APOCRYPHAL LITERATURE. The word "Apocry pha" comes from the Greek apocryphos, "hidden," which is the equivalent of a Hebrew term derived from a root meaning "to store up" (ganaz) ; it means also "to store up in secret," and in the technical sense, used in reference to looks, it meant "to with draw from use." But the books in reference to which this term was used by the Jewish religious leaders were such as contained heretical teaching; they never used it in reference to the books of the Bible or of our Apocrypha ; when they applied the word to any of these it was not to the book as such, but to the particu lar copy of it, because it happened to be worn by use, or damaged in some way, and therefore was unfit to be used in public service. The Greek word apocryphos was originally used of books the con tents of which were kept hidden, or secret, because they embodied the special teaching of religious or philosophical sects; it was only the members of these sects who were initiated into the secrets of this teaching. So that both these terms were used in reference to books, which, for different reasons, were withheld from public use. Origen (he died in A.D. 254) was the first to apply the word "apocryphal" to books used by the Church ; he says that he borrowed his terminology from the Jews, and his use of apocry phos entirely corresponds with the Jewish use of ganaz. Both used these terms, respectively, not to the books of the Bible nor to those of the Apocrypha, but to what we call Pseudepigrapha, i.e., largely apocalyptic books, but also many others. It was not until the time of Jerome (he died in A.D. 420) that the word "apocryphal" was used in a new sense; he was the first to apply it to the books of our Apocrypha. The term was an unfortunate one to use in reference to these books, and it did not at first command general approval. But by degrees, owing to his great authority on the subject of sacred literature, Jerome's nomencla ture was adopted in the Western Church; and this has continued ever since. Thus it has happened that we call the sacred books of the second rank the "Apocrypha," though there is not, nor ever has been, anything "hidden" about them or their teaching.