A brief examination of these apocalyptic books is demanded here inasmuch as in the early Church—and in all probability in the pre-Christian Jewish Church at one time—the distinct line of demarcation between them and those of the Apocrypha was not drawn in the way that it was in later times. It is also worth noting that such books as the Book of Enoch, and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs have, as Charles has shown,[278] exercised more influence upon the writers of the New Testament than any of the books of the Apocrypha. In giving now some short account of the more important books belonging to this body of literature, we shall take them, as far as possible, in chronological order; but, as is to be expected, one cannot always be certain as to the date of a book, so that we cannot claim to be sure that a strictly chronological order is being followed. (_a_) THE BOOK OF ENOCH [LITERATURE.—Schürer, II, iii. pp. 54-73; German ed., III, pp. 268-290; Swete, _The Old Testament in Greek_, III, pp. 789-809 (1899); Beer, in Kautzsch, II, pp. 217-310 (1900); Volz, _Jüdische Eschatologie_, pp. 12-21 (1903); Martin, _Le Livre d’Hénoch_ (1906); Charles, _The Book of Enoch_ (1912); Leszynsky, _Die Sadduzäer_, pp. 253-266 (1912); Charles, in _The Apocr. and Pseud. of the Old Testament_, II, pp. 163-281 (1913); Charles, _Eschatology; Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian_ (1913); Burkitt, _Jewish and Christian Apocalypses_ pp. 17-34 (1914). The articles on “Apocalyptic Literature” in Hastings’ _Dict. of the Bible_, the _Encycl. Bibl._, and the _Jewish Encycl._ It has not been thought necessary to enumerate the editions of the various published original texts as these are given in Schürer, Kautzsch, and Charles. This applies to all the apocalypses to which we shall refer.] According to Charles the various elements of which the book in its present form is made up belong to different dates. The following table will show the dates of the different parts of the book; Charles believes that these are probably correct, without committing himself to the certainty of this in each case: Chaps. xii.-xxxvi. } xciii. } } The oldest pre-Maccabæan xci. 12-17 } “The Apocalypse of Weeks” } portions. vi.-xi. } } liv. 7-lv. 2 } } lx. } Fragments of the “Book } Pre-Maccabæan at the lxv.-lxix. 25 } of Noah”[279] } latest. cvi. cvii. } } lxxxiii.-xc. “The Dream Visions,” B.C., 165-161. lxxii.-lxxxii. “The Book of the Heavenly Luminaries.” Before B.C. 110. xxxvii.-lxxi. “The Parables,” or “Similitudes” } B.C. 105-64. xci. 1-11, 18, 19-civ. } i.-v. The latest portion, but pre-Christian.