Alphabetical Characters. 83 
characters, all the articulate sounds which 
are employed for this purpose, and when it 
can be shewn that the Hebrew alphabet is 
capable of effecting this, then, and not till 
then, shall we be authorised to admit its al- 
ledged perfection. But that this is not the 
case, is so obvious as not to admit of a mo- 
ment’s dispute. Let any one consult his expe- 
rience and his ear, to ascertain the number of 
simple sounds, as well vowels as consonants, 
which his organs of speech are capable of 
enunciating, and he will immediately per- 
ceive that an alphabet presenting only twenty- 
two letters, cannot possibly furnish separate 
characters for them all. If it be attempted to 
obviate this, by pleading that such an alphabet 
may nevertheless have been sufficient to ex- 
press all the articulate sounds in use among 
the Israelites; I ask in reply, how do you 
know this? This is mere affirmation, unsup- 
ported by the shadow of a proof; and we 
cannot permit assertion to be substituted in 
the place of argument. 
The second supposed peculiarity of this 
invention from whence an argument is drawn, 
to prove its divine original, is its having been 
made only once; all the nations among whom 
it is at present in use, being said to have de- 
rived it from one-common source. It is cer- 
