Uncanonical books of a sacred character came to be divided by the Jewish religious authorities into two categories, though the exact dividing line varied according to the opinions of different teachers. These two categories consisted, on the one hand, of books which contained orthodox teaching, but which, for one reason or another, were not admitted into the Canon; roughly speaking, under this category were included the books of our Apocrypha. The other category consisted of what were regarded as heretical books. The former, though they did not “defile the hands,” were permitted to be read. The latter came to be regarded with horror, and the reading of them was strictly forbidden; they were called _Sepharim hachizônim_, “Outside Books,” to which reference has been made in the preceding chapter; when precisely this term came to be applied to them we cannot say, but it is evident that the feeling in regard to them expressed by the term was in existence before B.C. 100. Now among the “Outside Books” were those which were called _Ha-Gilyônim_. There is some difference of opinion among scholars as to the meaning of this term and as to what kind of books it refers; Hölscher has, however, as it appears to us, shown conclusively that by it was meant “The Apocalypses,” and that it refers to what we now know as the Apocalyptic Literature.[275] There is no doubt that the whole of this literature was rejected, ultimately, by the Palestinian Jewish authorities, the Pharisees.[276] Strongly as the Pharisees had been influenced by some of the teaching contained in this literature, they had from their point of view sufficient reason to discountenance the books as a whole. The pronounced other-worldly character of them was in marked contrast to the strictly practical and narrow purview of scholastic Pharisaism. The scant insistence on the need of legal observance, in the Pharisaic sense, which to the Pharisees was the basis of all religion, was a natural cause of antagonism; and this antagonism inevitably widened as time went on, for there was a danger that the popularity of the apocalyptic books would relegate the older religious literature to the background; indeed, we have definite proof that in some circles the apocalyptic literature was held in higher esteem than the canonical twenty-four; thus in 2 (4) Ezra xiv. 45-47 it is said: “And it came to pass when the forty days were fulfilled, that the Most High spoke unto me saying, The twenty-four books that thou hast written publish, that the worthy and unworthy may read them; but the seventy last [i.e. the apocalyptic books] thou shalt keep, to deliver them to the wise among thy people. For in them is the spring of understanding, the fountain of wisdom, and the stream of knowledge.” There was possibly a further cause of hostility to some of these books, viz. their _original_ authorship, which in some cases was Sadducæan; in such cases, although worked over by