Comparing the initiatory undertaking or covenant of the Druses, as
represented by Col. Churchill in his very important disclosures (_Lebanon_,
ii. 244.), with the original Arabic, and the German translation of Eichhorn
(_Repertorium fuer Bibl. und Morgenland_, lib. xii. 222.), I find that the
following additions made by Col. Churchill (or De Sacy, whom he follows)
are not in the Arabic, but appear to be glosses or amplifications. For
example:
"I put my trust and confidence in our Lord Hakem, the One, the Eternal,
without attribute and without number."
"That in serving Him he will serve no other, whether past, present, or
to come."
"To the observance of which he sacredly binds himself by the present
contract and engagement, should he ever reveal the least portion of it
to others."
"The most High, King of Kings, [the creator] of the heaven and the
earth."
"Mighty and irresistible [force]."
Col. Churchill, although furnishing the amplest account which has yet
appeared of the Druse religion, secretly held under the colour of
Mahometanism, has referred very sparingly to the catechisms of this sect,
which, being for the especial instruction of the two degrees of
monotheists, constitute the most authentic source of accurate knowledge of
their faith and practices, and which are to be found in the original
Arabic, with a German translation in Eichhorn's _Repertorium_ (xii. 155.
202.). In the same work (xiv. 1., xvii. 27.), Bruns (Kennicott's colleague)
has furnished from Abulfaragius a biography of the Hakem; and Adler (xv.
265.) has extracted, from various oriental sources, historical notices of
the founder of the Druses.
The subject is peculiarly interesting at the present juncture, as it is
probable that the Chinese religious movement, partaking of a peculiar kind
of Christianity, may have originated amongst the Druses, who appear from
Col. Churchill to have been in expectation of some such movement in India
or China in connexion with a re-appearance of the Hakem.