Oration to the Greeks 4

Why, men of Greece, do you want to set the governing powers against us, as in a boxing match? And if I do not wish to follow the customs of certain people, why am I hated as though I were utterly abominable? Does the emperor order the payment of taxes? I am ready to pay them. Does my master order me to serve and to wait on him? I acknowledge my servitude. A human being is to be honored in a human way; but God alone is to be feared, who is not visible to human eyes and cannot be grasped by art. Only if I am commanded to deny him will I not obey; I will die rather, so as not to be shown a liar and ungrateful. Our God did not come into being in time: he alone is without beginning, and he himself is the beginning of all things. God is spirit, not pervading matter but the maker of the material spirits and of the forms in matter; he is invisible and impalpable, himself the Father of things perceptible and invisible. We know him through his creation, and we apprehend the invisible nature of his power through the things he has made. I will not worship the creation that he made for our sake. The sun and moon came into being for us; how then shall I worship my own servants? And how shall I declare wood and stones to be gods? For the spirit that pervades matter is lesser than the more divine spirit, and since it is comparable to a soul, it is not to be honored equally with the perfect God. Nor is the nameless God to be bribed with gifts; for he who needs nothing must not be slandered by us as needy. But I will set out our teaching more clearly.