Chap. Ill.

All Lettori~ from the Hebrew.y

,' 1 1

ThOlig‘hthC Scripture doth not rnention any thing concerning the in vention of thel`e5 yet ’tis molt generally agreed, that Adan: , t though not immediately after his Creation, yet) in procefs of time, upon his ex

perience of their great neeeílity and ufeiulnefs, did fit1-l invent vthe anci ent Hebrew Charaêzer : whether that which we now call the Hebrew, or

t elle the Samaritan, is a quellion inu'ch debated by fevnral Learned men, which lhall not now inquire into,which or oli'er todeterrnine. As for1 thofe particular Alphabet: are by fome afcribed to Adana, Сидит 0,1; l Enoch and Noah,rnent~ioned by feveral Authors, and in a late Difcourfe by cutis. f Thoma: Bangin, they have ib little foundation in any probable reafon or

(tory, that 1 Щи“ not io much as make any farther mention of them. It hath been abundantly cleared up by many Learned men , that the 5, L ancient Hebrew Charaâer hath thepriority betiore any other now known .3, which is conñrmed by the concurrent teflimony of the bell and moli an

`

cient Heathen Writers. And 'tis amongft rational arguments none _of the ¿tm-w ch,l ‚ leali, for the Truth and Divine Authority of Scripture, toconlider the ¥°ritar¢k¢­`

general concurrence of all manner of .evidence for .the Antiquity of the ЧМ!" " Hebrew, and the derivation of all other Letters from it.

'

РЕ"; añ'irms in one place, that the ñrfl invention of Letters ought to Nat. Hift.1.7.>

be afcribed unto the ¿[ßrianrg and in another place he faith, that under îailìzssíâpn, the name ofand Syria he underůands thefame Regions which ftyled Pale f ßinejuda‘a Phœnicia 5 and in the Chapter he were afcribes the inven tion of Letters to the Pbœnicianr. So doth Lacan Щитки

Bell. Pharfal.'

Phœnicer primi (fanta ß eredz'rnnr) and?

l 3. П).

Man/inane rudibur vacemßgnareßgurir. With фей: agree а'Не1‘ое‹!‹ти, Strabo, l’ Piutarcb, ° Cnrtz’ur, Mela, Btc. парты who all confent, that the Grecian: did ñrfl receive their Letters from the гс

Phiitniciam` by Сайты, who lived about the time of jo/hua. And that ñbâämpoûac‘ the Panic or Phœnician Tongue was the (Манту?) or the Hebrew, riiinbriiba. though fomewhat altered from its original pronunciation,` (as is wont шар. Ap.' in пай of time to befall Colonies planted far from home, among’fl {Нап- Pf3“

1X

¿C Ee

gers,) is fufliciently manifefied `from therer'naìnders of it that are ex- -rrnfägîr‘ tant in Plantas and other prophane Authors, as they are cited by the B'ffeqvqvd's y learned Bochart. And that the Phœnicianr were Canaaniter hath proof Efîqmr‘es’ 'f . . . ‚ ` с ap. 7. allo ш Scripture, becaufe the fame woman whom Mark 7. 2 6. is Ptyled a Geograph.' ‚ Ań‘yrophirnician, is faid Matth. r 5. 22. to be a Canaanite. ` 1° 2°

That the ancient Greek Character was of very near aliinîty to the Samaritan , and .that the Latin Letters were of (uch an aflinity t0 the

Greek, and derived from them, being in a manner the fame with the an- дважды cient Ionic 'Letters , is made very plain by Scaliger , and owned by РЕ”; tanga-ai., and Dion'gßur Ha/icarnaßerfr. And Taeitur doth acknowledge that the g‘aï‘oa‘â‘ïrb

ancient LatinCl-_iaraůters were in their lhape and figure ‘Швей the fame ylcipdgcif ' with the Greek. And as for the other Letters that are known , namely, Hmm Щ?- I? the Будда, Arabic, ‚штора, Armenian, Coptic, Il/yric, Georgian, Gothic, ma ‘u’

there is this cogent Argument to prove .them to be of the fame Origi

-nal , becaulè their Alphabet: do generally obferve the farne order of Let ters, which, bein init МГ exceedingly irrational, cannot probablyhave ‚

any other reafon nut imitationeExcept onely of the Arabrfaith Her- $1355?" manana-'Hugo , who,that they might not feernthat to have borrowed Letters cap, 5, l’ С a

y

from