—the cross—(1) his hands and feet bound with ropes, and the very hand that fashioned the worlds nailed in place. Were the heavens and the earth left without their God and Maker while this was happening to Him?!

Or do you claim that He appointed someone else to manage them, descended from His throne to tie Himself to a piece of the cross, to taste the searing pain of the nails, and to bring a curse upon Himself, even though He had said in the Torah, “Cursed, cursed is the one who hangs on a cross”?(2) Or do you say that He Himself was governing them in that condition—yet how could that be after He died and was buried?!

Or perhaps you say—and this is in fact your real position—“We do not know; it is written in the books, and the fathers said so, and they are our exemplars.” And what answer can be given to such a claim?!

So we say to you—unless you have something else to offer—(3) O assembly of Trinitarians, worshippers of the cross: what evidence led you to believe in the divinity of the Messiah? If your proof is that his enemies arrested(4) him, marched him to the wood of the cross with a crown of thorns on his head while they spat in his face and struck him, then hoisted him onto that(5) vile contraption, tied his hands and feet with ropes, and drove nails through them while he pleaded for help and writhed in agony until his soul departed and he was laid in his grave—what a sound(6) argument that is in the eyes of people like you, who are more misguided than cattle and a disgrace to all mankind!