the present volume we have sought to give to the general reader the most truly valuable and interesting of these, as well as the most celebrated. We begin with those Old Testament apocrypha which group themselves around Adam. These are, at least, of pre-Christian origin. They embody very old Hebraic traditions, and their picture of the earliest tragedy is as fascinating as it is pathetic.

We turn then to the most celebrated apocrypha of the Old Testament, those which have gathered around Enoch, the friend of God, and around Enoch's great-grandson Noah. The Book of Enoch, no matter what its origin, is one of the great religious visions and sermons of the world. And the Book of the Secrets of Enoch was one of the chief sources of the study of magic in the Middle Ages.

A third group of Old Testament visions centered around Baruch, the disciple of Jeremiah. One Book of Baruch is included in those apocrypha still sometimes included in the Bible. Several visions of Baruch exist, among which the one here given has a particular interest in that it gives a complete account of heaven, such as might well have inspired medieval visions like Dante's "Paradise.">

Also, as having the most remarkable history of any of these books, we include the Story of Ahikar. Perhaps Ahikar's book should scarcely be classed as apocryphal. Its claim to be included in the Hebrew Scriptures may never have been definitely asserted, but it had a strong influence upon the books included in the Scriptures, and the proof of its questioned antiquity has come so recently and surprisingly before the world that our picture of the past would be sadly lacking if it excluded this strange old work. We give it here in the Armenian version, the oldest complete form in which it has survived.

From these, the best known of the Old Testament Apocrypha, we turn to those of the New Testament. The most nearly convincing of these, the one which seems both historically and in spirit to approach most closely to the true Gospels, is the Gospel of James, commonly called the Protevangelum.

After this we give all the better ancient apocrypha of the infancy of Jesus, including an interesting Arabic gospel. For these works, with their pictures of mother-love and baby miracles, have always been beloved for their poetic beauty.

Then as perhaps the most interesting, though least historic of all the early Christian apocrypha, we give the Gospel of Nicodemus. This, unlike most early apocrypha, tells of the closing, instead of the opening of Christ's career. It is full of legends of the crucifixion, and then it follows the victorious Christ down into hell. There it gives that thrilling picture of the "Harrowing of Hell" which was so well known to the Middle Ages and which made this the most popular of all the apocryphal gospels, in an age when belief was easy, and historical criticism almost impossible. There was a time, it must be recalled, when these apocrypha were not despised as wicked or as foolish, but were hailed with enthusiasm as the best of reading by thousands of earnest though unlearned Christians.

THE BOOKS OF ADAM AND EVE

"And I, Eve, cried with a loud voice: Pity me, O Lord, my creator! For my sake Adam suffereth thus.""

THE BOOK OF EVE.

"And Michael himself worshiped first; then he called me [the devil] and said: Worship the image of God the Lord.' And I answered, 'I have no need to worship Adam.'"

THE BOOKS OF ADAM AND EVE

(INTRODUCTION)

THE books of Adam and Eve belong to the third class

of apocrypha described in the general introduction. That is, they must originally have been Jewish works, and were told probably with no intention to deceive. Jewish legends about Adam were numerous and very old, and the Jewish literary custom was well established of writing ethical works in the form of a survey of history which was presented as the prophecy of some early patriarch. Then during the Christian ages these old legends and prophecies of Adam were gathered into one book, a Latin "Lives of Adam and Eve." During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries this was translated into almost every European tongue, and was immensely popular. The Jewish originals of this work are no longer known, but the date of their composition must have been somewhere during the very earliest Christian centuries, for the tone of the "Lives" echoes the Jewish religious views of that date, with occasional Christian additions.

Our second book, the Apocalypse of Moses, is a similar medieval work, which in many places parallels the "Lives" so closely, that both must have a common source. The name is, however, a medieval blunder. An apocalypse of Moses would mean Moses's vision of the future of the world, whereas the vision here is only of the past and of the glory of God, and is in no way definitely connected with Moses. These two books, then, are really the final depository of all the oldest legends of Adam and Eve, combined with the visions of some religious enthusiast who rises to a true poetic rapture in his thoughts of God.

It is to be noticed that the Apocalypse of Moses consists