Encyclopaedia of Worship in All Religions

The story of the world’s worship is a story of absorbing interest. The odd and the curious, the enchanting and the revolting are each factors of heathen devotion. The subject is indeed intensely interesting. Every Nation has its God, or gods, and its corresponding forms of worship. Nothing lies so close to the heart of mankind as its religious faith. Religion in some form is interwoven with the entire fabric of human history. It concerns man’s dearest pleasures, his fondest hopes, and his highest aspirations. Man must worship. It is part of his nature to worship. Hence, from the American Indians, and Europeans, to the undiscovered Chinese, and even down to the degraded Hottentot; in all stages of man; existence, among all races and classes, some form of worship is found.Nothing surely can interest us more than the story of that faith in which our fellow-creatures have lived and died. It is because the author believes that the subject of gods and their worship is so interesting, and because he hopes to furnish some much-needed information on this topic, that he has undertaken the present work. There is no one book that covers this ground. There are many volumes covering various phases of the religious systems of heathendom, but there is not one that deals comprehensively with all religions, extinct or existing, except indeed it be those suited only to students and to learned men. The aim in this volume is to present the subject in a style, suited to the average reader as well as the scholar. The very best works of the most thorough students of the non-Christian religious systems have been consulted, and the author has freely availed himself of the results of their labors. It has been the purpose of the author and the publishers to place the subject-matter of this volume within the ready reach of all who consult it. An exhaustive Table of Contents has been given therefore, in which the chapter titles and all the sub-headings of the chapters will be found.