The western church did not accept Jerome's definition of apocrypha, but retained the word in its original meaning, though great confusion prevailed.
The rejected books receiving little attention have mostly either been altogether lost or have survived only in translations, as in the case of the Apocrypha.
The eschatology of a nation - and the most influential portion of Jewish and Christian apocrypha are eschatological - is always the last part of their religion to experience the transforming power of new ideas and new facts.
We have remarked above that the Jewish apocrypha - especially the apocalyptic section and the host of Christian apocryphsbecame the ordinary religious literature of the early Christians.
Yet among the churches of the Reformation a milder and a severer view prevailed regarding the apocrypha.
