First Apology 14

For we warn you beforehand to be on guard, lest the demons whom we have accused deceive you and turn you away from reading and understanding what we say at all (for they strive to have you as their slaves and servants, and sometimes by appearances in dreams, sometimes by magical tricks, they subdue all who do not struggle in any way for their own salvation), just as we too, after being persuaded by the Word, have withdrawn from them and follow the only unbegotten God through his Son. We who once delighted in sexual immorality now embrace self-control alone; we who also used magical arts have now dedicated ourselves to the good and unbegotten God; we who valued above all else the acquisition of money and possessions now bring what we have into a common fund and share with everyone in need; we who hated and killed one another and would not share a common hearth with those not of our own tribe because of their customs, now, since the coming of Christ, live together, and pray for our enemies, and try to persuade those who hate us unjustly, so that they, living according to the good precepts of Christ, may share our good hope of obtaining the same things from God, the Master of all. And so that we may not seem to be playing the sophist, we have thought it good, before the proof, to mention a few of the teachings given by Christ himself; and let it be yours, as powerful rulers, to examine whether we have truly been taught and teach these things. His sayings were brief and concise; for he was no sophist, but his word was the power of God.