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Apocalyptic Writings

writings such as, like the prophecies of Daniel, their prototype, set forth in a figurative and pictorial manner the future progress and completion of the world's history, especially in its religious aspect.

The two apocalyptic books received into the canon of Scripture are the books of Daniel and the Apocalypse especially socalled, the Revelation of St. John. But Jewish and early Christian literature produced numerous apocalypses from about 170 B. c. to 130 A. D. The Book of Enoch is the best known of the noncanonical Jewish apocalypses; it dates from the later Maccabee period; another is the apocalypse of Ezra. The "Shepherd of Hermas" is the most important Christian work of this kind.

APOCRYPHA (a-pok'rif-a), in the early Christian Church, (1) books published anonymously; (2) those suitable for private rather than public reading; (3) those written by an apostle or other inspired author, but not regarded as part of Scripture; (4) the works of heretics.

In English now, the following 14 books: I, 1 Esdras; II, 2 Esdras; III, Tobit; IV. Judith; V. Additions to Esther; VI, The Wisdom of Solomon; VII, Ecclesiasticus, called also the Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach; VIII, Baruch; IX, The Song of the Three Holy Children; X, The History of Susanna; XI, Bel and the Dragon; XII, The Prayer of Manas- APOGEE seh, King of Juda; XIII, 1 Maccabees; and XIV, 2 Maccabees. Most of the above-mentioned books were composed during the two centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ, though some were penned, or at least interpolated, at a later period. They were written not in Hebrew or Aramæan, but in Greek; and the Jews never accorded them a place in the Old Testament canon.

They were inserted in the Septuagint, and thence passed to the Latin Vulgate.

The Christian fathers are divided in sentiment as to their value and the relation they stood to the canonical Old Testament books. The question whether or not they were inspired remained an open one till the Reformation. Wyclif, Luther, and Calvin were against them.

The Council of Trent, on April 8, 1546, placed them on an equal level with Scripture, anathematizing all who held the contrary opinion. Portions of them are in the New as well as in the Old Lectionary of the English Church. The Westminster Confession of Faith, the formulated creed of the Presbyterian Church, regards them as simply human writings. The several apocryphal books are of unequal merit; I Maccabees is a highly valuable history; while Bel and the Dragon is a monstrous fable. They throw much light on the religious opinions and the political state of the Jews before the advent of Christ. The Greek Church prohibits their use.

APOCYNACEÆ (ap-ō-sin-as'ē-i), an order of plants, the English dog-banes.

Of 100 known genera only one, vinca, is found in England; the rest are to be found in warmer countries.