application and relative bearings could have been written, especially in the expectation of approaching death. Moses would therefore, it is supposed, content himself with delivering them traditionally to Joshua, enjoining on him that he should teach them without adding to or diminishing from their number. In like manner it is asserted in the traditions of the fathers, that Joshua taught them to the elders, the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the great Synod.

SECTION LXXV.

The Synod, or, in the Greek language, the Sanhedrin, consisted of seventy persons, who were selected from the wisest and best of the nation; their president was styled the prince, and their meetings were held at Jerusalem. From this ecclesiastical court, which was considered to be entrusted with the duty of watching over and expounding the Law, the traditions to which we have referred were supposed to have been handed down, and thus transmitted, orally, from generation to generation until the time of Ezra, the wisest and best of the land, when one hundred and twenty sages met and framed these bye-laws, as necessary defences and

barriers against the encroachments which might be made either upon its letter or its spirit.

Schools and colleges appear at the same time to have been founded in different places, over which professors, deeply versed in Jewish law, presided. Judges were then appointed, who gave their decision in all matters of dispute, and whose office also it was to enforce the authority and obligation of the Law, and to expound its meaning according to the oral testimonies which they had received.

[Those traditions are not accepted in the same manner by the Jews of the reformed ritual. They believe that the Mishna contains a true account of many practices and customs that prevailed in the second temple; but they do not regard the Mishna in any other light than a compilation by uninspired men, whose motives were pure, but whose judgment was often at fault. Whilst, therefore, they observe many rabbinical precepts, they perform them because they are good in themselves, and not because they possess any binding religious authority. The only infallible authority recognized by those who are called the reformed Israelites is the Holy Bible.]

SECTION LXXVI.

In succeeding ages disputes and differences of interpretation arose; then verbal explanations were necessarily, from the infirmities of the human mind, somewhat obscure and imperfect. Occasionally the teachers of the Law omitted some doctrines and precepts through forgetfulness, and added others as supplementary; some who were possessed of more extensive knowledge explained the precepts in a new sense, or gave them a different application to meet new contingencies which arose, whilst others undesignedly corrupted the testimonies which they had received. The confusion thus occasioned became alarming; disputes and dissensions increased, the integrity of the Law was threatened, and it was necessary that some degree of uniformity in discipline and doctrine should be restored. To increase the danger, the teachers of the Law became reduced in numbers, through the oppressions of the people, and hence arose the emergency, giving rise to the collection and arrangement of these Laws into a more concise and harmonious system. Rabbi Judah Hanassi com

piled (3980 A.M.) all the doctrines, explanations, and judgments which had been given in past ages, and committed them to writing, in the form of short sentences, noting the differences which then existed on controverted points; he also occasionally gave his own decision, whilst he left others undecided. All these writings are contained in six books, which, collectively, are styled the Mishna, which means the repetition of the Law. It may be urged that this was contrary to the letter of the Law, but the circumstances to which we have referred must be regarded as extenuatory, and justifying the act, and it is obvious that there are times when necessity requires the suspension of obedience to a precept, to preserve the integrity of the whole Law, or that of an essential portion of it.

SECTION LXXVII.

THE TALMUD.

The effort made, however, was unsuccessful, as in a short time the same difficulty and danger to the interests of religion were felt. The Mishna, with all its excellencies, was too brief, many matters were left un

determined, and some were unintelligible without additional explanations. A hundred and eighty years elapsed and the evil was unremedied, when, at that period (4160 A.M.), Rabbi Jochanan compiled the Jerusalem Talmud, and a hundred years later (4260 A.M.), two eminently learned and pious men, Rabina and Rabashii, collected again the traditions of the past, explained them more fully, and illustrated them so that they might become intelligible. This work, which is styled the Babylonian Talmud, divided into thirty-six books, contains the explanation of texts of Scripture, the code of moral, civil, and ceremonial laws, much useful information in arts and sciences, disquisitions on moral and social virtue, and rules for conduct in life. These are all scattered in rich profusion, but with less order, amongst the treasures of the book, which may be entitled a universal cyclopædia.

SECTION LXXVIII.

The Talmud has been assailed and calumniated at different times by the friends and enemies of Judaism. Its friends have contended that some of the doctrines