THE PRECEDING INQUISITION CONTINUED.
This was the most cruel and dreadful time which one could live to see; for this entire infernal inquisition, which was carried on with red-hot iron and other intolerable means, had penetrated even into the Netherlands, so that there, not less than in Germany, this tyranny was carried on in the same manner, and even worse.
I cannot forbear here to inform you, though with a terrified and shuddering heart, of what I have found with respect to this matter, in a certain account which 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, p. 23, printed A. D. 1649, at Leyden, and dedicated to the H. M. Lords States, gives the following account with reference to it:
The trial by red-hot iron.—If a person charged with holding sentiments contrary to the doctrine of the Roman church, from fear of a cruel death, denied it, 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 together spent three days ostensibly in fasting and prayer. This done, they went together to the church, where the priest, in his sacerdotal attire, placed himself in front of the altar, upon 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,” etc., and then pronouncing a blessing over the altar, and the fire in which the iron was to be laid. The iron, while heating on the coals, was repeatedly sprinkled with holy water, and in the mean time mass was read. When the priest took the wafer into his hand, he adjured the accused, praying meanwhile (ostensibly) to God that by his righteousness he would discover the truth of the matter, using among others these words:
The priest’s prayer over the red-hot iron.—”‘Lord God! we pray thee that thou wouldst clearly manifest the truth in this thy servant; thou, O God, who hast in former times done great and wonderful signs by fire, among thy people; who didst deliver Abraham, thy son, from the fire of the Chaldeans, by which many perished; who didst preserve Lot, thy servant, when Sodom and Gomorrah were justly laid in the ashes by the fire; who, in the sending of the Holy Ghost by the light of fiery and flaming tongues, didst separate 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, thy servant, who is now being tried, is guilty, let his hand be seared and burnt 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 hid they are, fulfill, by thy goodness, the expectation of our confidence and faith, while we make this examination; that the innocent may be acquitted; but the guilty detected and punished.’
“When the priest had uttered this prayer,” writes M. S. Boxhorn, p. 24, “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 enabled to pronounce a true judgment.’ ”
How the iron was given into the hand of the accused.—This having been said, the flaming iron was given into the hand of the accused, who had to carry it nine paces. The hand was then closely wrapped up with cloth by the priest, and sealed, for three days, at the end of which it was inspected. If it was wounded, the accused was judged to be guilty; if not, he was acquitted.
O, cruel inquisition! by which not only men, but even God was tried and tempted to the utmost. “Thou shalt not,” says Christ, “tempt the Lord thy God.” Matt. 4:7.
Another examination, by hot water.—Sometimes also a kettle with hot, boiling water was used, into which the accused had to thrust his hand up to the elbow, in order to ascertain 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.—Likewise, and for the same purpose, the cold and consecrated water of the canals or rivers was used. The accused were cast into it, and from the sinking or floating of their bodies, the righteousness or unrighteousness of their case was judged. This mode was carried out in the following manner at that time: A priest, one of the judges, went with the accused, and a great train of others, to a deep canal, ditch, or river, near by; and standing on the shore or brink, he adjured the water with these words: “I adjure thee, O water.” However, first he gave the accused a cup of holy water to drink, saying: “This holy water be for a test to thee this day.” Turning then to the water, he exclaimed: “I adjure thee, O water, in the name, etc., who created thee in the beginning, and would have thee serve to meet the necessities 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.