This world and all in it must perish. You see death all around you. The great Pyramids must someday give way before the march of time. Most of the mighty cities of history are now but dust, and those that remain are so changed that the people who used to live in them, would not know them now, if they were to come back to them. Men speak of becoming immortal by their own deeds, but a few years will blot out all their memory.
On one occasion the great Napoleon was in the picture gallery of the Louvre. He expressed admiration of a great picture to a general of his staff at his side.
“Yes,” replied the general, “it is immortal.” “Immortal!” exclaimed Bonaparte, “how long will it last?”
“Three or four hundred years,” the officer replied.
Pointing to a magnificent statue nearby, he demanded:
“How long will that last?”
“Three or four hundred years,” the general thought.
Looking him in the eye the Emperor asked, “You call that immortality? Ah, nothing but our soul is immortal!”
“Where will your immortal soul spend its eternity?”