Excerpt from Life of Jesus The twelve earlier editions Of this work differ from one an other only in trifling changes. The present edition, on the contrary, has been revised and corrected with the greatest care. During the four years since the book appeared, I have laboured incessantly to improve it. The numerous criticisms to which it has given rise have rendered the task in certain respects an easy one. I have read all those which contain anything important. I believe I can conscientiously affirm that not once have the outrage and the calumny which have been imported into them hindered me from deriving profit from the just Observations which those criticisms might contain. I have weighed everything, tested everything. If in certain cases people should wonder why I have not answered fully the censures which have been made with such extreme assurance, and as if the errors alleged had been proved, it is not that I did not know of these censures, but that it was impossible for me to accept them. In such cases I have gen erally added in a note the texts or the considerations which have kept me from changing my opinion, or else by some slight change Of expression I have endeavoured to show wherein lay the error of my critics. These notes, though very brief and doing little more than point out the original sources, are still enough to Show the intelligent reader the rea sonings that have guided me in the composition of my text. TO answer in detail all the charges that have been brought against me, it would have been necessary for me to triple or quadruple this volume. I Should have had to repeat thingswhich have already been well said, even in French. I must have gone into religions controversy, - a thing that I abso lutely forbid myself to do. I should have had to speak Of myself, a thing I never do. I write in order to put my ideas before those who seek the truth. As for those persons who in the interest of their belief must have it that I am an ignora mus, a lying spirit, or a man of bad faith, I make no attempt to modify their opinion. If that opinion is necessary for the peace of mind of certain pious people, I should feel a genuine scraple at disabusing them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.