distinguished by many. Greave's Defcript. of the Pyramids, p. 114.- Ægyptian Letters, I mean not the facred ones (for thefe were all Symbolical, expreffing the abstracted Notions of the Mind by vifible Similitudes of Birds and Beafts, or by Representation of fome other familiar Objects) but those used in civil Affairs.

*Phenicians made th' Attempt, as Fame

avers,

To fix the Voice firft in rude Charecters,
The letter'd Art to Egypt was not
known

But Birds and Animals engrav'd on
Stone,
Contain'd the Hieroglyphic Words and
Sound.
Lucan. lib. 3.

Tho' this Hieroglyphical Method of Writing has been fo often produced in Evidence, that writing with Letters for Words was before Mofes; thofe have no Relation to one another, and that Evidence is nothing to the Point.

As there was nothing writ before Mofes, so when he writ, he only mentioned the Things which came within his Defign; fo as to all other Things, Tranfactions, &c. God frequently bids them afk of their Fa

thers

thefs, refers them to Tradition, which had been preserved, and handed down in the Manner aforefaid, refers them to no Writ→ ing, yet bids them enquire if there had been any fuch Thing, fince the Foundation of the World, Deut. iv. 32. xxxii. 7. Job. viii. 8.

It appears there was fome Proportion, partly in the Degree of rejecting the old Religion, which was in fome Measure preferved in several Families long after the Difperfion And partly in the Degree of advancing the new Religion each Nation arrived at, before it was fit for Deftruction, which God expreffes by their Wickedness being full. When that was the Cafe of the Canaanites, and 'tis likely of the Ægyptians alfo, God gave Mojes Power to thew his Commiffion and Teftimonials for the Veracity of his Writings, by commanding the natural Agents in this Syftem, and making them obey him, which at that Time were the Aleim of the Ægyptians, Canaanites, &c. and forced the Egyp tians to let the Children of Ifrael depart. After God had thus brought the Children of Ifrael out of Egypt into the Wildernefs, and let them know the Conditions of the Covenant, and renewed it with them, he, Exod. xxxi. 18. xxxii. 16. by C 2

his

his Finger, his immediate Power, writ th two Tables of the Covenant, in Stone and thereby was pleafed to discover the Ufe of Letters, Reprefentatives for Sounds, and joined Subftitutes for Words, which in that Language fhould for ever preserve the Ideas of Perfons, Things and Actions, represented and expreffed by thofe Words. And Mofes was directed, and did in that Manner reveal, record, and convey every Thing, which at that Time was neceffary for them to know; and the other Prophets afterwards, what was neceffary at each Time, or at Times to come, therein mentioned to be known; which are handed down to us, and contain all that is neceffary for us to know of Things, before, and in the Times they writ or prophefied of.

If it fhould be objected, that notwithftanding what has been' or may be faid of the Perfection of the Original, or Hebrew Tongue, that in the Space of 2000 Years there must have been fome Deviations, I hope they will give me Leave, at least I fhall take it, to obferve, that as Mofes first, and afterwards the other Prophets, were directed by infinite Wildom, it was not Difficulty for them to apply each Letter to the proper Place in each Word infal

libly, and to fix or retrieve the proper Pronunciation of every fingle Word, and if there were any other, to ufe none but proper Words: So that by them the Roots, as People term them; nay, the Idea, which correfponds with each Word in every Part of the Bible, might be reftored, fixed, and preferved, as making a Translation of it into one of our prefent Tongues, where 'tis frequently read: Writing Forms of Worship, Laws, or, &c. in a great Meafure fixes a common Speech at this Day, which is nothing to our Purpose now. And as Mofes began to write these Books without human Teaching, or Practice, and the Prophets continued their Writings in Succeffion, for fuch a vaft Series of Ages, none but those infpired could, at the Beginning of Writing, have placed their Letters infallibly in the fame Order, nor even kept to that Order, during the Length of Time they writ, from the firft to the laft: Nay, the Copies could fcarce poffibly have been infallibly correct, if the Prophets had not fucceeded, and tranfcribed, or corrected them fucceffively, till Writing was perfectly understood, and a fufficient Number made to examine new ones by. Befides, the Demonstration which arifes from the infallible Defcription of Things in this System,

C 3

per

Syftem, which are to be feen; and their Actions, which are partly to be seen, and partly to be understood, and fo compared with the Defcriptions of them; it will when their Uniformity, and infallibe Certainty in Writing (not only by affixing proWords to the Ideas of Things, but even in obferving the ftricteft and fimpleft Rules of Grammar, and all the other Rules and Distinctions in that Tongue, when there could be no Grammar nor Rules laid down to direct them as Men) are a little more fhewed, be Demonstration, beyond Contradiction, to the End of the World, that they were directed by infallible Hands. And all the poor Performances in the first Writings of other People now extant; nay, even thofe, with all their Alterations and Improvements, which were ftill but the Products of human Reafon, confounded by the received Notions in the refpective. Times or Places; nay, all the Conjectures and Stories of our modern, proud, poor Creatures, will appear to be of no other Ufe, but to fhew the Difference, and fet off the Hebrew Tongue and Revelation.

Some of our Conjecturers, who are not willing to allow that there is any fuch Perfection or Certainty in the Hebrew Tongue,

cry,