bears the title of the Fourth Book of Esdras. That century had been decisive in the history of

Israel. Jesus had lived and died; His Apostles had gone forth to bear the tidings of the new

Kingdom of God; the Church had been founded and separated from the Synagogue; and the

Temple had been destroyed, the Holy City laid waste, and Israel undergone sufferings,

compared with which the former troubles might almost be forgotten. But already the new

doctrine had struck its roots deep alike in Eastern and in Hellenistic soil. It were strange indeed

if, in such circumstances, this book should not have been different from any that had preceded

it; stranger still, if earnest Jewish minds and ardent Jewish hearts had remained wholly

unaffected by the new teaching, even though the doctrine of the Cross still continued a

stumbling-block, and the Gospel announcement a rock of offence. But perhaps we could

scarcely have been prepared to find, as in the Fourth Book of Esdras, doctrinal views which

were wholly foreign to Judaism, and evidently derived from the New Testament, and which, in

logical consistency, would seem to lead up to it.52 The greater part of the book may be

described as restless tossing, the seer being agitated by the problem and the consequences of

sin, which here for the first and only time is presented as in the New Testament; by the question,

why there are so few who are saved; and especially by what to a Jew must have seemed the

inscrutable, terrible mystery of Israel's sufferings and banishment.53 Yet, so far as we can see,

no other way of salvation is indicated than that by works and personal righteousness.

Throughout there is a tone of deep sadness and intense earnestness. It almost seems sometimes,

as if one heard the wind of the new dispensation sweeping before it the withered leaves of

Israel's autumn. Thus far for the principal portion of the book. The second, or Apocalyptic,

part, endeavors to solve the mystery of Israel's state by foretelling their future. Here also there

are echoes of New Testament utterances. What the end is to be, we are told in unmistakable

language. His `Son,' Whom the Highest has for a long time preserved, to deliver `the creature'

by Him, is suddenly to appear in the form of a Man. From His mouth shall proceed alike woe,

fire, and storm, which are the tribulations of the last days. And as they shall gather for war

against Him, He shall stand on Mount Zion, and the Holy City shall come down from heaven,

prepared and ready, and He shall destroy all His enemies. But a peaceable multitude shall now

be gathered to Him. These are the ten tribes, who, to separate themselves from the ways of the

heathen, had wandered far away, miraculously helped, a journey of one and a half years, and

who were now similarly restored by God to their own land. But as for the `Son,' or those who

accompanied him, no one on earth would be able to see or know them, till the day of His