The story In His Steps was written in 1896 and read one chapter at a time to my Sunday evening congregation. It was first published in the Advance, in the fall of that year, and afterwards published in book form in 1897.

The story Jesus Is Here begins seventeen years after the close of In His Steps. It continues the main characters with the addition of a few more. It was first published as a serial in the Christian Herald, beginning in 1913.

It has not been my purpose to describe what is called the “second coming” of Christ, but to picture another earlier appearance of Jesus, and describe his action in our modern world. The world today is far different from the world into which the historical Jesus was born. It is so different, that many new problems relating to human conduct face the modern Christian. It has seemed to me that it was a fair and appropriate question to ask what would be the attitude of Jesus as he faced the complex conditions of modern society. It has also seemed fair to remember the great fact that Jesus was a very real, flesh-and-blood person. The lapse of time since he was here has removed him in thought with very many people from the everyday life, and very many people have forgotten, or at least do not remember, that when he was on earth he worked and ate and slept and grew tired just like any human being. He moved about among people just like any other man. He was not a recluse or a solitary, but he loved the crowds, and above all he was perfectly sympathetic with all sorts and conditions of men. No one ever lived who was more socially democratic than Jesus, and it is reverent to say no one enjoyed life more than he did.

I have received hundreds of letters from people, some of whom have severely condemned this story on the grounds that it is not reverent to bring Jesus into common human interaction; that it takes away from his character as the redeemer of the world. Many of these letters declare the story to be blasphemous and have threatened the author if he ever dare publish the story in book form. On the other hand, I wish to express my appreciation for the hundreds of letters received from other people who have written me to express their thankfulness for the help which the story has given them in their Christian life. It is impossible for me to reply to all these letters individually. If any of the writers happen to see this, will they kindly take it as a reply on the author’s part, thanking them for their kindness and expressing in part his appreciation of their understanding of his purpose in writing the story? The world needs to know Jesus as a real person, one who walks the earth and is an ongoing lover of men; that is the main purpose of this story, to bring back to the mind of the modern world the living personality of the living Christ.