The gazette and Democrat. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1860, 1860-11-08


| brew coin character, some looked like III
Phenician alphabet; a few bore some re.
semblance to those ofthe Grave Greek
Tablet, and some I could not id deutify
with any known alphabet. Ny first OBJ
1ject was then to find the clue by making
out, if possible, the precise language and
identifying the characters. Only five
showed The true Hebrew form; three
would resemble the coin character. The
rest were very irregular. Now you must
not imagine that l am very much of a
scholar because l speak SO wisely about
languages and characters. Suffice it to
say that. being little familiar with al
most all the alphabets Of the Aram@an
tongues, | determines! 20 attempt the So
luton Of the engravings.
The word over the head of the human
figure contains three letters. Two Of these
are Hebrew. They are the letters Shin
ana He, (or Hheth,) The third iuierr>
ed to be Msm-a conjecture most readily
suggested by its form, it being exactly
that of the old Gaelic Muin. en-. land
afterwards fully borne out by its always
answering thereto. This gave the word
Mossh, or MeShiach, according TO the o.
pinion Of the reader. Why l prefer the
latter will readily appear.
After some close study with this cypher
chracter--very much like Edgar A..
Poe's in his celebrated Scarabaeus Story
appearing very simple wher once Olsen,
tangled. OF when once furnished with a
clue--but by no means easy to small
scholar, and very busy person, found
twas indeed the language. 1t as tonish-
ed me. 1t is more like that found in the
Bibles of the modern German Jews, than
any other--but not exactly the same by
any means. rs proceeded to interpret
tho inscriptions l found more to astcnish
me.
Now there is no division between the
words on this stone. Indeed, they some
timess:run perplexingly into each other.
They are not written with the usual regu-
larity Of Hebrew inscriptious--which
never separate words at the end OF a line
for these separate and divide into all ways
and directions. Nor have they anything
like points. All these items would mark
a great antiquity. The words are in lines
and curves--sometimes doubling in very
unusual way. 1t would be impossible
for me 10 give any definite idea of this
circumstance.
The whole constitutes an abridged form
OF the Ten Commandments. Beginning
on the upper surface they may be traced
as follows: SurmOuning the head Of the
figure in relief we form connection. and
join 10 the name the letters which follow
it. being half of those on the rim, and a
few on the base. Then turning to the
lower surface, read first the outer liae;
then, on curved and step-like form--fol.
lowing it all round then backwards over
the other outer line--and then on the
front. Then turning the sides into view,
and following round the arch, read in Or
der all round, and end with the remain
ing half rim OF the upper surface. You
will then read it, must put the He
brew into English characters, and as there
are no points, will supply them with
yowels Its as follows: .,
'Mossh sher hOtzgthicha me sretS nit
sruim naibcth ngabhadhins I Ano'h; Je.
hou,A Eloheicha. Lo Yihieh L'cha Ell.
ohim aehsri0s ngal pona;. Lo Maygassh
tcha rhssel 1 HishAachaaeh lahem v'lo
thangabh dim I Lothisha eth shem Jehovah
elohsicha sachar eh ionp hqshabatA Igodas.
no." (Here lie large punctuation mark
which l dot understand. 1t is not Maso-
rttic.) ".Sheshih ION v'nposAtth cal ch
lachthecha- CaJbsa obhcha v'imecha-Lo
thiragaock. Lo haaeph Lo Miwlobb.-
ihangaleh b harengha ngad shoger. Lo
thach 'moch beth rengscha--lo Machamodh
esh beth rengecha vngabhodo . amatho v'shn
| v'sharo "a a'hhamoro v'chol asher lersnge>
ola. :"
This mark Il shows the divisions of
tho parts of the inscription. The trans.
laiion may be "Moses or Mesiah) who
brought thee out of the land Of Egypt, I
out of the house of servants. am Jeho-
vsh (or Yahveh) thy God. There shall
not be to thee gods other than me before
mo. Thou shalt not make for thyself
craven image Thou shalt net bow down
to them or worship them. Thou shalt not
take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it;
the six Of day thou shalt do all thy work.
Honor thy father aud thy mother. Thou
shalt not murder. Thou shalt commit a.
cutlery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou
shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbors hodse--hou shalt not covet thy
neighbor's wife, nor his servant, nor his
maid, nor his OK, nor his ass, nor any
thing that is his"
N, B, There are several slight discrep-
ancies, from which | purpose to mske
some conclusions, which l regard impor
tant. This matter is no hoax. Until l
write again. | will give the savans an op-
portunity to amuse themselves.
JOHN WINSPACE MCCARTHY,
e Rector Of Trinity Church, Newark.
p. s. What | said above respecting
my inclination to read MESSIAH. would be,
long to another communication. A word
will now suffice. In many words the let.
Ter yod is wanting. They are fully as i'm
portant as this name. And also the clue.
letter always found its counterpart
10 the letter M--but in Chsth. This
would give the name Meshiach or Messiah
The name makes very little difference, II
it he Moses. we might argue greater an.