Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, IA [i.e. Ind.]) 1839-1854, 1848-05-10
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
LETTER TX, AND LAST.

The fourth and last point of view in
which proposed 10 offer you some gene
raj observations upon the Scriptures, was
with reference to literature; and the first
remark that presents itself is, that the
five books of Moses are the most ancient
monuments of written language now ex-
tant in the world: the book of Job is near
" of the same date, and by many Of the
Jewish and Christian commentators is
thought to have been written by Moses
The employment of alphabetical charac-
ters to represent all the articulations Of
the human voice, is the greatest invention
that ever was compasscd by human gen
JUS. Plato says ''that it was the discov-
cry either Of God, or a man divinelv in
spired.' The Egyptians ascribed it TO
Thot, whom the Greeks afterwards wor-
shipped under the name of IIerems.-
This, is, however, a fabulous origin That
it was an Egyptian invention there is lit
tie doubt; and it was part Of the learn
ing of the Egyptians, in all Of which we
are told ..Moses was verscd.' 1t is prob
able that when Moses wrote, that act was.
if not absolutely recent, of no very remote
invention. There was but one copy of
the law written in book, it was deposit
ted in the Ark Of the Covenant, and was
read aloud once in seven years, to all the
people at their general assembly in the
Feast of Tabernaclcs There was one
other copy of the law. written upon stone.
erected on Mount Ebal. 1t does not APP
pear that there existed any other copies.
In process Of time the usage Of reading
it thus must have been dropped. and the
monument on Mount Ebal must have per-
ished; for in the reign of Josiah, about
eight hundred years afterward. the book
Of the law was found in the temple. How
long it had been lost is not expressly told
but from the astonishment and consterna-
ton of Josiah upon hearing the book read :.
its contents must have long been forgot
ten, so that scarcely tradition Of them
remained.
We are indeed told that when the Ark
of the Covenant was deposited in the tenn
pie of Solomon, there was nothing in the
ark save the two tables which Moses put
therein at Horeb. The two tables con-
tanned not the whole law. but the ten COM
mandments: the book Of the law was
therefore no longer in the ark. at the ded-
icaton of Solomon's Temple; that is. a.
bout 500 years after the law was given.
and 800 before the book found by Heze-
kiah. the high priest in the 18th year Of
Josiah. From these circumstances. as
well as from the eSpedients used by Moses
and Joshua, for preserving the ceremonial
law and the repeated covenant between
God and the people. it is observed that the
art and practice of writing was extreme
Nv rare. and that very few books extant,
and of those few, only single copies; the
art of writing, speaking and thinking with
their several notifications Of grammar.
rhetoric and logic. were never cultivated
among the Hebrews, as they were Though
not till a thousand wears later than Moses)
among the Greeks. Philosophical re-
search. and the spirit of analysis appear
ed to have belonged among the ancient
nations incIusively to the Greeks: they stu
died language as a science. and from the
discoveries they made in this pursuit. re-
suited a system Of literary compositions
founded upon logical deductions. The
language of the ancient writers was not
constructed upon the foundation of abb
struse science: it partakes OF the nature
of all primitive languages. which is almost
entirely fgurative; and in some degree of
primitive writing and hieosyphics- We
are no, told from what materials Moses
complied the Book of Genesis. (Which
contains the history of the creation. and
Of 800 wears succeeding it. which termi-
mates three generations prior TO the birth