Against Celsus 7.11

It is likely that there are arguments much wiser than our own capacity which can show that Celsus is lying here and that the prophecies are inspired. Yet we too have done what we could, explaining word by word what Celsus calls frenzied and wholly obscure in our treatises on Isaiah, Ezekiel, and some of the Twelve. And if God grants progress in his word at the times he wishes, there will be added to what has already been dictated on these either what is lacking or as much as we can manage to clarify. Others too, who have sense and wish to examine Scripture, would be able to find its meaning, since it is truly unclear in many places, but not, as Celsus says, nothing. Nor can any fool or sorcerer smooth it out or take what was said in whatever sense he likes. Only, and every, one who is truly wise in Christ could give the whole connection of what is said with concealment in the prophets, comparing “spiritual things with spiritual” and establishing each thing he finds from the usage of the Scriptures. But Celsus is not to be believed when he says he himself heard such men. For in Celsus's time there were no prophets like the ancient ones; since, if there had been, their prophecies too would have been written down, like those of old, by those who accepted and admired them. It seems to me wholly plain that Celsus is lying when he says that the supposed prophets he himself heard, when refuted by him, admitted to him what they wanted, and that they invented their words at random. He ought also to have given the names of those he claimed to have heard, so that from the names, if he could give them, it might be clear to those able to judge whether he was telling the truth or lying.