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succession of of them no ond or third them, written though not ls, narrating wish history. ter than pure tre originally e have been the Greek.

to the Hebrew

the prophets, and in the New Testament. Although Solomon employs this representative mode of expression, the book neither claims to be an immediate communication from Jehovah, nor possesses that continuous indwelling Divine sense which characterises a "Word of the Lord." It is not quoted in the New Testament.

XXVI.-The Apocrypha,

In many of our English Bibles there is found a collection of writings placed by themselves, between the Old and New Testaments, having the above title. Its contents are, 1, Two Books of Esdras; 2, Tobit; 3, Judith; 4, Additions to the Book of Esther; 5, The Wisdom of Solomon; 6, Ecclesiasticus; 7, Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah; 8, Additions to the Book of Daniel; 9, The Prayer of Manasses; 10, The Books of the Maccabees. The term Apocrypha signifies what is hidden or secret. How it came to be associated with these works is doubtful. The most probable opinion appears to be that it grew out of the terminology of certain heathen sects, whose doctrines being "mysteries" were kept secret, together with the books containing them.

The date of several of these books is very uncertain. They are all later than the

time of Malachi, when the succession of prophets ceased, and some of them no doubt are as late as the second or third century after Christ. Most of them, written from 300 to 100 years B.C., though not inspired, are authentic annals, narrating interesting portions of later Jewish history. Others seem to be little better than pure fictions. Some of them were originally written in Hebrew, but none have been preserved to us except in the Greek. They were never admitted into the Hebrew Canon by the Jews of Palestine. When, however, the Alexandrine Jews came to prepare the Septuagint version, translating the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek, they added to them, also, as many of these Greek books as had then been written, without, however, claiming for them equal inspiration. In this form they passed over into the Christian Church. They were not regarded as any part of the Word, but as "ecclesiastical books," which might be usefully read for the edification of the Churches. Some of the Fathers of that early time made a threefold distinction in the sacred books, namely: 1, "The Perfect" (that is, the Law and Prophets or "Word"); 2, "The Middle" (that is, the Kethubim); 3, "The Imperfect" (namely, these Apocryphal books).

At the Council of Hippo, A.D. 393, these "ecclesiastical books" were formally in

cluded in the catalogue or canon of sacred books. The Eastern, or Greek and Russian Churches, also include them in their catalogues, but are in the habit of discriminating between different degrees of inspiration and authority. At the Reformation, the Protestant Churches unanimously rejected these books altogether from the sacred canon, and for just reasons.

The

Romish Church, on the other hand, at the Council of Trent, added this to her other errors: that she declared them, except Esdras and the Prayer of Manasses, as belonging to the Canon of Holy Scripture, pronouncing an anathema on all who should hold a contrary opinion.

In the collection which has come down to us, there appear but two Books of Maccabees. There are extant, however, five such books, the third and fourth, written also in Greek, and a fifth, preserved only in Arabic. Though of no authority to the Christian believer, it is of interest to the student of Biblical literature to have a knowledge of them. And we should be thankful to the Lord that in this day He has given us light whereby we may discriminate truly between a veritable "Word of the Lord," and the writings of pious men.

XXVII.-Ancient Versions and Commentaries.

1. The Samaritan Pentateuch. This was a copy of the Law, written in the ancient Hebrew, supposed to have been made for the use of the northern tribes, and to have been retained by them when the ten tribes revolted and became the kingdom of Israel. Thus, from the constant references made in the Books of Kings and Chronicles to Israel's departure from the Law, with occasional obedience to it, it is generally understood that Israel, like Judah, had its authentic and public copy of the Law deposited at its capital city. It is usually believed, too, that this copy was in the hands of the priest referred to in II. KINGS xvii. 27, 28, whom the King of Assyria sent to Samaria to instruct the people "in the manner of the God of the land"; and who came, consequently, "and taught them how they should fear the Lord."

This copy of the Pentateuch is repeatedly referred to by the early Christian Fathers Eusebius, Cyril of Alexandria, Jerome, and others -as existing in their day. For a thousand years it was supposed to have been lost. But in A.D. 1616, a copy of it was discovered in the East and sent to Paris; since then several other manuscripts of it have been recovered, and