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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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TAL'MUD, n. The body of the Hebrew laws, traditions and explanations; or the book that contains them. The Talmud contains the laws, and a compilation of expositions of duties imposed on the people, either in Scripture, by tradition, or by authority of their doctors, or by custom. It consists of two parts, the Mischna, and the Gemara; the former being the written law, the latter a collection of traditions and comments of Jewish doctors.
The body of the Jewish civil and canonical law not comprised in the
Pentateuch.
* The Talmud consists of two parts, the Mishna, or text, and the Gemara, or commentary. Sometimes, however, the name Talmud is restricted, especially by Jewish writers, to the Gemara. There are two Talmuds, the Palestinian, commonly, but incorrectly, called the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Babylonian Talmud. They contain the same Mishna, but different Gemaras. The Babylonian Talmud is about three times as large as the other, and is more highly esteemed by the Jews. | ||||||||