THE PROBLEM OF THE PERSON OF CHRIST 267 



environment, the question remains, Why has na- 

 ture produced no successor to Jesus ? Switzer- 

 land and Thibet have contributed no names to 

 the list of the world's intellectual and spiritual 

 leaders, or even to that of her great artists and 

 poets. Natural environment influences the body, 

 not much the intellectual and spiritual environ- 

 ment. But around this Man the Oriental and 

 the Occidental alike gather, and each seems to 

 find in Him a brother, a teacher, and a friend. 



There have been many attempts to explain 

 the character and personality of Jesus. My ob- 

 ject is not to add another to that list, but rather 

 to show that the data do not exist which war- 

 rant any one in attempting to classify Him with 

 other men as a product of heredity and environ- 

 ment. He seems, indeed, to have been without 

 father and without mother. Whoever He was, 

 and whatever the explanation of His presence 

 on this earth of ours, He was an exception 

 among men ; not in such a sense as to break 

 the continuity of humanity, but clearly to make 

 it impossible to account for Him as we account 

 for heroes and men of genius. If, now, any of 

 my readers desire to push their questioning 

 farther, and ask. How, then, do you explain His 

 presence .!• I must reply that this is not a book 



