C E R
CER
out of Jut)', decency, or civility. Trcv. Diet. Univ. T. i. p. 156?. Ceremonial, in a more particular fenfe, denotes the manner wherein princes and their embafladors uie to receive, and treat one another. The cer'em-nial is a kind of law introduced by compact, cuftom, prefcription, Sec. which fovereigns and their embafladors are to obferve at their interviews, that none of them may cither receive more or lefs marks of refpeet than they are entitled to. Some diftinguifli tliree occafions on which the ceremonial is to take place: viz. when princes meet in per- fon ; when they write to each other; and when they fend embafladors.
The original of the ccremsnial is ambition, or the affectation of a dignity above others, to which by degrees the quality of right has been annexed, and the title of prerogative or pre- cedency given.
There are endlefs difputes among fovereigns about the ceremo- nial: fome endeavouring to be on a level, and fometobe fu- perior, to others. Numerous fchemes have been propofed tor fixing the place and rank of each prince, hut they have not been accepted of by any, except fome alternate princes, as they are called in Germany. The chief of the expedients which have been propofed for this purpofe, are i m0 , to ac- commodate the difference by compromife, or alternation, fo that one fhall precede now, another the next time ; or one in one place, and the other in another ; 2 d % by feniority, fo that an elder prince in years fhall precede a younger without any other difti notion. Vid. Cal/ieres, Maniere de Negocier avec les Souverains, c. 10. IValch. Lex. Phil. p. 360. See Pre- cedency, CycL
Ceremonial is more particularly ufed in fpeaking of the laws and regulations given by Mofes, relating to the worfhip of God among the antient Jews.
In which fen fe it amounts to much the fame with what we othcrwife call levitual hw 9 znd Sands contra-diftingui fried from the mora/, as well as the judicial law.
'Tis difputed whether the obfervation of the fabbath be a cere- monial, or a moral law. SccSabfath, CycL The ceremonial law prefcribed the forms, ufages, rites, &c. re- lating to facred places, utenfils, pricfts, levites, prophets, con- gregations, garments, feafts, facrifices, fabbaths, &c. Moft of the ceremonial laws which God gave the Jews had fome relation to thofe idolatrous cuftoms which had been efta- blifhed among them before the publication of the ievitical law. God thought fit to adopt fuel* things as the Jews before held for facred, and appropriate them to his worfhip, but with fuch rcftriclions as would for ever diftinguifh his religion from that of the falfe gods. Saurin. Differ!, on Old TdtP. I. Diff. 5 3. p. 460.
By the multitude of external obfervances Mofes aimed to check the inclination which the Hebrews difcovered to idolatry, and opprefs them, as it were, with the yoke of ceremonies; that they might be induced to defire their liberty, and the coming of their great deliverer with more ardour. Calm, Diet. p. 377. Some have dared to call in queftion the wifdom and equity of many of the ceremonial laws ! Spencer has a learned work on the Jewifli ceremonial laws, and thereafons of them ; wherein he endeavours to affign reafons of each ceremony, worthy of the wifdom of God \ The principal view in them all, was to ferve as a prefervativc againft idolatry. But there was alfo a political view in many of them, viz. to keep the Jews feparate from the neighbouring nations b ; to which may be added a typical reafon, viz. to ferve as figures of a new and fpiritual law, and to fhadow out Cbrift. ""This laft reafon appeared fo effential to Origen, that without it the laws given to the Jews appeared to him unworthy of God, and inferior to thofe of the Greeks and Romans c . — [ 3 De legibus Hebrseorum ritua- libus & earura nationibus. Nouv. Rep. Lett. T. 6. p. 430, " Pfaff. Thcol. P. 2. c. 3. §.4. ■= Orig. Homil. 7. in Levit. c. 10.]
CEREMONY (Cycl:) — We have an ample and magnificent Account of the religious ceremonies and cuftoms of all the nati ons in the world, reprefented in figures defigncd by Picart, with hiftorical explications, and divers curious differtations, &c. Ceremonies & Coutumes religeufes de tousles Peuplesdu Monde, 6 vol. Fol. Amft. 1723. Mem. de Trev. 1720. p. 2160, feq.
M. Porree in 1646, published a hiftory of antient ceremonies, tracing the rife, growth, and introduction of each rite into the church, and its gradual advancement to fuperflition therein Traite des anciennes Ceremonies, Amft. 1646. 12°. Nouv Rep. Lett. T. 54. p. 128, feq.
Many of them were borrowed from judaifm, but more as it fliould feemfrom heathen i (hi. Some will have the introduc- tion of pagan rites into chriftianity to have been contrived by
- the intrigues and avarice of the clergy, who found their advan- tage in reviving and propagating impoftures, which had been of old fo profitable to their predeceffors. Others alledgc, that the genius of Rome was fo ffrongly turned to fanaticifm and fuperftition, that they were forced, in condefoenfion to the hu- mour of the people, to accommodate and drefs up their new religion to the modes and fopperies of the old one. 'Tis on this laft principle that fever.il of their own writers defend the
adoption of heathen ceremonies. Ar'tngh. Rom. Subtcrr, T. \, 1. i,c.2J. M'uldl. Let. from Rome p. 68, feq. The near conformity obfervable between the ceremonies and obfervances of the Jews and Egyptians, has occafioncd a firong difpute, whether the Jewifli ceremonies be imitations of thofe praftifed by the Egyptians, or the Egyptian ceremonies copied originally from the Jews. Among the antient Romans the jewifli and Egyptian fuperftitions were commonly confound- ed, and held equally odious. Suet on. ill Tiber, c. 36. Tacit. Annal. I. 2.
Marfham maintains, in his canon chronicus, that in many things, as in the ceremCny of circumcifion, Mofes imitated the Egyptians ; in which opinion he feems followed by Spencer de legibus Hebrteorum ritualibus; and in his diflertation de Urtm fcf Thummim, -where the Ievitical worfhip and priefihood arc deduced from the Egyptian. In this God is fuppofed to have condefcended to the weaknefs of the Jews, and to prevent their communication with theEgyptians, giving them the fame laws and rites among themfelves. This fyftem Witfius in his E- gyptiaca has endeavoured to refute. Others maintain that the Jewifh rites were the originals from which all the heathen cuftoms were borrowed. Of which number are Huetius in his demonftratio evangelica, and his qu/v/liones Alnetance dc con- cordia raiionis & fidei ; Bochart in his Phaleg ; Voffius de ido- hlairia ; and others. Walch. Lex. Phil. p. 362. Calm. Diet. Bibl. T. 1. p. 377.
Dr. Middleton has given a fine difcourfe on the conformity between the popifh and pagan ceremonies, which he exemplifies in the ufe of incenfe, holy water, lamps, and candles before the fhrincs of the faints, votive gifts or offerings round the fhrinesofthc deceafed, Sic. In effect, the altars, images croffes, proceffions, miracles and legends ; nay even the very hierar- chy, pontificate, religious orders, Sic. of the prefent Romans, he fhews are all copied from their heathen anceftors a . Who then can doubt of the idolatry of popery, when we fee the pre- fent people of Rome worshipping at this day in the fame tem- ples, at the fame altars; fometimes the fame images, and al- ways with the feme ceremonies as the old Romans b ? — [ 3 Mid- dlet. Lett, from Rome. p. it, feq. See alfo Fabric. BibKoth. Antiq. c. 4. §. 6. b Id. ibid. p. 69, feq.] Ceremony is alfo applied to thofe refpects and honours which people pay to each otber,out of mere civility and good breeding. China is the land of ceremonies. The Chinefe have annexed fuch an idea of refpeit and gravity to certain garments, that the miffionaries dare not fay mafs without their boots on. Mem. de Trev. 1724. p. 1792. Habit o/"Ceremon y denotes the ornaments and external badges
of a profeffion, dignity, or office. Officers ^Ceremonv, thofe whofe bufinefs is to fee the cuftom- ary ceremonies duly obferved in actions of pomp and folemnity. Such are marfhals, ferjeants at arms, &C.
In our court is a mafter and afliftant of the ceremonies : the French have a grand mafter of the ceremonies-, as well as a mafter and afliftant- In churches of the Romifh communion there are alfo mafters of the ceremonies, to fee that every thing be performed as prefcribed in the ritual. CEREPOLLUM, in botany, a name ufed by Pliny to exprefs thegingidium,an umbelliferous plant of the nature of the cher- vil or cerefolium ; and it is very probable that this name is on- ly a falfe fpelling of that word. Columella makes the cere- folium and gingidium different, but it may only be that in dif- ferent ages they applied thefe names to different fpecics of the fame genus of umbelliferous plants. Neophytus tells us, that the gingidium of the antients was called by the later writers bifacutum, a name very well exprefling its feeds which are long and flender, and are pointed at both ends. CEREUS. See ToRcn-tbiJile.
CERIGO, in natural hiftory, a name by which many authors have called that remarkable American animal called the opoi- fum. See Opossum.
The Americans in fome places call this animal in their lan- guage carigueya; and it is probable that this name cerigo is on- ly a corruption of that word, though it be received generally in the world as a proper name, and ufed as fuch by Maftei, Barlasus, Nicremberg, and many others. CERINTHE, in the Linna^an fyftem of botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the cup is a periantbium divided into five equal fegments, and remaining after the flower is fallen : the flower is compofed of a fingje petal, which forms a thick cylindric tube, with a bellied mouth, divided into five fegments at the extremity, and naked and open at the end ; the ftamina are five very fliort tapering filaments ; the anthers are acute and erect. The germen of the piftil is divided into four paits ; the ftyle is flender, and of the length of the ftamina; and the ftigma is obtufe. The fruit is com- pofed of two oval bodies, plane on the infide, and gibbofe on the out; each having a rim round the edge, and containing two cells, which do not open. The feeds are finglc, roundifh, and pointed. The effential character of this genus is the open mouth of the flower. Linnai Gen. Plant, p. 61. See Hone v-zvort. Ceri nt he, among the antients, was ufed by fome to exprefs that fubftance called by others ambrofia and fandarach, and by fome
cfithace.
