Idolatry and Philosophy of the Zabians. 205 
There are certain eternal truths, which men, by the unassisted 
power of their own minds, are always able to discover. Among 
these, the existence of a Maker of this beautiful universe, stands 
preeminent. The Zabians recognised One Supreme God, in the 
character of a demiourgos, or soul of the world. Accustomed to 
judge of the laws of nature, from the impotent institutes of man, 
they did not perceive, that whilst these were liable to infraction,— 
those could not in their very nature be broken. ‘The ‘'Thou shalt 
not destroy it,’ which is stamped on every atom of matter, is a law 
which no human art or knowledge can ever break. ‘The Zabians 
had early discovered, the unchangeability of matter, and making its 
eternity a grand principle of their creed,—they endued it with a 
thinking power, and as they could imagine no place where matter 
and mind did not exist, they filled infinity with the thinking part, and 
called it God.* Him, in common with many eastern nations, they 
never mentioned ; holding him too sacred and too great for human 
lips to pronounce, but certain mystic letters indicated his name, the 
true pronunciation of which, like the tetragrammaton of the Jews, 
was unknown. 
This idea of a soul of the world pervaded the vulgar mytholog 
of the Greeks and Romans, as well as the speculations of Plato and 
the philosophers. Zeus of Greece, is said by Orpheus, in one of his 
hymns thus translated into Latin, 
Jupiter omnipotens is primus et ultimus idem, 
Jupiter est caput et medium—Jovis omnia munus, 
Jupiter est fundamentum humi ac stellantis Olympi, 
Jupiter et mas est et nescia fcemina mortis, 
Spiritus a cunctis validi vis Jupiter ignis. 
It is but by supposing Jupiter to be a demiourgos, that the dif- 
ferent accounts left by the ancients can be reconciled. Sophocles in 
Trachinus says, Jupiter Olympus is a parent of all things, Aratus 
points out in very plain language his idea of Zeus, and how are we 
to reconcile Horace, who calls Jupiter the air, Euripides, who calls 
him the moving force of the winds, Homer, who in many places 
marks him as the vital warmth, Lucretius, who calls him A‘ther, 
* Prideaux Conn. Vol. I, p. 177. Moreh Nevochim, “In the times of the Zabi- 
ans, the utmost to which philosophers carried their speculations was to esteem God 
tobe the spirit of the sphere or celestial orb. Supposing the celestial orbs and > 
planets to be bodies and the supreme being the soul or spirit of them. Abubekr 
Alsaig Com. Arist. de auditu, Moreh Nevochim, ch. 4, Abulfeda Sharistani Re- 
lig vet. Pers. c. 22. 
