people of the South sea islands cannot pronounce it at all, and say, for instance, instead of Ellis, Elliki. The sounds of the letters s, r, t, sh and th (which, in fact, represents but a simple sound, though written with two characters in English, whilst the Spaniards have one, the z), are all produced by a very similar motion of the organs; and hence the frequent change of the s into the other letters. (See the articles R and T.) The sound th is the transition between 8 and t; hence the third person singular of the present tense, ending, in German, in t, ended formerly, in English, in th, and now in s; e. g. has, hath (Germ. hat); brings, bringeth (Germ. bringet). S is so nearly akin to r, that Valerii, Furii, ara, carmen, lares, and numerous other words, were originally written Valesii, Fusi, asa, casmen, lases. The Swedish and English hare is in German Hase. S often alternates with the sound sh (written in German sch); and some German tribes, particularly the Suabians, change the s regularly into sch, when it precedes another consonant: thus they say bischt and hascht (pronounced bisht and hasht) for bist and hast; and even in High German, s, at the beginning of a word, followed by another consonant, is generally pronounced sh; this, in fact, was long considered by many correct; but at present, we think, the weight of opinion is in favor of the simpler sound of s. It is a peculiarity of 8, that it may be sounded before all the simple consonants a circumstance which makes it so formidable a letter to lexieographers and encyclopædists. S signified seven, according to the verse:

S vera septenos numeratos significabit.

Among the Greeks, ó signified 200, and denoted 200,000; the sigma joined to the tau, i. e. 5, denoted 6. The samech of the Hebrew, D, denoted 50, and with two points above, o, it signified 50,000. Sis the common abbreviation for societas and socius (fellow). S. S. stands for sanctissimus; S. D. for salutem dixit; S. P. D. for salutem plurimam dixit; S. P. Q. R. for the famous senatus populusque Romanus. S., in geography, stands for south; in music, for solo (alone), as T. for tutti (all). On French coins, S signifies Rheims. (See Abbreviations.)

SAADI. (See Sadi.)

SAALE; the name of several German rivers, the most important of which is that which rises in the Fichtelgebirge in Bavaria, and falls into the Elbe south of Barby. stant repetition of this sound produces a very bad effect in English vocal music.

Several considerable places are situated on it, as Jena, Naumburg, Merseburg, Halle, &c. It is navigable to Halle, and it is intended to make it so to Naumburg.

SAAR LOUIS (in the time of the French revolution called Sarrelibre); the Prussian fortress nearest France, on the river Sarre, belonging to the government of Treves. Including the garrison, it has 7000 inhabitants. Vauban fortified the town for Louis XIV. In 1814, it was ceded to Prussia. Lon. 6° 50′ E.; lat. 49° 20 N.

SABEANS; the ancient name of the inhabitants of the modern Yemen, in Arabia. Their capital was Saba.

SABEANS. (See Sabians.)

SABAISM (from the Hebrew Zaba, lord, from which God is called Zebaoth, Lord of the heavenly hosts, because the stars or powers of heaven are called the hosts of God); that religion which worships the heavenly bodies, especially the sun and moon. The connexion of these with the constant changes in nature, and with the condition of men, produced the idea of their divinity; and the actual or symbolical connexion of the heavenly bodies and certain animals and plants, as well as the powers of nature, which are active in them, invested the latter also with a divine character, and made them objects of worship to the adherents of Sabaism. The sexual relations of living creatures gave rise to the fundamental idea of generation, conception and production, which predominates in the Indian mythology, and became united with the doctrines of Sabaism; and thus the latter received that character which we find it to have Egypt, Arabia, and particularly the region in the mythology of Western Asia. bounded east by the Euphrates and Tigris, west by the Mediterranean, and north by the Black sea, were the countries where Sabaism prevailed in times Hebrews often showed an inclination toprevious to Christianity; and even the wards it. The religious history of the Chaldæans, Assyrians, Syrians, and tribes of Asia Minor, as given in Wagner's Contributions towards a general Mythology of the ancient World, in Görres's History of Mythuses, in Creuzer's Symbolik, and in Baur's Symbolik, shows the justice of the reproaches which the prophets of the Old Testament heap on the sensual worship of these heathens.

SABBATARIANS; those Christians who keep the seventh day as others do Sunday; chiefly found among Baptists. They hold that the sabbath was establish

ed by divine authority, and changed from the seventh day to the first day of the week by human authority only. (See Sabbath.)

SABBATH (a Hebrew word signifying rest) is the day appointed by the Mosaic law for a total cessation from labor, and for the service of God, in memory of the circumstance that God, having created the world in six days, rested on the seventh. Concerning the time when the Sabbath was first instituted, some Jewish writers and some fathers of the church have believed, from the language of Genesis, chap. ii. v. 2 (where it is said that God blessed and sanctified the day), that it was established from the moment of creation; but, as there is no proof, in the Old Testament, that this day was observed by the patriarchs before Moses, others have supposed that the words in Genesis mean that God intended to have the Sabbath celebrated in future; but some modern writers, particularly English and American divines, adhere to the first opinion. (For the manner in which the Jews kept it, and the awful consequences of neglecting it, we refer the reader to the Old Testament, Lev. xxvi. 34, 35; Neh. xiii. 16–18; Jer. xvii. 21; Ezek. xx. 16, 17; Numb. xv. 23-36.) A law so strictly enjoined, and whose observance is of so public a character, was naturally kept by the Pharisees with the utmost strictness, in its outward forms, so that they reproached the Founder of Christianity, who taught that religion had its seat in the heart, and that God must be worshipped in spirit, with breaking the Sabbath when he healed the sick on that day. His rebuke of their hypocrisy is contained in John v. 16, and Matthew xii. 1 et seq. Sabbath also signifies, in the Bibles the eternal rest of God; also holy days in general. It likewise came to signity a week. The explicit injunction of the celebration of the Sabbath, the enumeration of it even in the decalogue (Exodus xx. 8), had a great influence upon Christian observances; and there are many Christians to this day, especially in England and North America, who transfer all the injunctions contained in the Old Testament respecting the observance of the Sabbath, to the first day of the week, and even give this the name of Sabbath. The use of the term Sabbath, in this application, we believe, is confined to these two countries. In the earliest times of Christianity, the law of the Sabbath, like other parts the Jewish faith, could not be received the new religion, except spiritualized efined like the sacrifices and other

ceremonies. Every day, the whole life of the Christian, had become a Sabbath, destined for the service of God. St. Paul explicitly treats the reverencing of certain days as invested with a holy character by a divine ordinance, as Jewish and unchristian, and as a return to servitude of the law. The first communities assembled every day; e. g. the community of Jerusalem for common prayer, meditation on the Word, communion and love-feasts. Traces of these daily meetings are found even later. With the spread of Christianity, however, and the neces sity of instructing a greater number, the appointment of a certain time for this service became necessary. This was not a departure from the spirituality of the new religion, but only an accommodation to the wants of mankind. In the same way, peculiar persons became priests, though all Christians had an equal sanetity of character, and the departure from the spirit of Christianity consisted only in assuming a peculiar spiritual character for the priests. The gradual adoption of forms and ideas from the Old Tes tament took place in the same way, in respect to the Sabbath, as in respect to the priesthood. When the Montanists intended to establish new fasts, assigned to fixed times, they were reminded of the Epistle to the Galatians; but Tertullian treated the censure of St. Paul as attaching only to the celebration of Jewish festivals. (Tertullian, De Jejuniis, c. 14.) The weekly and yearly festivals of the Christians originated from the idea of following Christ, the crucified and the arisen; hence the festival of the resurrection, and the fasts preparatory thereto. In each week, the joyous festival was on Sunday, and the preparation for it was on Wednes day and Friday, the days of the Savior's passion. This point of view is necessary for a right understanding of the early fes tivals. The desire of distinguishing the Christian from the Jewish observance, early gave rise to the celebration of Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of the Jewish Sabbath; the first trace of which is found in Acts xx. 7. This, however, is by no means conclusive, because the community, collected on the first day of the week, might easily have been assembled by the near departure of St. Paul; and still less can be proved from 1 Corinth. xvi. 2. Another trace is in the Apocalypse, i. 10, as here we cannot suppose that by Lord's day is meant day of judgment. In the letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians (chap. ix.), allusion is made to the

Sunday celebration, as the symbol of a new life, consecrated to the Lord, in contradistinction to the former Sabbath. Sunday was distinguished as a day of joy, so that none fasted on it; people prayed standing, and not kneeling, in allusion to Christ having raised fallen man. Neander (q. v.), a most learned and faithful inquirer into ecclesiastical history, observes, that "the celebration of Sunday was always, like that of every festival, a human institution; far was it from the apostles to treat it as a divine command; far from them and from the first apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday. But perhaps as early as the end of the second century, a mistaken application of this kind had grown up, because, even then, the working on Sunday seems to have been considered sinful (as we may conclude from the words of Tertullian, De Orat., chap. xxiii†). Wednesday and Friday, the latter particularly, were sacred to the memory of the Savior's passion. Jewish-Christian communities, however, retained the celebration of the Sabbath, though they adopted also that of Sunday, and thus it became customary, in the Oriental church, to distinguish this day, also, by not fasting, and by praying in a standing posture: on the other hand, in the Westera, and particularly in the Roman church, in which the opposition to Judaism prevailed, the custom grew up of using the Sabbath particularly as a fast-day. (Tertullian, De Jej, chap. 14.) And when, at a later period, the causes of this fasting on Saturday were lost, legends were invented to explain it, such as that Peter had fasted on this day to prepare himself for the disputation with Simon Magus. Tertullian speaks of this difference between the Oriental and Western churches with much moderation. The learned Hippolytus wrote, at the beginning of the third century, on this point of dispute." (Hieronymus, Ep. 72, ad Vital.) Constantine the Great made a law for the whole empire (321 A. D.), that Sunday should be kept as a day of rest in all cities and towns; but he allowed the country people to follow their work on that day. In the year 538 (A. D.), however, the council of Orleans prohibited country labor; but because there were still many Jews in Gaul, and the people fell into many supersti*General History of the Christian Religion and Church (Hamb., 1826, vol. i, part 1, p. 514).

Solo die dominico resurrectionis non ab isto tantam (the genuflexion), sed omni anxietatis habet officio cavere debemus, differentes etiam segotia, ne quem diabolo locum demus. VOL. XI. 14

tious uses in the celebration of the new Sabbath, in imitation of the practices of the Jews, the council declares that to hold it unlawful to travel with horses, cattle and carriages, to prepare food, or to do any thing necessary to the cleanliness and decency of houses or persons, savors more of Judaism than of Christianity.‡ The reformation, abolishing so many of the festivals, which had increased in the Roman church to an immense number, naturally elevated the character of those which it left, as Easter, Christmas, &c., and Sunday; but Sunday, though considered by the Lutherans as a proper day for religious service, was never regarded by them with that awe which was connected with its observance in the Old Testament. It is with them a day of rest and enjoyment, and many amusements are taken by Protestants on the European continent, during that day, which people there would think improper on week days appropriated for labor. Calvinism, which is altogether of a sterner character than Lutheranism, may have induced its adherents to observe Sunday more strictly; but even at Geneva, the Sunday evening is spent in various amusements, in visiting, dancing, playing foot-ball, &c., and the labors of husbandry are permitted in harvest on Sundays. The custom of calling Sunday Sabbath indicates the inclination to transfer the character of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday. In fact, the Puritans, from whom it has descended, showed, in many respects, a decided inclination to the sternness of the Old Testament. (See also Sabbatarians.) The Puritans rejected, by degrees, the feasts of the church, as heathenish or popish; and the Sunday alone was retained, either because they considered it as, originally, of divine institution, or because, being conscious of the disadvantage of abolishing all festival days, they felt the want of a divine injunction for the one which

In the fourth volume of Blackstone's Com

mentaries, p. 63, the commentator says that the profanation of the Lord's day is vulgarly, but improperly, called Sabbath-breaking, and is punished by the municipal law, by a fine of three shillings and four pence; and that, by the laws of England, no fair or market is allowed to be held on any Sunday, except the four Sundays in harvest, on law, however, does not prohibit (the commentator pain of forfeiting the goods exposed for sale. The adds), but rather allows, any innocent recreation or amusement on the Lord's day, after service is over. But it prohibits work on that day, or exposure of goods for sale, except mackerel, milk, meat, &c., under the penalty of five shillings. He considers Sunday as a civil institution, to be regulated by the municipal law,

they kept. The Puritan austerity_had manifested itself even in the reign of Elizabeth and Edward VI. Under both, the following injunctions were published:"All parsons, vicars and curates shall teach and declare unto the people, that they may, with a safe and quiet conscience, after their common prayer, in time of harvest, labor upon the holy and festival days, and save that thing which God hath sent; and if, for any scrupulosity or grudge of conscience, they abstain from working upon those days, that then they shall grievously offend and displease God." But no where was Sunday kept with more rigidness and perfect abstinence from labor (prohibited even by many severe laws) than by the Puritan settlers of New England. The petitions lately presented to congress to prevent the transportation of the mail on Sundays emanate from the same spirit, and were considered by many as hostile to the principles of constitutional freedom, congress having no right to legislate on religious matters. See Sunday Mails (Philad., 1830).-Laws still exist in several of the U. States for enforcing the strict observance of Sunday. So much did the Puritans consider the Christian Sunday as a Jewish Sabbath, that a controversy has existed as to the time when the Christian Sabbath begins, many clergymen maintaining that it begins at sunset on Saturday; and some communities have acted on this view in their mode of observing it. Whilst in America and England, many believe it of the utmost Importance, for the interests of piety and morality, that Sunday should be kept with great strictness, the opinion of the majority on the continent of Europe, may be said to be, that people whose weeks are spent in labor, should have some means of relaxation on the Sunday. The total denial of such means they consider injurious to morality, as promoting a hypocritical concealment of amusements, which, from this very cause, are apt to become immoral ones.

MABELLIANS. (See Sabellius.) HABELLIUS, a Christian teacher at Ptolemais, a native of Africa, lived about 250, and is known as the founder of a sect, who considered the Son and Holy Ghost only as different revelations or manifestations of the Godhead, but not as separate personis, The Trinity, according to them, is but a threefold relation of God to the world. The Logos of John, called, by the church, the Son, was compared by Sabellius to a ray Led from the sun, active in and through in Jesus Christ, but by no means

a separate existence from the one God. The Sabellians were suppressed in the fourth century by the orthodox church, but their views have always found adherents, and, even now, theologians exhibit conceptions of the Trinity, coinciding with that of Sabellius, in order to make it intelligible by reason.

SABIANS, or CHRISTIANS OF ST. JOHN (likewise called Nazoræans and Mendaans); a sect which, according to tradition, has existed from the time of John the Baptist. The members at present are found chiefly in Persia, and consider their original country to have been on the Jordan, whence, they say, they were driven by the Mohammedans before the destruction of Jerusalem, and, being persecuted by the first caliphs, their temples destroyed, and their sacred books burnt, they fled to their present residence, and some also to India. Having been again persecuted, they submitted to the Nestorian bishop in Chaldæa, and allowed themselves to be called Christians, but have been separated from them for more than three hundred years. The question, whether they are really of Galilæan origin, and are derived from the disciples of John the Baptist, or whether they formed their doctrines from a mixture of the Jewish, Christian, and Persian religions, and, having chosen John as an object of meditation and reverence, afterwards supposed him to have been their founder, is difficult to decide. Tychsen has declared for the latter opinion; yet the argument seems stronger in favor of the former. In the middle of the seventeenth century, according to Ignatius a Jesu (Narratio Originis, &c., Christianorum &. Joh., Rome, 1652), there were from twenty to twenty-five thousand families of them. Five religious books of these people are known to us: 1. The Divan, of which we have only the extracts given by Ignatius. This book is said to have been given by God to the angels several thousand years before the creation of the world, though Mohammed is alluded to in it. 2. The Book of Adam, consisting of revelations brought by angels, or æons, to Adam, and composed of eighty or ninety discourses, laudatory, didactic, hortatory and prophetic. 3. The Book of John, or Conversations of Angels. Specimens of this are given by Lorsbach. The bells and rosaries of the Christians are mentioned in it. 4. Cholasteh, which contains the means and conditions of salvation. 5. The Book of the Signs of the Zodiac, of an astrological character, and only known from the account of Abraham

Ecchellensis. (Eutychii Vindic., i. 3.) The language and alphabet of these books are altogether peculiar; the former is an Aramean dialect, equally resembling the Syriac and Chaldean. Their religious doctrines stand in the same relation to those of Zoroaster, that Gnosticism and Manicheism do, except that they give to John the Baptist the elevated rank which the Gnosis gives to Christ. The latter and the Holy Ghost they look upon with the same contempt with which the Gnostics regarded the God of the Old Testament. Their system is a highly complicated doctrine of emanations, on which the influence of the Jewish cabala and of Mohammedanism is perceptible. The original being (like the endless time of the Zend-Avesta) is a divine æther (Ferha) of unspeakable splendor. Next to him is a female principle (Ajar). From these two proceeds Mana (the lord of the kingdom of light). Then follow numerous æons, or angels of light, and opposite to the kingdom of light is that of darkness, under Ur, with seven chief evil spirits, which inhabit the seven planets. Their theology ends with John the Baptist (Anusch), who came to win men, by baptism, for the kingdom of light. He was produced by a single kiss of his father Zachariah, and was married, but received his children out of the Jordan, one of the first elements of light in their theology. Mohammed is the last false prophet, after whom no other will appear. They despise Mohammedans more than Christians. The best part of their doctrine is their morals, founded on the repression of sensuality, as the only condition of virtue. The elect (they allow gradations of virtue) are forbidden to enjoy sensual pleasure, singing, dancing, &c.; yet matrimony is often praised. Matrimonial fidelity, careful education of their children, respect for the first born, abstinence from usury, &c., are inculcated. Their priests are divided into three orders. The priestly dignities are hereditary, descending to the eldest son. Baptism is their most solemn rite. It is the indispensable condition of the forgiveness of sin, and is administered to new-born children and adults. The baptism of the latter takes place at least once every year, during the great feast of baptism, which lasts five days. They have also a kind of agape, or love-feast. Polygamy is not prohibited even to priests. Among their laws, in which we also find some resembling the Jewish, is one which prohibits mourning for the dead; but prayers are offered

up, sermons delivered, and alms given. Their antipathy for blue is remarkable. A pretty complete list of works relating to this sect is given in Nösselt's Theolog. Litteratur (§ 474). See Norberg, De Relig. et Lingua Sabæorum, in the 3d vol. of Comm. Soc. Goth. (1780); Walch, De Sabæis (4th vol. ibid., 1781); Norberg's Codor Nasareus seu Liber Adami, Syriace transcriptus Latineque redditus (t. i.-iii., 1815 and 1816); Tittman, Meletemata Sacra (Leipsic, 1816, p. 15 et seq.)

SABINE RIVER and LAKE. (See Rivers, Navigable.)

SABINES (Sabini); an old people of Italy, probably the descendants of the Ausonians, and related to the aborigines. This numerous people, who founded many colonies, lived in the Apennines, principally occupied with the care of herds. Horace has celebrated their honesty, modesty and simplicity of manners. Their country, to the west, was separated from Etruria by the Tiber; towards the south, by the river Anio (Teverone), from Latium; and towards the north, by the river Nar, from Umbria: towards the east dwelt the Sabine colonies of the Vestini and Marrucini, who separated it from the Adriatic sea: it therefore embraced the principal part of the mountainous country of the Apennines. The soil is very fertile, and rich in pasturage. The productions are oil, fruits and wines, besides acorns in abundance.

Sabines, Rape of the. (See Romulus.)
SABLE. (See Weasel.)

SACBUT; a bass wind instrument, resembling the trumpet, and so contrived as to be capable of being drawn out to different lengths, according to the acuteness and gravity of the scale required. The sacbut is usually about eight feet long, and, when extended to its full length, about fifteen. There are, however, sacbuts of different sizes, to execute different parts, particularly a small one, called by the Italians trombone piccolo, and by the Germans kleine Alte-Posaune, proper for the counter-tenor. Respecting the sacbut of the ancient Hebrews, commentators have differed much. Indeed, scarce any ancient instrument has been heard of, for which the sacbut or the psaltery has not furnished a name.

SACCHARINE. (See Fermentation, and Sugar.)

SACCHINI, Anthony Mary Gaspard, was born at Naples, in 1735, and studied music under Durante. After being employed in Rome, Venice, and several other cities of Italy, he went to London,