Tatian, Address to the Greeks 4

Why, men of Greece, do you want to crash your cities against us like fistfighters? If I refuse to follow certain laws, why have I been hated as the most defiled? When the king commands taxes, I am ready to pay. When a master commands service and slavery, I accept that lot. For a human being deserves human honor, but God alone deserves fear. He cannot be seen by human eyes or grasped by human skill. Even if I am commanded to deny Him alone, I will not be persuaded; I would rather die than be exposed as a liar and ingrate. The God we worship has no beginning in time; He alone is unbegotten and is Himself the source of all things. God is Spirit. He does not pass through matter, but creates material spirits and the forms within it. Invisible and intangible, He has become the Father of all things visible and invisible. We know Him through His creation, and through His works we perceive His invisible power. I will not worship the creation that came into being under Him for our sake. The sun and moon were made for our benefit; why then would I worship my own servants? Why would I declare wood and stones to be gods? The spirit that passes through matter is inferior to the more divine Spirit, and what merely resembles the soul must not be honored on the same level as the perfect God. Nor should the unnamed God be bribed, for He who lacks nothing must not be slandered by us as if He were needy. I will set out our beliefs more clearly.