These words are attributed to Napolean Bonaparte when he was imprisoned on St. Helena Island.
"I think I understand somewhat of human nature and I tell you all these were men, and I am a man, but not one is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded great empires; but upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for Him.
The Gospel is no mere book but a living creature, with a vigor, a power, which conquers all that opposes it. Here lies the Book of Books upon the table. I do not tire of reading it, and do so daily with equal pleasure. The soul, charmed with the beauty of the Gospel, is no longer its own: God possesses it entirely. He directs its thoughts and faculties; it is His. What a proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ!
"I think I understand somewhat of human nature and I tell you all these were men, and I am a man, but not one is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself founded great empires; but upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded his empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for Him.
The Gospel is no mere book but a living creature, with a vigor, a power, which conquers all that opposes it. Here lies the Book of Books upon the table. I do not tire of reading it, and do so daily with equal pleasure. The soul, charmed with the beauty of the Gospel, is no longer its own: God possesses it entirely. He directs its thoughts and faculties; it is His. What a proof of the divinity of Jesus Christ!
Yet in this absolute sovereignty He has but one aim - the spiritual perfection of the individual, the purification of his conscience, his union with what is true, the salvation of the soul. Men wonder at the conquests of Alexander, but here is a conqueror who draws men to Himself for their highest good; who unites to Himself, incorporates into Himself, not a nation, but the whole human race."
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