Leather-cutter. Assuredly.
Onesimus. And did the bystanders say ‘He trusted in God’ and use these exact words?
Leather-cutter. Assuredly.
Onesimus. And are these things taught in the Tradition concerning the acts and deeds of Christus?
Leather-cutter. Not that I remember.
Onesimus. Then did Simeon, or Lucius, or Petrus, or Paulus or any other ever teach thee these things in the synagogue?
Leather-cutter. Not that I remember.
Onesimus. Then, prithee, how knowest thou that these things are so?
Leather-cutter. Because it must needs be that all things that are written in the Law and the Prophets should be fulfilled in Christus.
“Behold, my dear Artemidorus, the second shape of the Christian doctrine; which, if it be not speedily committed to writing, what third or fourth shapes it may assume, the wit of man cannot conjecture. But one thing is certain, that in every case the leather-cutter will carry the day against the learned man, and the man who believes everything against the man of discretion who believes some things and rejects others. Thus, although Christus died not a generation ago, and was born (as is thought) scarce more than two generations ago, yet already are there current many fables and stories which overshadow the things that he really did, and the doctrine that he really taught, and all this because of the ancient prophecies of his nation; so that, for my part, whensoever I hear one of their teachers say that Christus said or did this or that, and make no mention of any prophecy, then I incline to believe him; but when he adds that Christus said or did anything ‘that a prophecy might be fulfilled,’ then I shut my ears against the man’s words, knowing that they are, in all likelihood, imaginations and fancies.