"One Solitary Life"

"He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.  He grew up in still another village where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty.  Then for three years he was an itinerant (traveling) preacher.  He never wrote a book.  He never held an office.  He never had a family or owned a house.  He didn't go to college.  He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place he was born.  He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.  He had no credentials but himself.

He was only 33 when the tide of public opinion turned against him.  His friends ran away.  He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.  He was nailed to 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 through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he is still the central figure of the human race.  All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth as much as He."  ---James Allan Francis.

There seems to be some uncertainty regarding the original source for this poem.  In searching the web, we found the following two references which we have included here: First: "The Real Jesus and Other Sermons,” Arise Sir Knight!  Pgs. 123-124.  © 1926 by Judson Press in Philadelphia].  Second - "The Irish Echo," December 27, 1969, p. 10; "The Congressional Record, December 23, 1969, vol. 115, p. 13105.”