Error's chains: How forged and broken : A comparative history of the national, social and religious errors that mankind has fallen into and practised from the creation down to the present time.

About this book

Frank S. Dobbins’s Error’s Chains is an ambitious survey of humanity’s “false gods” from the earliest recorded rites to the modern era. The work opens with a sweeping meditation on the universal impulse to worship, recalling childhood fascination with exotic idols and the formative influence of Dr. Alexander Duff’s lessons. From that point the author promises a “popular style” that draws on a wide range of scholars, Müller, Wilkinson, Haug, and many others, to chart the origins, development, and customs of non‑Christian religions. The book is organized as a massive comparative encyclopedia, each chapter devoted to a distinct culture or tradition, and is richly illustrated with steel‑plate engravings that accompany the dense factual narrative.

Written in the late‑Victorian scholarly voice, the text combines exhaustive citation with a didactic tone aimed at the educated lay reader. Its prose is formal, occasionally moralising, and its scope will appeal to those who relish exhaustive reference works, history enthusiasts, and readers interested in comparative mythology or the cultural roots of idolatry. Those seeking a leisurely, narrative‑driven account may find the density challenging, while scholars and curious generalists will appreciate its breadth and meticulous detail.

Opening lines

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. We well remember with what exhaustless interest we looked in childhood at strange pictures of idols and temples, and listened to the reading of tales about the heathen. When the celebrated Dr. Alexander Duff was a little boy, his father was accustomed on Sabbath afternoons to show him pictures of idols, and to explain their histories. So vividly did the pictures and their stories impress the boy, that when he became a man he left Scotland and went to labor for the heathen of India. …

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