CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS, OR THE FORMS OF WORSHIP, PRACTISED BY THE SEVERAL NATIONS OF THE KNOWN WORLD, FROM THE EARLIEST RECORDS TO THE PRESENT TIME, ON THE BASIS OF THE CELEBRATED AND SPLENDID WORK OF TO WHICH IS ADDED A BRIEF VIEW OF MINOR SECTS, WHICH EXIST AT THE PRESENT DAY; DESIGNED ESPECIALLY FOR THE USE OF FAMILIES; NOT ONLY AS IMPORTANCE AS A WORK OF REFERENCE. BY CHARLES A. GOODRICH. TRANSFERIOR ACCOMPANIED WITH A LARGE MAP OF THE WO HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY HUTCHISON AND DWIER. Sistorical Socie OF WISCONSIN MADISON - WK Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1834, by HUTCHISON & DWIER, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 67 G65 In the Prospectus of the present volume, it was announced that it would have for its basis a work published in Europe some time since, commonly known by the title of "Picart's Religious Ceremonies and Customs," and so denominated from the circumstance, that this distinguished artist prepared embellishments for the work, consisting of more than five hundred copperplate engravings, which for elegance of design, and for felicity of execution, have rarely, if ever, been excelled. The work was originally composed in French, and was comprised in six volumes Folio. Its celebrity obtained for it an English Translation, in the same number of volumes; and within a few years the whole has been abridged in a large Quarto volume, by Colin Machenzie, Esq. This abridgement has been chiefly used by the Editor in preparing the present volume; but the embellishments have been taken from the English Folio Translation, and the abridgement generally compared with it. Although the principal part of the volume has been derived from the foregoing work; yet important additions and alterations have been made. These have resulted from a desire to conform the work to the present state of Nations and Tribes, in respect to several of which our knowledge has been greatly enlarged and corrected, since the work of Picart was compiled. It cified Redeemer are spreading through every portion of the globe. "Idolatry has been overthrown in the islands of the Pacific; and in India, that massive, gorgeous, venerable superstition, which has withstood not only the decay of time, but the sword of Mahomet, zealously protected, patronized, and endowed by a Christian government, has been undermined, and a breach has been made in the outworks. The Brahmin has been converted, and the still prouder Moslem, and the unimpassioned Chinese, the degraded negro, and the wild Caffer, and the brutish Hottentot." These are antepasts of better days. Yet how much remains to be done before the warfare of Zion shall be accomplished!-before that period shall arrive, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of God! Let the reader inquire while he hails that day as certain in its advent, what he may do to accelerate its arrival? |