SABIANS SACHEVERELL. 



67 



the Baptist, or whether they formed their doctrines 

 from a mixture of the Jewish, Christian, and Per- 

 sian religions, and, having chosen John as an object 

 of meditation and reverence, afterwards supposed 

 him to have been their founder, is difficult to decide. 

 Tychsen has declared for the latter opinion; yet 

 the argument seems stronger in favour of the for- 

 mer. In the middle of the seventeenth century, ac- 

 cording to Ignatius a Jesu (Narratio Originis, &c., 

 Christianorum S. Joh., Rome, 1652), there were 

 from twenty to twenty -five thousand families 

 of them. Five religious books of these people 

 are known to us : 1. The Divan, of which 

 we have only the extracts given by Ignatius. 

 This book is said to have been given by God to 

 the angels several thousand years before the crea- 

 tion of the world, though Mohammed is alluded to 

 in it. 2. The Book of Adam, consisting of reve- 

 lations brought by angels, or aeons, to Adam, and 

 composed of eighty or ninety discourses, laudatory, 

 didactic, hortatory and prophetic. 3. The Book of 

 John, or Conversations of Angels. Specimens of 

 this are given by Lorsbach. The bells and rosaries 

 of the Christians are mentioned in it. 4. Cholasteh, 

 which contains the means and conditions of salva- 

 tion. 5. The Book of the Signs of the Zodiac, of 

 an astrological character, and only known from the 

 account of Abraham Ecchellensis. (Eutychii Vindic., 

 i. 3.) The language and alphabet of these books are 

 altogether peculiar ; the former is an Aramaean dia- 

 lect, equally resembling the Syriac and Chaldean. 

 Their religious doctrines stand in the same relation 

 to those of Zoroaster, that Gnosticism and Maniche- 

 ism do, except that they give to John the Baptist 

 the elevated rank which the Gnosis gives to Christ. 

 The latter and the Holy Ghost they look upon 

 with the same contempt with which the Gnostics 

 regarded the God of the Old Testament. Their 

 system is a highly complicated doctrine of emana- 

 tions, on which the influence of the Jewish cabala 

 and of Mohammedanism is perceptible. The ori- 

 ginal being (like the endless time of the Zend- 

 Avesta) is a divine tether (Ferha) of unspeakable 

 splendour. Next to him is a female principle (Ajar). 

 From these two proceeds Mana (the lord of the king- 

 dom of light). Then follow numerous seons, or angels 

 of light, and opposite to the kingdom of light is 

 that of darkness, under Ur, with seven chief evil 

 spirits, which inhabit the seven planets. Their 

 theology ends with John the Baptist (Anusch), who 

 came to win men, by baptism, for the kingdom of 

 light. He was produced by a single kiss of his 

 father Zachariah, and was married, but received his 

 children out of the Jordan, one of the first elements 

 of light in their theology. Mohammed is the last 

 false prophet, after whom no other will appear. 

 They despise Mahommedans more than Christians. 

 The best part of their doctrine is their morals, 

 founded on the repression of sensuality, as the only 

 condition of virtue. The elect (they allow grada- 

 tions of virtue) are forbidden to enjoy sensual plea- 

 sure, singing, dancing, &c. ; yet matrimony is often 

 praised. Matrimonial fidelity, careful education of 

 their children, respect for the first born, abstinence 

 from usury, &c., are inculcated. Their priests are 

 divided into three orders. The priestly dignities 

 are hereditary, descending to the eldest son. Bap- 

 tism is their most solemn rite. It is the indispens- 

 able condition of the forgiveness of sin, and is ad- 

 ministered to new-born children and adults. The 

 baptism of the latter takes place at least once every 

 year, during the great feast of baptism, which lasts 



five days. They have also a kind of agape, or 

 love-feast. Polygamy is not prohibited even to 

 priests. Among their laws, in which we also find 

 some resembling the Jewish, is one which prohibits 

 mourning for the dead ; but prayers are offered up, 

 sermons delivered, and alms given. Their antipa- 

 thy for blue is remarkable. A pretty complete list 

 of works relating to this sect is given in Nosselt's 

 Theolog. Litteratur ( 474). See Norberg, De 

 Relig. et Lingua Sabceorum, in the 3d vol. of Comm. 

 Soc. Goth. (1780); Walch, De Sabais (4th vol. 

 ibid., 1781); Norberg's Codex Nasareus sen Liber 

 Adami, Si/riace transcriptus Latineque redditus (t. i. 

 iii., 1815 and 1816); Tittman, Meletemata Sacra 

 (Leipsic, 1816, p. 15 et seq.) 



S ABINES (Sabini) ; an old people of Italy, pro- 

 bably the descendants of the Ausonians, and re- 

 lated to the aborigines. This numerous people, 

 who founded many colonies, lived in the Apennines, 

 principally occupied with the care of herds. Ho- 

 race has celebrated their honesty, modesty and sim- 

 plicity of manners. Their country, to the west, 

 was separated from Etruria by the Tiber; towards 

 the south, by the river Anio (Teverone), from La- 

 tium; and towards the north, by the river Nar, from 

 Umbria: towards the east dwelt the Sabine colon- 

 ies of the Vestini and Marrucini, who separated it 

 from the Adriatic sea: it therefore embraced the 

 principal part of the mountainous country of the 

 Apennines. The soil is very fertile, and rich in 

 pasturage. The productions are oil, fruits and 

 wines, besides acorns in abundance. 



SABINES, RAPE OF THE. See Romulus. 



SABLE. See Weasel. 



SACBUT; a bass wind instrument, resembling 

 the trumpet, and so contrived as to be capable of 

 being drawn out to different lengths, according to 

 the acuteness and gravity of the scale required. 

 The sacbut is usually about eight feet long, and, 

 when extended to its full length, about fifteen. 

 There are, however, sacbuts of different sizes, to 

 execute different parts, particularly a small one, 

 called by the Italians trombone piccolo, and by the 

 Germans kleine Alte-Posaune, proper for the counter- 

 tenor. Respecting the sacbut of the ancient He- 

 brews, commentators have differed much. Indeed, 

 scarce any ancient instrument has been heard of, 

 for which the sacbut or the psaltery has not fur- 

 nished a name. 



SACCHARINE. See Fermentation, and Sugar. 



S ACCHINI, ANTHONY MARY GASPAIID, was born 

 at Naples, in 1735, and studied music under Dur- 

 ante. After being employed in Rome, Venice, and 

 several other cities of Italy, he went to London, 

 where he composed Montezuma, Perseus, and the 

 Cid. He was engaged for the opera in Paris, in 

 1782, where his CEdipe & Colonne procured him 

 great fame at the time of the quarrel between the 

 Gluckists and Piccinists. He died in 1786, leaving 

 fifty operas. His bust stands in the Pantheon at 

 Rome, next to Raphael's. 



SACHEM. In North America, this is the name 

 given by some of the Indian tribes to their chiefs 

 Sagamore is a word of similar import among the 

 Indians. 



SACHEVERELL, HENRY, D.D., an English 

 divine of the establishment, exalted into tempo- 

 rary importance by the spirit of party, was educated 

 at Oxford. In 1705, he was appointed preacher of 

 St Saviour's, Southwark. While in this station, he 

 preached his two famous sermons, in 1709, tl;u 

 object of which was to rouse apprehensions lor 



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