'Why not of some other superior being--perhaps a bad one?'

'The character, teaching, objects, acts of Christ, make it unlikely, if
not impossible, that he should have been sent by any bad intelligence. And
that he came not only from a good being, but from God, we may believe on
his own word.'

'His goodness may have been all assumed. The whole may be a deception.'

'Men do not sacrifice their lives merely to deceive, to play a child's
game before the world. Christ died to show his attachment to his cause,
and with him innumerable others. Would they have done this merely to
impose upon mankind? And for what purpose?--for that of teaching a
religion inculcating the loftiest virtue! But I do not set myself forward
as a champion of this new religion,' continued Julia, plainly disturbed
lest she might have seemed too earnest. 'Would that you, Longinus, could
be persuaded to search into its claims. If you would but read the books
written by the founders of it, I am sure you would say this at least, that
such books were never written before, nor such a character portrayed as
that of Jesus Christ. You who profess yourself charmed with the poetry of
the Jewish Scriptures, and the grandeur of the sentiments expressed in
them, would not be less impressed by the gentler majesty, the mild, sweet
dignity of the person and doctrine of Christ. And if the reasonings of
Socrates and Plato have any power to convince you of the immortality of
the soul, how must you be moved by the simple announcements of the truth
by the Nazarene, and above all by his resurrection from the dead!
Christianity boasts already powerful advocates, but I wish it could say
that its character and claims had been examined by the great Longinus.'