268 HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN PROBLEMS 



on theology. Such questions belong to the 

 sphere of theology. It is enough here to show 

 that the usual theories fail when applied to Jesus 

 of Nazareth. For myself, it is easier and in 

 every way more satisfactory to believe that the 

 Man Jesus was chosen of God to manifest His 

 glory unto men, as no other man ever was ; to 

 believe that the unique Man was prepared by 

 birth and discipline for His unique and awful 

 service, than to attempt to classify Him with 

 Homer and Plato, Dante and Shakespeare, even 

 if He be given the highest place among all who 

 have influenced and taught and served the race. 

 It is enough here, however, to show that so far 

 as can be seen He was not the sole product of 

 the narrow and bigoted people among whom 

 He was born ; and that the serene skies above 

 Nazareth, His toiling and oppressed countrymen, 

 His life as a working carpenter, and the tyran- 

 nical rule of the conquering Romans, could not 

 have made Him the supreme spiritual Teacher 

 and Leader, the One who has done most to lead 

 humanity toward the divine. 



What, then, shall we believe .-• I prefer to go 

 to my New Testament for my answer, and since 

 this book is not intended to solve such problems, 

 to the New Testament I must send my readers 



