38.  Take therefore first, as an indestructible foundation, the Cross, and build upon it the other articles of the faith.  Deny not the Crucified; for, if thou deny Him, thou hast many to arraign thee.  Judas the traitor will arraign thee first; for he who betrayed Him knows that He was condemned to death by the chief-priests and elders.  The thirty pieces of silver bear witness; Gethsemane bears witness, where the betrayal occurred; I speak not yet of the Mount of Olives, on which they were with Him at night, praying.  The moon in the night bears witness; the day bears witness, and the sun which was darkened; for it endured not to look on the crime of the conspirators.  The fire will arraign thee, by which Peter stood and warmed himself; if thou deny the Cross, the eternal fire awaits thee.  I speak hard words, that thou may not experience hard pains.  Remember the swords that came against Him in Gethsemane, that thou feel not the eternal sword.  The house of Caiaphas The house of Caiaphas and Pilate’s Prætorium (§ 41), and Mount Zion itself (Cat. xvi. 18), on which they both stood are described by Cyril as being in his time ruined and desolate.  Eusebius (Dem. Ev. VIII. 406), referring to the prophecy of Micah (iii. 12), repeated by Jeremiah (xxvi. 18), that Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, testifies that he had seen with his own eyes the place being ploughed and sown by strangers, and adds that in his own time the stones for both public and private buildings were taken from the ruins.  The Bordeaux Pilgrim (333 a.d.) says, “It is evident where the house of Caiaphas the Priest was; and there is still the pillar at which Christ was scourged:”  this pillar is described by Jerome (Ep. 86) as supporting the portico of the Church which by his time had been built on the spot.  Prudentius circ. 400 a.d.):— “Impia blasphemi cecidit domus alta Caiphae.… Vinctus in his Dominus stetit ædibus atque columnae Annexus tergum dedit ut servile flagellis. Perstat adhuc, templumque gerit veneranda columna.” (Benedictine Editor.) will arraign thee, shewing by its present desolation the power of Him who was erewhile judged there.  Yea, Caiaphas himself will rise up against thee in the day of judgment, the very servant will rise up against thee, who smote Jesus with the palm of his hand; they also who bound Him, and they who led Him away.  Even Herod shall rise up against thee; and Pilate; as if saying, Why deniest thou Him who was slandered before us by the Jews, and whom we knew to have done no wrong?  For I Pilate then washed my hands.  The false witnesses shall rise up against thee, and the soldiers who arrayed Him in the purple robe, and set on Him the crown of thorns, and crucified Him in Golgotha, and cast lots for His coat.  Simon the Cyrenian will cry out upon thee, who bore the Cross after Jesus.