The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1877-05-20
N1POLE0N ON THE DIVINITY OE QUE
LORD


his grand conferences" on Jesus Chris
aelivered in Notre Dame, in Paris, afte
quoting from Rousseau's "Emile" (of al
unlikely books in the world :. q sentence i
q which the infidei philosopher wrote, fo
once, aa theofogian-pameiy, where Jeal
Jacques says, "If the life and death o
y Socrates be those ef = sage, the life AMI
death of Jesus Christ are those of a God
#-refeTred to another and far more strik.
ing tribute even than that to the diyinit,
OF our Lord--a tribute uttered by one o
I the very greatest men the world has evel
( known. Dr. Newman also, refeys IN hil
Grammar of Assent" to the same memor
CESAR Alexander, Lycurgus, and Char.
iemagne. 1t occurred, the delivery o
these opinions about our adorable Saviour
during the course of q conversation of the
great Napoleon in his exile at St. Helena
when discussing the problems of his
tory, and of time and eternity, with one OF
she generals who shared his captivity. The
whole passage referred to by Lacordaire
/ in his "Conferences," and few years after
swarde by DR.. Newman in his .'Grammar
zo9 assent" has in recent number of the
Lamp been given in ertenso. We gladly
ztransfer it, with acknowledgment, from
zfhe pages OF our contemporary to our own,
and trust that from our columns it NAV
tiater on be transferred again to those of
z0ur catholic contemporaries far and wide
hey yond the seas, in the United States and
in Hindostan and Australia
10 the remotest papers we would say very
|earnestly-as they sometimes put it at the
|close of an advertised death OF marriage
please copy. For the passage we are about
to give ipsissimG ccrba, as it is given from
the lips of Napoleon in the Lamp, is one of
the most memorable fragments of modern
history. 1t is taken from q note in the
f"Catechisme de Perseverance," by the
tAbbe Gaume. 1t is quoted also in "Les
|Etudes," by M. Nicholas. General Mon
Itholon, who with Gen. Bertrand was pres
|ens at the conversations which are re-
corded by the ChevaIier de Beauterne,
writes from Ham, on May 30, 1s41, to the
|author 81 have read with lively interest
your brochure entitled ''The sentiments of
Napoleon on the divinity cf Jesus Cbriet,"
and do not think that it would be posi-
pie to express more accurately the religious
py way ofpreliminary, let us now give the
passage itself Uerbatine ct Hteratim !:
"One Of Napoleon's generals was one day
llscussipg in his presence the divinity of
Rur Lord. Napoleon remarked: sIknow
men, General, ard can tell you that
sesus Christ is not q man. Superficial
Eninde see resemblance between Christ
prs and the gods of other religions. The |
resemblance does not exist the distance
between Christianity and any other reli- !
yion whatever is infinite.
"Any one who hos true knowledge of
things and experience of men will cut short |
the question as do. Who amongst us,
General, looking at the worship of differ |
ant nations, is not able to say to the differ
snt authors of those religions: "No you |
are neither gods, nor the agents of the |
Deity ; no, you have no mission from |
heaven. You are formed of the came |
lime as other mortals your own lives are
entirely one with all the passions and all
that it has been necessary to
lelfy them With you; your temples and
7onr priests themselves proclaim your ori-
,in." AbOminations, fables, and rotten
wood are these religions and gods which
an be compared with Christianity
'I say no.
sin Lycurgus, Numa, Confucius, and
1ahomet see law-givers, but nothing
Vhich reveals the Deity. They did not
themselves raise their pretensions 80 high.
hey surpassed others in their times, as /
ave done in mine. There is nothing
bout them which announces Divire
eings on the contrary, see much like
ess between them and myself. lean testi-
to common resemblSnces, weaknesses,
nd errors which bring them near to me
nd to human nature.
''It is not 80 with Christ. Every thing in
i'm amazes me; his mind is beyond me
nd his will coEfounds me. There is no
ossible term of comparison between him
nd anything of this world. He is Being I
part. His birth, his life, his death, the
rofundity of his doctrines, which reaches
ne bsight of difficulty, and which is yet it's '
lost admirable solution, his empire, his {
curse across ages and kingdoms,-sll is a ]
rodlgy, mystery too deep, too sacred, {
nd which plunges, me into reveries from !
Ihich i can find no escape; a mystery
'hich is here, under my eyes, which 1 can I
OF deny, and neither can explain. {
Here see nothing of man.
You speak of Caesar and of Alexander,
their cOnquests, and of the enthusiasm
,hich they were able to awaken in the hearts
I their soldiers, and thus draw them with
nem on adventurous expeditions; bat this !
My shows us the price of the soldiers af-
ecGlon, the ascendsncy of the genius of vic {
ory, the natural effect of military discip- {
,,ne' andthe result of able commandership. {
NV now many years did the empire of {
sar endureS How long was the enthu- I
= An Of the soldiers OfAlexander maintain