And I have not yet spoken of the other evils which prevail amongst men,
from which even those who have the appearance of philosophers are not
speedily freed, for in philosophy there are many pretenders. Nor do I
say anything on the point that many such evils are found to exist among
those who are neither Jews nor Christians. Of a truth, such evil
practices do not at all prevail among _Christians_, if you properly
examine what constitutes a Christian. Or, if any persons of that kind
should be discovered, they are at least not to be found among those who
frequent the assemblies, and come to the public prayers, without their
being excluded from them, unless it should happen, and that rarely, that
some one individual of such a character escapes notice in the crowd. We,
then, are not worms who assemble together; who take our stand against
the Jews on those Scriptures which they believe to be divine, and who
show that He who was spoken of in prophecy _has_ come, and that _they_
have been abandoned on account of the greatness of their sins, and that
_we_ who have accepted the Word have the highest hopes in God, both
because of our faith in Him, and of His ability to receive us into His
communion pure from all evil and wickedness of life. If a man, then,
should call himself a Jew or a Christian, he would not say without
qualification that God had made the whole world, and the vault of
heaven[570] for us in particular. But if a man is, as Jesus taught, pure
in heart, and meek, and peaceful, and cheerfully submits to dangers for
the sake of his religion, such an one might reasonably have confidence
in God, and with a full apprehension of the word contained in the
prophecies, might say this also: “All these things has God shown
beforehand, and announced to us who believe.”
Footnote 570:
τὴν οὐράνιον φοράν.