So, we might immediately try to distance ourselves from that drive to be praised, that drive for glory. It is essentially idolatrous in the non-Christian because it's not connected in any way with the glory of God and faith in Jesus Christ and His kingdom. Why is that? I think it's because inside each one of us is a yearning for glory and recognition, for honor and praise. Napoleon said these motivate men more than just about anything he knew. He reflected back over his amazing military career and the immense sacrifices that soldiers had made to win him an empire, and he uttered some famous words, "A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon." Medals of honor, medals of valor, medals of glory, medals of achievement, medals of bravery, medals of service. As Napoleon was talking with the captain of the Bellerophon, the ship that would carry him to his exile, he was in a pensive and somewhat ironic mood.
His soldiers were fanatically loyal to him, were willing to trudge across the bitter snows of Russia to win him an empire. The Napoleonic Wars resulted in the deaths of perhaps as many as six million human beings. He had led armies of over 600,000 men, he had won battles in Egypt and throughout Europe, and at one point controlled most of continental Europe. This is a man that had thrown the world into turmoil for 20 years. Helena, which is in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, 700 miles from the nearest landfall, several thousand miles from coastlines of Africa or South America, just in the middle of the ocean.
He was being exiled to the tiny volcanic island of St. On July 15th, 1815, the defeated former Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte, boarded the British warship, the HMS Bellerophon, and was being sent to his final earthly destination.
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