Oriental customs: or an illustration of the sacred Scriptures, by an explanatory application of the customs and manners of the Eastern nations, and especially the Jews. Therein alluded to, together with observations on many difficult and obscure texts, collected from the most celebrated travellers, and the most eminent critics / by Samuel Burder.
- Samuel Burder
- Date:
- 1802
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Oriental customs: or an illustration of the sacred Scriptures, by an explanatory application of the customs and manners of the Eastern nations, and especially the Jews. Therein alluded to, together with observations on many difficult and obscure texts, collected from the most celebrated travellers, and the most eminent critics / by Samuel Burder. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![offering among his countrymen. (Iliad, iv. ver. 202.) And the ancient Goths, having “ laid it down as a prin- ciple, that the effusion of the blood of animals appeased the anger of the gods, and that their justice turned aside upon the victims those strokes which were des- tined for men,” (Mallet’s North. Antiq. vol. i. chap. 7.) soon proceeded to greater lengths, and adopted the horrid practice of devoting human victims. In honour of the mystical number three, a number deemed particularly dear to Heaven, every ninth month wit- nessed the groans and dying struggles of nine unfor- tunate victims. The fatal blow being struck, the lifeless bodies were consumed in the sacred fire, which u'as kept perpetually burning ; while the blood, in singular con- formity with the levitical ordinances, was sprinkled, partly upon the surrounding multitude, partly upon the trees of the hallowed grove, and partly upon the images of their idols. (Mallet’s North. Antiq. vol. i. chap. 7.) Even the remote inhabitants of America have re- tained similar customs, and for similar reasons. It is somewhere observed by Acosta, that in cases of sickness, it is usual for a Peruvian to sacrifice his son to Vira- choca, beseeching him to spare his life, and to be satis- fied with the blood of his child. Faber’s Hor#. Mosaic#, vol. i. p. 88. No. 3.—v. 24. God took him.'] The following singu- lar tradition may possibly have some reference to the translation of Enoch: “The Kalmucks, among other idols, worship in a peculiar manner one, which they call Xacamuni. They say, that four thousand years ago, he was only a sovereign prince in India ; but, on account ' of his unparalleled sanctity, God had taken him up to heaven alive.” Von Strahlenberg’s Siberia, p. 409.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22040900_0032.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
