Evening star., 1928-02-12
BY WILL DURANT, Ph. d.,
Author Of
''Thc Story of Philosophy"

that "the faith, the enthusiasm, the
constancy of the first Christian genera
ton is not cxplicable except by suppos-
ing at the origin Of the whole movement
a man of surprising greatness"
Nevertheless the picture Is obscure
and every age Of history and OF indi-
vitiual growth remolds 1t in the image
Of It's ideal; Jesus has forfeited his per-
sonality to become all things to all men.
And these pages, too. will not 50 much
paint man as mirror another preju-
dice.
We see Him first as student: 1t Is
not unnatural that lad with all the
eager intellect of Jewish youth should
at the age of IL puzzle the doctors with
questioning Perhaps He loved books a
little more than the harsh realities Of
the world, and pored over them so long
that the picture OF Gods kingdom be-
came more real to Him than the i'm
perfect things attested by His eyes and
ears. He seems to have read the Book
OF EnOch with especial care. and often
IN the days of His mission He used its
language word for word And many
times over and over again He read the
great prophets. and trembled at the call
He heard Isaiah'S words: The spirit
OF the Lord Is upon me, because He
hath anointed me to preach glad tidings
to the poor: He hath sent me to heal
the broken-hearted. to preach deliver
ance to captives and recovery of sight to
the blind. to set free them that are
| wounded" 1t Is the eternal dream of
the noblest men.
So we see Him. 20 years later. stand
| Ing on the shores of Gallilee. telling His
vision to little group of fishermen OF
Of simple men and women from the
towns along the lake: and even the
children heard Him gladly. He must
have been an attractive figure, gentle
OF bearing, infinitely tender in ever;
touch. beautiful of face with the char
acteristic brilliance Of the Jewish eye
His slim figure was ennobled with the
seriousness OF His mission. He smiled
upon the simple pleasures OF the peo-
/ pie. but He seldom laughed. Later
when the world seemed obdurate to Hi!
call. an angry bitterness Crept into Hi.
speech. ana the awful doctrine of hel
mingled strangely with the gospel o
love- He had not the calm wisdom o
the Greek sage. but the Puritan yea
@of those Hebrew prophets whose lint
He raised to its zenith.
He seemed to have shared most o
| the tneOlOgy OF Ills Time except lIldt III
lifted the conception of God from tn
barbaric despotism OF Yahveh to tn
sublime beneficence Of the Heavenl,
Father. He believed In personal devil
and interpreted sickness as possession
by demon; or was He in the use o
these ideas merely a master of symbo
and allegory? 1t Is probable that HI
cured many men and women Of certain
nervous diseases. His very presence wa.
tonic: at His optimistic call self-con
fidence revived. and His gentle touci
was like a healing in ointment or
wounded flesh and nerves. That sug
| gestion was the medium OF most of thes'
cures is indicated by His comparative
| failure In Nazareth whose people knew
Him Familiarity and looked upon Hin
simply as the carpenters son. cane
| He did not many mighty works there
because OF their unbelief.") Perhaps Ht
/ felt. like Spinoza. that the first tcache'
OF a religion must resort TO wonder
working as the only way to make larg'
masses OF people attend and under
stand. To lead multitudes one mus
CONTINUED on Fifth Page)