171 
troduces to us the Lord as speaking out of the whirlwind, it 
is in the sense not of describing Himself, but His ivories ; not so 
much revealing His ownnature, as confounding the pride of man. 
The fixed and certain knowledge of God was wanting to 
the Greek philosophers. This is well shewn by Justin Martyr 
in his Address to the Greeks ; who also contends that Plato 
was prevented by fear of sharing the fate of Socrates from 
giving full utterance to the truth which he himself approved 
in the writings of Moses. Justin quotes a saying of Socrates 
which is remarkable enough in this aspect of things.* I 
translate it thus : “ It is not easy to find the Father and 
Creator of all, neither is it safe to speak of Him, when found, 
to all mankind A This mental condition is very graphically de- 
scribed in the Platonic dialogues. Socrates is made to say that 
in his youth he was “ wonderfully taken with what they call 
natural philosophy. It seemed to me,” he says, “ an admirable 
thing to know the cause of everything, why it is produced, and 
why it is destroyed, and why it exists. I was vastly curious 
about such inquiries as these : whether heat and moisture by 
fermentation give birth to animals, as some said ; whether that 
by which we think be the blood, or air, or fire ; or whether 
none of these, but the brain be the organ by which we have 
our sensations — hearing, seeing, smelling — and whether me- 
mory and opinion arise from these, and when these acquire 
fixity they become knowledge. And in the same way looking 
at the causes of destruction and at the phenomena of the 
earth and heavens, at last I appeared to myself to be as stupid 
at these matters as it is possible to be.” In fact he had not 
Darwin’s writings to guide him, or he would doubtless have 
extracted much information by his habit of asking questions, 
and expecting answers. “I see no difficulty in believing” 
would scarcely have afforded satisfaction to a mind of so much 
power and originality. Socrates could never have become a 
Darwinian. 
* 0 7r civnov Sk avrajv evrovuirepog 7rpbg rovro yevopevog ^(VKpdrrjc, 
rd avr'et y/Hv kv£K\i]drj. Ot yap etpaoa.v avrov tcaivci Oaipovia elo- 
tpepev, i;al ovg ?/ iroXig vofii%£i deovg, fv) fjyeiaQai avrov. O be 
Satfiovag pkv rovg tpavXovg, Kai rovg i vpd^avrag a. etpatrav ol Tronira'i, iicfia- 
Xtvv rfjg 7 roXireiag, teal "O/xr/pov, Kal rovg dXXXovg rroLrjrag 7 rapairelcrdat 
rovg avdpujTrovg iciba^e, rrpbg Qeov tie rov dyvtoarov avrolg bid. Xoyov 
^ijrotrewg k-Kiyvivaiv irpovrpkirtro tliruv' Tor ce Tlarkpa Kai Arjfuovpyov 
7r dvrojv ovd’ evpeiv pabiov, uv$’ evpovra £ig rravrag elnuv citrtpaXkg . — 
Justini Martyris Apol. II. pro Christianis, § xi. 
