Orchard is the rendering in the A. V. of S'^I'^Q, pardcs, nj)ark or garden planted witli trees (Eccles. ii, 5; Cant, iv, 14; "forest," Nch. ii, 8); and of olivetium ("orchard of olives"), an olive-yard (2 Esdr. xvi, 29). See Garden ; Olive-yard.
Orchard, Nicholas, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at Ilelston, county of Corn- wall, England, Nov. 14, 1800. He was the son of pious parents, and was carefully trained under the influence of the Weslej'ans. In his sixteenth year he was con- verted, and joined their society. He came to this coun- trj' about 1837, and settled in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, where his labors as local preacher, class leader, etc., were
higlily appreciated. In 1843 he removed to Brooklyn, and was soon employed by the presiding elder as pastor at Flatbush. The following two years he assisted on the Home Mission work in Brooklyn, and then, under the presiding elder, he ably served the societies on Good Ground Circuit. In 1852 he was received into the New York East Conference, and his successive ap- pointments were as follows: Southold, Farmingdale, Riverhead, Northport, Port Jefferson, Patchogue and Sayville, Orient, Parkville, Orient, and, lastly. Bay Ridge and Unionville. He entered upon his last charge with broken health ; and after a short term of labor at this charge was prostrated by paralysis, and died INIay 27, 1874. " As a preacher and pastor he was in labors abundant, and more than acceptable. In every ap- pointment he was greatly beloved by his people, and men of learning held in high esteem his capabilities as a Bible student and a preacher. His touching appeals to his hearers came from the depth of a heart which longed for their salvation. He felt the sacrednoss of his calling, loved it, and was successful in it." See Minutes of Conferences, 1875, p. 52.
Ordeals, or Ordeal -trials, otherwise termed "judgments of God,'' a pretended mode of appeal to God's judgment, formerly permitted in criminal cases in the most civilized society of Europe. Ordeal is gen- erally traced to the Anglo-Saxon ordoel. Spelman de- rives this word from or, "magnum," and dcel, "judici- um," which is also the derivation given by Ducange. Lye and Bosworth derive it from or, privative, "with- out," and doel, " diiference," an indifferent or impartial judgment, a judgment without distinction of persons. The German word urtheil, a judgment, is intimately related to it.
The earliest trace of anj' custom resembling the or- deals afterwards so largely used among the northern tribes of Europe may be found in the waters ef jealousy, which the Hebrew women, suspected of adultery, were compelled to drink as a test of innocence (Numb. v). The alleged intention of it was to vindicate the truth when it could not in any other way be discovered, and to make way for the execution of law. A similar trial for incontinence is in use among the Jiatives of the Gold Coast of Africa. See Adultery. Blackstone {Coram, on the Latvs of England, iv, ch. 27, " Of Trial and Convic- tion") says : " The several methods of trial and convic- tion of offenders established by the laws of England were formerly more numerous than at present, through the superstition of our Saxon ancestors, who, like other northern nations, were extremely addicted to divina- tion, a character which Tacitus observes of the ancient Germans {De Mor, Germ. x). They therefore invent- ed a considerable number of methods of purgation, or trial, to preserve innocence from the danger of false witnesses, and in consequence of a notion that God would always interpose miraculously to vindicate the guiltless." Throughout Europe in the dark ages the ordeal existed under the sanction of law and of the clergy. The four chief ordeals of the Middle Ages, to which our Saxon ancestors resorted In common with the rest of Europe, were:
a. That of hot iron, which was generally applied to persons of qualitj' and to ecclesiastics, the latter being prohibited from claiming the judicial combat (or duel) in person, and yet wishing to avoid the ordeals by water, which were considered ignoble, and reserved for peasants. If impeached for a single crime, a piece of iron was to weigh one pound ; if prosecuted on several charges, the weight of the iron was increased in pro- portion. The person accused was to hold the burning ball of iron in his hand, and move with it to a certain distance, or to walk barefoot on red-hot ploughshares, placed about a yard from each other. If after this trial his hands and feet were uninjured, and he gave no in- dication of pain, he was discharged ; otherwise he was considered guilty. In the Romish Church the accused was brought in after three days of fasting and praj-er}
ORDEALS
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ORDEALS
the priest appeared in his canonic.ils, taking up the iron which lay before the altar, and, repeating the hymn of the three Hebrews, put it into the fire. He then proceeded to some forms of benediction over the fire and iron ; after this he sprinkled the iron with holy water, and made the sign of the cross in the name of the blessed Trinity, upon ■which the test was applied. Ordinarily, the accused was to carry the hot iron over a space of nine feet. After this his hand was to be sealed up, and not inspected till the third night was passed; then, if it was clean, he was deemed innocent; but if it appeared festered on the mark of the iron, he was to be esteemed guilty. That species of the hot-iron ordeal which consisted in treading, blindfold and barefooted, over a certain number of red-hot plough- shares laid lengthwise, at unequal distances, was no un- common test of female chastity. Among the Greeks compurgation of accused persons by tire was practiced, as is manifest from Sophocles's Antigone. We are in- formed that there were but few escapes from this judi- cial system among the ancients, but that in the dark ages the clergy frequently connived with the friends of the accused, and thus secured acquittal. An instance generally quoted is that of queen Emma, mother of Edward the Confessor, who, when suspected of a crim- inal intrigue with Alwyn, bishop of Winchester, is said to have triumphantly vindicated her character by walk- ing unhurt over red-hot ploughshares (Kudborne, Hist. Mnj. Winton, lib. iv. ch. i). In this connection we may state the scientific fact that a person may with impu- nity handle red-hot or even molten iron, if careful ; the vapor actually preventing immediate contact for a few moments.