Napoleon Bonaparte on Jesus Christ:
"Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I myself have founded great empires;
but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force.
Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions
will die for Him. ... I think I understand something of human nature;
and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like
Him; Jesus Christ was more than a man.
... I have inspired multitudes
with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me ...
but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with
the electric influence of my looks, my words, of my voice. When I saw
men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-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, Jesus Christ makes a
demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for
that which a philosopher may often seek 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 the human heart; He will have it entirely
to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is
granted.
Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with
all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of
Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable,
supernatural love toward 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 it,
which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which
proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ."
Liddon, H.P. (1869). Liddon's Bampton lectures 1866. London: Rivingtons.
Zacharias, R. (2000). Jesus among other gods. Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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