VIII AGNOSTICISM : A REJOINDER 287 



Christianity took place in the course of the 

 century, more or less, which followed upon the 

 crucifixion. It is almost the darkest period of 

 Church history, but, most fortunately, the begin- 

 ning and the end of the period are brightly 

 illuminated by the contemporary evidence of two 

 writers of whose historical existence there is no 

 doubt, 1 and against the genuineness of whose 

 most important works there is no widely-admitted 

 objection. These are Justin, the philosopher and 

 martyr, and Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.- I 

 shall call upon these witnesses only to testify to 

 the condition of opinion among those who called 

 themselves disciples of Jesus in their time. 



Justin, in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 

 which was written somewhere about the middle of 

 the second century, enumerates certain categories 

 of persons who, in his opinion, will, or will not, be 

 saved. 2 These are : 



1. Orthodox Jews who refuse to believe that 

 Jesus is the Christ. Not Saved. 



2. Jews who observe the Law ; believe Jesus to 

 be the Christ ; but who insist on the observance 

 of the Law by Gentile converts. Not Saved. 



3. Jews who observe the Law ; believe Jesus to 



1 True for Justin : but there is a school of theological critics, 

 who more or less question the historical reality of Paul, and the 

 genuineness of even the four cardinal epistles. 



2 See Dial, cum Try phone, 47 and 35. It is to be under- 

 stood that Justin does not arrange these categories in order, as I 

 have done. 



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