Which worshipper God accepts
Consider for yourself too: which character will the God over all more readily accept, He who has power as no one else has, for all things and for doing good to men, whether in soul or in body or in outward things? Will it be the one devoted to Him in all things, or the one who busies himself with the names of demons, their powers and workings, with spells and herbs suited to demons, with stones and the carvings on them, made to match the forms of demons that have been handed down, whether symbolic or of some other kind?
It is clear to anyone who can follow the argument even a little that the character free of pretence and free of curious arts, and for that very reason devoted to the God over all, will be acceptable to God and to all who are His own. But the character that, for the sake of bodily health, love of the body and good fortune in things that are neither good nor bad, busies itself with the names of demons and seeks how it may charm the demons with certain spells, God will leave, as wicked, impious and more demonic than human, to the demons chosen by the man who addresses such words to them, to be torn apart by the thoughts each of them suggests, or by other evils as well.
For it is likely that, being base, and, as Celsus admitted, nailed to blood and the smoke of sacrifice and to songs and other such things, they do not keep faith, or their pledges, so to speak, even toward those who gratify them with these things. For when others call on them against those who have served them, and buy their service with more blood and smoke of sacrifice and the worship they crave, they would plot against the man who served them yesterday and gave them a share of the feast they love.
Greek
Καὶ σὺ γὰρ σκόπησον παρὰ σαυτῷ, ποῖον παραδέξεται μᾶλλον ἦθος ὁ ἐπὶ πᾶσι θεὸς, καὶ δυνάμενος ὅσα ἄλλος οὐδεὶς πρὸς πάντα καὶ πρὸς εὐεργεσίαν ἀνθρώπων εἴτε περὶ ψυχὴν εἴτε περὶ σῶμα εἴτε περὶ τὰ ἐκτὸς, πότερον τὸν αὐτῷ περὶ πάντων ἀνακείμενον ἢ τὸν περιεργαζόμενον δαιμόνων ὀνόματα καὶ δυνάμεις καὶ πράξεις καὶ ἐπῳδὰς καὶ βοτάνας οἰκείας δαίμοσι καὶ λίθους καὶ τὰς ἐν αὐτοῖς γλυφὰς, καταλλήλους ταῖς παραδιδομέναις εἴτε συμβολικαῖς εἴτε ὅπως ποτὲ μορφαῖς δαιμόνων. ἀλλὰ δῆλον τῷ καὶ ἐπ᾿ ὀλίγον παρακολουθεῖν δυναμένῳ ὅτι τὸ ἄπλαστον μὲν καὶ ἀπερίεργον ἦθος διὰ τοῦτο θεῷ τῷ ἐπὶ πᾶσιν ἀνακείμενον ἀποδεκτὸν ἔσται θεῷ καὶ πᾶσι τοῖς ἐκείνῳ οἰκειουμένοις· τὸ δὲ δι᾿ ὑγείαν σώματος καὶ φιλοσωματίαν καὶ τὴν ἐν μέσοις πράγμασιν εὐτυχίαν περιεργαζόμενον δαιμόνων ὀνόματα καὶ ζητοῦν. πῶς κηλήσει τισὶν ἐπῳδαῖς τοὺς δαίμονας, ὡς μοχθηρὸν καὶ ἀσεβὲς καὶ δαιμονικὸν μᾶλλον ἢ ἀνθρωπικὸν καταλείψει ὁ θεὸς οἷς εἵλετο ὁ τὰ τοιάδε λέγων δαίμοσι, διασπαραχθησόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν ὑφ᾿ ἑκάστου ὑποβαλλομένων λογισμῶν ἢ καὶ ἄλλων κακῶν. εἰκὸς γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἅτε φαύλους ὄντας καὶ, ὡς Κέλσος ὡμολόγησε, προσηλωμένους αἵματι καὶ κνίσσῃ καὶ μελῳδίαις καὶ ἄλλοις τισὶ τοιούτοις μηδὲ πρὸς τοὺς ταῦτα αὐτοῖς χαριζομένους πίστιν τηρεῖν καὶ οἱονεὶ δεξιάς. ἄλλων γὰρ αὐτοὺς καλούντων κατὰ τῶν θεραπευσάντων καὶ πλείονος αἵματος καὶ κνίσσης καὶ ἧς δέονται θεραπείας ὠνουμένων αὐτῶν τὴν δουλείαν, ἐπιβουλεύσαιεν ἂν τῷ χθὲς αὐτοὺς θεραπεύσαντι καὶ τῆς φίλης αὐτοῖς θοίνης μεταδιδόντι.