244 REV. S. M. ZWEMER, ON THE STAR WORSHIPPERS, ETC. 



Himyaritic. As regards the " Two Testaments " (eighth page of 

 paper), they woiilrl probably represent two degrees of initiation, one 

 upsetting the other — as among Druzes. I should suppose that Yar- 

 dana Bahba means " Great Emanation " not " Great Jordan." The 

 idea that Jehovah was an inferior deity (Demiurge) I'ecalls the Gnos- 

 ticism of Syria. The incarnation of Abel iii St. John Baptist i'ecalls 

 Druze teaching. I have never been able to find any evidence of 

 triads among the Babylonians, though some modern scholars have 

 read them into the texts. Marduk was not, properly speaking, a 

 Mediator, and certainly not a Redeemer in the Christian sense of 

 the term. The Dualism of the Sabians is of Mazdean origin, and 

 their allegories recall those of Basilides and Valentinus. Probably, 

 like the Druzes, they claim relationship with Christianity when 

 speaking to Christians, and would equally claim affinity to Islam, 

 and to Judaism, if speaking to Moslems or to Jews. 



It would be very interesting to get a full translation of their 

 books, and to know whether — like Druzes, etc. — they have degrees 

 of initiation, as the adoration of the pole star may be only the 

 exoteric teaching for the vulgar, concealing an esoteric teaching 

 of initiates, as in other cases. The Hayye Kadema of Sabians 

 ("Ancient of Days ") seems, as among Gnostics, to have been con- 

 nected with the Zervan Aharene or " boundless time " of Mazdeans, 

 and the Ain or " nothingness " of the Cabbalists. All these 

 curious systems among Christians, Jews, and Moslems, appear to 

 be based on the principle that knowledge was for the few, and 

 that the creed taught to the ignorant should conceal a scepticism 

 only revealed to more advanced disciples, while it should also 

 amalgamate the dogmas of all sects — Jewish, Christian, Moslem, 

 etc. — so as to attract many, and strengthen the leaders, who really 

 cared nothing for any form of religion. This is known to have 

 been the case among Gnostics, Druzes, and others, and might in 

 the end prove true of the Sabians, if the " Two Testaments " of 

 the Sidra Bahba could be translated. But to penetrate beyond the 

 exoteric teaching might be as difficult as it was among the Druzes 

 until 1860, when their books were obtained by De Sacy. 



