ere accused with any Crime, to clear their
innocency, they were to take an hot Iron into their Hands, or to suffer
scalding Water to be poured down their Throats, and if they received no
hurt thereby they were acquitted. This was the Devil's Invention, and
many times (as the Devil would have it) they that submitted to these
Tryals suffered no inconvenience. Nevertheless, it is astonishing to
think what innocent Blood has been shed in the World by means of this
_Satanical_ device. Witches have often (as [78]_Sprenger_ observes)
desired that they might stand or fall by this Tryal by hot Iron, and
sometimes come off well: Indeed, this _Ordeal_ was used in other Cases,
and not in Cases of Witchcraft only: And so was the _Vulgar
Probation_ by casting into the Water practiced upon Persons accused[79]
with other Crimes as well as that of Witchcraft: How it came to be
restrained to that of Witchcraft I cannot tell; it is as supernatural
for a Body whose Hands and Feet are tied to swim above the Water, as it
is for their Hands not to feel a red hot Iron. If the one of these
_Ordeals_ is lawful to be used, then so is the other too: But as for the
fiery _Ordeal_ it is rejected and exploded out of the World; for the
same reason then the tryal by Water should be so.

4. It is a tempting of God when Men put the Innocency of their
Fellow-Creatures upon such tryals; to desire the Almighty to shew a
Miracle to clear the Innocent, or to convict the Guilty is a most
presumptuous tempting of him. Was it not a Miracle when _Peter_ was kept
from sinking under the Water by the Omnipotency of Christ? As for Satan,
we know that his Ambition is to make his Servants believe that his Power
is equal to God's, and that therefore he can preserve whom he pleaseth.
I have read[80] of certain Magicians, who were seen walking on the
Water: If then guilty Persons shall float on the Waters, either it is
the Devil that causes them to do so, (as no doubt it is) and what have
Men to do to set the Devil on work; or else it is a Divine Miracle, like
that of _Peter's_ not sinking, or that of the Iron that swam at the Word
of _Elisha_. And shall Men try whether God will work a Miracle to make a
discovery? If a Crime cannot be found out but by Miracle, it is not for
any Judge on Earth to usurp that Judgment which is reserved for the
Divine Throne.

5. This pretended Gift of Immersibility attending Witches, is a most
fallible deceitful thing; for many a Witch has