Against Celsus 5.51

But since what was set out has been answered as best we could against Celsus's accusation of the Jews and their doctrine, come, let us set out what follows and show that we are not boasting when we profess to know the great God, nor were we led on, as Celsus thinks, by the sorcery of Moses, or even of our Saviour Jesus himself; but for a good end we both listen to the God who spoke in Moses and have received Jesus, to whom he bears witness as God, as the Son of God, hoping for the best things if we live according to his word. We will willingly pass over saying again what we set out in anticipation, teaching where we have come from, and whom we have as founder, and what law comes from him. And if Celsus wishes us to differ in no way from the Egyptians who revere the goat, or the ram, or the crocodile, or the ox, or the hippopotamus, or the baboon, or the cat, he and anyone who agrees with him about this may know it for themselves. But we, as best we could, have defended at length in what went before our honour toward our Jesus, showing that we have found something better; and we alone, declaring the truth pure and unmixed with falsehood to be in the teaching of Jesus Christ, commend not ourselves but our teacher, who has been attested by the God over all in many ways, both by the prophetic words among the Jews and by the plain evidence itself; for it is shown that he did not accomplish such great things without God.