Of the same character are also the Book of Enoch, the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Assumption of Moses, etc., which, as well as 3 and 4 Esdras, being by many considered as the actions of Christians of the second and third cen turies, it is doubtful whether they ought to be classed in the Apocrypha of the Old or of the New Testament. Origen, however, believed the New Testament to have contained citations from books of this kind written before the times of the apostles, and in reference to such observes, in his preface to the Canticles, 'This, however, is manifest, that many passages are cited either by the apostles or the evangelists, and inserted in the New Testament, which we do not read in those Scriptures of the Jews which we call canon ical, but which are nevertheless found in apoc ryphal books, or are taken from them. But this will give no authority to apocryphal writings, for the bounds which our fathers have fixed are not to be removed; and possibly the apostles and evangelists, full of the Holy Ghost, might know what should be taken out of those Scriptures and what not. But we, who have not such a measure of the Spirit, cannot, without great danger, pre sume to act in that manner.' Then, in his Letter to planus, he observes that there were many things kept from the knowledge of the public, but which were preserved in the hidden or apocryphal books, to which he refers the passage (Heb. xi: 37), 'They were sawn asunder.' (4) Apocryphal Books of the New Testa ment. The apocryphal books of the New Testa ment are not destitute of interest. Although the spurious Acts extant have no longer any defend ers of their genuineness, they are not without their value to the Biblical student, and have been applied with success to illustrate the style and language of the genuine books, to which they bear a close analogy. The American translator
of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History terms them 'harmless and ingenious fictions, intended either to gratify the fancy or to silence the enemies of Christianity.' The mass of Christians who have neither time nor other means of satisfying them selves must confide, in questions of this kind, either in the judgment of the learned, or the testi mony at least, if not the authority, of the Church; and it ought to he a matter of much thankfulness to the private Christian that the researches of the most learned and diligent inquirers have con spired, in respect to the chief books of Scripture, in adding the weight of their evidence to the testimony of the Church Universal.
(5) Apocryphal Books of the Old Testa ment. The following are the principal apocryphal (or spurious) hooks of the Old Testament which have descended to our times. The greater number of them can scarcely be considered as properly belonging to the Apocrypha of the Old Testament. as they have been most probably written since the Christian era, and not before the second cen tury: APOLLONLA(ap'oblo'ni-a), (Gr. 'Ar0XXcepla, aft ol-M-nee'ah ), a city of Macedonia, in the province of Mygdonia (l'lin. iv:17), situated between Am phipohs and Thessalonica, about twenty-eight miles from the former and thirty-three from the latter (Miner. 21 Won.). St. Paul passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia on his way to Tltessa lonica (Acts xvii:O.