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duplicates of parts of the Paris MSS. Two of the Bodleian MSS, are supplementary, and contain matter not found in the writings of Hamza. From a careful study of these sources. Sylvestre de Sacy (Exposé de la religion des Druzes, 2 vols.. Paris, 1838) systematized the Druse theology. It is principally drawn from the Batenian and Ismaelite heresies, which arose within the Shiite division of Islam, in the 3d century of the Hegira, and were brought to Egypt by the invasion of the Fatimite caliphs. Traces of Gnosticism and of the Magian system of Persia are also found in the Druse writings. The characteristic dogma of the sect is the unity of God. His attributes are created and subordinate beings. He is incomprehensible, supreme, invisible, pure, the essence of true life. He can be known to his accepted children only through human manifestations. The ten Druse forms under which God has ap-appeared are Ali, in India; Albar, in Persia; Alya, in Yemen; Moil and Kaim, in eastern Africa; Moes and Hadi, in Asia; Albu Zachariah. Mansour, and finally Hakem, in Egypt. The names are sometimes varied, but all the authorities hold that Hakem was the tenth and last earthly manifestation of God, and that no other is to be expected. He left the care of the faithful to five principal ministers, who are to direct them till the return of their divine lord. The chief of these is Hamza. His spiritual title is the "Universal Intelligence." This Intelligence, the first born of Deity, was incarnated in the person of Hamza, at the same time that Deity himself was incarnated in the person of Hakem. To him was committed the task of creation. From him comes all wisdom, all truth. He is the medium by which the Lord communicates with the lower ministers, and through them with the human family. He dispenses power, and adjusts duties in the world; and he in the last day shall be the judge and the avenger. Boha ed-Din calls him Messiah. Next to Hamza is Ismail, the "Universal Soul." His origin was the rebellion of the " Rival," which made it necessary that the Intelligence should have a supporter in the world. His office is to inspire and sanctify souls. Next to Ismail is Mohammed, the "Word," born of the union of Intelligence with Soul. He has charge of Unitarian missions, and is the spiritual cadi, the chief bishop of the sect. The functions of the fourth minister. Selama, the "Preceding," seem to have been much the same with those of the fifth minister. Moktana Boha ed-Din, the "Following;" for Selama is called the "right wing," Boha ed-Din the "left wing." Both these ministers were called three years after Hakem's disappearance. They were probably intrusted with the charge of all knowledge and teaching except that of the Unitarian religion, which must come from the higher ministers. Boha ed-Din had the special duty of organizing the Unitarian sect; he knew the retreat of Hamza, consulted with him, and from time to time produced his commands and directions. Below these five superior ministers are three styled the "Application" the "Opening," and the "Phantom;" these ministers have each his earthly figure; they are the three feet of the candlestick which holds the candle of five elements. Beneath these are three still lower classes, called Dars. Madhums, and Mokassers, who hold their dignity only by virtue of their character and abilities; they have commission to destroy false doctrine and to communicate the truth. The Druses hold that the most precious of substances were used for the composition of man's body, and that the world at the beginning had its perfect form. Men were made male and female, young and old, in a fixed number, and no more souls have since been created. The minister of sin, the Rival, stands between the Intelligence and the Soul, and his work of temptation is hindered by the counter work of both these celestial powers. The Druse reproduction of the story of paradise makes Enoch and Seth to be the rebellious pair whose sin entailed woe upon the race. Sin broke the unity of mankind, which the Druse religion aims to restore. The mediator is Hamza. The change which he works is not in the mind of God, but in the condition and spirit of men. He baffles Satan and remits sin, but does not strictly make an atonement. Transmigration of souls is maintained, but not through the bodies of the lower animals, as in the Indian and Pythagorean systems. In passing from body to body, good men become continually better, bad men continually worse, though it is possible for them to change and become better. Ismail Temeami, the Soul, was formerly John the Baptist, and still earlier Elijah, while the soul of Hamza was once in the body of Jesus. The souls of men until the resurrection keep the embodied form, except a few whose superior excellence permits them to exist as pure spirit. At the resurrection the bodies of the faithful will be absorbed into God's own being, and transformed into spirit; all else will be destroyed. Moral teaching is summed up in seven commandments: 1, "truth in words," meaning in practice only truth to the religion and to the initiated; it is lawful to act and to speak falsehood to men of another creed, and in defence of the Unitarian faith; 2, mutual help, watchfulness, and protection; 3, to renounce all other religions; 4, to be separate from infidels of every kind, not externally, but only in heart; 5, 6, and 7, the believer must "recognize God's eternal unity," be "satisfied with God's acts," and "be resigned to God's will." Under these seven commandments numerous minor moral precepts are given, and special crimes are prohibited. Chastity, honesty, meekness, and mercy are Druse virtues; murder, theft, covetousness, cruelty, are sins. It is the opinion of intelligent writers, who have lived with them, that the average morality of the Druses is as high