Two thousand years ago He was born in an obscure village. He lived in poverty and was reared in obscurity. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher.
He never owned a home. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He gathered a little group of friends about Him and taught them His way of life. 
He was only 33 when the public turned against Him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying,His executioners gambled for His clothing,the only property He had on earth. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave. 
Twenty centuries have come and gone,and today He is the central figure of the human race. When we try to sum up His influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.

（This essay was adapted from one of Dr. James Allan Francis’sermon, 1926; rewritten by someone.）

　　二千多年前，他生于一个寂寂无名的村庄。他在贫穷中生活，在卑微中长大。他在一木匠店工作直到卅岁。其后有三年日子，他是一位巡迴传道者。 

　　他不曾拥有房子，也从未写过一本书，更从未有过自己的办公室，且不曾结婚有自己的家庭。他没上过大学，没踏足过大城市，也从未离开过出生地超过两百哩。他只是聚集一小群朋友，把他的生活方式教导他们……。 

　　当大众都公然反对他时，他才卅三岁。他的朋友都逃跑了。其中一个不认他。另一个把他交给仇敌。他经历了遭人嘲弄的审判，被钉在两个强盗之间的十字架上。在他快要死时，执行死刑的兵丁拈阄分他的衣服──他在地上唯一的财物。当他死时，他被埋葬在一个借来的墓穴。 

　　廿个世纪来了又走了，而他至今仍是人类的焦点。当我们要总结他对人类的影响时，我们只能说：若将所有曾作过战的军队、所有曾兴建过的海军、所有曾召开过的议会、所有曾统治过的君王，都集合起来，我们会发现，这些伟大人物对这个世界的影响，特别是对人类生命的影响力，都不及这孤独的生命来得巨大。 

（翻译及整理：冯文娜）