Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 2.djvu/194

Rh 180 A P A P 8. The Apocalypse of Daniel has been published only in part (a little more than the half), by Tischendorf from Greek MSS., in St Mark s, Venice, and in Paris. The date of the document is determined by the monarch going to Jerusa lem to deliver up his kingdom to God, and being succeeded by his four sons, who reside in different and distant cities. 9. The Ascension and Vision of Isaiah. The first portion of the work called the Ascension of Isaiah in the Ethiopic text, gives an account of Isaiah s being put to death by the saw, under the reign and at the command of Manasseh. The prophet had had a vision respecting Christ, His cruci fixion and ascension, as well as of the general apostacy which should take place in the early churches, of the descent of Berial in the form of a matricidal king, the duration of his reign, the descent of the Lord from heaven to destroy the wicked, and cast the ungodly into the fire. For this vision and prophecy Isaiah is condemned, and dies the death of a martyr (chapters i.-v.) The second part (chapters vi.-xi.) is essentially the same as Isaiah s vision in iii. 14-iv. 22. The prophet is transported in an ecstatic state into the seven heavens successively, and describes what he sees in each, the chief object being Christ himself. It is not the future of Christianity and of the world which fills the mind of the seer, but the past, the first advent of Christ. The two divisions form distinct works. The first is based on the Jewish legend of Isaiah s martyrdom, and may be merely the Christian expansion of a Jewish writing embodying it. Indeed, with the exception of the Christian interpolations (i. 5, iii. 13-iv. 22), the whole is Jewish. Both Tertullian and Origen knew the martyrdom part of the document. The date must, therefore, be the 2d century. The second, or the Vision of Isaiah, properly so called, has a Gnostic colouring. Its christology bears a Docetic stamp. As it presupposes an acquaintance with the first it may have originated in the early part of the 3d century. Epiphanius speaks of it, and gives an extract. 1 Laurence published the Ethiopic text, with a Greek and Latin version, in 1819. The Greek original is lost ; and the Latin version, published at Venice in 1522, and again by Gieselerin 1832, is of late origin. Fragments of an older one were printed by Mai in his Veterum Scriptorum nova collectio, p. ii. 1828. Jolowicz translated it into German, 1854. See Liicke s Versuch einer vollstdndigcn Einlcitung in die 0/enbarung des Johannes, etc., das erste Buck. 10. The Shepherd of Hermas. This production belongs in a certain sense to the present class of writings, and is usually reckoned among the apostolic fathers. It is not, however, apocalyptic in the proper acceptation of the epithet, because it wants the form. The apocalyptic idea has a different phase. (See APOSTOLIC FATHERS.) The same remark applies to 11. The Testaments of the Tivelve Patriarchs. Many apocalyptic writings, both Jewish and Christian, are mentioned in ancient works of which nothing is now known. Time has swept them away beyond recovery. It would be useless to collect the scattered notices of them. Such as wish to see these notices may consult the articles of Dillmann and Hofmann, in the 12th volume of Herzog s Encyldopcedie, Liicke s Einleitimg, and the Prolegomena to Tischendorf s Apocalypses Apocrypha?, where he will find references to other works. Since the very able treatise of Bleek and the valuable publications of Gfrorer, which were followed by the masterly review of the whole subject in Liicke s second edition, the literature has greatly increased. Hilgenfeld and Volkmar, Ewald and Dillmann, Ceriani and Langen, Fritzsche, Gutschmid, Merx, and others, have thrown welcome light upon it. The line between Apocryphal and Apocalyptic literature 1 Hares., 67, 3, vol. ii., p. 175, ed. Migne. See also Hares., 40, 2. is not exact. The works now described are those which properly belong to the latter, and are extant, or have been published, if not entire, at least partially. Notices of many others lost or hidden occur in various sources and catalogues of MSS. belonging to public libraries. The apocalyptic idea passed into the life and belief of the church. It became an element of dogma and of morals, finding expression in works somewhat different from the proper apocalyptic. Taking a millennarian direction, using the typical extensively, developing eschatological ideas more or less fantastic, the apocalyptic element receded before other conceptions to which it had given rise. These, indeed, did not suppress it; they merely shaped and developed it into other forms, widening the sphere of its action, and giving it more realism. (s. D.) APOCRYPHA. This term is a Greek word meaning hidden, secret. It occurs, for example, in Col. ii. 3, &quot; In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,&quot; and elsewhere in the New Testament. It is first found ap plied to writings in Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, iii. c. 4. When applied to writings (airoKpv^a sc. /?t/3Ata) the name may be supposed to have first expressed the nature of their contents ; the writings were secret, embodying an esoteric teaching, profounder than that contained in the ordinary books of the system, and unknown to the ordi nary people who professed it. Such writings were held to exist in connection with almost all the ancient systems of religion. From the nature of the case, the same word might very well describe such writings further, either in respect of their use or in respect of their origin. In use these writings were, of course, like the doctrines they contained, private and secret ; they were not read in general meetings, and did not belong to the publicly recognised books of the system. Only some were admitted to the knowledge of them. That which formed the subject of public reference and instruction was the general doctrines of the system, while these peculiar and more recondite works were at most brought forward on rare occasions. And naturally the same secrecy which hung over their use generally also shrouded their origin. In some cases this might be a real mystery ; the books were sometimes of ancient and uncertain date, and their authorship unknown. But oftener the mystery was fictitious, created for the purpose of securing respect for the doctrines inculcated in the writings, which them selves were forgeries of very recent times. Works of this kind were of very common occurrence in the East during the centuries immediately preceding and following the birth of Christ. In order successfully to float them and give them impulse, they were generally launched under some ancient and famous name; and books existed, bearing to be the productions of almost every renowned patriarch or sage from Adam downwards. Even when sent out anonymously, and of an historical rather than a doctrinal character, the scene of their narratives was laid in far back times, and famous personages were introduced acting and speaking, the design being to recommend to the living generation the conduct pursued or the sentiments expressed by the ancient hero or saint. The term Apocrypha appears in this way to have passed through several stages of meaning, and from expressing a meaning good, or at least neutral, it came at last to have a very bad sense, differing very little from spurious. From the use of the word in ancient writers it does not appear that this progress from a good or indifferent to a bad sense was a matter of time, for the indifferent and bad meanings of the word seem to have existed side by side. Some ecclesiastical writers divide the sacred books into threo classes, recognising first, some that are canonical ; second, some that are not canonical, but of inferior value, profitable