and which
waited upon the twelve captains raise the number to three hundred
thousand, the amount required to reconcile the two statements.

In reading the following tracts it should be borne in mind that the
meaning in many places is more implied than expressed.(7) Often an idea is
taken for granted, which patient continuance in reading can alone bring to
light. The subjects to which these tracts refer should first be studied in
the Bible; because after such study the restless subtlety of the Rabbis in
"binding heavy burdens on men's shoulders" can be more fully discerned. It
is desirable to look on these writings from this point of observation;
just as on some mountain top one looks not only at the gold which the
morning sun pours on grass and flower, but also on the deep valley where
the shadows still rest, that one may the more sensibly feel how glorious
the sun is. The whole theory of this second, or Oral Law, has arisen from
inattention to the express statement of Moses: "These words (the ten
commandments) the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of
the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a
great voice: AND HE ADDED NO MORE" (Deut. v. 22). And it tends to nullify
the declaration of the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel, "For unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given; and he has taken the law upon himself to
keep it" (Isaiah ix. 6).

In concluding this introduction it is perhaps well to glance briefly at
the age in which the Talmud grew to its present state. It was a period of
great activity and thought. Old systems of debasing superstition were
breaking up and passing away. A new faith had arisen to regenerate man.
The five centuries which followed the appearing of our Saviour in this
world were filled with religious and political events which still make
their vibrations felt. From the destruction of Jerusalem and the overthrow
of the Jewish polity, an impulse was given to those political changes
which have since gone on without intermission among the nations of the
earth. From the overthrow of the Jewish Temple an impulse was given to
religious earnestness which, often from wrong, often from right motives,
has increased, and will increase, as the great consummation draws nigh.

While the Rabbis were laboring at their gigantic mental structure, while
generation after generation of their wisest and most patriotic men were
accumulating materials to build the tower which b