Superstition of sacrificing Men to the Dead being used but to great Personages there is another far more general and common in all the Indies which is to set Meat and Drink upon the Grave of the dead imagining they did feed thereon the which hath been an Error amongst the Ancients as St. Augustine writes and therefore they gave them Meat and Drink At this day many Indian Infidels do secretly draw their dead out of the Church-yard and bury them on Hills or upon Passages of Mountains or else in their own Houses They have also used to put Gold and Silver in their Mouth Hands and Bosom and to apparel them with new Garments durable and well lined under the Herse They believe that the Souls of the dead wandred up and down and endured Cold Thirst Hunger and Travel and for this Cause they make their Anniversaries carrying them Cloaths Meat and Drink XIV The Kings Inguas of Peru caused Images to be made to their Likeness which they called Guacos or Brothers causing them for to be honoured like themselves which was in this sort They took a Captive such as they thought good and before they did sacrifice unto him their Idols they gave him the Name of the Idol to whom he should be sacrificed and appareled with the same Ornaments like their Idol saying that he did represent the same Idol and during the time that this Representation lasted which was for a Year in some Feasts in others six months and in others less they reverenced and worshipped him in the same manner as the proper Idol and in the mean time he did eat drink and was merry When he went through the Streets the People came forth to worship him and every one brought him an Alms with Children and sick Folks that he might cure them and bless them suffering him to do all things at his Pleasure only he was accompanyed with ten or twelve Men lest he should fly And he to the end he might be reverenced as he passed sometimes sounded upon a small Flute that the People might prepare to worship him The Feast being come and he grown fat they killed him opened him and eat him making a solemn Sacrifice of him XV. The chief Idol of Mexico was Vitziliputzli It was an Image of Wood like to a Mars set upon a Stool of the Colour of Azure in a Brankard or Litter at every Corner was a piece of Wood in form of a Serpents head The Stool fignified that he was set in Heaven this Idol had all the Fore-head azure and had a Band of azure under the Nose from one Ear to the other upon his Head he had a rich Plume of Feathers like to the Beak of a small Bird the which was covered on the top with Gold burnished very brown he had in his Left hand a white Target with the Figure of five Pine-apples made of white Feathers set in a Cross and from above issued forth a Crest of Gold and at his Sides he had four Darts which the Magicians say had been sent from Heaven for the doing mighty Acts and Prowesses in his Right hand he had an azured Staff cut in fashion of a waving Snake XVI The People of Peru's chief God was Wirachocha by whom they understood the Maker of all things next to him they worshipped the Sun and the Thunder after him the Images of those three they never touched with their bare hands they worshipped all the Stars Earth Sea Rain-bow Rivers Fountains and Trees They adored also wild Beasts that they might not hurt them and in sign of their Devotion when they travelled they left in the Cross-way and dangerous Places old Shoes Feathers and if they had nothing else Stones They worshipped the Sun by pulling off the Hairs from their Eye-brows When they fear they touch the Earth and look up to the Sun they worship also the dead Bodies of their Emperours and indeed every thing they either affected or feared They have some glimmering Knowledge of the beginning of the World of Noah's Flood and they believe the end of the World which they still fear when the Sun is eclipsed which they think to be the Moon 's Husband they held their Priests in such esteem that no great matter was undertaken by Prince or People without their Advice None had Access to their Idols but they and then only when they are cloathed in white and prostrate on the Ground In sacrificing they abstain from Women and some out of Zeal would put out their own Eyes They used to consult with the Devil to whom they sacrificed men and dedicated Boys in their Temples for Sodomy They had also their Temples richly adorned with Gold and Silver and their Monasteries for Priests and Sorcerers Their Nuns were so strictly kept that it was Death to be deflowred after fourteen years of age they were taken out of the Monastery either to serve their Idols and such must be Virgins still or else to serve as Wives and Concubines to the Ingua or Emperour They are very frequent and strict in their Confessions and chearfully undertake what Penance is enjoyned them but the Ingua confesseth only to the Sun After Confession they all wash in Baths leaving their Sins in the Water they used to sacrifice Vegitables Animals and Men chiefly Children for the Health or Prosperity of their Ingua and for Victory in War In some places they eat their man Sacrifices in others they only dryed and preserved them in Silver Coffins they anoint with Blood the Faces of their Idols and Doors of their Temples or rather Slaughter-houses XVII Before the English planted Christianity in Virginia the Natives worshipped the Devil and many Idols as yet they do in many places there They believe many Gods but one principally who made the rest and that all Creatures were made of Water and the Woman before the Man who by help of one of the Gods conceived and bore Children They are all Anthropomorphites giving to their Gods the form of Men whom they worship with praising singing and Offerings They hold the Souls Immortality Rewards and Punishments after this Life the one in Heaven the other in a burning Pit towards the West The Priests are distinguished from other People by Garments of Skin and their Hair cut like a Comb on their Crowns They carry their Gods about with them and ask Counsel of them Much of their Devotions consisted in howling and dancing about Fires with Rattles or Gourd or Pompian Rinds in their hands beating the ground with Stones and offering Tobacco Deers Suet and Blood on the Stone Altars They undertake no matters of Consequence without advice of their Priests the chief whereof is adorned with Feathers and Weasels Tails and his Face painted as ugly as the Devils They bury their Kings after their Bodies are burned and dryed in white Skins within Arches and Mats with their Wealth at their Feet and by the Body is placed the Devils Image the Women express their Sorrow with black
Strang ' And Prodigious RELIGIONS Customes Manners of Sundry Nations THE Strange and Prodigious RELIGIONS Customs and Manners Of Sundry NATIONS CONTAINING I. Their ridiculous Rites and Ceremonies in the Worship of their several Deities II. The various Changes of the Jewish Religion and the State it is now in with the final Destruction of Jerusalem under Titus III. The Rise and Growth of Mahometanism with the Life of that great Impostor IV. The Schisms and Heresies in the Christian Church being an account of those grand Hereticks the Adamites Muggletonians c. All intermingled with pleasant Relations of the fantastical Rites both of the Ancients and Moderns in the Celebration of their Marriages and Solemnization of their Funerals c. Faithfully collected from ancient and modern Authors and adorned with divers Pictures of several remarkable Passages therein By R. D. LONDON Printed for and sold by Hen. Rodes next door to the Bear Tavern near Bride-Lane in Fleet-street 1683. TO THE READER IF the Variety and Greatness of Subjects are capable of affording satisfaction to a Reader you will have in this Piece I now present thee wherewith abundantly to satisfie thy Curiosity You have first a perfect Account of the different Opinions of Mankind concerning a Deity their several fantastical Ceremonies in their Devotion and Worship and likewise a Compendium of the many Schisms and Heresies that have been in the Christian Religion it self Then you are entertained with the Life Death and abominable Doctrine of that grand Impostor Mahomet and this Account may in some kind be a means to hinder others from falling into the like Errors and Abominations After this you have a Description of the diverse and ridiculous Rites of most Nations of the Vniverse in their Customs and Celebration of Marriages and Solemnization of Funerals intermingled with several Instances of extraordinary Love and Affection Then you have a relation of the several fore Bodings and Apparitions that foretold the Fall of Jerusalem with all the circumstances of the final Destruction of that famous City with many other instances too long here to insert So that you have in this Epitome what has been the subjects of the greatest Pens which have filled many large Volumes and would require a great deal of time to read over and I hope may be a means to induce us to bless and praise God the more for having brought us into the light of Truth when we see how many millions of men have wandred in such horrible Darkness R. D. The Manner of the Antient Virginians in their Worshiping of Idols Page 20 Strange and Prodigious Religions Customs and Manners c. AMongst the many millions of Faces which have been and are to be seen in the World there are not any two of 'em that are exactly and in all points alike and tho there may be some similitude in Voices and in the Deportment and Behaviour yet there is something in every one that is peculiar and a certain Air that serves to difference and distinguish one man from another so there is no less variety in the Wits Minds and Inclinations of men From whence proceeds not only the alteration and variety of the Customs and Manners of Nations and particular Persons but the several sorts of Idolatrous Worship and Paganism that have been in the World and the many Sects and Schisms that have started up in the true Religion it self Which to make appear is the scope and business of the following Discourse I. And first we will begin with Paganism and shew the strange Whimsies and Caprices of mankind in their Opinions of a Deity and the Worship that was to be paid thereto Thus then the antient Babylonians worshipped Jupiter under the name of Belus Bel and Baal Juno under the name of Astoroth or Astorte And their Priests called Chaldeans and Magi were bound by their Superstitious Discipline to worship the Sun and so was the King to offer him every day a white Horse richly furnished The Fire they also worshipped and the Earth too under certain Names to the Earth they kept a certain Feast for five days in Babylon where during that time the Servants were Masters and the Masters Servants They worshipped also Venus for maintaining of whose Service the Women prostituted themselves to Strangers these held a Divine Providence but denyed a Creation and were much addicted to Astrology and Divination Ninus was the first Idolater who after the Death of his Father Belus set up his Image and caused it to be adored with Divine Honours at Babylon and in the rest of his Dominions thus they were Men whom the Pagans affirmed to be Gods and every one according to his Merits and Magnificence began after his Death to be worshipped by his Friends thus all the Idols of the Gentiles were the Images of dead men The Egyptian God Osyris was a Man who because he distinguished every Region in the Camp by their Colours in which Dogs Oxen and other Beasts were painted therefore after his Death he was honoured under those Shapes and this begot in 'em such a Veneration for those Creatures that when there was a mighty Famine in Egypt so as that all kind of Food failed them they betook ' emselves to feed upon Man's Flesh when in the mean time they spared Dogs Cats Wolves Hawks c. which they worshipped as their Gods and not only forbore to lay Hands upon them but also fed them and that too with Man's Flesh The Ancients were no less ridiculous in the Choice of their Gods than in their Worship to 'em for if we do but consider Jupiter's Adulteries his Incests with his own Sister Juno and his Daughter Minerva if his Sodomy with Ganymedes his ravishing of Europa and many others if his Impiety against his Father Saturn whom he drove out of his Kingdom and forced to hide himself in Italy if we consider these things we must needs say that he was so far from being a God that he scarce deserved the name of a Man but rather of a Savage Beast and indeed not unlike in Salacity to the Goat his Nurse Such another God was Saturn a cruel Murtherer of his own Children and whose chief delight was to have little Children sacrificed to him What was Mercury but a Thief Venus a Whore Bacchus a Drunkard Vulcan was but a Smith Apollo a Shepheard and Mason Mars a Souldier Neptune a Marriner Minerva a Spinster or Weaver Saturn a Husband-man Eseulapius a Physician so as that they had no other Deity but what were Men and the lowest of Men too And no less abominable was their Cruelty in their Sacrifices and Offerings for there was a brazen Statue of Saturn's at Carthage with hands somewhat lifted up the Statue it self was open hallow and bending towards the Earth a Man or Youth was solemnly laid upon these Arms and thence he was streight tumbled down head-long into a burning Furnace that was flaming underneath This burning alive was bestowed upon that
Paint and Yellings for twenty four hours None but the King and Priest may enter these Houses where the Images of Devils and their Kings are kept Instead of saying Grace at Meat they fling the first Bit into the Fire and when they will appease a Storm they cast Tobacco into the Water sometimes they sacrifice Children to the Devil XVIII In Hispaniola they worshipped the Sun and Moon which they say at first shined out of a Cave and their Tradition is That out of two Caves came Mankind the biggest men out of the greatest Cave and the least men out of the lesser Cave They worship also divers Idols with ugly Shapes by which the Devil useth to speak to them these they call Zermes to which they kept divers Festivals In these they had their publick Dances with the Musick of Shells tyed about their Arms Thighs and Legs The King fits drumming when the People present themselves having their Skins painted with divers Colours of Herbs When they sacrifice they use with a sacred Hook to thrust down their Throats to turn up their Stomachs then they sitdown in a Ring cross-legged and wry-necked about the Idol praying their Sacrifice might be accepted In some places the Women dance about their Idols and sing the Prayers of their ancient Kings then both Sexes on their Knees offer Cakes which the Priests cut and give to every one a piece this each Man keeps as a Relick against Dangers If any fall sick the Priests impute this to their neglect in the Idol's Service therefore exhort them to build a Chappel or dedicate a Grove to their God they think the Ghosts of the dead walk who assault such as are fearful and vanish from them who are not afraid XIX In Malabar they have a Pagod or Idol which they worship seated upon a brazen Throne and crowned with a rich Diadem From his Head issue out four Horns from his Mouth four Tusks his Eyes fiery like a Glow-worm his Nose flat and ugly his Visage terrible his Hands like Claws his Legs and Thighs like those of a Lion in a word we cannot paint the Devil in a more ugly Figure than they do their God Unto this Pagod or his Priest they offer the Virginity of all their Daughters the Pagod having in the place of his Privy Parts a Bodkin of Gold or Silver upon which the Bride marryed most commonly at ten or twelve years of Age is forcibly set the sharpness of it being such that it forceth out the Blood in great Abundance and if she prove with Child that Year it is said to be of his begetting and the more esteemed Others with more Humanity instead of torturing their Daughters on this wretched Idol paralel almost to the offering their Sons to Moloch amongst the Syrians present them to the Bramini or Idol-Priest to be defloured the first Night of the Wedding and without one of these two Handsels no man is suffered to enjoy the use of his Wife not their Kings themselves More priviledged yet than many VVomen neighbouring on them in that they are not compelled to burn themselves with their Husbands Bodies but may have many Husbands either successively or at once as they list themselves and if at once she sends her Children to that Husband as we know who did who she thinks to have the best right to them XX. The former Story brings to mind a Custom amongst the Scots which took beginning as the Scottish Historians affirm in the Reign of Ewen the Third who is the fifteenth King in their Catalogue after the first Fergus This Ewen being a Prince much addicted or wholly rather given over unto lasciviousness made a Law that himself and his Successors should have the Maiden-Head or first Nights Lodging with every VVoman whose Husband held Land immediately from the Crown and the Lords and Gentlemen of all those whose Husbands were their Tenants or Homagers This was it seems the Knights Service which men held their Estates by and continued till the days of Malcolm Commor who at the Request of his VVife Margaret she was the Sister of Edgar Atheling abolished this Law and ordained That the Tenants by way of Commutation should pay unto their Lords a Mark in Money which Tributes the Historians say is still in force XXI In Loango a Country under the Line they worship Idols and are circumcised Every Tradesman appeaseth his God with such things as belong to his Trade the Husband-man with Corn the VVeaver with Cloath c. At the Death of their Friends they kill Goats to the honour of their Idols and make divers Feasts in memorial of the dead They will rather dye than touch any Meat which is prohibited by their Priests At Keaga the Sea-Port of Loango there is an Idol kept by an old VVoman which is once a Year honoured with great Solemnity and feasting There is another Idol at Morumba thirty Leagues Northward where Boys are sworn to serve this God and are initiated with hard Diet ten days Silence Abstinence from certain Meats and a Cut in their Shoulder the Blood of which is sprinkled at the Idol's Feet Their Tryals of Life and Death are in the Presence of this Idol At Anzichi they are circumcised worship the Sun and Moon and each man his particular Idol In some of these neighbouring Countries the People are Man-eaters and worship the Devil to whom they offer Sacrifice which they continue from Morning till Night using charming Vociferations dancing and piping XXII Gentilism is likewise professed in Guinea for they adore strawen things instead of God of whom they speak blasphemously calling him evil black and the Author of their Miseries and that they are no ways beholding to him for what they enjoy but to their own Industry They put within their Rings Wheat Water and Oyl for their God to feed upon such Rings are worn by many as Preservatives against Danger Their Priests use to preach to them on Festival days and after Sermon to besprinkle the Infants with Water in which a Newt doth swim They consecrate to their Idol the first Bit and Draught of their Meat and Drink But I believe this black God they rail against is the Devil whom their cunning Priests represent to that ignorant People in some black and ugly Shape sometimes of a black Dog If they paint themselves with Chalk they think they do good Service to their God When he is angry with them they use to bribe the Priest with Gold so their Fishermen are use to do when they have no success at Sea the Priest with his Wives walk in Procession knocking his Breasts and clapping his Hands then hanging some Boughs from their Necks and playing on a Timbrel the Priests fling Wheat into the Sea to appease the angry God They have certain Trees in great Veneration consulting with them as with Oracles using divers foolish Ceremonies They worship a certain Bird which hath Feathers like Stars and a voice like a Bull. The Tunny is
and Sobriety CXLV The Aegpptians at their feasts use to carry about the dryed Anatomy of a Man in a Coffin not so much in memory of Osyris slain by Trypho and in a Chest cast into the Sea but that being inflamed with Wine they might mutually exhort one another to the use and enjoyment of these present good things because e're long all of them would be as that Skeleton CXLVI The Massilienses have standing before the Gates of their City two Coffins one wherein the Bodies of Free-men the other wherein those of Servants are carried in a Cart to Burial which they do without weeping their mourning is finished upon the Funeral day with a Feast among their Friends there is also a publick Poyson kept in that City which is delivered to that Person who hath made it appear to the Magistrates of six hundred that is their Senate that he hath sufficient Causes to desire to die also they suffer no Man to enter into the Town with any Weapon but there is appointed at the Gate one to receive them at their Entrance and to deliver them back at their Departure Thus as their Entertainments to others are humane so to themselves they are safe CXLVII There is a memorable Custom of the Athenians That a freed man convicted of Ingratitude towards his Patron shall forfeit the Priviledge of his Freedom as who should say We refuse to have thee a Citizen who art so base a valuer of so great a gift nor can we ever be brought to believe that he can be advantagious to the City whom we perceive to be villanous at home go thy way then and be still a Servant seeing thou knowest not how to esteem of thy Freedom CXLVIII The Romans when they went into the Country or travelled sar at their Return used to send a Messenger before them to their Wives to let them know that they are at hand and upon this reason they did it because Women in absence of their Husbands are supposed to be detained with many Cares and much Employment possibly they have Brawls and Discontents in the Family that therefore all these might be laid aside and that they might have time to receive their Husbands in Peace and with Chearfulness they send before them the News of their Arrival CXLIX It was a Custom in Alexandria that upon a certain stated and appointed day some particular Persons were carried about in a Chariot to whom it was given in charge that they should pass throughout the whole City and making a stand at whose door they pleased they should there sing aloud the faults that the persons in that house were guilty of they might not causelessly reproach any but publish the very Truth to which purpose they were studiously before hand to inquire into the manner of the life of each Citizen The end of this Custom was that Men might be moved to return by the consideration of that Shame which was publickly provided for a dishonest Life CL. The black People or Caffares in the Land of Mosambique have a Custom among them That when they go to War against their Enemies he that taketh or killeth most men is accounted the best and bravest Man and most respected As a Proof of his Gallantry to his King of as many as he hath slain or taken Prisoners he cuts off the Privy Members dries them well because they should not rot with these thus dried he comes before his King with great Reverence in the presence of the principal Men of the Village where taking these Members one by one into his Mouth he spits them on the ground at the King's feet which the King with great Thanks accepteth and the more to reward and recompence their Valour he causeth them all to be taken up and given him again for a sign and token of Honour Whereby from that time forwards they are accounted as Knights and they take all those Members wherewith the King hath thus honoured them and tye them all upon a string like a Bracelet or Chain and when they marry and go to any Wedding or Feasts the Bride or Wife of such Knights do wear the foresaid Chain about their Necks which amongst them is as great an honour as it is with us to wear the golden Fleece or the Garter in England and the Brides of such Knights are therewith as proud as if they were the mightiest Queens in all the World CLI The manner of making War amongst the Romans and the recovery of such things as were injuriously detained was this They sent forth Feciales or Heralds whom they also called Orators crowned with Vervain that they might make the Gods Witnesses who are the Revengers of broken Leagues He that was crowned with Vervain carried a Turf with grass upon it out of the Tower and the Ambassador when he came to their Borders who were the Offerers of the Injury covering his Face with a woollen Veil Hear O Iupiter saith he hear the Borders and then naming the People whose Borders they were hear ye that which is right I am the publick Messenger of the People of Rome and justly and piously come as their Ambassador Then he speaks all their Demands and calls Iupiter to witness If I unjustly or impiously demand those men or those things to be yielded back to the People of Rome do thou then never suffer me to return in safety to my own Country This he doth when he is entred upon their Borders when he meets any man when he enters the Gates of the City when he comes into the Market place then if that which he demands is not restored at the end of thirty three days he thus declares War who is the Father of the Fatherhood the chief Herald and who is crowned with Vervain Hear Iupiter and Iuno Quirinus celestial terrestrial and infernal Gods I call you to witness that this People and names it is unjust and will not do right but of these matters the elder of us will consult in our own Country how to regain our Right Then he being returned to Rome they enter upon the Debate and if it is decreed as Right then the Herald returns with a Spear in his hand pointed with Iron Upon their Borders before three Children at least he pronounces that such a People have offered force to and injured the People of Rome that the People of Rome have commanded that War be made with them for which cause I and the People of Rome declare and make War with such a People and when he hath said this he throws the Javelin or Spear upon their Borders CLII. The Jews before they entred Battel by publick Edict commanded them to depart from the Army who were newly married and had not brought home their Wives also all those that had planted a Vineyard and had not yet eaten of the Fruits of it and those who had begun to build a House and had not finished it together with these all such as were cowardly and fearful lest