The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1857-12-02
n7 From the Philadelphia Pross.
Napoleon and the Bible.


How true it is that adversely is often found
to be the most potent remedy for the diseases
of the soul
However the opinion of men may differ as
to the real conversion of the great Napoleon to
a sliving faith in the Savior Of man, the fol.
lowing wellauthenticated incidents of his clos
ing life, in dreary exile, furnish profitable
theme for the contemplation of all. That the
thoughts of this mighty hero of hundred
well-fought fields were first directed to the study
of the Bible, during his banishment in st. He
lena, can hardly be doubted.
Soon after his banshment to this dreary isle,
an eminent Christian of England, the Rev. Dr.
David Bogue, impressed with the belief that
the religion of Chlist could afford the most eff
fective solace to his adversely, sent to the pris
one, copy of his Essay on the Divine Author.
ity of the New Testament. #
Napoleon read it and the effect of it was
strikinsly evinced in the course of a conversa-
ton subsequently held between the Emperor
aud his friend, Gen. Bertrand, who accompan-
led him in his exile. Bertrand, perceiving that
the divinity of Christ was fast gaining access
to the mind of Napoleon. and being himself an
infidel, addressed him in these words:
81 cannot conceive, sire, how great man
like you can believe that the Supreme Being
ever exhibited himself to men under a human
d d
Let Jesus be whatever you please-the high
est intelligence, the purest heart, the most pro-
found legislator, and in all respects the most
singular being who has ever existed. 1grant
it. Still he was simply man. who taught his
disciples. and deluded cred,llous people, as did
Or Ihous, Confucius, Brahma.
Jesus caused himself to be ndcred because
his predecessors, Isis and Osiris, Jupiter and
Juno, hal proudly male themselves objects of
worship. The asccndency of Jesus over his
time was like the ascendency of the gods and
heroes of fable. II Jesus has impassioned and
attached TO his chariot the multitude-f he has
revolutonized the world-I see in that only
the power OF genius, and the action of COM
harding spirit, which vanquishes the world, as
so many conquerors have done-Alexander,
Caesar. you, Sire, and Mohammed, with
sword &c.,
To this appeal Of Bertrand, Napoleon replied
in strain of eloquencc every syllable of which
burned with the power of truth in vindication
of the position he had taken. In the course
of that reply he said I:
81 know men, and I tell you that Jesus
Christ is not man. Superficial minds see a
resemblance between Christ and the founders
of empires and the gods Of other religions
The resemblance docs not exist. There is BE-
tween Christianity and whatever other religion
tire Olympus to my tribunal. Ijudge the gods,
but am very far from Trostratng myself before
their vain images. The gods, tie legislators
of India and China, of Rome and of Athens,
have nothing which can oyerawe me.
"It is not so with Christ. His spirit over
awes me. and his will confounds me. His birth
and the history of his lie the profunditv of
his doctrine, which grappes the mightiest diff
culties, (sh wing that he had been no sIper-
fetal STUDENT and which is of those difficulties
the most admirable solution ; his gospel his
apparition, his empire, his march across the
ages and the realms-everything is. for me, a
prodigy, mystery insoluble, which plunges
me into reverie, from which | cannot escape
"a mystery which is there before my eyes---a
mystery which can neither deny nor explain,
Here see nothing human.
You speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their
conquests, and of the eUthr siasm which they
enkindled in the hearts of their soldiers. Bat
can you conceive of dead man max ne con-
guess with IN army faithful, aud entirely de-
voted to his memory Ny armies have for
gott.n me, even while living, AS the Carthage
nan army forgot Hannibal. Such is our POW
er ! A single battle lost c.ushes US, and adver-
sity scatters our friends. t.
Can you conceive Of Cesar, as the eternal
emperor Of the Roman Senate, and from the
depths of his mausoleum governing the en-
pire Such is the history of the invasion and
conquest of the world by Christianity. Ma
tons pass away, thrones crumble, but the
church remains. What is. then, the power
which has protected this church thus assailed
by the furious pillows Of rage and the hostility
of ages =? Whose is the arm which, for eight
cen hundred years, has rrotected the church
from so many storms which have threatened to
engulf it Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne,
and myself founded empires. But upon what
did we rest the creation of our genius =
Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his
| empire upon lore, and at this hour millions of
men would die for him."
May we not exclaim. in view of the above,
how trifing and unworthy Of consideration are
the blasphemous emanations of lesser minds
against the truth of religion, when it requires
an honest examination Of the subject to wrest
such confessions from mind as great as Ma
poleon's!