placed in the fire and shall be sprinkled with holy water;. and while it is heating, he shall celebrate mass. But when the priest shall have taken the Eucharist, he shall adjure the man who is to be tried .... and shall cause him to take the communion.—Then the priest shall sprinkle holy water above the iron and shall say: "The blessing of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost descend upon this iron for the discerning of the right judgment of God." And straightway the accused shall carry the iron to a distance of nine feet. Finally his hand shall be covered under seal for three days, and if festering blood be found in the track of the iron, he shall be judged guilty. But if, however, he shall go forth uninjured, praise shall be rendered to God.
B. JUDGMENT OF THE PLOUGHSHARES.
Lord God omnipotent ... we invoke Thee, and, as suppliants, exhort Thy majesty, that in this judgment and test Thou will'st order to be of no avail all the wiles of diabolical fraud and ingenuity, the incantations either of men or of women, also the properties of herbs; so that to all those standing around it may be apparent, that Thou art just and lovest justice, and that there is none who may resist Thy majesty. And so Lord, Ruler of the heavens and the earth, creator of the waters, king of thy whole creation, in Thy holy name and strength we bless these ploughshares, that they may render a true judgment; so that if so be that that man is innocent of the charge in this matter which we are discussing and treating of amongst us, who walks over them with naked feet: thou, O omnipotent God, as thou didst deliver the three youths from the fiery furnace, and Susanna from the false charge, and Daniel from the den of lions,—so thou raay'st see fit, by Thy potent strength, to preserve the feet of the innocent safe and uninjured. If, moreover, that man be guilty in the aforesaid matter; and, the devil persuading, shall have dared to tempt Thy power, and shall walk over them: do Thou, who are just and a Judge, make a manifest burn to appear on his feet, to Thy honour and praise and glory; to the constancy and confidence in Thy name, moreover, of us thy servants; to the confusion and repentance of their
