NAPOLEON’S TESTIMONY OF CHRIST

            The strange unearthly vitality of Christianity did not escape the eagle eye of Napoleon. He, turning to Count Montholon, at St. Helena, said: “Can you tell me who Jesus Christ was?” There being no answer given, he proceeded: “Well, then I will tell you. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself have founded great empires: but upon what did these creatures of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to something of human nature, and I tell you all of these are men and I am a man---none else is like Him. Jesus Christ was more than a man. I have inspired multitudes with such enthusiastic devotion that they would die for me, but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, of my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of devotion in their hearts. Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man toward the unseen that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space across a chasm of eighteen hundred years. He makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy. He asks for that which a philosopher may often ask in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for a human heart. He will have it all to Himself. He demands it unconditionally and forthwith. His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and peace, the soul of man with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable supernatural love to Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable, it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength, nor put a limit to its range. This is what strikes me most. I have often thought of it. This is what proves to me most convincingly the divinity of Jesus Christ” (The Baptist, Nov. 18, 1876).