From Book: A New Literal Translation From the Original Greek of All the Apostolical Epistles, Essay VIII,
"Concerning The Right Interpretation of the Writings in which the Revelations of God are Contained", p. 702, 1841.

In the early ages, after men had acquired any branch of useful knowledge, either by research or by observation, they naturally wished to communicate that knowledge to their contemporaries, and even to transmit it to posterity. But this they could not do effectually, till they contrived a method of making speech the object of sight. When this was accomplished, the knowledge which they conveyed to the ears of a few by pronounced speech, it was in their power to convey to multitudes, even in the most distant countries, by the eye.

The first method of rendering speech visible, was that which history informs us was practiced by all the ancient nations we have any knowledge of, from the Chinese in the east to the Mexicans in the west, and from the Egyptians in the south to the Scythians in the north. All these, taught by nature, formed images or pictures, on wood, or stone, or clay, of the sensible objects for which they had invented names, and of which they had occasion to discourse. By these pictures they represented not only the things themselves, but the articulate sounds or names also by which they were called. Thus, to express in that kind of writing a man, or a horse, that is, to express both the name and the thing, they drew its picture on some permanent substance, whereby, not only the thing itself, but its name, was immediately suggested to those who looked on its picture. But this method being tedious, the Egyptians, who it is supposed were the inventors of picture-writing, shortened it by converting the picture into a symbol, which as Warburton, to whom I am indebted for many particulars in this section, observes in his Divine Legation, they did in three ways. 1. By making the principal part of the symbol stand for the whole of it, and by agreeing that that part should express the character of the thing represented by the symbol. Thus, they expressed a fuller by two feet standing in water ; and a charioteer, by an arm holding a whip. This is what is railed the Curiologic Hieroglyphic. — 2. From this the Egyptians proceeded to a more artful method of rendering speech visible and permanent ; namely, by putting the instruments, whether real or metaphorical, by which a thing was done. Thus, they expressed a battle by two hands, the one holding a shield, the other a bow : a siege by a scaling-ladder : the divine omniscience by an eye eminently placed : a monarch by an eye and a sceptre. Sometimes they represented the agent without the instrument, to show the quality of the action. Thus a judge was expressed by a man without hands looking downwards, to shew that a judge ought not to be moved either by interest or pity. This method was called The Tropologic Hieroglyphic. — 3. Their third, and most artificial method of abridging picture-writing, was to make one thing stand for another, where any resemblance or analogy, however far-fetched, could be observed between the thing represented and the thing by which it was represented, whether that resemblance was founded in nature or in popular opinion only. Thus a serpent, on account of its vigour and spirit, its longevity and revirescence, was made the symbol of the divine nature : a mouse was used to represent destruction : a wild-goat, uncleanness : a fly, impudence : an ant, knowledge : a serpent in a circle, the universe : and the variegated spots of the serpent's skin, the stars. This method of writing was called The Allegorical, Analogical, or Symbolical Hieroglyphic. And being formed on their knowledge of physics, the marks of which it was composed increased in number, as the Egyptians, the inventors of picture-writing, increased in science.

But, in regard there are many qualities and relations of things which are not objects of sense, and many complex moral modes, and other mental conceptions, which cannot be likened to any object of sense, consequently, which cannot be expressed by any picture, natural or symbolical, it became necessary, in all kinds of picture-writing, to introduce arbitrary marks for expressing these qualities, relations, and modes. Yet, even with this aid, picture-writing was still very defective and obscure. The Chinese, therefore, to improve the method of rendering speech visible and permanent by writing, threw away the images or pictures altogether, and substituted in their place new marks, formed, it is said, from the images. However, as in this way of writing every word required a distinct character or mark, and as the greatest part of these characters were arbitrary, the difficulty of acquiring the knowledge of the meaning of such a multitude of characters was so great, that very few could attain to it. Meanwhile, the Chinese method of denoting the separate words of which speech consisteth, by separate marks, is supposed by some to have suggested to the ingenious in other nations the idea of expressing, by separate marks, the distinct articulate sounds of which words are composed. Hence the alphabetical or literal method of writing arose, which, on account of its great facility and utility, hath come into general use among all civilized nations, except the Chinese themselves.

The literal method of writing is generally said to hare been first practised by the Phoenicians. But whether they, or whoever else first used that method of rendering speech visible, were the inventors of the art ; or whether, as Plato and Tully thought. De Leg. lib. iv. sect. 4, they were supernaturally assisted in the invention, is hard to determine. This however is certain, that the books of Moses were written in the literal method. And some learned men have thought, the first specimen of literal writing was that which God himself engraved on the two tables of stone, and gave to Moses on the Mount ; who, being taught the meaning of the characters by inspiration, communicated the knowledge of the same to the Israelites, from whom it passed to the Phoenicians. Perhaps it may be some confirmation of this conjecture to observe, that the Chinese, though they have long possessed the art of writing by characters, have never been able to attain the method of writing by letters.

I have given the above account of the art of rendering speech visible and permanent by picture-writing, not as a matter of curiosity, but to shew the influence which the hieroglyphical manner of writing had on the ancient languages. For the symbols used in that kind of writing denoting the names of things as well as the things themselves, in speaking, men would naturally give to the things represented both the name and the qualities of the symbol by which it was represented. Hence arose а new species of metaphor, altogether unknown in the speech of modern nations, and forming a kind of language which, although it may appear to us fanciful and dark, was well understood, and made a strong impression on those who were accustomed to it. — This higher kind of metaphorical language claims particular attention, because it is that in which the divine revelations, especially those concerning future events, were communicated to mankind, and in which they still remain recorded in scripture. Wherefore, to shew the influence which picture-writing, particularly of the symbolical kind, had to introduce into the ancient languages the boldest, and in the opinion of modern nations the most extravagant metaphors, the following examples are proposed to the reader's consideration.

1. A supreme ruler being represented in symbolical writing by a man with four wings, and his lieutenants or princes by one with two wings ; and the stretching out of his wings signifying action or design, (Divine Leg. b. iv. sect. 4.), the names of these symbols were naturally used in the ancient languages for the things signified by them.

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