Miscellanies 7.1.1

It is now time for us to show the Greeks that the one who knows is alone truly pious, so that the philosophers, learning what sort of person the true Christian is, may condemn their own ignorance: they persecute the name rashly and at random, and in vain call atheists those who have known the true God. With the philosophers, I think, it is fitting to use clearer arguments, so that, already exercised by their own education, they may be able to understand, even if they have not yet shown themselves worthy to share in the power of believing. The prophetic sayings we will not mention for the present, since we will use the Scriptures later at the fitting places; but what they show we will indicate in summary, sketching Christianity, so as not to break the continuity of the argument by bringing in the Scriptures, and that for people who do not yet understand their words. When we have pointed out what they mean, then the testimonies too will be made plain to them, abundantly, once they believe. (And even if what we say seems to some of the many different from the Lord's Scriptures, let it be known that it breathes and lives from them, and, taking its starting points from them, it professes to set out their sense only, not their wording.) For further elaboration, out of season, would reasonably seem superfluous, while not to consider what is urgent at all would be quite careless and deficient. “Blessed,” truly, “are those who search out the testimonies of the Lord; with their whole heart they will seek him.” And the law and the prophets bear witness about the Lord.