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Rh and compiled by Hillel, and is a very useful book for scholars.

The next in point of value is the Tosephta. This word in the Hebrew means "treatment," and contains mainly the ritual of the temple service. It is a very extensive work, and is really a regulator of human life, containing the dealings of husband and wife, parent and child, master and pupil; in fact, it enters into all the details of life with such thoughtfulness and in such a beautiful style that it should be exceedingly interesting to the young. It certainly contains the finest system of morals in the world.

Then comes the Mechilta, which means "government" in the Hebrew language. This book tells of the organization of the Sanhedrim and its powers—both the greater and the less, the greater to be composed of seventy and the less of twenty-four. These two legislative bodies had jurisdiction of the whole of the Jewish commonwealth. Although they possessed great power, it was not absolute. There was another court that exercised the highest authority of the nation. That was the court of elders and priests. This court consisted of twelve men, and its chairman was the high priest. It decided all appeals, and could not be appealed from. This is the court that tried Jesus of Nazareth; and although it was a court of appeals, it had exclusive jurisdiction of capital crimes.

I will give the form of a trial of an accused in this court, as it is given in Mechilta. At the time