Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1860-11-09
aGtistellaueous.


Mtlstcllalleous.
Kapokeon's Views OF Christ.
The following (says the Christian Age)
is published as d conversation that occurred
at st. Helena. with Gen. Bertrand. 1t is
remarkable statement of reasons for be-
lieviug Christ divine and though the opin-
ion of man of the world, however eminent
can add nothing to the glory of the Saviour.
it is yet interesting to know how person of
Nspoleon's sagacity, aud "wao knew men,"
would look upon Christ. Even as moral
phenomenon, Bonaparte coull not but ex
claim, ''here [ see nothing human
The conversation at st. Helena very f:e-
quently turned upon the subject Of religion.
One day Napoleon was speaking Of the Di-
vinity of Christ, when Gen. Bertrand said
Il cannot conceive, Sire, how a great
man like you can believe that the Supreme
Being ever exhibited himself to men under
la human fern, with body, face, mouth,
and eyes. Let Jesus be whatever you please
the highest intelligence, tho purest heart
the most profound legislator, and, in all re-
spects, the most singular being who has ev-
or existed, grant it. Still he was simply
man, VITO taught his disciples, and delu
dcd crcdulous people, as did Gtpheus Con-
fucius, aud Brahma. Jesus caused himself
to be adored, because his predecessors, Isis
and Osiris, Jupiter aud Juno, had proudly
made themselves objects Of worship The
ascendancy Of Jesus over his time, was like
the ascendaucy Of the gods and the heroes
of fable. 1! Jesus has impassioned and at
tached to his chariot the multitude-if he
has revo]utionized the world sec in that
ionly the power Of genius, and the action Of
a commanding spirit, which vanquishes the
world, as SO many conquerors have done
Alexander, Cesar, you. Sire. Mahonet,
with sword"
Napoleon replied:
81 know inen, and | tell you that Jesus
Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see
a rescmb alliance between Christ and the foun-
der of empires, and Tie gods Of other relig-
ions That resemblance does not exist
There is between Christianity and whatever
lother religion the distance Of in6nity. We
can say to the authors Of every other re!g-
ion, "You are neither Gods nor the agents
of the Deity. You are bat missionaries of
falsehood, moulded from the same clay With
the rest of mortals. You are made with ali
the passions aud vices insoparable from them
Your temples and your priests proclaim your
origin" Such will be Judgment, the cry Of
conscience, of whoever examines the gods
MI tha .u -,icc If po
Plagiarism vas never accepted, as truth,
by the wise men of Greece; neither by Soc
rates, pytllagoras, Plato, Anaxagorar, nor
Perieles. On the other side, the loftiest in
tellects. since the advent of Christianity,
have had faith, living faith, a practical
faith, IL the mysteries and doctrines of the
Gospel net only Bessuet aud Fenelon
.7ho we're preachers, but Descartes and New
on, Leibnitz and Paschal, Corneille and
Racine, Chariemagne and Louis XIV.
Il see in Lycurgus, Numa, and Mahom
med, only legislators, who, having the first
rank in the State, have sought the best So
luton Of the social problem but see moth
there which reveals Divinity. They them
selves have never raised their professions so
high AS for me, recognize the gods and
these great men as beings like myself. They
have performed a lofty part in their times,
as | have done. Nothing announces them
Divine. On the contrary, there are nu-
resemblances between them and N.Y.
self; foibles and errors which ely them to
me and to humanity.
''It is not SO with Christ Everything
in him astonishes me. Between him and
whoever else in the world, there is no posi-
bic term Of comparison. He is truly be-
ing by himself. His ideas and his senti-
ments, the truths which be announces, his
manner of convincing. are not explained
either BY human organizations Or by the ma
ture OF things.
"His birth, and the history of bis life !
the profudity of his doctrine, which grapples
the mightiest difficulties, and is of those diff
ficulties the most admirable solution; his
gospel. his apparition, his empire, his march
across the ages and the realms everything
is, to he. prodigy, mystery unsoluble,
-,, h plungas me into a reverie from which
cannot Co. eape-a mystery which is there
before nv eycs--a mystery which | can
neither deny nor expla,>.a. Av.-el see moth
ing human.
''1he nearer approach, the me care
fully examine everything is above me-
everything remains grand, of grandeur
which overpowers. His religion is reve-
lation from an intelligence which certainly
is not that of man. There is there pro-
found originality, which has created series
Of words and Of axioms before unknown
Jesus borrowed nothing from our sciences.
One can absolutely find nowhere, but in him
alone, the imitation CT the example Of his
life. lie is not philosopher, since be ad
vances by miracles, and from the commence
meut his disciples worshipped him. He
persuades them far more by an appeal to the
heart, than by any display Of method and
logic. Neither did be impose upon them
any preliminary studies, or any knowledge
Of letters. ALI his religion consists in BE-
lieuing i
"In fact the sciences and philosophy avail