Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1842-07-14

The father OF the system Is admlIteQ
by all to have been Mahammed ben
Islnael, and the name is traced to a
Persian root, and is " Free y In con-
fnnation of this, it is stated that they
were recognised as Free people by
the Caliphs Of Persia.
In speaking of this people, we find
that writers almost universally denom-
mate them idolators. The nature OF
that idolatry has been, however, pre-
served in profound secrecy, and it is
the investigation Of this fact, and OF
the mysteries of their worship, which
chiefly occupies the writers from whom
we quote.
The worship Of one God was not
confined among the ancient nations Of
the Jews. They alone worshipped him
in purity and truth. Still there were
others whose minds disdained reyer-
ence to stocks and stones Of thair own
creation. Of these the ancient Jews
were pre-ern4nent. The writings of
Zoroaster, believed in Arabic tradition
to have been Abraham himself, ipculca-
ted the unity of the Godhead. The
perfect purity, however, of belief
entirely spiritual, was too much for the
mind of man unaided by revelation,
we fad them wandering into the deep
est rccesses of mysticism. The phan-
tastes of their priests, eherishing the
vain irnaginations of the. heart in their
dreamy solitudes, carried them away
from a pure simple faith, and landed
them IN the regions Of scepticism.-
"Receiving deity as the cause and per-
rading principle of all,' they, the
priests, "began to. make him as the
of existence, not its Lore"
The usual consequence followed,
when religion became name only,
and the pollutions of idolatry abounded
in their worst forms. The heresy Of
the founders of the Druses thus found,
in the 9th century of the Heglra, peo-
pie prepared for the doctrines it ipcul-
Gated. The practices attributed to this
people are of the most licentlous char
acter, and the secret worship is that of
calf or bull worship. This particular
form of idolatry has existed in parts OF
the east for several thousand years.
It was that to which the Jews most fire.
quently lapsed. The secret mysteries
of their religion are not universally
known among the Druses, who live in
state of careless indifference. 1t is
to the 'einitiated'' only, as they are
termed, that they veil of the mysteries
is lifted, and the true nature of their
belief is revealed. 1t is asserted that
the RIGHTEOUSNESS which is the COM
mon heritage of the people, is not prac-
tised by the initiated, but as the age
for initiation is As for men and 30 for
women, their abstinence from it may
be in part attributed to this fact.
The limits of a newspaper article
forbid any but brief review. Their
creed has been brought to light, and is
in some particulars grossly. revolving.
Whilst in public they pay alteration to
Mohammed, "because his dominion is
of the sword" in private they revlle
him with bitter execrations. They re-
gard our Saviour as one Of the great
prophets, and consider the four Cos
pels as true, calling their authors the
esfour ministers. Christ himself is
denominated.by them always as 'the
Son of Man" They affirm the Caliph
Taken, or as he is more usually demo
minated, Solomon-el-Farsi, to be the
true Messiah. Cannibalism Of the most
abandoned kind, even of their own
children, is permitted in their creed,
and they say in reference to it. 7'that
care must be used that none tnoac OF
the fact except of their own flesh and
blood ~
Those who wish for further &C
count of thus restless tribe, whose tur-
bulence led them to deluge the noun
tains of Lebanon with the blood OF
their less powerful Christian nelghbors,
we would refer to the article IN question.
One thing is striking, that the worship
of the dog, for the calf, as it is called,
of the Druses, is Of the size and ap-
pearance of the dog which IS noted a. a,
mong some of our Indian tnoes, still
prevails at the present day in the noun
tains of Syria. It was, as we have
before stated, the symbol of idolatry te
which the Jews most frequently turned.
and we suggest it to those curious II
the hidden origin of our Indian tribes
as at least striking coincidence.
-e2e-
From the New Monthly Magazine,
RELIGION A SOLAGE FOR
THE POOR.
Valuable as religion IS in its tempo
raj effects to all classes OF society, there