Epistle to Diognetus

And now, I suppose you are eager to hear about this issue, that Christians do not observe the same forms of divine worship as the Jews. The Jews, if they abstain from the kind of service mentioned earlier and see it as right to worship one God as the Lord of all, are correct. But if they offer Him worship in the manner we described, they are greatly mistaken. For while the Gentiles, by offering such things to those without sense and hearing, display madness; they, by thinking to offer these things to God as if He needed them, might rightly consider it an act of foolishness rather than divine worship. For He who made heaven and earth, and everything in them, and provides us with all we need, surely requires none of those things which He Himself gives to those who think of providing them to Him. But those who believe that by means of blood, and the smoke of sacrifices and burnt-offerings, they offer sacrifices acceptable to Him, and by such honors show Him respect, seem to me to be no different from those who deliberately give the same honor to things without sense, which therefore cannot enjoy such honors.