The Preceding Inquisition Continued

This was the most cruel and dreadful time anyone could live to see; for this entire infernal inquisition, which was carried on with red hot iron and other intolerable means, had reached even into the Netherlands, so that there, no less than in Germany, this tyranny was carried on in the same way, and even worse.

I cannot keep from telling you here, though with a terrified and shuddering heart, what I have found on this matter in a certain account that has just fallen into my hands, as it were, for this occasion. Marcus Zueris van Boxhorn, author of the Nederlandtsch Historien, in his first book, page 23, printed in the year 1649, at Leyden, and dedicated to the High and Mighty Lords States, gives the following account of it: [n438-1]

The trial by red hot iron. If a person charged with holding views contrary to the doctrine of the Roman church denied it, out of fear of a cruel death, the accused was delivered into the hands and custody of a priest, who was to find out the truth. Before making the trial, then commonly called the ordeal, they spent three days together, supposedly in fasting and prayer. When this was done, they went together to the church, where the priest, in his priestly robes, took his place in front of the altar, on which he laid a piece of iron, first chanting the song of the three children in the fiery furnace: "Praise the Lord, all His works," and so on, and then pronouncing a blessing over the altar, and over the fire in which the iron was to be laid. While the iron was heating on the coals it was sprinkled again and again with holy water, and in the meantime mass was read. When the priest took the wafer into his hand, he adjured the accused, praying meanwhile (supposedly) to God that by His righteousness He would bring the truth of the matter to light, using among others these words

The priest's prayer over the red hot iron. "'Lord God! we pray You to make the truth clearly known in this Your servant; You, O God, who have in former times done great and wonderful signs by fire among Your people; who delivered Abraham, Your son, from the fire of the Chaldeans, by which many perished; who preserved Lot, Your servant, when Sodom and Gomorrah were justly laid in ashes by the fire; who, in the sending of the Holy Ghost by the light of fiery and flaming tongues, separated the believers from the unbelievers; grant us the grace, while we make this trial, that through this red hot fire we may discover the truth. If this, Your servant, who is now being tried, is guilty, let his hand be seared and burned by the fire. But if, on the contrary, he is innocent, let him not be hurt by the fire. Lord God, to whom all secrets are known, however hidden they are, fulfill, by Your goodness, the expectation of our confidence and faith, while we make this examination; that the innocent may be acquitted; but the guilty found out and punished.'

"When the priest had spoken this prayer," writes M. S. Boxhorn, page 24, [n438-2] "he again sprinkled the red hot iron with holy water, and pronounced this blessing over it: 'The blessing of God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, come down upon this iron, that by it we may be able to pronounce a true judgment." '

How the iron was given into the hand of the accused. When this had been said, the flaming iron was given into the hand of the accused, who had to carry it nine paces. The priest then wrapped the hand up tightly with cloth, and sealed it for three days, at the end of which it was examined. If it was wounded, the accused was judged to be guilty; if not, he was acquitted.

Oh, cruel inquisition! By which not only men, but even God was tried and tempted to the utmost. "You shall not," says Christ, "tempt the Lord your God." Matthew 4, verse 7.

Another examination, by hot water. Sometimes a kettle of hot, boiling water was also used, into which the accused had to thrust his hand up to the elbow, in order to determine his guilt or innocence. This procedure was called Ketel vang, in the ancient Netherlands, and particularly in the Friesian statutes and laws.

The trial by cold water. In the same way, and for the same purpose, the cold and consecrated water of the canals or rivers was used. The accused were thrown into it, and from the sinking or floating of their bodies, the righteousness or unrighteousness of their case was judged. This method was carried out in the following way at that time: A priest, one of the judges, went with the accused, and a great crowd of others, to a deep canal, ditch, or river nearby; and standing on the shore or bank, he adjured the water with these words: "I adjure you, O Water." But first he gave the accused a cup of holy water to drink, saying: "This holy water be for a test to you this day.' Turning then to the water, he exclaimed: " I adjure you, O Water, in the name, and so on, who created you in the beginning, and would have you serve to meet the needs of man, and be separated from the waters above." He then adjured the water again in the name of Christ, and then in the name of the Holy Ghost, and finally in the name of the Holy Trinity; and this with such hard, stern and severe words that I am shocked, and afraid in my very soul to repeat them.

"Then followed," writes M. S. Boxhorn, "several more solemn adjurations (these, however, he does not report); and when the priest had finished them, the accused was stripped stark naked, and thrown or driven into the water. If he sank, he was considered innocent; but if he floated, he was immediately condemned and punished by fire, as being guilty." Page 26.

If anyone wants to read a full account of these papistic adjurations over the water, let him consult M. S. Boxhorn, Nederlandtsch Hist., first book, pages 25 and 26. [n438-3]