CHAPTER IX.
ON THE CHARACTER Of JESUS OF NAZARETH AND THE WEIGHT TO BE ALLOWED TO THE ARGUMENT Of MARTYRDOM AS A TEST OF TRUTH IN THIS QUESTION.
I am now about to consider a subject, to which, notwithstanding the harsh ness of my language in some of the preceding chapters, I approach with feelings of great respect.

Far be it from me to reproach the meek, the compassionate, the amiable Jesus; or to attribute to him, the mischiefs occasioned by his followers*.

No, I look upon his character with the respect which every man should pay to purity of morals: though mingled with something like the sentiments which we naturally feel for the mistaken enthusiast.
Jesus of Nazareth appears to have been a man of irreproachable purity, of great piety, and of great mildness of disposition.

Though the world has never beheld a character exactly parallel with his, yet it has seen many, greatly similar.

Contemplative, and melancholy, it is said of him by his followers, "he was often seen to weep, but never to laugh." He retired to solitary places, and there prayed: he went into the wilderness to sustain and to vanquish the assaults of the devil: In a word, he appears by such means to have persuaded himself, as hundreds have done since, that he was the chosen servant of God, raised up to preach righteousness to the hypocrites, and sinners of his day.