This was very plentiful among the Jews, the written law being supplemented by the oral (or spoken) law, which consisted in the tradition of the elders handed down from generation to generation. It often made the word of God void by limiting it or adding to it. This the Lord pointed out again and again Matt. 15, Mark 7). It is to be feared that even now tradition and the law of precedent has not wholly ceased to govern and guide the church of God, instead of the word alone.