NAPOLEON'S exile afforded him the opportunity of thinking of and communicating with God, which he did constantly. His religious opinions became very clear, and his faith exceedingly strong. Toward the close of his life he had a conversation with General Bertrand, who was an unbeliever, in which he expressed some religious views which are worthy to be pre-served through the centuries. He said: "I perceive God; I see him; have need of him. I believe in him. If you do not perceive him, if you do not believe in him, so much the worse for you. But you will, General Bertrand, yet believe in God. I can pardon many things, but I have a horror of an atheist and materialist." Continuing, he makes this reference to the New Testament Scriptures : "The Gospel possesses a secret virtue, a mysterious efficacy, a warmth which penetrates and soothes the heart. One finds, in meditating upon it, that which one experiences in contemplating the heavens. The Gospel is not a book; it is a living being, with an action, a power which invades everything that opposes its extension. Behold it upon this table, this book surpassing all others (here the Emperor solemnly placed his hand upon it), I never omit to read it, and every day with the same pleasure."
"Nowhere is there to be found such a series of beautiful ideas, admirable, moral maxims, which file like the battalions of a celestial army, and which produce in our soul the same emotion which one experiences in contemplating the infinite expanse of the skies, resplendent in a summer's night with all the brilliancy of the stars. Not only is our mind absorbed, it is controlled, and the soul can never go astray with this book for its guide. Once master of our spirit, the faithful Gospel loves us. God ever is our friend, our father, and truly our God. The mother has no greater care for the infant whom she nurses."
In the discussion about the Divinity of Christ, General Bertrand said
