362 ORIGIN OF LETTERS, 



first communicated to Moses by God himself* ; whilst others have 

 contended, (hat the Decalogue u as the first alphabetic writing. 



It is highly proper for us to inquire how far these opinions arc 

 well founded ; for, if they can be supported, there is an end of our 

 pursuit; but if it shall appear that they are warranted neither by 

 reason nor by scripture, we shall be at full liberty to pursue our 

 inquiry : for the satisfaction therefore of thpse who have adopted 

 those opinions, it is incumbent on us to have recourse to the Holy 

 Scriptures themselves. 



The first mention of writing recorded in Scripture, will be found 

 in Exodus xvii. v. 14; " And the Lord said unto Moses, Write-r 

 this, for a memorial, in a book ; and rehearse it in the ears of Jo- 

 shua ; for 1 will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from 

 under heaven." This command was given immediately after the 

 defeat of the Amalekites near lloreb, and before the arrival of the 

 Israelites at Mount Sinai. 



It is observable, that there is not the least hint to induce us to 

 believe that writing was then newly invented ; on the contrary. we. 

 may conclude, that Moses understood what was meant by writing 

 in a book; otherwise God would have instructed him, as he had 

 done Noah in building the ark J ; for he would not have been 

 commanded to write in a book, if he had been ignorant of the art 

 of writing; but Moses expressed no difficulty of comprehension, 

 when he received this command. We also find that Moses wrote 

 all the words and all the judgments of the Lord, contained in the 

 twenty-first and the two following chapters of the book of Exodus, 

 before the two written tables of stone were even so much as pro. 

 mised. The delivery of the tables is not mentioned till the 



* Of these opinions were St. Cyril, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, and 

 Isidore of Seville, amongst the fathers; and Mr. Bryant, Mr. Costard, Mr. 

 Windar, with many other?, among the moderns. See St. Cyril against Julian, 

 book viii. ; Clement of Alex, book i. .-tromut. cap 23 ; Kuseb. Preparat. Evang. 

 lib. ix. cap. 7 ; Isidore, Origin, lib. i. cap. 3 ; Mr. Bryant's Ancient Mytho 

 logy; Mr. Costard's Letter to Mr. Halhcd ; and Mr. Windar's Essay on Know- 

 ledge, p. 2.ch. i. Univ. Hist. vol. iii. p. 212, Note T. 



t The Hebrew word ana, which word i- generally used for drawing letter? 

 or literal characters; to write; Kxod. xxiv. v. 4 ; and chap, xxxiv. v. 18. 

 See Parkhurst's Lexicon. 



| Gen. \\. ver. 14,J5, 16. * 



^ " And MOM | the word- (if the Ljpi, &c." F.xod. x*iv. v. 1. 



" And he took the book of the covenant, and read ii in the audience of (he 

 people; and they said, AH that the Lord hath said we will do, and be obe- 

 dient." Ibid. v. 7. 



