literaryhistoryo02crut - Carmel Apologetics

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THE A rO LOCUSTS.
and wa.s hum at I'lavia Ncapolis in Samaria.
Ho calls liinisflf
a Samaritan, hut this must not he understood to imply
that he Wiis of Semitic hlood. Undoubtedly he was by
(.'xtrac'tinn a Cicntile, inobahly a Greek, certainly ignorant of
Hebrew, uncircumcised, and brought up in heathen customs.
The exact date of his birth is uncertain. He speaks of
himself in the Apology as writing 150 years after Christ,
but this is possibly a round number. Tradition places his
martyrdom under the i)refecture of Eusticus, which began
A.D. 163, and speaks of him as Ijcing then in the full vigour
of his age. If we accept the tradition, his birth may be
placed somewhere about 1
10 a.d.
Like most of the Fathers, Justin is far more precise with
regard to liis spiritual history than with regard to the history
of his outward life. In the dialogue with Trypho he gives
an interesting account of the efforts he made in his search
for the true wisdom.
In those days, as now, the current philosophy was mate-
But in those days, as now, the more earnest spirits
rialistic.
could find no rest in any teaching which stopped short of
(Jod. From the first dawn of his philosophic enthusiasm,
Justin assures us that his main object was to learn about
(lod. Full of hope, he attached himself to a Stoic teacher,
and icccived instruction in the triple course of physics, logic,
and elliics. iUit when he ventured to ask for information
on the Divine Nature, he was told, as men are told now, that
in the realm of physical causation there is no room for God
that the Divine lies outside the sphere of scientific knowledge.
Disappointed, but not discouraged, he turned next
to the Peripatetic or Aristotelian school, but here he wtis
confronted witli a spirit of worldly ])rudcnce which showed
more anxiety to secure a paying iiujtil than to impart tlic
gift of knowledge. The i(K'a of making profit out of the
dilliculties of an inquirer was repugnant to all the nobler
spirits of anti(piity. The great truths of philosophy were
h(dd to be profaned by a bargain as to tluir money value.
The generous spirit of the early philosoi.hcrs, who had freely
comnmnicated their thoughts, was not yet (juite extinct.