well from other circumftances, as from this, the giving the invention of them to the Gods'. Those who are for deriving all civil improvements from the line of Abraham, of course, beftow upon it the invention of an ALPHABET. But as this fancy is only amongst the loose ends of an hypothefis, without any foundation in Scripture, thefe critics differ much about the time. Some suppose letters to have been in use amongst the Patriarchs; and, by them, tranfmitted to the Egyptians; but there are fuch ftrong objections to this opinion, (to mention no other than, the Patriarch's fending verbal meffages where it was more natural as well as more expedient to fend them written) that others have thought proper to bring down the time to that of MOSES: When GoD, they fay, taught him the use of alphabetic letters, in the exemplar of the two tables written, as the text affures us, with the Finger of GOD. But how, from words, which at moft, only imply that the ten commandments were miraculously engraved as well as dictated, it can be concluded that letters were then first invented, I have not logic enough to find out. A common reader would be apt to infer from it, that letters were now well known to the Ifraelites, as GOD had thought fit to deliver the first elements of their religion in that kind of writing; I fay, he would be thus apt to infer, See p. 63. of this volume. I have the pleafure to find, that fo fenfible a writer as the celebrated Mr. Aftruc, in his Conjectures fur la Genefe, has efpoused this opinion, that alphabetic writing was in ufe amongst the Egyptians before the time of Mofes: He has likewife adopted the arguments here employed in fupport of it, as well as this whole theory of hieroglyphic writing. though though Moses had never spoken of them on other occafions (which he hath done) as of things in familiar ufe: But if GOD was indeed the revealer of the artifice, how happened it that the hiftory of fo important a circumftance was not recorded? for as we fhall fee presently, the Memory of it would have been one of the strongest barriers to idolatry. However, though I think it next to certain that MOSES brought letters, with the reft of his learn THE EXOD. xxviii. 21. And the ftones fhall be with the names of the children of Ifrael, twelve, according to their names; LIKE THE ENGRAVINGS OF A SIGNET, every one with his name fhall thy be, according to the twelve tribes. And again, ver. 36. And thou shalt make a Plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a fignet, HOLINESS TO LORD. Had letters been invented by Moses, and unknown till then to the Ifraelites, would he not naturally have faid, when he directed the work men to engrave names and fentences on ftones and gold, and in thefe engravings you shall employ the alphabetic characters which I have now invented and taught you the use of? On the contrary he gives them a very different direction; he refers them to a model in familiar ufe,-like the engravings of a fignet. For the ancient people of the East engraved names and fentences on their feals, just as the Mahometan princes do at prefent. - Mr. Fleuri with great ingenuity confeffes the high perfection of the arts at this time amongst the Ifraelites. Ils fçavoient tailler & graver les pierres "precieuses. Ils etoient Menuifiers, Tapiffieurs, Brodeurs " & Parfumeurs. Entre ces arts, il y en a deux que j'admire principalement: la taille des pierreries, & la "fonte des figures, telles qu' étoient les Chérubins de l'Ar"che & le Veau d'or. Ceux qui ont tant foit peu con"noiffance des arts, favent combien il faut d'artifices & de "machines pour ces ouvrages. Si des-lors on les avoit trou"vées, on avoit déja bien raffiné, même dans les arts qui ne "fervent qu'à l'ornement ; & fi l'on avoit quelque fecret pour "faire les mêmes chofes plus facilement, c'étoit encore une "plus grand perfection, ce qui foit dit en paffant, pour mon"trer que cette antiquité fi eloignée n'etoit pas groffiére & ignorante, comme plufieurs s'imaginent." Moeurs des Ifraelites, Lect. 9. M 2 ing ing, from Egypt, yet I could be easily perfuaded to believe that he both enlarged the alphabet, and altered the fhapes of the letters ". 1. The hebrew alphabet, which he employed in the compofition of the pentateuch, is confiderably fuller than that which Cadmus brought into Greece. Cadmus was of Thebes in Egypt; he fojourned in Syria, and went from thence into Greece: His country fhews that his letters were Egyptian; and this, their difference in number from the hebrew, fufficiently confirms. Cadmus having only fixteen, and the Hebrews two and twenty. 2. That MOSES likewife altered the fhape of the Egyptian letters I think probable; all hieroglyphic writing was abfolutely forbidden by the fecond commandment, and with a view worthy the divine wifdom; hieroglyphics being, as we fhall fee hereafter, the great fource of their idolatries and fuperftitions. But now alphabetic letters, (which henceforth could be only ufed amongst the Hebrews) being taken by the Egyptians from their hieroglyphic figures, retained, as was natural, much of the shapes of those characters: to cut off therefore all occafion of danger from fymbolic images, Moses, as I fuppofe, A certain anonymous writer, quoted by Crinitus from an ancient MS, in his de honefta difciplina, is of this opinion. But I quote him chiefly for his pacific difpofition to accommodate and compromife matters, by giving every nation its fhare in the glory of the invention; not, I mean, of the alphabetic powers, but of the various alphabetic characters. "Mofes primus Hebraicas exaravit literas ; * See p. 83, 84. of this volume. altered altered the shapes of the Egyptian letters, and reduced them into fomething like thofe fimple forms. in which we now find them. Thofe who in much later ages, converted the northern pagans to the chriftian Faith observed the fame caution. For. the characters of the northern alphabet, called RUNIC, having been abused to magical fuperftition, were then changed to the Roman. -Tantas in his Runis (fays Sheringham) latere virtutes Gothi ante fidem fufceptam rati funt, ut five hoftium. caput diris facrandum, five peftis morbique amoliendi, five aliud opus fufcipiendum fe incantationibus Runifque muniebant-Poft fidem vero fufceptam Runa, qui incantationibus præftigiisque magicis in tantum adhibitæ fuerint, adeo faftidiri cœperunt, ut multi libri, multaque antiqua monumenta exinde præpoftero zelo dejecta atque deleta funt: unde hiftoria Getica magnum detrimentum clademque accepit. Tandem vero, tefte Loccenio, Sigfridi epifcopi Britannici opera (Papa etiam romano fuam operam præftante) eò res devenit ut Runæ in Sueciâ A. DML. penitus abolerentur; & characteres Latini fubftituerentur. This account will reconcile the differing fyftems of Marsham and Renaudot; one of whom contends, that the letters which Cadmus brought into Greece were Egyptian; the other, that they were Phenician; and both of them appeal to the authority of Herodotus; who fays plainly," that the alphabet brought by Cadmus into Greece was Egyptian; and yet, fpeaking of the three most ancient infcriptions in Greece, he fays, they were in Phenician characters, which very much resembled the z Can. Chron. ionic: ionic:" for if what has been here fuppofed be allowed, then the alphabet which Cadmus carried with him was doubtless of Mofes's invention, as to the form, but Egyptian, as to the power. It may be juft worth obferving that Renaudot's difcourfe is full of paralogifms, which this folution detects. 3. To this let me add another confideration. The vowel-points (as feems now to be generally agreed on) were added fince the Jews cealed to be a Nation. The hebrew language was originally, and fo continued to be, for a long time written without them. Now if God firft taught Mofes an alphabet, can we believe that the vowels would have been thus generally omitted? But suppose Mofes learnt his alphabet of the Egyptians, and only made it fuller, and altered the form of the letters, we may easily give a good account of the omiffion. The Egyptian alphabet, as we observed, was invented for precifion, and used for secrecy. Both ends were anfwered by an alphabet with hardly any vowels. Thus we fee that the form of alphabetic characters was a matter of much importance to the Hebrews, as to the integrity of their religion. If therefore, GOD was the immediate author of them, it is difficult to fuppofe that Mofes could omit to record the hiftory of their invention, fuch a history being the best fanction to recommend their use; and the beft fecurity against a return to the idolatrous practice of hieroglyphic-writing; to which this people, fo fond of Egyptian manners, were violently inclined. But we have not yet done with Manetho; The laft circumftance opening the way to another dif |