Page:Dr Stiggins, His Views and Principles.pdf/192

 ? We must remember that the East never changes, that the dreamy, mystical Oriental was much the same in Palestine in the first century as he is in India to-day. And such a man as this was of a very different character from the bustling, energetic citizen of London and Chicago. He was not whirled to and fro morning and evening by train or tram, his mind active and busy with schemes in progress or in contemplation; nor was he compelled to strain every nerve, every capacity of his body through a long day of business; every brain cell alert lest money should not be made, or lest money should be lost. The Syrian peasant, we may almost say, had no healthy interest in life; not only was he totally devoid of business instincts and of all opportunities for using such faculties had he possessed them; but he lacked all the interests which nowadays go to the making of a good citizen and an earnest Christian. Consider, for example, how much of the time of the energetic man of this age is taken up by politics, both local and general.