"Our God,
beside whom there is no other, is omnipotent, and therefore needeth not the
help of any other; whereas all have need of his help. It is not so with
men, as no man can do all things; wherefore there must be many lords on
earthy as no one can support all. God is omniscient, or knoweth all things;
and therefore hath no need of any counsellor, for all wisdom is from him.
God is perfectly good; and needs not therefore any good from us. In God we
live and move and have our being. Such is our God, and you must not hold
that there is any other." "It is not so," said he; "for there is one
highest in heaven, whose origin or generation we know not, and there are
ten under him, and on earth they are infinite in number." To this he would
have added other fables. I asked him respecting the highest God, of whom he
had spoken, whether he were omnipotent, or if any of the inferior Gods were
so? And fearing to answer this, he demanded, "Why, since our God was
perfectly good, he had made the half of all things evil?" To this I
answered, that this was false; for whosoever maketh any evil is no God, and
all things whatsoever are good. At this all the Tuiuians were astonished,
and set it down in writing as false or impossible. He then asked me,
"Whence cometh evil?" "You ask amiss," said I, "for you ought first to
inquire what evil is, before you ask whence it comes: But let us return to
the first question, whether do you believe that any God is omnipotent? and
when that is discussed, I will answer whatever you may demand." On this he
sat a long time without speaking, and the judges appointed by the khan
commanded him to make answer. At length he said, that no God was
omnipotent; on which all the Saracens broke out into great laughter. When
silence was restored, I said, "None of your gods, therefore, can save you
in all dangers, since chances may happen in which they have no power.
Besides, no man can serve two masters; how, therefore, can you serve so
many Gods in heaven and in earth?" The auditory decreed that he should make
answer to this, but he held his peace.

When I was about to have propounded reasons to prove the truth of the
divine essence, and to have explained the doctrine of the Trinity, the
Nestorians alleged that I had said quite enough, and that now they meant to
speak; so I gave place to them. When, therefore, they would have disputed
with the Saracens, these men said that they agreed to the truth of the law
and th