ment to the first century C.E.; at what precise time in the second century the Christian material was added it is not easy to determine.*

The Fourth Book of Ezra (Esdras). In English editions of the Bible or Apocrypha this book is entitled the SecondBook of Ezra. It circulated largely among the Eastern Christians, and has been handed down in various languages, the oldest version being Latin. The original may have been Greek. Of the sixteen chapters critics agree in treating chaps. i., ii., and chaps. xv., xvi., as later additions. The remainder constitutes a Jewish book of Seven Visions, which we will examine in order. First Vision.-" In the thirtieth year after the ruin of the city [Jerusalem]," begins the dreamer, "I was in Babylon, and lay troubled upon my bed, and my thoughts came up over my heart, for I saw the desolation of Zion." He reviews the changeful history of Israel, and laments the triumph of wicked Babylon. The angel Uriel enters, rebukes Ezra for his despondency, and compares him with a restless ocean which desires to invade the land, and a forest which wishes to cover the sea; for so is the man who dares to pry into God's purposes. But in due time God will put an end to the reign of iniquity. Signs will forewarn men of this deliverance-blood shall drop out of wood, the Dead Sea shall cast out fish and utter an ominous sound. Second Vision.-Again Ezra grieves, and is again silenced by the angel, who informs him that Esau presided over the age now passing away, and Jacob will begin a new age. Other tokens of the end of the world are added; the books of judgment will open; women will bear untimely births, which yet shall live; and crops shall disappear from the fields. Third Vision.-Ezra recalls God's creative works, among which he numbers the production of two monsters, Behemoth and Leviathan. He is told by the angel that the righteous will pass through a narrow path of pain to a wide inheritance of bliss. At the divine season, says the revealing voice, "My son ["Jesus" has been interpolated by a Christian hand], the Anointed One, will appear with his retinue, and he will diffuse joy among

*Schürer's "Jewish People," div. ii., vol iii.; Deane's " Pseudepigraphia." Mr. Deane regards the whole book as a Nazarene production, and denies interpolation.

those that are spared, and that for four hundred years. And at the expiry of those years, my Son, the Anointed One, will die—he and all who have the breath of life." A seven-days' silence will ensue, and then the dead will rise, the Most High will sit in judgment, the righteous will go up to the city of paradise, where grows the tree of life, and where their faces will shine as the sun, while the wicked will go down to the lake of torment, the abode of fire and everlasting sorrow. Few shall be saved; nor will the intercessions of the righteous avail on behalf of the wicked.* Fourth Vision. -Ezra beholds Zion under the guise of a weeping woman. She tells how, after thirty (or 3,000) years, she had borne a son-the Temple of Solomon-who, on the day of his marriage, fell dead in the bridal-chamber-i.e., the Temple was destroyed. The woman vanishes, and in her place stands the restored city. Fifth Vision.-This dream gives a clue to the date of the book of Ezra. Over the broad earth flies a huge eagle, three-headed, twelve-winged, and with eight lesser wings. The eagle represents an empire, the heads and wings stand. for rulers. One by one the wings erect themselves in token of sovereignty, and then disappear, until only a few remain. The right head devours the left. A lion, the Anointed One, upbraids the eagle for its tyranny. The last wings drop off, the head dissolves, the body of the eagle is burned. Assuredly by the eagle we must understand the Roman Empire. Scholars give various interpretations of the wings and heads. Possibly the wings denote a line of rulers and generals from Cæsar onwards, and the three heads mean the three Flavian emperors, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian. Without naming a precise year we may, with fair certainty, accept the book as a composition of the last quarter of the first century. Sixth Vision.-Messiah rises out of a tempestuous sea, and awaits on a mountain the attack of an innumerable host of foes. He slays them with his flaming breath. People approach him, some glad, some depressed, some in chains. They are the ten tribes of Israel, returning from exile. Seventh Vision.-Ezra is warned that the world

* This part of the vision is contained in a passage long lost, but now restored under the designation of the Missing Fragment. It appears in the "Speaker's Commentary."

nears its end. He drinks a fiery and inspiring liquid, and then is able to dictate from memory the contents of all the holy books. These are written out by five scribes, who take no rest for forty days and nights. The books number ninety-four-twenty-four for public use, and seventy for secret reading by the wise. By the twenty-four appear to be intended the books of the Old Testament.*

The Apocalypse of Baruch.-Irenæus quotes from Papias a saying to the effect that, in Messiah's days, the vine shall have a thousand branches, each branch a thousand bunches, each bunch a thousand grapes, and each grape shall yield a cor of wine (about 60,000 gallons). Wittingly or unwittingly Papias drew this wild conception from the Jewish Apocalypse of Baruch. The book, originally Greek, is now extant in an ancient Syriac manuscript. Noticeable resemblances between this Apocalypse and the visions of Ezra give rise to the theory that one (which one is undecided) borrowed from the other. We may consider it as belonging to the latter part of the first century. It bears deep traces of the national mourning over the fall of the Holy City.

The Revelation embraces seven sections. First section.— To Baruch, the disciple of the prophet Jeremiah, comes the word of the Lord announcing the impending ruin of Jeru salem. The sacred vessels of the Temple are hidden underground (see p. 74 as to the hidden Ark). Four angels throw down the walls. The Chaldæans take the citizens captive. Second section.-Baruch gives vent to his grief, and God consoles him with the prospect of a day of compensation. Third section.-God tells of a period of tribulation which shall pass through twelve stages, and influence the whole earth. Messiah will come to set up an earthly kingdom, and then again to bring in a heavenly kingdom. Fourth section.-Under the similes of a mountain, forest, stream, vine, and cedar God portrays a succession of governments which shall precede the appearance of Messiah on the hill of Zion. Fifth section. The punishments and rewards of the two departments in the future world are revealed. Sixth section.-A thunder-cloud lowers, and a series of showers represent scenes in Hebrew history from

* Schürer's "Jewish People,' div. ii., vol. iii.; "Speaker's Commentary;" Drummond's "Jewish Messiah."

Adam to Messiah.

At Messiah's advent all woe shall cease,

and bliss and peace extend over the happy earth. Seventh section.-Baruch dispatches two letters, one to his brethren in Babylon, and the other, by means of an eagle, to the nine and a half tribes that dwell in captivity beyond the Euphrates. These letters hold out the promise of ultimate salvation. It is worth while to draw up some notes of certain elements in this Apocalypse. The voice of God speaks directly to Baruch, as well as by the lips of an angel. While Esdras makes Adam the source of human sinfulness, Baruch asserts that Adam was the cause of guilt to his own soul only. Baruch's Messiah undergoes no suffering. He crushes the dominion of Rome and bestows glory on restored Israel. A Golden Age brings health and painless childbirth, and renders wild beasts and serpents innocuous. The carcases of the monstrous Behemoth and Leviathan shall serve as food to the happy people, and wine (as above mentioned) shall come in copious supplies from the vines. In this kingdom pious Gentiles will be included. At length a Second Advent will take place; all the dead shall rise. The righteous will inhabit the New Jerusalem, and the wicked, after a brief glimpse of the glory of the just, will be hurried into eternal fire.

Passages occur in Baruch which bear no small similarity to Christian utterances, such as:- "Ye bridegrooms, enter not into your chambers; ye women, pray not that ye may bear children" (Matt. xxiv. 19); "If this were the only life which men have, nothing could be more miserable" (1 Cor. xv. 19); "Blessed is my mother among them that bear children; praised shall she be among women" (Luke i. 42); "For what gain have men lost their life, and what have they, who were once on earth, given in exchange for their soul?" (Matt. xvi. 25, 26). The author of Baruch and the Christian evangelists may have taken such sayings from the conversation of religious circles, or the gospels may have substantially copied these expressions from Baruch. Other words and phrases common to Baruch and the New Testament are: Faithful," ," "Those who believe," "The written law," ""Promise of the life to come,' ," "Saved in his works."*

* Drummond's "Jewish Messiah ;" Schürer's "Jewish People," div. ii., vol. iii.; Deane's "Pseudepigraphia.

The Martyrdom of Isaiah.—This Jewish legend, of which the chief existing version is in Ethiopic, tells how Sammael (Satan) entered into King Manasseh, and seduced him to the worship of Berial (or Belial, another name for Satan), angels, and stars. Manasseh patronised magic, and persecuted those who served the Lord. Isaiah and other prophets fled to the mountains and lived on herbs. After two years Isaiah was arrested, and put to death by being sawn asunder. During his execution he withstood the temptations of Beliar, and "continued in converse with the Holy Spirit." The legend, as thus recorded, may date from any period of the first century. A Christian author has attached to it a piece known as the "Ascension of Isaiah," or "Vision of Isaiah." Isaiah passes through the seven spheres of heaven, beholding, on his journey, the firmamental wars waged by Sammael, and angels and thrones. In the sixth heaven he hears angelic voices invoking the "First," the Father, the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit. Isaiah's death on a tree is foreshadowed to him. In the seventh heaven he sees Adam, Abel, Enoch, and all the Saints; and he is informed that the Son of God will be slain on a tree, and descend into Hades, and escape the hands of Sammael, and return to earth, and ascend to the seventh heaven. Next he watches the Lord and the Angel of the Holy Spirit both worshipping God Almighty; but the time will come when the Lord Christ will sit on God's right hand, and the Angel of the Holy Spirit on the left.

This second portion may have been written early in the second century. The combined documents were afterwards added to and interpolated by Christian revisers.*

16. The Teaching of the Apostles (The Didache).—On account of its importance we consider the Didache separately, though it resembles the "Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs" in the fact that its Jewish groundwork has been

* Deane's "Pseudepigraphia;" Schürer's "Jewish People," div. ii., vol. iii. A reference to the coming of Berial, the Prince of this World, is believed to point to Nero; and Deane considers this part of the book as dating in 69. A singular theory, broached in part iii. (1896) of Hilgenfeld's Zeitschrift, finds in the book an allusion to Peter's martyrdom in Rome, and places the Neronian section in the period 64-68 C.E.