- t>' 
 
 Ziol 
 
 ^ . 
 
 ’ r No. 477. 
 
 NATO LEON’S ARGUMENT 
 
 FOR 
 
 THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST, 
 
 AND 
 
 THE SCRIPTURES, 
 
 IN A CO.VVEUSATION WITH GENERAL BERTRAND, AT 
 ST. HELENA. 
 
 TBANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH. 
 
 ” True, Christ offers to our faith a series of mysteries, 
 lie commands us authoritatively to believe, and gives no 
 other reason than his awful word, 1 am God. 
 
 “ True, this is an article of mere faith, and upon it de- 
 pend all the other articles of the Christian system ; but 
 the doctrine of the divinity ,of Christ once admitted, and 
 Christianity appears with the precision and clearness of 
 algebi-a ; it has the connectedness and unity of a science. 
 
 ’* This doctrine resting upon the Bible, best explains the 
 traditions prevalent in the world. It throws light upon 
 them ; and all the other doctrines of Christianity are strictly 
 connected with it, as links of the same chain. The nature 
 of Christ’s existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mys- 
 tery meets tire wants of man — reject it, and the world is 
 an inexplicable riddle — believe it, and the history of our 
 race is satisfactorily explained. 
 
 “ Christianity has one advantage over all systems of 
 philosophy and all religions : Christians do not delude 
 themselves in regard to the nature of things. You can- 
 not reproach them with the subtleties and artifices of those 
 
o 
 
 NAPOLCOn's ARGfMEXT FOR 
 
 (342 
 
 idealists who think to solve profound theological problems 
 by their empty dissertations. Fools ! their efforts are those 
 of the Infant who tries to touch the sky with his hand, or 
 cries to have the moon for his plaything. Christianity 
 says simply, ‘ No man hath seen God but God. God re- 
 veals what he is ; his revelation is a mystery which neither 
 imagination nor reason can conceive. But when God 
 speaks, man must believe.’ This is sound common sense. 
 
 “ The Gospel possesses a secret virtue of indescribable 
 efficacy, a warmth which influences the understanding 
 and softens the heart ; in meditating upon it, you feel as 
 you do in contemplating the heavens. The Gospel is 
 more than a book ; it is a living thing, active, powerful, 
 overcoming every obstacle in its way. See upon this 
 table this book of books, (and here the emperor touched 
 it reverently ;) I never cease reading it, and always with 
 new delight. 
 
 “ Christ never hesitates, never varies in his instnictions, 
 and the least of his assertions is stamped with a simplicity 
 and a depth which captivate the ignorant and the learned, 
 if they give it their attention. 
 
 “Nowhere is to be found such a scries of beautiful 
 thoughts, fine moral maxims, following one another like 
 ranks of a celestial army, and producing in the soul the 
 same emotion as is felt in contemplating the infinite ex- 
 tent of the resplendent heavens on a fine summer night. 
 
 “ Not only is our mind absorbed, it is controlled, and 
 the soul can never go ;istray with tliis book for its guide. 
 
 “ Once ma.ster of our mind, the Gospel is a faithful 
 friend, our father, and truly our God. A mother has not 
 greater care for the infant on her breast. The soul, capti- 
 vated by the beauty of the Gospel, is no longer its own. 
 God occupies it altogether ; he directs its thoughts and 
 all its faculties ; it is hi.s. 
 
 “ What a proof it is of the divinity of C'nrlst, that, with 
 
THE DIVINITY OF CHKIST. 
 
 3 
 
 343 ) 
 
 80 absolute an empire, his single aim is the sjiiritual me- 
 lioration of individuals, their purity of conscience, their 
 union to the truth, their holiness of soul. 
 
 My last argument is, there is not a God in heaven, if a 
 mere man was able to conceive and execute successfully 
 the gigantic design of making himself the object of su- 
 preme worship, by usurping the name of God. Jesus 
 alone dared to do this ; he alone said clearly and unfal- 
 teringly of himself, I am God; which is <piitc difierent 
 from sayinff, I am a god, or there are gods. History men- 
 tions no other individual who has appropriated to himself 
 the title of God in the absolute sense. Heathen mytholo- 
 gy nowhere pretends that Jupiter and the other gods 
 themselves assumed divinity. It would have been on their 
 part the height of pride and absurdity. They were dei- 
 fied by their posterity, the heirs of the first despots. As 
 all men are of one race, Alexander could call himself the 
 son of Jupiter. But Greece laughed at the silly assump- 
 tion ; and so in making gods of their emperors, the R<)- 
 mans were not serious. Mahomet and Confucius merely 
 gave out that they were agents of the Deity. Numa’s 
 goddess Egeria was only the personification of his reflec- 
 tions in the solitude of the woods. The Bralimas of India 
 are only deifications of mental attributes. 
 
 “ How then should a Jew, the particulars of whose his- 
 tory are better attested than that of any of his cotempo- 
 railes, — how should he alone, the son of a cai'pentcr, give 
 out all at once that he was God, the Creator of all things. 
 He arrogates to himself the highest adoration. He con- 
 structs his worship with his own hands, not with stones 
 but with men. You are amazed at the conquests of Alex- 
 ander. But here is a conqueror who appropriates to his 
 own advantage, who incorporates with himself not a na- 
 tion but the human race. Wonderful! the human soul 
 with all its faculties becomes blended with the existence 
 of Christ. 
 
4 
 
 napoleon’s argument for 
 
 (344 
 
 “ And how \ by a prodigy surpassing all other prodigies 
 he seeks the love of men, the most difficult thing in the 
 world to obtain ; he seeks what a wise man would fain 
 have from a few friends, a father from his children, a wife 
 from her husband, a brother from a brother ; in a word, 
 the heart ; this he seeks, this he absolutely requires, and 
 he gains his object. Hence I infer his divinity. Alexan- 
 der, Caesar, Hannibal, Louis XIV, with all their genius, 
 failed here. They conquered the world and had not a 
 friend. I am perhaps the only person of my day who 
 loves Hannibal, Cesar, Alexander. Louis XIV, who shed 
 so much lustre upon France and the world, had not a 
 friend in all his kingdom, not even in his own family. 
 True, we love our childi-en, but it is from instinct, from a 
 necessity which the beasts themselves obey ; and how 
 many children manifest no proper sense of our kindness 
 and the cares we bestow on them, — how many ungrateful 
 children ! Do your children. General Bertrand, love you 1 
 you love them, but you are not sure of being requited. 
 Neither natural affection nor your kindness will ever in- 
 spire in them such love as Christians have for God. When 
 you die your children will remember you — doubtless 
 while spending your money ; but your grand-children will 
 hardly know that you ever existed. And yet you are Ge- 
 neral Bertrand ! And we are here upon an island, where 
 all your cares and all your enjoyments are centered in 
 your family. 
 
 “Christ speaks, and at once generations become his by 
 stricter, closer ties than those of blood ; by the most sa- 
 cred, most indissoluble of all unions. He lights up the 
 ■*lame of a love which consumes self-love, which prevails 
 over every other love. 
 
 “In this wonderful power of his will we recognize the 
 Word that created the world. 
 
 “ The founders of other religions never conceived of this 
 
345 ) THE DIVINITV OF CURIST. 5 
 
 mystical love, which is the essence of Christianity, and is 
 beautifully called charity. ^ 
 
 “ Hence it is that they have struck upon a rock. In every 
 attempt to eflect this thing, namely, to make himself belov- 
 ed, man deeply feels his own impotence. 
 
 “ So that Christ’s greatest miracle undoubtedly is the 
 reign of charity. 
 
 “ He alone succeeded in lifting the heart of man to things 
 invisible, and in inducing him to sacrifice temporal things ; 
 he alone, by influencing him to this sacrifice, has fonned 
 a bond of union between heaven and earth. 
 
 “ All who sincerely believe in him taste this wonderful, 
 supernatural, exalted love, which is beyond the power of 
 reason, above the ability of man ; a sacred fire brought 
 down to earth by this new Prometheus, and of which 
 Time, the great destroyer, can neither exhaust the force 
 nor limit the duration. The more I (Napoleon) think of 
 this, I admire it the more. And it convinces me absolute- 
 ly of the divinity of Christ. j 
 
 “ I have inspired multitudes with such affection for me 
 that they would die for me. God forbid that I should com- 
 pare the soldier’s enthusiasm wth Christian charity, which 
 are as unlike as their cause. i 
 
 “ But after all, my presence was necessary, the lightning 
 of my eye, my voice, a word from me ; then the sacred 
 fire was kindled in their hearts. I do indeed possess the 
 secret of this magical power which lifts the soul, but I 
 could never impait it to any one ; none of my generals 
 ever learnt it from me ; nor have I the secret of perpetu- 
 ating my name and love for me in the hearts of men, and 
 to effect these things without physical means. 
 
 “ Now that I am at St. Helena; now that I am alone, 
 chained to this rock, who fights and wns empires for me ? 
 Where are any to share my misfortune 1 any to think of 
 
NArOLEO.N’s AUGCMENT FOR 
 
 (346 
 
 G 
 
 me ? Who bestirs himself for me in E urope 1 Who re- 
 mains faithful to me 1 where are my friends ? Yes, two or 
 three of you, who are immortalized by this fidelity, ye 
 share, ye alleviate my exile.” 
 
 Here the emperor’s voice choked with grief. 
 
 ” Yes, my life once shone with all the brilliance of the 
 diadem and the throne, and yours, Bertrand, reflected liiat 
 brilliance, as the dome of the ‘ Invalids,’ gilt by me, reflects 
 the rays of the sun. But disasters came, the gold gradu- 
 ally became dim, and now all the brightness is eflaced by 
 the rain of misfortune and outrage with which 1 am con- 
 tinually pelted. We are mere lead now. General Ber- 
 trand, and soon I shall be in my grave. 
 
 Such is the fate of great men ! So it was with Cesar 
 and Alexander, and 1 too am forgotten ! and the name 
 of a conqueror and an emperor is a college theme ! our 
 exploits are tasks given to pupils by their tutor, who sits 
 in judgment upon us, awarding us censure or praise. 
 
 “ How different the opinions formed of the great Louis 
 XIV. Scarcely dead, the great king was left alone in his 
 solitary chamber at Versailles — neglected by his courtiers 
 and perhaps the object of their ridicule. He was no more 
 their master. He was a dead body, in his coffin, the prey 
 of a loathsome putrefaction. 
 
 “ And mark what is soon to become of me — assassinat- 
 ed by the English oligarchy, I die before my time, and my 
 dead body too must return to the earth to become food 
 for worms. 
 
 “Such is soon to be the fate of the great Napoleon. 
 What a wide abyss between my deep misery and the 
 eternal kingdom of Christ, which is j)roclaime<l, lov< d, 
 adored, and which is extending over all the eardi ! Is 
 this death ] is it not life rather? The death of Chi let is 
 the death of a God.” 
 
347) 
 
 TUE DITIMTV OF CHRIST. 
 
 7 
 
 The emperor paused, and as General Bertrand did not 
 answer, the emperor resumed : 
 
 “ You do not perceive that Jesus Christ is God ? then 
 I did mong to appoint you general !” 
 
 The above is translated from a French Tract, printed 
 in Paris, with the title “ Napoleon.” The narrative is con- 
 fuTTied by a letter from the Rev. Dr. G. de Felice, Pro- 
 fessor in the Theological Seminary at Montauban, France, 
 in a communication inserted in the New- York Observer 
 of April 16, 1842. 
 
 Professor De Felice states, that the Rev. Dr. Rogue 
 sent Napoleon at St. Helena a copy of his “ Essay on the 
 Divine Authority of the New Testament,” which eyc- 
 W’itnesses attest that he read with interest and satisfaction. 
 He also states that similar witnesses attest that he read 
 much in the Bible, and spoke of it with profound respect ; 
 and further, that there was a religious revival among the 
 inhabitants of St. Helena, which extended to the soldiers, 
 W'ho prayed much for the conversion and salvation of the 
 noble prisoner. Professor De Felice closes his communi- 
 cation by translating from a recent French Journal the 
 following conversation related by Count de Montholon, 
 the faithful fHend of the Emperor. 
 
 ” I know men,” said Napoleon, “ and I tell you that 
 Jesus is not a man ! 
 
 “ The religion of Christ is a mystery’ which subsists by 
 its own force, and proceeds from a mind which is not a 
 human mind. We find in it amai-ked individuality, which 
 originated a train of words and maxims unknown before. 
 Jesus borrowed nothing from our knowledge. He ex- 
 
8 
 
 napoleon’s AUGL'MENT, &c. 
 
 (348 
 
 hibited In himself the perfect example of his precepts. 
 Jesus is not a philosopher; for his proofs are miracles, 
 and from the first his disciples adored him. In fact, learn- 
 ing and philosophy are of no use for salvation ; and Jesus 
 came into the world to reveal the mysteries of heaven and 
 the laws of the Spirit. 
 
 “ Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself founded 
 empires ; but upon what did we rest the creations of our 
 genius 1 Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his em- 
 pire upon love ; and at this hour millions of men would 
 die for him. 
 
 “ It was not a day or a battle which achieved the tri- 
 umph of the Christian religion in the world. No, it was a 
 long war, a contest for three centuries, begrm by the 
 apostles, then continued by the flood of Christian genera- 
 tions. In this war all the kings and potentates of earth 
 were on one side : on the other I sec no army but a mys- 
 terious force, some men scattered here and there in all 
 parts of the world, and who have no other rallying point 
 than a common faith in the mysteries of the cross. 
 
 “ I die before my time, and my body will b? given back 
 to the earth to become food for worms. Such is the fate 
 which so soon awaits him who has been called the great 
 Napoleon. What an abyss between my deep misery and 
 the eternal kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved 
 and adored, and which is extending over the whole earth ! 
 Call you this dying 1 is it not living rather ? The death of 
 Christ is the death of a God !” 
 
 rtICLISIIED BY THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,