The Talmud was a cyclopædia treating of every subject, even down to gardening and the manual arts; it depicts incidentally the social life of the people, not of the Jews alone, but of other nations also. It is enlivened by parables, jests, and fairy-tales, ethical sayings, and proverbs; the style is now poetical, anon sublime; and there may be gathered amid its wilderness of themes “some of the richest and most precious fruits of human thought and fancy.” After two unsuccessful attempts, the Talmud was finally systemized in a code by the Saint Jehuda (about 200 A.D.). A remarkable correspondence exists between it and the Gospel writings, explained by the fact that both reflect in a measure the same times. (_Read Sekles’s “Poetry of the Talmud.”_) EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD. “Turn the Bible and turn it again, for everything is in it. Bless God for the evil as well as the good. When you hear of a death, say‘Blessed is the righteous Judge.’ Even when the gates of heaven are shut to prayer, they are open to tears. When the righteous die, it is the earth that loses. The lost jewel will always be a jewel, but the possessor who has lost it—well may he weep. Life is a passing shadow, says the Scripture. Is it the shadow of a tower, of a tree? A shadow that prevails for a while? No, it is the shadow of a bird in his flight; away flies the bird, and there is neither bird nor shadow. Teach thy tongue to say,‘I do not know.’ If a word spoken in its time is worth one piece of money, silence in its time is worth two. The ass complains of the cold even in July. Four shall not enter Paradise: the scoffer, the liar, the hypocrite, and the slanderer. To slander is to murder. The camel wanted to have horns, and they took away his ears. Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend’s friend has a friend: be discreet. The soldiers fight, and the kings are heroes. Love your wife like yourself, honor her more than yourself. Whoso lives unmarried, lives without joy, without comfort, without blessing. He who forsakes the love of his youth, God’s altar weeps for him. It is woman alone through whom God’s blessings are vouchsafed to a house. She teaches the children, speeds the husband to the place of worship, welcomes him when he returns, keeps the house godly and pure, and God’s blessings rest upon all these things. He who marries for money, his children shall be a curse to him. Men should be careful lest they cause women to weep, for God counts their tears. The world is saved by the breath of school-children. When the thief has no opportunity of stealing, he considers himself an honest man. The thief invokes God while he breaks into the house. Get your living by skinning carcasses in the street, if you cannot otherwise; and do not say,‘I am a great man, this work would not befit my dignity.’ Not the place honors the man, but the man the place. Youth is a garland of roses; age is a crown of thorns.