The earliest example of its application to a catalogue of the Old or New Testament books occurs in the Latin translation of Origen’s homily on Joshua, where the original seems to have been “canon.”(11) The word itself is certainly in Amphilochius,(12) as well as in Jerome,(13) and Rufinus.(14) As the Latin translation of Origen has _canonicus_ and _canonizatus_, we infer that he used “canonical,”(15) opposed as it is to _apocryphus_ or _secretus_. The first occurrence of “canonical” is in the fifty-ninth canon of the Council of Laodicea, where it is contrasted with two other Greek words.(16) “_Canonized_ books,”(17) is first used in Athanasius’s 39th festal epistle. The kind of rule which the earliest fathers attributed to the Scriptures can only be conjectured; it is certain that they believed the Old Testament books to be a _divine_ and _infallible guide_. But the New Testament was not so considered till towards the close of the second century when the conception of a Catholic Church was realized. The latter collection was not called _Scripture_, or put on a par with the Old Testament as _sacred_ and _inspired_, till the time of Theophilus of Antioch (about 180 A.D.) Hence, Irenæus applies the epithets _divine_ and _perfect_ to the Scriptures; and Clement of Alexandria calls them _inspired_. When distinctions were made among the Biblical writings other words(18) were employed, synonymous with “canonized.”(19) The canon was thus a catalogue of writings forming a rule of truth, sacred, divine, revealed by God for the instruction of men. The rule was perfect for its purpose. The word apocryphal(20) is used in various senses, which it is difficult to trace chronologically. Apocryphal books are,— 1st, Such as contain _secret_ or _mysterious_ things, books of the higher wisdom. It is thus applied to the Apocalypse by Gregory of Nyssa.(21) Akin to this is the second meaning. 2nd, Such as were _kept secret_ or withdrawn from public use. In this sense the word corresponds to the Hebrew _ganuz_.(22) So Origen speaking of the story of Susanna. The opposite of this is _read in public_,(23) a word employed by Eusebius.(24) 3rd, It was used of the secret books of the heretics by Clement(25) and Origen,(26) with the accessory idea of _spurious_, _pseudepigraphical_,(27) in opposition to the canonical writings of the Catholic Church. The book of Enoch and similar productions were so characterized.(28)