and in the second place, there is no evidence that the age of Job himself was such as to justify the remark, that he "was old and full of days," unless he lived long after the early patriarchs. The writer of the passage, "man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble; he cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down; he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not ;" cannot well be supposed to have lived at a period when the life of man was prolonged from six hundred to a thousand years. The reference to the flood as a

very ancient event is inconsistent with the supposition that Job lived anywhere near the period of those who walked in the "old way" and were "cut down out of time." The reference to the law of land-marks and pledges rather indicates also that the hero of this book lived after the time of Moses.

It has also been said that there is ground for a presumption that the art of writing was known before the time of Moses, in the fact that there were officers called Shoterim among the Israelites; and that this word primarily and properly means writers. The passage referred to, is Exodus the fifth chapter and sixth verse. "And Pharaoh commanded the same day the task-masters and the officers, saying, ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick." Our translators translate the Hebrew word officers, and most certainly the scope and sense of the passage would be violated by translating it writers. Adam Clarke says that

the shoterim "were an inferior sort of officers, who attended on superior officers or magistrates to execute their orders." So say Patrick and Rosenmuller, who give at length the reasons for this opinion. And Mr. Poole gives the same translation, affirming, with Rosenmuller, that the secondary meaning of the word is scribes.

It appears therefore in a high degree probable that the art of writing was imparted to Moses at the giving of the law. The hypothesis is certainly attended with fewer difficulties than any other which I have met with. The two tables we are informed were written by the finger of God; and after these were broken, they were rewritten by the same unerring hand. And what additional, what overwhelming evidence would it offer to the Jewish people of the divine origin of the moral law, when these tables were presented to them, inscribed with mysterious and living characters! If Moses himself was unacquainted with the art of writing before he ascended the mount, the possibility of collusion or deceit was precluded, and the most stubborn minds must have yielded implicit confidence in the divine legation of their lawgiver. We find that notwithstanding the solemnity of that memorable scene, a portion of the people gave themselves up to idolatry, even while Moses was yet communing with God upon the mount. After his descent with the two tables in his hands, as the final witness and seal of his errand, for a long time we hear no more of doubts,

no more following after idols; and is it unreasonable to suppose that the obstinancy of an incredulous people was at last vanquished by the two tables of testimony? If you ask, why there were no demonstrations of surprise on the part of the Jewish lawgiver upon the revelation of this art, or on the part of the people at its introduction among them; I reply, there may have been, though they are not recorded. And even if there were not, we need not wonder at this, when we recollect that Moses was with God forty days in the mount, and especially when we reflect upon the prodigies which nature every where displayed around the people, when Sinai sent up its flame and smoke, and the voice of the ever-living God was heard amid the thunders of the mount.

And is it not somewhat remarkable, that, if of human origin, the author of so wonderful a discovery as that of alphabetical writing, should be so utterly lost in the remote ages of antiquity, that no man can specify the nation, or even the era to which it can be attributed? There is something quite as ludicrous to my mind, in the theories of the gradual construction of alphabetical letters, as there is in the systems of Pagan cosmogony. Is it reasonable to suppose for example, that the old Shemitish letter D was suggested by the word door, or the old Shemitish letter H by the word fence, and the Shemitish V by a hook or nail? And yet this system has very learned advocates. May we not gravely inquire whether the invention of letters does

not exceed the powers of man? The learned Shuckford, though an advocate for the early invention of the art, says, "that men should immediately fall on such a project, to express sounds by letters, and expose to sight all that may be said, or thought, in about twenty characters variously placed, exceeds the highest notion we can have of the capacities with which we are endowed." It is truly a wonderful art. And it was perfect from the beginning; nor has there been any improvement from the days of Moses to the present day. With one exception all the Hebrew letters are found in the decalogue. Every guttural, labial, lingual, and

dental sound is here disclosed.

Nor is it less worthy of note, that not an in stance is known in which any man, or set of men, ever invented the use of letters by their own unaided powers.

I am not disposed therefore to receive the opinion that the origin of letters is lost in time; or that the art rose from small beginnings, and was gradually improved as the wants of men demanded it; but that it was revealed to men by God himself. Nor is this at all a novel conclusion. Among the Christian fathers, Clemens Alexandrinus, Cyril and St. Augustin; and among the moderns, Mariana, a learned Romanist, Dr. John Owen, Sir Charles Woollesly, Drs. Winder, McKnight, and others, held the opinion that Moses introduced the first Alphabet.*

* Vide Winder.

In relation to the period when the art of writing was communicated to other nations, as might be well supposed, different views have been expressed by different men. It is obvious that the Hebrews had no opportunity of communicating with other nations either during their forty years in the Desert, or the time of Joshua's conquests or government. The period between the death of Joshua and the government of Samuel, as characterized by the reign of the Judges, was marked by great corruption and degeneracy. Milman, in his history of the Jews, well describes it as "the heroic age of Jewish history, abounding in wild adventure and desperate feats of individual valour." During this rude and unsettled period, a period of above four hundred years, they were scarcely fitted to receive, or extend instruction of any kind. Under the government of Samuel, the literature of the nation may be said to have taken its rise. He founded a school of the Prophets; he was the author of the earlier part of the life of David; and he wrote a treatise on civil government, which was called "the manner of the kingdom," for the instruction of Saul, the first king. David was a Prince of highly cultivated mind, and greatly elevated the nation in arts and in arms. It was not, however, until the distinguished reign of Soloman, that the Hebrew state attracted the attention of the surrounding nations, and became as remarkable for its wisdom, as for its wealth and splendour. The reign of this Prince was the