The Greeks also deified productive and natural laws; but they never advanced so far as the deification of the principle. They recognized the all-pervading divine existence; they saw a God in the earth, in the air, and in the sea; and then they split upon the rock of materialism, and worshipped either Zeus, Poseidon, or Pluton or they took refuge in Pantheism, and said "God is nothing else but earth, and air, and sea."

preserve the original purity of their creed. | ble principle, not only of production, but These, drafting off from the common of destruction too. herd, and drawn together by kindred aims and sentiments, form the nucleus of those secret societies which have existed under every form of paganism, and which had for their object the teaching and preservation of their esoteric doctrines, that is to say, the explanation of their symbolism. Such associations would naturally shrink from communicating their tenets to the vulgar, from whom they could not hope for sympathy, and by whom they could not be understood; and, accordingly, we There are many points of similarity befind the motto, "Odi profanum vulgus tween the Zoroastrian and the Greek universally insisted on by the Illuminati mythologies which point conclusively to of every heathen sect. The gorgeous a common origin. For instance, the ceremonies, idols, and processions were deposition of Zarwan Akarana, or “ Boundfor the common people, but the esoteric less Time," from the supremacy of the doctrines were taught only to a few, and Pantheon in favour of Hormazd, is exkept a profound mystery from the masses. actly paralleled by the history of Xpovos Thus, while the outward form of reli- and Zeve or Ovpavos, of Saturn and Jupigion lost its vitality, and was easily ter; the angels of productive laws, in affected or overthrown by any great Zoroaster's system, and the nymphs and political or other changes, the real doc-sylvan deities of classic legend are absotrines themselves, the offspring, so to lutely identical; the earth, the fosterspeak, of the national mind, were as full mother of the human race, is worshipped of life as ever, and no change could touch in both systems, under the allegory of a the secret organization of those who held the key to the mystery, and who, having | little sympathy with the mere form of symbolism, were as ready to screen themselves behind the new cult as they had been behind the old.

cow — the one great means of sustenance to a pastoral people as the name yǹ itself proves; for this is nothing more than the Zend Gens, the Gau of the modern Persian, and our own word Cow. And still more clear is the analogy, when we remember the universal reverence paid by the Greeks to the sun —

τον πάντων θεῶν θεὸν πρόμον ̓Αλιον. Soph. Ed. Tyr. 660.

The East has never been without such societies, for the sufficient reason that, while Oriental peoples have been politically compelled to submit to constant changes, they are morally and psychologically more averse from changes than The archetype of the Greek religion any others. Their ethnical religion was having been brought by the first Aryan Sabeanism, or the worship of the heav-emigrants from their native home, it was enly hosts, whose origin we have just endeavoured conjecturally to trace; and the countless mystic and secret sects which the East has from time to time produced, from the ancient mysteries of Egypt to the Gnosticism and Sufiism of more modern times, and even probably the Eleusinian mysteries in Greece, had no other object than to teach the true interpretation of Sabean symbolism.

The Greek development of the Aryan religious idea was very similar to the Persian, but it stopped short at an earlier point.

The Persians deified productive laws, but they proceeded from the consideration of individual cases to the contemplation of the principle, and their religion assumed the form of fire-worship the worship of the element which is the visi

to be expected that any late accession of ideas from the same source would be received with avidity by their descendants. That such was actually and historically the case is testified both by Persian and Greek writings.

The conquest of India and Persia by Alexander is a constant theme with the Persian historian; but, in order to maintain the credit of Persia, the conqueror is said to have been of Persian origin—a romantic old legend making him out to be the son of Dara, an Iranian king. In the "Desatir," we find a book or chapter, entitled "Book of Instruction for Alexander," where he is thus addressed:

66

Because the affairs of the Iranians went in many respects ill, I (Mazdam) caused thee to be carried into Greece."

In the same work we are also expressly

Another curious fact is that Indian ideas, when imported into Greek mythology, took precisely the same form of development as the Persian ideas, which were imported into Semitic, or Mohammedan theology-both in fact resulted in a system of mysticism, and in the employment of outward atheism and debauchery, to defend from the uninitiated vulgar the esoteric doctrine of Monothe-bow down and pray before the young ism and Asceticism.

himself, mystically, philosophically, of on the contrary, are eclectic, and are wilcourse; but for the grosser forms of this heresy we must refer to other less known sects, such as Druse and Nuseíríyeh.

In order to understand the position of these various sects it will be necessary to review briefly the progress and changes of religious opinion in the Mohammedan religion since the time of its founder.

The earliest followers of Islam-that is, those who were contemporary with or survived Mohammed — appear to have accepted, without question, the inspired character of the Korán, and to have interpreted in their plain and obvious sense the statements therein contained as to the nature and attributes of God. The hadiths or sayings of Mohammed, handed down orally from generation to generation, although they form so important an element in the religion, and constitute a law hardly second in authority to that of the Korán itself, refer almost exclusively to ceremonial or legal questions; and it does not appear that in those early days the slightest dispute had arisen upon the interpretation of their Scriptures or upon the primary doctrines of the religion.

Very shortly, however, the question of free-will began to be raised, and the doctrine was openly advocated by Maabed ibn Khalid Johní, under the name of cadr, "power."

ling to engraft Arabic ideas on their own system, while they still jealously guard the principles of their national faith. The Persian portion of the early adherents of Islam made common cause with Ali, the disappointed rightful successor of Mohammed. The murder of 'Ali's sons on Persian soil still further cemented the union and the breach once made has widened more and more down to the present day. The Persian party, who attached themselves so exclusively to ‘Ali. supported his claims to the succession with vehement partizanship, and entertained the most exaggerated notions respecting him, even assigning to him a certain participation in the nature and attributes of the Deity. These extravagant theories were propounded even during the life-time of 'Ali, who missed no opportunity of expressing his abhorrence thereof, and severely punished those who held them.

Following closely upon this doctrine came that of Ibn es Sandá Sabaí. He taught that the prophet had delegated the office of Imám, or supreme head of the religion, to 'Ali, who thus inherited the rank and title of successor and vicar of the apostle of God. He also declared that 'Ali had not been really killed, that he had only disappeared, and would return upon earth to redress all wrongs and For this heresy he was put to the tor- to punish sin. 'Ali was explicitly deture, and hanged by order of the Caliph clared to partake of the nature of the Abd el Melik in the year A.D. 699, but his Godhead, and to exercise certain funcdoctrine, nevertheless, obtained a large tions of the deity. It was from this Ibn number of followers. Another sect, call-es Sandá that the Ráfidhíyeh drew their ing themselves Kharijís, also sprung up during the Caliphate of Ali, who made a determined stand against the innovation, but without being able to exterminate it.

The principal tenets of the Kharijís were that "all sin excludes one from the category of the faithful; and that it is lawful to take up arms and contend against the authority of the Imám.”

But the most important schism of the period was that of the Shiahs. The antagonism of the two parties, Sunni and Shiah, was only a revival of the ancient feud between Jew and Gentile, but the rivals were now Arab and Persian, instead of Hebrew and Greek. The Arabs are exclusive, and reject foreign ideas, and we therefore find in Arabia- the stronghold of the Sunni doctrines - the Semitic element of Mohammedanism, founded upon the national axioms which are embodied in the traditions (hadith) of the prophets of Islam. The Persians,

origin; this sect taught that the office of Imám belongs by divine right to certain individuals whose succession is fore-ordained. Another doctrine, namely that of the disappearance of the Imám and of his return after death in the person of his successor, is also derived from the same source. Ibn Sabai contrived to gain over a large number of followers, and spread the germs of the Shiite schism throughout the most important provinces of the Muslim empire. In the century immediately succeeding that of the "Companions of the Prophet," appeared the doctrine of tatil, which, by denying all attributes and actions to God, reduced the Deity to a mere name. The sect, which was founded by a certain Jáhm ibn Sufwan, was strenuously opposed by the Mussulmans, and its author was put to death towards the end of the dynasty of the Ommiade Caliphs.

The next heterodoxy was that of the

Motazeleh, or "Seceders," which took
its rise in the school of the celebrated
Hasin el Basri about the year 100 of the
Mohammedan era.

cially, led to the ready adoption even of so outrageous a creed as that which made a god of one of the maddest and most fickle monsters that the world has ever produced.

Many learned writers have attributed the Druse religion solely to the teaching of the mad Caliph's emissary Darzi.

But unless the paganism with which the creed teems had been already ripe among the people of Syria, they would never have accepted so preposterous a scheme. The fact is that, being hered

were glad of any pretext which enabled them to practise their rites in secret, and they accepted Hakem's monstrous creed as more congenial to their heathen tastes than the stricter Mohammedan profession. The real origin of a sect is not always to be found in its historic beginning; the

They taught that God would not be seen of men visibly in the future life; they denied the examination of the soul in the tomb after death by the angels Munkir and Nakír (which was most hateful to the true believer); they declared that the Korán was not eternal, but created, and that it had an origin and a beginning. A protest against this system might naturally be expected, and accord-itary pagans, that is to say, Sabeans, they ingly we find anthropomorphism directly taught and openly professed about the middle of the third century of the Hejrah. The exponent of this system was one Ibn Keram, from whom the sect took the name of Keramí. He made the pilgrimage to Mecca, whence he came into Syria, and, dying there in A.H. 256, was buried in Je-nation is ripe for revolution, and the man rusalem. In that country alone he is said to have had more than 20,000 followers. The Keramís and Motazelehs were bitterly opposed to each other and had at different epochs many disputes and wars. In A.H. 264 appeared the sect of Karmatheans, whose lawless and fanatical bands devastated Arabia, and even obtained possession of the Holy City of Mecca itself.

The introduction of Greek literature and philosophy by the Caliph Mamún did much to foster and encourage these heresies.

appears; the doctrines are implanted already in people's hearts, and the forms are ready to hand in the national legendary lore.

The Druses profess to recognize but one God, exalted above all attributes, incomprehensible by sense and indefinable by language. They believe that He has manifested himself at various epochs under a human form, and that the last of these avatars was the Caliph Hakem, who disappeared miraculously in the year 411 A.H. (A.D. 1021), and who will once again return clothed in majesty, to establish his In the meantime the Shiah doctrines kingdom upon earth. They believe, were making great strides in Islam, and, moreover, that the universal intelligence on the accession of the family of Bowai-is the first of God's creatures, and the yeh to the Caliphate of Baghdad, were publicly adopted by the princes of that house, A.H. 334-437.

They hold that all souls are created by

agent and medium of his creative power; this intelligence was incarnate in the person of Hamza, Darzi's teacher and coadThe Fatemite Caliphs having estab-jutor in the work of proselytism. lished their authority in Africa, openly professed the doctrines of the Ismailis, the Universal Intelligence, that their as the Karmatheans were now called, and sent days, or missionaries, to spread their tenets in Egypt, where they were very favourably received. When, in A.H. 358, they had made themselves masters of that country and extended their conquests into Syria, the numerous heretical sects before mentioned began fearlessly to hold up their heads in Islam, and no doctrine was too extravagant or too impious to find believers and adherents.

number is always the same, and that they pass successively into different human bodies. They are accused of worshipping a small idol in the form of a calf, but this figure is really the symbol of the evil principle, the rival and enemy of Hakem, the calf 'Ejel being opposed by a sort of mystic form to the intelligence 'Akl, to which we have just referred.*

The exact correspondence of these tenets with the Mahabádian creed will be obvious to the most superficial reader of the foregoing pages.

Another system which has preserved

Such is the account which Macrízi, the historian and geographer of Egypt, gives of the state of religious opinion in the East, up to the time immediately preceding the reign of El Hakem. But there were other causes, which, in Syria espe- Bentley: London, 1871.

See Besant and Palmer's 66 Jerusalem," p. 106.

Under the name of Sufiism we include the numerous orders of dervishes which of cosmogony: are found throughout the Mohammedan

GOD.

The Primal Intelligence.

First Principles.
η ύλη.

The Primal Intelligence has two func- that of conveying to the world. These tions, that of receiving from God, and two functions are supposed to be typified