Or Judgment of God, was a term anciently applied to all extraordinary trials of secret crimes; as those by arms and single combat; and the ordeals, or those by fire, or red hot ploughshares, by plunging the arm in boiling water, or the whole body in cold water, in hopes that God would work a miracle, rather than suffer truth and innocence to perish. These customs were a long time kept up even among Christians, and they are still in use in some nations. Trials of this sort were usually held in churches, in the presence of the bishop, priest, and secular judges, after three days fasting, confession, communion, and many adjurations and ceremonies, described at large by Du Cange.
Despite a stated reliance on the plain meaning of the Bible and the dictates of common sense, Buck's Theological Dictionary, first published in London in 1802, seeks to provide a textual basis for the evangelical community. By combining brief essays on orthodox belief and practice with historical entries on various denominations, Buck provided an interpretive lens that allowed antebellum Protestants to see Christianity's almost two millennia as their own history.Wikipedia
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