the Heathens, this circumstance must needs have given but little
encouragement to the first Christians, to imitate such mode of
correction; and we may take it for granted that they had not adopted
it. Indeed, we find that no mention is made of it in the writings
of the first, either Greek or Latin Fathers; for instance, in the
Epistles of St. Ignatius, the Apologies of Justinius, the Apostolic
Canons, the Constitutions attributed to Clement the Roman, the works
of Origen, the _Stromats_ of Clement of Alexandria, and all the works
in general of Eusebius of Cæsarea, of St. Chrysostom, of St. Basil,
and of St. Basil of Seleucia. In all the above Authors, no mention,
I say, is made of flagellations; at least, of those of a voluntary
kind; unless we are absolutely to explain in a literal manner
passages in which they manifestly spoke in a figurative sense: we may
therefore safely conclude, that the first Christians had no notion
of those cruel exercises which prevail in our days, and that to flay
one’s hide with scourges or rods, as is in these times the practice
of numberless Devotees, in or out of religious Orders, were practices
unknown among them.
So far, indeed, were the first Christians from approving the practice
of self-flagellations, that they seem on the contrary to have
entertained a notion, that their very quality of Christians freed
them from any kind of flagellation whatever, as we may learn from
the inscription in Latin verses that had been placed by them upon
the column to which Jesus Christ was fastened when he was whipped:
the following is the translation of that inscription: ‘In this House
our Lord stood bound; and, being fastened to this column, like a
slave, offered his back to the whip. This venerable column is still
standing, continuing to support the fabric of the Temple, and teaches
us to live exempt from every kind of flagellation.’
“_Vinctus in his Dominus stetit ædibus, atque Columnæ
Annexus, tergum dedit ut servile flagellis.
Perstat adhuc, templumque gerit veneranda Columna,
Nosque docet cunctis immunes vivere flagris._”
Now, if the first Christians had been used to inflict daily
discipline upon themselves, or to receive it from other persons, it
is altogether improbable that they would have said that they were
exempt from every kind of flagellation. The above lines, it may not
be amiss to observe, were thought to have been written by Prudentius,
who lived about the latter end of the fourth century. Fabricius, in
his Edition of the Christian Poets, ascribes the same lines to one
Amœnus, who lived in the eighth Century; and, on the other hand,
Johannes Siccardus says, that Sedulius, who lived under the reign of
Theodosius junior, is the Author of them. Be it as it may, it does
not much matter on this occasion to know who has written them; it
is sufficient to observe that they are very useful to confirm the
assertion, as to the novelty of voluntary flagellations[42].
Arguments have also been derived by the promoters of flagellations,
from those which Jesus Christ was made to suffer, in order to prove
that they were practised upon themselves by the first Christians.
But though it may be a meritorious action to endure whipping with
as much patience as Jesus Christ, and for causes of the same kind
as he did, yet it is no proof that the first Christians had any
thought of exposing themselves voluntarily to a punishment which had
been imposed upon him by force. Besides, the first Christians could
not possibly be induced by their desire of imitating Jesus Christ’s
whipping (supposing they really had such desire) to flagellate
themselves in the cruel manner that has since prevailed; for they did
not think that the flagellation undergone by our Lord was in a very
high degree painful, and they looked upon it as having been but an
inconsiderable part of the punishment he was made to suffer. In fact,
St. Chrysostom and St. Austin, as the Reader may see in their works,
relate that Pilate ordered Jesus Christ to be scourged after the
manner, not of the Romans, among whom the punishment of whipping was
inflicted with great severity, but of the Jews, who never suffered
the number of forty stripes to be exceeded. And though the truth in
that respect, has afterwards been better known, yet, it was only
in latter times that the discovery was made, and that St. Bridget,
a holy Nun, by means of a revelation she had on that subject, was
informed, and thereby enabled to inform the world, that the two holy
Fathers were wrong in their opinions, and that Jesus Christ had
really been flagellated with great cruelty[43].
Besides those Fathers who have been quoted above, as having made no
mention of flagellations in their writings, except in a figurative
manner, there are others no less commendable for their learning, who
have been equally silent on that subject. St. Jerom, among others,
deserves to have particular notice taken of him; and he once had, we
are to observe, a very natural opportunity of mentioning voluntary
flagellations, if he had had any notion of such a practice. I mean
here to speak of the letter he wrote to Deacon Sabinus, in order to
admonish him of his sins, and exhort him to repent of them. This
Sabinus was a most profligate man, who was publicly known to have
been guilty of the crime of adultery, and who had, in one instance,
carried his wickedness so far as to attempt to ravish a girl in the
very manger in which Jesus Christ had received the adoration of
the three Eastern Kings. St. Jerom exerts the utmost powers of his
eloquence in order to bring that man to a sense of his crimes, and
engage him to do a suitable penance for them, and yet he makes no
mention whatever about whipping or discipline. Now, is it in any
degree credible that he would, on such an occasion, have been silent
as to the use of whips, leather-thongs, or scourges, if they had been
commonly in use, and avowed by the Church?
The supporters of flagellations, however, urge that the same St.
Jerom, in his Epistle to _Eustachius_, says, speaking of himself,
‘I remember to have many a time spent the whole day in loud
lamentations, and to have only ceased to beat my breast when the
admonitions of our Lord restored tranquillity to me.’ But this very
passage, which is made use of to prove that voluntary flagellations
were in use during the times of the primitive Church, manifestly
proves the contrary, and that St. Jerom was an utter stranger to
the use either of scourges or rods. It is true, he lamented, as he
says, for his sins, and beat his breast, in order to expel by this
natural method of venting his grief, the wicked thoughts with which
he felt himself agitated; but in doing this, he employed, and could
employ, only his fists: the short distance between his arms and his
breast made it altogether impracticable for him to use rods, thongs,
straps, sticks, scourges, besoms, or whips.
Nor is any argument to be drawn from what is related of the same St.
Jerom, that the Angels once fustigated him in the presence of God,
and covered him with stripes, because he was fired with an ardent
desire of acquiring the style and eloquence of Cicero: for it is
evident, that this flagellation was imposed upon him by force, and as
an involuntary chastisement. Besides (which would make it completely
unjust to draw any inference from this fact) St. Jerom only suffered
the flagellation in question in a dream, as himself with great wisdom
observes, in his Apology against Ruffinus: ‘I was asleep (says he)
when I promised before the tribunal of God never to engage in the
study of worldly letters; so that the sacrilege and perjury he
charges me with, amount to no more than the violation of a dream.’
If we peruse the History of the Lives of the ancient Anchorites of
the East, we shall find great reason to think that they likewise were
strangers to the practice of self-flagellation. Theodoret, Bishop of
Cyrus, who distinguished himself so honourably in the fifth Council
of Chalcedon, has, for instance, written the lives of thirty of these
Solitaries, who were particularly celebrated on account of the great
austerities and mortifications which they practised, and who were
afterwards on that account raised to the dignities of Priests or of
Bishops; and yet, he has made no mention of their using either rods
or whips, in the numerous and different penances which they performed.
Thus, we are informed in the Book of Theodoret, that St. James of
Nisibe (who was afterwards made a Bishop) had voluntarily deprived
himself, during his whole life-time, of the use of fire. He lay
upon the ground; he never wore any woollen clothes, but only used
goat-skins to hide his nakedness.
It is related in the same book, that St. Julian only ate bread made
of millet, and that he abstained from the use of almost every kind
of drink. St. Martianus never ate but once in a day, and that very
sparingly too; so that he continually endured the tortures of hunger
and thirst: this holy Man had, besides, a Disciple who never touched
either bread or meat.
St. Eusebius used to wear an iron chain round his body; his
continual fastings and other kinds of macerations rendered him so
lean and emaciated, that his girdle would continually slide down
upon his heels; and Publius _the elder_, voluntarily submitted to
mortifications of the same kind.
Simeon only fed upon herbs and roots. St. Theodosius the Bishop
used to wear a hair-cloth around his body, and iron chains at his
hands and feet. St. Zeno never rested upon a bed, nor looked into a
Book. Macedonius, during forty years, never used any other food than
barley, and was not afterwards raised to the dignity of Priest, but
against his own consent. Bishop Abrahames never tasted bread during
the whole time of his being a Bishop, and carried his mortifications
so far, as to forbear the use of clear water.
The same Theodoret, continuing to relate the life of the holy
Hermits, says, that some of them used to wear iron shoes, and others
were constantly burdened with cuirasses inwardly armed with points.
Some would willingly expose themselves to the scorching heat of the
sun in summer days, and to the nipping cold of winter evenings: and
others (continues Theodoret) as it were buried themselves alive
in caverns, or in the bottom of wells; while others made their
habitations, and in a manner roosted, upon the very tops of columns.
Now, among all those numerous and singular methods of
self-mortification which Theodoret describes as having been
constantly practised by the above-named holy Hermits, we do not find,
as hath been above observed, any mention made of flagellations:
methods of doing penance, these, which it is hardly credible,
Theodoret would have neglected to mention, if those holy Men had
employed them[44].
[Illustration: (end of chapter mark)]