1. It has been rejected long agone, by Christian Nations as a thing Superstitious and Diabolical: In _Italy_ and _Spain_ it is wholly disused; and [74]in the _Low-Countries_, and in _France_, where the Judges are Men of Learning. In some parts of _Germany_ old _Paganism_ Customs are observed more than in other Countries, nevertheless all the [75]_Academies_ throughout _Germany_ have disapproved of this way of Purgation.
2. The Devil is in it, all Superstition is from him; and when Secret things, or latent Crimes, are discovered by superstitious Practices, some Compact and Communion with the Devil is the Cause of it, as _Austin_[76] has truly intimated; and so it is here; for if a Witch cannot be drowned, this must proceed either from some natural Cause, which it doth not, for it is against Nature for Humane Bodies, when Hands and Feet are tied, not to sink under the Water: Besides, they that plead for this Superstition, say that if Witches happen to be condemned for some other Crime and not for Witchcraft, they will not swim like a Cork above Water, which Cause sheweth that the Cause of this Natation is not _Physical_: And if not, then either it must proceed from a Divine Miracle to save a Witch from drowning; or lastly, it must be a diabolical Wonder: This superstitious Experiment is commonly known by the Name of, _The Vulgar Probation_, because it was never appointed by any lawful Authority, but from the Suggestion of the Devil taken up by the rude Rabble: And some [77]learned Men are of Opinion, that the first _Explorator_ (_being a white Witch_) did explicitely covenant with the Devil, that he should discover latent Crimes in this way: And that it is by Virtue of that first Contract that the Devil goeth to work to keep his Servants from sinking, when this Ceremony of his ordaining is used. Moreover, we know that _Diabolus est Dei Simia_, the Devil seeks to imitate Divine Miracles. We read in Ecclesiastical Story, that some of the Martyrs when they were by Persecutors ordered to be drowned, prov'd to be immersible: This Miracle would the Devil imitate in causing Witches, who are his Martyrs, not to sink when they are cast into the Waters.
3. This way of Purgation is of the same nature with the old _Ordeals_ of the Pagans. If Men were 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.