The second outstanding sign was the publication last year by the Oxford University Press of the two sumptuous volumes entitled _The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English_, with introductions and critical and explanatory notes to the several books, edited, in conjunction with many scholars, by R. H. Charles, Litt.D., D.D. This is the most elaborate thing of the kind ever published in any country, and the debt to Canon Charles owed by all lovers of learning is great indeed. The volumes appeal primarily to the scholar, though the general reader will find in them a very great deal which he will be able to appreciate. The drawback, for most people, is their expense, obviously inevitable; it is, therefore, the more to be regretted that the University Press could not see its way to publish the various books in separate, as well as in their collective, form. Signs such as these are full of promise, and the growing interest which they betoken is very welcome. The present writer, as one of the Wardens of the afore-mentioned Society, and as one of Canon Charles’ fellow-labourers in the work just referred to, has been emboldened to write the following pages with the object of pressing home the importance of one department of the subject as a whole (though without wholly losing sight of the other), viz., the “Apocrypha,” and, more especially, what is involved by the study of this. The very unfortunate title which has clung to this body of literature since the days of St. Jerome, largely accounts for the attitude of suspicion with which it is often regarded; but when once it is realized that the term “Apocrypha,” as applied to these books, does not correspond to what is nowadays understood by the word “apocryphal,” this attitude of suspicion will disappear. The study of these books opens up various questions which demand consideration; so much so, that the student soon comes to realize that important as the study of the Apocrypha is, more important still is that which this study involves. The book here presented is intended to illustrate this; with the result that Part I (“Prolegomena”) occupies considerably more space than Part II, which is devoted to the books of the Apocrypha themselves. There is, however, no reason to offer any apology for this, as the Introductory Note to the “Prolegomena” will show. For the rest, the book, though primarily intended for the intelligent general reader, may in some parts, it is hoped, be of interest to scholars. It was originally intended to be a contribution to “The Library of Historic Theology”; but the writer soon realized that the scope of the subject would necessitate a larger volume than the publishers thought desirable for this Series; they, therefore, decided to publish it separately. The writer desires to express his sincere thanks to the Rev. Wm. C. Piercy for having read carefully through the book in manuscript as well as in proof, and for having offered many valuable suggestions.