Zabians

ZABIANS.¹ The Zabians are said to be ancient Chaldeans, addicted to Astrology, and to the Worship of the Stars; and that their chief Employment was to form Talismans under certain Aspects of the Planets. ‘Tis doubted whether the Zabians were a particular People, or a Sect of Philosophers, or if their Name stands for their Religion, their Country, or Situation. On this Matter there are five or six different Opinions.² Some think the Name Zabians comes from Zaba, or rather Saba, the Son of Cush; or from Zabah, an Army, because they worshipped the Host of Heaven; or from the Arabick Word Tzabin, which signifies the East-wind, because these People were Chaldeans, and known by the Name of Orientals. Spencer,³ who has much examined into this Matter, believes the best Etymology is that of Scaliger,⁴ who thinks, that Zabiim signifies Orientals, or Chaldeans; but he thinks this Name ought not to be confined to the Chaldeans only, but to be extended to all other People that have followed their Principles; as the Egyptians, the Nabatheans, the Canaanites, the Syrians, and others. So that the Name of Zabian would stand for a sort of Sect that was spread far and wide through all the Eastern Countries.

But what was the Religion and Philosophy of the Zabians? Some think it to have been the most ancient Religion of the World. There are those that place the Original of it under Seth the Son of Adam; others under Noah; others⁵ under Nabor, the Father of Terah, and Grandfather of Abraham. Maimonides⁶ thinks, that Abraham followed the Religion and Principles of the Zabians, before he came out of Chaldea. One of the chief Articles of this Religion was, the Worship of the Stars, and a kind of Ma gick; which makes Spencer say, that they were Pagans, and that their Religion, so much of it as was known to the Jewish and Arabian Authors that mention it, was only a Corruption of Judaism, and that it borrow’d many things from the antient Chaldeans, the Jews, Platonists, and Gnosticks: That they have made a Mixture of all these to compose their Religion. He adds, that the Name of Zabians, and even their Religion itself, as it is now profess’d, is very modern, and does not go beyond the Time of Mahomet; since neither their Name nor Religion is to be found in any antient Author, either Greek or Latin, nor in any Work that was written before the Alcoran.

Mr. Hyde, in his Account of the Religion of the Persians, has endeavour’d to prove, that the antient Zabians were no Gentiles. He pretends that Shem and Elam are the first Authors of their Religion; that if afterwards it became burthen’d with any Superstitions, Abraham reform’d it, and supported its Reformation against Nimrod, who persecuted it: That Zoroaster came afterwards, and re-establish’d the Worship of the true God, which Abraham had taught before. True it is, that the antient Persians or Zabians maintain’d a continual Fire upon their Altars, and in their Temples; but the same thing might be seen at Jerusalem upon the Altar of the Temple, where the Priests took care to keep up a Fire that never went out. They seem’d to worship the Sun; but it is pretended that this is only a secondary Worship, and subordinate to the Worship of the true God. The Remains of the antient Persians, which are still in the East, constantly affirm to those that enquire of them, that the Respect they pay to the Sun is only a Respect of Civility, such as is paid to Kings and their Officers of State.

It is pretended that the Religion of the Zabians is the most antient of all the Religions in the World, after that of Adam and the Patriarchs, which only was the true one. The Unity of God, and the Necessity of a Mediator, was an original Persuasion, and went through the whole Race of Mankind⁷. The Unity of the Godhead is discoverable by the mere Light of Nature; the Need we have of a Mediator to obtain Access to the supreme Being, is a Consequence of that first Notion. But Men having had no Knowledge of him, or having forgot what had been reveal’d to Adam of the Qualities of the Mediator, they had recourse to Mediators of their own chusing, by means of whom they might address themselves to the supreme God. And this was the first Step towards Idolatry. Then observing nothing in all Nature of greater Perfection than the Stars, in which they imagin’d that certain Intelligences resided, which animated and govern’d those vast Bodies; they thought that none could be fitter for the Office of Mediatorship between God and themselves. And because the Planets, of all the celestial Bodies, were nearest to the Earth, and seem’d to have the greatest Influence over it, they ascribed to them the chief Place among these Mediators, and upon that account made them the Objects of their Worship.

Such was the Origin of all the Idolatry that has prevail’d in the World. First they set up Tents or Chapels to these Powers, and then they represented them by Statues and Images. These Images at first were only look’d upon as sacred Habitations, wherein the Intelligences resided: and those that worshipp’d them only paid them a relative Adoration, with respect to the Planet to which it belong’d. Afterwards they proceeded to make Statues, in which they imagin’d that after their Consecration these Intelligences were as much present by their Influence, as in the Planets themselves, and that the Prayers that were addressed to ‘em were as effectual as if address’d to the others. And this was the Original of the Worship of Statues or Images.

They were invested with the Names of the Planets they represented, which are the same as they still obtain. Thus we find Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Mercury, Venus and Diana, plac’d in the first Order in the Worship of the Antients. These were what they call’d the great Gods. Afterwards an Opinion prevail’d in the Minds of Men, that the Souls of good Men, after their Separation from the Body, might serve as Mediators and Intercessors between God and Man; whence they deify’d many of those whom they thought to have been just and good Men, and worthy of this Honour; by which the Number of Deities increased in the World.

This Religion took its Rise among the Chaldeans: The Knowledge they had acquir’d in Astronomy contributed to incline them to it. This it was that obliged Abraham to abandon Chaldea. From Chaldea this Worship spread through the whole East, from thence into Egypt, from Egypt into Greece, and thence among all the Nations of the West. The first Authors of this Superstition were known in the East by the Name of Zabians, or Sabbeans⁸. The Remains of this antient Sect are still subsisting in the East by the Name of Sabbeans, which they pretend to have receiv’d from Sabius the Son of Seth. They have still among them a Book which they ascribe to Seth, which contains the Doctrine of their Sect.

To this Sect of the Sabbeans was diametrically oppos’d that of the Magi, who had Images and Idols in Abhorrence, and worshipp’d God only by Fire. They had their Beginning in Persia, and spread as far as the Indies, where they are still in Being. They acknowledge two Principles, one of Good, the other of Evil. The Reader may see what we have said under the Article MAGI.

To return to the Zabians; As the whole System we have now proposed concerning their Original and Progress, is founded neither upon Matter of Fact, nor upon any Accounts left by antient Historians, nor upon the Credit of any authentick Monuments; we think ourselves obliged to acquaint the Reader, that all this is but an Hypothesis, which is probable indeed, but of small Assurance. We shall now mention something that may be more depended upon, as being extracted from Oriental Authors, who have inform’d us what this Sect of the Zabians is, and what were their Opinions.

The Zabians, or Sabbeans, are not the Name of a particular Nation c, but of a Religion known in the East, and of those that make Profession of it. It is not very certain in what the Religion of the Zabians principally consists. The Orientals themselves are not very consistent upon this Subject. But it is very sure, that this Religion is one of the Three, to which Mahomet gave his Protection, and a kind of Approbation in his Alcoran. These three Religions are, Judaism, Christianity, and Zabeism; because they either have, or pretended to have, Books composed by those Patriarchs and Prophets, which are acknowledged by Mahomet and the Mussulmen.

According to Houssain Vaez, in his Persian Paraphrase upon the Alcoran, the Zabians have several Observances which they derive from Judaism, Christianity, and Mahometanism. They honour Angels with a religious Worship: They read the Psalms of David: They pray turning towards the South, and sometimes towards the North. Some think they have the same Principles as the Sadducees.

They have also a Book, says M. d’Herbelot⁹, which they ascribe to Adam, and which they look upon as their Bible; the Characters of which are very particular, but the Language is almost entirely Chaldean. They have a great Veneration for a D’Herbelot. Biblioth. Orient. p. 755. Sabi. John the Baptist, whose Disciples they profess to be. They use a kind of Baptism, which has made our Travellers give them the Name of Christians of St. John. See what we have said upon this Article. Their Language is almost all Syrian or Chaldee.

Ben-Schunab, a Persian Author, tells us something more particular of the Zabians, whom he calls Sirians, or Syrians: According to him they are descended from the most ancient Nation of the World, and use even to this Day, at least in their Books, the Language of Adam and his Children; that they have received their Religion and their Law from Seth and Enoch, whose Books they pretend to have at this Day, which are full of moral Instructions, recommending an Abhorrence of Vice, and the Practice of Virtue. They pray to God seven times a day, with so intense an Application, that they mix no other Action with it. They fast for the whole Course of a Moon, from Sun-rising to Sun-set, without either eating or drinking. This Fast always concludes at the Summer Equinox.

They honour the Temple of Mecca, and have also a great Respect for the Pyramids of Egypt; for they think that Sabi Son of Edon, or Enoch, is buried under the third of them. But their chief Pilgrimage is made to a Place near Haram, which is the antient Charræ in Mesopotamia, which some think to be the Place of Abraham’s Birth; and is certainly the Place from whence he departed, when he took all his Family into the Land of Canaan. Some will have it, that the Zabians have a particular Respect for this Place, because of Sabi the Son of Mari, who lived in Abraham’s Time, and from whom they derive their Original with more Probability, and perhaps their Religion, than from Sabi the Son of Enoch, who lived before the Deluge.

Ben-hazem says, that the Religion of the Zabians is not only the first and the most antient, but also the most general, and the only Religion of the World till the Time of Abraham, from whom the other Religions are descended. And in all their Histories the Arabians commonly say, that the antient Persians, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Grecians, Egyptians and Indians, were all Zabians before they embraced Judaism, Christianity, or Mahometanism; and the Oriental Christians make no Difficulty to affirm, that Constantine the Great quitted the Religion of the Zabians to take up that of the Christians.

Some confound the Zabians with the Magians, or Guebres, or Gaures, the Worshippers of Fire in Persia; but those that are more correct take care to distinguish them.

We do not find the Name of Zabians any where in Scripture; and the Reason that we mention them here is, because the Rabbins and Commentators have often spoke of them, pretending that Moses had them in view in several of his ceremonial Laws, either to contradict them, or to rectify the Customs and Ceremonies of the Zabians. See Spencer in his second Book de Legibus Hebræorum Ritualibus.

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