who were righteous men among Noah’s people; when they died their followers began frequenting their graves, then they fashioned their images, and in the end worshiped them. The Messiah and the learned among the Christians themselves have spoken of this.

The Messiah—peace be upon him—never instructed them to worship him, nor did he say, “I am God,” nor did he sanction the later innovations of the Trinity or the doctrine of union. He did not command them to declare lawful everything that God had forbidden in the Torah of the vile things—such as swine and the like—yet they declared those prohibited abominations lawful and altered the law of the Torah and the Gospel. The Messiah did not order them to pray facing the east, nor did he tell them to venerate the cross, nor