The First Apology

Among us, the leader of the wicked spirits is called the serpent, Satan, and the devil, as you can learn by looking into our writings. Christ foretold that he would be sent into the fire with his followers, and they would be punished endlessly. God has delayed this because of His regard for humanity. He foreknows that some will be saved through repentance, even some who are not yet born. Initially, He made the human race with the ability to think, choose the truth, and do what is right, so that all people are without excuse before God, having been born rational and contemplative. If anyone doubts that God cares for these matters, they will either imply that God does not exist or claim that, though He exists, He delights in vice or is as indifferent as a stone, suggesting that virtue and vice are nothing more than human opinions. This is the greatest profanity and wickedness.