may be opened and made manifest to all the faithful that cry unto thee this day, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

The iron is now placed in the fire, and sprinkled with consecrated water both before and after it is so placed. The mass is said while the iron is heating,the introductory scripture being,-" O Lord, thou art just, and righteous are all thy judgments." The priest delivers the wafer to the person about to be tried, and, ere he communicates, the following prayer is said by the priest and congregration:—

We pray unto thee, O God, that it may please thee to absolve this thy servant, and to clear him from his sins. Purify him, O heavenly Father, from all the stains of the flesh, and enable him, by thy all-covering and atoning grace, to pass through this fire,-thy creature-triumphantly, being justified in Christ our Lord."

Then the Gospel :-" Then there came one unto Jesus, who fell upon his knees, and cried out, Good Master, what must I do that I may be saved? Jesus said, Why callest me good ?" &c.

The chief priest, from the altar, now addresses the accused, who is still kneeling near the fire:

"By the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and by the Christianity whose name thou bearest, and by the baptism in which thou wert born again, and by all the blessed relics of the saints of God that are preserved in this church, I conjure thee, Come not unto this altar, nor eat of this body of Christ, if thou beest guilty in the things that are laid to thy charge; but if thou beest innocent therein, come, brother, and come freely."

The accused then comes forward and communicates,-the priest saying"This day may the body and blood of Jesus Christ, which were given and shed for thee, be thy protection and thy succour, yea, even in the midst of the flame."

The priest now reads this prayer:-"O Lord, it hath pleased thee to accept our spiritual sacrifice. May the joyful partaking in this holy sacrament be comfortable and useful to all that are here present, and serviceable to the removing of the bondage and thraldom of whatsoever sins do most easily beset us. Grant also, that to this thy servant it may be of exceeding comfort, gladdening his heart, until the truth of thy righteous judgment be revealed." The organ now peals, and Kyrie Eleison and the Litany are sung in full chorus.

After this comes another prayer:

"O God! thou that through fire hath shown forth so many signs of thy almighty power! thou that didst snatch Abraham, 'thy servant, out of the brands and flames of the Chaldeans, wherein many were consumed! thou that didst cause the bush to burn before the eyes of Moses, and yet not to be consumed! God, that didst send thy Holy Spirit, in the likeness of tongues of fiery flame, to the end that thy faithful servants might be visited and set apart from the unbelieving generation; God, that didst safely conduct the three children through the flame of the Babylonians; God, that didst waste Sodom with fire from Heaven, and preserve Lot, thy servant, as a sign and a token of thy mercy: O God, show forth yet once again thy visible power, and the majesty of thy unerring judgment; that truth may be made manifest, and falsehood avenged, make thou this fire thy minister before us; powerless be it where is the power of purity, but sorely burning, even to the flesh and the sinews, the hand that hath done evil, and that hath not feared to be lifted up in false swearing. O God, from whose eye nothing can be concealed make thou this fire thy voice to us thy servants, that it may reveal innocence, or cover iniquity with shame. Judge of all the earth! hear us: good Lord, for the sake of Jesus Christ thy Son."

The priest now dashes once more the holy water over the fire, saying, Upon this fire be the blessing of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, that it may be a sign to us of the righteous judgment of God."

The priest pauses, instantly the accused approaches to the fire, and lifts the iron, which he carries nine yards from the flame. The moment he lays it down he is surrounded by the priests, and borne by them into the vestry; there his hands are wrapped in linen cloths, sealed down with the signet of the Church;

these are removed on the third day, when he is declared innocent or guilty according to the condition in which his hands are found. "Si sinus rubescens in vestigio ferri reperiatur, culpabilis ducatur. Sin autem mundus reperiatur, Laus Deo referatur."

Of course it has been said that all this was fraud, trick, priestcraft; that chemical agencies were applied to protect the body from the natural effects of fire, that some liniment was used to anoint the soles of the feet,-that asbestos was mixed with a composition to cover the skin,-that the hands were protected by asbestos gloves, so made as to imitate the skin. But this is all pure supposition; there is no evidence to support it; it is simple conjecture as to how it is supposed these things might have been done, not evidence as to how they really were done. To prevent the defendant from preparing his hands by art, and in order to ascertain the result of the ordeal, his hands were covered up and sealed during the three days which preceded and followed the fiery application; and it is an entirely gratuitous conjecture of Beckman's that those in whose care the accused was placed made use of these opportunities to apply preventives to those whom they wished to acquit, and to bring back the hands to their natural condition. Even were the clergy, generally, base enough, and impious enough, to resort to these juggling tricks, and blasphemously appeal to heaven with a lie in their mouths, and with the consciousness of so monstrous a fraud, this could scarcely have been done without the connivance of magistrates and civil rulers, who were not always well-disposed to the Church, but not unfrequently looked upon the ecclesiastical authorities with a jealous eye. We know how hard it is for even a handful of conspirators to be faithful to each other, even for a short time; how comes it, then, that in a conspiracy so vast, organised into an institution, having its ramifications in so many countries, and extending over so great a period of time, no one blabbed the secret, no one betrayed his fellowconspirators ? If the priests possessed a knowledge of the arts imputed to them, they certainly kept their secrets wonderfully well; and, especially when we consider that the accused was "surrounded by all who were in any way interested in the result of the trial," their contemporaries must have been singularly dull of sense and dull of wit not to have detected their frauds, leaving the discovery to the conjectures of their enlightened posterity. The truth is that these conjectures are mere guesses

It is said that Albertus Magnus, in the thirteenth century, soon after the ordeal had fallen into general desuetude in Europe, gave a recipe for a kind of paste, of which asbestos was an ingredient, to protect the skin from the effects of fire; and which is affirmed to have been used by ecclesiastics in the ordeal This, I believe, is the only thing of the kind that is alleged; and the recipe is confessedly of doubtful authenticity.

invented to meet the exigencies of theory, and to evade the inference felt to be otherwise inevitable, that these things could only take place by the intervention of some spiritual power, operating by some higher than merely physical laws. Leaving, however, the "dark ages" (so called, I suppose, among other reasons, because we are very much in the dark about them), and coming nearer to our own-to the beginning of the eighteenth century; and turning from the records of "benighted Catholics," to Protestant history, we come upon a very striking episode in illustration of our subject.

Most of our readers are acquainted with the history of the Protestants of the Cevennes, and the events of that history which so wonderfully manifest a protecting and spiritual power, and which are so well attested by contemporaries. One of the books written at the time is entitled Le Theatre Sacré des Cevennes, and is translated into English under the title of A Cry from the Desert; or, Testimonials of the Miraculous Things lately come to pass in the Cevennes; with a Preface by John Lacy, Esq., London, 1707. Beside quotations from contemporary works of repute, this book contains "the testimonies in form of twenty-six eye and ear-witnesses, now or lately resident in London." Twelve of these "did on the sixth of March, and the first of April last (1706), affirm their Depositions upon Oath, before John Edisbury, Esq., and Sir Richard Halford, Masters in Chancery." One of the Depositions is that of Durand Fage, one of the leaders of the Cevennois; and an eye-witness of the following scene, which I quote from his sworn Deposition:

Cavallier having called a religious assembly near the tile-kiln of Serignan, betwixt Quisac and Somiere, on Sunday in August 1703, at about three in the afternoon, brother Clary, who was of our troop, a young man of about eightand-twenty, who had care of the provisions, fell into an ecstasy. He declared that there were two persons in the assembly who came thither to betray us, and that if they did not repent of their design, he himself would discover them in the name of God. At these words, Cavallier, not questioning the truth of the inspiration, ordered about 600 soldiers to surround the congregation, and to suffer no one to depart. Clary continuing under inspiration, strongly agitated, his eyes closed, and his hands lifted up, immediately walked forward, and laid his hands on one of the traitors. The other, seeing his accomplice thus miraculously discovered, threw himself at the feet of Cavallier, confessing the guilt of them both, and imploring pardon. Cavallier ordered them to be bound and reserved for the judgment of the assembly: but Clary, still in ecstasy, cried aloud that there were some present who suspected an understanding betwixt him and the two seized: therefore, God would manifest his own power, and confound their disbelief. At that instant his agitation became greater than ever, and he cried out, in the spirit-: "Oh! people of little faith, do ye doubt my power, after all the wonders I have shown you? I tell thee, my child, that I will display my power and my truth. I command that fire be lighted, and that thou place thyself in the midst of it. Fear not, for the flame shall not touch thee."

When these words were heard, there was a loud outcry of those who had doubted, begging pardon, and declaring themselves satisfied: praying God to spare the trial by fire, for they acknowledged that He knew their hearts. But Cavallier ordered the fire to be made. I was one of those who fetched wood for

it, and the branches being dry, for they had been collected for the use of the tilekiln, the pile mingled with larger boughs was raised in the midst of the assembly. The fire was lighted, whether by himself or not I do not know, but when the flame began to mount, he went into the midst of it, and stood with his hands elevated, clasped together, and still in ecstasy. Clary had on a white blouse, which his wife had brought him that morning, and he went on speaking amongst the flames, though what he said could not be understood, for besides the assembly, which consisted of five or six hundred people, the circle was surrounded by the six hundred men under arms, and all were on their knees, weeping passionately, praying, singing psalms, and crying, "Pardon! Mercy!" The fire was made in a low spot, so that all round on the hill sides could see it, Clary in the midst of it, and the flames meeting above his head. The wife of Clary was near the fire in an agony of terror, and praying vehemently to God. I stood at her side supporting her, and encouraging her all that I could. There were near her also two of her sisters, her father, one of her brothers, and several of the relatives of Clary. Those who collected the wood also thrust the scattered branches into the fire, till the whole was consumed; Clary, at the end of about a quarter-of-an-hour, walked out of the burning cinders, still under inspiration, but wholly untouched by the fire. His friends rushed to embrace him, and to congratulate him on that wondrous proof of his faith. I was one of the first to embrace him. I examined his white blouse, and it was not in the least injured in the fire, nor was his hair singed. His wife and relations were in transports of joy, praising God. Cavallier ordered a general prayer and thanksgiving for this great miracle, which God had vouchsafed to confirm the faith and courage of his servants.

The affidavit of John Cavallier, who was also present, confirms this account of Fage in every particular. Nor was this the only instance of the kind.

To confound the murmurers, who had let in doubts of their chief, Cavallier, when two thousand of the Camisars were praying in the open air at Calvisson, ordered a great pile of vine and olive branches to be made. A young woman, accompanied by two young prophets, who exhorted her to have faith in God, approached it. She fell on her knees, and prayed with ever-augmenting fervour that God would confer on her exemption from the power of fire. She commanded the whole multitude to kneel, menacing with the wrath of God all who refused to prostrate themselves before His glory, which He was about to reveal in wonders. She then arose, entered the flaming pile, walked through it, returned, entered, and re-entered again three times. The multitude bursting into tears, cried aloud in admiration of the marvels of God. Silence being re-established, she fell on her knees, and prayed that she might be permitted to take fire in her hands as if it were water, and that instead of burning, it should refresh her. She arose, took coals of fire in her hands, held them, and then casting them back, followed by the two prophets, she retired into the crowd rejoicing and blessing God.

These facts, however well established, are very astounding; and it may be asked, have we any facts analogous to them in modern experience-any facts vouched for by living witnesses whose testimony is worthy of credit? I answer, that we have; and I proceed to cite a few of them.

In the Sacred Circle, published in New York, 1855, and edited by Judge Edmonds, Dr. Dexter, and Mr. O. G. Wa arren, the latter gentleman at page 120, Vol. i., writes as follows:

In the Old and New Testaments there are many miracles recorded. Some of them can be explained, and others not. A recent event offers a solution of one of these. Certain servants of the Lord were thrown into a fiery furnace heated to an extraordinary degree; but they were not burned; and there was

not even the smell of fire upon them. Something of a similar nature has lately occurred. A medium had been ordered by a spirit to thrust his hand into a flame of hot fire. He did so, at first with some natural hesitation, but finally held his hand in it for a considerable time without injury. This was many times repeated, and the hand was not burned in the least.

This miracle-and there have been several such-was explained by the spirits, as far as it could be explained. They alleged that they were able to envelope him (the medium) in an atmosphere that would resist the action of fire.

In the same volume, page 217, Judge Edmonds writes :

I know that not long ago a medium was made to hold his hand in a flame a considerable time-long enough to have destroyed it-and. yet it was not injured; and a second time was the act repeated and the hand was uninjured.

The following is taken from the Spiritual Telegraph Papers, vol. vi., published by Partridge & Brittan, New York, 1857:

At the New York Conference, Mr. D. G. Taylor, a highly respected citizen of New York, related that at a circle held in his house in West 16th Street, ten persons being present, amongst them, Mr. C, Mr. Gd, and Mrs. H. Robinson, then seated in the audience, his son, a well-known medium, had during entrancement held his hand in the flame of a candle during the space of 70 seconds, and that the hand was removed wholly unscorched. On another occasion, at their weekly circle, the same medium and another (Miss M- -) being both deeply entranced, were desired by the spirits to place each a hand at the top of the blazing fire, and retain them there, whilst the circle counted 50. They did 80, and removed their hands wholly unscorched. Neither of the mediums recollected the act when awakened from the trance.

The same volume relates the following facts; they are given on the authority of Mrs. Emma Hardinge (the well-known inspirational speaker), now in London, and who has personally assured me of their truth:

In Macon, Georgia, a coloured girl, who was an excellent physical medium, frequently exhibited the feat of thrusting her hand amongst the blazing pine logs, and removing it after some 60 seconds without the least injury. She always insisted, however, that she would only perform this feat when "Cousin Joe," whom she called her guardian spirit, was present and bid her do it.

At New Orleans, Louisiana, a negro by the name of Tom Jenkins, was well-known for his power of resisting fire under what he called the "fluence of Big Ben," a boatman formerly on the Mississippi river, and who since his death by drowning had come and made what Tom called "magic" for him. On one occasion Mrs. Emma Hardinge and a party of friends paying a visit to Tom he became entranced, took off his shoes and stockings, rolled up his pantaloons to the knees, and entered the pine-wood fire, literally standing in it as it blazed upon the hearth, long enough to repeat in a solemn and impressive manner the 23rd, 24th, and 25th verses of the 3rd chapter of Daniel.

The following incident is extracted from the Christian Spiritualist of 1860, published at Macon, Georgia :

Mrs. Lovejoy, of Cincinnatti, being on a visit to this place, brought with her a baby of four months' old, who is a remarkable medium. We have been accustomed to sit around the cradle whilst the little baby lies asleep, ever since she has been here, and always receive satisfactory responses from our spirit friends, either by raps or rockings of the cradle. If the baby wakes during our circle, she never cries, but seems, by the happy smile over her sweet face, and the delight with which she crows along with the raps, to receive some pleasant influence from the power which is operating.

Last evening (April 3rd), as we were holding a circle round the cradle, I asked the spirits, why the Christians did not give the signs which are promised to the believers in the last chapter of St. Mark? When the spirits