Felder states:
"Napoleon regarded this as precisely the most striking proof of the divinity of Jesus--namely, his power over men's hearts.
The once well nigh all-powerful Corsican, in the solitude of his last
days, called up before his imagination all the heroic figures and master
minds of the world, and measured them by his own gigantic greatness.
But all of them combined, and he himself as well, vanished like empty
shadows before the person of Jesus Christ:
Napoleon:
"What a
conqueror!--a conqueror who controls humanity at will, and wins to
himself not only one nation, but the whole human race. What a marvel! He
attaches to himself the human soul with all its energies. And how? By a
miracle which surpasses all others. He claims the love of men--that is
to say, the most difficult thing in the world to obtain; that which the
wisest of men cannot force from his truest friend, that which no father
can compel from his children, no wife from her husband, no brother from
his brother--the heart. He claims it ; he requires it absolutely and
undividedly, and he obtains it instantly.
Alexander, Caesar,
Hannibal, Louis XIV strove in vain to secure this. They conquered the
world, yet they had not a single friend, or at all events, they have
none any more. Christ speaks, however, and from that moment all
generations belong to him; and they are joined to him much more closely
than by any ties of blood and by a much more intimate, sacred and
powerful communion. He kindles the flame of love which causes one's
self-love to die, and triumphs over every other love. Why should we not
recognize in this miracle of love the eternal Word which created the
world? The other founders of religions had not the least conception of
this mystic love which forms the essence of Christianity.
I have
filled multitudes with such passionate devotion that they went to death
for me. But God forbid that I should compare the enthusiasm of my
soldiers with Christian love. They are as unlike as their causes. In my
case, my presence was always necessary, the electric effect of my
glance, my voice, my words, to kindle fire in their hearts. And I
certainly posses personally the secret of that magic power of taking by
storm the sentiments of men; but I was not able to communicate that
power to anyone. None of my generals ever learned it from me or found it
out. Moreover, I myself do not possess the secret of perpetuating my
name and a love for me in their hearts for ever, and to work miracles in
them without material means.
Now that I languish here at St
Helena, chained upon this rock, who fights, who conquers empires for me?
Who still even thinks of me? Who interests himself for me in Europe?
Who has remained true to me? That is the fate of all great men. It was
the fate of Alexander and Caesar, as it is my own. We are forgotten, and
the names of the mightiest conquerors and most illustrious emperors are
soon only the subject of a schoolboy's taks. Our exploits come under
the rod of a pedantic schoolmaster, who praises or condemns us as he
likes.
What an abyss exists between my profound misery and the
eternal reign of Christ, who is preached, loved, and worshipped, and
live on throughout the entire world. Is this to die? Is it not rather to
live eternally? The death of Christ! It is the death of a God."
(Quoted in Hilarin Felder, Christ and the Critics, vol. 2, pp. 216-17)
I never read that
quote from Napoleon in my government-high-school textbooks! Being
chained to a rock after having conquered the world evidently gives a man
time to think.
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