[The following passage is a footnote to "On the Interpretation of Types" from Horne's An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, which was standard reading for those studying for the ministry in most Protestant denominations during the nineteenth century. George P. Landow]
Before an alphabet was invented, and what we call literary writing was formed into an art, men had no way to record their conceptions, or to convey them to others at a distance, but by setting down the figures and tropes of such things as were the objects of their contemplation. Hence, the way of writing in picture was as universal, and almost as early, as the way of speaking in metaphor; and from the same reason, the necessity of the thing. In process of time, and through many successive improvements, this rude and simple modeof picture-writing was succeeded by that of symbols, or was enlarged at least and enriched by it. Bishop Hurd's Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies, serm. ix. [Works, V, 238.]
Bibliography
Thomas Hartwell Horne. An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. 7th ed. 4 vols. London: T. Cadell, 1834. II, 527-34.