APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS.*

THE title of the first book on our list is, we must confess, not altogether to our taste. That our Lord grew in wisdom as he grew in stature, is as much an article of faith with those who believe in his divinity as with -those who cannot see in him more than the perfection of humanity. That this growing meant learning, and implies the fact that at one time he knew more than at another, is obvious. But here perhaps it would be as well to stop. That there was in the human Christ the permanent conscious indwelling of the divine omniscience, we cannot believe. It really means Apollinarism. Apollinaris attributed to Christ the human body and the irrational soul ,(or life-essence), but denied the rational spirit, the place of which was, he maintained, supplied by the divine Logos. To hold that this rational spirit existed but was lost, so to speak, in the unceasing effulgence of the divine intelligence, comes practically to the same thing. But the relation between the human and the divine it is clearly impossible to define ; and it seems better to leave undetermined, as part of a truth beyond our fathoming, all the processes of the human growth, and with them whatever may be implied by such a word as "influenced." Mr. Thomson writes in his introduction to much the same effect; he has only been a little unhappy in his choice of a title.

And when we come to examine the conclusions at which he arrives, we find that he does not succeed in making out any- thing which would justify the use of the word, at least as far as our Lord is concerned. The chief, one might almost say the only thing established, is that the title " Son of Man," which occurs some sixty times in the Gospels, as applied by our Lord to himself, is found in the Book of Enoch as a title of the Messiah. The "Book," or rather "Books," for it appears not to be the work of a single pen, may be assigned to the second century B.C. In the Old Testament, the phrase is found in the prophecies of Ezekiel only, where it occurs nearly a hundred times. Its significance in the mouth of our Lord depends upon its employment in a Messianic sense by the author or authors of Enoch." It is peculiarly interesting when we find that the special function of the Messiah which it is used to denote is that of judgment. In the second of the three " parables," Enoch sees the Ancient of Days, and "with Him a second, whose countenance was full of gentleness, who was like a man, and yet like one of the holy angels." He asks who is this second, and he is told that he is the Son of Man, "who hath righteousness, and all righteous- ness dwelleth with Him, and all secret treasures of hidden knowledge He revealeth, because the Lord of Spirits hath -chosen Him." As the vision continues, he sees the throne „set for judgment, and the Son of Man called before the Lord of Spirits. An expression which at first sight has -a remarkable appearance, to the effect that the saints rejoice because their prayers have been heard, and the "blood of the Just One has been demanded before the Lord of Spirits," pro- bably means nothing more than that the day of judgment is the day of vengeance for the souls of the righteous which, to use the language of the Apocalypse, "cry from under the altar."

It is an interesting coincidence that this "Book of Enoch"

• (1.) Books tchich Influenced Our Lord and His Apostles. By John E. H. Thomson, B.D. Edinburgh : T. and T. Clark. 1891.—(2.) Pseudepiorapha. By the Rev. William J. Deane, M.A. Edinburgh : T. and T. Clark. 1891.- (3.) The Psalms of Solomon. By Herbert Edward Ryle, M.A., and Montague abodes James, 1,1.A.. Cambridge : University Press. 1891.

is quoted by St. Jude. This is a legitimate example of "influence." The writer of the Epistle sees in the language of this prophecy, as he regards it, a confirmation of his hope in the ultimate triumph of good over evil. To suppose that the words which he cites are a genuine utterance of the ante- diluvian Enoch, embedded amongst the inventions of a later age, is to make a quite unnecessary assumption. St. Jude was not more critical than his contemporaries—probably he could not have discharged his function as a teacher if he had been —and he adopts, or perhaps only acquiesces in, the current opinion which accepted the prophecy as the utterance of the patriarch. We may, indeed, conclude that he was a student of the literature of which the Book of Enoch forms a part,—a literature which Mr. Thomson maintains, not without much reason, to have been current among the Essenes. In the course of the very brief writing which bears his name, he makes a quotation from a similar book, "The Assumption of Moses." It is true that the particular quotation is not to be found in the fragment which now alone represents this writing. The words cited from it by Clemens Alexandrinus are also absent. But, as Mr. Thomson puts it, "the point at which the book stops indicates that in what followed the references made by Clemens Alexandrinus and by Jude would have been found." The frag- ment contains a half, or, according to another estimate, a third of the original. It is in Latin, and is a translation made, and very ignorantly made, from the Greek. Mr. Thomson, however, believes, and gives good reason for believing, that the Greek was itself a translation from an Aramaic original. He places the date of the book at A.D. 6, a conclusion in which Mr.

Deane generally agrees, though he is inclined to extend the possible time as far as A.D. 33. The book seems to have no further connection with the New Testament writings, unless we are to suppose that the word psalm- (Moses speaks of him- self as having been appointed a mediator) was borrowed from it.

Of course it is always possible, where books have the same or similar subjects, to see a relationship in what is merely a coincidence. It is just possible that the episode of "The Woman taken in Adultery," a passage, it will be remembered, of doubtful authenticity (the Revisers "bracket" it), may be connected with the Psalter of Solomon. In this (iv., 2-3), the writer, speaking of some one who sat in the Sanhedrim, thus expresses himself :—

"He surpasseth in words, yea in outward show he surpasseth all ; he is austere in speech when he condemneth sinners in judgment. And his hand is first upon the sinnei, as though he were full of zeal; yet he himself is guilty ; because of all manner of wickedness, and because of incontinence."

Another parallel to this might be found in Romans ii., 22;

but it is more probable that the resemblances are accidental, or rather, due to the nature of the subject. Certainly, when Mr. Thomson suggests a reference to Plato in our Lord's reply to the rich young ruler—" Why askest thou me con- cerning [the] good P"—we are brought to the verge of extravagance.

Apart from this question of resemblances, accidental or

designed, there is no little interest in the writings of which the Book of Enoch and the Psalter of Solomon are the most important specimens. Mr. Thomson treats with much fullness

the Apocalypse of Baruch, which he attributes to a Palestinian Jew, living, he thinks at Engedi, somewhere in the course of the first century B.C. "The date of this book," he writes, "cannot be much after the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey in the year 63 B.C." Here, however, Mr. Deane differs from him very widely. He regards it as post-Christian, and assigns to it the date of A.D. 90. The writer speaks of a desolation of Jerusalem, but not, Mr. Thomson thinks, of a desolation so complete as that which followed the victory of Titus. Another book is "The Book of Jubilee." Here again our authorities differ, Mr. Thomson assigning the date at from B.C. 5 to A.D. 6, and Mr. Deane inclining to about half-a- century later.

The "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs," a manifestly post-Christian document, does not come within the scope of Mr. Thomson's work ; but Mr. Deane gives a full account of it,

fixing the date between A.D. 70 and A.D. 130, the later year being determined by an argument which is perhaps not wholly satisfactory, that "the Jewish priesthood is spoken of as still existing, which could not have been the case after Hadrian's demolition of Jerusalem in punishment of the revolt of Bar-Cocheba, A.D. 135." An early date would be

of great importance, if, as Mr. Deane thinks, there are ex- pressions in "The Testament of Benjamin" which imply that "the writings of the New Testament, especially the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul, had been collected into a volume."

It will have been seen, then, that Mr. Thomson confines him- self to books which, having been presumably written before the Christian era, or immediately after its commencement, may have been read by Christ and his Apostles ; while Mr. Deane extends his inquiry to other works of a kindred character, but later date. Both volumes, though dealing with the subject in a scientific spirit, are intended for the general reader of theology.

The third book on our list is a complete critical edition of one of the writings, " The Psalms of Solomon," or "Psalms of the Pharisees," and is meant for the use of the professional student. The Prolegomena, which extend to nearly a hundred pages, give a history of the document, of the editions, notices in antiquity, and manuscripts (which are carefully arranged in families), with essays on the date and authorship, Jewish parties in relation to the religions thought of the book, the Idea of the Messiah as seen in it, and other cognate matters in it. The text is accompanied by an English translation, and by a continuous annotation. A specimen of the translation will give our readers an idea of the character of the Psalms, the passage selected being one of the most important as marking beyond doubt the time of writing and the animus of the author. The writer has seen Jerusalem brought low :—

" And I beheld and I entreated the face of the Lord, and said : Enough, 0 Lord; let not thy hand be any more heavy upon Jerusalem, in bringing the Gentiles upon her. For they mocked, and spared her not in their wrath and anger and vengeance. And they will be utterly consumed, unless thou, 0 Lord, rebuke them in thy wrath, For they have done it not in zeal, but in the lust of their soul, That they might pour out their anger in rapine. Delay not, 0 God, to recompense it upon their heads, To turn the pride of the dragon to dishonour.' And I delayed not [I had not to wait long], until God showed me that insolent one, lying perched upon the high places of Egypt, made of less account than him that is least on earth and sea ; even his dead body lying corrupted upon the waves in great contempt ; and there was none to bury him."

The pathetic sight, the ingens litore truncus of the murdered Pompey, seemed to the patriotic Jew who had seen him intrude into the Holiest of Holies, a righteous vengeance. The "high places of Egypt" seems a strange expression, seeing that Pompey was murdered on the sea-shore, and 4,oledy

has been suggested for Opiwy : but the fact that Pompey was

buried on the Mons Cassius is justification enough for the reading of the manuscript.