Against Celsus 4.27

And I do not yet mention the other evils among men, from which not even those who seem to practice philosophy are quickly free (for many in philosophy too are bastards); nor do I say yet that many such things are found among those who are neither Jews nor Christians, but that they either do not exist at all among Christians, if you examine strictly who is a Christian, or, if they are found, at any rate not among those who meet together, come to the common prayers, and are not excluded from them, unless perhaps someone of that sort is found rarely, hidden among the many. We who hold assemblies are not worms, then, we who stand against the Jews on the basis of the writings they believe to be sacred and show both that the one prophesied has come and that they have been forsaken because of their very great sins, and that we who have accepted the word have the best hopes with God, from faith in him and from a life able to bring us near to him, pure from all wickedness and vice. It is not simply, then, if someone calls himself a Jew or a Christian, that he could say that God made the whole world and the heavenly motion especially for us. But if someone, as Jesus taught, is pure “in heart,” gentle, a peacemaker, and readily endures dangers for the sake of piety, such a one might reasonably have confidence toward God, and, understanding the word in the prophecies, might even say: “God has revealed and announced all these things beforehand to us who believe.”