Such is the general result of the information we pos sess concerning the formation of the alphabet, and the era and the authors of that invention. 'File evidence is certainly insufficient to enable us to form a decisive opi nion. So uncertain and doubtful, indeed, is the history of this invention, that it has frequently been maintained, and that too with very plausible arguments, that alpha betic writing is not a human invention, but of divine revelation.
III. It will be proper, therefore, now to state the grounds upon which this opinion of the divine origin of alphabetic writing has been maintained.
The arguments which are brought in support of the divine revelation of the alphabet, are chiefly these : lst, The high antiquity of the use of letters ; the He brew characters having existed in a perfect state when Moses composed the Pentateuch, the most ancient wri ting now known to be extant. 2d, The similarity be tween the various alphabets of different nations, which, fur the most part, are the same, in the order, power, and even form ol their letters, with the Hebrew. plete want 01 alphabetic characters among those nations, which have been cut off bone all communication w nth the ancient civilized world; or that part of the human race which had no opportunity of borrow ing the system of written characters, revealed to the Ilebrews. 4th, The difficulty of the invention, the rude state of society at which it should seem that it must have been accomplished.
1st, It has been urged, that the alphabet certainly existed in a very remote period of anti(luity, in as great a state of perfection as at present ; for the Hebrew al phabet, as employed by Moses, is hardly less perfect than any other system of written characters, ancient or modern. But it is entirely opposite to the course of nature, that an invention of great difficulty should at once be brought to a perfect state, it being invariably found, that at ts in their origin arc very rude and defec tive, and are not brought to a state of maturity without the labour and care of successive ages. The arts of sculpture, painting, architecture, metallurgy, and a thousand others, were not brought to perfection till af ter the lapse of many ages, and when men had attained to refinement of manners, and sei,mtille skill. But if alphabetic characters were the invention of men, it must. be supposed, that the art of writing might be perfected, while they were yet in a state of ignorance and ba•ba rity ; a supposition altogether n epugnant to the natural course of things.
It is further alleged, that the very period at which alphabetical characters were communicated from above, is expressly stated in the books of Moses. This period was the delivery of the laws of the two tables of stone upon Mount Sinai, which, according to the testimony of Moses, were written by the finger of Coil. " And lie gave unto Moses, upon Mount Sinai, two tables ol tes timony, tables of stone, written with the finger 01 God." Exact. xxiv. 12. And again, " And Moses went clown from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand ; the tables were written on both their sides. And the tables were the work of God ; and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." xxxii. 15, 16. To this, however, it is objected, that writing is mentioned by Moses as a thing well known before the delivery of toe tables of the law on 1\-Ionirt Sinai ; it occurs in the 17th chapter of Exodus, in which Moses is commanded to write in a book ; and this was before the arrival of the Israelites at Mount Sinai. A command is given to engrave the names of the twelve tribes of Israel upon stones, cngra vings of a signer ; a command which implies, that wri ting had been known and practised among them for a considerable time. The people were directed to :t..rite the law 711: ee th it door feasts; another proof that the art of writing must have been well known. Writing is alluded to by Moses in various other passages ; as .1rumb. c. xxxiil. v. 1. c. xvii. v. IS. c. xxxi. v. 9, 19, 26; and nowhere is it spoken of as a new invention, or a divine revelation. But had either been the case, it might have been supposed, that it would have been commemorated by the Jewish legislator, who has, on other occasions, recorded the invention of music, me tallurgy, and other less important arts; and who would hardly have omitted to state so important a circum stance as the immediate revelation of letters, by the Divinity himself. It cannot, therefore, be asserted with consistency, that there is ally evidence in scripture no the divine revelation of alphabetic charac ters; and it even rendered probable by the testimony of Moses him• sell, that they had been in familiar use befOre his tints. It appears more probable, that he carried the art with bins from Egypt, and probably may have acquired while an exile in Arabia.