Against Celsus 3.9

Since in what follows he plainly lies, let us set out his very words: “If all people wished to be Christians, these people would no longer wish it.” That this is false is clear from the fact that, as far as lies in them, Christians do not neglect to sow the word in every part of the world. Some, at any rate, have made it their work to travel around not only cities but also villages and farmsteads, so as to make others pious toward God too. And no one could say that they do this for the sake of wealth, since sometimes they do not even accept what they need for food, and if ever they are compelled by their want of it, they are content with what is needed alone, even if many wish to share with them and give them more than they need. Now, perhaps, when because of the number of those coming to the word even rich men, some persons of rank, and delicate, well-born women welcome those who come from the word, someone will dare to say that some lead in Christian teaching for the sake of a little glory. But at the beginning, when the danger was great, especially for teachers, it was not possible reasonably to suspect such a thing. And even now the disrepute among the rest is greater than what is thought to be glory among fellow believers, and not all have even that. It is therefore plainly false that “if all people wished to be Christians, these people would no longer wish it.”