thc48
thc48f
Vol 48: The Classics
Blaise Pascal
Thoughts
TRANSLATED BY W. F. TROTTER
Letters
TRANSLATED BY M. L. BOOTH
Minor Works
TRANSLATED BY O. W. WIGHT
W/M Introductions and Nofes
Vo/ume 48
P. F. Collier & Son Corporation
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1910
BY P. F. COLLIER & SON
MANUFACTURED IN U. S. A.
HAY 1 9 1953
CONTENTS
THOUGHTS
SECTION I
PAGE
THOUGHTS ON MIND AND STYLE 9
SECTION II
THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 24
SECTION III
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 68
SECTION IV
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 90
SECTION V
JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS 103
SECTION VI
THE PHILOSOPHERS 117
SECTION VII
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 136
SECTION VIII
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 181
SECTION IX
PERPETUITY 193
SECTION X
TYPOLOGY 214
2 CONTENTS
SECTION XI PAGE
THE PROPHECIES 233
SECTION XII
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 260
SECTION XIII
THE MIRACLES 270
SECTION XIV
APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 300
LETTERS
1 To His SISTER JACQUELINE 321
2 To MME. PERIER 323
3 To THE SAME 326
4 To MME. AND M. PERIER 330
5 To M. PERIER 341
6 To MME. PERIER 341
7 To THE MARCHIONESS DE SABLE 342
8 To M. PERIER 342
9 To MME. PERIER 344
10 To THE SAME 346
11 To MLLE. DE ROANNEZ (nine letters) 346
12 To QUEEN CHRISTINA 359
MINOR WORKS
1 EPITAPH OF M. PASCAL, PERE 365
2 PRAYER, TO ASK OF GOD THE PROPER USE OF SICKNESS . . . 366
3 COMPARISON BETWEEN CHRISTIANS OF EARLY TIMES AND THOSE
OF TO-DAY 374
4 DISCOURSES ON THE CONDITION OF THE GREAT 378
5 ON THE CONVERSION OF THE SINNER 383
6 CONVERSATION ON EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE 387
CONTENTS 3
PAGE
7 THE ART OF PERSUASION 400
8 DISCOURSE ON THE PASSION OF LOVE 411
9 OF THE GEOMETRICAL SPIRIT 421
10 PREFACE TO THE TREATISE ON VACUUM 437
11 NEW FRAGMENT OF THE TREATISE ON VACUUM 444
NOTE
Passages erased by Pascal are enclosed in square brackets, thus [ ].
Words, added or corrected by the editor of the text, are similarly denoted.
The translation is from the text of Brunschvieg.
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
TRANSLATED BY
W. F. TROTTER
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
BLAISE PASCAL was born at Clermont in Auvergne on June 19, 1623, the
son of the president of the Court of Aids of Clermont. He was a pre-
cocious child, and soon showed amazing mathematical talent. His early
training was scientific rather than literary or theological, and scientific
interests predominated during the first period of his activity. He corre-
sponded with the most distinguished scholars of the time, and made
important contributions to pure and applied mathematics and to physics.
Meantime, an accident had brought the Pascal family into contact with
Jansenist doctrine, and Blaise became an ardent convert. Jansenism, which
took its name from Jansenius, the bishop of Ypres, had its headquarters in
the Cistercian Abbey of Port-Royal, and was one of the most rigorous and
lofty developments of post-Reformation Catholicism. In doctrine it some-
what resembled Calvinism in its insistence on Grace and Predestination
at the expense of the freedom of the will, and in its cultivation of a
thoroughgoing logical method of apologetics. In practise it represented
an austere and even ascetic morality, and it did much to raise the ethical
and intellectual level of seventeenth century France.
Jansenism was attacked as heretical, especially by the Jesuits; and the
civil power ultimately took measures to crush the movement, disbanding
the nuns of Port-Royal, and by its persecutions affording to many of the
Jansenists opportunities for the display of a heroic obstinacy. In this
struggle Pascal took an important part by the publication, under the
pseudonym of "Louis de Montalte," of a series of eighteen letters, attack-
ing the morality of the Jesuits and defending Jansenism against the charge
of heresy. In spite of the fact that the party for which he fought was
defeated, in these "Provincial Letters," as they are usually called, Pascal
inflicted a blow on the Society of Jesus from which that order has never
entirely recovered.
Pascal now formed the plan of writing an "Apology for the Christian
Religion," and during the rest of his life he was collecting materials and
making notes for this work. But he had long been feeble in health; in
the ardor of his religious devotion he had undergone incredible hard-
ships; and on August 19, 1662, he died in his fortieth year.
It was from the notes for his contemplated "Apology" that the Port-
Royalists compiled and edited the book known as his "Pensees" or
"Thoughts." The early texts were much tampered with, and the material
has been frequently rearranged; but now at last it is possible to read these
7
8 INTRODUCTORY NOTE
fragmentary jottings as they came from the hand of their author. In
spite of their incompleteness and frequent incoherence, the "Thoughts"
have long held a high place among the great religious classics. Much of
the theological argument implied in these utterances has little appeal to
the modern mind, but the acuteness of the observation of human life, the
subtlety of the reasoning, the combination of precision and fervid imagi-
nation in the expression, make this a book to which the discerning mind
can return again and again for insight and inspiration.
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
SECTION I
THOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE
rHE difference between the mathematical and the intuitive
mind. In the one the principles are palpable, but removed
from ordinary use; so that for want of habit it is difficult to
turn one's mind in that direction: but if one turns it thither ever so
little, one sees the principles fully, and one must have a quite inac-
curate mind who reasons wrongly from principles so plain that it is
almost impossible they should escape notice.
But in the intuitive mind the principles are found in common use,
and are before the eyes of everybody. One has only to look, and no
effort is necessary; it is only a question of good eyesight, but it must
be good, for the principles are so subtle and so numerous, that it is
almost impossible but that some escape notice. Now the omission of
one principle leads to error; thus one must have very clear sight to
see all the principles, ancTin the next place an accurate mind not to
draw false deductions from known principles.
All mathematicians would then be intuitive if they had clear sight,
for they do not reason incorrectly from principles known to them;
and intuitive minds would be mathematical if they could turn their
eyes to the principles of mathematics to which they are unused.
The reason, therefore, that some intuitive minds are not mathe-
matical is that they cannot at all turn their attention to the principles
of mathematics. But the reason that mathematicians are not intuitive
is that they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to
the exact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till
they have well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost
in matters of intuition where the rincilejrju^
io PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
arrangement. They are scarcely seen; they are felt rather than seen;
there is the greatest difficulty in making them felt by those who do
not of themselves perceive them. These principles are so fine and so
numerous that a very delicate and very clear sense is needed to per-
ceive them, and to judge rightly and justly when they are perceived,
without for the most part being able to demonstrate them in order as
in mathematics; because the principles are not known to us in the
same way, and because it would be an endless matter to undertake
it. We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process
of reasoning, at least to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that
mathematicians are intuitive, and that men of intuition are mathe-
maticians, because mathematicians wish to treat matters of intuition
mathematically, and make themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin
with definitions and then with axioms, which is not the way to pro-
ceed in this kind of reasoning. Not that the mind does not do so,
but it does it tacitly, naturally, and without technical rules; for the
expression of it is beyond all men, and only a few can feel it.
Intuitive minds, on the contrary, being thus accustomed to judge
at a single glance, are so astonished when they are presented with
propositions of which they understand nothing, and the way to
which is through definitions and axioms so sterile, and which they
are not accustomed to see thus in detail, that they are repelled and
disheartened.
But dull minds are never either intuitive or mathematical.
Mathematicians who are only mathematicians have exact minds,
provided all things are explained to them by means of definitions and
axioms; otherwise they are inaccurate and insufferable, for they are
only right when the principles are quite clear.
And men of intuition who are only intuitive cannot have the
patience to reach to first principles of things speculative and concep-
tual, which they have never seen in the world, and which are alto-
gether out of the common.
There are different kinds of right understanding; some have right
understanding in a certain order of things, and not in others, where
ON MIND AND ON STYLE II
they go astray. Some draw conclusions well from a few premises,
and this displays an acute judgment.
Others draw conclusions well where there are many premises.
For example, the former easily learn hydrostatics, where the
premises are few, but the conclusions are so fine that only the great-
est acuteness can reach them.
And in spite of that these persons would perhaps not be great
mathematicians, because mathematics contain a great number of
premises, and there is perhaps a kind of intellect that can search with
ease a few premises to the bottom: and cannot in the least penetrate
those matters in which there are many premises.
There are then two kinds of intellect: the one able to penetrate
acutely and deeply into the conclusions of given premises, and this
is the precise intellect; the other able to comprehend a great number
of premises without confusing them, and this is the mathematical
intellect. The one has force and exactness, the other comprehension.
Now the one quality can exist without the other; the intellect can
be strong and narrow, and can also be comprehensive and weak.
3
Those who are accustomed to judge by feeling do not understand
the process of reasoning, for they would understand at first sight,
and are not used to seek for principles. And others, on the con-
trary, who are accustomed to reason from principles, do not at all
understand matters of feeling, seeking principles, and being unable
to see at a glance.
Mathematics, Intuition. True eloquence makes light of eloquence,
true morality makes light of morality; that is to say, the morality of
the judgment, which has no rules, makes light of the morality of the
intellect.
For it is to judgment that perception belongs, as science belongs to
intellect. Intuition is the part of judgment, mathematics of intellect.
To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.
12 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
5
Those who judge of a work by rule are in regard to others as
those who have a watch are in regard to others. One says, "It is two
hours ago;" the other says, "It is only three-quarters of an hour."
I look at my watch, and say to the one, "You are weary," and to the
other, "Time gallops with you;" for it is only an hour and a half
ago, and I laugh at those who tell me that time goes slowly with
me, and that I judge by imagination. They do not know that I
judge by my watch.
Just as we harm the understanding, we harm the feelings also.
The understanding and the feelings are moulded by intercourse;
the understanding and feelings are corrupted by intercourse. Thus
good or bad society improves or corrupts them. It is, then, all-im-
portant to know how to choose in order to improve and not to corrupt
them; and we cannot make this choice, if they be not already im-
proved and not corrupted. Thus a circle is formed, and those are
fortunate who escape it.
7
The greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in
men. Ordinary persons find no difference between men.
There are many people who listen to a sermon in the same way
as they listen to vespers.
9
When we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that
he errs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on
that side it is usually true, and admit that truth to him, but reveal
to him the side on which it is false. He is satisfied with that, for he
sees that he was not mistaken, and that he only failed to see all sides.
Now, no one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not
ON MIND AND ON STYLE 13
like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man
naturally cannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in
the side he looks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always
true.
10
People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they
have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the
mind of others.
ii
All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but
among all those which the world has invented there is none more to
be feared than the theatre. It is a representation of the passions so
natural and so delicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in
our hearts, and, above all, to that of love, principally when it is repre-
sented as very chaste and virtuous. For the more innocent it appears
to innocent souls, the more they are likely to be touched by it. Its
violence pleases our self-love, which immediately forms a desire to
produce the same effects which are seen so well represented; and,
at the same time, we make ourselves a conscience founded on the pro-
priety of the feelings which we see there, by which the fear of pure
souls is removed, since they imagine that it cannot hurt their purity
to love with a love which seems to them so reasonable.
So we depart from the theatre with our hearts so filled with all
the beauty and tenderness of love, the soul and the mind so persuaded
of its innocence, that we are quite ready to receive its first impressions,
or rather to seek an opportunity of awakening them in the heart of
another, in order that we may receive the same pleasures and the same
sacrifices which we have seen so well represented in the theatre.
12
Scaramouch, 1 who only thinks of one thing.
The doctor, 1 who speaks for a quarter of an hour after he has
said everything, so full is he of the desire of talking.
1 Stock characters in Italian comedy.
14 PASCALS THOUGHTS
One likes to see the error, the passion of Cleobuline, 2 because she
is unconscious of it. She would be displeasing, if she were not
deceived.
When a natural discourse paints a passion or an eflfect, one feels
within oneself the truth of what one reads, which was there before,
although one did not know it. Hence one is inclined to love him
who makes us feel it, for he has not shown us his own riches, but
ours. And thus this benefit renders him pleasing to us, besides that
such community of intellect as we have with him necessarily inclines
the heart to love.
15
Eloquence, which persuades by sweetness, not by authority; as a
tyrant, not as a king.
16
Eloquence is an art of saying things in such a way (i) that those
to whom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleas-
ure; (2) that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads
them, more willingly to reflection upon it.
It consists, then, in a correspondence which we seek to establish
between the head and the heart of those to whom we speak on the
one hand, and, on the other, between the thoughts and the expres-
sions which we employ. This assumes that we have studied well the
heart of man so as to know all its powers, and then to find the just
proportions of the discourse which we wish to adapt to them. We
must put ourselves in the place of those who are to hear us, and make
trial on our own heart of the turn which we give to our discourse in
order to see whether one is made for the other, and whether we can
assure ourselves that the hearer will be, as it were, forced to sur-
2 Princess of Corinth, in Mile, de Scude'ry's romance of "Artamene ou le grand
Cyrus."
ON MIND AND ON STYLE 15
render. We ought to restrict ourselves, so far as possible, to the sim-
ple and natural, and not to magnify that which is little, or belittle that
which is great. It is not enough that a thing be beautiful; it must be
suitable to the subject, and there must be in it nothing of excess or
defect.
Rivers are roads which move, and which carry us whither we
desire to go.
18
When we do not know the truth of a thing, it is of advantage
that there should exist a common error which determines the mind
of man, as, for example, the moon, to which is attributed the change
of seasons, the progress of disease, &c. For the chief malady of man
is restless curiosity about things which he cannot understand; and
it is not so bad for him to be in error as to be curious to no purpose.
The manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de
Tultie 3 wrote, is the most usual, the most suggestive, the most re-
membered, and the oftenest quoted; because it is entirely composed
of thoughts born from the common talk of life. As when we speak
of the common error which exists among men that the moon is the
cause of everything, we never fail to say that Salomon de Tultie says
that when we do not know the truth of a thing, it is of advantage that
there should exist a common error, &c.; which is the thought above.
The last thing one settles in writing a book is what one should
put in first.
20
Order. Why should I undertake to divide my virtues into four
rather than into six? Why should I rather establish virtue in four,
in two, in one? Why into Abstine et sustine* rather than into "Fol-
low Nature," or "Conduct your private affairs without injustice," as
3 The name assumed by Pascal in his "Provincial Letters."
4 "Abstain and endure" a Stoic maxim.
1 6 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Plato, or anything else? But there, you will say, everything is con-
tained in one word. Yes, but it is useless without explanation, and
when we come to explain it, as soon as we unfold this maxim which
contains all the rest, they emerge in that first confusion which you
desired to avoid. So, when they are all included in one, they are
hidden and useless, as in a chest, and never appear save in their
natural confusion. Nature has established them all without including
one in the other.
21
Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our
art makes one dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each
keeps its own place.
22
Let no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of
the subject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same
ball, but one of us places it better.
I had as soon it said that I used words employed before. And in
the same way if the same thoughts in a different arrangement do not
form a different discourse, no more do the same words in their dif-
ferent arrangement form different thoughts!
23
Words differently arranged have a different meaning, and mean-
ings differently arranged have different effects.
2 4
Language. We should not turn the mind from one thing to
another, except for relaxation, and that when it is necessary and the
time suitable, and not otherwise. For he that relaxes out of season
wearies, and he who wearies us out of season makes us languid, since
we turn quite away. So much does our perverse lust like to do the
contrary of what those wish to obtain from us without giving us
pleasure, the coin for which we will do whatever is wanted.
ON MIND AND ON STYLE IJ
25
Eloquence. It requires the pleasant and the real; but the pleasant
must itself be drawn from the true.
26
Eloquence is a painting of thought; and thus those who, after
having painted it, add something more, make a picture instead of a
portrait.
2 7
Miscellaneous. Language. Those who make antitheses by forcing
words are like those who make false windows for symmetry. Their
rule is not to speak accurately, but to make apt figures of speech.
28
Symmetry is what we see at a glance; based on the fact that there
is no reason for any difference, and based also on the face of man;
whence it happens that symmetry is only wanted in breadth, not in
height or depth.
29
When we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for
we expected to see an author, and we find a man. Whereas those who
have good taste, and who seeing a book expect to find a man, are
quite surprised to find an author. Plus poetice quam humane locutus
es? Those honour nature well, who teach that she can speak on
everything, even on theology.
30
We only consult the ear because the heart is wanting. The rule
is uprightness.
Beauty of omission, of judgment.
5 "You have spoken more poetically than humanly."
1 8 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
31
All the false beauties which we blame in Cicero have their admir-
ers, and in great number.
There is a certain standard of grace and beauty which consists in
a certain relation between our nature, such as it is, weak or strong,
and the thing which pleases us.
Whatever is formed according to this standard pleases us, be it
house, song, discourse, verse, prose, woman, birds, rivers, tree, rooms,
dress, &c. Whatever is not made according to this standard displeases
those who have good taste.
And as there is a perfect relation between a song and a house which
are made after a good model because they are like this good model,
though each after its kind; even so there is a perfect relation between
things made after a bad model. Not that the bad model is unique,
for there are many; but each bad sonnet, for example, on whatever
false model it is formed, is just like a woman dressed after that
model.
Nothing makes us understand better the ridiculousness of a false
sonnet than to consider nature and the standard, and then to imagine
a woman or a house made according to that standard.
33
Poetical beauty. As we speak of poetical beauty, so ought we to
speak of mathematical beauty and medical beauty. But we do not do
so; and the reason is that we know well what is the object of mathe-
matics, and that it consists in proofs, and what is the object of medi-
cine, and that it consists in healing. But we do not know in what
grace consists, which is the object of poetry. We do not know the
natural model which we ought to imitate; and through lack of this
knowledge, we have coined fantastic terms, "The golden age," "The
wonder of our times," "Fatal," &c., and call this jargon poetical
beauty.
ON MIND AND ON STYLE 19
But whoever imagines a woman after this model, which consists
in saying little things in big words, will see a pretty girl adorned
with mirrors and chains, at whom he will smile; because we know
better wherein consists the charm of woman than the charm of
verse. But those who are ignorant would admire her in this dress,
and there are many villages in which she would be taken for the
queen; hence we call sonnets made after this model "Village Queens."
34
No one passes in the world as skilled in verse unless he has put
up the sign of a poet, a mathematician, &c. But educated people do
not want a sign, and draw little distinction between the trade of a
poet and that of an embroiderer.
People of education are not called poets or mathematicians, &c.;
but they are all these, and judges of all these. No one guesses what
they are. When they come into society, they talk on matters about
which the rest are talking. We do not observe in them one quality
rather than another, save when they have to make use of it. But
then we remember it, for it is characteristic of such persons that we
do not say of them that they are fine speakers, when it is not a ques-
tion of oratory, and that we say of them that they are fine speakers,
when it is such a question.
It is therefore false praise to give a man when we say of him,
on his entry, that he is a clever poet; and it is a bad sign when a man
is not asked to give his judgment on some verses. ^
35
We should not be able to say of a man, "He is a mathematician,"
or a "preacher," or "eloquent"; but that he is "a gentleman." That
universal quality alone pleases me. It is a bad sign when, on seeing
a person, you remember his book. I would prefer you to see no
quality till you meet it and have occasion to use it, (Ne quid nimis?)
for fear some one quality prevail and designate the man. Let none
think him a fine speaker, unless oratory be in question, and then let
them think it.
6 "Nothing in excess."
2O PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
36
Man is full of wants: he loves only those who can satisfy them
all. "This one is a good mathematician," one will say. But I have
nothing to do with mathematics; he would take me for a proposition.
"That one is a good soldier." He would take me for a besieged
town. I need then an upright man who can accommodate himself
generally to all my wants.
37
Since we cannot be universal and know all that is to be known
of everything, we ought to know a little about everything. For it
is far better to know something about everything than to know all
about one thing. This universality is the best. If we can have both,
still better; but if we must choose, we ought to choose the former.
And the world feels this and does so; for the world is often a good
judge.
38
A poet and not an honest man.
39
If lightning fell on low places, &c., poets, and those who can only
reason about things of that kind, would lack proofs.
40
If we wished to prove the examples which we take to prove other
things, we should have to take those other things to be examples;
for, as we always believe the difficulty is in what we wish to prove,
we find the examples clearer and a help to demonstration.
Thus when we wish to demonstrate a general theorem, we must
give the rule as applied to a particular case; but, if we wish to demon-
strate a particular case, we must begin with the general rule. For
we always find the thing obscure which we wish to prove, and that
clear which we use for the proof; for, when a thing is put forward to
ON MIND AND ON STYLE 21
be proved, we first fill ourselves with the imagination that it is there-
fore obscure, and on the contrary that what is to prove it is clear,
and so we understand it easily.
4 1
Epigrams of Martial. Man loves malice, but not against one-eyed
men nor the unfortunate, but against the fortunate and proud.
People are mistaken in thinking otherwise.
For lust is the source of all our actions, and humanity, &c. We
must please those who have humane and tender feeling. That epi-
gram about two one-eyed people is worthless, for it does not console
them, and only gives a point to the author's glory. All that is only for
the sake of the author is worthless. Ambitiosa recident ornamental
42
To call a king "Prince" is pleasing, because it diminishes his rank.
43
Certain authors, speaking of their works, say, "My book," "My
commentary," "My history," &c. They resemble middle-class people
who have a house of their own, and always have "My house" on
their tongue. They would do better to say, "Our book" "Our com-
mentary," "Our history," &c., because there is in them usually more
of other people's than their own.
44
Do you wish people to believe good of you ? Don't speak.
45
Languages are ciphers, wherein letters are not changed into
letters, but words into words, so that an unknown language is
decipherable.
4 6
A maker of witticisms, a bad character.
7 "They cut off superfluous ornament" Horace.
22 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
47
There are some who speak well and write badly. For the place
and the audience warm them, and draw from their minds more
than they think of without that warmth.
When we find words repeated in a discourse, and, in trying to
correct them, discover that they are so appropriate that we would
spoil the discourse, we must leave them alone. This is the test; and
our attempt is the work of envy, which is blind, and does not see
that repetition is not in this place a fault; for there is no general rule.
49
To mask nature and disguise her. No more king, pope, bishop,
but august monarch, &c.; not Paris, the capital of the kingdom.
There are places in which we ought to call Paris, Paris, and others
in which we ought to call it the capital of the kingdom.
50
The same meaning changes with the words which express it.
Meanings receive their dignity from words instead of giving it to
them. Examples should be sought.
Sceptic, for obstinate.
5 2
No one calls another a Cartesian but he who is not one himself,
a pedant but a pedant, a provincial but a provincial; and I would
wager it was the printer who put it on the title of Letters to a Pro-
vincial.
53
A carriage upset or overturned, according to the meaning. To
spread abroad or upset, according to the meaning. (The argument
by force of M. le Maitre over the friar.)
ON MIND AND ON STYLE 23
54
Miscellaneous. A form of speech, "I should have liked to apply
myself to that."
55
The aperitive virtue of a key, the attractive virtue of a hook.
56
To guess: "The part that I take in your trouble." The Cardinal 8
did not want to be guessed.
"My mind is disquieted." I am disquieted is better.
57
I always feel uncomfortable under such compliments as these:
"I have given you a great deal of trouble," "I am afraid I am boring
you," "I fear this is too long." We either carry our audience with
us, or irritate them.
58
You are ungraceful: "Excuse me, pray." Without that excuse I
would not have known there was anything amiss. "With reverence
be it spoken . . ." The only thing bad is their excuse.
59
"To extinguish the torch of sedition;" too luxuriant. "The rest-
lessness of his genius;" two superfluous grand words.
8 Cardinal Mazarin.
SECTION II
THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD
60
m ^IRST part: Misery of man without God.
i-^ Second part: Happiness of man with God.
JL Or> First part: That nature is corrupt. Proved by nature
itself.
Second part: That there is a Redeemer. Proved by Scripture.
61
Order. I might well have taken this discourse in an order like
this; to show the vanity of all conditions of men, to show the vanity
of ordinary lives, and then the vanity of philosophic lives, sceptics,
stoics; but the order would not have been kept. I know a little what
it is, and how few people understand it. No human science can keep
it. Saint Thomas did not keep it. Mathematics keep it, but they
are useless on account of their depth.
62
Preface to the first part. To speak of those who have treated of
the knowledge of self; of the divisions of Charron, which sadden and
weary us; of the confusion of Montaigne; that he was quite aware of
his want of method, and shunned it by jumping from subject to
subject; that he sought to be fashionable.
His foolish project of describing himself! And this not casually
and against his maxims, since every one makes mistakes, but by his
maxims themselves, and by first and chief design. For to say silly
things by chance and weakness is a common misfortune; but to
say them intentionally is intolerable, and to say such as that . . .
24
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 25
63
Montaigne. Montaigne's faults are great. Lewd words; this is
bad, notwithstanding Mademoiselle de Gournay. 1 Credulous; people
without eyes. Ignorant; squaring the circle, a greater world. His
opinions on suicide, on death. He suggests an indifference about
salvation, without fear and without repentance. As his book was not
written with a religious purpose, he was not bound to mention
religion; but it is always our duty not to turn men from it. One
can excuse his rather free and licentious opinions on some relations
of life (730, 231); but one cannot excuse his thoroughly pagan
views on death, for a man must renounce piety altogether, if he does
not at least wish to die like a Christian. Now, through the whole
of his book his only conception of death is a cowardly and effemi-
nate one.
It is not in Montaigne, but in myself, that I find all that I see
in him.
What good there is in Montaigne can only have been acquired
with difficulty. The evil that is in him, I mean apart from his moral-
ity, could have been corrected in a moment, if he had been informed
that he made too much of trifles and spoke too much of himself.
66
One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it
at least serves as a rule of life, and there is nothing better.
67
The vanity of the sciences. Physical science will not console me
for the ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science
1 Montaigne's adopted daughter, who defends him in a Preface which she added
to his Essays.
26 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
of ethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical
sciences.
68
Men are never taught to be gentlemen, and are taught everything
else; and they never plume themselves so much on the rest of their
knowledge as on knowing how to be gentlemen. They only plume
themselves on knowing the one thing they do not know.
69
The infinites, the mean.- When we read too fast or too slowly, we
understand nothing.
70
Nature.. . . [Nature has set us so well in the centre, that if
we change one side of the balance, we change the other also. I act.
Tct fojorpexei. 2 This makes me believe that the springs in our brain
are so adjusted that he who touches one touches also its contrary.]
Too much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find
truth; give him too much, the same.
72
Mans disproportion. [This is where our innate knowledge leads
us. If it be not true, there is no truth in man; and if it be true, he
finds therein great cause for humiliation, being compelled to abase
himself in one way or another. And since he cannot exist without
this knowledge, I wish that, before entering on deeper researches
into nature, he would consider her both seriously and at leisure, that
he would reflect upon himself also, and knowing what proportion
there is . . . .] Let man then contemplate the whole of nature in her
full and grand majesty, and turn his vision from the low objects
which surround him. Let him gaze on that brilliant light, set like
2 "Animals run."
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 27
an eternal lamp to illumine the universe; let the earth appear to him
a point in comparison with the vast circle described by the sun; and
let him wonder at the fact that this vast circle is itself but a very
fine point in comparison with that described by the stars in their
revolution round the firmament. But if our view be arrested there,
let our imagination pass beyond; it will sooner exhaust the power of
conception than nature that of supplying material for conception.
The whole visible world is only an imperceptible atom in the ample
bosom of nature. No idea approaches it. We may enlarge our con-
ceptions beyond all imaginable space; we only produce atoms in com-
parison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, the centre
of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere. In short it is
the greatest sensible mark of the almighty power of God, that imag-
ination loses itself in that thought.
Returning to himself, let man consider what he is in comparison
with all existence; let him regard himself as lost in this remote corner
of nature; and from the little cell in which he finds himself lodged,
I mean the universe, let him estimate at their true value the earth,
kingdoms, cities, and himself. What is a man in the Infinite ?
But to show him another prodigy equally astonishing, let him
examine the most delicate things he knows. Let a mite be given him,
with its minute body and parts incomparably more minute, limbs
with their joints, veins in the limbs, blood in the veins, humours in
the blood, drops in the humours, vapours in the drops. Dividing
these last things again, let him exhaust his powers of conception, and
let the last object at which he can arrive be now that of our dis-
course. Perhaps he will think that here is the smallest point in nature.
I will let him see therein a new abyss. I will paint for him not only
the visible universe, but all that he can conceive of nature's immensity
in the womb of this abridged atom. Let him see therein an infinity
of universes, each of which has its firmament, its planets, its earth,
in the same proportion as in the visible world; in each earth animals,
and in the last mites, in which he will find again all that the first
had, finding still in these others the same thing without end and
without cessation. Let him lose himself in wonders as amazing in
their littleness as the others in their vastness. For who will not be
astounded at the fact that our body, which a little ago was imper-
28 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
ceptible in the universe, itself imperceptible in the bosom of the
whole, is now a colossus, a world, or rather a whole, in respect of the
nothingness which we cannot reach? He who regards himself in
this light will be afraid of himself, and observing himself sustained
in the body given him by nature between those two abysses of the
Infinite and Nothing, will tremble at the sight of these marvels; and
I think that, as his curiosity changes into admiration, he will be
more disposed to contemplate them in silence than to examine them
with presumption.
For in fact what is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison
with the Infinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean
between nothing and everything. Since he is infinitely removed
from comprehending the extremes, the end of things and their begin-
ning are hopelessly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret; he
is equally incapable of seeing the Nothing from which he was
made, and the Infinite in which he is swallowed up.
What will he do then, but perceive the appearance of the middle
of things, in an eternal despair of knowing either their beginning or
their end. All things proceed from the Nothing, and are borne
towards the Infinite. Who will follow these marvellous processes?
The Author of these wonders understands them. None other can
do so.
Through failure to contemplate these Infinites, men have rashly
rushed into the examination of nature, as though they bore some
proportion to her. It is strange that they have wished to understand
the beginnings of things, and thence to arrive at the knowledge of
the whole, with a presumption as infinite as their object. For surely
this design cannot be formed without presumption or without a
capacity infinite like nature.
If we are well-informed, we understand that, as nature has graven
her image and that of her Author on all things, they almost all par-
take of her double infinity. Thus we see that all the sciences are
infinite in the extent of their researches. For who doubts that geom-
etry, for instance, has an infinite infinity of problems to solve? They
are also infinite in the multitude and fineness of their premises; for it
is clear that those which are put forward as ultimate are not self-
supporting, but are based on others which, again having others for
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 29
their support, do not permit of finality. But we represent some as
ultimate for reason, in the same way as in regard to material objects
we call that an indivisible point beyond which our senses can no
longer perceive anything, although by its nature it is infinitely divis-
ible.
Of these two Infinites of science, that of greatness is the most pal-
pable, and hence a few persons have pretended to know all things.
"I will speak of the whole," said Democritus.
But the infinitely little is the least obvious. Philosophers have much
oftener claimed to have reached it, and it is here they have all stum-
bled. This has given rise to such common titles as First Principles,
Principles of Philosophy, and the like, as ostentatious in fact, though
not in appearance, as that one which blinds us, De omni scibili?
We naturally believe ourselves far more capable of reaching the
centre of things than of embracing their circumference. The visible
extent of the world visibly exceeds us, but as we exceed little things,
we think ourselves more capable of knowing them. And yet we need
no less capacity for attaining the Nothing than the All. Infinite capac-
ity is required for both, and it seems to me that whoever shall have
understood the ultimate principles of being might also attain to the
knowledge of the Infinite. The one depends on the other, and one
leads to the other. These extremes meet and reunite by force of dis-
tance, and find each other in God, and in God alone.
Let us then take our compass; we are something, and we are not
everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge
of first beginnings which are born of the Nothing; and the littleness
of our being conceals from us the sight of the Infinite.
Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as
our body occupies in the expanse of nature.
Limited as we are in every way, this state which holds the mean
between two extremes is present in all our impotence. Our senses
perceive no extreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light
dazzles us; too great distance or proximity hinders our view. Too
great length and too great brevity of discourse tend to obscurity; too
much truth is paralysing (I know some who cannot understand that
3 "Concerning everything knowable" the title under which Pico della Mirandola
announced the 900 propositions which he undertook to defend in 1486.
3O PASCALS THOUGHTS
to take four from nothing leaves nothing). First principles are too
self-evident for us; too much pleasure disagrees with us. Too many
concords are annoying in music; too many benefits irritate us; we
wish to have the wherewithal to over-pay our debts. Beneficia eo
usque Iceta sunt dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi multum antevenere,
pro gratia odium redditur? We feel neither extreme heat nor ex-
treme cold. Excessive qualities are prejudicial to us and not per-
ceptible by the senses; we do not feel but suffer them. Extreme youth
and extreme age hinder the mind, as also too much and too little
education. In short, extremes are for us as though they were not, and
we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.
This is our true state; this is what makes us incapable of certain
knowledge and of absolute ignorance. We sail within a vast sphere,
ever drifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end. When we think
to attach ourselves to any point and to fasten to it, it wavers and
leaves us; and if we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and
vanishes for ever. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condi-
tion, and yet most contrary to our inclination; we burn with desire
to find solid ground and an ultimate sure foundation whereon to
build a tower reaching to the Infinite. But our whole groundwork
cracks, and the earth opens to abysses.
Let us therefore not look for certainty and stability. Our reason
is always deceived by fickle shadows; nothing .can fix the finite be-
tween the two Infinites, which both enclose and fly from it.
If this be well understood, I think that we shall remain at rest,
each in the state wherein nature has placed him. As this sphere
which has fallen to us as our lot is always distant from either ex-
treme, what matters it that man should have a little more knowledge
of the universe? If he has it, he but gets a little higher. Is he not
always infinitely removed from the end, and is not the duration of
our life equally removed from eternity, even if it lasts ten years
longer ?
In comparison with these Infinites all finites are equal and I see no
reason for fixing our imagination on one more than on another. The
4 "Benefits are pleasant while it seems possible to requite them; when they become
much greater, they produce hatred rather than gratitude." Tacitus.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 3!
only comparison which we make of ourselves to the finite is pain-
ful to us.
If man made himself the first object of study, he would see how
incapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole?
But he may perhaps aspire to know at least the parts to which he
bears some proportion. But the parts of the world are all so related
and linked to one another, that I believe it impossible to know one
without the other and without the whole.
Man, for instance, is related to all he knows. He needs a place
wherein to abide, time through which to live, motion in order to
live, elements to compose him, warmth and food to nourish him, air
to breathe. He sees light; he feels bodies; in short, he is in a depend-
ant alliance with everything. To know man, then, it is necessary
to know how it happens that he needs air to live, and, to know the
air, we must know how it is thus related to the life of man, etc.
Flame cannot exist without air; therefore to understand the one, we
must understand the other.
Since everything then is cause and effect, dependant and support-
ing, mediate and immediate, and all is held together by a natural
though imperceptible chain, which binds together things most dis-
tant and most different, I hold it equally impossible to know the
parts without knowing the whole, and to know the whole without
knowing the parts in detail.
[The eternity of things in itself or in God must also astonish our
brief duration. The fixed and constant immobility of nature, in
comparison with the continual change which goes on within us,
must have the same effect.]
And what completes our incapability of knowing things, is the
fact that they are simple, and that we are composed of two opposite
natures, different in kind, soul and body. For it is impossible that
our rational part should be other than spiritual; and if any one main-
tain that we are simply corporeal, this would far more exclude us
from the knowledge of things, there being nothing so inconceivable
as to say that matter knows itself. It is impossible to imagine how
it should know itself.
So if we are simply material, we can know nothing at all; and if
32 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
we are composed of mind and matter, we cannot know perfectly
things which are simple, whether spiritual or corporeal. Hence it
comes that almost all philosophers have confused ideas of things,
and speak of material things in spiritual terms, and of spiritual things
in material terms. For they say boldly that bodies have a tendency
to fall, that they seek after their centre, that they fly from destruction,
that they fear the void, that they have inclinations, sympathies, an-
tipathies, all of which attributes pertain only to mind. And in speak-
ing of minds, they consider them as in a place, and attribute to them
movement from one place to another; and these are qualities which
belong only to bodies.
Instead of receiving the ideas of these things in their purity, we
colour them with our own qualities, and stamp with our composite
being all the simple things which we contemplate.
Who would not think, seeing us compose all things of mind and
body, but that this mixture would be quite intelligible to us? Yet it
is the very thing we least understand. Man is to himself the most
wonderful object in nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is,
still less what the mind is, and least of all how a body should be
united to a mind. This is the consummation of his difficulties, and
yet it is his very being. Modus quo corporibus adherent spiritus com-
prehendi ab hominibus non potest, et hoc tamen homo est. 5 Finally,
to complete the proof of our weakness, I shall conclude with these
two considerations .
73
[But perhaps this subject goes beyond the capacity of reason. Let
us therefore examine her solutions to problems within her powers.
If there be anything to which her own interest must have made her
apply herself most seriously, it is the inquiry into her own sovereign
good. Let us see, then, wherein these strong and clear-sighted souls
have placed it, and whether they agree.
One says that the sovereign good consists in virtue, another in
pleasure, another in the knowledge of nature, another in truth, Felix
5 "The manner in which spirits are united to bodies cannot be understood by men,
yet such is man." St. Augustine.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 33
qui potuit rerum cognosccre causasf another in total ignorance,
another in indolence, others in disregarding appearances, another in
wondering at nothing, nihil admirari prope res una quce possit facere
et servare beatum? and the true sceptics in their indifference, doubt,
and perpetual suspense, and others, wiser, think to find a better defi-
nition. We are well satisfied.
To transpose after the laws to the following title.
We must see if this fine philosophy have gained nothing certain
from so long and so intent study; perhaps at least the soul will know
itself. Let us hear the rulers of the world on this subject. What
have they thought of her substance ? 394 8 Have they been more for-
tunate in locating her? 395. 8 What have they found out about her
origin, duration, and departure ? 399 8
Is then the soul too noble a subject for their feeble lights? Let us
then abase her to matter and see if she knows whereof is made the
very body which she animates, and those others which she contem-
plates and moves at her will. What have those great dogmatists, who
are ignorant of nothing, known of this matter? Harum sententi-
arum, 393.*
This would doubtless suffice, if reason were reasonable. She is
reasonable enough to admit that she has been unable to find anything
durable, but she does not yet despair of reaching it; she is as ardent
as ever in this search, and is confident she has within her the neces-
sary powers for this conquest. We must therefore conclude, and, after
having examined her powers in their effects, observe them in them-
selves, and see if she has a nature and a grasp capable of laying hold
of the truth.]
74
A letter on the foolishness of human knowledge and philosophy.
This letter before Diversion.
Felix qui potuif . . . Nihil admirariJ
280 kinds of sovereign good in Montaigne.
6 "Happy he who could understand the causes of things." Virgil.
7 "To wonder at nothing is almost the only thing which can make and keep a
man happy." Horace.
8 References to Montaigne's Essays, ii. 12.
34 PASCALS THOUGHTS
75
Part I., i, 2, c. i, section 4.
[Probability it will not be difficult to put the case a stage lower,
and make it appear ridiculous. To begin at the very beginning.]
What is more absurd than to say that lifeless bodies have passions,
fears, hatreds, that insensible bodies, lifeless and incapable of life,
have passions which presuppose at least a sensitive soul to feel them,
nay more, that the object of their dread is the void? What is there
in the void that could make them afraid ? Nothing is more shallow
and ridiculous. This is not all; it is said that they have in them-
selves a source of movement to shun the void. Have they arms,
legs, muscles, nerves?
76
To write against those who made too profound a study of science.
Descartes.
77
I cannot forgive Descartes. In all his philosophy he would have
been quite willing to dispense with God. But he had to make Him
give a fillip to set the world in motion; beyond this, he has no
further need of God.
Descartes useless and uncertain.
79
[Descartes. We must say summarily: "This is made by figure
and motion," for it is true. But to say what these are, and to com-
pose the machine, is ridiculous. For it is useless, uncertain, and
painful. And were it true, we do not think all philosophy is worth
one hour of pain.]
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 35
80
How comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool
does? Because a cripple recognizes that we walk straight, whereas
a fool declares that it is we who are silly; if it were not so, we should
feel pity and not anger.
Epictetus asks still more strongly: "Why are we not angry if we
are told that we have a headache, and why are we angry if we are
told that we reason badly, or choose wrongly?" The reason is that
we are quite certain that we have not a headache, or are not lame,
but we are not so sure that we make a true choice. So having assur-
ance only because we see with our whole sight, it puts us into sus-
pense and surprise when another with his whole sight sees the op-
posite, and still more so when a thousand others deride our choice.
For we must prefer our own lights to those of so many others, and
that is bold and difficult. There is never this contradiction in the
feelings towards a cripple.
81
It is natural for the mind to believe, and for the will to love; so
that, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.
82
Imagination. It is that deceitful part in man, that mistress of error
and falsity, the more deceptive that she is not always so; for she
would be an infallible rule of truth, if she were an infallible rule of
falsehood. But being most generally false, she gives no sign of her
nature, impressing the same character on the true and the false.
I do not speak of fools, I speak of the wisest men; and it is among
them that the imagination has the great gift of persuasion. Reason
protests in vain; it cannot set a true value on things.
This arrogant power, the enemy of reason, who likes to rule and
dominate it, has established in man a second nature to show how
all-powerful she is. She makes men happy and sad, healthy and sick,
rich and poor; she compels reason to believe, doubt, and deny; she
36 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
blunts the senses, or quickens them; she has her fools and sages; and
nothing vexes us more than to see that she fills her devotees with
a satisfaction far more full and entire than does reason. Those who
have a lively imagination are a great deal more pleased with them-
selves than the wise can reasonably be. They look down upon men
with haughtiness; they argue with boldness and confidence, others
with fear and diffidence; and this gaiety of countenance often gives
them the advantage in the opinion of the hearers, such favour have
the imaginary wise in the eyes of judges of like nature. Imagination
cannot make fools wise; but she can make them happy, to the envy
of reason which can only make its friends miserable; the one covers
them with glory, the other with shame.
What but this faculty of imagination dispenses reputation, awards
respect and veneration to persons, works, laws, and the great ? How
insufficient are all the riches of the earth without her consent!
Would you not say that this magistrate, whose venerable age com-
mands the respect of a whole people, is governed by pure and lofty
reason, and that he judges causes according to their true nature
without considering those mere trifles which only affect the imagi-
nation of the weak? See him go to sermon, full of devout zeal,
strengthening his reason with the ardour of his love. He is ready to
listen with exemplary respect. Let the preacher appear, and let
nature have given him a hoarse voice or a comical cast of counte-
nance, or let his barber have given him a bad shave, or let by chance
his dress be more dirtied than usual, then however great the truths
he announces, I wager our senator lose his gravity.
If the greatest philosopher in the world find himself upon a plank
wider than actually necessary, but hanging over a precipice, his im-
agination will prevail, though his reason convince him of his safety.
Many cannot bear the thought without a cold sweat. I will not state
all its effects.
Every one knows that the sight of cats or rats, the crushing of a
coal, etc., may unhinge the reason. The tone of voice affects the
wisest, and changes the force of a discourse or a poem.
Love or hate alters the aspect of justice. How much greater con-
fidence has an advocate, retained with a large fee, in the justice of
his cause! How much better does his bold manner make his case
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 37
appear to the judges, deceived as they are by appearances! How ludi-
crous is reason, blown with a breath in every direction!
I should have to enumerate almost every action of men who
scarce waver save under her assaults. For reason has been obliged
to yield, and the wisest reason takes as her own principles those
which the imagination of man has everywhere rashly introduced.
[He who would follow reason only would be deemed foolish by
the generality of men. We must judge by the opinion of the ma-
jority of mankind. Because it has pleased them, we must work all
day for pleasures seen to be imaginary; and after sleep has refreshed
our tired reason, we must forthwith start up and rush after phan-
toms, and suffer the impressions of this mistress of the world. This
is one of the sources of error, but it is not the only one.]
Our magistrates have known well this mystery. Their red robes,
the ermine in which they wrap themselves like furry cats, the courts
in which they administer justice, the fleurs-de-lis, and all such august
apparel were necessary; if the physicians had not their cassocks and
their mules, if the doctors had not their square caps and their robes
four times too wide, they would never have duped the world, which
cannot resist so original an appearance. If magistrates had true jus-
tice, and if physicians had the true art of healing, they would have
no occasion for square caps; the majesty of these sciences would of
itself be venerable enough. But having only imaginary knowledge,
they must employ those silly tools that strike the imagination with
which they have to deal; and thereby in fact they inspire respect.
Soldiers alone are not disguised in this manner, because indeed their
part is the most essential; they establish themselves by force, the
others by show.
Therefore our kings seek out no disguises. They do not mask
themselves in extraordinary costumes to appear such; but they are
accompanied by guards and halberdiers. Those armed and red-
faced puppets who have hands and power for them alone, those
trumpets and drums which go before them, and those legions round
about them, make the stoutest tremble. They have not dress only,
they have might. A very refined reason is required to regard as an
ordinary man the Grank Turk, in his superb seraglio, surrounded
by forty thousand janissaries.
38 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
We cannot even see an advocate in his robe and with his cap on
his head, without a favourable opinion of his ability. The imagina-
tion disposes of everything; it makes beauty, justice, and happiness,
which is everything in the world. I should much like to see an
Italian work, of which I only know the title, which alone is worth
many books, Delia opinione regina del mondo. 9 I approve of the
book without knowing it, save the evil in it, if any. These are pretty
much the effects of that deceptive faculty, which seems to have been
expressly given us to lead us into necessary error. We have, how-
ever, many other sources of error.
Not only are old impressions capable of misleading us; the charms
of novelty have the same power. Hence arise all the disputes of men,
who taunt each other either with following the false impressions of
childhood, or with running rashly after the new. Who keeps the
due mean ? Let him appear and prove it. There is no principle, how-
ever natural to us from infancy, which may not be made to pass for
a false impression either of education or of sense.
"Because," say some, "you have believed from childhood that a
box was empty when you saw nothing in it, you have believed in
the possibility of a vacuum. This is an illusion of your senses,
strengthened by custom, which science must correct." "Because,"
say others, "you have been taught at school that there is no vacuum,
you have perverted your common sense which clearly compre-
hended it, and you must correct this by returning to your first
state." Which has deceived you, your senses or your education?
We have another source of error in diseases. They spoil the judg-
ment and the senses; and if the more serious produce a sensible
change, I do not doubt that slighter ills produce a proportionate
impression.
Our own interest is again a marvellous instrument for nicely
putting out our eyes. The justest man in the world is not allowed
to be judge in his own cause; I know some who, in order not to fall
into this self-love, have been perfectly unjust out of opposition. The
sure way of losing a just cause has been to get it recommended to
these men by their near relatives.
Justice and truth are two such subtle points, that our tools are too
9 "On opinion, queen of the world." The book has not been certainly identified.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 39
blunt to touch them accurately. If they reach the point, they either
crush it, or lean all round, more on the false than on the true.
[Man is so happily formed that he has no ... good of the true,
and several excellent of the false. Let us now see how much . . .
But the most powerful cause of error is the war existing between
the senses and reason.]
83
We must thus begin the chapter on the deceptive powers. Man
is only a subject full of error, natural and ineffaceable, without
grace. Nothing shows him the truth. Everything deceives him.
These two sources of truth, reason and the senses, besides being
both wanting in sincerity, deceive each other in turn. The senses
mislead the reason with false appearances, and receive from reason
in their turn the same trickery which they apply to her; reason has
her revenge. The passions of the soul trouble the senses, and make
false impressions upon them. They rival each other in falsehood
and deception.
But besides those errors which arise accidentally and through lack
of intelligence, with these heterogeneous faculties . . .
The imagination enlarges little objects so as to fill our soul with
a fantastic estimate; and, with rash insolence, it belittles the great
to its own measure, as when talking of God.
85
Things which have most hold on us, as the concealment of our
few possessions, are often a mere nothing. It is a nothing which
our imagination magnifies into a mountain. Another turn of the
imagination would make us discover this without difficulty.
86
[My fancy makes me hate a croaker, and one who pants when
eating. Fancy has great weight. Shall we profit by it? Shall we
yield to this weight because it is natural ? No, but by resisting it. . . .]
40 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
87
Quasi quidquam injelicius sit homini cui sua figmenta domi-
nantur.
Children who are frightened at the face they have blackened are
but children. But how shall one who is so weak in his childhood
become really strong when he grows older? We only change our
fancies. All that is made perfect by progress perishes also by progress.
All that has been weak can never become absolutely strong. We
say in vain, "He has grown, he has changed"; he is also the same.
Custom is our nature. He who is accustomed to the faith believes
in it, can no longer fear hell, and believes in nothing else. He who
is accustomed to believe that the king is terrible . . . &c. Who doubts
then that our soul, being accustomed to see number, space, motion,
believes that and nothing else?
90
Quod crebro videt non miratur, etiamsi cur fiat nescit; quod ante
non viderit, id si evenerit, ostentum esse censet. 11
N iste magno conatu magnas nugas dixerit
Spongia solis. 13 When we see the same effect always recur, we
infer a natural necessity in it, as that there will be a to-morrow, &c.
But nature often deceives us, and does not subject herself to her own
rules.
10 "As if anything more unfortunate could happen to a man ruled by his own
fancies." Pliny.
11 "What a man sees often he does not wonder at, although he knows not why it
happens; if something occurs which he has not seen before, he thinks it a marvel."
Cicero.
2 "Verily, that man will have uttered great trifles with huge effort." Terence.
13 "Spots on the sun."
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 4!
92
What are our natural principles but principles of custom? In
children they are those which they have received from the habits of
their fathers, as hunting in animals. A different custom will cause
different natural principles. This is seen in experience; and if there
are some natural principles ineradicable by custom, there are also
some customs opposed to nature, ineradicable by nature, or by a
second custom. This depends on disposition.
93
Parents fear lest the natural love of their children may fade away.
What kind of nature is that which is subject to decay? Custom is a
second nature which destroys the former. But what is nature? For
is custom not natural ? I am much afraid that nature is itself only a
first custom, as custom is a second nature.
94
The nature of man is wholly natural, omne animal. 141
There is nothing he may not make natural; there is nothing
natural he may not lose.
95
Memory, joy, are intuitions; and even mathematical propositions
become intuitions, for education produces natural intuitions, and
natural intuitions are erased by education.
96
When we are accustomed to use bad reasons for proving natural
effects, we are not willing to receive good reasons when they are
discovered. An example may be given from the circulation of the
blood as a reason why the vein swells below the ligature.
14 "All animal."
42 PASCALS THOUGHTS
97
The most important affair in life is the choice of a calling; chance
decides it. Custom makes men masons, soldiers, slaters. "He is a
good slater," says one, and, speaking of soldiers, remarks, "They are
perfect fools." But others affirm, "There is nothing great but war,
the rest of men are good-for-nothing." We choose our callings ac-
cording as we hear this or that praised or despised in our childhood,
for we naturally love truth and hate folly. These words move us;
the only error is in their application. So great is the force of custom
that out of those whom nature has only made men, are created all
conditions of men. For some districts are full of masons, others of
soldiers, &c. Certainly nature is not so uniform. It is custom then
which does this, for it constrains nature. But sometimes nature
gains the ascendency, and preserves man's instinct, in spite of all
custom, good or bad.
Bias leading to error. It is a deplorable thing to see all men de-
liberating on means alone, and not on the end. Each thinks how he
will acquit himself in his condition; but as for the choice of condi-
tion, or of country, chance gives them to us.
It is a pitiable thing to see so many Turks, heretics and infidels,
follow the way of their fathers for the sole reason that each has been
imbued with the prejudice that it is the best. And that fixes for each
man his condition of locksmith, soldier, &c.
Hence savages care nothing for Provence.
99
There is an universal and essential difference between the actions
of the will and all other actions.
The will is one of the chief factors in belief, not that it creates
belief, but because things are true or false according to the aspect
in which we look at them. The will, which prefers one aspect to
another, turns away the mind from considering the qualities of all
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 43
that it does not like to see; and thus the mind, moving in accord
with the will, stops to consider the aspect which it likes, and so
judges by what it sees.
100
Self-love. The nature of self-love and of this human Ego is to
love self only and consider self only. But what will man do? He
cannot prevent this object that he loves from being full of faults and
wants. He wants to be great, and he sees himself small. He wants
to be happy, and he sees himself miserable. He wants to be perfect,
and he sees himself full of imperfections. He wants to be the object
of love and esteem among men, and he sees that his faults merit only
their hatred and contempt. This embarrassment in which he finds
himself produces in him the most unrighteous and criminal passion
that can be imagined; for he conceives a mortal enmity against that
truth which reproves him, and which convinces him of his faults.
He would annihilate it, but, unable to destroy it in its essence, he
destroys it as far as possible in his own knowledge and in that of
others; that is to say, he devotes all his attention to hiding his faults
both from others and from himself, and he cannot endure either that
others should point them out to him, or that they should see them.
Truly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil to
be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognise them, since that
is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion. We do not like
others to deceive us; we do not think it fair that they should be held
in higher esteem by us than they deserve; it is not then fair that we
should deceive them, and should wish them to esteem us more highly
than we deserve.
Thus, when they discover only the imperfections and vices which
we really have, it is plain they do us no wrong, since it is not they
who cause them; they rather do us good, since they help us to free
ourselves from an evil, namely, the ignorance of these imperfections.
We ought not to be angry at their knowing our faults and despising
us; it is but right that they should know us for what we are, and
should despise us, if we are contemptible.
Such are the feelings that would arise in a heart full of equity
and justice. What must we say then of our own heart, when we see
44 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
in it a wholly different disposition? For is it not true that we hate
truth and those who tell it us, and that we like them to be deceived
in our favour, and prefer to be esteemed by them as being other than
what we are in fact? One proof of this makes me shudder. The
Catholic religion does not bind us to confess our sins indiscriminately
to everybody; it allows them to remain hidden from all other men
save one, to whom she bids us reveal the innermost recesses of our
heart, and show ourselves as we are. There is only this one man in
the world whom she orders us to undeceive, and she binds him to
an inviolable secrecy, which makes this knowledge to him as if it
were not. Can we imagine anything more charitable and pleasant?
And yet the corruption of man is such that he finds even this law
harsh; and it is one of the main reasons which have caused a great
part of Europe to rebel against the Church.
How unjust and unreasonable is the heart of man, which feels it
disagreeable to be obliged to do in regard to one man what in some
measure it were right to do to all men! For is it right that we should
deceive men?
There are different degrees in this aversion to truth; but all may
perhaps be said to have it in some degree, because it is inseparable
from self-love. It is this false delicacy which makes those who are
under the necessity of reproving others choose so many windings
and middle courses to avoid offence. They must lessen our faults,
appear to excuse them, intersperse praises and evidence of love and
esteem. Despite all this, the medicine does not cease to be bitter to
self-love. It takes as little as it can, always with disgust, and often
with a secret spite against those who administer it.
. Hence it happens that if any have some interest in being loved by
us, they are averse to render us a service which they know to be dis-
agreeable. They treat us as we wish to be treated. We hate the truth,
and they hide it from us. We desire flattery, and they flatter us.
We like to be deceived, and they deceive us.
So each degree of good fortune which raises us in the world re-
moves us further from truth, because we are most afraid of wound-
ing those whose affection is most useful and whose dislike is most
dangerous. A prince may be the byword of all Europe, and he alone
will know nothing of it. I am not astonished; to tell the truth is
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 45
useful to whom it is spoken, but disadvantageous to those who tell
it, because it makes them disliked. Now those who live with princes
love their own interests more than that of the prince whom they
serve; and so they take care not to confer on him a benefit so as to
injure themselves.
This evil is no doubt greater and more common among the higher
classes; but the lower are not exempt from it, since there is always
some advantage in making men love us. Human life is thus only a
perpetual illusion; men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks
of us in our presence as he does of us in our absence. Human society
is founded on mutual deceit; few friendships would endure if each
knew what his friend said of him in his absence, although he then
spoke in sincerity and without passion.
Man is then only disguise, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in him-
self and in regard to others. He does not wish any one to tell him the
truth; he avoids telling it to others, and all these dispositions, so
removed from justice and reason, have a natural root in his heart.
101
I set it down as a fact that if all men knew what each said of the
other, there would not be four friends in the world. This is apparent
from the quarrels which arise from the indiscreet tales told from
time to time. I say, further, all men would be ...
102
Some vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like
branches, fall on removal of the trunk.
103
The example of Alexander's chastity has not made so many con-
tinent as that of his drunkenness has made intemperate. It is not
shameful not to be as virtuous as he, and it seems excusable to be no
more vicious. We do not believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in
the vices of the vulgar, when we see that we are sharing in those of
great men; and yet we do not observe that in these matters they are
46 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
ordinary men. We hold on to them by the same end by which they
hold on to the rabble; for, however exalted they are, they are still
united at some point to the lowest of men. They are not suspended
in the air, quite removed from our society. No, no; if they are greater
than we, it is because their heads are higher; but their feet are as low
as ours. They are all on the same level, and rest on the same earth;
and by that extremity they are as low as we are, as the meanest folk,
as infants, and as the beasts.
104
When our passion leads us to do something, we forget our duty;
for example, we like a book and read it, when we ought to be doing
something else. Now, to remind ourselves of our duty, we must set
ourselves a task we dislike; we then plead that we have something
else to do, and by this means remember our duty.
105
How difficult it is to submit anything to the judgment of another,
without prejudicing his judgment by the manner in which we sub-
mit it! If we say, "I think it beautiful," "I think it obscure," or the
like, we either entice the imagination into that view, or irritate it to
the contrary. It is better to say nothing; and then the other judges
according to what really is, that is to say, according as it then is, and
according as the other circumstances, not of our making, have placed
it. But we at least shall have added nothing, unless it be that silence
also produces an effect, according to the turn and the interpretation
which the other will be disposed to give it, or as he will guess it from
gestures or countenance, or from the tone of the voice, if he is a
physiognomist. So difficult is it not to upset a judgment from its
natural place, or rather so rarely is it firm and stable!
106
By knowing each man's ruling passion, we are sure of pleasing
him; and yet each has his fancies, opposed to his true good, in the
very idea which he has of the good. It is a singularly puzzling fact.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 47
I0 7
Lustravit lampade terras.^ The weather and my mood have
little connection. I have my foggy and my fine days within me; my
prosperity or misfortune has little to do with the matter. I sometimes
struggle against luck, the glory of mastering it makes me master it
gaily; whereas I am sometimes surfeited in the midst of good fortune.
108
Although people may have no interest in what they are saying,
we must not absolutely conclude from this that they are not lying;
for there are some people who lie for the mere sake of lying.
109
When we are well we wonder what we would do if we were ill,
but when we are ill we take medicine cheerfully; the illness persuades
us to do so. We have no longer the passions and desires for amuse-
ments and promenades which health gave to us, but which are in-
compatible with the necessities of illness. Nature gives us, then, pas-
sions and desires suitable to our present state. We are only troubled
by the fears which we, and not nature, give ourselves, for they add to
the state in which we are the passions of the state in which we
are not.
As nature makes us always unhappy in every state, our desires
picture to us a happy state; because they add to the state in which
we are the pleasures of the state in which we are not. And if we
attained to these pleasures, we should not be happy after all; because
we should have other desires natural to this new state.
We must particularise this general proposition. . . .
no
The consciousness of the falsity of present pleasures, and the
ignorance of the vanity of absent pleasures, cause inconstancy.
15 "He has illumined the earth with a lamp."
48 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
in
Inconstancy. We think we are playing on ordinary organs when
playing upon man. Men are organs, it is true, but, odd, changeable,
variable [with pipes not arranged in proper order]. Those who only
know how to play on ordinary organs will not produce harmonies
on these. We must know where [the keys] are.
112
Inconstancy. Things have different qualities, and the soul differ-
ent inclinations; for nothing is simple which is presented to the soul,
and the soul never presents itself simply to any object. Hence it
comes that we weep and laugh at the same thing.
"3
Inconstancy and oddity. To live only by work, and to rule over
the most powerful State in the world, are very opposite things. They
are united in the person of the great Sultan of the Turks.
114
Variety is as abundant as all tones of the voice, all ways of walk-
ing, coughing, blowing the nose, sneezing. We distinguish vines
by their fruit, and call them the Condrien, the Desargues, and such
and such a stock. Is this all ? Has a vine ever produced two bunches
exactly the same, and has a bunch two grapes alike ? &c.
I can never judge of the same thing exactly in the same way. I
cannot judge of my work, while doing it. I must do as the artists,
stand at a distance, but not too far. How far then? Guess.
Variety. Theology is a science, but at the same time how many
sciences? A man is a whole; but if we dissect him, will he be the
head, the heart, the stomach, the veins, each vein, each portion of a
vein, the blood, each humour in the blood ?
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 49
A town, a country-place, is from afar a town and a country-place.
But, as we draw near, there are houses, trees, tiles, leaves, grass, ants,
limbs of ants, in infinity. All this is contained under the name of
country-place.
116
Thoughts. All is one, all is different. How many natures exist in
man? How many vocations? And by what chance does each man
ordinarily choose what he has heard praised ? A well-turned heel.
117
The heel of a slipper. "Ah! How well this is turned! Here is a
clever workman! How brave is this soldier!" This is the source of
our inclinations, and of the choice of conditions. "How much this
man drinks! How little that one!" This makes people sober or
drunk, soldiers, cowards, &c.
118
Chief talent, that which rules the rest.
119
Nature imitates herself. A seed sown in good ground brings forth
fruit. A principle, instilled into a good mind, brings forth fruit.
Numbers imitate space, which is of a different nature.
All is made and led by the same master, root, branches, and
fruits; principles and consequences.
120
[Nature diversifies and imitates; art imitates and diversifies.]
121
Nature always begins the same things again, the years, the days,
the hours; in like manner spaces and numbers follow each other from
beginning to end. Thus is made a kind of infinity and eternity. Not
5O PASCAL S THOUGHTS
that anything in all this is infinite and eternal, but these finite realities
are infinitely multiplied. Thus it seems to me to be only the number
which multiplies them that is infinite.
122
Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer
the same persons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any
more themselves. It is like a nation which we have provoked, but
meet again after two generations. They are still Frenchmen, but
not the same.
123
He no longer loves the person whom he loved ten years ago. I
quite believe it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was young,
and she also; she is quite different. He would perhaps love her yet,
if she were what she was then.
124
We view things not only from different sides, but with different
eyes; we have no wish to find them alike.
Contraries. Man is naturally credulous and incredulous, timid
and rash.
126
Description of man : dependency, desire of independence, need.
127
Condition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.
128
The weariness which is felt by us in leaving pursuits to which we
are attached. A man dwells at home with pleasure; but if he sees a
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 51
woman who charms him, or if he enjoys himself in play for five or
six days, he is miserable if he return to his former way of living.
Nothing is more common than that.
129
Our nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.
130
Restlessness. If a soldier, or labourer, complain of the hardship
of his lot, set him to do nothing.
Weariness. Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely
at rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without
study. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his insufficiency,
his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. There will immediately
arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness, fretful-
ness, vexation, despair.
132
Methinks Caesar was too old to set about amusing himself with
conquering the world. Such sport was good for Augustus or Alex-
ander. They were still young men, and thus difficult to restrain. But
Caesar should have been more mature.
133
Two faces which resemble each other, make us laugh, when
together, by their resemblance, though neither of them by itself
makes us laugh.
134
How useless is painting, which attracts admiration by the resem-
blance of things, the originals of which we do not admire!
52 PASCALS THOUGHTS
135
The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory. We love to see
animals fighting, not the victor infuriated over the vanquished.
We would only see the victorious end; and, as soon as it comes, we
are satiated. It is the same in play and the same in the search for
truth. In disputes we like to see the clash of opinions, but not at all
to contemplate truth when found. To observe it with pleasure, we
have to see it emerge out of strife. So in the passions, there is pleas-
ure in seeing the collision of two contraries; but when one acquires
the mastery, it becomes only brutality. We never seek things for
themselves, but for the search. Likewise in plays, scenes which do
not rouse the emotion of fear are worthless, so are extreme and
hopeless misery, brutal lust, and extreme cruelty.
136
A mere trifle consoles us, for a mere trifle distresses us.
137
Without examining every particular pursuit, it is enough to com-
prehend them under diversion.
138
Men naturally slaters and of all callings, save in their own rooms.
139
Diversion. When I have occasionally set myself to consider the
different distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they
expose themselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels,
passions, bold and often bad ventures, &c., I have discovered that all
the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot
stay quietly in their own chamber. A man who has enough to live on,
if he knew how to stay with pleasure at home, would not leave it to
go to sea or to besiege a town. A commission in the army would not
be bought so dearly, but that it is found insufferable not to budge
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 53
from the town; and men only seek conversation and entertaining
games, because they cannot remain with pleasure at home.
But on further consideration, when, after finding the cause of all
our ills, I have sou'ght to discover the reason of it, I have found that
there is one very real reason, namely, the natural poverty of our
feeble and mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort
us when we think of it closely.
Whatever condition we picture to ourselves, if we muster all the
good things which it is possible to possess, royalty is the finest posi-
tion in the world. Yet, when we imagine a king attended with every
pleasure he can feel, if he be without diversion, and be left to con-
sider and reflect on what he is, this feeble happiness will not sustain
him; he will necessarily fall into forebodings of dangers, of revolu-
tions which may happen, and, finally, of death and inevitable disease;
so that if he be without what is called diversion, he is unhappy, and
more unhappy than the least of his subjects who plays and diverts
himself.
Hence it comes that play and the society of women, war, and high
posts, are so sought after. Not that there is in fact any happiness in
them, or that men imagine true bliss to consist in money won at
play, or in the hare which they hunt; we would not take these as a
gift. We do not seek that easy and peaceful lot which permits us to
think of our unhappy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the
labour of office, but the bustle which averts these thoughts of ours,
and amuses us.
Reasons why we like the chase better than the quarry.
Hence it comes that men so much love noise and stir; hence it
comes that the prison is so horrible a punishment; hence it comes that
the pleasure of solitude is a thing incomprehensible. And it is in fact
the greatest source of happiness in the condition of kings, that men
try incessantly to divert them, and to procure for them all kinds of
pleasures.
The king is surrounded by persons whose only thought is to divert
the king, and to prevent his thinking of self. For he is unhappy,
king though he be, if he think of himself.
This is all that men have been able to discover to make themselves
happy. And those who philosophise on the matter, and who think
54 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
men unreasonable for spending a whole day in chasing a hare which
they would not have bought, scarce know our nature. The hare in
itself would not screen us from the sight of death and calamities;
but the chase which turns away our attention from these, does
screen us.
The advice given to Pyrrhus to take the rest which he was about to
seek with so much labour, was full of difficulties.
[To bid a man live quietly is to bid him live happily. It is to ad-
vise him to be in a state perfectly happy, in which he can think at
leisure without finding therein a cause of distress. This is to mis-
understand nature.
As men who naturally understand their own condition avoid noth-
ing so much as rest, so there is nothing they leave undone in seeking
turmoil. Not that they have an instinctive knowledge of true
happiness. . . .
So we are wrong in blaming them. Their error does not lie in
seeking excitement, if they seek it only as a diversion; the evil is that
they seek it as if the possession of the objects of their quest would
make them really happy. In this respect it is right to call their quest
a vain one. Hence in all this both the censurers and the censured do
not understand man's true nature.]
And thus, when we take the exception against them, that what
they seek with such fervour cannot satisfy them, if they replied as
they should do if they considered the matter thoroughly that they
sought in it only a violent and impetuous occupation which turned
their thoughts from self, and that they therefore chose an attractive
object to charm and ardently attract them, they would leave their
opponents without a reply. But they do not make this reply, because
they do not know themselves. They do not know that it is the chase,
and not the quarry, which they seek.
[Dancing: we must consider rightly where to place our feet.
A gentleman sincerely believes that hunting is great and royal
sport; but a beater is not of this opinion.]
They imagine that if they obtained such a post, they would then
rest with pleasure, and are insensible of the insatiable nature of their
desire. They think they are truly seeking quiet, and they are only
seeking excitement.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 55
They have a secret instinct which impels them to seek amusement
and occupation abroad, and which arises from the sense of their con-
stant unhappiness. They have another secret instinct, a remnant of
the greatness of our original nature, which teaches them that hap-
piness in reality consists only in rest, and not in stir. And of these
two contrary instincts they form within themselves a confused idea,
which hides itself from their view in the depths of their soul, inciting
them to aim at rest through excitement, and always to fancy that the
satisfaction which they have not will come to them, if, by surmount-
ing whatever difficulties confront them, they can thereby open the
door to rest.
Thus passes away all man's life. Men seek rest in a struggle against
difficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes in-
sufferable. For we think either of the misfortunes we have or of
those which threaten us. And even if we should see ourselves suffi-
ciently sheltered on all sides, weariness of its own accord would not
fail to arise from the depths of the heart wherein it has its natural
roots, and to fill the mind with its poison.
Thus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any
cause for weariness from the peculiar state of his disposition; and so
frivolous is he, that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness,
the least thing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient
to amuse him.
But will you say what object has he in all this? The pleasure of
bragging to-morrow among his friends that he has played better than
another. So others sweat in their own rooms to show to the learned
that they have solved a problem in Algebra, which no one had
hitherto been able to solve. Many more expose themselves to ex-
treme perils, in my opinion as foolishly, in order to boast afterwards
that they have captured a town. Lastly, others wear themselves out in
studying all these things, not in order to become wiser, but only in
order to prove that they know them; and these are the most senseless
of the band, since they are so knowingly, whereas one may suppose of
the others, that if they knew it, they would no longer be foolish.
This man spends his life without weariness in playing every day
for a small stake. Give him each morning the money he can win
each day, on condition he does not play; you make him miserable.
56 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
It will perhaps be said that he seeks the amusement of play and not
the winnings. Make him then play for nothing; he will not become
excited over it, and will feel bored. It is then not the amusement
alone that he seeks; a languid and passionless amusement will weary
him. He must get excited over it, and deceive himself by the fancy
that he will be happy to win what he would not have as a gift on
condition of not playing; and he must make for himself an object of
passion, and excite over it his desire, his anger, his fear, to obtain his
imagined end, as children are frightened at the face they have
blackened.
Whence comes it that this man, who lost his only son a few months
ago, or who this morning was in such trouble through being dis-
tressed by lawsuits and quarrels, now no longer thinks of them ? Do
not wonder; he is quite taken up in looking out for the boar which
his dogs have been hunting so hotly for the last six hours. He re-
quires nothing more. However full of sadness a man may be, he is
happy for the time, if you can prevail upon him to enter into some
amusement; and however happy a man may be, he will soon be
discontented and wretched, if he be not diverted and occupied by
some passion or pursuit which prevents weariness from overcoming
him. Without amusement there is no joy; with amusement there is
no sadness. And this also constitutes the happiness of persons in high
position, that they have a number of people to amuse them, and have
the power to keep themselves in this state.
Consider this. What is it to be superintendent, chancellor, first
president, but to be in a condition wherein from early morning a
large number of people come from all quarters to see them, so as
not to leave them an hour in the day in which they can think of
themselves? And when they are in disgrace and sent back to their
country houses, where they lack neither wealth nor servants to help
them on occasion, they do not fail to be wretched and desolate,
because no one prevents them from thinking of themselves.
140
[How does it happen that this man, so distressed at the death of his
wife and his only son, or who has some great lawsuit which annoys
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 57
him, is not at this moment sad, and that he seems so free from all
painful and disquieting thoughts? We need not wonder; for a ball
has been served him, and he must return it to his companion. He is
occupied in catching it in its fall from the roof, to win a game.
How can he think of his own affairs, pray, when he has this other
matter in hand ? Here is a care worthy of occupying this great soul,
and taking away from him every other thought of the mind. This
man, born to know the universe, to judge all causes, to govern a
whole state, is altogether occupied and taken up with the business of
catching a hare. And if he does not lower himself to this, and wants
always to be on the strain, he will be more foolish still, because he
would raise himself above humanity; and after all he is only a man,
that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and of nothing;
he is neither angel nor brute, but man.]
141
Men spend their time in following a ball or a hare; it is the
pleasure even of kings.
142
Diversion. Is not the royal dignity sufficiently great in itself to
make its possessor happy by the mere contemplation of what he is ?
Must he be diverted from this thought like ordinary folk? I see
well that a man is made happy by diverting him from the view of
his domestic sorrows so as to occupy all his thoughts with the care of
dancing well. But will it be the same with a king, and will he be
happier in the pursuit of these idle amusements than in the con-
templation of his greatness? And what more satisfactory object
could be presented to his mind ? Would it not be a deprivation of his
delight for him to occupy his soul with the thought of how to adjust
his steps to the cadence of an air, or of how to throw a [ball] skil-
fully, instead of leaving it to enjoy quietly the contemplation of the
majestic glory which encompasses him? Let us make the trial; let
us leave a king all alone to reflect on himself quite at leisure, with-
out any gratification of the senses, without any care in his mind,
58 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
without society; and we will see that a king without diversion is a
man full of wretchedness. So this is carefully avoided, and near the
persons of kings there never fail to be a great number of people who
see to it that amusement follows business, and who watch all the
time of their leisure to supply them with delights and games, so
that there is no blank in it. In fact kings are surrounded with persons
who are wonderfully attentive in taking care that the king be not
alone and in a state to think of himself, knowing well that he will
be miserable, king though he be, if he meditate on self.
In all this I am not talking of Christian kings as Christians, but
only as kings.
Diversion. Men are intrusted from infancy with the care of their
honour, their property, their friends, and even with the property and
the honour of their friends. They are overwhelmed with business,
with the study of languages, and with physical exercise; and they are
made to understand that they cannot be happy unless their health,
their honour, their fortune and that of their friends be in good
condition, and that a single thing wanting will make them unhappy.
Thus they are given cares and business which make them bustle
about from break of day. It is, you will exclaim, a strange way to
make them happy! What more could be done to make them mis-
erable? Indeed! what could be done? We should only have to re-
lieve them from all these cares; for then they would see themselves:
they would reflect on what they are, whence they came, whither
they go, and thus we cannot employ and divert them too much. And
this is why, after having given them so much business, we advise
them, if they have some time for relaxation, to employ it in amuse-
ment, in play, and to be always fully occupied.
How hollow and full of ribaldry is the heart of man!
144
I spent a long time in the study of the abstract sciences, and was
disheartened by the small number of fellow-students in them. When
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 59
I commenced the study of man, I saw that these abstract sciences are
not suited to man, and that I was wandering further from my own
state in examining them, than others in not knowing them. I par-
doned their little knowledge; but I thought at least to find many
companions in the study of man, and that it was the true study
which is suited to him. I have been deceived; still fewer study ic
than geometry. It is only from want of knowing how to study this
that we seek the other studies. But is it not that even here is not the
knowledge which man should have, and that for the purposes of
happiness it is better for him not to know himself ?
145
[One thought alone occupies us; we cannot think of two things at
the same time. This is lucky for us according to the world, not
according to God.]
146
Man is obviously made to think. It is his whole dignity and his
whole merit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought. Now, the
order of thought is to begin with self, and with its Author and its end.
Now, of what does the world think? Never of this, but of
dancing, playing the lute, singing, making verses, running at the
ring, &c., fighting, making oneself king, without thinking what it
is to be a king and what to be a man.
We do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves
and in our own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the
mind of others, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We
labour unceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence,
and neglect the real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or
truthfulness, we are eager to make it known, so as to attach these
virtues to that imaginary existence. We would rather separate them
from ourselves to join them to it; and we would willingly be
cowards in order to acquire the reputation of being brave. A great
proof of the nothingness of our being, not to be satisfied with the
60 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
one without the other, and to renounce the one for the other! For he
would be infamous who would not die to preserve his honour.
148
We are so presumptuous that we would wish to be known by all
the world, even by people who shall come after, when we shall be
no more; and we are so vain that the esteem of five or six neighbours
delights and contents us.
149
We do not trouble ourselves about being esteemed in the towns
through which we pass. But if we are to remain a little while there,
we are so concerned. How long is necessary ? A time commensurate
with our vain and paltry life.
150
Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier's
servant, a cook, a porter brags, and wishes to have his admirers,
Even philosophers wish for them. Those who write against it want
to have the glory of having written well ; and those who read it desire
the glory of having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire,
and perhaps those who will read it ....
Glory. Admiration spoils all from infancy. Ah! How well said!
Ah! How well done! How well-behaved he is! &c.
The children of Port-Royal, who do not receive this stimulus of
envy and glory, fall into carelessness.
152
Pride. Curiosity is only vanity. Most frequently we wish to know
but to talk. Otherwise we would not take a sea voyage in order never
to talk of it, and for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of
ever communicating it.
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 6 1
153
Of the desire of being esteemed by those with whom we are.
Pride takes such natural possession of us in the midst of our woes,
errors, &c. We even lose our life with joy, provided people talk of it.
Vanity: play, hunting, visiting, false shams, a lasting name.
154
[I have no friends] to your advantage].
155
A true friend is so great an advantage, even for the greatest lords,
in order that he may speak well of them, and back them in their
absence, that they should do all to have one. But they should choose
well; for, if they spend all their efforts in the interests of fools, it
will be of no use, however well these may speak of them; and these
will not even speak well of them if they find themselves on the
weakest side, for they have no influence; and thus they will speak ill
of them in company.
156
Ferox gens, nullam esse vitam sine armis rati. 1 * They prefer death
to peace; others prefer death to war.
Every opinion may be held preferable to life, the love of which is
so strong and so natural.
157
Contradiction: contempt for our existence, to die for nothing,
hatred of our existence.
Pursuits. The charm of fame is so great, that we like every
object to which it is attached, even death.
16 "A fierce people, who thought life was nothing without arms." Livy.
62 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
159
Noble deeds are most estimable when hidden. When I see some
of these in history, they please me greatly. But after all they have
not been quite hidden, since they have been known; and though
people have done what they could to hide them, the little publication
of them spoils all, for what was best in them was the wish to hide
them.
160
Sneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul, as well as work
does; but we do not draw therefrom the same conclusions against
the greatness of man, because it is against his will. And although
we bring it on ourselves, it is nevertheless against our will that we
sneeze. It is not in view of the act itself; it is for another end. And
thus it is not a proof of the weakness of man, and of his slavery
under that action.
It is not disgraceful for man to yield to pain, and it is disgraceful
to yield to pleasure. This is not because pain comes to us from with-
out, and we ourselves seek pleasure; for it is possible to seek pain,
and yield to it purposely, without this kind of baseness. Whence
comes it, then, that reason thinks it honourable to succumb under
stress of pain, and disgraceful to yield to the attack of pleasure ? It
is because pain does not tempt and attract us. It is we ourselves who
choose it voluntarily, and will it to prevail over us. So that we are
masters of the situation; and in this man yields to himself. But in
pleasure it is man who yields to pleasure. Now only mastery and
sovereignty bring glory, and only slavery brings shame.
161
Vanity. How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity
of the world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising
thing to say that it is foolish to seek greatness!
162
He who will kn^w fully the vanity of man has only to consider
the causes and effects of love. The cause is / \now not what (Cor-
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 63
neille), and the effects are dreadful. This I know not what, so small
an object that we cannot recognise it, agitates a whole country,
princes, armies, the entire world.
Cleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the
world would have been altered.
163
Vanity. The cause and the effects of love: Cleopatra.
He who does not see the vanity of the world is himself very vain.
Indeed who do not see it but youths who are absorbed in fame,
diversion, and the thought of the future? But take away their
diversion, and you will see them dried up with weariness. They
feel then their nothingness without knowing it; for it is indeed to
be unhappy to be in insufferable sadness as soon as we are reduced
to thinking of self, and have no diversion.
Thoughts. In omnibus requiem qucesivi. 11 If our condition were
truly happy, we would not need diversion from thinking of it in
order to make ourselves happy.
166
Diversion. Death is easier to bear without thinking of it, than is
the thought of death without peril.
The miseries of human life have established all this: as men have
seen this, they have taken up diversion.
168
Diversion. As men are not able to fight against death, misery,
ignorance, they have taken it into their heads, in order to be happy,
not to think of them at all.
17 "In all things I have sought rest."
64 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
169
Despite these miseries, man wishes to be happy, and only wishes
to be happy, and cannot wish not to be so. But how will he set about
it? To be happy he would have to make himself immortal; but, not
being able to do so, it has occurred to him to prevent himself from
thinking of death.
170
Diversion. If man were happy, he would be the more so, the less
he was diverted, like the Saints and God. Yes; but is it not to be
happy to have a faculty of being amused by diversion? No; for
that comes from elsewhere and from without, and thus is dependent,
and therefore subject to be disturbed by a thousand accidents, which
bring inevitable griefs.
171
Misery. The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is
diversion, and yet this is the greatest of our miseries. For it is this
which principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves, and
which makes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should
be in a state of weariness, and this weariness would spur us to
seek a more solid means of escaping from it. But diversion amuses
us, and leads us unconsciously to death.
172
We do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future
as too slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall
the past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we
wander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only
one which belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those
times which are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which
alone exists. For the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it
from our sight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us,
we regret to see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 65
think of arranging matters which are not in our power, for a time
which we have no certainty of reaching.
Let each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all
occupied with the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the
present; and if we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange
the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present
are our means; the future alone is our end. So we never live, but we
hope to live; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is
inevitable we should never be so.
173
They say that eclipses foretoken misfortune, because misfortunes
are common, so that, as evil happens so often, they often foretell it;
whereas if they said that they predict good fortune, they would often
be wrong. They attribute good fortune only to rare conjunctions of
the heavens; so they seldom fail in prediction.
Misery. Solomon and Job have best known and best spoken of
the misery of man; the former, the most fortunate, and the latter
the most unfortunate of men; the former knowing the vanity of
pleasures from experience, the latter the reality of evils.
We know ourselves so little, that many think they are about to
die when they are well, and many think they are well when they are
near death, unconscious of approaching fever, or of the abscess ready
to form itself.
176
Cromwell was about to ravage all Christendom; the royal family
was undone, and his own for ever established, save for a little grain
of sand which formed in his ureter. Rome herself was trembling
under him; but this small piece of gravel having formed there, he
is dead, his family cast down, all is peaceful, and the king is restored.
66 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
[Three hosts.] Would he who had possessed the friendship of the
King of England, the King of Poland, and the Queen of Sweden,
have believed he would lack a refuge and shelter in the world ?
Macrobius : on the innocents slain by Herod.
179
When Augustus learnt that Herod's own son was amongst the
infants under two years of age, whom he had caused to be slain, he
said that it was better to be Herod's pig than his son. Macrobius,
Saturnalia, book ii. chap. 4.
180
The great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same
griefs, the same passions; but the one is at the top of the wheel, and
the other near the centre, and so less disturbed by the same
revolutions.
181
We are so unfortunate that we can only take pleasure in a thing
on condition of being annoyed if it turn out ill, as a thousand things
can do, and do every hour. He who should find the secret of rejoicing
in the good, without troubling himself with its contrary evil, would
have hit the mark. It is perpetual motion.
182
Those who have always good hope in the midst of misfortunes,
and who are delighted with good luck, are suspected of being very
pleased with the ill success of the affair, if they are not equally dis-
tressed by bad luck; and they are overjoyed to find these pretexts
of hope, in order to show that they are concerned, and to conceal
MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 67
by the joy which they feign to feel that which they have at seeing the
failure of the matter.
We run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something
before us to prevent us seeing it.
SECTION III
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER
184
A.ETTER to incite to the search after God.
And then to make people seek Him among the philos-
ophers, sceptics, and dogmatists, who disquiet him who
inquires of them.
The conduct of God, who disposes all things kindly, is to put
religion into the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace. But
to will to put it into the mind and heart by force and threats is not
to put religion there, but terror, terorrem potius quam religionem. 1
1 86
Nisi terrerentur et non docerentur, improba quasi domtnatio
videretur (Aug. Ep. 48 or 49) . 2 Contra mendacium ad Consentium. 3
187
Order. Men despise religion; they hate it, and fear it is true. To
remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not con-
trary to reason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we
must make it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we
must prove it is true.
Venerable, because it has perfect knowledge of man: lovable,
because it promises the true good.
1 "Terror rather than religion."
2 "If they were not terrified and were instructed, it would seem like an unjust
tyranny."
3 "To meet a lie, appeal to the Council."
68
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 69
In every dialogue and discourse, we must be able to say to those
who take offence, "Of what do you complain?"
189
To begin by pitying unbelievers; they are wretched enough by
their condition. We ought only to revile them where it is beneficial;
but this does them harm.
190
To pity atheists who seek, for are they not unhappy enough ? To
inveigh against those who make a boast of it.
191
And will this one scoff at the other? Who ought to scoff? And
yet, the latter does not scoff at the other, but pities him.
192
To reproach Miton with not being troubled, since God will
reproach him.
Quid fiet hominibus qui minima contemnunt, majora non credunt*
194
. . . Let them at least learn what is the religion they attack, before
attacking it. If this religion boasted of having a clear view of God,
and of possessing it open and unveiled, it would be attacking it to
say that we see nothing in the world which shows it with this clear-
ness. But since, on the contrary, it says that men are in darkness and
estranged from God, that He has hidden Himself from their knowl-
4 "What will happen to men who despise the smallest things, and do not believe
the greater."
70 PASCALS THOUGHTS
edge, that this is in fact the name which He gives Himself in the
Scriptures, Deus absconditusf and finally, if it endeavours equally
to establish these two things: that God has set up in the Church
visible signs to make Himself known to those who should seek Him
sincerely, and that He has nevertheless so disguised them that He
will only be perceived by those who seek Him with all their heart;
what advantage can they obtain, when, in the negligence with which
they make profession of being in search of the truth, they cry out
that nothing reveals it to them; and since that darkness in which
they are, and with which they upbraid the Church, establishes only
one of the things which she affirms, without touching the other, and,
very far from destroying, proves her doctrine?
In order to attack it, they should have protested that they had made
every effort to seek Him everywhere, and even in that which the
Church proposes for their instruction, but without satisfaction. If
they talked in this manner, they would in truth be attacking one of
her pretensions. But I hope here to show that no reasonable person
can speak thus, and I venture even to say that no one has ever done
so. We know well enough how those who are of this mind behave.
They believe they have made great efforts for their instruction, when
they have spent a few hours in reading some book of Scripture, and
have questioned some priest on the truths of the faith. After that,
they boast of having made vain search in books and among men.
But, verily, I will tell them what I have often said, that this negli-
gence is insufferable. We are not here concerned with the trifling
interest of some stranger, that we should treat it in this fashion; the
matter concerns ourselves and our all.
The immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great con-
sequence to us, and which touches us so profoundly, that we must
have lost all feeling to be indifferent as to knowing what it is. All
our actions and thoughts must take such different courses, according
as there are or are not eternal joys to hope for, that it is impossible to
take one step with sense and judgment, unless we regulate our course
by our view of this point which ought to be our ultimate end.
Thus our first interest and our first duty is to enlighten ourselves on
this subject, whereon depends all our conduct. Therefore among
5 "A hidden God." Isaiah, xlv. 15.
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 71
those who do not believe, I make a vast difference between those who
strive with all their power to inform themselves, and those who live
without troubling or thinking about it.
I can have only compassion for those who sincerely bewail their
doubt, who regard it as the greatest of misfortunes, and who, sparing
no effort to escape it, make of this inquiry their principal and most
serious occupation.
But as for those who pass their life without thinking of this ulti-
mate end of life, and who, for this sole reason that they do not find
within themselves the lights which convince them of it, neglect to
seek them elsewhere, and to examine thoroughly whether this
opinion is one of those which people receive with credulous sim-
plicity, or one of those which, although obscure in themselves, have
nevertheless a solid and immovable foundation, I look upon them in
a manner quite different.
This carelessness in a matter which concerns themselves, their
eternity, their all, moves me more to anger than pity; it astonishes
and shocks me; it is to me monstrous. I do not say this out of the
pious zeal of a spiritual devotion. I expect, on the contrary, that we
ought to have this feeling from principles of human interest and self-
love; for this we need only see what the least enlightened persons see.
We do not require great education of the mind to understand that
here is no real and lasting satisfaction; that our pleasures are only
vanity; that our evils are infinite; and, lastly, that death, which
threatens us every moment, must infallibly place us within a few
years under the dreadful necessity of being for ever either annihilated
or unhappy.
There is nothing more real than this, nothing more terrible. Be as
heroic as we like, that is the end which awaits the noblest life in the
world. Let us reflect on this, and then say whether it is not beyond
doubt that there is no good in this life but in the hope of another;
that we are happy only in proportion as we draw near it; and that,
as there are no more woes for those who have complete assurance of
eternity, so there is no more happiness for those who have no insight
into it.
Surely then it is a great evil thus to be in doubt, but it is at least
an indispensable duty to seek when we are in such doubt; and thus
72 PASCALS THOUGHTS
the doubter who does not seek is altogether completely unhappy and
completely wrong. And if besides this he is easy and content, profess
to be so, and indeed boasts of it; if it is this state itself which is the
subject of his joy and vanity, I have no words to describe so silly a
creature.
How can people hold these opinions? What joy can we find in
the expectation of nothing but hopeless misery? What reason for
boasting that we are in impenetrable darkness? And how can it
happen that the following argument occurs to a reasonable man ?
"I know not who put me into the world, nor what the world is,
not what I myself am. I am in terrible ignorance of everything. I
know not what my body is, nor my senses, nor my soul, nor even
that part of me which thinks what I say, which reflects on all and
on itself, and knows itself no more than the rest. I see those fright-
ful spaces of the universe which surround me, and I find myself tied
to one corner of this vast expanse, without knowing why I am put
in this place rather than in another, nor why the short time which is
given me to live is assigned to me at this point rather than at another
of the whole eternity which was before me or which shall come after
me. I see nothing but infinites on all sides, which surround me as an
atom, and as a shadow which endures only for an instant and returns
no more. All I know is that I must soon die, but what I know least
is this very death which I cannot escape.
"As I know not whence I come, so I know not whither I go. I
know only that, in leaving this world, I fall for ever either into
annihilation or into the hands of an angry God, without knowing to
which of these two states I shall be for ever assigned. Such is my
state, full of weakness and uncertainty. And from all this I conclude
that I ought to spend all the days of my life without caring to inquire
into what must happen to me. Perhaps I might find some solution
to my doubts, but I will not take the trouble, nor take a step to seek
it; and after treating with scorn those who are concerned with this
care, I will go without foresight and without fear to try the great
event, and let myself be led carelessly to death, uncertain of the
eternity of my future state."
Who would desire to have for a friend a man who talks in this
fashion ? Who would choose him out from others to tell him of his
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 73
affairs ? Who would have recourse to him in affliction ? And indeed
to what use in life could one put him ?
In truth, it is the glory of religion to have for enemies men so
unreasonable: and their opposition to it is so little dangerous that it
serves on the contrary to establish its truths. For the Christion faith
goes mainly to establish these two facts, the corruption of nature,
and redemption by Jesus Christ. Now I contend that if these men do
not serve to prove the truth of the redemption by the holiness of their
behaviour, they at least serve admirably to show the corruption of
nature by sentiments so unnatural.
Nothing is so important to man as his own state, nothing is so
formidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there
should be men indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the
perils of everlasting suffering. They are quite different with regard
to all other things. They are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them;
they feel them. And this same man who spends so many days and
nights in rage and despair for the loss of office, or for some imaginary
insult to his honour, is the very one who knows without anxiety and
without emotion that he will lose all by death. It is a monstrous thing
to see in the same heart and at the same time this sensibility to trifles
and this strange insensibility to the greatest objects. It is an incom-
prehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber, which indi-
cates as its cause an all-powerful force.
There must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he
should boast of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a
single individual should be. However, experience has shown me so
great a number of such persons that the fact would be surprising, if
we did not know that the greater part of those who trouble them-
selves about the matter are disingenuous, and not in fact what they
say. They are people who have heard it said that it is the fashion
to be thus daring. It is what they call shaking off the yoke, and they
try to imitate this. But it would not be difficult to make them under-
stand how greatly they deceive themselves in thus seeking esteem.
This is not the way to gain it, even I say among those men of the
world who take a healthy view of things, and who know that the
only way to succeed in this life is to make ourselves appear honour-
able, faithful, judicious, and capable of useful service to a friend;
74 PASCALS THOUGHTS
because naturally men love only what may be useful to them. Now,
what do we gain by hearing it said of a man that he has now thrown
of? the yoke, that he does not believe there is a God who watches our
actions, that he considers himself the sole master of his conduct, and
that he thinks he is accountable for it only to himself? Does he think
that he has thus brought us to have henceforth complete confidence
in him, and to look to him for consolation, advice, and help in every
need of life ? Do they profess to have delighted us by telling us that
they hold our soul to be only a little wind and smoke, especially by
telling us this in a haughty and self-satisfied tone of voice? Is this
a thing to say gaily ? Is it not, on the contrary, a thing to say sadly,
as the saddest thing in the world ?
If they thought of it seriously, they would see that this is so bad a
mistake, so contrary to good sense, so opposed to decency, and so
removed in every respect from that good breeding which they seek,
that they would be more likely to correct than to pervert those who
had an inclination to follow them. And indeed, make them give an
account of their opinions, and of the reasons which they have for
doubting religion, and they will say to you things so feeble and so
petty, that they will persuade you of the contrary. The following is
what a person one day said to such an one very appositely, "If you
continue to talk in this manner, you will really make me religious."
And he was right, for who would not have a horror of holding
opinions in which he would have such contemptible persons as
companions!
Thus those who only feign these opinions would be very unhappy,
if they restrained their natural feelings in order to make themselves
the most conceited of men. If, at the bottom of their heart, they are
troubled at not having more light, let them not disguise the fact;
this avowal will not be shameful. The only shame is to have none.
Nothing reveals more an extreme weakness of mind than not to know
the misery of a godless man. Nothing is more indicative of a bad
disposition of heart than not to desire the truth of eternal promises.
Nothing is more dastardly than to act the bravado before God. Let
them then leave these impieties to those who are sufficiently ill-bred
to be really capable of them. Let them at least be honest men, if they
cannot be Christians. Finally, let them recognise that there are two
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 75
kinds of people one can call reasonable; those who serve God with
all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with
all their heart because they do not know Him.
But as for those who live without knowing Him and without
seeking Him, they judge themselves so little worthy of their own
care, that they are not worthy of the care of others; and it needs all
the charity of the religion which they despise, not to despise them
even to the point of leaving them to their folly. But because this
religion obliges us always to regard them, so long as they are in this
life, as capable of the grace which can enlighten them, and to believe
that they may, in a little time, be more replenished with faith than
we are, and that, on the other hand, we may fall into the blindness
wherein they are, we must do for them what we would they should
do for us if we were in their place, and call upon them to have pity
upon themselves, and to take at least some steps in the endeavour to
find light. Let them give to reading this some of the hours which they
otherwise employ so uselessly; whatever aversion they may bring to
the task, they will perhaps gain something, and at least will not lose
much. But as for those who bring to the task perfect sincerity and a
real desire to meet with truth, those I hope will be satisfied and con-
vinced of the proofs of a religion so divine, which I have here col-
lected and in which I have followed somewhat after this order .
195
Before entering into the proofs of the Christian religion, I find it
necessary to point out the sinfulness of those men who live in indif-
ference to the search for truth in a matter which is so important to
them, and which touches them so nearly.
Of all their errors, this doubtless is the one which most convicts
them of foolishness and blindness, and in which it is easiest to con-
found them by the first glimmerings of common sense, and by
natural feelings.
For it is not to be doubted that the duration of this life is but a
moment; that the state of death is eternal, whatever may be its na-
ture; and that thus all our actions and thoughts must take such dif-
ferent directions according to the state of that eternity, that it is
76 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
impossible to take one step with sense and judgment, unless we regu-
late our course by the truth of that point which ought to be our
ultimate end.
There is nothing clearer than this; and thus, according to the prin-
ciples of reason, the conduct of men is wholly unreasonable, if they
do not take another course.
On this point therefore we condemn those who live without
thought of the ultimate end of life, who let themselves be guided
by their own inclinations and their own pleasures without reflection
and without concern, and, as if they could annihilate eternity by
turning away their thought from it, think only of making themselves
happy for the moment.
Yet this eternity exists, and death, which must open into it, and
threatens them every hour, must in a little time infallibly put them
under the dreadful necessity of being either annihilated or unhappy
for ever, without knowing which of these eternities is for ever pre-
pared for them.
This is a doubt of terrible consequence. They are in peril of eternal
woe; and thereupon, as if the matter were not worth the trouble,
they neglect to inquire whether this is one of those opinions which
people receive with too credulous a facility, or one of those which,
obscure in themselves, have a very firm, though hidden, foundation.
Thus they know not whether there be truth or falsity in the matter,
nor whether there be strength or weakness in the proofs. They have
them before their eyes; they refuse to look at them; and in that ig-
norance they choose all that is necessary to fall into this misfortune if
it exist, to await death to make trial of it, yet to be very content in
this state, to make profession of it and indeed to boast of it. Can we
think seriously on the importance of this subject without being horri-
fied at conduct so extravagant?
This resting in ignorance is a monstrous thing, and they who pass
their life in it must be made to feel its extravagance and stupidity,
by having it shown to them, so that they may be confounded by the
sight of their folly. For this is how men reason, when they choose to
live in such ignorance of what they are, and without seeking enlight-
enment. "I know not," they say ...
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 77
196
Men lack heart; they would not make a friend of it.
197
To be insensible to the extent of despising interesting things, and
to become insensible to the point which interests us most.
198
The sensibility of man to trifles, and his insensibility to great
things, indicates a strange inversion.
199
Let us imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to
death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and
those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows, and wait
their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is
an image of the condition of men.
200
A man in a dungeon, ignorant whether his sentence be pronounced,
and having only one hour to learn it, but this hour enough, if he
know that it is pronounced, to obtain its repeal, would act unnaturally
in spending that hour, not in ascertaining his sentence, but in playing
piquet. So it is against nature that man, &c. It is making heavy the
hand of God.
Thus not only the zeal of those who seek Him proves God, but
also the blindness of those who seek Him not.
201
All the objections of this one and that one only go against them-
selves, and not against religion. All that infidels say ...
78 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
202
[From those who are in despair at being without faith, we see that
God does not enlighten them ; but as to the rest, we see there is a God
who makes them blind.]
203
Fascinatio nugacitatis. 6 That passion may not harm us, let us
act as if we had only eight hours to live.
204
If we ought to devote eight hours of life, we ought to devote a
hundred years.
205
When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the
eternity before and after, the little space which I fill, and even can
see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am
ignorant, and which know me not, I am frightened, and am aston-
ished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why
here rather than there, why now rather than then. Who has put
me here ? By whose order and direction have this place and time been
alloted to me? Memoria hospitis unius diet prcetereuntis?
206
The eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.
207
How many kingdoms know us not ?
208
Why is my knowledge limited ? Why my stature ? Why my life
to one hundred years rather than to a thousand? What reason has
6 "The bewitching of naughtiness." Wisdom, iv. 12.
7 "The remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day." Wisdom, v. 14.
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 79
nature had for giving me such, and for choosing this number rather
than another in the infinity of those from which there is no more
reason to choose one than another, trying nothing else?
209
Art thou less a slave by being loved and favoured by thy master ?
Thou art indeed well ofF, slave. Thy master favours thee; he will
soon beat thee.
210
The last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at
the last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end
for ever.
211
We are fools to depend upon the society of our fellowmen.
Wretched as we are, powerless as we are, they will not aid us; we
shall die alone. We should therefore act as if we were alone, and in
that case should we build fine houses, &c. ? We should seek the truth
without hesitation; and, if we refuse it, we show that we value the
esteem of men more than the search for truth.
212
Instability. It is a horrible thing to feel all that we possess
slipping away.
213
Between us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the
frailest thing in the world.
214
Injustice. That presumption should be joined to meanness is
extreme injustice.
80 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
215
To fear death without danger, and not in danger, for one must
be a man.
216
Sudden death alone is feared; hence confessors stay with lords.
217
An heir finds the title-deeds of his house. Will he say, "Perhaps
they are forged?" and neglect to examine them?
218
Dungeon. I approve of not examining the opinion of Copernicus;
but this . . . ! It concerns all our life to know whether the soul
be mortal or immortal.
219
It is certain that the mortality or immortality of the soul must
make an entire difference to morality. And yet philosophers have
constructed their ethics independently of this: they discuss to pass
an hour.
Plato, to incline to Christianity.
220
The fallacy of philosophers who have not discussed the immor-
tality of the soul. The fallacy of their dilemma in Montaigne.
221
Atheists ought to say what is perfectly evident; now it is not per-
fectly evident that the soul is material.
222
Atheists. What reason have they for saying that we cannot rise
from the dead? What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again;
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 8 1
that what has never been should be, or that what has been should be
again? Is it more difficult to come into existence than to return to
it? Habit makes the one appear easy to us; want of habit makes the
other impossible. A popular way of thinking!
Why cannot a virgin bear a child ? Does a hen not lay eggs with-
out a cock? What distinguishes these outwardly from others? And
who has told us that the hen may not form the germ as well as
the cock ?
223
What have they to say against the resurrection, and against the
child-bearing of the Virgin ? Which is the more difficult, to produce
a man or an animal, or to reproduce it ? And if they had never seen
any species of animals, could they have conjectured whether they
were produced without connection with each other ?
224
How I hate these follies of not believing in the Eucharist, &c.! If
the Gospel be true, if Jesus Christ be God, what difficulty is there ?
225
Atheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree,
226
Infidels, who profess to follow reason, ought to be exceedingly
strong in reason. What say they then? "Do we not see," say they,
"that the brutes live and die like men, and Turks like Christians?
They have their ceremonies, their prophets, their doctors, their saints,
their monks, like us," &c. (Is this contrary to Scripture? Does it not
say all this?)
If you care but little to know the truth, here is enough of it to
leave you in repose. But if you desire with all your heart to know
it, it is not enough; look at it in detail. This would be sufficient for
a question in philosophy; but not here, where it concerns your all.
And yet, after a trifling reflection of this kind, we go to amuse our-
82 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
selves, &c. Let us inquire of this same religion whether it does not
give a reason for this obscurity; perhaps it will teach it to us.
227
Order by dialogues What ought I to do? I see only darkness
everywhere. Shall I believe I am nothing? Shall I believe I am God?
"All things change and succeed each other." You are mistaken;
there is ...
228
Objection of atheists: "But we have no light."
229
This is what I see and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and I
see only darkness everywhere. Nature presents to me nothing which
is not matter of doubt and concern. If I saw nothing there which
revealed a Divinity, I would come to a negative conclusion; if I
saw everywhere the signs of a Creator, I would remain peacefully in
faith. But, seeing too much to deny and too little to be sure, I am in
a state to be pitied; wherefore I have a hundred times wished that if
a God maintains nature, she should testify to Him unequivocally,
and that, if the signs she gives are deceptive, she should suppress
them altogether; that she should say everything or nothing, that I
might see which cause I ought to follow. Whereas in my present
state, ignorant of what I am or of what I ought to do, I know neither
my condition nor my duty. My heart inclines wholly to know, where
is the true good, in order to follow it; nothing would be too dear to
me for eternity.
I envy those whom I see living in the faith with such carelessness,
and who make such a bad use of a gift of which it seems to me I
would make such a different use.
230
It is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incompre-
hensible that He should not exist, that the soul should be joined to
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 83
the body, and that we should have no soul; that the world should be
created, and that it should not be created, &c.; that original sin should
be, and that it should not be.
231
Do you believe it to be impossible that God is infinite, without
parts? Yes. I wish therefore to show you an infinite and indivisible
thing. It is a point moving everywhere with an infinite velocity; for
it is one in all places, and is all totality in every place.
Let this effect of nature, which previously seemed to you impos-
sible, make you know that there may be others of which you are
still ignorant. Do not draw this conclusion from your experiment,
that there remains nothing for you to know; but rather that there
remains an infinity for you to know.
Infinite movement, the point which fills everything, the moment
of rest; infinite without quantity, indivisible and infinite.
233
Infinite nothing. Our soul is cast into a body, where it finds
number, time, dimension. Thereupon it reasons, and calls this
nature, necessity, and can believe nothing else.
Unity joined to infinity adds nothing to it, no more than one foot
to an infinite measure. The finite is annihilated in the presence of
the infinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God,
so our justice before divine justice. There is not so great a dispro-
portion between our justice and that of God, as between unity and
infinity.
The justice of God must be vast like His compassion. Now justice
to the outcast is less vast, and ought less to offend our feelings than
mercy towards the elect.
We know that there is an infinite, and are ignorant of its nature.
As we know it to be false that numbers are finite, it is therefore true
that there is an infinity in number. But we do not know what it is.
It is false that it is even, it is false that it is odd; for the addition of a
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
unit can make no change in its nature. Yet it is a number, and every
number is odd or even (this is certainly true of every finite number).
So we may well know that there is a God without knowing what He
is. Is there not one substantial truth, seeing there are so many things
which are not the truth itself?
We know then the existence and nature of the finite, because we
also are finite and have extension. We know the existence of the
infinite, and are ignorant of its nature, because it has extension like
us, but not limits like us. But we know neither the existence nor
the nature of God, because He has neither extension nor limits.
But by faith we know His existence; in glory we shall know His
nature. Now, I have already shown that we may well know the
existence of a thing, without knowing its nature.
1 Let us now speak according to natural lights.
If there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having
neither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then inca-
pable of knowing either what He is or if He is. This being so, who
will dare to undertake the decision of the question? Not we, who
have no affinity to Him.
Who then will blame Christians for not being able to give a reason
for their belief, since they profess a religion for which they cannot
give a reason? They declare, in expounding it to the world, that
it is a foolishness, stultitiam; and then you complain that they do not
prove it! If they proved it, they would not keep their word; it is in
lacking proofs, that they are not lacking in sense. "Yes, but although
this excuses those who offer it as such, and take away from them the
blame of putting it forward without reason, it does not excuse those
who receive it." Let us then examine this point, and say, "God is, or
He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide
nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separates us. A game
is being played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads
or tails will turn up. What will you wager? According to reason,
you can do neither the one thing nor the other; according to reason,
you can defend neither of the propositions.
Do not then reprove for error those who have made a choice; for
you know nothing about it. "No, but I blame them for having made,
not this choice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 85
and he who chooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the
wrong. The true course is not to wager at all."
Yes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked.
Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose,
let us see which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the
true and the good; and two things to stake, your reason and your
will, your knowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two
things to shun, error and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in
choosing one rather than the other, since you must of necessity
choose. This is one point settled. But your happiness ? Let us weigh
the ^gain_and jjie loss_in wagering -that JGod .is~,JLet us estimate these
two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if ^oujose, you lose nothing.
Wager then without hesitation that He is. "That is very fine. Yes,
I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much." Let us see.
Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to
gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there
were three lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under
the necessity of playing) , and you would be imprudent, when you are
forced to play, not to chance your life to gain three at a game where
there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of
And this being so, if there were an infinity of
chances, of which one only would be for you, you would still be
right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly, being
obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a game
in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if there
were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But there is here
an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain against
a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite. It is
all divided: wherever the infinite is and there is not an infinity of
chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to hesitate, you
must give all. And thus, when one is forced to play, he must re-
nounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for infinite gain,
as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness.
For it is no use to say it is uncertain if we will gain, and it is cer-
tain that we risk, and that the infinite distance between the certainty
of what is staked and the uncertainty of what will be gained, equals
the finite good which is certainly staked against the uncertain infinite.
86 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
It is not so, as every player stakes a certainty to gain an uncertainty,
and yet he stakes a finite certainty to gain a finite uncertainty, with-
out transgressing against reason. There is not an infinite distance
between the certainty staked and the uncertainty of the gain; that is
untrue. In truth, there is an infinity between the certainty of gain
and the certainty of loss. But the uncertainty of the gain is propor-
tioned to the certainty of the stake according to the proportion of the
chances of gain and loss. Hence it comes that, if there are as many
risks on one side as on the other, the course is to play even; and then
the certainty of the stake is equal to the uncertainty of the gain, so
far is it from fact that there is an infinite distance between them.
/And so our proposition is of infinite force, when there is the finite to
' stake in a game where there are equal risks of gain and of loss, and
I the infinite to gain. This is demonstrable; and if men are capable of
I any truths, this is one.
"I confess it, I admit it. But still is there no means of seeing the
faces of the cards?" Yes, Scripture and the rest, &c. "Yes, but I
have my hands tied and my mouth closed; I am forced to wager,
and am not free. I am not released, and am so made that I cannot
believe. What then would you have me do?"
True. But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason
brings you to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavour then to
convince yourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abate-
ment of your passions. You would like to attain faith, and do not
know the way; you would like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask
the remedy for it. Learn of those who have been bound like you,
and who now stake all their possessions. These are people who know
the way which you would follow, and who are cured of an ill of
which you would be cured. Follow the way by which they began;
by acting as if they believe, taking the holy water, having masses said,
&c. Even this will naturally make you believe, and deaden your
acuteness. "But this is what I am afraid of." And why? What
have you to lose ?
But to show you that this leads you there, it is this which will
lessen the passions, which are your stumbling-blocks.
The end of this discourse. Now what harm will befall you in
taking this side? You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful,
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 87
generous, a sincere friend, truthful. Certainly you will not have
those poisonous pleasures, glory and luxury; but will you not have
others? I will tell you that you will thereby gain in this life, and
that, at each step you take on this road, you will see so great certainty
of gain, so much nothingness in what you risk, that you will at last
recognize that you have wagered for something certain and infinite,
for which you have given nothing.
"Ah! This discourse transports me, charms me," &c.
If this discourse pleases you and seems impressive, know that it is
made by a man who has knelt, both before and after it, in prayer to
that Being, infinite and without parts, before whom he lays all he
has, for you also to lay before Him all you have for your own good
and for His glory, that so strength may be given to lowliness.
234
If we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on re-
ligion, for it is not certain. But how many things we do on an un-
certainty, sea voyages, battles! I say then we must do nothing at all,
for nothing is certain, and that there is more certainty in religion
than there is as to whether we may see to-morrow; for it is not certain
that we may see to-morrow, and it is certainly possible that we may
not see it. We cannot say as much about religion. It is not certain
that it is; but who will venture to say that it is certainly possible that
it is not? Now when we work for to-morrow, and so on an uncer-
tainty, we act reasonably; for we ought to work for an uncertainty
according to the doctrine of chance which was demonstrated above.
St. Augustine has seen that we work for an uncertainty, on sea, in
battle, &c. But he has not seen the doctrine of chance which proves
that we should do so. Montaigne has seen that we are shocked at a
fool, and that habit is all-powerful; but he has not seen the reason
of this effect.
All these persons have seen the effects, but they have not seen the
causes. They are, in comparison with those who have discovered
the causes, as those who have only eyes are in comparison with those
who have intellect. For the effects are perceptible by sense, and the
causes are visible only to the intellect. And although these effects are
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
seen by the mind, this mind is, in comparison with the mind which
sees the causes, as the bodily senses are in comparison with the
intellect.
235
Rem viderunt, causam non viderunt?
236
According to the doctrine of chance, you ought to put yourself to
the trouble of searching for the truth; for if you die without wor-
shipping the True Cause, you are lost. "But," say you, "if He had
wished me to worship Him, He would have left me signs of His
will." He has done so; but you neglect them. Seek them there-
fore; it is well worth it.
2 37
Chances. We must live differently in the world, according to
these different assumptions: (i) that we could always remain in
it; (2) that it is certain that we shall not remain here long, and
uncertain if we shall remain here one hour. This last assumption is
our condition.
238
What do you then promise me, in addition to certain troubles, but
ten years of self-love (for ten years is the chance), to try hard to
please without success?
239
Objection. Those who hope for salvation are so far happy; but
they have as a counterpoise the fear of hell.
Reply. Who has most reason to fear hell : he who is in ignorance
whether there is a hell, and who is certain of damnation if there is;
or he who certainly believes there is a hell, and hopes to be saved if
there is?
8 "They saw the thing, not the cause."
OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 89
240
"I would soon have renounced pleasure," say they, "had I faith."
For my part I tell you, "You would soon have faith, if you renounced
pleasure." Now, it is for you to begin. If I could, I would give you
faith. I cannot do so, nor therefore test the truth of what you say.
But you can well renounce pleasure, and test whether what I say is
true.
241
Order. I would have far more fear of being mistaken, and of
finding that the Christian religion was true, than of not being mis-
taken in believing it true.
SECTION IV
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF
242
W ^\REFACE to the second part. To speak of those who have
m-*J treated of this matter.
JL I admire the boldness with which these persons undertake
to speak of God. In addressing their argument to infidels, their first
chapter is to prove Divinity from the works of nature. I should not
be astonished at their enterprise, if they were addressing their argu-
ment to the faithful; for it is certain that those who have the living
faith in their heart see at once that all existence is none other than
the work of the God whom they adore. But for those in whom this
light is extinguished, and in whom we purpose to rekindle it, per-
sons destitute of faith and grace, who, seeking with all their light
whatever they see in nature that can bring them to this knowledge,
find only obscurity and darkness; to tell them that they have only to
look at the smallest things which surround them, and they will see
God openly, to give them, as a complete proof of this great and im-
portant matter, the course of the moon and planets, and to claim to
have concluded the proof with such an argument, is to give them
ground for believing that the proofs of our religion are very weak.
And I see by reason and experience that nothing is more calculated
to arouse their contempt.
It is not after this manner that Scripture speaks, which has a bet-
ter knowledge of the things that are of God. It says, on the contrary,
that God is a hidden God, and that, since the corruption of nature,
He has left men in a darkness from which they can escape only
through Jesus Christ, without whom all communion with God is cut
off. Nemo novit Patrem, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare. 1
This is what Scripture points out to us, when it says in so many
places that those who seek God find Him. It is not of that light,
1 Matthew, xi. 27.
90
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 91
"like the noonday sun," that this is said. We do not say that those
who seek the noonday sun, or water in the sea, shall find them; and
hence the evidence of God must not be of this nature. So it tells us
elsewhere: Vcre tu es Deus absconditus. 2
2 43
It is an astounding fact that no canonical writer has ever made
use of nature to prove God. They all strive to make us believe in
Him. David, Solomon, &c., have never said, "There is no void,
therefore there is a God." They must have had more knowledge than
the most learned people who came after them, and who have all
made use of this argument. This is worthy of attention.
244
"Why! Do you not say yourself that the heavens and birds prove
God?" No. "And does your religion not say so?" No. For although
it is true in a sense for some souls to whom God gives this light, yet
it is false with respect to the majority of men.
245
There are three sources of belief: reason, custom, inspiration.
The Christian religion, which alone has reason, does not acknowl-
edge as her true children those who believe without inspiration. It
is not that she excludes reason and custom. On the contrary, the mind
must be opened to proofs, must be confirmed by custom, and offer
itself in humbleness to inspirations, which alone can produce a true
and saving effect. Ne evacuetur crux Christi?
246
Order. After the letter "that we ought to seek God," to write
the letter "on removing obstacles"; which is the discourse on "the
machine," on preparing the machine, on seeking by reason.
247
Order. A letter of exhortation to a friend to induce him to seek.
2 Isaiah, xlv. 15. 3 i Corinthians, i. 17.
92 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
And he will reply, "But what is the use of seeking? Nothing is
seen." Then to reply to him, "Do not despair." And he will answer
that he would be glad to find some light, but that, according to this
very religion, if he believed in it, it will be of no use to him, and that
therefore he prefers not to seek. And to answer to that : The machine.
248
A Letter which indicates the use of proofs by the machine. Faith
is different from proof; the one is human, the other is a gift of God.
Justus ex fide vivit. 4 It is this faith that God Himself puts into the
heart, of which the proof is often the instrument, fides ex auditu? but
this faith is in the heart, and makes us not say sciof but credo. 7
249
It is superstition to put one's hope in formalities; but it is pride
to be unwilling to submit to them.
250
The external must be joined to the internal to obtain anything
from God, that is to say, we must kneel, pray with the lips, &c., in
order that proud man, who would not submit himself to God, may
be now subject to the creature. To expect help from these externals
is superstition; to refuse to join them to the internal is pride.
251
Other religions, as the pagan, are more popular, for they consist
in externals. But they are not for educated people. A purely intel-
lectual religion would be more suited to the learned, but it would be
of no use to the common people. The Christian religion alone is
adapted to all, being composed of externals and internals. It raises
the common people to the internal, and humbles the proud to the
external; it is not perfect without the two, for the people must under-
stand the spirit of the letter, and the learned must submit their spirit
to the letter.
4 Romans, i. 17. 5 Romans, x. 17. 6 "I know." 7 "I believe."
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 93
252
For we must not misunderstand ourselves; we are as much auto-
matic as intellectual; and hence it comes that the instrument by
which conviction is attained is not demonstration alone. How few
things are demonstrated? Proofs only convince the mind. Custom
is the source of our strongest and most believed proofs. It bends
the automaton, which persuades the mind without its thinking about
the matter. Who has demonstrated that there will be a to-morrow,
and that we shall die? And what is more believed ? It is then custom
which persuades us of it; it is custom that makes so many men
Christians; custom that makes them Turks, heathens, artisans, sol-
diers, &c. (Faith in baptism is more received among Christians than
among Turks.) Finally, we must have recourse to it when once the
mind has seen where the truth is, in order to quench our thirst, and
steep ourselves in that belief, which escapes us at every hour; for
always to have proofs ready is too much trouble. We must get an
easier belief, which is that of custom, which, without violence, with-
out art, without argument, makes us believe things, and inclines all
our powers to this belief, so that our soul falls naturally into it. It is
not enough to believe only by force of conviction, when the automa-
ton is inclined to believe the contrary. Both our parts must be made
to believe, the mind by reasons which it is sufficient to have seen
once in a lifetime, and the automaton by custom, and by not allow-
ing it to incline to the contrary. Inclina cor meum, Deus.*
The reason acts slowly, with so many examinations, and on so
many principles, which must be always present, that at every hour it
falls asleep, or wanders, through want of having all its principles
present. Feeling does not act thus; it acts in a moment, and is always
ready to act. We must then put our faith in feeling; otherwise it will
be always vacillating.
2 53
Two extremes: to exclude reason, to admit reason only.
8 Psalms, cxix. 36.
94 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
254
It is not a rare thing to have to reprove the world for too much
docility. It is a natural vice like credulity, and as pernicious.
Superstition.
255
Piety is different from superstition.
To carry piety as far as superstition is to destroy it.
The heretics reproach us for this superstitious submission. This
is to do what they reproach us for ...
Infidelity, not to believe in the Eucharist, because it is not seen.
Superstition to believe propositions. Faith, &c.
I say there are few true Christians, even as regards faith. There
are many who believe but from superstition. There are many who
do not believe solely from wickedness. Few are between the two.
In this I do not include those who are of truly pious character, nor
all those who believe from a feeling in their heart.
257
There are only three kinds of persons: those who serve God,
having found Him; others who are occupied in seeking Him, not
having found Him; while the remainder live without seeking Him,
and without having found Him. The first are reasonable and happy,
the last are foolish and unhappy; those between are unhappy and
reasonable.
258
Unus quisque sibi Deum fingit. 9
Disgust.
259
Ordinary people have the power of not thinking of that about
which they do not wish to think. "Do not meditate on the passages
9 "Each one makes a God for himself."
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 95
about the Messiah," said the Jew to his son. Thus our people often
act. Thus are false religions preserved, and even the true one, in
regard to many persons.
But there are some who have not the power of thus preventing
thought, and who think so much the more as they are forbidden.
These undo false religions, and even the true one, if they do not find
solid arguments.
260
They hide themselves in the press, and call numbers to their
rescue. Tumult.
Authority. So far from making it a rule to believe a thing because
you have heard it, you ought to believe nothing without putting
yourself into the position as if you had never heard it.
It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your
own reason, and not of others, that should make you believe.
Belief is so important! A hundred contradictions might be true.
If antiquity were the rule of belief, men of ancient time would then be
without rule. If general consent, if men had perished?
False humility, pride.
Lift the curtain. You try in vain; if you must either believe, or
deny, or doubt. Shall we then have no rule? We judge that animals
do well what they do. Is there no rule whereby to judge men?
To deny, to believe, and to doubt well, are to a man what the race
is to a horse.
Punishment of those who sin, error.
261
Those who do not love the truth take as a pretext that it is dis-
puted, and that a multitude deny it. And so their error arises only
from this, that they do not love either truth or charity. Thus they
are without excuse.
262
Superstition and lust. Scruples, evil desires. Evil fear; fear, not
such as comes from a belief in God, but such as comes from a doubt
96 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
whether He exists or not. True fear comes from faith; false fear
comes from doubt. True fear is joined to hope, because it is born
of faith, and because men hope in the God in whom they believe.
False fear is joined to despair, because men fear the God in whom
they have no belief. The former fear to lose Him; the latter fear to
find Him.
263
"A miracle," says one, "would strengthen my faith." He says so
when he does not see one. Reasons, seen from afar, appear to limit
our view; but when they are reached, we begin to see beyond. Noth-
ing stops the nimbleness of our mind. There is no rule, say we,
which has not some exceptions, no truth so general which has not
some aspect in which it fails. It is sufficient that it be not absolutely
universal to give us a pretext for applying the exception to the present
subject, and for saying, "This is not always true; there are there-
fore cases where it is not so." It only remains to show that this is
one of them; and that is why we are very awkward or unlucky, if
we do not find one some day.
264
We do not weary of eating and sleeping every day, for hunger and
sleepiness recur. Without that we should weary of them. So, with-
out the hunger for spiritual things, we weary of them. Hunger after
righteousness, the eighth beatitude.
265
Faith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the con-
trary of what they see. It is above them, and not contrary to them.
266
How many stars have telescopes revealed to us which did not
exist for our philosophers of old! We freely attack Holy Scripture
on the great number of stars, saying, "There are only one thousand
and twenty-eight, we know it." There is grass on the earth, we see
it from the moon we would not see it and on the grass are leaves,
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 97
and in these leaves are small animals; but after that no more. O
presumptuous man! the compounds are composed of elements, and
the elements not. O presumptuous man! Here is a fine reflection.
We must not say that there is anything which we do not see. We
must then talk like others, but not think like them.
367
The last proceeding of reason is to recognize that there is an infin-
ity of things which are beyond it. It is but feeble if it does not see
so far as to know this. But if natural things are beyond it, what will
be said of supernatural ?
268
Submission. We must know where to doubt, where to feel cer-
tain, where to submit. He who does not do so, understands not
the force of reason. There are some who oflend against these three
rules, either by affirming everything as demonstrative, from want of
knowing what demonstration is; or by doubting everything, from
want of knowing where to submit; or by submitting in everything,
from want of knowing where they must judge.
269
Submission is the use of reason in which consists true Christianity.
270
St. Augustine. Reason would never submit, if it did not judge
that there are some occasions on which it ought to submit. It is then
right for it to submit, when it judges that it ought to submit.
271
Wisdom sends us to childhood. Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli.
272
There is nothing so conformable to reason as this disavowal of
reason.
10 Matthew, xviii. 3.
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
273
If we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mys-
terious and supernatural element. If we offend the principles of
reason, our religion will be absurd and ridiculous.
274
All our reasoning reduces itself to yielding to feeling.
But fancy is like, though contrary to feeling, so that we cannot
distinguish between these contraries. One person says that my feeling
is fancy, another that his fancy is feeling. We should have a rule.
Reason offers itself; but it is pliable in every sense; and thus there is
no rule.
2 75
Men often take their imagination for their heart; and they be-
lieve they are converted as soon as they think of being converted.
276
M. de Roannez said : "Reasons come to me afterwards, but at first
a thing pleases or shocks me without my knowing the reason, and
yet it shocks me for that reason which I only discover afterwards."
But I believe, not that it shocked him for the reasons which were
found afterwards, but that these reasons were only found because it
shocks him.
277
The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We feel it
in a thousand things. I say that the heart naturally loves the Univer-
sal Being, and also itself naturally, according as it gives itself to them;
and it hardens itself against one or the other at its will. You have
rejected the one, and kept the other. Is it by reason that you love
yourself ?
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 99
2 7 8
It is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This,
then, is faith: God felt by the heart, not by the reason.
279
Faith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of
reasoning. Other religions do not say this of their faith. They only
gave reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring
them to it.
280
The knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.
281
Heart, instinct, principles.
282
We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart, and
it is in this last way that we know first principles; and reason, which
has no part in it, tries in vain to impugn them. The sceptics, who
have only this for their object, labour to no purpose. We know that
we do not dream, and however impossible it is for us to prove it by
reason, this inability demonstrates only the weakness of our reason,
but not, as they affirm, the uncertainty of all our knowledge. For the
knowledge of first principles, as space, time, motion, number, is as
sure as any of those which we get from reasoning. And reason must
trust these intuitions of the heart, and must base on them every argu-
ment. (We have intuitive knowledge of the tri-dimensional nature
of space, and of the infinity of number, and reason then shows that
there are no two square numbers one of which is double of the other.
Principles are intuited, propositions are inferred, all with certainty,
though in different ways.) And it is as useless and absurd for reason
to demand from the heart proofs of her first principles, before
IOO PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
admitting them, as it would be for the heart to demand from reason
an intuition of all demonstrated propositions before accepting them.
This inability ought, then, to serve only to humble reason, which
would judge all, but not to impugn our certainty, as if only reason
were capable of instructing us. Would to God, on the contrary,
that we had never need of it, and that we knew everything by in-
stinct and intuition! But nature has refused us this boon. On the
contrary, she has given us but very little knowledge of this kind;
and all the rest can be acquired only by reasoning.
Therefore, those to whom God has imparted religion by intui-
tion are very fortunate, and justly convinced. But to those who do
not have it, we can give it only by reasoning, waiting for God to give
them spiritual insight, without which faith is only human, and use-
less for salvation.
283
Order. Against the objection that Scripture has no order.
The heart has its own order; the intellect has its own, which is by
principle and demonstration. The heart has another. We do not
prove that we ought to be loved by enumerating in order the causes
of love; that would be ridiculous.
Jesus Christ and Saint Paul employ the rule of love, not of intellect;
for they would warm, not instruct. It is the same with Saint Augus-
tine. This order consists chiefly in digressions on each point to indi-
cate the end, and keep it always in sight.
284
Do not wonder to see simple people believe without reasoning.
God imparts to them love of Him and hatred of self. He inclines
their heart to believe. Men will never believe with a saving and real
faith, unless God inclines their heart; and they will believe as soon
as He inclines it. And this is what David knew well, when he said:
Inclina cor meum, Deus, in . . ."
11 Psalms, cxix. 36.
OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 101
285
Religion is suited to all kinds of minds. Some pay attention only to
its establishment, and this religion is such that its very establishment
suffices to prove its truth. Others trace it even to the apostles. The
more learned go back to the beginning of the world. The angels
see it better still, and from a more distant time.
286
Those who believe without having read the Testaments, do so be-
cause they have an inward disposition entirely holy, and all that
they hear of our religion conforms to it. They feel that a God has
made them; they desire only to love God; they desire to hate them-
selves only. They feel that they have no strength in themselves; that
they are incapable of coming to God; and that if God does not come
to them, they can have no communion with Him. And they hear
our religion say that men must love God only, and hate self only;
but that all being corrupt and unworthy of God, God made Himself
man to unite Himself to us. No more is required to persuade men
who have this disposition in their heart, and who have this knowl-
edge of their duty and of their inefficiency.
287
Those whom we see to be Christians without the knowledge of
the prophecies and evidences, nevertheless judge of their religion as
well as those who have that knowledge. They judge of it by the heart,
as others judge of it by the intellect. God Himself inclines them to
believe, and thus they are most effectively convinced.
I confess indeed that one of those Christians who believe without
proofs will not perhaps be capable of convincing an infidel who will
say the same of himself. But those who know the proofs of religion
will prove without difficulty that such a believer is truly inspired by
God, though he cannot prove it himself.
For God having said in His prophecies (which are undoubtedly
prophecies), that in the reign of Jesus Christ He would spread His
102 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
spirit abroad among nations, and that the youths and maidens and
children of the Church would prophesy; it is certain that the Spirit
of God is in these, and not in the others.
288
Instead of complaining that God has hidden Himself, you will give
Him thanks for having revealed so much of Himself; and you will
also give Him thanks for not having revealed Himself to haughty
sages, unworthy to know so holy a God.
Two kinds of persons know Him : those who have a humble heart,
and who love lowliness, whatever kind of intellect they may have,
high or low; and those who have sufficient understanding to see the
truth, whatever opposition they may have to it.
289
Proof. i. The Christian religion, by its establishment, having
established itself so strongly, so gently, whilst so contrary to nature.
2. The sanctity, the dignity, and the humility of a Christian soul.
3. The miracles of Holy Scripture. 4. Jesus Christ in particular. 5.
The apostles in particular. 6. Moses and the prophets in particular.
7. The Jewish people. 8. The prophecies. 9. Perpetuity: no re-
ligion has perpetuity. 10. The doctrine which gives a reason for
everything. u. The sanctity of this law. 12. By the course of the
world.
Surely, after considering what is life and what is religion, we
should not refuse to obey the inclination to follow it, if it comes into
our heart; and it is certain that there is no ground for laughing at
those who follow it.
290
Proofs of religion. Morality, Doctrine, Miracles, Prophecies,
Types.
SECTION V
JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS
291
IN the letter On Injustice can come the ridiculousness of the law
that the elder gets all. "My friend, you were born on this side
of the mountain, it is therefore just that your elder brother
gets everything."
"Why do you kill me?"
292
He lives on the other side of the water.
293
"Why do you kill me? What! do you not live on the other side of
the water ? If you lived on this side, my friend, I should be an assas-
sin, and it would be unjust to slay you in this manner. But since
you live on the other side, I am a hero, and it is just."
294
... On what shall man found the order of the world which he
would govern ? Shall it be on the caprice of each individual ? What
confusion! Shall it be on justice? Man is ignorant of it.
Certainly had he known it, he would not have established this
maxim, the most general of all that obtain among men, that each
should follow the customs of his own country. The glory of true
equity would have brought all nations under subjection, and legis-
lators would not have taken as their model the fancies and caprice
of Persians and Germans instead of this unchanging justice. We
should have seen it set up in all the States on earth and in all times;
whereas we see neither justice nor injustice which does not change
103
IO4 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
its nature with change in climate. Three degrees of latitude reverse
all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth. Fundamental laws
change after a few years of possession; right has its epochs; the entry
of Saturn into the lion marks to us the origin of such and such a
crime. A strange justice that is bounded by a river! Truth on this
side of the Pyrenees, error on the other side.
Men admit that justice does not consist in these customs, but that
it resides in natural laws, common to every country. They would
certainly maintain it obstinately, if reckless chance which has dis-
tributed human laws had encountered even one which was universal;
but the farce is that the caprice of men has so many vagaries that
there is no such law.
Theft, incest, infanticide, patricide, have all had a place among
virtuous actions. Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man
should have the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of
the water, and because his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I
have none with him ?
Doubtless there are natural laws; but good reason once corrupted
has corrupted all. Nihil amplius nostrum est; quod nostrum dicimus,
artis est. 1 Ex senatus consultis et pleblscitis crimina exercentur? . Ut
olim vitiis, sic nunc le gibus labor amus?
The result of this confusion is that one affirms the essence of
justice to be the authority of the legislator; another, the interest of the
sovereign; another, present custom, and this is the most sure. Noth-
ing, according to reason alone, is just in itself; all changes with time.
Custom creates the whole of equity, for the simple reason that it is
accepted. It is the mystical foundation of its authority; whoever
carries it back to first principles destroys it. Nothing is so faulty
as those laws which correct faults. He who obeys them because
they are just, obeys a justice which is imaginary, and not the essence
of law; it is quite self-contained, it is law and nothing more. He
who will examine its motive will find it so feeble and so trifling that
if he be not accustomed to contemplate the wonders of human imagi-
nation, he will marvel that one century has gained for it so much
pomp and reverence. The art of opposition and of revolution is to
1 "We can claim nothing more; what we call ours is art's."
2 "Decrees of the senate and of the people are responsible for crimes."
3 "As once we suffered from vices, so now from laws."
JUSTICE 105
unsettle established customs, sounding them even to their source, to
point out their want of authority and justice. We must, it is said,
get back to the natural and fundamental laws of the State, which an
unjust custom has abolished. It is a game certain to result in the loss
of all; nothing will be just on the balance. Yet people readily lend
their ear to such arguments. They shake of? the yoke as soon as they
recognise it; and the great profit by their ruin, and by that of these
curious investigators of accepted customs. But from a contrary mis-
take men sometimes think they can justly do everything which is
not without an example. That is why the wisest of legislators said
that it was often necessary to deceive men for their own good; and
another, a good politician, Cum veritatem qua liberetur ignoret,
expedit quod fallatur. 4 We must not see the fact of usurpation; law
was once introduced without reason, and has become reasonable.
We must make it regarded as authoritative, eternal, and conceal its
origin, if we do not wish that it should soon come to an end.
295
Mine, thine. "This dog is mine," said those poor children; "that
is my place in the sun." Here is the beginning and the image of
the usurpation of all the earth.
296
When the question for consideration is whether we ought to
make war, and kill so many men condemn so many Spaniards to
death only one man is judge, and he is an interested party. There
should be a third, who is disinterested.
297
Veri juris. 5 We have it no more; if we had it, we should take
conformity to the customs of a country as the rule of justice. It is
here that, not finding justice, we have found force, &c.
4 "When a man does not understand the truth by which he might be freed, it is
expedient that he should be deceived." St. Augustine.
5 "Of the true law."
106 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
298
Justice, Might. It is right that what is just should be obeyed; it
is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed. Justice without
might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical. Justice without
might is gainsaid, because there are always offenders; might without
justice is condemned. We must then combine justice and might, and
for this end make what is just strong, or what is strong just.
Justice is subject to dispute; might is easily recognized and is not
disputed. So we cannot give might to justice, because might has
gainsaid justice, and has declared that it is she herself who is just.
And thus being unable to make what is just strong, we have made
what is strong just.
299
The only universal rules are the laws of the country in ordinary
affairs, and of the majority in others. Whence comes this? From the
might which is in them. Hence it comes that kings, who have power
of a different kind, do not follow the majority of their ministers.
No doubt equality of goods is just; but, being unable to cause
might to obey justice, men have made it just to obey might. Unable
to strengthen justice, they have justified might; so that the just and
the strong should unite, and there should be peace, which is the
sovereign good.
300
"When a strong man armed keepeth his goods, his goods are in
peace."
301
Why do we follow the majority? Is it because they have more
reason? No, because they have more power.
Why do we follow ancient laws and opinions? Is it because they
are more sound ? No, but because they are unique, and remove from
us the root of difference.
JUSTICE 107
302
... It is the effect of might, not of custom. For those who are
capable of originality are few; the greater number will only follow,
and refuse glory to those inventors who seek it by their inventions.
And if these are obstinate in their wish to obtain glory, and despise
those who do not invent, the latter will call them ridiculous names,
and would beat them with a stick. Let no one then boast of his
subtility, or let him keep his complacency to himself.
303
Might is the sovereign of the world, and not opinion. But opinion
makes use of might. It is might that makes opinion. Gentleness is
beautiful in our opinion. Why? Because he who will dance on a
rope will be alone, and I will gather a stronger mob of people who
will say that it is unbecoming.
304
The cords which bind the respect of men to each other are in
general cords of necessity; for there must be different degrees, all
men wishing to rule, and not all being able to do so, but some being
able.
Let us then imagine we see society in the process of formation.
Men will doubtless fight till the stronger party overcomes the weaker,
and a dominant party is established. But when this is once deter-
mined, the masters, who do not desire the continuation of strife, then
decree that the power which is in their hands shall be transmitted as
they please. Some place it in election by the people, others in heredi-
tary succession, &c.
And this is the point where imagination begins to play its part.
Till now power makes fact; now power is sustained by imagination
in a certain party, in France in the nobility, in Switzerland in the
burgesses, &c.
These cords which bind the respect of men to such and such an
individual are therefore the cords of imagination.
io8 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
305
The Swiss are offended by being called gentlemen, and prove
themselves true plebeians in order to be thought worthy of great
office.
306
As duchies, kingships, and magistracies are real and necessary,
because might rules all, they exist everywhere and always. But
since only caprice makes such and such a one a ruler, the principle is
not constant, but subject to variation, &c.
37
The chancellor is grave, and clothed with ornaments, for his posi-
tion is unreal. Not so the king, he has power, and has nothing to do
with the imagination. Judges, physicians, &c., appeal only to the
imagination.
308
The habit of seeing kings accompanied by guards, drums, officers,
and all the paraphernalia which mechanically inspire respect and
awe, makes their countenance, when sometimes seen alone without
these accompaniments, impress respect and awe on their subjects;
because we cannot separate in thought their persons from the sur-
roundings with which we see them usually joined. And the world,
which knows not that this effect is the result of habit, believes that
it arises by a natural force, whence come these words, "The char-
acter of Divinity is stamped on his countenance," &c.
309
Justice. As custom determines what is agreeable, so also does it
determine justice.
310
King and tyrant. I, too, will keep my thoughts secret.
I will take care on every journey.
Greatness of establishment, respect for establishment.
JUSTICE IO9
The pleasure of the great is the power to make people happy.
The property of riches is to be given liberally.
The property of each thing must be sought. The property of
power is to protect.
When force attacks humbug, when a private soldier takes the
square cap off a first president, and throws it out of the window.
311
The government founded on opinion and imagination reigns for
some time, and this government is pleasant and voluntary; that
founded on might lasts for ever. Thus opinion is the queen of the
world, but might is its tyrant.
Justice is what is established; and thus all our established laws
will necessarily be regarded as just without examination, since
they are established.
3*3
Sound opinions of the people. Civil wars are the greatest of evils.
They are inevitable, if we wish to reward desert; for all will say they
are deserving. The evil we have to fear from a fool who succeeds
by right of birth, is neither so great nor so sure.
3M
God has created all for Himself. He has bestowed upon Himself
the power of pain and pleasure.
You can apply it to God, or to yourself. If to God, the Gospel
is the rule. If to yourself, you will take the place of God. As God is
surrounded by persons full of charity, who ask of Him the blessings
of charity that are in His power, so ... Recognise then and learn
that you are only a king of lust, and take the ways of lust.
no PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
3*5
The Reason of effects. It is wonderful that men would not have
me honour a man clothed in brocade, and followed by seven or
eight lackeys! Why! He will have me thrashed, if I do not salute
him. This custom is a force. It is the same with a horse in fine
trappings in comparison with another! Montaigne is a fool not
to see what difference there is, to wonder at our finding any, and
to ask the reason. "Indeed," says he, "how comes it," &c. . . .
316
Sound opinions of the people. To be spruce is not altogether
foolish, for it proves that a great number of people work for one.
It shows by one's hair, that one has a valet, a perfumer, &c., by one's
band, thread, lace, . . . &c. Now it is not merely superficial nor
merely outward show to have many arms at command. The more
arms one has, the more powerful one is. To be spruce is to show
one's power.
3 1 ?
Deference means, "Put yourself to inconvenience." This is appar-
ently silly, but is quite right. For it is to say, "I would indeed put
myself to inconvenience if you required it, since indeed I do so when
it is of no service to you." Deference further serves to distinguish
the great. Now if deference was displayed by sitting in an arm-chair,
we should show deference to everybody, and so no distinction would
be made; but, being put to inconvenience, we distinguish very well.
318
He has four lackeys.
319
How rightly do we distinguish men by external appearances rather
than by internal qualities! Which of us two shall have precedence?
Who will give place to the other? The least clever. But I am as
JUSTICE III
clever as he. We should have to fight over this. He has four lackeys,
and I have only one. This can be seen; we have only to count. It falls
to me to yield, and I am a fool if I contest the matter. By this means
we are at peace, which is the greatest of boons.
320
The most unreasonable things in the world become most reason-
able, because of the unruliness of men. What is less reasonable than
to choose the eldest son of a queen to rule a State? We do not
choose as captain of a ship the passenger who is of the best family.
This law would be absurd and unjust; but because men are so
themselves, and always will be so, it becomes reasonable and just.
For whom will men choose, as the most virtuous and able? We
at once come to blows, as each claims to be the most virtuous and
able. Let us then attach this quality to something indisputable.
This is the king's eldest son. That is clear, and there is no dispute.
Reason can do no better, for civil war is the greatest of evils.
321
Children are astonished to see their comrades respected.
322
To be of noble birth is a great advantage. In eighteen years it
places a man within the select circle, known and respected, as
another would have merited in fifty years. It is a gain of thirty
years without trouble.
323
What is the Ego?
Suppose a man puts himself at a window to see those who pass by.
If I pass by, can I say that he placed himself there to see me? No;
for he does not think of me in particular. But does he who loves
some one on account of beauty really love that person? No; for
the small-pox, which will kill beauty without killing the person,
will cause him to love her no more.
H2 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
And if one loves me for my judgment, memory, he does not love
me, for I can lose these qualities without losing myself. Where then
is this Ego, if it be neither in the body nor in the soul ? And how love
the body or the soul, except for these qualities which do not constitute
me, since they are perishable? For it is impossible and would be
unjust to love the soul of a person in the abstract, and whatever
qualities might be therein. We never then love a person, but only
qualities.
Let us then jeer no more at those who are honoured on account of
rank and office; for we love a person only on account of borrowed
qualities.
3 2 4
The people have very sound opinions, for example:
1. In having preferred diversion and hunting to poetry. The
half-learned laugh at it, and glory in being above the folly of the
world; but the people are right for a reason which these do not
fathom.
2. In having distinguished men by external marks, as birth or
wealth. The world again exults in showing how unreasonable this
is; but it is very reasonable. Savages laugh at an infant king.
3. In being offended at a blow, or in desiring glory so much. But
it is very desirable on account of the other essential goods which are
joined to it; and a man who has received a blow, without resenting
it, is overwhelmed with taunts and indignities.
4. In working for the uncertain; in sailing on the sea; in walking
over a plank.
3 2 5
Montaigne is wrong. Custom should be followed only because it
is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just. But people follow
it for this sole reason, that they think it just. Otherwise they would
follow it no longer, although it were the custom; for they will only
submit to reason or justice. Custom without this would pass for
tyranny; but the sovereignty of reason and justice is no more tyran-
nical than that of desire. They are principles natural to man.
JUSTICE 113
It would therefore be right to obey laws and customs, because
they are laws; but we should know that there is neither truth nor
justice to introduce into them, that we know nothing of these, and
so must follow what is accepted. By this means we would never
depart from them. But the people cannot accept this doctrine; and,
as they believe that truth can be found, and that it exists in law and
custom, they believe them, and take their antiquity as a proof of
their truth, and not simply of their authority apart from truth.
Thus they obey laws, but they are liable to revolt when these are
proved to be valueless; and this can be shown of all, looked at
from a certain aspect.
326
Injustice. It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are
unjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. There-
fore it is necessary to tell them at the same time that they must obey
them because they are laws, just as they must obey superiors, not
because they are just, but because they are superiors. In this way all
sedition is prevented, if this can be made intelligible, and it be under-
stood what is the proper definition of justice.
327
The world is a good judge of things, for it is in natural ignorance,
which is man's true state. The sciences have two extremes which
meet. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find
themselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great in-
tellects, who, having run through all that men can know, find they
know nothing, and come back again to that same ignorance from
which they set out; but this is a learned ignorance which is conscious
of itself. Those between the two, who have departed from natural
ignorance and not been able to reach the other, have some smattering
of this vain knowledge, and pretend to be wise. These trouble the
world, and are bad judges of everything. The people and the wise
constitute the world; these despise it, and are despised. They judge
badly of everything, and the world judges rightly of them.
114 PASCALS THOUGHTS
3*8
The reason of effects. Continual alternation of pro and con.
We have then shown that man is foolish, by the estimation he
makes of things which are not essential; and all these opinions are
destroyed. We have next shown that all these opinions are very
sound, and that thus, since all these vanities are well founded, the
people are not so foolish as is said. And so we have destroyed the
opinion which destroyed that of the people.
But we must now destroy this last proposition, and show that
it remains always true that the people are foolish, though their
opinions are sound; because they do not perceive the truth where it
is, and, as they place it where it is not, their opinions are always
very false and very unsound.
329
The weakness of man is the reason why so many things are con-
sidered fine, as to be good at playing the lute.
It is only an evil because of our weakness.
330
The power of kings is founded on the reason and on the folly of
the people, and specially on their folly. The greatest and most
important thing in the world has weakness for its foundation, and
this foundation is wonderfully sure; for there is nothing more sure
than this, that the people will be weak. What is based on sound
reason is very ill founded, as the estimate of wisdom.
We can only think of Plato and Aristotle in grand academic robes.
They were honest men, like others, laughing with their friends,
and when they diverted themselves with writing the Laws and the
Politics, they did it as an amusement. That part of their life was the
least philosophic and the least serious; the most philosophic was to
live simply and quietly. If they wrote on politics, it was as if laying
JUSTICE 115
down rules for a lunatic asylum; and if they presented the appearance
of speaking of a great matter, it was because they knew that the mad-
men, to whom they spoke, thought they were kings and emperors.
They entered into their principles in order to make their madness
as little harmful as possible.
332
Tyranny consists in the desire of universal power beyond its scope.
There are different assemblies of the strong, the fair, the sensible,
the pious, in which each man rules at home, not elsewhere. And
sometimes they meet, and the strong and the fair foolishly fight as to
who shall be master, for their mastery is of different kinds. They
do not understand one another, and their fault is the desire to rule
everywhere. Nothing can effect this, not even might, which is of
no use in the kingdom of the wise, and is only mistress of external
actions.
Tyranny. . . . So these expressions are false and tyrannical:
"I am fair, therefore I must be feared. I am strong, therefore I must
be loved. I am . . ."
Tyranny is the wish to have in one way what can only be had in
another. We render different duties to different merits; the duty
of love to the pleasant; the duty of fear to the strong; the duty of
belief to the learned.
We must render these duties; it is unjust to refuse them, and unjust
to ask others. And so it is false and tyrannical to say, "He is not
strong, therefore I will not esteem him; he is not able, therefore I
will not fear him."
333
Have you never seen people who, in order to complain of the
little fuss you make about them, parade before you the example of
great men who esteem them? In answer I reply to them, "Show
me the merit whereby you have charmed these persons, and I also
will esteem you."
334
The reason of effects. Lust and force are the source of all our
actions; lust causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.
n6 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
335
The reason of effects. It is then true to say that all the world is
under a delusion; for, although the opinions of the people are sound,
they are not so as conceived by them, since they think the truth to be
where it is not. Truth is indeed in their opinions, but not at the
point where they imagine it. [Thus] it is true that we must honour
noblemen, but not because noble birth is real superiority, &c.
336
The reason of effects. We must keep our thought secret, and
judge everything by it, while talking like the people.
337
The reason of effects. Degrees. The people honour persons of
high birth. The semi-learned despise them, saying that birth is not
a personal, but a chance superiority. The learned honour them, not
for popular reasons, but for secret reasons. Devout persons, who have
more zeal than knowledge, despise them, in spite of that consid-
eration which makes them honoured by the learned, because they
judge them by a new light which piety gives them. But perfect
Christians honour them by another and higher light. So arise a
succession of opinions for and against, according to the light one has.
338
True Christians nevertheless comply with folly, not because they
respect folly, but the command of God, who for the punishment of
men has made them subject to these follies. Omnis creatura subjecta
est vanitati. Liberabitur? Thus Saint Thomas explains the passage
in Saint James on giving place to the rich, that if they do it not in
the sight of God, they depart from the command of religion.
6 Romans, viii. 20-21.
SECTION VI
THE PHILOSOPHERS
339
I CAN well conceive a man without hands, feet, head (for it is
only experience which teaches us that the head is more neces-
sary than feet). But I cannot conceive man without thought;
he would be a stone or a brute.
340
The arithmetical machine produces effects which approach nearer
to thought than all the actions of animals. But it does nothing
which would enable us to attribute will to it, as to the animals.
34 1
The account of the pike and frog of Liancourt. They do it always,
and never otherwise, nor any other thing showing mind.
342
If an animal did by mind what it does by instinct, and if it spoke
by mind what it speaks by instinct, in hunting, and in warning its
mates that the prey is found or lost; it would indeed also speak
in regard to those things which affect it closer, as example, "Gnaw me
this cord which is wounding me, and which I cannot reach."
343
The beak of the parrot, which it wipes, although it is clean.
344
Instinct and reason, marks of two natures.
117
n8 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
345
Reason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in
disobeying the one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other
we are fools.
34 6
Thought constitutes the greatness of man.
347
Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a
thinking reed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him.
A vapour, a drop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe
were to crush him, man would still be more noble than that which
killed him, because he knows that he dies and the advantage which
the universe has over him; the universe knows nothing of this.
All our dignity consists then in thought. By it we must elevate
ourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us
endeavour then to think well; this is the principle of morality.
348
A thinking reed. It is not from space that I must seek my dig-
nity, but from the government of my thought. I shall have no more
if I possess worlds. By space the universe encompasses and swallows
me up like an atom; by thought I comprehend the world.
349
Immateriality of the souL Philosophers who have mastered their
passions. What matter could do that ?
350
The Stoics. They conclude that what has been done once can
be done always, and that since the desire of glory imparts some
power to those whom it possesses, others can well do likewise. There
are feverish movements which health can not imitate.
THE PHILOSOPHERS 119
Epictetus concludes that since there are consistent Christians,
every man can easily be so.
351
Those great spiritual efforts, which the soul sometimes essays, are
things on which it does not lay hold. It only leaps to them, not as
upon a throne, for ever, but merely for an instant.
352
The strength of a man's virtue must not be measured by his efforts,
but by his ordinary life.
353
I do not admire the excess of a virtue as of valour, except I see
at the same time the excess of the opposite virtue, as in Epaminondas,
who had the greatest valour and the greatest kindness. For otherwise
it is not to rise, it is to fall. We do not display greatness by going to
one extreme, but in touching both at once, and filling all the
intervening space. But perhaps this is only a sudden movement of
the soul from one to the other extreme, and in fact it is ever at one
point only, as in the case of a firebrand. Be it so, but at least this
indicates agility, if not expanse of soul.
354
Man's nature is not always to advance; it has its advances and
retreats.
Fever has its cold and hot fits; and the cold proves as well as
the hot the greatness of the fire of fever.
The discoveries of men from age to age turn out the same. The
kindness and the malice of the world in general are the same.
Plerumque grates principibus vices. 1
355
Continuous eloquence wearies.
Princes and kings sometimes play. They are not always on their
thrones. They weary there. Grandeur must be abandoned to be
1 "Changes are usually pleasing to princes." Horace.
I2O PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
appreciated. Continuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agree-
able, that we may get warm.
Nature acts by progress, itus et reditus. It goes and returns, then
advances further, then twice as much backwards, then more forward
than ever, &c.
The tide of the sea behaves in the same manner; and so apparently
does the sun in its course.
356
The nourishment of the body is little by little. Fulness of nourish-
ment and smallness of substance.
357
When we would pursue virtues to their extremes on either side,
vices present themselves, which insinuate themselves insensibly there,
in their insensible journey towards the infinitely little; and vices pre-
sent themselves in a crowd towards the infinitely great, so that we lose
ourselves in them, and no longer see virtues. We find fault with
perfection itself.
35 8
Man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that
he who would act the angel acts the brute.
359
We do not sustain ourselves in virtue by our own strength, but by
the balancing of two opposed vices, just as we remain upright amidst
two contrary gales. Remove one of the vices, and we fall into the
other.
What the Stoics propose is so difficult and foolish!
The Stoics lay down that all those who are not at the high degree
of wisdom are equally foolish and vicious, as those who are two
inches under water.
THE PHILOSOPHERS 121
3 6l
The Sovereign good. Dispute about the sovereign good. Ut sis
contentus temetipso et ex te nascentibus bonis. 2 There is a contra-
diction, for in the end they advise suicide. Oh! What a happy life,
from which we are to free ourselves as from the plague!
362
Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscitis . . .
To ask like passages.
363
Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscites scelera exercentur. Sen. 588. 3
Nihil tarn absurde did potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo philoso-
phorum? Divin.
Quibusdam destinatis sententiis consecrati quce non probant cogun-
tur defend ere. 5 Cic.
Ut omnium rerum sic litter arum quoque intemperantia labor a-
mus. 6 Senec.
Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime. 7
Hos natura modos primum deditf
Faucis opus est litteris ad bonam mentem?
Si quando turpe non sit, tamen non est non turpe quum id ab
multitudine laudetur. 10
Mi hi sic usus est, tibi ut opus est facto, fac. 11 Ter.
2 "That you may be contented with yourself and the good things that spring
from you." Seneca.
3 "Decrees of the senate and of the people are responsible for crimes."- Seneca.
4 "Nothing can be said so absurd that it may not be said by some philosopher."
Cicero, Divinatione.
5 "Those who are given over to certain preconceived ideas are forced to defend
what they cannot prove." Cicero.
6 "In literature as in all things, we labor in excess." Seneca.
7 "That becomes any one best which is most his own." Cicero.
8 "Nature first gave those customs." Virgil.
9 "For the good mind few books are necessary."
10 "If perchance a thing is not base, it does not escape baseness by being praised
by the crowd."
11 "That is my custom; you must do as necessity bids." Terence.
122 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
364
Rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur* 2
Tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos. n
Nihil turpius quam cognitioni assertionem prcecurrere. u Cic.
Nee me pudet, ut istos, jateri nescire quid nesciam^
Melius non incipiet.
365
Thought. All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought
is therefore by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It
must have strange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that
nothing is more ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile
it is in its defects!
But what is this thought? How foolish it is!
The mind of this sovereign judge of the world is not so indepen-
dent that it is not liable to be disturbed by the first din about it. The
noise of a cannon is not necessary to hinder its thoughts; it needs
only the creaking of a weather cock or a pulley. Do not wonder if at
present it does not reason well; a fly is buzzing in its ears; that is
enough to render it incapable of good judgment. If you wish it to
be able to reach the truth, chase away that animal which holds its
reason in check and disturbs that powerful intellect which rules
towns and kingdoms. Here is a comical god! O ridicolosissimo
eroe! 17
367
The power of flies: they win battles, hinder our soul from acting,
eat our body.
2 "It is a rare thing for any one to fear himself enough."
13 "So many gods brawling around one poor man."
14 "There is nothing more unseemly than to understand before the thing has
been stated."
15 "I am not ashamed, as your friends are, to confess that I do not know what
I do not know."
16 "He will not begin better (than he can finish)." Seneca.
17 "O most ridiculous hero."
THE PHILOSOPHERS 123
368
When it is said that heat is only the motion of certain molecules,
and light the conatus recedendi which we feel, it astonishes us.
What! Is pleasure only the ballet of our spirits ? We have conceived
so different an idea of it! And these sensations seem so removed from
those others which we say are the same as those with which we
compare them! The sensation from the fire, that warmth which
affects us in a manner wholly different from touch, the reception
of sound and light, all this appears to us mysterious, and yet it is
material like the blow of a stone. It is true that the smallness of
the spirits which enter into the pores touches other nerves, but there
are always some nerves touched.
369
Memory is necessary for all the operations of reason.
370
[Chance gives rise to thoughts, and chance removes them; no art
can keep or acquire them.
A thought has escaped me. I wanted to write it down. I write
instead, that it has escaped me.]
[When I was small, I hugged my book; and because it some-
times happened to me to ... in believing I hugged it, I doubted.
...]
372
In writing down my thought, it sometimes escapes me; but this
makes me remember my weakness, that I constantly forget. This
is as instructive to me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to
know my nothingness.
373
Scepticism. I shall here write my thoughts without order, and not
perhaps in unintentional confusion; that is true order, which will
124 PASCALS THOUGHTS
always indicate my object by its very disorder. I should do too much
honour to my subject, if I treated it with order, since I want to
show that it is incapable of it.
374
What astonishes me most is to see that all the world is not aston-
ished at its own weakness. Men act seriously, and each follows his
own mode of life, not because it is in fact good to follow since it is
the custom, but as if each man knew certainly where reason and
justice are. They find themselves continually deceived, and by a
comical humility think it is their own fault, and not that of the art
which they claim always to possess. But it is well there are so many
such people in the world, who are not sceptics for the glory of
scepticism, in order to show that man is quite capable of the most
extravagant opinions, since he is capable of believing that he is
not in a state of natural and inevitable weakness, but, on the contrary,
of natural wisdom.
Nothing fortifies scepticism more than that there are some who
are not sceptics; if all were so, they would be wrong.
375
[I have passed a great part of my life believing that there was
justice, and in this I was not mistaken; for there is justice according
as God has willed to reveal it to us. But I did not take it so, and this
is where I made a mistake; for I believe that our justice was essen-
tially just, and that I had that whereby to know and judge of it.
But I have so often found my right judgment at fault, that at last I
have come to distrust myself, and then others. I have seen changes
in all nations and men, and thus after many changes of judgment
regarding true justice, I have recognised that our nature was but
in continual change, and I have not changed since; and if I changed,
I would confirm my opinion.
The sceptic Arcesilaus, who became a dogmatist.]
THE PHILOSOPHERS 125
376
This sect derives more strength from its enemies than from its
friends; for the weakness of man is far more evident in those who
know it not than in those who know it.
377
Discourses on humility are a source of pride in the vain, and of
humility in the humble. So those on scepticism cause believers to
affirm. Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, few
doubtingly of scepticism. We are only falsehood, duplicity, contra-
diction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.
378
Scepticism. Excess, like defect of intellect, is accused of mad-
ness. Nothing is good but mediocrity. The majority has settled that,
and finds fault with him who escapes it at whichever end. I will
not oppose it. I quite consent to put myself there, and refuse to be
at the lower end, not because it is low, but because it is an end; for
I would likewise refuse to be placed at the top. To leave the mean
is to abandon humanity. The greatness of the human soul consists
in knowing how to preserve the mean. So far from greatness con-
sisting in leaving it, it consists in not leaving it.
379
It is not good to have too much liberty. It is not good to have
all one wants.
All good maxims are in the world. We only need to apply them.
For instance, we do not doubt that we ought to risk our lives in
defence of the public good; but for religion, no.
It is true there must be inequality among men; but if this be con-
ceded, the door is opened not only to the highest power, but to the
highest tyranny.
126 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
We must relax our minds a little; but this opens the door to the
greatest debauchery. Let us mark the limits. There are no limits
in things. Laws would put them there, and the mind cannot suffer it.
381
When we are too young, we do not judge well; so, also, when we
are too old. If we do not think enough, or if we think too much on
any matter, we get obstinate and infatuated about it. If one considers
one's work immediately after having done it, one is entirely pre-
possessed in its favour; by delaying too long, one can no longer
enter into the spirit of it. So with pictures seen from too far or too
near; there is but one exact point which is the true place where-
f rom to look at them : the rest are too near, too far, too high, or too
low. Perspective determines that point in the art of painting. But
who shall determine it in truth and morality?
382
When all is equally agitated, nothing appears to be agitated, as
in a ship. When all tend to debauchery, none appears to do so. He
who stops draws attention to the excess of others, like a fixed point.
383
The licentious tell men of orderly lives that they stray from
nature's path, while they themselves follow it; as people in a ship
think those move who are on the shore. On all sides the language is
similar. We must have a fixed point in order to judge. The harbour
decides for those who are in a ship; but where shall we find a har-
bour in morality?
384
Contradiction is a bad sign of truth; several things which are
certain are contradicted; several things which are false pass without
contradiction. Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the want
of contradiction a sign of truth.
THE PHILOSOPHERS 127
385
Scepticism. Each thing here is partly true and partly false. Essen-
tial truth is not so; it is altogether pure and altogether true. This
mixture dishonours and annihilates it. Nothing is purely true, and
thus nothing is true, meaning by that pure truth. You will say it is
true that homicide is wrong. Yes; for we know well the wrong and
the false. But what will you say is good? Chastity? I say no; for
the world would come to an end. Marriage? No; continence is bet-
ter. Not to kill? No; for lawlessness would be horrible, and the
wicked would kill all the good. To kill? No; for that destroys
nature. We possess truth and goodness only in part, and mingled
with falsehood and evil.
If we dreamt the same thing every night, it would affect us as much
as the objects we see every day. And if an artisan were sure to dream
every night for twelve hours' duration that he was a king, I believe
he would be almost as happy as a king, who should dream every
night for twelve hours on end that he was an artisan.
If we were to dream every night that we were pursued by enemies,
and harassed by these painful phantoms, or that we passed every day
in different occupations, as in making a voyage, we should suffer
almost as much as if it were real, and should fear to sleep, as we
fear to wake when we dread in fact to enter on such mishaps. And,
indeed, it would cause pretty nearly the same discomforts as the
reality.
But since dreams are all different, and each single one is diversi-
fied, what is seen in them affects us much less than what we see
when awake, because of its continuity, which is not, however, so
continuous and level as not to change too; but it changes less abruptly,
except rarely, as when we travel, and then we say, "It seems to me I
am dreaming." For life is a dream a little less inconstant.
128 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
387
[It may be that there are true demonstrations; but this is not
certain. Thus, this proves nothing else but that it is not certain that
all is uncertain, to the glory of scepticism.]
Good sense. They are compelled to say, "You are not acting in
good faith; we are not asleep," &c. How I love to see this proud
reason humiliated and suppliant! For this is not the language of a
man whose right is disputed, and who defends it with the power of
armed hands. He is not foolish enough to declare that men are
not acting in good faith, but he punishes this bad faith with force.
389
Ecclesiastes shows that man without God is in total ignorance and
inevitable misery. For it is wretched to have the wish, but not the
power. Now he would be happy and assured of some truth, and yet
he can neither know, nor desire not to know. He cannot even doubt.
390
My God! How foolish this talk is! "Would God have made
the world to damn it? Would He ask so much from persons so
weak?" &c. Scepticism is the cure for this evil and will take down
this vanity.
39i
Conversation. Great words to religion. I deny it.
Conversation. Scepticism helps religion.
392
Against Scepticism. [ ... It is, then, a strange fact that we can-
not define these things without obscuring them, while we speak of
them with all assurance.] We assume that all conceive of them in the
same way; but we assume it quite gratuitously, for we have no proof
THE PHILOSOPHERS 129
of it. I see, in truth, that the same words are applied on the same
occasions, and that every time two men see a body change its place,
they both express their view of this same fact by the same word, both
saying that it has moved; and from this conformity of application we
derive a strong conviction of a conformity of ideas. But this is not
absolutely or finally convincing, though there is enough to support a
bet on the affirmative, since we know that we often draw the same
conclusions from different premises.
This is enough, at least, to obscure the matter; not that it com-
pletely extinguishes the natural light which assures us of these
things. The academicians would have won. But this dulls it, and
troubles the dogmatists to the glory of the sceptical crowd, which
consists in this doubtful ambiguity, and in a certain doubtful dim-
ness, from which our doubts cannot take away all the clearness, nor
our own natural lights chase away all the darkness.
393
It is a singular thing to consider that there are people in the world,
who, having renounced all the laws of God and nature, have made
laws for themselves which they strictly obey, as, for instance, the
soldiers of Mahomet, robbers, heretics, &c. It is the same with logi-
cians. It seems that their licence must be without any limits or bar-
riers, since they have broken through so many that are so just and
sacred.
394
All the principles of sceptics, stoics, atheists, &c., are true. But their
conclusions are false, because the opposite principles are also true.
395
Instinct, reason. We have an incapacity of proof, insurmountable
by all dogmatism. We have an idea of truth, invincible to all
scepticism.
396
Two things instruct man about his whole nature; instinct and
experience.
130 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
397
The greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be
miserable. A tree does not know itself to be miserable. It is then
being miserable to know oneself to be miserable; but it is also being
great to know that one is miserable.
398
All these same miseries prove man's greatness. They are the
miseries of a great lord, of a deposed king.
399
We are not miserable without feeling it. A ruined house is not
miserable. Man only is miserable. Ego vir videns. 18
400
The greatness of man. We have so great an idea of the soul of
man that we cannot endure being despised, of not being esteemed by
any soul; and all the happiness of men consists in this esteem.
401
Glory. The brutes do not admire each other. A horse does not
admire his companion. Not that there is no rivalry between them in
a race, but that is of no consequence; for, when in the stable, the
heaviest and most ill-formed does not give up his oats to another as
men would have others do to them. Their virtue is satisfied with
itself.
402
The greatness of man even in his lust, to have known how to ex-
tract from it a wonderful code, and to have drawn from it a picture
of benevolence.
18 "I am the man (that hath seen affliction)." Lamentations, iii. i.
THE PHILOSOPHERS
403
Greatness. The reasons of effects indicate the greatness of man,
in having extracted so fair an order from lust.
404
The greatest baseness of man is the pursuit of glory. But it is
also the greatest mark of his excellence; for whatever possessions
he may have on earth, whatever health and essential comfort, he
is not satisfied if he has not the esteem of men. He values human
reason so highly that, whatever advantages he may have on earth,
he is not content if he is not also ranked highly in the judgment of
man. This is the finest position in the world. Nothing can turn him
from that desire, which is the most indelible quality of man's heart.
And those who most despise men, and put them on a level with
the brutes, yet wish to be admired and believed by men, and con-
tradict themselves by their own feelings; their nature, which is
stronger than all, convincing them of the greatness of man more
forcibly than reason convinces them of their baseness.
405
Contradiction. Pride counterbalancing all miseries. Man either
hides his miseries, or, if he disclose them, glories in knowing them.
406
Pride counterbalances and takes away all miseries. Here is a
strange monster, and a very plain aberration. He is fallen from his
place, and is anxiously seeking it. This is what all men do. Let
us see who will have found it.
407
When malice has reason on its side, it becomes proud, and parades
reason in all its splendour. When austerity or stern choice has not
arrived at the true good, and must needs return to follow nature,
it becomes proud by reason of this return.
132 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
408
Evil is easy, and has infinite forms; good is almost unique. But a
certain kind of evil is as difficult to find as what we call good; and
often on this account such particular evil gets passed off as good.
An extraordinary greatness of soul is needed in order to attain to
it as well as to good.
409
The greatness of man. The greatness of man is so evident, that it
is even proved by his wretchedness. For what in animals is nature
we call in man wretchedness; by which we recognise that, his nature
being now like that of animals, he has fallen from a better nature
which once was his.
For who is unhappy at not being a king, except a deposed king?
Was Paulus Emilius unhappy at being no longer consul? On the
contrary, everybody thought him happy in having been consul,
because the office could only be held for a time. But men thought
Perseus so unhappy in being no longer king, because the condition
of kingship implied his being always king, that they thought it
strange that he endured life. Who is unhappy at having only one
mouth? And who is not unhappy at having only one eye? Prob-
ably no man ever ventured to mourn at not having three eyes. But
any one is inconsolable at having none.
410
Perseus, King of Macedon. Paulus Emilius reproached Perseus
for not killing himself.
411
Notwithstanding the sight of all our miseries, which press upon
us and take us by the throat, we have an instinct which we cannot
repress, and which lifts us up.
THE PHILOSOPHERS 133
4 I2
There is internal war in man between reason and the passions.
If he had only reason without passions . . .
If he had only passions without reason . . .
But having both, he cannot be without strife, being unable to be
at peace with the one without being at war with the other. Thus he
is always divided against, and opposed to himself.
This internal war of reason against the passions has made a division
of those who would have peace into two sects. The first would
renounce their passions, and become gods; the others would re-
nounce reason, and become brute beasts. (Des Barreaux.) But
neither can do so, and reason still remains, to condemn the vileness
and unjustice of the passions, and to trouble the repose of those who
abandon themselves to them; and the passions keep always alive in
those who would renounce them.
414
Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount
to another form of madness.
The nature of man may be viewed in two ways: the one according
to its end, and then he is great and incomparable; the other accord-
ing to the multitude, just as we judge of the nature of the horse and
the dog, popularly, by seeing its fleetness, et animum arcendi; 19 and
then man is abject and vile. These are the two ways which make
us judge of him differently, and which occasion such disputes among
philosophers.
For one denies the assumption of the other. One says, "He is
not born for this end, for all his actions are repugnant to it." The
other says, "He forsakes his end, when he does these base actions."
19 "And instinct of guarding."
134 PASCALS THOUGHTS
416
For Port Royal. Greatness and wretchedness. Wretchedness
being deduced from greatness, and greatness from wretchedness,
some have inferred man's wretchedness all the more because they
have taken his greatness as a proof of it, and others have inferred his
greatness with all the more force, because they have inferred it from
his very wretchedness. All that the one party has been able to say in
proof of his greatness has only served as an argument of his wretched-
ness to the others, because the greater our fall, the more wretched
we are, and vice versa. The one party is brought back to the other in
an endless circle, it being certain that in proportion as men possess
light they discover both the greatness and the wretchedness of man.
In a word, man knows that he is wretched. He is therefore wretched,
because he is so; but he is really great because he knows it.
4 1 ?
This twofold nature of man is so evident that some have thought
that we had two souls. A single subject seemed to them incapable of
such sudden variations from unmeasured presumption to a dreadful
dejection of heart.
418
It is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the
brutes without showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to
make him see his greatness too clearly, apart from his vileness. It
is still more dangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is
very advantageous to show him both. Man must not think that he
is on a level either with the brutes or with the angels, nor must he be
ignorant of both sides of his nature; but he must know both.
419
I will not allow man to depend upon himself, or upon another,
to the end that being without a resting place and without repose . . .
THE PHILOSOPHERS 135
420
If he exalt himself, I humble him; if he humble himself, I exalt
him; and I always contradict him, till he understands that he is an
incomprehensible monster.
421
I blame equally those who choose to praise man, those who choose
to blame him, and those who choose to amuse themselves; and I can
only approve of those who seek with lamentation.
422
It is good to be tired and wearied by the vain search after the
true good, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.
423
Contraries. After having shown the vileness and the greatness of
man. Let man now know his value. Let him love himself, for there
is in him a nature capable of good; but let him not for this reason
love the vileness which is in him. Let him despise himself, for this
capacity is barren; but let him not therefore despise this natural ca-
pacity. Let him hate himself, let him love himself; he has within
him the capacity of knowing the truth and of being happy, but he
possesses no truth, either constant or satisfactory.
I would then lead man to the desire of finding truth; to be free
from passions, and ready to follow it where he may find it, knowing
how much his knowledge is obscured by the passions. I would in-
deed that he should hate in himself the lust which determines his
will by itself, so that it may not blind him in making his choice, and
may not hinder him when he has chosen.
424
All these contradictions, which seem most to keep me from the
knowledge of religion, have led me most quickly to the true one.
SECTION VII
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE
4 2 5
f^jECOND part. That man without faith cannot \now the
\ true good, nor justice.
*J All men seek happiness. This is without exception. What-
ever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause
of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in
both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least
step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every
man, even of those who hang themselves.
And yet after such a great number of years, no one without faith
has reached the point to which all continually look. All complain,
princes and subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young,
strong and weak, learned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all coun-
tries, all times, all ages, and all conditions.
A trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly
convince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts.
But example teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that
there is not some slight difference; and hence we expect that our hope
will not be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the
present never satisfies us, experience dupes us, and from misfortune to
misfortune leads us to death, their eternal crown.
What is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us,
but that there was once in man a true happiness of which there now
remain to him only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries
to fill from all his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help
he does not obtain in things present ? But these are all inadequate, be-
cause the infinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immuta-
ble object, that is to say, only by God Himself.
He only is our true good, and since we have forsaken Him, it is a
136
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 137
strange thing that there is nothing in nature which has not been
serviceable in taking His place; the stars, the heavens, earth, the
elements, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents,
fever, pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since
man has lost the true good, everything can appear equally good
to him, even his own destruction, though so opposed to God, to rea-
son, and to the whole course of nature.
Some seek good in authority, others in scientific research, others
in pleasure. Others, who are in fact nearer the truth, have considered
it necessary that the universal good, which all men desire, should
not consist in any of the particular things which can only be pos-
sessed by one man, and which, when shared, afflict their possessor
more by the want of the part he has not, than they please him by
the possession of what he has. They have learned that the true
good should be such as all can possess at once, without diminution
and without envy, and which no one can lose against his will. And
their reason is that this desire being natural to man, since it is
necessarily in all, and that it is impossible not to have it, they infer
from it ...
426
True nature being lost, everything becomes its own nature; as
the true good being lost, everything becomes its own true good.
4 2 7
Man does not know in what rank to place himself. He has plainly
gone astray, and fallen from his true place without being able to
find it again. He seeks it anxiously and unsuccessfully everywhere
in impenetrable darkness.
428
If it is a sign of weakness to prove God by nature, do not despise
Scripture; if it is a sign of strength to have known these contra-
dictions, esteem Scripture.
429
The vileness of man in submitting himself to the brutes, and in
even worshipping them.
138 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
430
For Port Royal. The beginning, after having explained the incom-
prehensibility. The greatness and the wretchedness of man are so
evident that the true religion must necessarily teach us both that
there is in man some great source of greatness, and a great source
of wretchedness. It must then give us a reason for these astonishing
contradictions.
In order to make man happy, it must prove to him that there is
a God; that we ought to love Him; that our true happiness is to be
in Him, and our sole evil to be separated from Him; it must recog-
nise that we are full of darkness which hinders us from knowing
and loving Him; and that thus, as our duties compel us to love God,
and our lusts turn us away from Him, we are full of unrighteousness.
It must give us an explanation of our opposition to God and to our
own good. It must teach us the remedies for these infirmities, and
the means of obtaining these remedies. Let us therefore examine all
the religions of the world, and see if there be any other than the
Christian which is sufficient for this purpose.
Shall it be that of the philosophers, who put forward as the chief
good, the good which is in ourselves? Is this the true good? Have
they found the remedy for our ills ? Is man's pride cured by placing
him on an equality with God ? Have those who have made us equal
to the brutes, or the Mahomedans who have offered us earthly pleas-
ures as the chief good even in eternity, produced the remedy for our
lusts? What religion then will teach us to cure pride and lust? What
religion will in fact teach us our good, our duties, the weakness which
turns us from them, the cause of this weakness, the remedies which
can cure it, and the means of obtaining these remedies ?
All other religions have not been able to do so. Let us see what
the wisdom of God will do.
"Expect neither truth," she says, "nor consolation from men. I am
she who formed you, and who alone can teach you what you are.
But you are now no longer in the state in which I formed you. I
created man holy, innocent, perfect. I filled him with light and in-
telligence. I communicated to him my glory and my wonders. The
eye of man saw then the majesty of God. He was not then in the
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 139
darkness which blinds him, nor subject to mortality and the woes
which afflict him. But he has not been able to sustain so great glory
without falling into pride. He wanted to make himself his own
centre, and independent of my help. He withdrew himself from my
rule; and, on his making himself equal to me by the desire of finding
his happiness in himself, I abandoned him to himself. And setting
in revolt the creatures that were subject to him, I made them his
enemies; so that man is now become like the brutes, and so estranged
from me that there scarce remains to him a dim vision of his Author.
So far has all his knowledge been extinguished or disturbed! The
senses, independent of reason, and often the masters of reason, have
led him into pursuit of pleasure. All creatures either torment or
tempt him, and domineer over him, either subduing him by their
strength, or fascinating him by their charms, a tyranny more awful
and more imperious.
"Such is the state in which men now are. There remains to them
some feeble instinct of the happiness of their former state; and they
are plunged in the evils of their blindness and their lust, which have
become their second nature.
"From this principle which I disclose to you, you can recognize
the cause of those contradictions which have astonished all men, and
have divided them into parties holding so different views. Observe
now all the feelings of greatness and glory which the experience of
so many woes cannot stifle, and see if the cause of them must not be
in another nature."
For Port Royal to-morrow (Prosopop&a) . "It is in vain, O men,
that you seek within yourselves the remedy for your ills. All your
light can only reach the knowledge that not in yourselves will you
find truth or good. The philosophers have promised you that, and
have been unable to do it. They neither know what is your true
good, nor what is your true state. How could they have given
remedies for your ills, when they did not even know them? Your
chief maladies are pride, which takes you away from God, and lust,
which binds you to earth; and they have done nothing else but
cherish one or other of these diseases. If they gave you God as an
end, it was only to administer to your pride; they made you think
that you are by nature like Him, and conformed to Him. And those
140 PASCALS THOUGHTS
who saw the absurdity of this claim put you on another precipice,
by making you understand that your nature was like that of the
brutes, and led you to seek your good in the lusts which are shared
by the animals. This is not the way to cure you of your unright-
eousness, which these wise men never knew. I alone can make you
understand who you are. . . ."
Adam, Jesus Christ.
If you are united to God, it is by grace, not by nature. If you are
humbled, it is by penitence, not by nature.
Thus this double capacity. . . .
You are not in the state of your creation.
As these two states are open, it is impossible for you not to recog-
nise them. Follow your own feelings, observe yourselves, and see if
you do not find the lively characteristics of these two natures. Could
so many contradictions be found in a simple subject?
Incomprehensible. Not all that is incomprehensible ceases to
exist. Infinite number. An infinite space equal to a finite.
Incredible that God should unite Himself to us. This consid-
eration is drawn only from the sight of our vileness. But if you are
quite sincere over it, follow it as far as I have done, and recognise
that we are indeed so vile that we are incapable in ourselves of
knowing if His mercy cannot make us capable of Him. For I would
know how this animal, who knows himself to be so weak, has the
right to measure the mercy of God, and set limits to it, suggested by
his own fancy. He has so little knowledge of what God is, that he
does not know what he himself is, and, completely disturbed at the
sight of his own state, dares to say that God cannot make him ca-
pable of communion with Him.
But I would ask him if God demands anything else from him than
the knowledge and love of Him, and why, since his nature is capable
of love and knowledge, he believes that God cannot make Himself
known and loved by him. Doubtless he knows at least that he exists,
and that he loves something. Therefore, if he sees anything in the
darkness wherein he is, and if he finds some object of his love among
the things on earth, why, if God impart to him some ray of His
essence, will he not be capable of knowing and of loving Him in
the manner in which it shall please Him to communicate Himself
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE
to us? There must then be certainly an intolerable presumption in
this sort of arguments, although they seem founded on an apparent
humility, which is neither sincere nor reasonable, if it does not make
us admit that, not knowing of ourselves what we are, we can only
learn it from God.
"I do not mean that you should submit your belief to me without
reason, and I do not aspire to overcome you by tyranny. In fact I
do not claim to give you a reason for everything. And to reconcile
these contradictions, I intend to make you see clearly, by convincing
proofs, those divine signs in me, which may convince you of what I
am, and may gain authority for me by wonders and proofs which
you cannot reject; so that you may then believe without . . . the
things which I teach you, since you will find no other ground for
rejecting them, except that you cannot know of yourselves if they
are true or not.
"God has willed to redeem men, and to open salvation to those
who seek it. But men render themselves so unworthy of it, that it is
right that God should refuse to some, because of their obduracy,
what He grants to others from a compassion which is not due to
them. If He had willed to overcome the obstinacy of the most
hardened, He could have done so by revealing Himself so manifestly
to them that they could not have doubted of the truth of His essence;
as it will appear at the last day, with such thunders and such a con-
vulsion of nature, that the dead will rise again, and the blindest will
see Him.
"It is not in this manner that He has willed to appear in His ad-
vent of mercy, because, as so many make themselves unworthy of
His mercy, He has willed to leave them in the loss of the good which
they do not want. It was not then right that He should appear in
a manner manifestly divine, and completely capable of convincing
all men; but it was also not right that He should come in so hidden
a manner that He could not be known by those who should sin-
cerely seek Him. He has willed to make Himself quite recognisable
by those; and thus, willing to appear openly to those who seek Him
with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from Him
with all their heart, He so regulates the knowledge of Himself that
He has given signs of Himself, visible to those who seek Him, and
142 PASCALS THOUGHTS
not to those who seek Him not. There is enough light for those who
only desire to see, and enough obscurity for those who have a con-
trary disposition."
43i
No other religion has recognised that man is the most excellent
creature. Some, which have quite recognised the reality of his ex-
cellence, have considered as mean and ungrateful the low opinions
which men naturally have of themselves; and others, which have
thoroughly recognised how real is this vileness, have treated with
proud ridicule those feelings of greatness, which are equally natural
to man.
"Lift your eyes to God," say the first; "see Him whom you re-
semble, and who has created you to worship Him. You can make
yourselves like unto Him; wisdom will make you equal to Him,
if you will follow it." "Raise your heads, free men," says Epictetus.
And others say, "Bend your eyes to the earth, wretched worm that
you are, and consider the brutes whose companion you are."
What then will man become? Will he be equal to God or the
brutes? What a frightful difference! What then shall we be ? Who
does not see from all this that man has gone astray, that he has fallen
from his place, that he anxiously seeks it, that he cannot find it
again ? And who shall then direct him to it ? The greatest men have
failed.
432
Scepticism is true; for, after all, men before Jesus Christ did not
know where they were, nor whether they were great or small. And
those who have said the one or the other, knew nothing about it,
and guessed without reason and by chance. They also erred always
in excluding the one or the other.
Quod ergo ignorantes quceritis, religio annuntiat vobis. 1
433
After having understood the whole nature of man. That a re-
ligion may be true, it must have knowledge of our nature. It ought
1 "What therefore ye ignorantly seek, religion proclaims to you." Cf. Acts, xvii. 23.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 143
to know its greatness and littleness, and the reason of both. What
religion but the Christian has known this?
434
The chief arguments of the sceptics I pass over the lesser ones
are that we have no certainty of the truth of these principles apart
from faith and revelation, except in so far as we naturally perceive
them in ourselves. Now this natural intuition is not a convincing
proof of their truth; since, having no certainty, apart from faith,
whether man was created by a good God, or by a wicked demon, or
by chance, it is doubtful whether these principles given to us are true,
or false, or uncertain, according to our origin. Again, no person is
certain, apart from faith, whether he is awake or sleeps, seeing that
during sleep we believe as firmly as we do that we are awake; we
believe that we see space, figure, and motion; we are aware of the
passage of time, we measure it; and in fact we act as if we were
awake. So that half of our life being passed in sleep, we have on
our own admission no idea of truth, whatever we may imagine. As
all our intuitions are then illusions, who knows whether the other
half of our life, in which we think we are awake, is not another
sleep a little different from the former, from which we awake when
we suppose ourselves asleep ?
[And who doubts that, if we dreamt in company, and the dreams
chanced to agree, which is common enough, and if we were always
alone when awake, we should believe that matters were reversed?
In short, as we often dream that we dream, heaping dream upon
dream, may it not be that this half of our life, wherein we think our-
selves awake, is itself only a dream on which the others are grafted,
from which we wake at death, during which we have as few prin-
ciples of truth and good as during natural sleep, these different
thoughts which disturb us being perhaps only illusions like the flight
of time and the vain fancies of our dreams?]
These are the chief arguments on one side and the other.
I omit minor ones, such as the sceptical talk against the impressions
of custom, education, manners, country, and the like. Though these
influence the majority of common folk, who dogmatise only on
144 PASCALS THOUGHTS
shallow foundations, they are upset by the least breath of the scep-
tics. We have only to see their books if we are not sufficiently
convinced of this, and we shall very quickly become so, perhaps too
much.
I notice the only strong point of the dogmatists, namely, that,
speaking in good faith and sincerely, we cannot doubt natural prin-
ciples. Against this the sceptics set up in one word the uncertainty of
our origin, which includes that of our nature. The dogmatists have
been trying to answer this objection ever since the world began.
So there is open war among men, in which each must take a part,
and side either with dogmatism or scepticism. For he who thinks to
remain neutral is above all a sceptic. This neutrality is the essence of
the sect; he who is not against them is essentially for them. [In this
appears their advantage.] They are not for themselves; they are
neutral, indifferent, in suspense as to all things, even themselves
being no exception.
What then shall man do in this state ? Shall he doubt everything ?
Shall he doubt whether he is awake, whether he is being pinched,
or whether he is being burned ? Shall he doubt whether he doubts ?
Shall he doubt whether he exists? We cannot go so far as that; and
I lay it down as a fact there never has been a real complete sceptic.
Nature sustains our feeble reason, and prevents it raving to this
extent.
Shall he then say, on the contrary, that he certainly possesses truth
he who, when pressed ever so little, can show no title to it, and is
forced to let go his hold ?
What a chimera then is man! What a novelty! What a monster,
what a chaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all
things, imbecile worm of the earth; depositary of truth, a sink of
uncertainty and error; the pride and refuse of the universe!
Who will unravel this tangle? Nature confutes the sceptics, and
reason confutes the dogmatists. What then will you become, O men!
who try to find out by your natural reason what is your true condi-
tion? You cannot avoid one of these sects, nor adhere to one of
them.
Know then, proud man, what a paradox you are to yourself.
Humble yourself, weak reason; be silent, foolish nature; learn that
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 145
man infinitely transcends man, and learn from your Master your true
condition, of which you are ignorant. Hear God.
For in fact, if man had never been corrupt, he would enjoy in his
innocence both truth and happiness with assurance; and if man had
always been corrupt, he would have no idea of truth or bliss. But,
wretched as we are, and more so than if there were no greatness in
our condition, we have an idea of happiness, and cannot reach it.
We perceive an image of truth, and possess only a lie. Incapable of
absolute ignorance and of certain knowledge, we have thus been
manifestly in a degree of perfection from which we have unhappily
fallen.
It is, however, an astonishing thing that the mystery furthest re-
moved from our knowledge, namely, that of the transmission of sin,
should be a fact without which we can have no knowledge of our-
selves. For it is beyond doubt that there is nothing which more
shocks our reason than to say that the sin of the first man has ren-
dered guilty those, who, being so removed from this source, seem
incapable of participation in it. This transmission does not only
seem to us impossible, it seems also very unjust. For what is more
contrary to the rules of our miserable justice than to damn eternally
an infant incapable of will, for a sin wherein he seems to have so
little a share, that it was committed six thousand years before he was
in existence? Certainly nothing offends us more rudely than this
doctrine; and yet, without this mystery, the most incomprehensible
of all, we are incomprehensible to ourselves. The knot of our condi-
tion takes its twists and turns in this abyss, so that man is more
inconceivable without this mystery than this mystery is inconceivable
to man.
[Whence it seems that God, willing to render the difficulty of our
existence unintelligible to ourselves, has concealed the knot so high,
or, better speaking, so low, that we are quite incapable of reaching
it; so that it is not by the proud exertions of our reason, but by the
simple submission of reason, that we can truly know ourselves.
These foundations, solidly established on the inviolable authority
of religion, make us know that there are two truths of faith equally
certain : the one, that man, in the state of creation, or in that of grace,
is raised above all nature, made like unto God and sharing in His
146 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
divinity; the other, that in the state of corruption and sin, he is fallen
from this state and made like unto the beasts.
These two propositions are equally sound and certain. Scripture
manifestly declares this to us, when it says in some places: Ddicice
mece esse cum filiis hominum. 2 Effundum spiritum meum super
omnem carnem? Dii estis* &c.; and in other places, Omnis caro
foenum. 5 Homo assimilatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis
factus est Hits. 6 Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum. 7
Whence it clearly seems that man by grace is made like unto
God, and a partaker in His divinity, and that without grace he is
like unto the brute beasts.]
435
Without this divine knowledge what could men do but either
become elated by the inner feeling of their past greatness which still
remains to them, or become despondent at the sight of their present
weakness? For, not seeing the whole truth, they could not attain to
perfect virtue. Some considering nature as incorrupt, others as in-
curable, they could not escape either pride or sloth, the two sources
of all vice; since they cannot but either abandon themselves to it
through cowardice, or escape it by pride. For if they knew the ex-
cellence of man, they were ignorant of his corruption; so that they
easily avoided sloth, but fell into pride. And if they recognised the
infirmity of nature, they were ignorant of its dignity; so that they
could easily avoid vanity, but it was to fall into despair. Thence arise
the different schools of the Stoics and Epicureans, the Dogmatists,
Academicians, &c.
The Christian religion alone has been able to cure these two vices,
not by expelling the one through means of the other according to the
wisdom of the world, but by expelling both according to the simplicity
of the Gospel. For it teaches the righteous that it raises them even to
a participation in divinity itself; that in this lofty state they still carry
the source of all corruption, which renders them during all their life
subject to error, misery, death, and sin; and it proclaims to the most
ungodly that they are capable of the grace of their Redeemer. So
2 Proverbs, viii. 31. 3 Isaiah, xliv. 3; Joel, ii. 28. 4 Psalms, Ixxxii. 6. 5 Isaiah,
xl. 6. 6 Psalms, xlix. 20. 7 Ecclesiastes, iii. 18.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 147
making those tremble whom it justifies, and consoling those whom it
condemns, religion so justly tempers fear with hope through that
double capacity of grace and of sin, common to all, that it humbles
infinitely more than reason alone can do, but without despair; and it
exalts infinitely more than natural pride, but without inflating: thus
making it evident that alone being exempt from error and vice, it
alone fulfils the duty of instructing and correcting men.
Who then can refuse to believe and adore this heavenly light?
For is it not clearer than day that we perceive within ourselves in-
effaceable marks of excellence? And is it not equally true that we
experience every hour the results of our deplorable condition ? What
does this chaos and monstrous confusion proclaim to us but the truth
of these two states, with a voice so powerful that it is impossible to
resist it?
436
Weakness. Every pursuit of men is to get wealth; and they can-
not have a title to show that they possess it justly, for they have only
that of human caprice; nor have they strength to hold it securely.
It is the same with knowledge, for disease takes it away. We are
incapable both of truth and goodness.
437
We desire truth, and find within ourselves only uncertainty.
We seek happiness, and find only misery and death.
We cannot but desire truth and happiness, and are incapable of
certainty or happiness. This desire is left to us, partly to punish us,
partly to make us perceive wherefrom we are fallen.
438
If man is not made for God, why is he only happy in God? If
man is made for God, why is he so opposed to God ?
439
Nature corrupted. Man does not act by reason, which constitutes
his being.
148 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
440
The corruption of reason is shown by the existence of so many
different and extravagant customs. It was necessary that truth should
come, in order that man should no longer dwell within himself.
441
For myself, I confess that so soon as the Christian religion reveals
the principle that human nature is corrupt and fallen from God,
that opens my eyes to see everywhere the mark of this truth: for
nature is such that she testifies everywhere, both within man and
without him, to a lost God and a corrupt nature.
442
Man's true nature, his true good, true virtue, and true religion, are
things of which the knowledge is inseparable.
443
Greatness, wretchedness. The more light we have, the more
greatness and the more baseness we discover in man. Ordinary men
those who are more educated : philosophers, they astonish ordinary
men Christians, they astonish philosophers.
Who will then be surprised to see that religion only makes us
know profoundly what we already know in proportion to our light ?
444
This religion taught to her children what men have only been able
to discover by their greatest knowledge.
445
Original sin is foolishness to men, but it is admitted to be such.
You must not then reproach me for the want of reason in this doc-
trine, since I admit it to be without reason. But this foolishness is
wiser than all the wisdom of men, sapientius est hominibus. For with-
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 149
out this, what can we say that man is? His whole state depends on
this imperceptible point. And how should it be perceived by his
reason, since it is a thing against reason, and since reason, far from
finding it out by her own ways, is averse to it when it is presented
to her?
446
Of original sin. Ample tradition of original sin according to the
Jews. On the word in Genesis, viii. 21. The imagination of man's
heart is evil from his youth.
R. Moses Haddarschan: This evil leaven is placed in man from the
time that he is formed.
Massechet Succa: This evil leaven has seven names in Scripture.
It is called evil, the foreskin, uncleanness, an enemy, a scandal, a
heart of stone, the north wind; all this signifies the malignity which
is concealed and impressed in the heart of man.
Midrasch Tillim says the same thing, and that God will deliver the
good nature of man from the evil.
This malignity is renewed every day against man, as it is written,
Psalm xxxvii. 32 : "The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to
slay him;" but God will not abandon him. This malignity tries the
heart of man in this life, and will accuse him in the other. All this
is found in the Talmud.
Midrasch Tillim on Psalm iv. 4: "Stand in awe and sin not."
Stand in awe and be afraid of your lust, and it will not lead you into
sin. And on Psalm xxxvi. i : "The wicked has said within his own
heart, Let not the fear of God be before me." That is to say that the
malignity natural to man has said that to the wicked.
Midrasch el Kohelet: "Better is a poor and wise child than an old
and foolish king who cannot foresee the future." The child is virtue,
and the king is the malignity of man. It is called king because all the
members obey it, and old because it is in the human heart from in-
fancy to old age, and foolish because it leads man in the way of
[perdition], which he does not foresee. The same thing is in
Midrasch Tillim.
Bereschist Rabba on Psalm xxxv. 10: "Lord, all my bones shall
bless Thee, which deliverest the poor from the tyrant." And is there
I5O PASCAL S THOUGHTS
a greater tyrant than the evil leaven? And on Proverbs xxv. 21:
"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat." That is to say,
if the evil leaven hunger, give him the bread of wisdom of which it is
spoken in Proverbs ix., and if he be thirsty, give him the water of
which it is spoken in Isaiah Iv.
Midrasch Tillim says the same thing, and that Scripture in that
passage, speaking of the enemy, means the evil leaven; and that, in
giving him that bread and that water, we heap coals of fire on his
head.
Midrasch el Kohelet on Ecclesiastes ix. 14: "A great king besieged
a little city." This great king is the evil leaven; the great bulwarks
built against it are temptations; and there has been found a poor
wise man who has delivered it that is to say, virtue.
And on Psalm xli. i : "Blessed is he that considereth the poor."
And on Psalm Ixxviii. 39: "The spirit passeth away, and cometh
not again;" whence some have erroneously argued against the im-
mortality of the soul. But the sense is that this spirit is the evil leaven,
which accompanies man till death, and will not return at the resur-
rection.
And on Psalm ciii. the same thing.
And on Psalm xvi.
Principles of Rabbinism: two Messiahs.
447
Will it be said that, as men have declared that righteousness has
departed the earth, they therefore knew of original sin? Nemo
ante obitum beatus est* that is to say, they knew death to be the
beginning of eternal and essential happiness?
448
[Miton] sees well that nature is corrupt, and that men are averse
to virtue; but he does not know why they cannot fly higher.
8 "No one is happy before he is dead."
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE
449
Order. After corruption to say : "It is right that all those who are
in that state should know it, both those who are content with it, and
those who are not content with it; but it is not right that all should
see Redemption."
450
If we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust,
weakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, know-
ing this, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a
man. . . . ?
What, then, can we have but esteem for a religion which knows
so well the defects of man, and desire for the truth of a religion which
promises remedies so desirable?
All men naturally hate one another. They employ lust as far as
possible in the service of the public weal. But this is only a pretence
and a false image of love; for at bottom it is only hate.
452
To pity the unfortunate is not contrary to lust. On the contrary,
we can quite well give such evidence of friendship, and acquire the
reputation of kindly feeling, without giving anything.
453
From lust men have found and extracted excellent rules of policy,
morality, and justice; but in reality this vile root of man, this figmen-
tum malumj is only covered, it is not taken away.
454
Injustice. They have not found any other means of satisfying
lust without doing injury to others.
9 "Evil creation."
152 PASCALS THOUGHTS
455
Self is hateful. You, Miton, conceal it; you do not for that reason
destroy it; you are, then, always hateful.
No; for in acting as we do to oblige everybody, we give no more
occasion for hatred of us. That is true, if we only hated in self the
vexation which comes to us from it. But if I hate it because it is
unjust, and because it makes itself the centre of everything, I shall
always hate it.
In a word, the Self has two qualities: it is unjust in itself since it
makes itself the centre of everything; it is inconvenient to others
since it would enslave them; for each self is the enemy, and would
like to be the tyrant of all others. You take away its inconvenience,
but not its injustice, and so you do not render it lovable to those who
hate injustice; you render it lovable only to the unjust, who do not
any longer find in it an enemy. And thus you remain unjust, and
can please only the unjust.
456
It is a perverted judgment that makes every one place himself
above the rest of the world, and prefer his own good, and the con-
tinuance of his own good fortune and life, to that of the rest of the
world.
457
Each one is all in all to himself; for he being dead, all is dead to
him. Hence it comes that each believes himself to be all in all to
everybody. We must not judge of nature by ourselves, but by it.
458
"All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the
eyes, or the pride of life; libido sentiendi, libido sciendi, libido domi-
nandi." Wretched is the cursed land which these three rivers of
fire enflame rather than water! Happy they who, on these rivers,
are not overwhelmed nor carried away, but are immovably fixed, not
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 153
standing, but seated on a low and secure base, whence they do not
rise before the light, but, having rested in peace, stretch out their
hands to Him, who must lift them up, and make them stand upright
and firm in the porches of the holy Jerusalem! There pride can no
longer assail them nor cast them down; and yet they weep, not to
see all those perishable things swept away by the torrents, but at the
remembrance of their loved country, the heavenly Jerusalem, which
they remember without ceasing during their prolonged exile.
459
The rivers of Babylon rush and fall and sweep away.
O holy Sion, where all is firm and nothing falls!
We must sit upon the waters, not under them or in them, but on
them; and not standing but seated; being seated to be humble, and
being above them to be secure. But we shall stand in the porches of
Jerusalem.
Let us see if this pleasure is stable or transitory; if it pass away, it
is a river of Babylon.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride, &c. There are three
orders of things: the flesh, the spirit, and the will. The carnal are
the rich and kings; they have the body as their object. Inquirers
and scientists; they have the mind as their object. The wise; they
have righteousness as their object.
God must reign over all, and all men must be brought back to
Him. In things of the flesh lust reigns specially; in intellectual mat-
ters, inquiry specially; in wisdom, pride specially. Not that a man
cannot boast of wealth or knowledge, but it is not the place for pride;
for in granting to a man that he is learned, it is easy to convince him
that he is wrong to be proud. The proper place for pride is in wis-
dom, for it cannot be granted to a man that he has made himself
wise, and that he is wrong to be proud; for that is right. Now God
alone gives wisdom, and that is why Qui gloriatur, in Domino
glorietur. 10
10 1 Corinthians, i. 31.
154 PASCALS THOUGHTS
461
The three lusts have made three sects; and the philosophers have
done no other thing than follow one of the three lusts.
462
Search for the true good. Ordinary men place the good in fortune
and external goods, or at least in amusement. Philosophers have
shown the vanity of all this, and have placed it where they could.
463
[Against the philosophers who believe in God without ]esus
Christ.}
Philosophers. They believe that God alone is worthy to be loved
and admired; and they have desired to be loved and admired of men,
and do not know their own corruption. If they feel full of feelings
of love and adoration, and find therein their chief delight, very well,
let them think themselves good. But if they find themselves averse
to Him, if they have no inclination but the desire to establish them-
selves in the esteem of men, and if their whole perfection consists only
in making men but without constraint find their happiness in lov-
ing them, I declare that this perfection is horrible. What! they have
known God, and have not desired solely that men should love Him,
but that men should stop short at them! They have wanted to be
the object of the voluntary delight of men.
464
Philosophers. We are full of things which take us out of ourselves.
Our instinct makes us feel that we must seek our happiness out-
side ourselves. Our passions impel us outside, even when no objects
present themselves to excite them. External objects tempt us of
themselves, and call to us, even when we are not thinking of them.
And thus philosophers have said in vain, "Retire within yourselves,
you will find your good there." We do not believe them, and those
who believe them are the most empty and the most foolish.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 155'
465
The Stoics say, "Retire within yourselves; it is there you will find
your rest." And that is not true.
Others say, "Go out of yourselves; seek happiness in amusement."
And this is not true. Illness comes.
Happiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both
without us and within us.
466
Had Epictetus seen the way perfectly, he would have said to men,
"You follow a wrong road"; he shows that there is another, but he
does not lead to it. It is the way of willing what God wills. Jesus
Christ alone leads to it: Via, veritas. n
The vices of Zeno himself.
467
The reason of effects. Epictetus. Those who say, "You have a
headache;" this is not the same thing. We are assured of health, and
not of justice; and in fact his own was nonsense.
And yet he believed it demonstrable, when he said, "It is either in
our power or it is not." But he did not perceive that it is not in our
power to regulate the heart, and he was wrong to infer this from the
fact that there were some Christians.
468
No other religion has proposed to men to hate themselves. No
other religion then can please those who hate themselves, and who
seek a Being truly lovable. And these, if they had never heard of
the religion of a God humiliated, would embrace it at once.
469
I feel that I might not have been; for the Ego consists in my
thoughts. Therefore I, who think, would not have been, if my
mother had been killed before I had life. I am not then a necessary
11 John, xiv. 6.
156 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
being. In the same way I am not eternal or infinite; but I see plainly
that there exists in nature a necessary Being, eternal and infinite.
470
"Had I seen a miracle," say men, "I should become converted."
How can they be sure they would do a thing of the nature of which
they are ignorant? They imagine that this conversion consists in a
worship of God, which is like commerce, and in a communion such
as they picture to themselves. True religion consists in annihilating
self before that Universal Being, whom we have so often provoked,
and who can justly destroy us at any time; in recognising that we can
do nothing without Him, and have deserved nothing from Him but
His displeasure. It consists in knowing that there is an unconquer-
able opposition between us and God, and that without a mediator
there can be no communion with Him.
It is unjust that men should attach themselves to me, even though
they do it with pleasure and voluntarily. I should deceive those in
whom I had created this desire; for I am not the end of any, and
I have not the wherewithal to satisfy them. Am I not about to die ?
And thus the object of their attachment will die. Therefore, as
I would be blamable in causing a falsehood to be believed, though
I should employ gentle persuasion, though it should be believed
with pleasure, and though it should give me pleasure; even so I am
blamable in making myself loved, and if I attract persons to attach
themselves to me. I ought to warn those who are ready to consent
to a lie, that they ought not to believe it, whatever advantage comes
to me from it; and likewise that they ought not to attach themselves
to me; for they ought to spend their life and their care in pleasing
God, or in seeking Him.
472
Self-will will never be satisfied, though it should have command of
all it would; but we are satisfied from the moment we renounce it.
Without it we cannot be discontented; with it we cannot be content.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 157
473
Let us imagine a body full of thinking members.
474
Members. To commence with that. To regulate the love which
we owe to ourselves, we must imagine a body full of thinking mem-
bers, for we are members of the whole, and must see how each mem-
ber should love itself, &c. . . .
475
If the feet and the hands had a will of their own, they could only
be in their order in submitting this particular will to the primary
will which governs the whole body. Apart from that, they are in
disorder and mischief; but in willing only the good of the body, they
accomplish their own good.
We must love God only and hate self only.
If the foot had always been ignorant that it belonged to the body,
and that there was a body on which it depended, if it had only had
the knowledge and the love of self, and if it came to know that it
belonged to a body on which it depended, what regret, what shame
for its past life, for having been useless to the body which inspired
its life, which would have annihilated it if it had rejected it and
separated it from itself, as it kept itself apart from the body! What
prayers for its preservation in it! And with what submission would it
allow itself to be governed by the will which rules the body, even
to consenting, if necessary, to be cut off, or it would lose its char-
acter as member! For every member must be quite willing to perish
for the body, for which alone the whole is.
477
It is false that we are worthy of the love of others; it is unfair
that we should desire it. If we were born reasonable and impartial,
158 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
knowing ourselves and others, we should not give this bias to our
will. However, we are born with it; we are therefore born unjust,
for all tends to self. This is contrary to all order. We must consider
the general good; and the propensity to self is the beginning of all
disorder, in war, in politics, in economy, and in the particular body
of man. The will is therefore depraved.
If the members of natural and civil communities tend towards the
weal of the body, the communities themselves ought to look to
another more general body of which they are members. We ought
therefore to look to the whole. We are therefore born unjust and
depraved.
When we want to think of God, is there nothing which turns
us away, and tempts us to think of something else? All this is bad,
and is born in us.
479
If there is a God, we must love Him only, and not the creatures
of a day. The reasoning of the ungodly in the Boo^ of Wisdom is
only based upon the non-existence of God. "On that supposition,"
say they, "let us take delight in the creatures." That is the worst
that can happen. But if there were a God to love, they would not
have come to this conclusion, but to quite the contrary. And this
is the conclusion of the wise: "There is a God, let us therefore
not take delight in the creatures."
Therefore all that incites us to attach ourselves to the creatures is
bad; since it prevents us from serving God if we know Him, or from
seeking Him if we know Him not. Now we are full of lust. There-
fore we are full of evil; therefore we ought to hate ourselves and all
that excites us to attach ourselves to any other object than God only.
480
To make the members happy, they must have one will, and submit
it to the body.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 159
481
The examples of the noble deaths of the Lacedaemonians and
others scarce touch us. For what good is it to us? But the example
of the death of the martyrs touches us; for they are "our members."
We have a common tie with them. Their resolution can form ours,
not only by example, but because it has perhaps deserved ours.
There is nothing of this in the examples of the heathen. We have no
tie with them; as we do not become rich by seeing a stranger who is
so, but in fact by seeing a father or a husband who is so.
482
Morality. God having made the heavens and the earth, which do
not feel the happiness of their being, He has willed to make beings
who should know it, and who should compose a body of thinking
members. For our members do not feel the happiness of their union,
of their wonderful intelligence, of the care which nature has taken
to infuse into them minds, and to make them grow and endure.
How happy they would be if they saw and felt it! But for this
they would need to have intelligence to know it, and good-will to
consent to that of the universal soul. But if, having received intelli-
gence, they employed it to retain nourishment for themselves without
allowing it to pass to the other members, they would be not only
unjust, but also miserable, and would hate rather than love them-
selves; their blessedness, as well as their duty, consisting in their con-
sent to the guidance of the whole soul to which they belong, which
loves them better than they love themselves.
483
To be a member is to have neither life, being, nor movement,
except through the spirit of the body, and for the body.
The separate member, seeing no longer the body to which it be-
longs, has only a perishing and dying existence. Yet it believes it is
a whole, and seeing not the body on which it depends, it believes it
depends only on self, and desires to make itself both centre and
160 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
body. But not having in itself a principle of life, it only goes astray,
and is astonished in the uncertainty of its being; perceiving in fact
that it is not a body, and still not seeing that it is a member of a
body. In short, when it comes to know itself, it has returned as it
were to its own home, and loves itself only for the body. It deplores
its past wanderings.
It cannot by its nature love any other thing, except for itself and to
subject it to self, because each thing loves itself more than all. But
in loving the body, it loves itself, because it only exists in it, by it, and
for it. Qul adhceret Deo unus spiritus est. lz
The body loves the hand; and the hand, if it had a will, should love
itself in the same way as it is loved by the soul. All love which goes
beyond this is unfair.
Adhcerens Deo unus spiritus est. We love ourselves, because we
are members of Jesus Christ. We love Jesus Christ, because He is
the body of which we are members. All is one, one is in the other,
like the Three Persons.
484
Two laws suffice to rule the whole Christian Republic better than
all the laws of statecraft.
485
The true and only virtue then is to hate self (for we are hateful
on account of lust), and to seek a truly lovable being to love. But
as we cannot love what is outside ourselves, we must love a being who
is in us, and is not ourselves; and that is true of each and all men.
Now only the Universal Being is such. The kingdom of God is
within us; the universal good is within us, is ourselves and not our-
selves.
486
The dignity of man in his innocence consisted in using and hav-
ing dominion over the creatures, but now in separating himself from
them, and subjecting himself to them.
12 i Corinthians, vi. 17.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE l6l
487
Every religion is false, which as to its faith does not worship one
God as the origin of everything, and which as to its morality does not
love one only God as the object of everything.
. . . But it is impossible that God should ever be the end, if He
is not the beginning. We lift our eyes on high, but lean upon the
sand; and the earth will dissolve, and we shall fall whilst looking
at the heavens.
489
If there is one sole source of everything, there is one sole end of
everything; everything through Him, everything for Him. The true
religion then must teach us to worship Him only, and to love Him
only. But as we find ourselves unable to worship what we know not,
and to love any other object but ourselves, the religion which In-
structs us in these duties must instruct us also of this inability, and
teach us also the remedies for it. It teaches us that by one man all
was lost, and the bond broken between God and us, and that by one
man the bond is renewed.
We are born so averse to this love of God, and it is so necessary that
we must be born guilty, or God would be unjust.
490
Men, not being accustomed to form merit, but only to recompense
it where they find it formed, judge of God by themselves.
491
The true religion must have as a characteristic the obligation to
love God. This is very just, and yet no other religion has commanded
this; ours has done so. It must also be aware of human lust and
weakness; ours is so. It must have adduced remedies for this; one is
prayer. No other religion has asked of God to love and follow Him.
1 62 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
492
He who hates not in himself his self-love, and that instinct which
leads him to make himself God, is indeed blinded. Who does not
see that there is nothing so opposed to justice and truth? For it is
false that we deserve this, and it is unfair and impossible to attain it,
since all demand the same thing. It is then a manifest injustice which
is innate in us, of which we cannot get rid and of which we must
get rid.
Yet no religion has indicated that this was a sin; or that we were
born in it; or that we were obliged to resist it; or has thought of giv-
ing us remedies for it.
493
The true religion teaches our duties; our weaknesses, pride, and
lust; and the remedies, humility and mortification.
494
The true religion must teach greatness and misery; must lead to
the esteem and contempt of self, to love and to hate.
495
If it is an extraordinary blindness to live without investigating what
we are, it is a terrible one to live an evil life, while believing in God.
496
Experience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and
goodness.
497
Against those who, trusting to the mercy of God, live heedlessly,
without doing good worlds. As the two sources of our sins are pride
and sloth, God has revealed to us two of His attributes to cure them,
mercy and justice. The property of justice is to humble pride, how-
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 163
ever holy may be our works, et non intres in judicium, &c.; 13 and the
property of mercy is to combat sloth by exhorting to good works,
according to that passage: "The goodness of God leadeth to repent-
ance," and that other of the Ninevites: "Let us do penance to see
if peradventure He will pity us." And thus mercy is so far from
authorising slackness, that it is on the contrary the quality which
formally attacks it; so that instead of saying, "If there were no mercy
in God we should have to make every kind of effort after virtue,"
we must say, on the contrary, that it is because there is mercy in God,
that we must make every kind of effort.
49 8
It is true there is difficulty in entering into godliness. But this dif-
ficulty does not arise from the religion which begins in us, but from
the irreligion which is still there. If our senses were not opposed to
penitence, and if our corruption were not opposed to the purity of
God, there would be nothing in this painful to us. We suffer only in
proportion as the vice which is natural to us resists supernatural
grace. Our heart feels torn asunder between these opposed efforts.
But it would be very unfair to impute this violence to God, who is
drawing us on, instead of to the world, which is holding us back.
It is as a child, which a mother tears from the arms of robbers, in
the pain it suffers, should love the loving and legitimate violence of
her who procures its liberty, and detest only the impetuous and
tyrannical violence of those who detain it unjustly. The most cruel
war which God can make with men in this life is to leave them with-
out that war which He came to bring. "I came to send war," He says,
"and to teach them of this war. I came to bring fire and the sword."
Before Him the world lived in this false peace.
499
External wor\s. There is nothing so perilous as what pleases God
and man. For those states, which please God and man, have one
property which pleases God, and another which pleases men; as the
greatness of Saint Theresa. What pleased God was her deep humil-
ity in the midst of her revelations; what pleased men was her light.
13 Psalms, cxliii. 2.
164 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
And so we torment ourselves to imitate her discourses, thinking to
imitate her conditions, and not so much to love what God loves, and
to put ourselves in the state which God loves.
It is better not to fast, and be thereby humbled, than to fast and
be self-satisfied therewith. The Pharisee and the Publican.
What use will memory be to me, if it can alike hurt and help me,
and all depends upon the blessing of God, who gives only to things
done for Him, according to His rules and in His ways, the manner
being thus as important as the thing, and perhaps more; since God
can bring forth good out of evil, and without God we bring forth
evil out of good?
500
The meaning of the words, good and evil.
501
First step : to be blamed for doing evil, and praised for doing good.
Second step: to be neither praised nor blamed.
502
Abraham took nothing for himself, but only for his servants.
So the righteous man takes for himself nothing of the world, nor
of the applause of the world, but only for his passions, which he uses
as their master, saying to the one, "Go," and to another, "Come."
Sub te erit appetitus tuus. 1 * The passions thus subdued are virtues.
Even God attributes to Himself avarice, jealousy, anger; and these
are virtues as well as kindness, pity, constancy, which are also pas-
sions. We must employ them as slaves, and, leaving to them their
food, prevent the soul from taking any of it. For, when the passions
become masters, they are vices; and they give their nutriment to
the soul, and the soul nourishes itself upon it, and is poisoned.
503
Philosophers have consecrated the vices by placing them in God
Himself. Christians have consecrated the virtues.
14 Genesis, iv. 7.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 165
504
The just man acts by faith in the least things; when he reproves
his servants, he desires their conversion by the Spirit of God, and
prays God to correct them; and he expects as much from God as
from his own reproofs, and prays God to bless his corrections. And so
in all his other actions he proceeds with the Spirit of God; and his
actions deceive us by reason of the ... or suspension of the Spirit
of God in him; and he repents in his affliction.
505
All things can be deadly to us, even the things made to serve us;
as in nature walls can kill us, and stairs can kill us, if we do not walk
circumspectly.
The least movement affects all nature; the entire sea changes be-
cause of a rock. Thus in grace, the least action affects everything by
its consequences; therefore everything is important.
In each action we must look beyond the action at our past, present,
and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations
of all those things. And then we shall be very cautious.
506
Let God not impute to us our sins, that is to say, all the conse-
quences and results of our sins, which are dreadful, even those of
the smallest faults, if we wish to follow them out mercilessly!
507
The spirit of grace; the hardness of the heart; external circum-
stances.
508
Grace is indeed needed to turn a man into a saint; and he who
doubts it does not know what a saint or a man is.
1 66 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
509
Philosophers. A fine thing to cry to a man who does not know
himself, that he should come of himself to God! And a fine thing to
say so to a man who does know himself!
510
Man is not worthy of God, but he is not incapable of being made
worthy.
It is unworthy of God to unite Himself to wretched man; but it is
not unworthy of God to pull him out of his misery.
If we would say that man is too insignificant to deserve com-
munion with God, we must indeed be very great to judge of it.
512
It is, in peculiar phraseology, wholly the body of Jesus Christ, but
it cannot be said to be the whole body of Jesus Christ. The union
of two things without change does not enable us to say that one be-
comes the other; the soul thus being united to the body, the fire
to the timber, without change. But change is necessary to make the
form of the one become the form of the other; thus the union of the
Word to man. Because my body without my soul would not make
the body of a man; therefore my soul united to any matter whatso-
ever will make my body. It does not distinguish the necessary con-
dition from the sufficient condition; the union is necessary, but not
sufficient. The left arm is not the right.
Impenetrability is a property of matter.
Identity of number in regard to the same time requires the identity
of matter.
Thus if God united my soul to a body in China, the same body,
idem numero, would be in China.
The same river which runs there is idem numero as that which
runs at the same time in China.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 167
513
Why God has established prayer.
1. To communicate to His creatures the dignity of causality.
2. To teach us from whom our virtue comes.
3. To make us deserve other virtues by work.
But to keep His own pre-eminence, He grants prayer to whom
He pleases.
Objection: But we believe that we hold prayer of ourselves.
This is absurd; for since, though having faith, we cannot have vir-
tues, how should we have faith ? Is there a greater distance between
infidelity and faith than between faith and virtue?
Merit. This word is ambiguous.
Meruit habere Redemptorem. 15
Meruit tarn sacra membra tangere. 16
Digno tarn sacra membra tangere? 1
Non sum dignus. 1 *
Qui manducat indignus. 19
Dignus est accipere 20
Dignare me. 21
God is only bound according to His promises. He has promised
to grant justice to prayers; He has never promised prayer only to the
children of promise.
Saint Augustine has distinctly said that strength would be taken
away from the righteous. But it is by chance that he said it; for it
might have happened that the occasion of saying it did not present
itself. But his principles make us see that when the occasion for it
presented itself, it was impossible that he should not say it, or that
he should say anything to the contrary. It is then rather that he was
forced to say it, when the occasion presented itself, than that he said
it, when the occasion presented itself, the one being of necessity,
the other of chance. But the two are all that we can ask.
15 "He deserved to have a Redeemer."
16 "He deserved to touch members so sacred."
17 "I deem him worthy to touch, etc."
18 "I am not worthy." Luke, vii. 6.
9 "He who unworthy eats." i Corinthians, xi. 27.
20 "He is worthy to receive." Revelation, iv. n. 21 "To deem me worthy."
1 68 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
5M
"Work out your own salvation with fear."
Proofs of prayer. Petenti dabitur
Therefore it is in our power to ask. On the other hand, there is
God. So it is not in our power, since the obtaining of (the grace)
to pray to Him is not in our power. For since salvation is not in us,
and the obtaining of such grace is from Him, prayer is not in our
power.
The righteous man should then hope no more in God, for he ought
not to hope, but to strive to obtain what he wants.
Let us conclude then that, since man is now unrighteous since
the first sin, and God is unwilling that he should thereby not be
estranged from Him, it is only by a first effect that he is not estranged.
Therefore, those who depart from God have not this first effect
without which they are not estranged from God, and those who do
not depart from God have this first effect. Therefore, those whom
we have seen possessed for some time of grace by this first effect,
cease to pray, for want of this first effect.
Then God abandons the first in this sense.
The elect will be ignorant of their virtues, and the outcast of
the greatness of their sins: "Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered,
thirsty?" &c.
Romans, iii. 27. Boasting is excluded. By what law? Of works?
nay, but by faith. Then faith is not within our power like the deeds
of the law, and it is given to us in another way.
517
Comfort yourselves. It is not from yourselves that you should
expect grace; but, on the contrary, it is in expecting nothing from
yourselves, that you must hope for it.
22 Matthew, vii. 7.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 1 69
518
Every condition, and even the martyrs, have to fear, according to
Scripture.
The greatest pain of purgatory is the uncertainty of the judgment.
Deus absconditus
519
John, viii. 30. Multi crediderunt in eum. Dicebat ergo Jesus: "Si
manseritis . . . vere mei discipuli eritis, et veritas liberabit vos." Re-
sponderunt: "Semen Abrahce sumus, et nemini servimus unquam."
There is a great difference between disciples and true disciples.
We recognise them by telling them that the truth will make them
free; for if they answer that they are free, and that it is in their
power to come out of slavery to the devil, they are indeed disciples,
but not true disciples.
520
The law has not destroyed nature, but has instructed it; grace has
not destroyed the law, but has made it act. Faith received at bap-
tism is the source of the whole life of Christians and of the converted.
521
Grace will always be in the world, and nature also; so that the
former is in some sort natural. And thus there will always be
Pelagians, and always Catholics, and always strife; because the first
birth makes the one, and the grace of the second birth the other.
The law imposed what it did not give. Grace gives what it
imposes.
523
All faith consists in Jesus Christ and in Adam, and all morality in
lust and in grace.
"A hidden God."
170 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
524
There is no doctrine more appropriate to man than this, which
teaches him his double capacity of receiving and of losing grace,
because of the double peril to which he is exposed, of despair or of
pride.
525
The philosophers did not prescribe feelings suitable to the two
states.
They inspired feelings of pure greatness, and that is not man's
state.
They inspired feelings of pure littleness, and that is not man's
state.
There must be feelings of humility, not from nature, but from
penitence, not to rest in them, but to go on to greatness. There must
be feelings of greatness, not from merit, but from grace, and after
having passed through humiliation.
526
Misery induces despair, pride induces presumption. The Incarna-
tion shows man the greatness of his misery by the greatness of the
remedy which he required.
527
The knowledge of God without that of man's misery causes pride.
The knowledge of man's misery without that of God causes despair.
The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because
in Him we find both God and our misery.
528
Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before
whom we humble ourselves without despair.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 1 71
529
. . . Not a degradation which renders us incapable of good, nor a
holiness exempt from evil.
530
A person told me one day that on coming from confession he
felt great joy and confidence. Another told me that he remained in
fear. Whereupon I thought that these two together would make one
good man, and that each was wanting in that he had not the feeling
of the other. The same often happens in other things.
53 1
He who knows the will of his master will be beaten with more
blows, because of the power he has by his knowledge. Qui Justus
est, justificetur ad hue, 24 because of the power he has by justice. From
him who has received most, will the greatest reckoning be demanded,
because of the power he has by this help.
532
Scripture has provided passages of consolation and of warning
for all conditions.
Nature seems to have done the same thing by her two infinities,
natural and moral; for we shall always have the higher and the
lower, the more clever and the less clever, the most exalted and the
meanest, in order to humble our pride, and exalt our humility.
533
Comminutum cor 25 (Saint Paul). This is the Christian character.
Alba has named you, I know you no more (Corneille) . That is the
inhuman character. The human character is the opposite.
534
There are only two kinds of men : the righteous, who believe them-
selves sinners; the rest, sinners, who believe themselves righteous.
24 Revelation, xxii. n. 25 "A broken heart."
172 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
535
We owe a great debt to those who point out faults. For they mor-
tify us. They teach us that we have been despised. They do not
prevent our being so in the future; for we have many other faults
for which we may be despised. They prepare for us the exercise
of correction and freedom from fault.
536
Man is so made that by continually telling him he is a fool he
believes it, and by continually telling it to himself he makes himself
believe it. For man holds an inward talk with his self alone, which
it behoves him to regulate well: Corrumpunt mores bonos colloquia
prava We must keep silent as much as possible, and talk with
ourselves only of God, whom we know to be true; and thus we
convince ourselves of the truth.
537
Christianity is strange. It bids man recognise that he is vile, even
abominable, and bids him desire to be like God. Without such a
counterpoise, this dignity would make him horribly vain, or this
humiliation would make him terribly abject.
538
With how little pride does a Christian believe himself united to
God! With how little humiliation does he place himself on a
level with the worms of earth!
A glorious manner to welcome life and death, good and evil!
539
What difference in point of obedience is there between a soldier
and a Carthusian monk ? For both are equally under obedience and
dependent, both engage in equally painful exercises. But the soldier
26 i Corinthians, xv. 33.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 173
always hopes to command, and never attains this, for even captains
and princes are ever slaves and dependents; still he ever hopes and
ever works to attain this. Whereas the Carthusian monk makes
a vow to be always dependent. So they do not differ in their per-
petual thraldom, in which both of them always exist, but in the
hope, which one always has, and the other never.
54
The hope which Christians have of possessing an infinite good is
mingled with real enjoyment as well as with fear; for it is not as
with those who should hope for a kingdom, of which they, being
subjects, would have nothing; but they hope for holiness, for free-
dom from injustice, and they have something of this.
None is so happy as a true Christian, nor so reasonable, virtuous,
or amiable.
542
The Christian religion alone makes man altogether lovable and
happy. In honesty, we cannot perhaps be altogether lovable and
happy.
543
Preface. The metaphysical proofs of God are so remote from
the reasoning of men, and so complicated, that they make little im-
pression; and if they should be of service to some, it would be only
during the moment that they see such demonstration; but an hour
afterwards they fear they have been mistaken.
Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt. 27
This is the result of the knowledge of God obtained without
Jesus Christ; it is communion without a mediator with the God
whom they have known without a mediator. Whereas those who
have known God by a mediator know their own wretchedness.
27 "What they knew by searching they have lost by pride." St. Augustine.
174 PASCALS THOUGHTS
544
The God of the Christians is a God who makes the soul feel that
He is her only good, that her only rest is in Him, that her only
delight is in loving Him; and who makes her at the same time abhor
the obstacles which keep her back, and prevent her from loving
God with all her strength. Self-love and lust, which hinder us, are
unbearable to her. Thus God makes her feel that she has this root
of self-love which destroys her, and which He alone can cure.
545
Jesus Christ did nothing but teach men that they loved themselves,
that they were slaves, blind, sick, wretched, and sinners; that He
must deliver them, enlighten, bless, and heal them; that this would
be effected by hating self, and by following Him through suffering
and the death on the cross.
546
Without Jesus Christ man must be in vice and misery; with
Jesus Christ man is free from vice and misery; in Him is all our vir-
tue and all our happiness. Apart from Him there is but vice, misery,
darkness, death, despair.
547
We know God only by Jesus Christ. Without this mediator
all communion with God is taken away; through Jesus Christ we
know God. All those who have claimed to know God, and to
prove Him without Jesus Christ, have had only weak proofs. But
in proof of Jesus Christ we have the prophecies, which are solid and
palpable proofs. And these prophecies, being accomplished and
proved true by the event, mark the certainty of these truths, and
therefore the divinity of Christ. In Him then, and through Him, we
know God. Apart from Him, and without the Scripture, without
original sin, without a necessary Mediator promised and come, we
cannot absolutely prove God, nor teach right doctrine and right mo-
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 175
rality. But through Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ, we prove God,
and teach morality and doctrine. Jesus Christ is then the true God
of men.
But we know at the same time our wretchedness; for this God is
none other than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only
know God well by knowing our iniquities. Therefore those who
have known God, without knowing their wretchedness, have not
glorified Him, but have glorified themselves. Quia.. . . non cog-
novit per sapientiam . . . placuit Deo per stultitiam prcedicationis
salvos facere. 2 *
548
Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know
ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through
Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our
life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves.
Thus without the Scripture, which has Jesus Christ alone for its
object, we know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in
the nature of God, and in our own nature.
549
It is not only impossible but useless to know God without Jesus
Christ. They have not departed from Him, but approached; they
have not humbled themselves, but . . .
Quo quisque optimus est, pessimus, si hoc ipsum, quod optimus est,
adscribat sibi
550
I love poverty because He loved it. I love riches because they af-
ford me the means of helping the very poor. I keep faith with every-
body; I do not render evil to those who wrong me, but I wish them a
lot like mine, in which I receive neither evil nor good from men.
I try to be just, true, sincere, and faithful to all men; I have a tender
28 i Corinthians, i. 21.
29 "The quality which makes any one best makes him worst, if he claims it for
himself."
176 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
heart for those to whom God has more closely united me; and
whether I am alone, or seen of men, I do all my actions in the sight
of God, who must judge of them, and to whom I have consecrated
them all.
These are my sentiments; and every day of my life I bless my Re-
deemer, who has implanted them in me, and who, of a man full of
weaknesses, of miseries, of lust, of pride, and of ambition, has
made a man free from all these evils by the power of His grace, to
which all the glory of it is due, as of myself I have only misery and
error.
551
Dignior plagis quam osculis non timeo quid amo. 30
55 2
The Sepulchre of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was dead, but seen
on the Cross. He was dead, and hidden in the Sepulchre.
Jesus Christ was buried by the saints alone.
Jesus Christ wrought no miracle at the Sepulchre.
Only the saints entered it.
It is there, not on the Cross, that Jesus Christ takes a new life.
It is the last mystery of the Passion and the Redemption.
Jesus Christ had nowhere to rest on earth but in the Sepulchre.
His enemies only ceased to persecute Him at the Sepulchre.
553
The Mystery of Jesus. Jesus suffers in His passion the torments
which men inflict upon Him; but in His agony He suffers the
torments which He inflicts on Himself; turbare semitipsum. 31 This
is a suffering from no human, but an almighty hand, for He must
be almighty to bear it.
Jesus seeks some comfort at least in His three dearest friends, and
they are asleep. He prays them to bear with Him for a little, and they
leave Him with entire indifference, having so little compassion that
30 "Though I deserve blows rather than kisses, I do not fear, because I love."
31 John, xi. 33.
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 177
it could not prevent their sleeping even for a moment. And thus
Jesus was left alone to the wrath of God.
Jesus is alone on the earth, without any one not only to feel and
share His sufferings, but even to know of it; He and Heaven were
alone in that knowledge.
Jesus is in a garden, not of delight as the first Adam, where he\ \
lost himself and the whole human race, but in one of agony, where i
He saved Himself and the whole human race.
He suffers this affliction and this desertion in the horror of night.
I believe that Jesus never complained but on this single occasion;
but then He complained as if He could no longer bear His extreme
suffering. "My soul is sorrowful, even unto death."
Jesus seeks companionship and comfort from men. This is the
sole occasion in all His life, as it seems to me. But He receives it not,
for His disciples are asleep.
Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world. We must not
sleep during that time.
Jesus, in the midst of this universal desertion, including that of
His own friends chosen to watch with Him, finding them asleep, is
vexed because of the danger to which they expose, not Him, but
themselves; He cautions them for their own safety and their own
good, with a sincere tenderness for them during their ingratitude,
and warns them that the spirit is willing and the flesh weak.
Jesus, finding them still asleep, without being restrained by any
consideration for themselves or for Him, has the kindness not to
waken them, and leaves them in repose.
Jesus prays, uncertain of the will of His Father, and fears death;
but, when He knows it, He goes forward to offer Himself to death.
Eamus. Processit. 32 (John).
Jesus asked of men and was not heard. \ \
Jesus, while His disciples slept, wrought their salvation. He has
wrought that of each of the righteous while they slept, both in their
nothingness before their birth, and in their sins after their birth.
He prays only once that the cup pass away, and then with sub-
mission; and twice that it come if necessary.
Jesus is weary.
32 John, xviii. 4.
178 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Jesus, seeing all His friends asleep and all His enemies wakeful,
commits Himself entirely to His Father.
Jesus does not regard in Judas his enmity, but the order of God,
which He loves and admits, since He calls him friend.
Jesus tears Himself away from His disciples to enter into His
agony; we must tear ourselves away from our nearest and dearest
ito imitate Him.
Jesus being in agony and in the greatest affliction, let us pray
longer.
We implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace
in our vices, but that He may deliver us from them.
If God gave us masters by His own hand, Oh! how necessary
for us to obey them with a good heart! Necessity and events follow
infallibly.
"Console thyself, thou wouldst not seek Me, if thou hadst not
found Me.
"I thought of thee in Mine agony, I have sweated such drops of
blood for thee.
"It is tempting Me rather than proving thyself, to think if thou
wouldst do such and such a thing on an occasion which has not
happened; I shall act in thee if it occur.
"Let thyself be guided by My rules; see how well I have led the
Virgin and the saints who have let Me act in them.
"The Father loves all that I do.
"Dost thou wish that it always cost Me the blood of My humanity,
without thy shedding tears?
"Thy conversion is My affair; fear not, and pray with confidence
as for Me.
"I am present with thee by My Word in Scripture, by My Spirit in
the Church and by inspiration, by My power in the priests, by My
prayer in the faithful.
"Physicians will not heal thee, for thou wilt die at last. But it is
I who heal thee, and make the body immortal.
"Suffer bodily chains and servitude, I deliver thee at present only
from spiritual servitude.
"I am more a friend to thee than such and such an one, for I have
done for thee more than they; they would not have suffered what
MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 179
I have suffered from thee, and they would not have died for thee
as I have done in the time of thine infidelities and cruelties, and
as I am ready to do, and do, among my elect and at the Holy Sacra-
ment.
"If thou knewest thy sins, thou wouldst lose heart."
I shall lose it then, Lord, for on Thy assurance I believe their
malice.
"No, for I, by whom thou learnest, can heal thee of them, and
what I say to thee is a sign that I will heal thee. In proportion to
thy expiation of them, thou wilt know them, and it will be said to
thee: 'Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee.' Repent, then, for thy
hidden sins, and for the secret malice of those which thou knowest."
Lord, I give Thee all.
"I love thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine abomina-
tions ut immundus pro luto. 23
"To Me be the glory, not to thee, worm of the earth.
"Ask thy confessor, when My own words are to thee occasion of
evil, vanity, or curiosity."
I see in me depths of pride, curiosity and lust. There is no
relation between me and God nor Jesus Christ the Righteous. But
He has been made sin for me; all Thy scourges are fallen upon Him.
He is more abominable than I, and, far from abhorring me, He
holds Himself honoured that I go to Him and succor Him.
But He has healed Himself, and still more so will He heal me.
I must add my wounds to His, and join myself to Him; and He
will save me in saving Himself. But this must not be postponed to
the future.
Eritis sicut dii scientes bonum et malum Each one creates his
god, when judging. "This is good or bad;" and men mourn or
rejoice too much at events.
Do little things as though they were great, because of the majesty
of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life; and do
the greatest things as though they were little and easy, because of
His omnipotence.
33 "As foul with clay." 34 Genesis, iii. 5.
180 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
554
It seems to me that Jesus Christ only allowed His wounds to be
touched after his resurrection: Noli me tangere We must unite our-
selves only to His sufferings.
At the Last Supper He gave Himself in communion as about to
die; to the disciples at Emmaus as risen from the dead; to the whole
Church as ascended into heaven.
555
"Compare not thyself with others, but with Me. If thou dost not
find Me in those with whom thou comparest thyself, thou comparest
thyself to one who is abominable. If thou findest Me in them, com-
pare thyself to Me. But whom wilt thou compare? Thyself, or Me
in thee? If it is thyself, it is one who is abominable. If it is I, thou
comparest Me to Myself. Now I am God in all.
"I speak to thee, and often counsel thee, because thy director can-
not speak to thee, for I do not want thee to lack a guide.
"And perhaps I do so at his prayers, and thus he leads thee with-
out thy seeing it. Thou wouldst not seek Me, if thou didst not
possess Me.
"Be not therefore troubled."
35 John, xx. 17.
SECTION VIII
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
556
MEN blaspheme what they do not know. The Christian re-
ligion consists in two points. It is of equal concern to men
to know them, and it is equally dangerous to be ignorant
of them. And it is equally of God's mercy that He has given indi-
cations of both.
And yet they take occasion to conclude that one of these points
does not exist, from that which should have caused them to infer the
other. The sages who have said there is only one God have been
persecuted, the Jews were hated, and still more the Christians. They
have seen by the light of nature that if there be a true religion on
earth, the course of all things must tend to it as to a centre.
The whole course of things must have for its object the establish-
ment and the greatness of religion. Men must have within them
feelings suited to what religion teaches us. And, finally, religion must
so be the object and centre to which all things tend, that whoever
knows the principles of religion can give an explanation both of the
whole nature of man in particular, and of the whole course of the
world in general.
And on this ground they take occasion to revile the Christian
religion, because they misunderstand it. They imagine that it con-
sists simply in the worship of a God considered as great, powerful,
and eternal; which is strictly deism, almost as far removed from the
Christian religion as atheism, which is its exact opposite. And thence
they conclude that this religion is not true, because they do not see
that all things concur to the establishment of this point, that God
does not manifest Himself to men with all the evidence which He
could show.
But let them conclude what they will against deism, they will
conclude nothing against the Christian religion, which properly con-
181
1 82 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
sists in the mystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the
two natures, human and divine, has redeemed men from the corrup-
tion of sin in order to reconcile them in His divine person to God.
The Christian religion then teaches men these two truths; that
there is a God whom men can know, and that there is a corruption
in their nature which renders them unworthy of Him. It is equally
important to men to know both these points; and it is equally dan-
gerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretched-
ness, and to know his own wretchedness without knowing the Re-
deemer who can free him from it. The knowledge of only one of
these points gives rise either to the pride of philosophers, who have
known God, and not their own wretchedness, or to the despair of
atheists, who know their own wretchedness, but not the Redeemer.
And, as it is alike necessary to man to know these two points, so
is it alike merciful of God to have made us know them. The Chris-
tian religion does this; it is in this that it consists.
Let us herein examine the order of the world, and see if all things
do not tend to establish these two chief points of this religion: Jesus
Christ is the end of all, and the centre to which all tends. Whoever
knows Him knows the reason of everything.
Those who fall into error err only through failure to see one of
these two things. We can then have an excellent knowledge of God
without that of our own wretchedness, and of our own wretchedness
without that of God. But we cannot know Jesus Christ without
knowing at the same time both God and our own wretchedness.
Therefore I shall not undertake here to prove by natural reasons
either the existence of God, or the Trinity, or the immortality of
the soul, or anything of that nature; not only because I should not
feel myself sufficiently able to find in nature arguments to con-
vince hardened atheists, but also because such knowledge without
Jesus Christ is useless and barren. Though a man should be con-
vinced that numerical proportions are immaterial truths, eternal
and dependent on a first truth, in which they subsist, and which is
called God, I should not think him far advanced towards his own
salvation.
The God of Christians is not a God who is simply the author of
mathematical truths, or of the order of the elements; that is the view
THE FUNDAMENTALS 183
of heathens and Epicureans. He is not merely a God who exercises
His providence over the life and fortunes of men, to bestow on
those who worship Him a long and happy life. That was the portion
of the Jews. But the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God
of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and of comfort,
a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom He possesses, a
God who makes them conscious of their inward wretchedness, and
His infinite mercy, who unites Himself to their inmost soul, who
fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, who renders
them incapable of any other end than Himself.
All who seek God without Jesus Christ, and who rest in nature,
either find no light to satisfy them, or come to form for themselves
a means of knowing God and serving Him without a mediator.
Thereby they fall either into atheism, or into deism, two things which
the Christian religion abhors almost equally.
Without Jesus Christ the world would not exist; for it should
needs be either that it would be destroyed or be a hell.
If the world existed to instruct man of God, His divinity would
shine through every part in it in an indisputable manner; but as
it exists only by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ, and to teach men
both their corruption and their redemption, all displays the proofs of
these two truths.
All appearance indicates, neither a total exclusion nor a manifest
presence of divinity, but the presence of a God who hides Himself.
Everything bears this character.
. . . Shall he alone who knows his nature know it only to be
miserable ? Shall he alone who knows it be alone unhappy ?
. . . He must not see nothing at all, nor must he see sufficient
for him to believe he possesses it; but he must see enough to know
that he has lost it. For to know of his loss, he must see and not see;
and that is exactly the state in which he naturally is.
. . . Whatever part he takes, I shall not leave him at rest . . .
557
... It is then true that everything teaches man his condition, but
he must understand this well. For it is not true that all reveals God,
184 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
and it is not true that all conceals God. But it is at the same time
true that He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He
reveals Himself to those who seek Him, because men are both un-
worthy and capable of God; unworthy by their corruption, capable
by their original nature.
558
What shall we conclude from all our darkness, but our unworthi-
ness ?
559
If there never had been any appearance of God, this eternal depri-
vation would have been equivocal, and might have as well corre-
sponded with the absence of all divinity, as with the unworthiness of
men to Know Him; but His occasional, though not continual,
appearances remove the ambiguity. If He appeared once, He exists
always; and thus we cannot but conclude both that there is a God,
and that men are unworthy of Him.
560
We do not understand the glorious state of Adam, nor the nature
of his sin, nor the transmission of it to us. These are matters which
took place under conditions of a nature altogether different from
our own, and which transcend our present understanding.
The knowledge of all this is useless to us as a means of escape
from it; and all that we are concerned to know, is that we are miser-
able, corrupt, separated from God, but ransomed by Jesus Christ,
whereof we have wonderful proofs on earth.
So the two proofs of corruption and redemption are drawn from
the ungodly, who live in indifference to religion, and from the Jews
who are irreconcilable enemies.
There are two ways of proving the truths of our religion; one
by the power of reason, the other by the authority of him who speaks.
THE FUNDAMENTALS 185
We do not make use of the latter, but of the former. We do not
say, "This must be believed, for Scripture, which says it, is divine."
But we say that it must be believed for such and such a reason, which
are feeble arguments, as reason may be bent to everything.
562
There is nothing on earth that does not show either the wretched-
ness of man, or the mercy of God; either the weakness of man with-
out God, or the strength of man with God.
563
It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are
condemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn
the Christian religion.
564
The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are
not of such a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing.
But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is
unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and ob-
scurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is
such that it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary ;
so that it is not reason which can determine men not to follow it,
and thus it can only be lust or malice of heart. And by this means
there is sufficient evidence to condemn, and insufficient to convince;
so that it appears in those who follow it, that it is grace, and not
reason, which makes them follow it; and in those who shun it, that it
is lust, not reason, which makes them shun it.
Vere discipuli, vere hraelita, vere liberi, vere cibus^
565
Recognise, then, the truth of religion in the very obscurity of
religion, in the little light we have of it, and in the indifference which
we have to knowing it.
Un allusion to John, viii. 31; i. 47; viii. 36; vi. 32: "Verily disciples, verily an
Israelite, verily children, verily food."
1 86 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
566
We understand nothing of the works of God, if we do not take
as a principle that He has willed to blind some, and enlighten others.
567
The two contrary reasons. We must begin with that; without that
we understand nothing, and all is heretical; and we must even add
at the end of each truth that the opposite truth is to be remembered.
568
Objection. The Scripture is plainly full of matters not dictated
by the Holy Spirit. Answer. Then they do not harm faith. Objec-
tion. But the Church has decided that all is of the Holy Spirit.
Answer. I answer two things: first, the Church has not so decided;
secondly, if she should so decide, it could be maintained.
Do you think that the prophecies cited in the Gospel are related
to make you believe ? No, it is to keep you from believing.
569
Canonical. The heretical books in the beginning of the Church
serve to prove the canonical.
570
To the chapter on the Fundamentals must be added that on Typol-
ogy touching the reason of types: why Jesus Christ was prophesied as
to His first coming; why prophesied obscurely as to the manner.
The reason why. Types. [They had to deal with a carnal people
and to render them the depositary of the spiritual covenant.] To
give faith to the Messiah, it was necessary there should have been
precedent prophecies, and that these should be conveyed by persons
above suspicion, diligent, faithful, unusually zealous, and known to
all the world.
THE FUNDAMENTALS 187
To accomplish all this, God chose this carnal people, to whom He
entrusted the prophecies which foretell the Messiah as a deliverer,
and as a dispenser of those carnal goods which this people loved.
And thus they have had an extraordinary passion for their prophets,
and, in sight of the whole world, have had charge of these books
which foretell their Messiah, assuring all nations that He should
come, and in the way foretold in the books, which they held open to
the whole world. Yet this people, deceived by the poor and igno-
minious advent of the Messiah, have been His most cruel enemies.
So that they, the people least open to suspicion in the world of
favouring us, the most strict and most zealous that can be named
for their law and their prophets, have kept the books incorrupt.
Hence those who have rejected and crucified Jesus Christ, who has
been to them an offence, are those who have charge of the books
which testify of Him, and state that He will be an offence and
rejected. Therefore they have shown it was He by rejecting Him,
and He has been alike proved both by the righteous Jews who re-
ceived Him, and by the unrighteous who rejected Him, both facts
having been foretold.
Wherefore the prophecies have a hidden and spiritual meaning,
to which this people were hostile, under the carnal meaning which
they loved. If the spiritual meaning had been revealed, they would
not have loved it, and, unable to bear it, they would not have been
zealous of the preservation of their books and their ceremonies; and
if they had loved these spiritual promises, and had preserved them
incorrupt till the time of the Messiah, their testimony would have
had no force, because they had been his friends.
Therefore it was well that the spiritual meaning should be con-
cealed; but, on the other hand, if this meaning had been so hidden as
not to appear at all, it could not have served as a proof of the Mes-
siah. What then was done ? In a crowd of passages it has been hid-
den under the temporal meaning, and in a few has been clearly re-
vealed; besides that the time and the state of the world have been so
clearly foretold that it is clearer than the sun. And in some places
this spiritual meaning is so clearly expressed, that it would require a
blindness like that which the flesh imposes on the spirit when it is
subdued by it, not to recognise it.
1 88 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
See then what has been the prudence of God. This meaning is
concealed under another in an infinite number of passages, and in
some, though rarely, it is revealed; but yet so that the passages in
which it is concealed are equivocal, and can suit both meanings;
whereas the passages where it is disclosed are unequivocal, and can
only suit the spiritual meaning.
So that this cannot lead us into error, and could only be misunder-
stood by so carnal a people.
For when blessings are promised in abundance, what was to pre-
vent them from understanding the true blessings, but their covetous-
ness, which limited the meaning to worldly goods ? But those whose
only good was in God referred them to God alone. For there are two
principles, which divide the wills of men, covetousness and charity.
Not that covetousness cannot exist along with faith in God, nor
charity with worldly riches; but covetousness uses God, and enjoys
the world, and charity is the opposite.
Now the ultimate end gives names to things. All which prevents
us from attaining it, is called an enemy to us. Thus the creatures,
however good, are the enemies of the righteous, when they turn them
away from God, and God Himself is the enemy of those whose covet-
ousness He confounds.
Thus as the significance of the word "enemy" is dependent on
the ultimate end, the righteous understood by it their passions, and
the carnal the Babylonians; and so these terms were obscure only
for the unrighteous. And this is what Isaiah says: Signa legem in
electis meis 2 and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling.
But, "Blessed are they who shall not be ofTended in him." Hosea, ult.,
says excellently, "Where is the wise? and he shall understand what
I say. The righteous shall know them, for the ways of God are right;
but the transgressors shall fall therein."
572
Hypothesis that the apostles were impostors. The time clearly,
the manner obscurely. Five typical proofs
( 1600 prophets.
2000 ]
( 400 scattered.
2 Isaiah, viii. 16.
THE FUNDAMENTALS 189
573
Blindness of Scripture. "The Scripture," said the Jews, "says that
we shall not know whence Christ will come (John vii. 27 and xii. 34).
The Scripture says that Christ abideth for ever, and He said that He
should die." Therefore, says Saint John, they believed not, though He
had done so many miracles, that the word of Isaiah might be ful-
filled: "He hath blinded them," &c.
574
Greatness. Religion is so great a thing that it is right that those
who will not take the trouble to seek it, if it be obscure, should be
deprived of it. Why then do any complain, if it be such as can be
found by seeking?
575
All things work together for good to the elect, even the obscuri-
ties of Scripture; for they honour them because of what is divinely
clear. And all things work together for evil to the rest of the world,
even what is clear; for they revile such, because of the obscurities
which they do not understand.
57 6
The general conduct of the world towards the Church: God will-
ing to blind and to enlighten. The event having proved the divinity
of these prophecies, the rest ought to be believed. And thereby we
see the order of the world to be of this kind. The miracles of the
Creation and the Deluge being forgotten, God sends the law and
the miracles of Moses, the prophets who prophesied particular things;
and to prepare a lasting miracle, He prepares prophecies and their
fulfilment; but, as the prophecies could be suspected, He desires to
make them above suspicion, &c.
577
God has made the blindness of this people subservient to the good
of the elect.
190 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
578
There is sufficient clearness to enlighten the elect, and sufficient
obscurity to humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to blind
the reprobate, and sufficient clearness to condemn them, and make
them inexcusable. Saint Augustine, Montaigne, Sebond.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament is inter-
mingled with so many others that are useless, that it cannot be dis-
tinguished. If Moses had kept only the record of the ancestors of
Christ, that might have been too plain. If he had not noted that of
Jesus Christ, it might not have been sufficiently plain. But, after all,
whoever looks closely sees that of Jesus Christ expressly traced
through Tamar, Ruth, &c.
Those who ordained these sacrifices, knew their uselessness; those
who have declared their uselessness have not ceased to practise them.
If God had permitted only one religion, it had been too easily
known; but when we look at it closely, we clearly discern the truth
amidst this confusion.
The premiss. Moses was a clever man. If then he ruled himself
by his reason, he would say nothing clearly which was directly against
reason.
Thus all the very apparent weaknesses are strength. Example: the
two genealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. What can be
clearer than that this was not concerted ?
579
God (and the Apostles), foreseeing that the seeds of pride would
make heresies spring up, and being unwilling to give them occasion
to arise from correct expressions, has put in Scripture and the prayers
of the Church contrary words and sentences to produce their fruit in
time.
So in morals He gives charity, which produces fruits contrary to
lust.
580
Nature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God,
and some defects to show that she is only His image.
THE FUNDAMENTALS
581
God prefers rather to incline the will than the intellect. Perfect
clearness would be of use to the intellect, and would harm the will.
To humble pride.
582
We make an idol of truth itself; for truth apart from charity
is not God, but His image and idol, which we must neither love
nor worship; and still less must we love or worship its opposite,
namely, falsehood.
I can easily love total darkness; but if God keeps me in a state
of semi-darkness, such partial darkness displeases me, and, because
I do not see therein the advantage of total darkness, it is unpleasant
to me. This is a fault, and a sign that I make for myself an idol of
darkness, apart from the order of God. Now only His order must be
worshipped.
583
The feeble-minded are people who know the truth, but only
affirm it so far as consistent with their own interest. But, apart
from that, they renounce it.
584
The world exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, not as if
men were placed in it out of the hands of God, but as hostile to God;
and to them He grants by grace sufficient light, that they may return
to Him, if they desire to seek and follow Him; and also that they
may be punished, if they refuse to seek or follow Him.
585
That God has willed to hide Himself. If there were only one re-
ligion, God would indeed be manifest. The same would be the case,
if there were no martyrs but in our religion.
God being thus hidden, every religion which does not affirm that
God is hidden, is not true; and every religion which does not give
192 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
the reason of it, is not instructive. Our religion does all this: Vere
tu es Dens absconditus?
If there were no obscurity, man would not be sensible of his cor-
ruption; if there were no light, man would not hope for a remedy.
Thus, it is not only fair, but advantageous to us, that God be partly
hidden and partly revealed; since it is equally dangerous to man to
know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his
own wretchedness without knowing God.
587
This religion, so great in miracles, saints, blameless Fathers, learned
and great witnesses, martyrs, established kings as David, and Isaiah, a
prince of the blood, and so great in science, after having displayed all
her miracles and all her wisdom, rejects all this, and declares that
she has neither wisdom nor signs, but only the cross and foolishness.
For those, who, by these signs and that wisdom, have deserved your
belief, and who have proved to you their character, declare to you that
nothing of all this can change you, and render you capable of know-
ing and loving God, but the power of the foolishness of the cross
without wisdom and signs, and not the signs without this power.
Thus our religion is foolish in respect to the effective cause, and wise
in respect to the wisdom which prepares it.
588
Our religion is wise and foolish. Wise, because it is the most
learned, and the most founded on miracles, prophecies, &c. Foolish,
because it is not all this which makes us belong to it. This makes us
indeed condemn those who do not belong to it; but it does not cause
belief in those who do belong to it. It is the cross that makes them
believe, ne evacuata sit crux? And so Saint Paul, who came with
wisdom and signs, says that he has come neither with wisdom nor
with signs; for he came to convert. But those who come only to
convince, can say that they come with wisdom and with signs.
3 "Truly thou art a hidden God." 4 i Corinthians, i. 17.
SECTION IX
PERPETUITY
589
ON the fact that the Christian religion is not the only religion.
So far is this from being a reason for believing that it is
not the true one, that, on the contrary, it makes us see that
it is so.
590
Men must be sincere in all religions; true heathens, true Jews,
true Christians.
591
J. C.
Heathens | Mahomet
\~ ~7
Ignorance
of God.
592
The falseness of other religions. They have no witnesses. The
Jews have. God defies other religions to produce such signs: Isaiah
xiii. 9; xliv. 8.
593
History of China. I believe only the histories, whose witnesses got
themselves killed.
[Which is the more credible of the two, Moses or China?]
It is not a question of seeing this summarily. I tell you there is in
it something to blind, and something to enlighten.
193
194 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
By this one word I destroy all your reasoning. "But China ob-
scures," say you; and I answer, "China obscures, but there is clear-
ness to be found; seek it."
Thus all that you say makes for one of the views, and not at all
against the other. So this serves, and does no harm.
We must then see this in detail; we must put the papers on the
table.
594
Against the history of China. The historians of Mexico, the five
suns, of which the last is only eight hundred years old.
The difference between a book accepted by a nation, and one
which makes a nation.
595
Mahomet was without authority. His reasons then should have
been very strong, having only their own force. What does he say
then, that we must believe him?
59 6
The Psalms are chanted throughout the whole world.
Who renders testimony to Mahomet? Himself. Jesus Christ
desires His own testimony to be as nothing.
The quality of witnesses necessitates their existence always and
everywhere; and he, miserable creature, is alone.
597
Against Mahomet. The Koran is not more of Mahomet than the
Gospel is of Saint Matthew, for it is cited by many authors from
age to age. Even its very enemies, Celsus and Porphyry, never
denied it.
The Koran says Saint Matthew was an honest man. Therefore
Mahomet was a false prophet for calling honest men wicked, or
for not agreeing with what they have said of Jesus Christ.
PERPETUITY 195
598
It is not by that which is obscure in Mahomet, and which may be
interpreted in a mysterious sense, that I would have him judged,
but by what is clear, as his paradise and the rest. In that he is ridicu-
lous. And since what is clear is ridiculous, it is not right to take
his obscurities for mysteries.
It is not the same with the Scripture. I agree that there are in it
obscurities as strange as those of Mahomet; but there are admirably
clear passages, and the prophecies are manifestly fulfilled. The cases
are therefore not on a par. WeTfmst not confound, and put on one
level things which only resemble each other in their obscurity, and
not in the clearness, which requires us to reverence the obscurities.
599
The difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet. Mahomet
was not foretold; Jesus Christ was foretold.
Mahomet slew; Jesus Christ caused His own to be slain.
Mahomet forbade reading; the Apostles ordered reading.
In fact the two are so opposed, that if Mahomet took the way to
succeed from a worldly point of view, Jesus Christ, from the same
point of view, took the way to perish. And instead of concluding
that, since Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ might well have suc-
ceeded, we ought to say that since Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ
should have failed.
600
Any man can do what Mahomet has done; for he performed no
miracles, he was not foretold. No man can do what Christ has done.
601
The heathen religion has no foundation [at the present day. It is
said once to have had a foundation by the oracles which spoke. But
what are the books which assure us of this? Are they so worthy of
belief on account of the virtue of their authors? Have they been
196 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
preserved with such care that we can be sure that they have not been
meddled with?]
The Mahomedan religion has for a foundation the Koran and
Mahomet. But has this prophet, who was to be the last hope of the
world, been foretold? What sign has he that every other man has
not, who chooses to call himself a prophet? What miracles does he
himself say that he has done? What mysteries has he taught, even
according to his own tradition? What was the morality, what the
happiness held out by him?
The Jewish religion must be differently regarded in the tradition
of the Holy Bible, and in the tradition of the people. Its morality and
happiness are absurd in the tradition of the people, but are ad-
mirable in that of the Holy Bible. (And all religion is the same;
for the Christian religion is very different in the Holy Bible and
in the casuists.) The foundation is admirable; it is the most ancient
book in the world, and the most authentic; and whereas Mahomet,
in order to make his own book continue in existence, forbade men
to read it, Moses, for the same reason, ordered every one to read his.
Our religion is so divine that another divine religion has only been
the foundation of it.
602
Order. To see what is clear and indisputable in the whole state of
the Jews.
The Jewish religion is wholly divine in its authority, its duration,
its perpetuity, its morality, its doctrine, and its effects.
604
The only science contrary to common sense and human nature
is that alone which has always existed among men.
The only religion contrary to nature, to common sense, and to
our pleasure, is that alone which has always existed.
PERPETUITY 197
606
No religion but our own has taught that man is born in sin.
No sect of philosophers has said this. Therefore none have de-
clared the truth.
No sect or religion has always existed on earth, but the Christian
religion.
Whoever judges of the Jewish religion by its coarser forms will
misunderstand it. It is to be seen in the Holy Bible, and in the tradi-
tion of the prophets, who have made it plain enough that they did
not interpret the law according to the letter. So our religion is di-
vine in the Gospel, in the Apostles, and in tradition; but it is absurd
in those who tamper with it.
The Messiah, according to the carnal Jews, was to be a great tem-
poral prince. Jesus Christ, according to carnal Christians, has come
to dispense us from the love of God, and to give us sacraments which
shall do everything without our help. Such is not the Christian re-
ligion, nor the Jewish. True Jews and true Christians have always
expected a Messiah who should make them love God, and by that
love triumph over their enemies.
608
The carnal Jews hold a midway place between Christians and
heathens. The heathens know not God, and love the world only.
The Jews know the true God, and love the world only. The Chris-
tians know the true God, and love not the world. Jews and heathens
love the same good. Jews and Christians know the same God.
The Jews were of two kinds; the first had only heathen affections,
the other had Christian affections.
609
There are two kinds of men in each religion : among the heathen,
worshippers of beasts, and the worshippers of the one only God
198 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
of natural religion; among the Jews, the carnal, and the spiritual,
who were the Christians of the old law; among Christians, the
coarser-minded, who are the Jews of the new law. The carnal Jews
looked for a carnal Messiah; the coarser Christians believe that the
Messiah has dispensed them from the love of God; true Jews and
true Christians worship a Messiah who makes them love God.
610
To show that the true Jews and the true Christians have but the
same religion. The religion of the Jews seemed to consist essentially
in the fatherhood of Abraham, in circumcision, in sacrifices, in cere-
monies, in the Ark, in the temple, in Jerusalem, and, finally, in the
law, and in the covenant with Moses.
I say that it consisted in none of those things, but only in the love
of God, and that God disregarded all the other things.
That God did not accept the posterity of Abraham.
That the Jews were to be punished like strangers, if they trans-
gressed. Deut., viii. 19: "If thou do at all forget the Lord thy God,
and walk after other gods, I testify against you this day that ye shall
surely perish, as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your
face."
That strangers, if they loved God, were to be received by Him
as the Jews. Isaiah, Ivi. 3: "Let not the stranger say, 'The Lord will
not receive me.' The strangers who join themselves unto the Lord
to serve Him and love Him, will I bring unto my holy mountain,
and accept therein sacrifices, for mine house is a house of prayer."
That the true Jews considered their merit to be from God only, and
not from Abraham. Isaiah, Ixiii. 16: "Doubtless thou art our Father,
though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not.
Thou art our Father and our Redeemer."
Moses himself told them that God would not accept persons.
Deut., x. 17: "God," said he, "regardeth neither persons nor sac-
rifices."
The Sabbath was only a sign, Exod., xxxi. 13; and in memory of
the escape from Egypt, Deut., v. 15. Therefore it is no longer neces-
sary, since Egypt must be forgotten.
PERPETUITY 199
Circumcision was only a sign, Gen., xvii. n. And thence it came
to pass that, being in the desert, they were not circumcised, because
they could not be confounded with other peoples; and after Jesus
Christ came, it was no longer necessary.
That the circumcision of the heart is commanded. Deut., x. 16;
Jeremiah, iv. 4: "Be ye circumcised in heart; take away the superflui-
ties of your heart, and harden yourselves not. For your God is a
mighty God, strong and terrible, who accepteth not persons."
That God said He would one day do it. Deut., xxx. 6: "God
will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou may-
est love Him with all thine heart."
That the uncircumcised in heart shall be judged. Jeremiah, ix. 26:
For God will judge the uncircumcised peoples, and all the people of
Israel, because he is "uncircumcised in heart."
That the external is of no avail apart from the internal. Joel, ii. 13;
Scindite corda vestra, &c. Isaiah, Iviii. 3, 4, &c.
The love of God is enjoined in the whole of Deuteronomy. Deut.,
xxx. 19: "I call heaven and earth to record that I have set before you
life and death, that you should choose life, and love God, and obey
Him, for God is your life."
That the Jews, for lack of that love, should be rejected for their
offences, and the heathen chosen in their stead. Hosea, i. 10; Deut.,
xxxii. 20. "I will hide myself from them in view of their latter sins,
for they are a froward generation without faith. They have moved
me to jealousy with that which is not God, and I will move them to
jealousy with those which are not a people, and with an ignorant
and foolish nation." Isaiah, Ixv. i.
That temporal goods are false, and that the true good is to be united
to God. Psalm cxliii. 15.
That their feasts are displeasing to God. Amos, v. 21.
That the sacrifices of the Jews displeased God. Isaiah, Ixvi. 1-3; i.
ii ; Jer., vi. 20; David, Miserere. Even on the part of the good,
Expectavi. Psalm xlix. 8, 9, 10, ii, 12, 13, and 14.
That He has established them only for their hardness. Micah,
admirably, vi.; I Kings, xv. 22; Hosea, vi. 6.
That the sacrifices of the Gentiles will be accepted of God, and that
God will take no pleasure in the sacrifices of the Jews. Malachi, i. ii.
2oo PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
That God will make a new covenant with the Messiah, and the
old will be annulled. ]er., xxxi. 31. Mandata non bona. Eze\.
That the old things will be forgotten. Isaiah, xliii. 18, 19; Ixv.
17, 18.
That the Ark will no longer be remembered. ]er., iii. 15.
That the temple should be rejected. Jer., vii. 12, 13, 14.
That the sacrifices should be rejected, and other pure sacrifices
established. Malachi, i. n.
That the order of Aaron's priesthood should be rejected, and that
of Melchizedek introduced by the Messiah. Ps. Dixit Dominus.
That this priesthood should be eternal. Ibid.
That Jerusalem should be rejected, and Rome admitted. Ps. Dixit
Dominus.
That the name of the Jews should be rejected, and a new name
given. Isaiah, Ixv. 15.
That this last name should be more excellent than that of the
Jews, and eternal. Isaiah, Ivi. 5.
That the Jews should be without prophets (Amos), without a
king, without princes, without sacrifice, without an idol.
That the Jews should nevertheless always remain a people. Jer.
xxxi. 36.
611
Republic. The Christian Republic and even the Jewish has
only had God for ruler, as Philo the Jew notices, On Monarchy.
When they fought, it was for God only; their chief hope was in
God only; they considered their towns as belonging to God only,
and kept them for God. i Chron., xix. 13.
612
Gen., xvii. 7. Statuam pactum meum inter me et te jcedere sempi-
terno ut sim Deus tuus.
Gen., xvii. 9. Et tit ergo custodies pactum meum.
Perpetuity. That religion has always existed on earth, which
consists in believing that man has fallen from a state of glory and of
PERPETUITY 201
communion with God into a state of sorrow, penitence, and estrange-
ment from God, but that after this life we shall be restored by a
Messiah who should have come. All things have passed away, and
this has endured, for which all things are. %
Men have in the first age of the world been carried away into
every kind of debauchery, and yet there were saints, as Enoch,
Lamech, and others, who waited patiently for the Christ promised
from the beginning of the world. Noah saw the wickedness of men
at its height; and he was held worthy to save the world in his per-
son, by the hope of the Messiah of whom he was the type. Abraham
was surrounded by idolaters, when God made known to him the
mystery of the Messiah, whom he welcomed from afar. In the time
of Isaac and Jacob abomination was spread over all the earth; but
these saints lived in faith; and Jacob, dying and blessing his children,
cried in a transport which made him break off his discourse, "I
await, O my God, the Saviour whom Thou hast promised. Salutare
tuum expectabo, Domine." The Egyptians were infected both with
idolatry and magic; the very people of God were led astray by their
example. Yet Moses and others believed Him whom they saw not,
and worshipped Him, looking to the eternal gifts which He was
preparing for them.
The Greeks and Latins then set up false deities; the poets made
a hundred different theologies, while the philosophers separated
into a thousand different sects; and yet in the heart of Judaea there
were always chosen men who foretold the coming of this Messiah,
which was known to them alone.
He came at length in the fulness of time, and rime has since wit-
nessed the birth of so many schisms and heresies, so many political
revolutions, so many changes in all things; yet this Church, which
worships Him who has always been worshipped, has endured unin-
terruptedly. It is a wonderful, incomparable, and altogether divine
fact that this religion, which has always endured, has always been
attacked. It has been a thousand times on the eve of universal de-
struction, and every time it has been in that state, God has restored it
by extraordinary acts of His power. This is astonishing, as also that
it has preserved itself without yielding to the will of tyrants. For it
is not strange that a State endures, when its laws are sometimes made
2O2 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
to give way to necessity, but that . . . (See the passage indicated in
Montaigne.)
614
States would perish if they did not often make their laws give
way to necessity. But religion has never suffered this, or practised it.
Indeed there must be these compromises, or miracles. It is not strange
to be saved by yielding, and this is not strictly self-preservation; be-
sides, in the end they perish entirely. None has endured a thousand
years. But the fact that this religion has always maintained itself,
inflexible as it is, proves its divinity.
Whatever may be said, it must be admitted that the Christian re-
ligion has something astonishing in it. Some will say, "This is be-
cause you were born in it." Far from it; I stiffen myself against it for
this very reason, for fear this prejudice bias me. But although I am
born in it, I cannot help finding it so.
616
Perpetuity. The Messiah has always been believed in. The tradi-
tion from Adam was still fresh in Noah and in Moses. Since then
the prophets have foretold him, while at the same time foretelling
other things, which, being from time to time fulfilled in the sight
of men, showed the truth of their mission, and consequently that
of their promises touching the Messiah. Jesus Christ performed
miracles, and the Apostles also, who converted all the heathen; and
all the prophecies being thereby fulfilled, the Messiah is for ever
proved.
Perpetuity. Let us consider that since the beginning of the
world the expectation or worship of the Messiah has existed unin-
terruptedly; that there have been found men, who said that God
had revealed to them that a Redeemer was to be born, who should
PERPETUITY 203
save His people; that Abraham came afterwards, saying that he
had had a revelation that the Messiah was to spring from him by
a son, whom he should have; that Jacob declared that, of his twelve
sons, the Messiah would spring from Judah; that Moses and the
prophets then came to declare the time and the manner of His
coming; that they said their law was only temporary till that of the
Messiah, that it should endure till then, but that the other should
last for ever; that thus either their law, or that of the Messiah, of
which it was the promise, would be always upon the earth; that, in
fact, it has always endured; that at last Jesus Christ came with all
the circumstances foretold. This is wonderful.
618
This is positive fact. While all philosophers separate into different
sects, there is found in one corner of the world the most ancient
people in it, declaring that all the world is in error, that God has re-
vealed to them the truth, that they will always exist on the earth.
In fact, all other sects come to an end, this one still endures, and
has done so for four thousand years.
They declare that they hold from their ancestors that man has
fallen from communion with God, and is entirely estranged from
God, but that He has promised to redeem them; that this doctrine
shall always exist on the earth; that their law has a double signifi-
cation; that during sixteen hundred years they have had people,
whom they believed prophets, foretelling both the time and the
manner; that four hundred years after they were scattered every-
where, because Jesus Christ was to be everywhere announced; that
Jesus Christ came in the manner, and at the time foretold; that the
Jews have since been scattered abroad under a curse, and neverthe-
less still exist.
619
I see the Christian religion founded upon a preceding religion,
and this is what I find as a fact.
I do not here speak of the miracles of Moses, of Jesus Christ, and
of the Apostles, because they do not at first seem convincing,
204 PASCALS THOUGHTS
because I only wish here to put in evidence all those foundations of
the Christian religion which are beyond doubt, and which cannot
be called in question by any person whatsoever. It is certain that
we see in many places of the world a peculiar people, separated from
all other peoples of the world, and called the Jewish people.
I see then a crowd of religions in many parts of the world and in
all times; but their morality cannot please me, nor can their proofs
convince me. Thus I should equally have rejected the religion of
Mahomet and of China, of the ancient Romans and of the Egyptians,
for the sole reason, that none having more marks of truth than
another, nor anything which should necessarily persuade me, reason
cannot incline to one rather than the other.
But, in thus considering this changeable and singular variety of
morals and beliefs at different times, I find in one corner of the
world a peculiar people, separated from all other peoples on earth,
the most ancient of all, and whose histories are earlier by many
generations than the most ancient which we possess.
I find then this great and numerous people, sprung from a single
man, who worship one God, and guide themselves by a law which
they say that they obtained from His own hand. They maintain that
they are the only people in the world to whom God has revealed
His mysteries; that all men are corrupt and in disgrace with God;
that they are all abandoned to their senses and their own imagina-
tion, whence come the strange errors and continual changes which
happen among them, both of religions and of morals, whereas they
themselves remain firm in their conduct; but that God will not
leave other nations in this darkness for ever; that there will come
a Saviour for all; that they are in the world to announce Him to
men; that they are expressly formed to be forerunners and heralds
of this great event, and to summon all nations to join with them in
the expectation of this Saviour.
To meet with this people is astonishing to me, and seems to me
worthy of attention. I look at the law which they boast of having
obtained from God, and I find it admirable. It is the first law of
all, and is of such a kind that, even before the term law was in cur-
rency among the Greeks, it had, for nearly a thousand years earlier,
been uninterruptedly accepted and observed by the Jews. I likewise
PERPETUITY 2O5
think it strange that the first law of the world happens to be the most
perfect; so that the greatest legislators have borrowed their laws
from it, as is apparent from the law of the Twelve Tables at Athens,
afterwards taken by the Romans, and as it would be easy to prove, if
Josephus and others had not sufficiently dealt with this subject.
620
Advantages of the Jewish people. In this search the Jewish people
at once attract my attention by the number of wonderful and sin-
gular facts which appear about them.
I first see that they are a people wholly composed of brethren,
and whereas all others are formed by the assemblage of an infinity
of families, this, though so wonderfully fruitful, has all sprung from
one man alone, and, being thus all one flesh, and members one of
another, they constitute a powerful state of one family. This is
unique.
This family, or people, is the most ancient within human knowl-
edge, a fact which seems to me to inspire a peculiar veneration for
it, especially in view of our present inquiry; since if God has from
all time revealed Himself to men, it is to these we must turn for
knowledge of the tradition.
This people is not eminent solely by their antiquity, but is also
singular by their duration, which has always continued from their
origin till now. For whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy, of
Lacedaemon, of Athens and of Rome, and others who came long
after, have long since perished, these ever remain, and in spite of the
endeavours of many powerful kings who have a hundred times tried
to destroy them, as their historians testify, and as it is easy to con-
jecture from the natural order of things during so long a space of
years, they have nevertheless been preserved (and this preservation
has been foretold) ; and extending from the earliest times to the latest,
their history comprehends in its duration all our histories [which it
preceded by a long time].
The law by which this people is governed is at once the most
ancient law in the world, the most perfect, and the only one which
has been always observed without a break in a state. This is what
2o6 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Josephus admirably proves, against Apion, and also Philo the Jew,
in different places where they point out that it is so ancient that the
very name of law was only known by the oldest nation more than
a thousand years afterwards; so that Homer, who has written the
history of so many states, has never used the term. And it is easy
to judge of its perfection by simply reading it; for we see that it has
provided for all things with so great wisdom, equity and judgment,
that the most ancient legislators, Greek and Roman, having had
some knowledge of it, have borrowed from it their principal laws;
this is evident from what are called the Twelve Tables, and from the
other proofs which Josephus gives.
But this law is at the same time the severest and strictest of all in
respect to their religious worship, imposing on this people, in order
to keep them to their duty, a thousand peculiar and painful observ-
ances, on pain of death. Whence it is very astonishing that it has
been constantly preserved during many centuries by a people, re-
bellious and impatient as this one was; while all other states have
changed their laws from time to time, although these were far more
lenient.
The book which contains this law, the first of all, is itself the
most ancient book in the world, those of Homer, Hesiod, and others,
being six or seven hundred years later.
621
The creation and the deluge being past, and God no longer re-
quiring to destroy the world, nor to create it anew, nor to give such
great signs of Himself, He began to establish a people on the earth,
purposely formed, who were to last until the coming of the people
whom the Messiah should fashion by His spirit.
622
The creation of the world beginning to be distant, God provided
a single contemporary historian, and appointed a whole people as
guardians of this book, in order that this history might be the most
authentic in the world, and that all men might thereby learn a fact
so necessary to know, and which could only be known through that
means.
PERPETUITY 207
623
[Japhet begins the genealogy.]
Joseph folds his arms, and prefers to keep silent.
624
Why should Moses make the lives of men so long, and their
generations so few?
Because it is not the length of years, but the multitude of genera-
tions, which renders things obscure. For truth is perverted only by
the change of men. And yet he puts two things, the most memorable
that were ever imagined, namely, the creation and the deluge, so
near that we reach from one to the other.
625
Shem, who saw Lamech, who saw Adam, saw also Jacob, who saw
those who saw Moses; therefore the deluge and the creation are true.
This is conclusive among certain people who understand it rightly.
626
The longevity of the patriarchs, instead of causing the loss of
past history, conduced, on the contrary, to its preservation. For the
reason why we are sometimes insufficiently instructed in the history
of our ancestors, is that we have never lived long with them, and
that they are often dead before we have attained the age of reason.
Now, when men lived so long, children lived long with their parents.
They conversed long with them. But what else could be the subject
of their talk save the history of their ancestors, since to that all history
was reduced, and men did not study science or art, which now form
a large part of daily conversation? We see also that in these days
tribes took particular care to preserve their genealogies.
627
I believe that Joshua was the first of God's people to have this
name, as Jesus Christ was the last of God's people.
208 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
628
Antiquity of the Jews. What a difference there is between one
book and another! I am not astonished that the Greeks made the
Iliad, nor the Egyptians and the Chinese their histories.
We have only to see how this originates. These fabulous historians
are not contemporaneous with the facts about which they write.
Homer composes a romance, which he gives out as such, and which
is received as such; for nobody doubted that Troy and Agamemnon
no more existed than did the golden apple. Accordingly he did not
think of making a history, but solely a book to amuse; he is the
only writer of his time; the beauty of the work has made it last, every
one learns it and talks of it, it is necessary to know it, and each one
knows it by heart. Four hundred years afterwards the witnesses of
these facts are no longer alive, no one knows of his own knowledge
if it be a fable or a history; one has only learnt it from his ancestors,
and this can pass for truth.
Every history which is not contemporaneous, as the books of the
Sibyls and Trismegistus, and so many others which have been be-
lieved by the world, are false, and found to be false in the course of
time. It is not so with contemporaneous writers.
There is a great difference between a book which an individual
writes, and publishes to a nation, and a book which itself creates a
nation. We cannot doubt that the book is as old as the people.
629
Josephus hides the shame of his nation.
Moses does not hide his own shame.
Quis mi hi det ut omnes prophetent? 1
He was weary of the multitude.
630
The sincerity of the Jews. Maccabees, after they had no more
prophets; the Masorah, since Jesus Christ.
This book will be a testimony for you.
1 Numbers, xi. 29.
PERPETUITY 209
Defective and final letters.
Sincere against their honour, and dying for it; this has no example
in the world, and no root in nature.
631
Sincerity of the Jews. They preserve lovingly and carefully the
book in which Moses declares that they have been all their life un-
grateful to God, and that he knows they will be still more so after
his death; but that he calls heaven and earth to witness against them,
and that he has [taught] them enough.
He declares that God, being angry with them, shall at last scatter
them among all the nations of the earth; that as they have offended
Him by worshipping gods who were not their God, so He will pro-
voke them by calling a people who are not His people; that He de-
sires that all His words be preserved for ever, and that His book be
placed in the Ark of the Covenant to serve for ever as a witness
against them.
Isaiah says the same thing, xxx.
632
On Esdras. The story that the books were burnt with the temple
proved false by Maccabees : " Jeremiah gave them the law."
The story that he recited the whole by heart. Josephus and Esdras
point out that he read the boof^. Baronius, Annales, p. 180: Nullus
penitus Hebrceorum antiquorum reperitur qui tradiderit libros
periisse et per Esdram esse restitutes, nisi in IV. Esdrte. 2
The story that he changed the letters.
Philo, in Vita Moysis: Ilia lingua ac character quo antiquitus
scripta est lex sic permansit usque ad LXX. 3
Josephus says that the Law was in Hebrew when it was translated
by the Seventy.
Under Antiochus and Vespasian, when they wanted to abolish
the books, and when there was no prophet, they could not do so.
And under the Babylonians, when no persecution had been made,
2 "Nothing is found within the ancient Hebrew writings which recorded that the
books perished and were restored through Esdras, except in Esdras, IV ."
3 "The same language and character in which the Law was written in ancient
times remained till the Septuagint."
210 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
and when there were so many prophets, would they have let them
be burnt?
Josephus laughs at the Greeks who would not bear . . .
Tertullian. Perinde potuit abolejactam earn violentia cataclysmi
in spiritu rursus rejormare, quemadmodum et Hierosolymis Baby-
lonia expugnatione deletis, omnc instrumentum Judaices literatures
per Esdram constat restauratum. 4
He says that Noah could as easily have restored in spirit the book
of Enoch, destroyed by the Deluge, as Esdras could have restored the
Scriptures lost during the Captivity.
(Geos) kv rjj M Na/3oi>xoSow(rdp alxi^a\cj3ffLq. rou Xaou, 8i.a(j>0apeir&v
T&V ypaf>&v . . . VTTvevffev "Ecrdpq. T$ tepet /c rijs j>v\-f]s Aevi rous
rcj)V irpoyeyovSrcov Trpo^TrjT&v ird^ras dvara^aa'daL XOYOUS, /cat aTTOAcara-
oT77rat r Xay Trjv 5tA Mcoutrccos vo{M0(riav^ He alleges this to prove
that it is not incredible that the Seventy may have explained the holy
Scriptures with that uniformity which we admire in them. And he
took that from Saint Irenzus.
Saint Hilary, in his preface to the Psalms, says that Esdras
arranged the Psalms in order.
The origin of this tradition comes from the fourteenth chapter of
the fourth book of Esdras. Deus glorificatus est, et Scriptures vere
divines creditcs sunt, omnibus eandem et eisdem verbis et eisdem
nominibus recitantibus ab initio usque ad finem, uti et prcssentes
gentes cognoscerent quoniam per inspirationem Dei interpretatcs
sunt Scriptures et non esset mirabile Deum hoc in eis operatum:
quando in ea captivitate populi ques jacta est a Nabuchodonosor,
corruptis scripturis et post 70 annos Judesis descendentibus in
regionem suam, et post deinde temporibus Artaxercis Persarum regis,
inspiravit Esdres sacerdoti tribus Levi presteritorum prophetarum
omnes rememorare sermones, et restituere populo earn legem ques
data est per Moysen.
633
Against the story in Esdras, II. Maccab., ii.; Josephus Antiquities ',
II. i. Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy of Isaiah to release the
4 Tertullian, De cultu jetntn., ii. 3.
5 Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica, lib* v. f C. 8.
PERPETUITY 211
people. The Jews held their property in peace under Cyrus in
Babylon; hence they could well have the Law.
Josephus, in the whole history of Esdras, does not say one word
about this restoration. II. Kings, xvii. 27.
634
If the story in Esdras is credible, then it must be believed that the
Scripture is Holy Scripture; for this story is based only on the author-
ity of those who assert that of the Seventy, which shows that the
Scripture is holy.
Therefore if this account be true, we have what we want therein;
if not, we have it elsewhere. And thus those who would ruin the
truth of our religion, founded on Moses, establish it by the same
authority by which they attack it. So by this providence it still exists.
635
Chronology of Rabbinism. (The citations of pages are from the
book Pugio.)
Page 27. R. Hakadosch (anno 200), author of the Mischna, or
vocal law, or second law.
Commentaries on the Mischna (anno 340) : The one Siphra.
Barajetot.
Talmud Hierosol.
Tosiphtot.
Bereschit Rabah, by R. Osaiah Rabah, commentary on the Mischna.
Bereschit Rabah, Bar Naconi, are subtle and pleasant discourses,
historical and theological. This same author wrote the books called
Rabot.
A hundred years after the Talmud Hierosol, 440 A. D., was com-
posed the Babylonian Talmud, by R. Ase, by the universal consent of
all the Jews, who are necessarily obliged to observe all that is con-
tained therein.
The addition of R. Ase is called the Gemara, that is to say, the
"commentary" on the Mischna. And the Talmud includes together
the Mischna and the Gemara.
212 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
636
// does not indicate indifference: Malachi, Isaiah.
Is., Si volumus, &c.
In quacumque die.
637
Prophecies. The sceptre was not interrupted by the captivity in
Babylon, because the return was promised and foretold.
638
Proofs of Jesus Christ. Captivity, with the assurance of deliver-
ance within seventy years, was not real captivity. But now they are
captives without any hope.
God has promised them that even though He should scatter them
to the ends of the earth, nevertheless if they were faithful to His law,
He would assemble them together again. They are very faithful to
it, and remain oppressed.
639
When Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people, for fear they
should believe that the sceptre had departed from Judah, they were
told beforehand that they would be there for a short time, and that
they would be restored. They were always consoled by the prophets;
and their kings continued. But the second destruction is without
promise of restoration, without prophets, without kings, without
consolation, without hope, because the sceptre is taken away for ever.
640
It is a wonderful thing, and worthy of particular attention, to see
this Jewish people existing so many years in perpetual misery, it being
necessary as a proof of Jesus Christ, both that they should exist to
prove Him, and that they should be miserable because they crucified
Him; and though to be miserable and to exist are contradictory, they
nevertheless still exist in spite of their misery.
PERPETUITY 213
641
They are visibly a people expressly created to serve as a witness to
the Messiah (Isaiah, xliii. 9; xliv. 8). They keep the books, and love
them, and do not understand them. And all this was foretold; that
God's judgments are entrusted to them, but as a sealed book.
SECTION X
TYPOLOGY
642
PROOF of the two Testaments at once. To prove the two at
one stroke, we need only see if the prophecies in one are
fulfilled in the other. To examine the prophecies, we must
understand them. For if we believe they have only one meaning,
it is certain that the Messiah has not come; but if they have two
meanings, it is certain that He has come in Jesus Christ.
The whole problem then is to know if they have two meanings.
That the Scripture has two meanings, which Jesus Christ and the
Apostles have given, is shown by the following proofs:
1. Proof by Scripture itself.
2. Proof by the Rabbis. Moses Maimonides says that it has two
aspects, and that the prophets have prophesied Jesus Christ only.
3. Proof by the Kabbala.
4. Proof by the mystical interpretation which the Rabbis them-
selves give to Scripture.
5. Proof by the principles of the Rabbis, that there are two mean-
ings; that there are two advents of the Messiah, a glorious and
humiliating one, according to their desert; that the prophets have
prophesied of the Messiah only the Law is not eternal, but must
change at the coming of the Messiah that then they shall no more
remember the Red Sea; that the Jews and the Gentiles shall be
mingled.
[6. Proof by the key which Jesus Christ and the Apostles give us.]
643
Isaiah, li. The Red Sea an image of the Redemption. Ut sciatis
quod filius hominis habet potestatem remittendi peccata, tibi dico:
214
TYPOLOGY 215
Surge. 1 God, wishing to show that He could form a people holy
with an invisible holiness, and fill them with an eternal glory, made
visible things. As nature is an image of grace, He has done in the
bounties of nature what He would do in those of grace, in order that
we might judge that He could make the invisible, since He made the
visible excellently.
Therefore He saved this people from the deluge; He has raised
them up from Abraham, redeemed them from their enemies, and
set them at rest.
The object of God was not to save them from the deluge, and
raise up a whole people from Abraham, only in order to bring them
into a rich land.
And even grace is only the type of glory, for it is not the ultimate
end. It has been symbolised by the law, and itself symbolises [glory].
But it is the type of it, and the origin or cause.
The ordinary life of men is like that of the saints. They all seek
their satisfaction, and differ only in the object in which they place
it; they call those their enemies who hinder them, &c. God has then
shown the power which He has of giving invisible blessings, by that
which He has shown Himself to have over things visible.
644
Types. God, wishing to form for Himself an holy people, whom
He should separate from all other nations, whom He should deliver
from their enemies and should put into a place of rest, has promised
to do so, and has foretold by His prophets the time and the manner
of His coming. And yet, to confirm the hope of His elect, He has
made them see it in an image through all time, without leaving them
devoid of assurances of His power and of His will to save them.
For, at the creation of man, Adam was the witness, and guardian of
the promise of a Saviour, who should be born of woman, when men
were still so near the creation that they could not have forgotten their
creation and their fall. When those who had seen Adam were no
longer in the world, God sent Noah whom He saved, and drowned
the whole earth by a miracle which sufficiently indicated the power
1 Mark, ii. 10, n.
216 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
which He had to save the world, and the will which He had to do
so, and to raise up from the seed of woman Him whom He had
promised. This miracle was enough to confirm the hope of men.
The memory of the deluge being so fresh among men, while
Noah was still alive, God made promises to Abraham, and, while
Shem was still living, sent Moses, &c. . . .
645
Types. God, willing to deprive His own of perishable blessings,
created the Jewish people in order to show that this was not owing to
lack of power.
646
The Synagogue did not perish, because it was a type. But because
it was only a type, it fell into servitude. The type existed till the
truth came, in order that the Church should be always visible, either
in the sign which promised it, or in substance.
647
That the law was figurative.
648
Two errors: i. To take everything literally. 2. To take everything
spiritually.
649
To speak against too greatly figurative language.
650
There are some types clear and demonstrative, but others which
seem somewhat far-fetched, and which convince only those who are
already persuaded. These are like the Apocalyptics. But the differ-
ence is that they have none which are certain, so that nothing is so
unjust as to claim that theirs are as well founded as some of ours;
TYPOLOGY 217
for they have none so demonstrative as some of ours. The compari-
son is unfair. We must not put on the same level, and confound
things, because they seem to agree in one point, while they are so
different in another. The clearness in divine things requires us to
revere the obscurities in them.
[It is like men, who employ a certain obscure language among
themselves. Those who should not understand it, would under-
stand only a foolish meaning.]
Extravagances of the Apocalyptics, Preadamites, Millenarians,
He who would base extravagant opinions on Scripture, will, for
example, base them on this. It is said that "this generation shall not
pass till all these things be fulfilled." Upon that I will say that after
that generation will come another generation, and so on ever in
succession.
Solomon and the King are spoken of in the second book of
Chronicles, as if they were two different persons. I will say that they
were two.
Particular Types. A double law, double tables of the law, a
double temple, a double captivity.
653
Types. The prophets prophesied by symbols of a girdle, a beard
and burnt hair, &c.
654
Difference between dinner and supper.
In God the word does not differ from the intention, for He is
true; nor the word from the effect, for He is powerful; nor the means
from the effect, for He is wise. Bern., tilt, sermo in Missam.
Augustine, De civitate Dei, v. 10. This rule is general. God can
do everything, except those things, which if He could do, He would
not be almighty, as dying, being deceived, lying, &c.
218 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Many Evangelists for the confirmation of the truth: their differ-
ence useful.
The Eucharist after the Lord's Supper. Truth after the type.
The ruin of Jerusalem, a type of the ruin of the world, forty years
after the death of Jesus. "I know not," as a man, or as an ambassador
(Mark xiii. 32).
Jesus condemned by the Jews and the Gentiles.
The Jews and the Gentiles typified by the two sons. Aug. De
civitate Dei, xx. 29.
655
The six ages, the six Fathers of the six ages, the six wonders at
the beginning of the six ages, the six mornings at the beginning of
the six ages.
656
Adam forma futuri. z The six days to form the one, the six ages to
form the other. The six days, which Moses represents for the forma-
tion of Adam, are only the picture of the six ages to form Jesus Christ
and the Church. If Adam had not sinned, and Jesus Christ had not
come, there had been only one covenant, only one age of men, and
the creation would have been represented as accomplished at one
single time.
6 57
Types. The Jewish and Egyptian peoples were plainly foretold by
the two individuals whom Moses met; the Egyptian beating the Jew,
Moses avenging him and killing the Egyptian, and the Jew being
ungrateful.
658
The symbols of the Gospel for the state of the sick soul are sick
bodies; but because one body cannot be sick enough to express it well,
several have been needed. Thus there are the deaf, the dumb, the
2 Romans, v. 14.
TYPOLOGY 219
blind, the paralytic, the dead Lazarus, the possessed. All this crowd
is in the sick soul.
659
Types. To show that the Old Testament is only figurative, and
that the prophets understood by temporal blessings other blessings,
this is the proof:
First, that this would be unworthy of God.
Secondly, that their discourses express very clearly the promise of
temporal blessings, and that they say nevertheless that their dis-
courses are obscure, and that their meaning will not be under-
stood. Whence it appears that this secret meaning was not that
which they openly expressed, and that consequently they meant to
speak of other sacrifices, of another deliverer, &c. They say that
they will be understood only in the fulness of time (Jer. xxx. ult.).
The third proof is that their discourses are contradictory, and
neutralise each other; so that if we think that they did not mean by
the words "law" and "sacrifice" anything else than that of Moses,
there is a plain and gross contradiction. Therefore they meant some-
thing else, sometimes contradicting themselves in the same chapter.
Now to understand the meaning of an author . . .
660
Lust has become natural to us, and has made our second nature.
Thus there are two natures in us the one good, the other bad. Where
is God ? Where you are not, and the kingdom of God is within you.
The Rabbis.
661
Penitence, alone of all these mysteries, has been manifestly de-
clared to the Jews, and by Saint John, the Forerunner; and then the
other mysteries; to indicate that in each man, as in the entire world,
this order must be observed.
662
The carnal Jews understood neither the greatness nor the humilia-
tion of the Messiah foretold in their prophecies. They misunderstood
22O PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Him in His foretold greatness, as when He said that the Messiah
should be lord of David, though his son, and that He was before
Abraham, who had seen Him. They did not believe Him so great
as to be eternal, and they likewise misunderstood Him in His humil-
iation and in His death. "The Messiah," said they, "abideth for ever,
and this man says that he shall die." Therefore they believed Him
neither mortal nor eternal; they only sought in Him for a carnal
greatness.
Typical. Nothing is so like charity as covetousness, and nothing
is so opposed to it. Thus the Jews, full of possessions which flattered
their covetousness, were very like Christians, and very contrary.
And by this means they had the two qualities which it was neces-
sary they should have, to be very like the Messiah to typify Him, and
very contrary not to be suspected witnesses.
664
Typical. God made use of the lust of the Jews to make them
minister to Jesus Christ, [who brought the remedy for their lust].
Charity is not a figurative precept. It is dreadful to say that Jesus
Christ, who came to take away types in order to establish the truth,
came only to establish the type of charity, in order to take away the
existing reality which was there before.
"If the light be darkness, how great is that darkness!"
666
Fascination. Somnum suum? Figura hujus mundi*
The Eucharist. Comedes panem tuum. 5 Panem nostrum?
Inimici Dei terrain lingent. 7 Sinners lick the dust, that is to say,
love earthly pleasures.
3 Psalms, Ixxvi. 5. 4 i Corinthians, vii. 31. 5 Deuteronomy, viii. 9.
6 Luke, xi. 3. 7 Psalms, Ixxii. 9.
TYPOLOGY 221
The Old Testament contained the types of future joy, and the
New contains the means of arriving at it. The types were of joy; the
means of penitence; and nevertheless the Paschal Lamb was eaten
with bitter herbs, cum amaritudinibus?
Singularis sum ego donee transeam. 9 Jesus Christ before His
death was almost the only martyr.
667
Typical. The expressions, sword, shield. Potentissime.
668
We are estranged, only by departing from charity. Our prayers
and our virtues are abominable before God, if they are not the prayers
and the virtues of Jesus Christ. And our sins will never be the object
of [mercy], but of the justice of God, if they are not [those of]
Jesus Christ. He has adopted our sins, and has [admitted] us into
union [with Him], for virtues are [His own, and] sins are foreign
to Him; while virtues [are] foreign to us, and our sins are our own.
Let us change the rule which we have hitherto chosen for judging
what is good. We had our own will as our rule. Let us now take
the will of [God] ; all that He wills is good and right to us, all that
He does not will is [bad].
All that God does not permit is forbidden. Sins are forbidden by
the general declaration that God has made, that He did not allow
them. Other things which He has left without general prohibition,
and which for that reason are said to be permitted, are nevertheless
not always permitted. For when God removes some one of them
from us, and when, by the event, which is a manifestation of the. will
of God, it appears that God does not will that we should have a thing,
that is then forbidden to us as sin; since the will of God is that we
should not have one more than another. There is this sole difference
between these two things, that it is certain that God will never allow
sin, while it is not certain that He will never allow the other. But
so long as God does not permit it, we ought to regard it as sin; so
long as the absence of God's will, which alone is all goodness and all
justice, renders it unjust and wrong.
8 Exodus, xii. 8. 9 Psalms, cxli. 10.
222 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
669
To change the type, because of our weakness.
670
Types. The Jews had grown old in these earthly thoughts, that
God loved their father Abraham, his flesh and what sprung from
it; that on account of this He had multiplied them, and distinguished
them from all other nations, without allowing them to intermingle;
that when they were languishing in Egypt, He brought them out
with all these great signs in their favour; that He fed them with
manna in the desert, and led them into a very rich land; that He
gave them kings and a well-built temple, in order to offer up beasts
before Him, by the shedding of whose blood they should be purified;
and that at last He was to send them the Messiah to make them
masters of all the world, and foretold the time of His coming.
The world having grown old in these carnal errors, Jesus Christ
came at the time foretold, but not with the expected glory; and thus
men did not think it was He. After His death, Saint Paul came to
teach men that all these things had happened in allegory; that the
kingdom of God did not consist in the flesh, but in the spirit; that
the enemies of men were not the Babylonians, but the passions; that
God delighted not in temples made with hands, but in a pure and
contrite heart; that the circumcision of the body was unprofitable,
but that of the heart was needed; that Moses had not given them the
bread from heaven, &c.
But God, not having desired to reveal these things to this people
who were unworthy of them, and having nevertheless desired to
foretell them, in order that they might be believed, foretold the time
clearly, and expressed the things sometimes clearly, but very often
in figures, in order that those who loved symbols might consider
them, and those who loved what was symbolized might see it therein.
All that tends not to charity is figurative.
The sole aim of the Scripture is charity.
All which tends not to the sole end is the type of it. For since
there is only one end, all which does not lead to it in express terms
is figurative.
TYPOLOGY 223
God thus varies that sole precept of charity to satisfy our curiosity,
which seeks for variety, by that variety which still leads us to the one
thing needful. For one thing alone is needful, and we love variety;
and God satisfies both by these varieties, which lead to the one thing
needful.
The Jews have so much loved the shadows, and have so strictly
expected them, that they have misunderstood the reality, when it
came in the time and manner foretold.
The Rabbis take the breasts of the Spouse for types, and all that
does not express the only end they have, namely, temporal good.
And Christians take even the Eucharist as a type of the glory at
which they aim.
671
The Jews, who have been called to subdue nations and kings,
have been the slaves of sin; and the Christians, whose calling has
been to be servants and subjects, are free children.
672
A formal point. When Saint Peter and the Apostles deliberated
about abolishing circumcision, where it was a question of acting
against the law of God, they did not heed the prophets, but simply
the reception of the Holy Spirit in the persons uncircumcised.
They thought it more certain that God approved of those whom
He filled with His Spirit, than it was that the law must be obeyed.
They knew that the end of the law was only the Holy Spirit; and
that thus, as men certainly had this without circumcision, it was not
necessary.
6 73
Fac secundum exemplar quod tibi ostensum est in monte The
Jewish religion then has been formed on its likeness to the truth of
the Messiah; and the truth of the Messiah has been recognised by
the Jewish religion, which was the type of it.
10 Exodus, xxv. 40.
224 PASCALS THOUGHTS
Among the Jews the truth was only typified; in heaven it is
revealed.
In the Church it is hidden, and recognised by its resemblance to
the type.
The type has been made according to the truth, and the truth has
been recognised according to the type.
Saint Paul says himself that people will forbid to marry, and he
himself speaks of it to the Corinthians in a way which is a snare.
For if a prophet has said the one, and Saint Paul had then said the
other, he would have been accused.
674
Typical. "Do all things according to the pattern which has been
shown thee on the mount." On which Saint Paul says that the Jews
have shadowed forth heavenly things.
6 75
. . . And yet this Covenant, made to blind some and enlighten
others, indicated in those very persons, whom it blinded, the truth
which should be recognised by others. For the visible blessings
which they received from God were so great and so divine, that He
indeed appeared able to give them those that are invisible, and a
Messiah.
For nature is an image of grace, and visible miracles are images
of the invisible. Ut sciatis . . . tibi dico: Surge. 11
Isaiah says that Redemption will be as the passage of the Red Sea.
God has then shown by the deliverance from Egypt, and from the
sea, by the defeat of kings, by the manna, by the whole genealogy of
Abraham, that He was able to save, to send down bread from heaven,
&c.; so that the people hostile to Him are the type and the represen-
tation of the very Messiah whom they know not, &c.
He has then taught us at last that all these things were only
types, and what is "true freedom," a "true Israelite," "true circum-
cision," "true bread from heaven," &c.
In these promises each one finds what he has most at heart,
temporal benefits or spiritual, God or the creatures; but with this
11 Matthew, ix. 6.
TYPOLOGY 225
difference, that those who therein seek the creatures find them, but
with many contradictions, with a prohibition against loving them,
with the command to worship God only, and to love Him only,
which is the same thing, and, finally, that the Messiah came not for
them; whereas those who therein seek God find Him, without any
contradiction, with the command to love Him only, and that the
Messiah came in the time foretold, to give them the blessings which
they ask.
Thus the Jews had miracles and prophecies, which they saw ful-
filled, and the teaching of their law was to worship and love God
only; it was also perpetual. Thus it had all the marks of the true
religion; and so it was. But the Jewish teaching must be distin-
guished from the teaching of the Jewish law. Now the Jewish teach-
ing was not true, although it had miracles and prophecy and per-
petuity, because it had not this other point of worshipping and
loving God only.
676
The veil, which is upon these books for the Jews, is there also for
evil Christians, and for all who do not hate themselves.
But how well disposed men are to understand them and to know
Jesus Christ, when they truly hate themselves!
677
A type conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain.
A cipher has a double meaning, one clear, and one in which it is
said that the meaning is hidden.
678
Types. A portrait conveys absence and presence, pleasure and
pain. The reality excludes absence and pain.
To know if the law and the sacrifices are a reality or a type, we
must see if the prophets, in speaking of these things, confined their
view and their thought to them, so that they saw only the old cove-
nant; or if they saw therein something else of which they were the
representation, for in a portrait we see the thing figured. For this we
need only examine what they say of them.
226 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
When they say that it will be eternal, do they mean to speak of
that covenant which they say will be changed; and so of the
sacrifices, &c. ?
A cipher has two meanings. When we find out an important
letter in which we discover a clear meaning, and in which it is
nevertheless said that the meaning is veiled and obscure, that it is
hidden, so that we might read the letter without seeing it, and inter-
pret it without understanding it, what must we think but that here
is a cipher with a double meaning, and the more so if we find obvious
contradictions in the literal meaning? The prophets have clearly
said that Israel would be always loved by God, and that the law
would be eternal; and they have said that their meaning would not
be understood, and that it was veiled.
How greatly then ought we to value those who interpret the
cipher, and teach us to understand the hidden meaning, especially if
the principles which they educe are perfectly clear and natural! This
is what Jesus Christ did, and the Apostles. They broke the seal; He
rent the veil, and revealed the spirit. They have taught us through
this that the enemies of man are his passions; that the Redeemer
would be spiritual, and His reign spiritual; that there would be two
advents, one in lowliness to humble the proud, the other in glory to
exalt the humble; that Jesus Christ would be both God and man.
679
Types. Jesus Christ opened their mind to understand the
Scriptures.
Two great revelations are these, (i.) All things happened to them
in types: vcre Israelites, vere liberi, true bread from heaven. (2.) A
God humbled to the Cross. It was necessary that Christ should suf-
fer in order to enter into glory, "that He should destroy death
through death." Two advents.
680
Types. When once this secret is disclosed, it is impossible not to
see it. Let us read the Old Testament in this light, and let us see if
the sacrifices were real; if the fatherhood of Abraham was the true
TYPOLOGY 227
cause of the friendship of God; and if the promised land was the
true place of rest. No. They are therefore types. Let us in the same
way examine all those ordained ceremonies, all those command-
ments which are not of charity, and we shall see that they are types.
All these sacrifices and ceremonies were then either types or non-
sense. Now there are things clear, and too lofty, to be thought non-
sense.
To know if the prophets confined their view in the Old Testa-
ment, or saw therein other things.
681
Typical. The key of the cipher. Vert adoratores. 12 Ecce agnus
Dei qui tollit peccata mundi. 13
682
Is. i. 21. Change of good into evil, and the vengeance of God.
Is. x. i; xxvi. 20; xxviii. i. Miracles: Is. xxxiii. 9; xl. 17; xli. 26; xliii. 13.
Jer. xi. 21 ; xv. 12; xvii. 9. Pravum est cor omnium et incrustabile ;
quis cognoscet illud? that is to say, Who can know all its evil ? For
it is already known to be wicked. Ego dominus, &c. vii. 14. Faciam
domui huic, &c. Trust in external sacrifices vii. 22. Quia non sum
locutus, &c. Outward sacrifice is not the essential point xi. 13.
Secundum numerum, &c. A multitude of doctrines.
Is. xliv. 20-24; liv. 8; Ixiii. 12-17; l xv *- J 7' J er n - 35 5 i v - 22-24; v - 4>
29-31; vi. 16; xxiii. 15-17.
Types. The letter kills. All happened in types. Here is the cipher
which Saint Paul gives us. Christ must suffer. An humiliated God.
Circumcision of the heart, true fasting, true sacrifice, a true temple.
The prophets have shown that all these must be spiritual
Not the meat which perishes, but that which does not perish.
"Ye shall be free indeed." Then the other freedom was only a
type of freedom.
"I am the true bread from Heaven."
12 John, iv. 23. "John, i. 29.
228 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
684
Contradiction. We can only describe a good character by recon-
ciling all contrary qualities, and it is not enough to keep up a series
of harmonious qualities without reconciling contradictory ones. To
understand the meaning of an author, we must make all the con-
trary passages agree.
Thus, to understand Scripture, we must have a meaning in which
all the contrary passages are reconciled. It is not enough to have one
which suits many concurring passages; but it is necessary to have one
which reconciles even contradictory passages.
Every author has a meaning in which all the contradictory passages
agree, or he has no meaning at all. We cannot affirm the latter of
Scripture and the prophets; they undoubtedly are full of good sense.
We must then seek for a meaning which reconciles all discrep-
ancies.
The true meaning then is not that of the Jews; but in Jesus Christ
all the contradictions are reconciled.
The Jews could not reconcile the cessation of the royalty and prin-
cipality, foretold by Hosea, with the prophecy of Jacob.
If we take the law, the sacrifices, and the kingdom as realities, we
cannot reconcile all the passages. They must then necessarily be only
types. We cannot even reconcile the passages of the same author,
nor of the same book, nor sometimes of the same chapter, which in-
dicates copiously what was the meaning of the author. As when
Ezekiel, chap, xx., says that man will live by the commandments
of God and will not live by them.
685
Types. If the law and the sacrifices are the truth, it must please
God, and must not displease Him. If they are types, they must be
both pleasing and displeasing.
Now in all the Scripture they are both pleasing and displeasing.
It is said that the law shall be changed; that the sacrifice shall be
changed; that they shall be without law, without a prince, and with-
out a sacrifice; that a new covenant shall be made; that the law
TYPOLOGY 229
shall be renewed; that the precepts which they have received are not
good; that their sacrifices are abominable; that God has demanded
none of them.
It is said, on the contrary, that the law shall abide for ever; that
this covenant shall be for ever; that sacrifice shall be eternal; that
the sceptre shall never depart from among them, because it shall not
depart from them till the eternal King comes.
Do all these passages indicate what is real? No. Do they then
indicate what is typical ? No, but what is either real or typical. But
the first passages, excluding as they do reality, indicate that all this
is only typical.
All these passages together cannot be applied to reality; all can be
said to be typical; therefore they are not spoken of reality, but of
the type.
Agnus occisus est ab origine mundi A sacrificing judge.
686
Contradictions. The sceptre till the Messiah, without king or
prince.
The eternal law, changed.
The eternal covenant, a new covenant.
Good laws, bad precepts. Ezekiel.
687
Types. When the word of God, which is really true, is false
literally, it is true spiritually. Sede a dextris meis: 1 * this is false
literally, therefore it is true spiritually.
In these expressions, God is spoken of after the manner of men;
and this means nothing else but that the intention which men have
in giving a seat at their right hand, God will have also. It is then
an indication of the intention of God, not of His manner of carry-
ing it out.
Thus when it is said, "God has received the odour of your in-
cense, and will in recompense give you a rich land," that is equiva-
lent to saying that the same intention which a man would have,
14 Revelation, xiii. 8. 15 Psalms, ex. i.
230 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
who, pleased with your perfumes, should in recompense give you
a rich land, God will have towards you, because you have had
towards [Him] the same intention as a man has towards him, to
whom he presents perfumes. So iratus est, a "jealous God," &c. For,
the things of God being inexpressible, they cannot be spoken of
otherwise, and the Church makes use of them even to-day: Quia con-
jortavit seras, &c. 16
It is not allowable to attribute to Scripture the meaning which it
has not revealed to us that it has. Thus, to say that the closed
mem 11 of Isaiah signifies six hundred, has not been revealed. It
might be said that the final tsade and the he deficientes may signify
mysteries. But it is not allowable to say so, and still less to say this is
the way of the philosopher's stone. But we say that the literal mean-
ing is not the true meaning, because the prophets have themselves
said so.
688
I do not say that the mem is mystical.
689
Moses (Deut. xxx.) promises that God will circumcise their heart
to render them capable of loving Him.
690
One saying of David, or of Moses, as for instance that "God will
circumcise the heart," enables us to judge of their spirit. If all their
other expressions were ambiguous, and left us in doubt whether they
were philosophers or Christians, one saying of this kind would in
fact determine all the rest, as one sentence of Epictetus decides the
meaning of all the rest to be the opposite. So far ambiguity exists,
but not afterwards.
691
If one of two persons, who are telling silly stories, uses language
with a double meaning, understood in his own circle, while the other
16 Psalms, cxlvii. 13. 17 In allusion to certain features in Hebrew writing.
TYPOLOGY 231
uses it with only one meaning, any one not in the secret, who hears
them both talk in this manner, will pass upon them the same judg-
ment. But if afterwards, in the rest of their conversation one says
angelic things, and the other always dull common-places, he will
judge that the one spoke in mysteries, and not the other; the one
having sufficiently shown that he is incapable of such foolishness, and
capable of being mysterious; and the other that he is incapable of
mystery, and capable of foolishness.
The Old Testament is a cipher.
692
There are some who see clearly that man has no other enemy than
lust, which turns him from God, and not God; and that he has no
other good than God, and not a rich land. Let those who believe that
the good of man is in the flesh, and evil in what turns him away
from sensual pleasures, [satiate] themselves with them, and [die] in
them. But let those who seek God with all their heart, who are only
troubled at not seeing Him, who desire only to possess Him, and have
as enemies only those who turn them away from Him, who are
grieved at seeing themselves surrounded and overwhelmed with such
enemies, take comfort. I proclaim to them happy news. There exists
a Redeemer for them. I shall show Him to them. I shall show that
there is a God for them. I shall not show Him to others. I shall make
them see that a Messiah has been promised, who should deliver them
from their enemies, and that One has come to free them from their
iniquities, but not from their enemies.
When David foretold that the Messiah would deliver His people
from their enemies, one can believe that in the flesh these would be
the Egyptians; and then I cannot show that the prophecy was ful-
filled. But one can well believe also that the enemies would be their
sins; for indeed the Egyptians were not their enemies, but their sins
were so. This word, enemies, is therefore ambiguous. But if he
says elsewhere, as he does, that He will deliver His people from
their sins, as indeed do Isaiah and others, the ambiguity is removed,
and the double meaning of enemies is reduced to the simple meaning
of iniquities. For if he had sins in his mind, he could well denote
232 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
them as enemies; but if he thought of enemies, he could not desig-
nate them as iniquities.
Now Moses, David, and Isaiah used the same terms. Who will
say then that they have not the same meaning, and that David's
meaning, which is plainly iniquities when he spoke of enemies, was
not the same as [that of] Mose.' when speaking of enemies?
Daniel (Chap, ix.) prays for the deliverance of the people from the
captivity of their enemies. But he was thinking of sins, and to show
this, he says that Gabriel came to tell him that his prayer was heard,
and that there were only seventy weeks to wait, after which the peo-
ple would be freed from iniquity, sin would have an end, and the
Redeemer, the Holy of Holies, would bring eternal justice, not legal,
but eternal.
SECTION XI
THE PROPHECIES
693
"W "IT THEN I see the blindness and the wretchedness of man,
\/\/ when I regard the whole silent universe, and man without
T T light, left to himself, and, as it were, lost in this corner of
the universe, without knowing who has put him there, what he has
come to do, what will become of him at death, and incapable of all
knowledge, I become terrified, like a man who should be carried in
his sleep to a dreadful desert island, and should awake without
knowing where he is, and without means of escape. And thereupon
I wonder how people in a condition so wretched do not fall into
despair. I see other persons around me of a like nature. I ask them
if they are better informed than I am. They tell me that they are not.
And thereupon these wretched and lost beings, having looked around
them, and seen some pleasing objects, have given and attached them-
selves to them. For my own part, I have not been able to attach my-
self to them, and, considering how strongly it appears that there is
something else than what I see, I have examined whether this God
has not left some sign of Himself.
I see many contradictory religions, and consequently all false save
one. Each wants to be believed on its own authority, and threatens
unbelievers. I do not therefore believe them. Every one can say this;
every one can call himself a prophet. But I see the Christian religion
wherein prophecies are fulfilled; and that is what every one can-
not do.
694
And what crowns all this is prediction, so that it should not be
said that it is chance which has done it.
Whosoever, having only a week to live, will not find out that it
is expedient to believe that all this is not a stroke of chance . . .
233
234 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
Now, if the passions had no hold on us, a week and a hundred
years would amount to the same thing.
695
Prophecies. Great Pan is dead.
696
Susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate, scrutantes Scripturas, si
tta se haberent. 1
697
Prodita lege. I m pi eta cerne. Implenda collige?
698
We understand the prophecies only when we see the events happen.
Thus the proofs of retreat, discretion, silence, &c., are proofs only to
those who know and believe them.
Joseph so internal in a law so external.
Outward penances dispose to inward, as humiliations to humility.
Thus the . . .
699
The synagogue has preceded the church; the Jews, the Christians.
The prophets have foretold the Christians; Saint John, Jesus Christ.
700
It is glorious to see with the eyes of faith the history of Herod
and of Caesar.
701
The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple (Josephus, and
Philo the Jew, ad Ca'ium). What other people had such a zeal? It
was necessary they should have it.
1 Acts, xvii. ii. 2 "Read what has been handed down. Note what has been
fulfilled. Bring together what is to be fulfilled."
THE PROPHECIES 235
Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The
ruler taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy. How lucky
we are to see this light amidst this darkness!
How fine it is to see, with the eyes of faith, Darius and Cyrus,
Alexander, the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, without know-
ing it, for the glory of the Gospel!
702
Zeal of the Jewish people for the law, especially after there were
no more prophets.
703
While the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people
were indifferent. But since there have been no more prophets, zeal
has succeeded them.
704
The devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ,
because he would have been their salvation, but not since.
The Jewish people scorned by the Gentiles; the Christian people
persecuted.
705
Proof. Prophecies with their fulfilment; what has preceded and
what has followed Jesus Christ.
The prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ. It is for
them also that God has made most provision; for the event which has
fulfilled them is a miracle existing since the birth of the Church to
the end. So God has raised up prophets during sixteen hundred
years, and, during four hundred years afterwards, He has scattered all
these prophecies among all the Jews, who carried them into all parts
of the world. Such was the preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ,
and, as His Gospel was to be believed by all the world, it was not
236 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
only necessary that there should be prophecies to make it believed,
but that these prophecies should exist throughout the whole world,
in order to make it embraced by the whole world.
707
But it was not enough that the prophecies should exist. It was
necessary that they should be distributed throughout all places, and
preserved throughout all times. And in order that this agreement
might not be taken for an effect of chance, it was necessary that this
should be foretold.
It is far more glorious for the Messiah that the Jews should be the
spectators, and even the instruments of His glory, besides that God
had reserved them.
708
Prophecies -The time foretold by the state of the Jewish people,
by the state of the heathen, by the state of the temple, by the number
of years.
709
One must be bold to predict the same thing in so many ways. It
was necessary that the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies, the end
of the kingdom of Judah, and the seventy weeks, should happen at
the same time, and all this before the second temple was destroyed.
710
Prophecies. If one man alone had made a book of predictions
about Jesus Christ, as to the time and the manner, and Jesus Christ
had come in conformity to these prophecies, this fact would have
infinite weight.
But there is much more here. Here is a succession of men during
four thousand years, who, constantly and without variation, come,
one after another, to foretell this same event. Here is a whole people
who announce it, and who have existed for four thousand years, in
order to give corporate testimony of the assurances which they have,
THE PROPHECIES 237
and from which they cannot be diverted by whatever threats and
persecutions people may make against them. This is far more
important.
711
Predictions of particular things. They were strangers in Egypt,
without any private property, either in that country or elsewhere.
[There was not the least appearance, either of the royalty which had
previously existed so long, or of that supreme council of seventy
judges which they called the Sanhedrin, and which, having been
instituted by Moses, lasted to the time of Jesus Christ. All these things
were as far removed from their state at that time as they could be,]
when Jacob, dying, and blessing his twelve children, declared to
them, that they would be proprietors of a great land, and foretold in
particular to the family of Judah, that the kings, who would one day
rule them, should be of his race; and that all his brethren should be
their subjects; [and that even the Messiah, who was to be the ex-
pectation of nations, should spring from him; and that the king-
ship should not be taken away from Judah, nor the ruler and law-
giver of his descendants, till the expected Messiah should arrive in
his family.]
This same Jacob, disposing of this future land as though he had
been its ruler, gave a portion to Joseph more than to the others. "I
give you," said he, "one part more than to your brothers." And
blessing his two children, Ephraim and Manasseh, whom Joseph had
presented to him, the elder, Manasseh, on his right, and the young
Ephraim on his left, he put his arms crosswise, and placing his right
hand on the head of Ephraim, and his left on Manasseh, he blessed
them in this manner. And, upon Joseph's representing to him that
he was preferring the younger, he replied to him with admirable
resolution: "I know it well, my son; but Ephraim will increase more
than Manasseh." This has been indeed so true in the result, that,
being alone almost as fruitful as the two entire lines, which com-
posed a whole kingdom, they have been usually called by the name
of Ephraim alone.
This same Joseph, when dying, bade his children carrv his bones
238 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
with them when they should go into that land, to which they only
came two hundred years afterwards.
Moses, who wrote all these things so long before they happened,
himself assigned to each family portions of that land before they
entered it, as though he had been its ruler. [In fact he declared that
God was to raise up from their nation and their race a prophet, of
whom he was the type; and he foretold them exactly all that was to
happen to them in the land which they were to enter after his death,
the victories which God would give them, their ingratitude to-
wards God, the punishments which they would receive for it, and the
rest of their adventures.] He gave them judges who should make
the division. He prescribed the entire form of political government
which they should observe, the cities of refuge which they should
build, and . . .
712
The prophecies about particular things are mingled with those
about the Messiah, so that the prophecies of the Messiah should not
be without proofs, nor the special prophecies without fruit.
7*3
Perpetual captivity of the Jews.Jer. xi. n: "I will bring evil
upon Judah from which they shall not be able to escape."
Types. Is. v.: "The Lord had a vineyard, from which He looked
for grapes; and it brought forth only wild grapes. I will therefore
lay it waste, and destroy it; the earth shall only bring forth thorns,
and I will forbid the clouds from [raining] upon it. The vineyard
of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant
plant. I looked that they should do justice, and they bring forth
only iniquities."
Is. viii.: "Sanctify the Lord with fear and trembling; let Him be
your only dread, and He shall be to you for a sanctuary, but for
a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of
Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and
many among them shall stumble against that stone, and fall, and be
broken, and be snared, and perish. Hide my words, and cover my
law for my disciples.
THE PROPHECIES 239
"I will then wait in patience upon the Lord that hideth and con-
cealeth Himself from the house of Jacob."
Is. xxix.: "Be amazed and wonder, people of Israel; stagger and
stumble, and be drunken, but not with wine; stagger, but not with
strong drink. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit
of deep sleep. He will close your eyes; He will cover your princes
and your prophets that have visions." (Daniel xii.: "The wicked
shall not understand, but the wise shall understand." Hosea, the
last chapter, the last verse, after many temporal blessings, says : "Who
is wise, and he shall understand these things, &c. ?") "And the visions
of all the prophets are become unto you as a sealed book, which men
deliver to one that is learned, and who can read; and he saith, I
cannot read it, for it is sealed. And when the book is delivered to
them that are not learned, they say, I am not learned.
"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people with their
lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,"
there is the reason and the cause of it; for if they adored God in
their hearts, they would understand the prophecies, "and their
fear towards me is taught by the precept of man. Therefore, behold,
I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a
marvellous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men
shall perish, and their understanding shall be [hid]."
Prophecies. Proofs of Divinity. Is. xli.: "Shew the things that
are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: we will
incline our heart unto your words. Teach us the things that have
been at the beginning, and declare us things for to come.
"By this we shall know that ye are gods. Yea, do good or do evil,
if you can. Let us then behold it and reason together. Behold, ye are
of nothing, and only an abomination, &c. Who," (among con-
temporary writers) , "hath declared from the beginning that we may
know of the things done from the beginning and origin? that we
may say, You are righteous. There is none that teacheth us, yea,
there is none that declareth the future."
Is. xlii.: "I am the Lord, and my glory will I not give to another.
I have foretold the things which have come to pass, and things
that are to come do I declare. Sing unto God a new song in all the
earth.
240 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
"Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and see not, and the
deaf that have ears and hear not. Let all the nations be gathered
together. Who among them can declare this, and shew us former
things, and things to come? Let them bring forth their witnesses,
that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I
have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that
I am He.
"I have declared, and have saved, and I alone have done wonders
before your eyes: ye are my witnesses, said the Lord, that I am
God.
"For your sake I have brought down the forces of the Babylonians.
I am the Lord, your Holy One and creator.
"I have made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters.
I am He that drowned and destroyed for ever the mighty enemies
that have resisted you.
"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things
of old.
"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye
not know it ? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers
in the desert.
"This people have I formed for myself; I have established them to
shew forth my praise, &c.
"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine
own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put in remembrance
your ingratitude: see thou, if thou mayest be justified. Thy first
father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me."
Is. xliv.: "I am the first, and I am the last, saith the Lord. Let
him who will equal himself to me, declare the order of things since
I appointed the ancient people, and the things that are coming.
Fear ye not: have I not told you all these things? Ye are my wit-
nesses."
Prophecy of Cyrus. Is. xlv. 4: "For Jacob's sake, mine elect, I
have called thee by thy name."
Is. xlv. 21 : "Come and let us reason together. Who hath declared
this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have
not I, the Lord?"
Is. xlvi.: "Remember the former things of old, and know there
THE PROPHECIES 24!
is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from
ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure."
Is. xlii.: "Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new
things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them."
Is. xlviii. 3: "I have declared the former things from the begin-
ning; I did them suddenly; and they came to pass. Because I know
that thou art obstinate, that thy spirit is rebellious, and thy brow
brass; I have even declared it to thee before it came to pass: lest
thou shouldst say that it was the work of thy gods, and the effect of
their commands.
"Thou hast seen all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed
thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst
not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning;
I have kept them hidden from thee; lest thou shouldst say, Behold,
I knew them.
"Yea, thou knewest not; yea, thou heardest not; yea, from that
time that thine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou wouldst
deal very treacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the
womb."
Reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles. Is. Ixv.:
"I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them
that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation
that did not call upon my name.
"I have spread out my hands all the day unto an unbelieving people,
which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
a people that provoketh me to anger continually by the sins they
commit in my face; that sacrificeth to idols, &c.
"These shall be scattered like smoke in the day of my wrath, &c.
"Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers, will I assemble
together, and will recompense you for all according to your works.
"Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster,
and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it [and the promise
of fruit] : for my servants' sake I will not destroy all Israel.
"Thus I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah,
an inheritor of my mountains, and mine elect and my servants
shall inherit it, and my fertile and abundant plains; but I will
destroy all others, because you have forgotten your God to serve
242 PASCALS THOUGHTS
strange gods. I called, and ye did not answer; I spake, and ye did
not hear; and ye did choose the thing which I forbade.
"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but
ye shall be hungry; my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed;
my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry and howl
for vexation of spirit.
"And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for
the Lord shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name, that
he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in God, &c.,
because the former troubles are forgotten.
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the
former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
"But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for,
behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
"And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people; and the
voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of
crying.
"Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking,
I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the
lion shall eat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's
meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain."
Is. Ivi. 3: "Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do jus-
tice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be
revealed.
"Blessed is the man that doeth this, that keepeth the Sabbath,
and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
"Neither let the strangers that have joined themselves to me, say,
God will separate me from His people. For thus saith the Lord:
Whoever will keep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me,
and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine
house a place and a name better than that of sons and of daughters :
I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off."
Is. lix. 9: "Therefore for our iniquities is justice far from us: we
wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in
darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind; we stumble at noon
day as in the night: we are in desolate places as dead men.
THE PROPHECIES 243
"We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for
judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us."
Is. Ixvi. 18: "But I know their works and their thoughts; it shall
come that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see
my glory.
"And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that
escape of them unto the nations, to Africa, to Lydia, to Italy, to
Greece, and to the people that have not heard my fame, neither have
seen my glory. And they shall bring your brethren."
Jer. vii. Reprobation of the Temple: "Go ye unto Shiloth, where
I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness
of my people. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith
the Lord, I will do unto this house, wherein my name is called upon,
wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to your priests,
as I have done to Shiloth." (For I have rejected it, and made my-
self a temple elsewhere.)
"And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your
brethren, even the seed of Ephraim." (Rejected for ever.) "There-
fore pray not for this people."
Jer. vii. 22: "What avails it you to add sacrifice to sacrifice? For
I spake not unto your fathers, when I brought them out of the land of
Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing com-
manded I them, saying, Obey and be faithful to my commandments,
and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people." (It was only after
they had sacrificed to the golden calf that I gave myself sacrifices
to turn into good an evil custom.)
Jer. vii. 4: "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of
the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these."
7M
The Jews witnesses for God. Is. xliii. 9; xliv. 8.
Prophecies fulfilled. i Kings, xiii. 2. i Kings, xxiii. 16. Jos. vi.
26. i Kings, xvi. 34. Deut. xxiii.
Malachi i. n. The sacrifice of the Jews rejected, and the sacrifice
of the heathen, (even out of Jerusalem,) and in all places.
244 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Moses, before dying, foretold the calling of the Gentiles, Deut,
xxxii. 21, and the reprobation of the Jews.
Moses foretold what would happen to each tribe.
Prophecy. "Your name shall be a curse unto mine elect, and I
will give them another name."
"Make their heart fat," and how ? by flattering their lust and mak-
ing them hope to satisfy it.
715
Prophecy. Amos and Zechariah. They have sold the just one,
and therefore will not be recalled. Jesus Christ betrayed.
They shall no more remember Egypt. See Is. xliii. 16, 17, 18, 19.
Jerem. xxiii. 6, 7.
Prophecy. The Jews shall be scattered abroad. Is. xxvii. 6. A
new law, Jerem. xxxi. 32.
Malachi. Grotius. The second temple glorious. Jesus Christ
will come. (Haggai, ii. 7, 8, 9, 10.)
The calling of the Gentiles. Joel, ii. 28. Hosea, ii. 24. Deut. xxxii.
21. Malachi, i. n.
Hosea, iii. Is. xlii., xlviii., liv., lx., Ixi., last verse. "I foretold it long
since that they might know that it is I." Jaddus to Alexander.
717
[Prophecies. The promise that David will always have descend-
ants. Jer. xiii. 13.]
The external reign of the race of David, 2 Chron., by all the
prophecies, and with an oath. And it was not temporally fulfilled.
Jerem. xxiii. 20.
719
We might perhaps think that, when the prophets foretold that the
sceptre should not depart from Judah until the eternal King came,
THE PROPHECIES 245
they spoke to flatter the people, and that their prophecy was proved
false by Herod. But to show that this was not their meaning, and
that, on the contrary, they knew well that this temporal kingdom
should cease, they said that they would be without a king and with-
out a prince, and for a long time. Hosea iii. 4.
720
Non habemus re gem nisi Ccesarem? Therefore Jesus Christ was
the Messiah, since they had no longer any king but a stranger, and
would have no other.
721
We have no king but Caesar.
722
Daniel ii.: "All thy soothsayers and wise men cannot show unto
thee the secret which thou hast demanded. But there is a God in
heaven who can do so, and hath revealed to thee in thy dream what
shall be in the latter days." (This dream must have caused him much
misgiving.)
"And it is not by my own wisdom that I have knowledge of this
secret, but by the revelation of this same God, that hath revealed it to
me, to make it manifest in thy presence.
"Thy dream was then of this kind. Thou sawest a great image,
high and terrible, which stood before thee. His head was of gold,
his breast and arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his
legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thus thou sawest
till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image
upon his feet, that were of iron and of clay, and brake them to pieces.
"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold
broken to pieces together, and the wind carried them away; but this
stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth. This is the dream, and now I will give thee the interpre-
tation thereof.
"Thou who art the greatest of kings, and to whom God hath given
3 John, xix. 15.
246 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
a power so vast that thou art renowned among all peoples, art the
head of gold which thou hast seen. But after thee shall arise another
kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth.
"But the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, and even as iron
breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, so shall this empire
break in pieces and bruise all.
"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay and part
of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of
the strength of iron and of the weakness of clay.
"But as iron cannot be firmly mixed with clay, so they who are rep-
resented by the iron and by the clay, shall not cleave one to another
though united by marriage.
"Now in the days of these kings shall God set up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed, nor ever be delivered up to other people.
It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever, according as thou sawest that the stone was cut out
of the mountain without hands, and that it fell from the mountain,
and brake in pieces, the iron, the clay, the silver, and the gold. God
hath made known to thee what shall come to pass hereafter. This
dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
"Then Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face towards the earth," &c.
Daniel viii. 8. "Daniel having seen the combat of the ram and of
the he-goat, who vanquished him and ruled over the earth, whereof
the principal horn being broken four others came up toward the
four winds of heaven, and out of one of them came forth a little horn,
which waxed exceeding great toward the south, and toward the east,
and toward the land of Israel, and it waxed great even to the host of
heaven; and it cast down some of the stars, and stamped upon them,
and at last overthrew the prince, and by him the daily sacrifice was
taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.
"This is what Daniel saw. He sought the meaning of it, and a voice
cried in this manner, 'Gabriel, make this man to understand the
vision.' And Gabriel said
"The ram which thou sawest is the king of the Medes and Per-
sians, and the he-goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn that
is between his eyes is the first king of this monarchy.
THE PROPHECIES 247
"Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four king-
doms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.
"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when iniquities are
come to the full, there shall arise a king, insolent and strong, but not
by his own power, to whom all things shall succeed after his
own will; and he shall destroy the holy people, and through his
policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand, and he
shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against the Prince of
princes, but he shall perish miserably, and nevertheless by a violent
hand."
Daniel ix. 20. "Whilst I was praying with all my heart, and con-
fessing my sin and the sin of all my people, and prostrating myself
before my God, even Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the
beginning, came to me and touched me about the time of the evening
oblation, and he informed me and said, O Daniel, I am now come
forth to give thee the knowledge of things. At the beginning of thy
supplications I came to shew that which thou didst desire, for thou
art greatly beloved : therefore understand the matter, and consider the
vision. Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy
holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins,
and to abolish iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness;
to accomplish the vision and the prophecies, and to anoint the Most
Holy. ( After which this people shall be no more thy people, nor this
city the holy city. The times of wrath shall be passed, and the years
of grace shall come for ever.)
"Know therefore, and understand, that, from the going forth of
the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Mes-
siah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks."
(The Hebrews were accustomed to divide numbers, and to place the
small first. Thus, 7 and 62 make 69. Of this 70 there will then re-
main the 7oth, that is to say, the 7 last years of which he will speak
next.)
"The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous
times. And after three score and two weeks," (which have followed
the first seven. Christ will then be killed after the sixty-nine weeks,
that is to say, in the last week), "the Christ shall be cut off, and a
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the
248 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
sanctuary, and overwhelm all, and the end of that war shall accom-
plish the desolation.
"Now one week," (which is the seventieth, which remains), "shall
confirm the covenant with many, and in the midst of the week,"
(that is to say, the last three and a half years), "he shall cause the
sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abomi-
nations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and
that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
Daniel, xi. The angel said to Daniel: "There shall stand up yet,"
(after Cyrus, under whom this still is), "three kings in Persia," (Cam-
byses, Smyrdis, Darius); "and the fourth who shall then come,"
(Xerxes) "shall be far richer than they all, and far stronger, and shall
stir up all his people against the Greeks.
"But a mighty king shall stand up," (Alexander), "that shall rule
with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he
shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided in
four parts toward the four winds of heaven," (as he had said above,
vi. 6, viii. 8), "but not his posterity; and his successors shall not equal
his power, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others
besides these," (his four chief successors).
"And the king of the south," (Ptolemy, son of Lagos, Egypt),
"shall be strong; but one of his princes shall be strong above him,
and his dominion shall be a great dominion," (Seleucus, King of
Syria. Appian says that he was the most powerful of Alexander's
successors.)
"And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, and
the king's daughter of the south," (Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy
Philadelphus, son of the other Ptolemy), "shall come to the king
of the north," (to Antiochus Deus, King of Syria and of Asia, son of
Seleucus Lagidas), "to make peace between these princes.
"But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority; for she
and they that brought her, and her children, and her friends, shall be
delivered to death." (Berenice and her son were killed by Seleucus
Callinicus.)
"But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up," (Ptolemy
Euergetes was the issue of the same father as Berenice), "which shall
come with a mighty army into the land of the king of the north.
THE PROPHECIES 249
where he shall put all under subjection, and he shall also carry cap-
tive into Egypt their gods, their princes, their gold, their silver, and
all their precious spoils," (i he had not been called into Egypt by
domestic reasons, says Justin, he would have entirely stripped Seleu-
cus); "and he shall continue several years when the king of the
north can do nought against him.
"And so he shall return into his kingdom. But his sons shall be
stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces," (Seleucus
Ceraunus, Antiochus the Great). "And their army shall come and
overthrow all; wherefore the king of the south shall be moved with
choler, and shall also form a great army, and fight him," (Ptolemy
Philopator against Antiochus the Great at Raphia), "and conquer;
and his troops shall become insolent, and his heart shall be lifted up,"
(this Ptolemy desecrated the temple: Josephus) : "he shall cast down
many ten thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. For the
king of the north," (Antiochus the Great), "shall return with a
greater multitude than before, and in those times also a great num-
ber of enemies shall stand up against the king of the south," (during
the reign of the young Ptolemy Epiphanes), "also the apostates and
robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision;
but they shall fall." (Those who abandon their religion to please
Euergetes, when he will send his troops to Scopas; for Antiochus
will again take Scopas, and conquer them.) "And the king of the
north shall destroy the fenced cities, and the arms of the south shall
not withstand, and all shall yield to his will; he shall stand in the
land of Israel, and it shall yield to him. And thus he shall think to
make himself master of all the empire of Egypt," (despising the
youth of Epiphanes, says Justin) . "And for that he shall make alli-
ance with him, and give his daughter," (Cleopatra, in order that
she may betray her husband. On which Appian says the doubting his
ability to make himself master of Egypt by force, because of the
protection of the Romans, he wished to attempt it by cunning.) "He
shall wish to corrupt her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither
be for him. Then he shall turn his face to other designs, and shall
think to make himself master of some isles," (that is to say, seaports),
"and shall take many," (as Appian says).
"But a prince shall oppose his conquests," (Scipio Africanus, who
250 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
stopped the progress of Antiochus the Great, because he otfended
the Romans in the person of their allies), "and shall cause the re-
proach offered by him to cease. He shall then return into his king-
dom and there perish, and be no more." (He was slain by his sol-
diers.)
"And he who shall stand up in his estate," (Seleucus Philopator or
Soter, the son of Antiochus the Great), "shall be a tyrant, a raiser
of taxes in the glory of the kingdom," (which means the people),
"but within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in
battle. And in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of
the honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in cleverly by flatteries.
All armies shall bend before him; he shall conquer them, and even
the prince with whom he has made a covenant. For having re-
newed the league with him, he shall work deceitfully, and enter with
a small people into his province, peaceably and without fear. He
shall take the fattest places, and shall do that which his fathers have
not done, and ravage on all sides. He shall forecast great devices
during his time."
723
Prophecies. The seventy weeks of Daniel are ambiguous as re-
gards the term of commencement, because of the terms of the proph-
ecy; and as regards the term of conclusion, because of the differences
among chronologists. But all this difference extends only to two
hundred years.
724
Predictions. That in the fourth monarchy, before the destruction
of the second temple, before the dominion of the Jews was taken
away, in the seventieth week of Daniel, during the continuance of the
second temple, the heathen should be instructed, and brought to the
knowledge of the God worshipped by the Jews; that those who loved
Him should be delivered from their enemies, and filled with His
fear and love.
And it happened that in the fourth monarchy, before the destruc-
tion of the second temple, &c., the heathen in great number wor-
THE PROPHECIES 25!
shipped God, and led an angelic life. Maidens dedicated their vir-
ginity and their life to God. Men renounced their pleasures. What
Plato could only make acceptable to a few men, specially chosen and
instructed, a secret influence imparted, by the power of a few words,
to a hundred million ignorant men.
The rich left their wealth. Children left the dainty homes of their
parents to go into the rough desert. (See Philo the Jew.) All this
was foretold a great while ago. For two thousand years no heathen
had worshipped the God of the Jew; and at the time foretold, a great
number of the heathen worshipped this only God. The temples were
destroyed. The very kings made submission to the cross. All this
was due to the Spirit of God, which was spread abroad upon the
earth.
No heathen, since Moses until Jesus Christ, believed according to
the very Rabbis. A great number of the heathen, after Jesus Christ,
believed in the books of Moses, kept them in substance and spirit, and
only rejected what was useless.
Prophecies. The conversion of the Egyptians (Is., xix. 19); an
altar in Egypt to the true God.
726
Prophecies. In Egypt. Pugio Fidei, p. 659. Talmud.
"It is a tradition among us, that, when the Messiah shall come, the
house of God, destined for the dispensation of His Word, shall be
full of filth and impurity; and that the wisdom of the scribes shall
be corrupt and rotten. Those who shall be afraid to sin, shall be
rejected by the people, and treated as senseless fools."
Is. xlix.: "Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye people, from
afar: The Lord hath called me by my name from the womb of my
mother; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and hath made
my words like a sharp sword, and said unto me, Thou art my servant
in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, Lord, have I laboured in
vain? have I spent my strength for nought? yet surely my judgment
is with Thee, O Lord, and my work with Thee. And now, saith
252 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
the Lord, that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring
Jacob and Israel again to Him: Thou shalt be glorious in my sight,
and I will be thy strength. It is a light thing that thou shouldst con-
vert the tribes of Jacob; I have raised thee up for a light to the Gen-
tiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth.
Thus saith the Lord to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the
nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers. Princes and kings shall
worship thee, because the Lord is faithful that hath chosen thee.
"Again saith the Lord unto me, I have heard thee in the days of sal-
vation and of mercy, and I will preserve thee for a covenant of the
people, to cause to inherit the desolate nations, that thou mayest
say to the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness show
yourselves, and possess these abundant and fertile lands. They shall
not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for
he that hath mercy upon them shall lead them, even by the springs
of waters shall he guide them, and make the mountains a way before
them. Behold, the peoples shall come from all parts, from the east
and from the west, from the north and from the south. Let the
heavens give glory to God; let the earth be joyful; for it hath pleased
the Lord to comfort His people, and He will have mercy upon the
poor who hope in Him.
"Yet Zion dared to say: The Lord hath forsaken me, and hath
forgotten me. Can a woman forget her child, that she should not
have compassion on the son of her womb? but if she forget, yet
will not I forget thee, O Zion. I will bear thee always between my
hands, and thy walls are continually before me. They that shall build
thee are come, and thy destroyers shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine
eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together,
and come to thee. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe
thee with them all, as with an ornament, thy waste and thy deso-
late places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too
narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and the children thou shalt have
after thy barrenness shall say again in thy ears: The place is too strait
for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in
thy heart: who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my chil-
dren, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro ? and who
brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; there, where had they
THE PROPHECIES 253
been? And the Lord shall say to thee: Behold, I will lift up mine
hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and
they shall bring thy sons in their arms and in their bosoms. And
kings shall be their nursing fathers, and queens their nursing moth-
ers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,
and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the
Lord; for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Shall the prey-
be taken from the mighty? But even if the captives be taken away
from the strong, nothing shall hinder me from saving thy children,
and from destroying thy enemies; and all flesh shall know that I
am the Lord, thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of
Jacob.
"Thus saith the Lord : What is the bill of this divorcement, where-
with I have put away the synagogue? and why have I delivered it
into the hands of your enemies? Is it not for your iniquities and for
your transgressions that I have put it away?
"For I came, and no man received me; I called, and there was none
to hear. Is my arm shortened that I cannot redeem?
"Therefore I will show the tokens of mine anger; I will clothe the
heavens with darkness, and make sack cloth their covering.
"The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should
know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. He hath
opened mine ear, and I have listened to Him as a master.
"The Lord hath revealed His will, and I was not rebellious.
"I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to outrage; I hid
not my face from shame and spitting. But the Lord hath helped
me; therefore I have not been confounded.
"He is near that justified! me; who will contend with me? who
will be mine adversary, and accuse me of sin. God himself being my
protector ?
"All men shall pass away, and be consumed by time; let those that
fear God hearken to the voice of His servant; let him that languished!
in darkness put his trust in the Lord. But as for you, ye do but kindle
the wrath of God upon you; ye walk in the light of your fire and in
the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand;
ye shall lie down in sorrow.
"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek
254 PASCALS THOUGHTS
the Lord : look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of
the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham, your father,
and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, when childless,
and increased him. Behold, I have comforted Zion, and heaped
upon her blessings and consolations.
"Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me; for a law
shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a
light of the Gentiles."
Amos, viii. The prophet, having enumerated the sins of Israel, said
that God had sworn to take vengeance on them.
He says this: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the
earth in the clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and
all your songs into lamentation.
"You all shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make this na-
tion mourn as for an only son, and the end therefore as a bitter day.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in
the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing
the words of the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and
from the north even to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the
word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
"In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
They that have followed the idols of Samaria, and sworn by the
god of Dan, and followed the manner of Beersheba, shall fall, and
never rise up again."
Amos, iii. 2; "Ye only have I known of all the families of the
earth for my people."
Daniel, xii. 7. Having described all the extent of the reign of the
Messiah, he says: "All these things shall be finished, when the scat-
tering of the people of Israel shall be accomplished."
Haggai, ii. 4 : "Ye who, comparing this second house with the glory
of the first, despise it, be strong, saith the Lord, be strong, O Zerub-
babel, and O Jesus, the high priest, be strong, all ye people of the land,
and work. For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts; according to
the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so
my spirit remaineth among you. Fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord
of hosts: Yet one little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the
THE PROPHECIES 255
earth, and the sea, and the dry land," (a way of speaking to indicate
a great and an extraordinary change) ; "and I will shake all nations,
and the desire of all the Gentiles shall come; and I will fill this
house with glory, saith the Lord.
"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord," (that is
to say, it is not by that that I wish to be honoured; as it is said else-
where: All the beasts of the field are mine, what advantages me
that they are offered me in sacrifice?). "The glory of this latter
house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts;
and in this place will I establish my house, saith the Lord.
"According to all that thou desirest in Horeb in the day of the
assembly, saying, Let us not hear again the voice of the Lord, neither
let us see this fire any more, that we die not. And the Lord said unto
me, their prayer is just. I will raise them up a prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth;
and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And
it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words
which he will speak in my name, I will require it of him."
Genesis, xlix. "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise,
and thou shalt conquer thine enemies; thy father's children shall
bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my
son, thou art gone up, and art couched as a lion, and as a lioness that
shall be roused up.
"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gather-
ing of the people be."
727
During the life of the Messiah. JEnigmatis. Ezek. xvii.
His forerunner. Malachi, iii.
He will be born an infant. Is. ix.
He will be born in the village of Bethlehem. Micah, v. He will
appear chiefly in Jerusalem, and will be a descendant of the family
of Judah and of David.
He is to blind the learned and the wise, Is. vi., viii., xxix., &c.;
and to preach the Gospel to the lowly, Is. xxix.; to open the eyes of
256 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
the blind, give health to the sick, and bring light to those that lan-
guish in darkness, Is. Ixi.
He is to show the perfect way, and be the teacher of the Gentiles.
Is. Iv.; xlii. i 7.
The prophecies are to be unintelligible to the wicked, Dan. xii.;
Hosea, xiv. 10; but they are to be intelligible to those who are well
informed.
The prophecies, which represent Him as poor, represent Him as
master of the nations. Is. lii. 14, &c.; liii.; Zech. ix. 9.
The prophecies, which foretell the time, foretell Him only as mas-
ter of the nations and suffering, and not as in the clouds nor as
judge. And those, which represent Him thus as judge and in glory,
do not mention the time. When the Messiah is spoken of as great and
glorious, it is as the judge of the world, and not its Redeemer.
He is to be the victim for the sins of the world. Is. xxxix., liii., &c.
He is to be the precious corner-stone. Is. xxviii. 16.
He is to be a stone of stumbling and offence. Is. viii. Jerusalem
is to dash against this stone.
The builders are to reject this stone. Ps. cxvii. 22.
God is to make this stone the chief corner-stone.
And this stone is to grow into a huge mountain, and fill the whole
earth. Dan. ii.
So He is to be rejected, despised, betrayed, (Ps. cviii. 8), sold
(Zech. xi. 12), spit upon, buffeted, mocked, afflicted in innumerable
ways, given gall to drink (Ps. Ixviii.), pierced (Zech. xii.), His
feet and His hands pierced, slain, and lots cast for His raiment.
He will rise again (Ps. xv.) the third day (Hosea, vi. 3).
He will ascend to heaven to sit on the right hand. Ps. ex.
The kings will arm themselves against Him. Ps. ii.
Being on the right hand of the Father, He will be victorious over
His enemies.
The kings of the earth and all nations will worship Him. Is. Ix.
The Jews will continue as a nation. Jeremiah.
They will wander, without kings, &c. (Hosea iii.), without proph-
ets (Amos), looking for salvation and finding it not (Isaiah).
Calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. Is. lii. 15; Iv. 5; Ix., &c.
Ps. Ixxxi.
THE PROPHECIES 257
Hosea, i. 9: "Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God,
when ye are multiplied after the dispersion. In the places where it
was said, Ye are not my people, I will call them my people."
728
It was not lawful to sacrifice outside of Jerusalem, which was the
place that the Lord has chosen, nor even to eat the tithes elsewhere.
Deut. xii. 5, &c.; xiv. 23, &c.; xv. 20; xvi. 2, 7, n, 15.
Hosea foretold that they should be without a king, without a
prince, without a sacrifice, and without an idol; and this prophecy is
now fulfilled, as they cannot make a lawful sacrifice out of Jerusalem.
729
Predictions. It was foretold that, in the time of the Messiah, He
should come to establish a new covenant, which should make them
forget the escape from Egypt (Jer. xxiii. 5; Is. xliii. 16) that He
should place His law not in externals, but in the heart; that He
should put His fear, which had only been from without, in the midst
of the heart. Who does not see the Christian law in all this ?
730
. . . That then idolatry would be overthrown; that this Messiah
would cast down all idols, and bring men into the worship of the
true God.
That the temples of the idols would be cast down, and that among
all nations, and in all places of the earth, He would be offered a
pure sacrifice, not of beasts.
That He would be king of the Jews and Gentiles. And we see this
king of the Jews and Gentiles oppressed by both, who conspire His
death; and ruler of both, destroying the worship of Moses in Jerusa-
lem, which was its centre, where He made His first Church; and also
the worship of idols in Rome, the centre of it, where He made His
chief Church.
258 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Prophecies. That Jesus Christ will sit on the right hand, till God
has subdued His enemies.
Therefore He will not subdue them Himself.
73 2
". . . Then they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, say-
ing, Here is the Lord, for God shall ma\e Himself faown to all"
". . . Your sons shall prophesy." "I will put my spirit and my fear
in your heart."
All that is the same thing. To prophesy is to speak of God, not
from outward proofs, but from an inward and immediate feeling.
733
That He would teach men the perfect way.
And there has never come, before Him nor after Him, any man
who has taught anything divine approaching to this.
734
. . . That Jesus Christ would be small in His beginning, and
would then increase. The little stone of Daniel.
If I had in no wise heard of the Messiah, nevertheless, after such
wonderful predictions of the course of the world which I see fulfilled,
I see that He is divine. And if I knew that these same books fore-
told a Messiah, I should be sure that He would come; and seeing that
they place His time before the destruction of the second temple, I
should say that He had come.
735
Prophecies. That the Jews would reject Jesus Christ, and would
be rejected of God, for this reason, that the chosen vine brought forth
only wild grapes. That the chosen people would be faithless, ungrate-
ful, and unbelieving, populum non credentem et contradicentem*
4 Isaiah, Ixv. 2; Romans, x. 21.
THE PROPHECIES 259
That God would strike them with blindness, and in full noon they
would grope like the blind; and that a forerunner would go before
Him.
736
Transfixerunt. Zech. xii. 10.
That a deliverer should come, who would crush the demon's head,
and free His people from their sins, ex omnibus iniquitatibus ; that
there should be a New Covenant, which would be eternal; that there
should be another priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, and it
should be eternal; that the Christ should be glorious, mighty, strong,
and yet so poor that He would not be recognised, nor taken for what
He is, but rejected and slain; that His people who denied Him should
no longer be His people; that the idolaters should receive Him, and
take refuge in Him; that He should leave Zion to reign in the centre
of idolatry; that nevertheless the Jews should continue for ever; that
He should be of Judah, and when there should be no longer a king.
SECTION XII
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST
737
THEREFORE I reject all other religions. In that way I find
an answer to all objections. It is right that a God so pure
should only reveal Himself to those whose hearts are pu-
rified. Hence this religion is lovable to me, and I find it now suffi-
ciently justified by so divine a morality. But I find more in it.
I find it convincing that, since the memory of man has lasted, it
was constantly announced to men that they were universally corrupt,
but that a Redeemer should come; that it was not one man who said
it, but innumerable men, and a whole nation, expressly made for the
purpose, and prophesying for four thousand years. This is a nation
which is more ancient than every other nation. Their books, scattered
abroad, are four thousand years old.
The more T examine them, the more truths I find in them: an
entire nation foretell Him before His advent, and an entire nation
worship Him after His advent; what has preceded and what has
followed; in short, people without idols and kings, this synagogue
which was foretold, and these wretches who frequent it, and who,
being our enemies, are admirable witnesses of the truth of these
prophecies, wherein their wretchedness and even their blindness
are foretold.
I find this succession, this religion, wholly divine in its authority,
in its duration, in its perpetuity, in its morality, in its conduct, in its
doctrine, in its effects. The frightful darkness of the Jews was fore-
told. Eris palpans in meridie. 1 Dabitur liber scienti literas, et dicet:
Non possum legere. 2 While the sceptre was still in the hands of the
first foreign usurper, there is the report of the coming of Jesus
Christ.
1 Deuteronomy, xxviii. 29. 2 Isaiah, xxix. 12.
260
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 26 1
So I hold out my arms to my Redeemer, who, having been foretold
for four thousand years, has come to suffer and to die for me on earth,
at the time and under all the circumstances foretold. By His grace,
I await death in peace, in the hope of being eternally united to Him.
Yet I live with joy, whether in the prosperity which it pleases Him
to bestow upon me, or in the adversity which He sends for my good,
and which He has taught me to bear by His example.
738
The prophecies having given different signs which should all hap-
pen at the advent of the Messiah, it was necessary that all these signs
should occur at the same time. So it was necessary that the fourth
monarchy should have come, when the seventy weeks of Daniel
were ended; and that the sceptre should have then departed from
Judah. And all this happened without any difficulty. Then it was
necessary that the Messiah should come; and Jesus Christ then came,
who was called the Messiah. And all this again was without difficulty.
This indeed shows the truth of the prophecies.
739
The prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints again
were foretold, but did not foretell. Jesus Christ both foretold and was
foretold.
74
Jesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its
hope, the New as its model, and both as their centre.
74 1
The two oldest books in the world are those of Moses and Job, the
one a Jew and the other a Gentile. Both of them look upon Jesus
Christ as their common centre and object: Moses in relating the
promises of God to Abraham, Jacob, &c., and his prophecies; and
Job, Qitis mihi det ut, &c. Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit, &c. 3
3 Job, xix. 23-25.
262 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
742
The Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to the
time of the birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus Christ.
743
Proofs of Jesus Christ.
Why was the book of Ruth preserved?
Why the story of Tamar?
744
"Pray that ye enter not into temptation." It is dangerous to be
tempted; and people are tempted because they do not pray.
Et tu conversus confirma jratres tuos* But before, conversus Jesus
respexit Petrum. 5
Saint Peter asks permission to strike Malchus, and strikes before
hearing the answer. Jesus Christ replies afterwards.
The word, Galilee, which the Jewish mob pronounced as if by
chance, in accusing Jesus Christ before Pilate, afforded Pilate a rea-
son for sending Jesus Christ to Herod. And thereby the mystery was
accomplished, that He should be judged by Jews and Gentiles.
Chance was apparently the cause of the accomplishment of the
mystery.
745
Those who have a difficulty in believing seek a reason in the fact
that the Jews do not believe. "Were this so clear," say they, "why did
the Jews not believe?" And they almost wish that they had believed,
so as not to be kept back by the example of their refusal. But it is
their very refusal that is the foundation of our faith. We should be
much less disposed to the faith, if they were on our side. We should
then have a more ample pretext. The wonderful thing is to have
made the Jews great lovers of the things foretold, and great enemies
of their fulfilment.
4 Luke, xxii. 32. 5 Luke, xxii. 61.
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 263
746
The Jews were accustomed to great and striking miracles, and so,
having had the great miracles of the Red Sea and of the land of
Canaan as an epitome of the great deeds of their Messiah, they
therefore looked for more striking miracles, of which those of Moses
were only the patterns.
747
The carnal Jews and the heathen have their calamities, and Chris-
tians also. There is no Redeemer for the heathen, for they do not so
much as hope for one. There is no Redeemer for the Jews; they
hope for Him in vain. There is a Redeemer only for Christians.
(See Perpetuity.)
748
In the time of the Messiah the people divided themselves. The
spiritual embraced the Messiah, and the coarser-minded remained to
serve as witnesses of Him.
749
"If this was clearly foretold to the Jews, how did they not be-
lieve it, or why were they not destroyed for resisting a fact so clear?"
I reply: in the first place, it was foretold both that they would not
believe a thing so clear, and that they would not be destroyed. And
nothing is more to the glory of the Messiah; for it was not enough
that there should be prophets; their prophets must be kept above
suspicion. Now, &c.
750
If the Jews had all been converted by Jesus Christ, we should have
none but questionable witnesses. And if they had been entirely
destroyed, we should have no witnesses at all.
264 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
75 1
What do the prophets say of Jesus Christ ? That He will be clearly
God? No; but that He is a God truly hidden; that He will be
slighted; that none will think that it is He; that He will be a
stone of stumbling, upon which many will stumble, &c. Let people
then reproach us no longer for want of clearness, since we make pro-
fession of it.
But, it is said, there are obscurities. And without that, no one
would have stumbled over Jesus Christ, and this is one of the formal
pronouncements of the prophets: Excceca*
75*
Moses first teaches the Trinity, original sin, the Messiah.
David: a great witness; a king, good, merciful, a beautiful soul, a
sound mind, powerful. He prophesies, and his wonder comes to
pass. This is infinite.
He had only to say that he was the Messiah, if he had been vain;
for the prophecies are clearer about him than about Jesus Christ.
And the same with Saint John.
753
Herod was believed to be the Messiah. He had taken away the
sceptre from Judah, but he was not of Judah. This gave rise to a
considerable sect.
Curse of the Greeks upon those who count three periods of time.
In what way should the Messiah come, seeing that through Him
the sceptre was to be eternally in Judah, and at His coming the scep-
tre was to be taken away from Judah?
In order to effect that seeing they should not see, and hearing they
should not understand, nothing could be better done.
754
Homo existens te Deum facit. 7
Scriptum est, Dii estis, et non potest solvi Scriptural
6 Isaiah, vi. 10. 7 "Man existing makes thee God." 8 "It is written, 'You are
Gods,' and the Scripture cannot be overthrown."
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 265
Hcec infirmitas non est ad vitam et est ad mortem?
Lazarus dormit, et deinde dixit: Lazarus mortuus est
755
The apparent discrepancy of the Gospels.
75 6
What can we have but reverence for a man who foretells plainly
things which come to pass, and who declares his intention both to
blind and to enlighten, and who intersperses obscurities among the
clear things which come to pass?
757
The time of the first advent was foretold; the time of the second
is not so; because the first was to be obscure, and the second is to be
brilliant, and so manifest that even His enemies will recognise it.
But, as He was first to come only in obscurity, and to be known only
of those who searched the Scriptures. . . .
758
God, in order to cause the Messiah to be known by the good and
not to be known by the wicked, made Him to be foretold in this
manner. If the manner of the Messiah had been dearly foretold,
there would have been no obscurity, even for the wicked. If the
time had been obscurely foretold, there would have been obscurity,
even for the good. For their [goodness of heart] would not have
made them understand, for instance, that the closed mem signifies
six hundred years. But the time has been clearly foretold, and the
manner in types.
By this means, the wicked, taking the promised blessings for
material blessings, have fallen into error, in spite of the clear predic-
tion of the time; and the good have not fallen into error. For the
understanding of the promised blessings depends on the heart, which
9 "This sickness is not unto life, and is unto death."
10 John, xi. u, 14.
266 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
calls "good" that which it loves; but the understanding of the prom-
ised time does not depend on the heart. And thus the clear predic-
tion of the time, and the obscure prediction of the blessings, deceive
the wicked alone.
759
Either the Jews or the Christians must be wicked.
760
The Jews reject Him, but not all. The saints receive Him, and not
the carnal-minded. And so far is this from being against His glory,
that it is the last touch which crowns it. For their argument, the only
one found in ah 1 their writings, in the Talmud and in the Rabbinical
writings, amounts only to this, that Jesus Christ has not subdued
the nations with sword in hand, gladium tuum, potentissime. 11
Is this all they have to say ? Jesus Christ has been slain, say they. He
has failed. He has not subdued the heathen with His might. He has
not bestowed upon us their spoil. He does not give riches. Is this
all they have to say? It is in this respect that He is lovable to me.
I would not desire Him whom they fancy. It is evident that it is
only His life which has prevented them from accepting Him; and
through this rejection they are irreproachable witnesses, and, what
is more, they thereby accomplish the prophecies.
[By means of the fact that this people have not accepted Him, this
miracle here has happened. The prophecies were the only lasting
miracles which could be wrought, but they were liable to be denied.]
761
The Jews, in slaying Him in order not to receive Him as the Mes-
siah, have given Him the final proof of being the Messiah.
And in continuing not to recognise Him, they made themselves
irreproachable witnesses. Both in slaying Him, and in continuing to
deny Him, they have fulfilled the prophecies (Is. lx.; Ps. Ixxi.).
11 Psalms, xlv. 3.
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 267
762
What could the Jews, His enemies, do ? If they receive Him, they
give proof of Him by their reception; for then the guardians of the
expectation of the Messiah receive Him. If they reject Him, they
give proof of Him by their rejection.
763
The Jews, in testing if He were God, have shown that He was man.
764
The Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus
Christ was man, against those who denied it, as in showing that he
was God; and the probabilities were equally great.
765
Source of contradictions. A God humiliated, even to the death on
the cross; a Messiah triumphing over death by his own death. Two
natures in Jesus Christ, two advents, two states of man's nature.
766
Types. Saviour, father, sacrificer, offering, food, king, wise, law-
giver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people whom He must lead
and nourish and bring into His land . . .
Jesus Christ. Offices. He alone had to create a great people, elect,
holy, and chosen; to lead, nourish, and bring it into the place of rest
and holiness; to make it holy to God; to make it the temple of God;
to reconcile it to, and save it from the wrath of God; to free it from
the slavery of sin, which visibly reigns in man; to give laws to this
people, and engrave these laws on their heart; to ofTer Himself to
God for them, and sacrifice Himself for them; to be a victim without
blemish, and Himself the sacrificer, having to offer Himself, His
body, and His blood, and yet to offer bread and wine to God . . .
Ingrediens mundum. 12
12 Hebrews, x. 5.
268 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
"Stone upon stone."
What preceded and what followed. All the Jews exist still, and are
wanderers.
767
Of all that is on earth, He partakes only of the sorrows, not of
the joys. He loves His neighbours, but His love does not confine
itself within these bounds, and overflows to His own enemies, and
then to those of God.
Jesus Christ typified by Joseph, the beloved of his father, sent by
his father to see his brethren, &c., innocent, sold by his brethren for
twenty pieces of silver, and thereby becoming their lord, their saviour,
the saviour of strangers, and the saviour of the world; which had
not been but for their plot to destroy him, their sale and their
rejection of him.
In prison Joseph innocent between two criminals; Jesus Christ on
the cross between two thieves. Joseph foretells freedom to the one,
and death to the other, from the same omens. Jesus Christ saves the
elect, and condemns the outcast for the same sins. Joseph foretells
only; Jesus Christ acts. Joseph asks him who will be saved to re-
member him, when he comes into his glory; and he whom Jesus
Christ saves asks that He will remember him, when He comes into
His kingdom.
769
The conversion of the heathen was only reserved for the grace of
the Messiah. The Jews have been so long in opposition to them
without success; all that Solomon and the prophets said has been
useless. Sages, like Plato and Socrates, have not been able to per-
suade them.
770
After many persons had gone before, Jesus Christ at last came to
say: "Here am I, and this is the time. That which the prophets have
said was to come in the fulness of time, I tell you My apostles will
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 269
do. The Jews shall be cast out. Jerusalem shall be soon destroyed.
And the heathen shall enter into the knowledge of God. My apostles
shall do this after you have slain the heir of the vineyard."
Then the apostles said to the Jews: "You shall be accursed," (Cel-
sus laughed at it); and to the heathen, "You shall enter into the
knowledge of God." And this then came to pass.
771
Jesus Christ came to blind those who saw clearly, and to give sight
to the blind; to heal the sick, and leave the healthy to die; to call to
repentance, and to justify sinners, and to leave the righteous in their
sins; to fill the needy, and leave the rich empty.
772
Holiness. Effundum spiritum meum. 13 All nations were in un-
belief and lust. The whole world now became fervent with love.
Princes abandoned their pomp; maidens suffered martyrdom.
Whence came this influence? The Messiah was come. These were
the effect and signs of His coming.
773
Destruction of the Jews and heathen by Jesus Christ: Omnes gen-
tes venient et adorabunt eum. 14 Parum est ut, &c. 15 Postula a me. 16
Adorabunt eum omnes reges. 17 Testes iniqui. 1 * Dabit maxillam
percutienti. 19 Dederunt fel in escam 20
774
Jesus Christ for all, Moses for a nation.
The Jews blessed in Abraham : "I will bless those that bless thee."
But: "All nations blessed in his seed." Parum est ut, &c.
Lumen ad revelationem gentium 21
Non fecit taliter omni nationi 22 said David, in speaking of the
Law. But, in speaking of Jesus Christ, we must say: Fecit taliter
13 Joel, ii. 28. 14 Psalms, xxii. 27. 15 Isaiah, xlix. 6. 16 Psalms, ii. 8.
17 Psalms, Ixxii. n. 18 Psalms, xxxv. ii. 19 Lamentations, iii. 30.
20 Psalms, Ixix. 21. 21 Luke, ii. 32. 22 Psalms, cxlvii. 20.
270 PASCALS THOUGHTS
omni nationi. Parum est ut, &c., Isaiah. So it belongs to Jesus Christ
to be universal. Even the Church offers sacrifice only for the faithful.
Jesus Christ offered that of the cross for all.
775
There is heresy in always explaining omnes by "all," and heresy
in not explaining it sometimes by "all." Bibite ex hoc omnes; 23 the
Huguenots are heretics in explaining it by "all." In quo omnes pec-
caverunt;^ the Huguenots are heretics in excepting the children of
true believers. We must then follow the Fathers and tradition in
order to know when to do so, since there is heresy to be feared on both
sides.
776
Ne timeas pusillus grex. 25 Timore et tremore. Quid ergo? Ne
timeas [modo] timeas. Fear not, provided you fear; but if you fear
not, then fear.
Qui me recipit, non me recipit, sed eum qui me misit
Nemo scit, neque Filius 21
Nubes lucida obumbravit
Saint John was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and Jesus Christ to plant division. There is no contradiction.
777
The effects in communi and in particulari The semi-Pelagians
err in saying of in communi what is true only in particulari; and the
Calvinists in saying in particulari what is true in communi. Such is
my opinion.
778
Omnis Judcea regio, et Jerosolomytce universi, et baptizabantur^
Because of all the conditions of men who came there.
From these stones there can come children unto Abraham.
23 Matthew, xxvi. 27. 24 Romans, v. 12. ^Luke, xii. 32. 26 Matthew, x. 40.
27 Matthew, xi. 27. 28 Matthew, xvii. 5. 29 "In general," "in particular."
30 Mark, i. 5.
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 271
779
If men knew themselves, God would heal and pardon them. Ne
convertantur et sanem eos, et dimittantur eis peccata. 31
Jesus Christ never condemned without hearing. To Judas: Amice,
ad quid venisti? 32 To him that had not on the wedding garment, the
same.
The types of the completeness of the Redemption, as that the sun
gives light to all, indicate only completeness; but [the types] of ex-
clusions, as of the Jews elected to the exclusion of the Gentiles, indi-
cate exclusion.
"Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all." Yes, for He has offered, like
a man who has ransomed all those who were willing to come to Him.
If any die on the way, it is their misfortune; but, so far as He was
concerned, He offered them redemption. That holds good in this
example, where he who ransoms and he who prevents death are
two persons, but not of Jesus Christ, who does both these things.
No, for Jesus Christ, in the quality of Redeemer, is not perhaps Mas-
ter of all; and thus, in so far as it is in Him, He is the Redeemer
of all.
When it is said that Jesus Christ did not die for all, you take undue
advantage of a fault in men who at once apply this exception to them-
selves; and this is to favour despair, instead of turning them from
it to favour hope. For men thus accustom themselves to inward
virtues by outward customs.
The victory over death. What is a man advantaged if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul? Whosoever will save his soul,
shall lose it.
31 Mark, iv. 12. 32 Matthew, xxvi. 50.
272 PASCALS THOUGHTS
"I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil."
"Lambs took not away the sins of the world, but I am the lamb
which taketh away the sins."
"Moses gave you not the bread from heaven. Moses hath not led
you out of captivity, and made you truly free."
783
. . . Then Jesus Christ comes to tell men that they have no other
enemies but themselves; that it is their passions which keep them
apart from God; that He comes to destroy these, and give them His
grace, so as to make of them all one Holy Church; that He comes
to bring back into this Church the heathen and Jews; that He comes
to destroy the idols of the former and the superstition of the latter.
To this all men are opposed, not only from the natural opposition
of lust; but, above all, the kings of the earth, as had been foretold,
join together to destroy this religion at its birth. (Proph.: Quare
jermerunt gentes . . . reges terrce . . . adversus Christum)
All that is great on earth is united together; the learned, the wise,
the kings. The first write; the second condemn; the last kill. And
notwithstanding all these oppositions, these men, simple and weak,
resist all these powers, subdue even these kings, these learned men
and these sages, and remove idolatry from all the earth. And all
this is done by the power which had foretold it.
784
Jesus Christ would not have the testimony of devils, nor of those
who were not called, but of God and John the Baptist.
785
I consider Jesus Christ in all persons and in ourselves: Jesus Christ
as a Father in His Father, Jesus Christ as a Brother in His Brethren,
Jesus Christ as poor in the poor, Jesus Christ as rich in the rich,
Jesus Christ as Doctor and Priest in priests, Jesus Christ as Sovereign
in princes, &c. For by His glory He is all that is great, being God;
33 Psalms, ii. 1-2. (Taken as a prophecy of Christ.)
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 273
and by His mortal life He is all that is poor and abject. Therefore
He has taken this unhappy condition, so that He could be in all
persons, and the model of all conditions.
Jesus Christ is an obscurity (according to what the world calls
obscurity), such that historians, writing only of important matters
of states, have hardly noticed Him.
787
On the fact that neither Josephus, nor Tacitus, nor other histo-
rians have spoken of Jesus Christ. So far is this from telling against
Christianity, that on the contrary it tells for it. For it is certain that
Jesus Christ has existed; that His religion has made a great talk;
and that these persons were not ignorant of it. Thus it is plain that
they purposely concealed it, or that, if they did speak of it, their
account has been suppressed or changed.
"I have reserved me seven thousand." I love the worshippers
unknown to the world and to the very prophets.
789
As Jesus Christ remained unknown among men, so His truth
remains among common opinions without external difference. Thus
the Eucharist among ordinary bread.
790
Jesus would not be slain without the forms of justice; for it is far
more ignominious to die by justice than by an unjust sedition.
791
The false justice of Pilate only serves to make Jesus Christ suffer;
for he causes Him to be scourged by his false justice, and afterwards
274 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
puts Him to death. It would have been better to have put Him to
death at once. Thus it is with the falsely just. They do good and
evil works to please the world, and to show that they are not alto-
gether of Jesus Christ; for they are ashamed of Him. And at last,
under great temptations and on great occasions, they kill Him.
792
What man ever had more renown? The whole Jewish people
foretell Him before His coming. The Gentile people worship Him
after His coming. The two peoples, Gentile and Jewish, regard Him
as their centre.
And yet what man enjoys this renown less? Of thirty-three years,
He lives thirty without appearing. For three years He passes as an
impostor; the priests and the chief people reject Him; His friends
and His nearest relatives despise Him. Finally, He dies, betrayed
by one of His own disciples, denied by another, and abandoned
by all.
What part, then, has He in this renown? Never had man so
much renown; never had man more ignominy. All that renown has
served only for us, to render us capable of recognising Him; and He
had none of it for Himself.
793
The infinite distance between body and mind is a symbol of the
infinitely more infinite distance between mind and charity; for
charity is supernatural.
All the glory of greatness has no lustre for people who are in
search of understanding.
The greatness of clever men is invisible to kings, to the rich, to
chiefs, and to all the worldly great.
The greatness of wisdom, which is nothing if not of God, is in-
visible to the carnal-minded and to the clever. These are three orders
differing in kind.
Great geniuses have their power, their glory, their greatness, their
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 275
victory, their lustre, and have no need of worldly greatness, with
which they are not in keeping. They are seen, not by the eye, but by
the mind; this is sufficient.
The saints have their power, their glory, their victory, their lustre,
and need no worldly or intellectual greatness, with which they have
no affinity; for these neither add anything to them, nor take away
anything from them. They are seen of God and the angels, and not
of the body, nor of the curious mind. God is enough for them.
Archimedes, apart from his rank, would have the same veneration.
He fought no battles for the eyes to feast upon; but he has given his
discoveries to all men. Oh! how brilliant he was to the mind!
Jesus Christ, without riches, and without any external exhibition
of knowledge, is in His own order of holiness. He did not invent;
He did not reign. But He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God,
terrible to devils, without any sin. Oh! in what great pomp, and in
what wonderful splendour, He is come to the eyes of the heart,
which perceive wisdom!
It would have been useless for Archimedes to have acted the prince
in his books on geometry, although he was a prince.
It would have been useless for our Lord Jesus Christ to come like
a king, in order to shine forth in His kingdom of holiness. But He
came there appropriately in the glory of His own order.
It is most absurd to take offence at the lowliness of Jesus Christ,
as if His lowliness were in the same order as the greatness which He
came to manifest. If we consider this greatness in His life, in His
passion, in His obscurity, in His death, in the choice of His disciples,
in their desertion, in His secret resurrection, and the rest, we shall
see it to be so immense, that we shall have no reason for being
offended at a lowliness which is not of that order.
But there are some who can only admire worldly greatness, as
though there were no intellectual greatness; and others who only
admire intellectual greatness, as though there were not infinitely
higher things in wisdom.
All bodies, the firmament, the stars, the earth and its kingdoms,
are not equal to the lowest mind; for mind knows all these and itself;
and these bodies nothing.
276 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
All bodies together, and all minds together, and all their products,
are not equal to the least feeling of charity. This is of an order
infinitely more exalted.
From all bodies together, we cannot obtain one little thought; this
is impossible, and of another order. From all bodies and minds, we
cannot produce a feeling of true charity; this is impossible, and of
another and supernatural order.
794
Why did Jesus Christ not come in a visible manner, instead of
obtaining testimony of Himself from preceding prophecies? Why
did He cause Himself to be foretold in types ?
795
If Jesus Christ had only come to sanctify, all Scripture and all
things would tend to that end; and it would be quite easy to con-
vince unbelievers. If Jesus Christ had only come to blind, all His
conduct would be confused; and we would have no means of con-
vincing unbelievers. But as he came in sanctificationem et in scan-
dalum as Isaiah says, we cannot convince unbelievers, and they
cannot convince us. But by this very fact we convince them; since
we say that in his whole conduct there is no convincing proof on
one side or the other.
796
Jesus Christ does not say that He is not of Nazareth, in order to
leave the wicked in their blindness; nor that He is not Joseph's son.
797
Proofs of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said great things so simply,
that it seems as though He had not thought them great; and yet so
clearly that we easily see what He thought of them. This clearness,
joined to this simplicity, is wonderful.
34 Isaiah, viii. 14.
PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 277
798
The style of the gospel is admirable in so many ways, and among
the rest in hurling no invectives against the persecutors and enemies
of Jesus Christ. For there is no such invective in any of the historians
against Judas, Pilate, or any of the Jews.
If this moderation of the writers of the Gospels had been assumed,
as well as many other traits of so beautiful a character, and they had
only assumed it to attract notice, even if they had not dared to draw
attention to it themselves, they would not have failed to secure
friends, who would have made such remarks to their advantage.
But as they acted thus without pretence, and from wholly disinter-
ested motives, they did not point it out to any one; and I believe that
many such facts have not been noticed till now, which is evidence
of the natural disinterestedness with which the thing has been done.
799
An artisan who speaks of wealth, a lawyer who speaks of war, of
royalty, &c.; but the rich man rightly speaks of wealth, a king speaks
indifferently of a great gift he has just made, and God rightly speaks
of God.
800
Who has taught the evangelists the qualities of a perfectly heroic
soul, that they paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? Why do they
make Him weak in His agony ? Do they not know how to paint a
resolute death? Yes, for the same Saint Luke paints the death of
Saint Stephen as braver than that of Jesus Christ.
They make Him therefore capable of fear, before the necessity of
dying has come, and then altogether brave.
But when they make Him so troubled, it is when He afflicts Him-
self; and when men afflict Him, He is altogether strong.
801
Proof of Jesus Christ. The supposition that the apostles were im-
postors is very absurd. Let us think it out. Let us imagine those
278 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
twelve men, assembled after the death of Jesus Christ, plotting to
say that He was risen. By this they attack all the powers. The heart
of man is strangely inclined to fickleness, to change, to promises, to
gain. However little any of them might have been led astray by all
these attractions, nay more, by the fear of prisons, tortures, and
death, they were lost. Let us follow up this thought.
802
The apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition
has difficulties; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised from the
dead . . .
While Jesus Christ was with them, He could sustain them. But,
after that, if He did not appear to them, who inspired them to act ?
SECTION XIII
THE MIRACLES
r j iHE beginning. Miracles enable us to judge of doctrine,
t and doctrine enables us to judge of miracles.
M There are false miracles and true. There must be a dis-
tinction, in order to know them; otherwise they would be useless.
Now they are not useless; on the contrary, they are fundamental.
Now the rule which is given to us must be such, that it does not
destroy the proof which the true miracles give of the truth, which is
the chief end of the miracles.
Moses has given two rules: that the prediction does not come to
pass (Deut. xviii.), and that they do not lead to idolatry (Deut.
xiii.) ; and Jesus Christ one.
If doctrine regulates miracles, miracles are useless for doctrine.
If miracles regulate . . .
Objection to the rule. The distinction of the times. One rule
during the time of Moses, another at present.
804
Miracle. It is an effect, which exceeds the natural power of the
means which are employed for it; and what is not a miracle is an
effect, which does not exceed the natural power of the means which
are employed for it. Thus, those who heal by invocation of the devil
do not work a miracle; for that does not exceed the natural power
of the devil. But . . .
The two fundamentals; one inward, the other outward; grace and
miracles; both supernatural.
279
280 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
806
Miracles and truth are necessary, because it is necessary to con-
vince the entire man, in body and soul.
807
In all times, either men have spoken of the true God, or the true
God has spoken to men.
808
Jesus Christ has verified that He was the Messiah, never in veri-
fying His doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but always by
His miracles.
He proves by a miracle that He remits sins.
Rejoice not in your miracles, said Jesus Christ, but because your
names are written in heaven.
If they believe not Moses, neither will they believe one risen from
the dead.
Nicodemus recognises by His miracles that His teaching is of
God. Scimus quia venisti a Deo magister; nemo enim potest hcec
signa facer e qucc tu fads nisi Deus juerit cum eo. 1 He does not
judge of the miracles by the teaching, but of the teaching by the
miracles.
The Jews had a doctrine of God as we have one of Jesus Christ,
and confirmed by miracles. They were forbidden to believe every
worker of miracles; and they were further commanded to have
recourse to the chief priests, and to rely on them.
And thus, in regard to their prophets, they had all those reasons
which we have for refusing to believe the workers of miracles.
And yet they were very sinful in rejecting the prophets, and
Jesus Christ, because of their miracles; and they would not have been
culpable, if they had not seen the miracles. Nisi fecissem . . .
peccatum non haberent? Therefore all belief rests upon miracles.
Prophecy is not called miracle; as Saint John speaks of the first
miracle in Cana, and then of what Jesus Christ says to the woman of
1 John, iii. 2. 2 John, xv. 24.
THE MIRACLES 28 1
Samaria, when He reveals to her all her hidden life. Then He heals
the centurion's son; and Saint John calls this "the second miracle."
The combinations of miracles.
810
The second miracle can suppose the first, but the first cannot
suppose the second.
811
Had it not been for the miracles, there would have been no sin in
not believing in Jesus Christ.
812
I should not be a Christian, but for the miracles, said Saint
Augustine.
Miracles. How I hate those who make men doubt of miracles!
Montaigne speaks of them as he should in two places. In one, we
see how careful he is; and yet, in the other he believes, and makes
sport of unbelievers.
However it may be, the Church is without proofs if they are right.
814
Montaigne against miracles.
Montaigne for miracles.
It is not possible to have a reasonable belief against miracles.
816
Unbelievers the most credulous. They believe the miracles of
Vespasian, in order not to believe those of Moses.
282 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
817
Title: How it happens that men believe so many liars, who say
that they have seen miracles, and do not believe any of those who
say that they have secrets to ma\e men immortal, or restore youth to
them. Having considered how it happens that so great credence is
given to so many impostors, who say they have remedies, often to
the length of men putting their lives into their hands, it has appeared
to me that the true cause is that there are true remedies. For it
would not be possible that there should be so many false remedies,
and that so much faith should be placed in them, if there were none
true. If there had never been any remedy for any ill, and all ills had
been incurable, it is impossible that men should have imagined that
they could give remedies, and still more impossible that so many
others should have believed those who boasted of having remedies;
in the same way as did a man boast of preventing death, no one
would believe him, because there is no example of this. But as there
were a number of remedies found to be true by the very knowledge
of the greatest men, the belief of men is thereby induced; and, this
being known to be possible, it has been therefore concluded that it
was. For people commonly reason thus: "A thing is possible, there-
fore it is"; because the thing cannot be denied generally, since
there are particular effects which are true, the people, who can-
not distinguish which among these particular effects are true,
believe them all. In the same way, the reason why so many false
effects are credited to the moon, is that there are some true, as the
tide.
It is the same with prophecies, miracles, divination by dreams,
sorceries, &c. For if there had been nothing true in all this, men
would have believed nothing of them; and thus, instead of conclud-
ing that there are no true miracles because there are so many false,
we must, on the contrary, say that there certainly are true miracles,
since there are false, and that there are false miracles only because
some are true. We must reason in the same way about religion; for
it would not be possible that men should have imagined so many
false religions, if there had not been a true one. The objection to this
is that savages have a religion; but the answer is that they have
THE MIRACLES 283
heard the true spoken of, as appears by the deluge, circumcision, the
cross of Saint Andrew, &c.
818
Having considered how it comes that there are so many false mir-
acles, false revelations, sorceries, &c., it has seemed to me that the
true cause is that there are some true; for it would not be possible
that there should be so many false miracles, if there were none true,
nor so many false revelations, if there were none true, nor so many
false religions, if there were not one true. For if there had never
been all this, it is almost impossible that men should have imagined
it, and still more impossible that so many others should have believed
it. But as there have been very great things true, and as they have
been believed by great men, this impression has been the cause
that nearly everybody is rendered capable of believing also the false.
And thus, instead of concluding that there are no true miracles,
since there are so many false, it must be said, on the contrary, that
there are true miracles, since there are so many false; and that there
are false ones only because there are true; and that in the same way
there are false religions because there is one true. Objection to this:
savages have a religion. But this is because they have heard the true
spoken of, as appears by the cross of Saint Andrew, the deluge, cir-
cumcision, &c. This arises from the fact that the human mind,
finding itself inclined to that side by the truth, becomes thereby
susceptible of all the falsehoods of this . . .
819
Jeremiah, xxiii. 32. The miracles of the false prophets. In the
Hebrew and Vatable 3 they are the trices.
Miracle does not always signify miracle, i Sam., xiv. 15; miracle
signifies fear, and is so in the Hebrew. The same evidently in Job,
xxxiii. 7; and also Isaiah, xxi. 4; Jeremiah, xliv. 12. Portentum sig-
nifies simulacrum, Jeremiah, 1. 38; and it is so in the Hebrew and
Vatable. Isaiah, viii. 18. Jesus Christ says that He and His will be
in miracles.
3 Professor of Hebrew in the College Royal in the i6th Century.
284 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
820
If the devil favoured the doctrine which destroys him, he would
be divided against himself, as Jesus Christ said. If God favoured the
doctrine which destroys the Church, He would be divided against
Himself. Omne regnum divisum* For Jesus Christ wrought against
the devil, and destroyed his power over the heart, of which exorcism
is the symbolisation, in order to establish the kingdom of God. And
thus He adds, Si in digito Dei regnum Dei ad vos?
821
There is a great difference between tempting and leading into
error. God tempts, but He does not lead into error. To tempt is to
afford opportunities, which impose no necessity; if men do not love
God, they will do a certain thing. To lead into error is to place a man
under the necessity of inferring and following out what is untrue.
822
Abraham and Gideon are above revelation. The Jews blinded
themselves in judging of miracles by the Scripture. God has never
abandoned His true worshippers.
I prefer to follow Jesus Christ than any other, because He has
miracle, prophecy, doctrine, perpetuity, &c.
The Donatists. No miracle which obliges them to say it is the
devil.
The more we particularise God, Jesus Christ, the Church . . .
823
If there were no false miracles, there would be certainty. If there
were no rule to judge of them, miracles would be useless, and there
would be no reason for believing.
Now there is, humanly speaking, no human certainty, but we
have reason.
4 Matthew, xii. 25. 5 Luke, xi. 20.
THE MIRACLES 285
824
Either God has confounded the false miracles, or He has foretold
them; and in both ways He has raised Himself above what is super-
natural with respect to us, and has raised us to it.
825
Miracles serve not to convert, but to condemn. (Q. 113, A. 10,
Ad. 2.)
826
Reasons why we do not believe.
John, xii. 37. Cum autem tanta signa jecisset, non credebant in
eum,ut sermo Isayce impteretur. Exccecavit, &c.
HCEC dixit Isaias, quando vidit gloriam ejus et locutus est de eo.
]ud(i signa petunt et Greed sapientiam qucerunt, nos autem Jesum
crucifixum. Sed plenum signis, sed plenum sapientia; vos autem
Christum non crucifixum et religionem sine miraculis et sine
sapientia?
What makes us not believe in the true miracles, is want of love.
John: Sed vos non creditis, quia non estis ex ovibusj What makes
us believe the false is want of love, i Thess. ii.
The foundation of religion. It is the miracles. What then ? Does
God speak against miracles, against the foundations of the faith
which we have in Him?
If there is a God, faith in God must exist on earth. Now the
miracles of Jesus Christ are not foretold by Antichrist, but the mir-
acles of Antichrist are foretold by Jesus Christ. And so if Jesus Christ
were not the Messiah, He would have indeed led into error; but
Antichrist cannot surely lead into error. When Jesus Christ fore-
told the miracles of Antichrist, did He think of destroying faith in
His own miracles?
Moses foretold Jesus Christ, and bade to follow Him. Jesus Christ
foretold Antichrist, and forbade to follow him.
6 i Corinthians, i. 22. 7 John, x. 26.
286 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
It was impossible that in the time of Moses men should keep their
faith for Antichrist, who was unknown to them. But it is quite
easy, in the time of Antichrist, to believe in Jesus Christ, already
known.
There is no reason for believing in Antichrist, which there is not
for believing in Jesus Christ. But there are reasons for believing in
Jesus Christ, which there are not for believing in the other.
827
Judges xiii. 23: "If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not
have shewed us all these things."
Hezekiah, Sennacherib.
Jeremiah. Hananiah, the false prophet, dies in seven months.
2 Mace. iii. The temple, ready for pillage, miraculously succored.
2 Mace. xv.
i Kings, xvii. The widow to Elijah, who had restored her son,
"By this I know that thy words are true."
I Kings, xviii. Elijah with the prophets of Baal.
In the dispute concerning the true God and the truth of religion,
there has never happened any miracle on the side of error, and not
of truth.
828
Opposition. Abel, Cain; Moses, the Magicians; Elijah, the false
prophets; Jeremiah, Hananiah; Micaiah, the false prophets; Jesus
Christ, the Pharisees; St. Paul, Bar-jesus; the Apostles, the Exorcists;
Christians, unbelievers; Catholics, heretics; Elijah, Enoch; Antichrist.
829
Jesus Christ says that the Scriptures testify of Him. But He does
not point out in what respect.
Even the prophecies could not prove Jesus Christ during His life;
and so, men would not have been culpable for not believing in Him
before His death, had the miracles not sufficed without doctrine.
Now those who did not believe in Him, when He was still alive,
THE MIRACLES 287
were sinners, as He said Himself, and without excuse. Therefore
they must have had proof beyond doubt, which they resisted. Now,
they had not the prophecies, but only the miracles. Therefore the
latter suffice, when the doctrine is not inconsistent with them; and
they ought to be believed.
John, vii. 40. Dispute among the Jews as among the Christians
of to-day. Some believed in Jesus Christ; others believed Him not,
because of the prophecies which said that He should be born in
Bethlehem. They should have considered more carefully whether
He was not. For His miracles being convincing, they should have
been quite sure of these supposed contradictions of His teaching to
Scripture; and this obscurity did not excuse, but blinded them.
Thus those who refuse to believe in the miracles in the present day
on account of a supposed contradiction, which is unreal, are not
excused.
The Pharisees said to the people, who believed in Him, because
of His miracles: "This people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
But have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him ? For
we know that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet." Nicodemus an-
swered: "Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, [and
specially, such a man who works such miracles] ?"
830
The prophecies were ambiguous; they are no longer so.
The five propositions were ambiguous; they are no longer so.
832
Miracles are no longer necessary, because we have had them
already. But when tradition is no longer minded; when the Pope
alone is offered to us; when he has been imposed upon; and when
the true source of truth, which is tradition, is thus excluded; and the
Pope, who is its guardian, is biassed; the truth is no longer free to
appear. Then, as men speak no longer of truth, truth itself must
288 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
speak to men. This is what happened in the time of Arius. (Mir-
acles under Diocletian and under Arius.)
833
Miracle. The people conclude this of themselves; but if the
reason of it must be given to you . . .
It is unfortunate to be in exception to the rule. The same must be
strict, and opposed to exception. But yet, as it is certain that there
are exceptions to a rule, our judgment must, though strict, be just.
8 34
John, vi. 26: Non quia vidisti signum, sed quia saturati estis.
Those who follow Jesus Christ because of His miracles honour
His power in all the miracles which it produces. But those who,
making profession to follow Him because of His miracles, follow
Him in fact only because He comforts them and satisfies them with
worldly blessings, discredit His miracles, when they are opposed to
their own comforts.
John, ix. 16: Non est hie homo a Deo, quia sabbatum non custodit.
Alii: Quomodo potest homo peccator htee signa facere?
Which is the most clear?
This house is not of God; for they do not there believe that the
five propositions are in Jansenius. Others: This house is of God; for
in it there are wrought strange miracles.
Which is the most clear ?
Tu quid diets? Dico quia propheta est. Nisi esset hie a Deo, non
poterat jacere quidquam. 8
835
In the Old Testament, when they will turn you from God. In the
New, when they will turn you from Jesus Christ. These are the oc-
casions for excluding particular miracles from belief. No others
need be excluded.
Does it therefore follow that they would have the right to ex-
clude all the prophets who came to them? No; they would have
8 John, ix. 17, 33.
THE MIRACLES 289
sinned in not excluding those who denied God, and would have
sinned in excluding those who did not deny God.
So soon, then, as we see a miracle, we must either assent to it, or
have striking proofs to the contrary. We must see if it denies a God,
or Jesus Christ, or the Church.
836
There is a great difference between not being for Jesus Christ and
saying so, and not being for Jesus Christ and pretending to be so.
The one party can do miracles, not the others. For it is clear of the
one party, that they are opposed to the truth, but not of the others;
and thus miracles are clearer.
837
That we must love one God only is a thing so evident, that it
does not require miracles to prove it.
Jesus Christ performed miracles, then the apostles, and the first
saints in great number; because the prophecies not being yet accom-
plished but in the process of being accomplished by them, the mir-
acles alone bore witness to them. It was foretold that the Messiah
should convert the nations. How could this prophecy be fulfilled
without the conversion of the nations? And how could the nations
be converted to the Messiah, if they did not see this final effect of the
prophecies which prove Him? Therefore, till He had died, risen
again, and converted the nations, all was not accomplished; and so
miracles were needed during all this time. Now they are no longer
needed against the Jews; for the accomplished prophecies constitute
a lasting miracle.
8 39
"Though ye believe not Me, believe at least the works." He refers
them, as it were, to the strongest proof.
290 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
It had been told to the Jews, as well as to Christians, that they
should not always believe the prophets; but yet the Pharisees and
Scribes are greatly concerned about His miracles, and try to show
that they are false, or wrought by the devil. For they must needs be
convinced, if they acknowledge that they are of God.
At the present day we are not troubled to make this distinction.
Still it is very easy to do: those who deny neither God nor Jesus
Christ do no miracles which are not certain. Nemo facit virtutem in
nomine meo, et cito possit de me male loqui?
But we have not to draw this distinction. Here is a sacred relic.
Here is a thorn from the crown of the Saviour of the world, over
whom the prince of this world has no power, which works miracles
by the peculiar power of the blood shed for us. Now God Himself
chooses this house in order to display conspicuously therein His
power.
These are not men who do miracles by an unknown and doubtful
virtue, which makes a decision difficult for us. It is God Himself.
It is the instrument of the Passion of His only Son, who, being in
many places, chooses this, and makes men come from all quarters
there to receive these miraculous alleviations in their weaknesses.
840
The Church has three kinds of enemies : the Jews, who have never
been of her body; the heretics, who have withdrawn from it; and
the evil Christians, who rend her from within.
These three kinds of different adversaries usually attack her in
different ways. But here they attack her in one and the same way.
As they are all without miracles, and as the Church has always had
miracles against them, they have all had the same interest in evading
them; and they all make use of this excuse, that doctrine must not
be judged by miracles, but miracles by doctrine. There were two
parties among those who heard Jesus Christ: those who followed
His teaching on account of His miracles; others who said . . . There
were two parties in the time of Calvin . . . There are now the
Jesuits, &c.
9 Mark, ix. 39.
THE MIRACLES
841
Miracles furnish the test in matters of doubt, between Jews and
heathens, Jews and Christians, Catholics and heretics, and slandered
and slanderers, between the two crosses.
But miracles would be useless to heretics; for the Church, author-
ised by miracles which have already obtained belief, tells us that they
have not the true faith. There is no doubt that they are not in it,
since the first miracles of the Church exclude belief in theirs. Thus
there is miracle against miracle, both the first and greatest being on
the side of the Church.
These nuns, astonished at what is said, that they are in the way of
perdition; that their confessors are leading them to Geneva; that they
suggest to them that Jesus Christ is not in the Eucharist, nor on the
right hand of the Father; know that all this is false, and therefore
oflfer themselves to God in this state. Vide si via iniquitatis in me
est. 10 What happens thereupon ? This place, which is said to be the
temple of the devil, God makes His own temple. It is said that the
children must be taken away from it. God heals them there. It is
said that it is the arsenal of hell. God makes of it the sanctuary of
His grace. Lastly, they are threatened with all the fury and ven-
geance of heaven; and God overwhelms them with favours. A man
would need to have lost his senses to conclude from this that they are
therefore in the way of perdition.
(We have without doubt the same signs as Saint Athanasius.)
842
Si tu es Christus, die nobis.
Opera quce ego facto in nomine patris mei, hcec testimonium
perhibent de me. Sed vos non creditis quia non estis ex ovibus meis.
Oves mei vocem meam audiunt. 11
John, vi. 30. Quod ergo tu facts stgnum ut videamus et ere damns
tibi? Non dicunt: Quam doctrinam prcedicas?
Nemo potest facer e signa quce tu facts nisi Dens.
10 Psalms, cxxxix. 24. n Luke, xxii. 67.
292 PASCAL S THOUGHTS
2 Mace. xiv. 15. Deus qui signis evidentibus suam portionem
protegit.
Volumus signum videre de czlo, tentantes cum. Luke, xi. 16.
Generatio prava signum quccrit; et non dabitur. 12
Et ingemiscens ait: Quid generatio ista signum quxrit? (Mark,
viii. 12.) They asked a sign with an evil intention.
Et non poterat facere. 13 And yet he promises them the sign of
Jonah, the great and wonderful miracle of his resurrection.
Nisi videritis signa, non creditis. u He does not blame them for
not believing unless there are miracles, but for not believing unless
they are themselves spectators of them.
Antichrist in signis mendacious, says Saint Paul, 2 Thess. ii.
Secundum operationem Satance, in seductione its qui pereunt et
quod charitatem veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent, ideo mittet
illis Deus operationes erroris ut credant mendacio. 1 *
As in the passage of Moses: Tentat enim vos Deus, utrum diligatis
eum.
Ecce prcedixi vobis: vos ergo videte.
843
Here is not the country of truth. She wanders unknown amongst
men. God has covered her with a veil, which leaves her unrecog-
nised by those who do not hear her voice. Room is opened for blas-
phemy, even against the truths that are at least very likely. If the
truths of the Gospel are published the contrary is published too, and
the questions are obscured, so that the people cannot distinguish.
And they ask, "What have you to make you believed rather than
others ? What sign do you give ? You have only words, and so have
we. If you had miracles, good and well." That doctrine ought to be
supported by miracles is a truth, which they misuse in order to re-
vile doctrine. And if miracles happen, it is said that miracles are not
enough without doctrine; and this is another truth, which they mis-
use in order to revile miracles.
Jesus Christ cured the man born blind, and performed a number
of miracles on the Sabbath day. In this way He blinded the Phari-
sees, who said that miracles must be judged by doctrine.
12 Matthew, xii. 39. 13 Mark, vi. 5. 14 John, iv. 48. 15 Thessalonians, ii. 9-11.
THE MIRACLES 293
"We have Moses: but, as for this fellow, we know not from
whence he is." It is wonderful that you know not whence He is,
and yet He does such miracles.
Jesus Christ spoke neither against God, nor against Moses.
Antichrist and the false prophets, foretold by both Testaments,
will speak openly against God and against Jesus Christ. Who is not
hidden . . . God would not allow him, who would be a secret
enemy, to do miracles openly.
In a public dispute where the two parties profess to be for God,
for Jesus Christ, for the Church, miracles have never been on the
side of the false Christians, and the other side has never been with-
out a miracle.
"He hath a devil." John, x. 21. And others said, "Can a devil open
the eyes of the blind?"
The proofs which Jesus Christ and the apostles draw from Scrip-
ture are not conclusive; for they say only that Moses foretold that a
prophet should come. But they do not thereby prove that this is He;
and that is the whole question. These passages therefore serve only
to show that they are not contrary to Scripture, and that there appears
no inconsistency, but not that there is agreement. Now this is enough,
namely, exclusion of inconsistency, along with miracles.
There is a mutual duty between God and men. We must pardon
Him this saying: Quid debui? "Accuse me," said God in Isaiah.
"God must fulfil His promises," &c.
Men owe it to God to accept the religion which He sends. God
owes it to men not to lead them into error. Now, they would be led
into error, if the workers of miracles announced a doctrine which
should not appear evidently false to the light of common sense, and
if a greater worker of miracles had not already warned men not to
believe them.
Thus, if there were divisions in the Church, and the Arians, for
example, who declared themselves founded on Scripture just as the
Catholics, had done miracles, and not the Catholics, men should have
been led into error.
For, as a man, who announces to us the secrets of God, is not wor-
thy to be believed on his private authority, and that is why the un-
godly doubt him; so when a man, as a token of the communion
294 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
which he has with God, raises the dead, foretells the future, removes
the seas, heals the sick, there is none so wicked as not to bow to him,
and the incredulity of Pharaoh and the Pharisees is the effect of a
supernatural obduracy.
When therefore we see miracles and a doctrine not suspicious,
both on one side, there is no difficulty. But when we see miracles
and suspicious doctrine on the same side, we must then see which
is the clearest. Jesus Christ was suspected.
Bar jesus blinded. The power of God surpasses that of His enemies.
The Jewish exorcists beaten by the devils, saying, "J esus I know,
and Paul I know; but who are ye?"
Miracles are for doctrine, and not doctrine for miracles.
If the miracles are true, shall we be able to persuade men of all
doctrine? No; for this will not come to pass. Si angelus . . , 16
Rule: we must judge of doctrine by miracles; we must judge of
miracles by doctrine. All this is true, but contains no contradiction.
For we must distinguish the times.
How glad you are to know the general rules, thinking thereby to
set up dissension, and render all useless! We shall prevent you, my
father; truth is one and constant.
It is impossible, from the duty of God to men, that a man, hiding
his evil teaching, and only showing the good, saying that he con-
forms to God and the Church, should do miracles so as to instil
insensibly a false and subtle doctrine. This cannot happen.
And still less, that God, who knows the heart, should perform
miracles in favour of such an one.
844
The three marks of religion: perpetuity, a good life, miracles.
They destroy perpetuity by their doctrine of probability; a good life
by their morals; miracles by destroying either their truth or the con-
clusions to be drawn from them.
If we believe them, the Church will have nothing to do with per-
petuity, holiness, and miracles. The heretics deny them, or deny the
conclusions to be drawn from them; they do the same. But one
would need to have no sincerity in order to deny them, or again to
16 Galatians, i. 8.
THE MIRACLES 295
lose one's senses in order to deny the conclusions to be drawn from
them.
Nobody has ever suffered martyrdom for the miracles which he
says he has seen; for the folly of men goes perhaps to the length of
martyrdom, for those which the Turks believe by tradition, but
not for those which they have seen.
8 45
The heretics have always attacked these three marks, which they
have not.
846
First objection: "An angel from heaven. We must not judge of
truth by miracles, but of miracles by truth. Therefore the miracles
are useless."
Now they are of use, and they must not be in opposition to the
truth. Therefore what Father Lingende has said, that "God will not
permit that a miracle may lead into error . . ."
When there shall be a controversy in the same Church, miracle
will decide.
Second objection: "But Antichrist will do miracles."
The magicians of Pharaoh did not entice to error. Thus we cannot
say to Jesus respecting Antichrist, "You have led me into error."
For Antichrist will do them against Jesus Christ, and so they cannot
lead into error. Either God will not permit false miracles, or He
will procure greater.
[Jesus Christ has existed since the beginning of the world: this is
more impressive than all the miracles of Antichrist.]
If in the same Church there should happen a miracle on the side
of those in error, men would be led into error. Schism is visible; a
miracle is visible. But schism is more a sign of error than a miracle
is a sign of truth. Therefore a miracle cannot lead into error.
But apart from schism, error is not so obvious as a miracle is
obvious. Therefore a miracle could lead into error.
Ubi est Deus tuus? 11 Miracles show Him, and are a light.
17 Psalms, xlii. 3.
296 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
847
One of the anthems for Vespers at Christmas: Exortum est in
tenebris lumen rectis corded
848
If the compassion of God is so great that He instructs us to our
benefit, even when He hides Himself, what light ought we not to
expect from Him when He reveals Himself ?
8 49
Will Est et non est 19 be received in faith itself as well as in mir-
acles? And if it is inseparable in the others . . .
When Saint Xavier works miracles. [Saint Hilary. Ye wretches,
who oblige us to speak of miracles.]
Unjust judges, make not your own laws on the moment; judge by
those which are established, and by yourselves. Vce qui conditis
leges iniquas
Miracles endless, false.
In order to weaken your adversaries, you disarm the whole Church.
If they say that our salvation depends upon God, they are "heretics."
If they say that they are obedient to the Pope, that is "hypocrisy." If
they are ready to subscribe to all the articles, that is not enough. If
they say that a man must not be killed for an apple, "they attack
the morality of Catholics." If miracles are done among them, it is
not a sign of holiness, and is, on the contrary, a symptom of heresy.
The way in which the Church has existed is that truth has been
without dispute, or, if it has been contested, there has been the Pope,
or, failing him, there has been the Church.
850
The five propositions condemned, but no miracle; for the truth was
not attacked. But the Sorbonne . . . but the bull . . .
It is impossible that those who love God with all their heart should
18 Psalms, cxii. 4. 19 "Is and is not." 20 Isaiah, x. I.
THE MIRACLES 297
fail to recognise the Church; so evident is she. It is impossible that
those who do not love God should be convinced of the Church.
Miracles have such influence that it was necessary that God should
warn men not to believe in them in opposition to Him, all clear as
it is that there is a God. Without this they would have been able to
disturb men.
And thus so far from these passages, Deut. xiii., making against
tne authority of the miracles, nothing more indicates their influence.
And the same in respect of Antichrist. "To seduce, if it were possi-
ble, even the elect."
851
The history of the man born blind.
What says Saint Paul ? Does he continually speak of the evidence
of the prophecies? No, but of his own miracle. What says Jesus
Christ? Does He speak of the evidence of the prophecies? No; His
death had not fulfilled them, But He says, Si non fectssem. 21 Believe
the works.
Two supernatural foundations of our wholly supernatural religion;
one visible, the other invisible; miracles with grace, miracles without
grace.
The synagogue, which has been treated with love as a type of the
Church, and with hatred, because it was only the type, has been re-
stored, being on the point of falling when it was well with God,
and thus a type.
Miracles prove the power which God has over hearts, by that which
He exercises over bodies.
The Church has never approved a miracle among heretics.
Miracles a support of religion: they have been the test of Jews;
they have been the test of Christians, saints, innocents, and true
believers.
A miracle among schismatics is not so much to be feared; for
schism, which is more obvious than a miracle, visibly indicates their
error. But when there is no schism, and error is in question, miracle
decides. 21 John, xv. 24.
PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
Si non jecissem quce alius non fecit. 21 The wretches who have
obliged us to speak of miracles.
Abraham and Gideon confirm faith by miracles.
Judith. God speaks at last in their greatest oppression.
If the cooling of love leaves the Church almost without believers,
miracles will rouse them. This is one of the last effects of grace.
If one miracle were wrought among the Jesuits!
When a miracle disappoints the expectation of those in whose
presence it happens, and there is a disproportion between the state
of their faith and the instrument of the miracle, it ought then to
induce them to change. But with you it is otherwise. There would
be as much reason in saying that, if the Eucharist raised a dead man,
it would be necessary for one to turn a Calvinist rather than remain
a Catholic. But when it crowns the expectation, and those who hoped
that God would bless the remedies, see themselves healed without
remedies . . .
The ungodly. No sign has ever happened on the part of the devil
without a stronger sign on the part of God, or even without it having
been foretold that such would happen.
852
Unjust persecutors of those whom God visibly protects. If they
reproach you with your excesses, "they speak as the heretics." If
they say that the grace of Jesus Christ distinguishes us, "they are
heretics." If they do miracles, "it is the mark of their heresy."
Ezekiel. They say : These are the people of God who speak thus.
It is said, "Believe in the Church;" but it is not said, "Believe in
miracles;" because the last is natural, and not the first. The one had
need of a precept, not the other. Hezekiah.
The synagogue was only a type, and thus it did not perish; and it
was only a type, and so it is decayed. It was a type which contained
the truth, and thus it has lasted until it no longer contained the
truth.
My reverend father, all this happened in types. Other religions per-
ish; this one perishes not.
21 John, xv. 24.
THE MIRACLES 299
Miracles are more important than you think. They have served
for the foundation, and will serve for the continuation of the Church
till Antichrist, till the end.
The two witnesses.
In the Old Testament and the New, miracles are performed in
connection with types. Salvation, or an useless thing, if not to show
that we must submit to the Scriptures : type of the sacrament.
853
[We must judge soberly of divine ordinances, my father, Saint
Paul in the isle of Malta.]
854
The hardness of the Jesuits then surpasses that of the Jews, since
those refused to believe Jesus Christ innocent only because they
doubted if His miracles were of God. Whereas the Jesuits, though
unable to doubt that the miracles of Port Royal are of God, do not
cease to doubt still the innocence of that house.
855
I suppose that men believe miracles. You corrupt religion either
in favour of your friends, or against your enemies. You arrange
it at your will.
856
On the miracle. As God has made no family more happy, let it
also be the case that He find none more thankful.
SECTION XIV
APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS
857
S~) LEARNESS, obscurity There would be too great dark-
f ness if truth had not visible signs. This is a wonderful one,
\^>4 that it has always been preserved in one Church and one
visible assembly [of men]. There would be too great clearness, if
there were only one opinion in this Church. But in order to recognise
what is true, one has only to look at what has always existed; for it is
certain that truth has always existed, and that nothing false has
always existed.
858
The history of the Church ought properly to be called the history
of truth.
859
There is a pleasure in being in a ship beaten about by a storm,
when we are sure that it will not founder. The persecutions which
harass the Church are of this nature.
860
In addition to so many other signs of piety, they are also perse-
cuted, which is the best sign of piety.
861
The Church is an excellent state, when it is sustained by God only.
862
The Church has always been attacked by opposite errors, but per-
haps never at the same time, as now. And if she suffer more because
300
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 30 1
of the multiplicity of errors, she derives this advantage from it, that
they destroy each other.
She complains of both, but far more of the Calvinists, because of
the schism.
It is certain that many of the two opposite sects are deceived. They
must be disillusioned.
Faith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other.
There is a time to laugh, and a time to weep, &c. Responde. Ne
respondeas, &C. 1
The source of this is the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ;
and also the two worlds (the creation of a new heaven and a new
earth; a new life and a new death; all things double, and the same
names remaining) ; and finally the two natures that are in the right-
eous, (for they are the two worlds, and a member and image of Jesus
Christ. And thus all the names suit them: righteous, yet sinners;
dead, yet living; living, yet dead; elect, yet outcast, &c.).
There are then a great number of truths, both of faith and of
morality, which seem contradictory, and which all hold good together
in a wonderful system. The source of all heresies is the exclusion
of some of these truths; and the source of all the objections which the
heretics make against us is the ignorance of some of our truths. And
it generally happens that, unable to conceive the connection of two
opposite truths, and believing that the admission of one involves the
exclusion of the other, they adhere to the one, exclude the other, and
think of us as opposed to them. Now exclusion is the cause of their
heresy; and ignorance that we hold the other truth causes their
objections.
ist example: Jesus Christ is God and man. The Arians, unable to
reconcile these things, which they believe incompatible, say that He is
man; in this they are Catholics. But they deny that He is God; in
this they are heretics. They allege that we deny His humanity; in
this they are ignorant.
2nd example: On the subject of the Holy Sacrament. We believe
that, the substance of the bread being changed, and being consub-
stantial with that of the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ is therein
really present. That is one truth. Another is that this Sacrament is
1 Proverbs, xxvi. 4, 5.
302 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
also a type of the cross and of glory, and a commemoration of the
two. That is the Catholic faith, which comprehends these two truths
which seem opposed.
The heresy of to-day, not conceiving that this Sacrament contains
at the same time both the presence of Jesus Christ and a type of
Him, and that it is a sacrifice and a commemoration of a sacrifice,
believes that neither of these truths can be admitted without exclud-
ing the other for this reason.
They fasten to this point alone, that this Sacrament is typical; and
in this they are not heretics. They think that we exclude this truth;
hence it comes that they raise so many objections to us out of the
passages of the Fathers which assert it. Finally, they deny the pres-
ence; and in this they are heretics.
3rd example: Indulgences.
The shortest way, therefore, to prevent heresies is to instruct in all
truths; and the surest way to refute them is to declare them all. For
what will the heretics say?
In order to know whether an opinion is a Father's . . .
863
All err the more dangerously, as they each follow a truth. Their
fault is not in following a falsehood, but in not following another
truth.
864
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established,
that unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
865
If there is ever a time in which we must make profession of two
opposite truths, it is when we are reproached for omitting one.
Therefore the Jesuits and Jansenists are wrong in concealing them,
but the Jansenists more so, for the Jesuits have better made pro-
fession of the two.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 303
866
Two kinds of people make things equal to one another, as feasts to
working days, Christians to priests, all things among them, &c. And
hence the one party conclude that what is then bad for priests is also
so for Christians, and the other that what is not bad for Christians
is lawful for priests.
867
If the ancient Church was in error, the Church is fallen. If she
should be in error today, it is not the same thing; for she has always
the superior maxim of tradition from the hand of the ancient Church;
and so this submission and this conformity to the ancient Church pre-
vail and correct all. But the ancient Church did not assume the fu-
ture Church, and did not consider her, as we assume and consider the
ancient.
868
That which hinders us in comparing what formerly occurred in
the Church with what we see there now, is that we generally look
upon Saint Athanasius, Saint Theresa, and the rest, as crowned with
glory, and acting towards us as gods. Now that time has cleared up
things, it does so appear. But at the time when he was persecuted,
this great saint was a man called Athanasius; and Saint Theresa
was a nun. "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are," says
Saint James, to disabuse Christians of that false idea which makes
us reject the example of the saints, as disproportioned to our state.
"They were saints," say we, "they are not like us." What then ac-
tually happened? Saint Athanasius was a man called Athanasius,
accused of many crimes, condemned by such and such a council for
such and such a crime. All the bishops assented to it, and finally
the Pope. What said they to those who opposed this? That they dis-
turbed the peace, that they created schism, &c.
Zeal, light. Four kinds of persons: zeal without knowledge;
knowledge without zeal; neither knowledge nor zeal; both zeal and
304 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
knowledge. The first three condemned him. The last acquitted him,
were excommunicated by the Church, and yet saved the Church.
869
If Saint Augustine came at the present time, and was as little
authorised as his defenders, he would accomplish nothing. God
directs his Church well, by having sent him before with authority.
870
God has not wanted to absolve without the Church. As she has
part in the offence, He desires her to have part in the pardon. He
associates her with this power, as kings their parliaments. But if
she absolves or binds without God, she is no longer the Church. For,
as in the case of parliament, even if the king have pardoned a man,
it must be ratified; but if parliament ratifies without the king, or
refuses to ratify on the order of the king, it is no longer the parlia-
ment of the king, but a rebellious assembly.
The Church, the Pope. Unity, plurality. Considering the Church
as a unity, the Pope, who is its head, is as the whole. Considering it
as a plurality, the Pope is only a part of it. The Fathers have con-
sidered the Church now in the one way, now in the other. And thus
they have spoken differently of the Pope. (Saint Cyprian: Sacerdos
Dei.) But in establishing one of these truths, they have not excluded
the other. Plurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion;
unity which does not depend on plurality is tyranny. There is scarcely
any other country than France in which it is permissible to say that
the Council is above the Pope.
872
The Pope is head. Who else is known of all? Who else is recog-
nised by all, having power to insinuate himself into all the body,
because he holds the principal shoot, which insinuates itself every-
where? How easy it was to make this degenerate into tyranny!
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 305
That is why Christ has laid down for them this precept: Vos autem
non sic. 2
873
The Pope hates and fears the learned, who do not submit to him at
will.
874
We must not judge of what the Pope is by some words of the
Fathers as the Greeks said in a council, important rules but by
the acts of the Church and the Fathers, and by the canons.
Duo ant tres in unum. 3 Unity and plurality. It is an error to
exclude one of the two, as the papists do who exclude plurality, or
the Huguenots who exclude unity.
8 75
Would the Pope be dishonoured by having his knowledge from
God and tradition; and is it not dishonouring him to separate him
from this holy union?
876
God does not perform miracles in the ordinary conduct of His
Church. It would be a strange miracle if infallibility existed in one
man. But it appears so natural for it to reside in a multitude, since
the conduct of God is hidden under nature, as in all His other works.
8 77
Kings dispose of their own power; but the Popes cannot dispose of
theirs.
Summum jus, summa injuria*
The majority is the best way, because it is visible, and has strength
to make itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able.
2 Luke, xxii. 26. 3 John, x. 30; i John, v. 8.
4 "The greatest law, the greatest injury."
306 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
If men could have done it, they would have placed might in the
hands of justice. But as might does not allow itself to be managed as
men want, because it is a palpable quality, whereas justice is a spirit-
ual quality of which men dispose as they please, they have placed jus-
tice in the hands of might. And thus that is called just which men
are forced to obey.
Hence comes the right of the sword, for the sword gives a true
right. Otherwise we should see violence on one side and justice on
the other. End of the twelfth Provincial. Hence comes the injustice
of the Fronde, which raises its alleged justice against power. It is
not the same in the Church, for there is a true justice and no violence.
8 79
Injustice. Jurisdiction is not given for the sake of the judge, but
for that of the litigant. It is dangerous to tell this to the people. But
the people have too much faith in you; it will not harm them, and
may serve you. It should therefore be made known. Pasce oveas meas,
non tuas. 5 You owe me pasturage.
880
Men like certainty. They like the Pope to be infallible in faith,
and grave doctors to be infallible in morals, so as to have certainty.
881
The Church teaches, and God inspires, both infallibly. The work
of the Church is of use only as a preparation for grace or condemna-
tion. What it does is enough for condemnation, not for inspiration.
882
Every time the Jesuits may impose upon the Pope, they will make
all Christendom perjured.
The Pope is very easily imposed upon, because of his occupations,
and the confidence which he has in the Jesuits; and the Jesuits are
very capable of imposing upon him by means of calumny.
5 John, xxi. 17.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 307
883
The wretches who have obliged me to speak of the basis of religion.
884
Sinners purified without penitence; the righteous justified without
love; all Christians without the grace of Jesus Christ; God without
power over the will of men; a predestination without mystery; a
redemption without certitude!
Any one is made a priest, who wants to be so, as under Jeroboam.
It is a horrible thing that they propound to us the discipline of
the Church of to-day as so good, that it is made a crime to desire to
change it. Formerly it was infallibly good, and it was thought that
it could be changed without sin; and now, such as it is, we cannot
wish it changed! It has indeed been permitted to change the custom
of not making priests without such great circumspection, that there
were hardly any who were worthy; and it is not allowed to complain
of the custom which makes so many who are unworthy!
886
Heretics. Ezekiel. All the heathen, and also the Prophet, spoke
evil of Israel. But the Israelites were so far from having the right to
say to him, "You speak like the heathen," that he is most forcible
upon this, that the heathens say the same as he.
887
The Jansenists are like the heretics in the reformation of moral-
ity; but you are like them in evil.
You are ignorant of the prophecies, if you do not know that all
this must happen; princes, prophets, Pope, and even the priests. And
308 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
yet the Church is to abide. By the grace of God we have not come to
that. Woe to these priests! But we hope that God will bestow His
mercy upon us that we shall not be of them.
Saint Peter, ii.: false prophets in the past, the image of future ones.
... So that if it is true, on the one hand, that some lax monks,
and some corrupt casuists, who are not members of the hierarchy, are
steeped in these corruptions, it is, on the other hand, certain that
the true pastors of the Church, who are the true guardians of the
Divine Word, have preserved it unchangeably against the efforts
of those who have attempted to destroy it.
And thus true believers have no pretext to follow that laxity, which
is only offered to them by the strange hands of these casuists, instead
of the sound doctrine which is presented to them by the fatherly
hands of their own pastors. And the ungodly and heretics have no
ground for publishing these abuses as evidence of imperfection
in the providence of God over His Church; since, the Church con-
sisting properly in the body of the hierarchy, we are so far from being
able to conclude from the present state of matters that God has
abandoned her to corruption, that it has never been more apparent
than at the present time that God visibly protects her from corrup-
tion.
For if some of these men, who, by an extraordinary vocation, have
made profession of withdrawing from the world and adopting the
monks' dress, in order to live in a more perfect state than ordinary
Christians, have fallen into excesses which horrify ordinary Chris-
tians, and have become to us what the false prophets were among the
Jews; this is a private and personal misfortune, which must indeed be
deplored, but from which nothing can be inferred against the care
which God takes of His Church; since all these things are so clearly
foretold, and it has been so long since announced that these tempta-
tions would arise from this kind of people; so that when we are well
instructed, we see in this rather evidence of the care of God than of
His forgetfulness in regard to us.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 309
890
Tertullian: Nunquam Ecclesia rejormabitur?
891
Heretics, who take advantage of the doctrine of the Jesuits, must be
made to know that it is not that of the Church . . . the doctrine of
the Church; and that our divisions do not separate us from the altar.
892
If in differing we condemned, you would be right. Uniformity
without diversity is useless to others; diversity without uniformity
is ruinous for us. The one is harmful outwardly; the other inwardly.
8 93
By showing the truth, we cause it to be believed; but by showing
the injustice of ministers, we do not correct it. Our mind is assured
by a proof of falsehood; our purse is not made secure by proof of
injustice.
8 94
Those who love the Church lament to see the corruption of morals;
but laws at least exist. But these corrupt the laws. The model is
damaged.
8 95
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do
it from religious conviction.
896
It is in vain that the Church has established these words, anathe-
mas, heresies, &c. They are used against her.
6 "The Church will never be reformed."
3IO PASCALS THOUGHTS
897
The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, for the master tells
him only the act and not the intention. And this is why he often
obeys slavishly, and defeats the intention. But Jesus Christ has told
us the object. And you defeat that object.
898
They cannot have perpetuity, and they seek universality, and there-
fore they make the whole Church corrupt, that they may be saints.
899
Against those who misuse passages of Scripture, and who pride
themselves in finding one which seems to favour their error. The
chapter for Vespers, Passion Sunday, the prayer for the king.
Explanation of these words: "He that is not with me is against
me." And of these others: "He that is not against you is for you."
A person who says: "I am neither for nor against;" we ought
to reply to him . . .
900
He who will give the meaning of Scripture, and does not take it
from Scripture, is an enemy of Scripture. (Augustine: De doctrina
Christiana.)
901
Humilibus dat gratiam; an ideo non dedit humilitatem? 7
Sui eum non receperunt; quotquot autem non receperunt an non
erant sui?*
902
"It must indeed be," says Feuillant, "that this is not so certain;
for controversy indicates uncertainty, (Saint Athanasius, Saint Chry-
sostom, morals, unbelievers)."
7 James, iv. 6. 8 John, i. n, 12.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 311
The Jesuits have not made the truth uncertain, but they have made
their own ungodliness certain.
Contradiction has always been permitted, in order to blind the
wicked; for all that offends truth or love is evil. This is the true
principle.
903
All religions and sects in the world have had natural reason for a
guide. Christians alone have been constrained to take their rules from
without themselves, and to acquaint themselves with those which
Jesus Christ bequeathed to men of old to be handed down to true
believers. This constraint wearies these good Fathers. They desire,
like other people, to have liberty to follow their own imaginations.
It is in vain that we cry to them, as the prophets said to the Jews
of old: "Enter into the Church; acquaint yourselves with the pre-
cepts which the men of old left to her, and follow those paths." They
have answered like the Jews : "We will not walk in them ; but we will
follow the thoughts of our hearts;" and they have said, "We will be
as the other nations."
904
They make a rule of exception.
Have the men of old given absolution before penance? Do this
as exceptional. But of the exception you make a rule without excep-
tion, so that you do not even want the rule to be exceptional.
905
On confessions and absolutions without signs of regret.
God regards only the inward; the Church judges only by the out-
ward. God absolves as soon as He sees penitence in the heart; the
Church when she sees it in works. God will make a Church pure
within, which confounds, by its inward and entirely spiritual holi-
ness, the inward impiety of proud sages and Pharisees; and the
Church will make an assembly of men whose external manners are
so pure as to confound the manners of the heathen. If there are
312 PASCALS THOUGHTS
hypocrites among them, but so well disguised that she does not dis-
cover their venom, she tolerates them; for, though they are not ac-
cepted of God, whom they cannot deceive, they are of men, whom
they do deceive. And thus she is not dishonoured by their conduct,
which appears holy. But you want the Church to judge neither of
the inward, because that belongs to God alone, nor of the outward,
because God dwells only upon the inward; and thus, taking away
from her all choice of men, you retain in the Church the most disso-
lute, and those who dishonour her so greatly, that the synagogues
of the Jews and sects of philosophers would have banished them as
unworthy; and have abhorred them as impious.
906
The easiest conditions to live in according to the world are the most
difficult to live in according to God, and vice versa. Nothing is so
difficult according to the world as the religious life; nothing is
easier than to live it according to God. Nothing is easier, according
to the world, than to live in high office and great wealth; nothing is
more difficult than to live in them according to God, and without
acquiring an interest in them and a liking for them.
907
The casuists submit the decision to the corrupt reason, and the
choice of decisions to the corrupt will, in order that all that is cor-
rupt in the nature of man may contribute to his conduct.
908
But is it probable that probability gives assurance?
Difference between rest and security of conscience. Nothing gives
certainly but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.
909
The whole society itself of their casuists cannot give assurance to
a conscience in error, and that is why it is important to choose good
guides.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 313
Thus they will be doubly culpable, both in having followed ways
which they should not have followed, and in having listened to teach-
ers to whom they should not have listened.
910
Can it be anything but compliance with the world which makes
you find things probable ? Will you make us believe that it is truth,
and that if duelling were not the fashion, you would find it probable
that they might fight, considering the matter in itself ?
911
Must we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make
both parties wicked instead of one. Vince in bono malum? (Saint
Augustine.)
912
UniversalEthics and language are special, but universal sciences.
Probability. Each one can employ it; no one can take it away.
914
They allow lust to act, and check scruples; whereas they should do
the contrary.
Montalte. Lax opinions please men so much, that it is strange that
theirs displease. It is because they have exceeded all bounds. Again,
there are many people who see the truth, and who cannot attain to it;
but there are few who do not know that the purity of religion is
opposed to our corruptions. It is absurd to say that an eternal recom-
pense is offered to the morality of Escobar.
9 Romans, xii. 21.
314 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
916
Probability. They have some true principles; but they misuse
them. Now, the abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the
introduction of falsehood.
As if there were two hells, one for sins against love, the other
for those against justice!
917
Probability. The earnestness of the saints in seeking the truth
was useless, if the probable is trustworthy. The fear of the saints who
have always followed the surest way, (Saint Theresa having always
followed her confessor).
918
>
Take away probability, and you can no longer please the world;
give probability, and you can no longer displease it.
919
These are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the Jesuits.
The great have wished to be flattered. The Jesuits have wished to be
loved by the great. They have all been worthy to be abandoned to
the spirit of lying, the one party to deceive, the others to be deceived.
They have been avaricious, ambitious, voluptuous. Coacervabunt
tibi magistres. 10 Worthy disciples of such masters, they have
sought flatterers, and have found them.
920
If they do not renounce their doctrine of probability, their good
maxims are as little holy as the bad, for they are founded on human
authority; and thus, if they are more just, they will be more reason-
able, but not more holy. They take after the wild stem on which they
are grafted.
10 2 Timothy, iv. 3.
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 315
If what I say does not serve to enlighten you, it will be of use to
the people.
If these are silent, the stones will speak.
Silence is the greatest persecution; the saints were never silent. It
is true that a call is necessary; but it is not from the decrees of the
Council that we must learn whether we are called, it is from the
necessity of speaking. Now, after Rome has spoken, and we think
that she has condemned the truth, and that they have written it, and
after the books which have said the contrary are censured; we must
cry out so much the louder, the more unjustly we are censured, and
the more violently they would stifle speech, until there come a
Pope who hears both parties, and who consults antiquity to do
justice. So the good Popes will find the Church still in outcry.
The Inquisition and the Society are the two scourges of the truth.
Why do you not accuse them of Arianism ? For, though they have
said that Jesus Christ is God, perhaps they mean by it not the natural
interpretation, but as it is said, Dii estis. 11
If my Letters are condemned at Rome, that which I condemn in
them is condemned in heaven. Ad tuum, Domine ]esu, tribunal
appello. 12
You yourselves are corruptible.
I feared that I had written ill, seeing myself condemned; but the
example of so many pious writings makes me believe the contrary.
It is no longer allowable to write well, so corrupt or ignorant is the
Inquisition!
"It is better to obey God than men."
I fear nothing; I hope for nothing. It is not so with the bishops.
Port Royal fears, and it is bad policy to disperse them; for they will
fear no longer and will cause greater fear. I do not even fear your like
censures, if they are not founded on those of tradition. Do you cen-
sure all? What! even my respect? No. Say then what, or you will
do nothing, if you do not point out the evil, and why it is evil. And
this is what they will have great difficulty in doing.
Probability. They have given a ridiculous explanation of certi-
tude; for, after having established that all their ways are sure, they
have no longer called that sure which leads to heaven without danger
11 "Ye are Gods." 12 "To thy judgment-seat, Lord Jesus, I appeal."
316 PASCAL'S THOUGHTS
of not arriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger
of going out of that road.
921
. . . The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves
criminals, and impeach their better actions. And these indulge in
subtleties in order to excuse the most wicked.
The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon
a bad foundation; and the devil deceives men by this apparent
resemblance based upon the most different foundation.
Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never fur-
nished so good a capture as you . . .
The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they
authorise my cause.
You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not
fear that men do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?
You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...
There is something supernatural in such a blindness. Digna neces-
sitas. 13 Mentiris impudentissime^ . . .
Doctrina sua noscitur vir 15 . . .
False piety, a double sin.
I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court;
protect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my strength.
If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and persecu-
tions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it away.
I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend
error and injustice. Let God, out of His compassion, having no
regard to the evil which is in me, and having regard to the good
which is in you, grant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in
my hands, and that falsehood . . .
922
Probable. Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by comparison of
the things which we love. It is probable that this food will not
13 "Their desert by necessity was drawing nigh." Wisdom, xix. 4. 14 "You lie
most impudently." 15 "A man is known by his doctrine."
POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 317
poison me. It is probable that I shall not lose my action by not prose-
cuting it ...
9 2 3
It is not absolution only which remits sins by the sacrament of
penance, but contrition, which is not real if it does not seek the sac-
rament.
924
People who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour,
without truth, deceitful in heart, deceitful in speech; for which that
amphibious animal in fable was once reproached, which held itself
in a doubtful position between the fish and the birds . . .
It is important to kings and princes to be considered pious; and
therefore they must confess themselves to you.
LETTERS OF PASCAL
TRANSLATED BY
M. L. BOOTH
LETTERS OF PASCAL
I
LETTER FROM PASCAL TO His SISTER JACQUELINE
January 26, 1648.
MY DEAR SISTER,
^T "IT TE have received your letters. I intended to reply to the first
%/%/ that you wrote me more than four months since, but my
T T indisposition and some other things prevented me. Since
then I have not been in a condition to write, either on account of
my illness, for want of leisure, or for some other reason. I have few
hours of leisure and health together; I shall however endeavor to
finish this letter without forcing myself; I know not whether it will
be long or short. My principal design is to make you understand
the truth of the visit which you know of, in which I hoped to have
wherewith to satisfy you and to reply to your last letters. I can com-
mence with nothing else than the expression of the pleasure which
they have given me; I have received satisfactions so sensible from
them that I cannot tell them to you by word of mouth. I entreat you
to believe that, though I may not have written to you, there has
not been an hour in which you have not been present to me, in which
I have not made wishes for the continuation of the great designs with
which Heaven has inspired you. 1 I have felt new transports of joy
at all the letters which bore testimony of it, and I have been de-
lighted to see the continuance of it without your receiving any
news on our part. This has made me judge that there was a more
than human support, since there was no need of human means to
sustain it. I should be glad nevertheless to contribute something to
it; but I have none of the capacities necessary for that purpose.
My weakness is so great that, if I should undertake it, I should do
an act of temerity rather than of charity, and I should have a right
to fear for us both the calamity that menaces the blind led by the
1 An allusion to the design of Jacqueline to become a nun.
321
322 PASCAL
blind. I have felt my incapacity incomparably more since the visits
which are in question; and far from having brought back enough
of light for others, I have brought nothing but confusion and trouble
for myself, which God alone can calm, and in which I shall work
with care, but without impatience and disquietude, knowing well
that both would remove me from it. I repeat that God alone can calm
it, and that I shall work for this, since I find nothing but occasions
for making it spring up and increase in those from whom I had ex-
pected its dissipation; so that, seeing myself reduced to myself alone,
it remains to me only to pray to God that he may bless it with
success. For this I shall have need of the aid of scholars and disin-
terested persons: the first will not afford it; I seek no longer but
for the latter; and hence I desire infinitely to see you, for letters are
long, inconvenient, and almost useless on such occasions. Never-
theless I will write you something of it.
The first time I saw M. Rebours, 2 1 made myself known to him and
was received with as much civility as I could wish. This was due to
my father, since I received it on his account. After the first com-
pliments, I asked permission to see him again from time to time;
he granted it to me : thus I was at liberty to see him, so that I do not
account this first sight as a visit, since it was only the permission for
such. I was there for some time, and among other conversation,
I told him with my usual frankness and naivete, that we had seen
their books and those of their adversaries, which was sufficient to
make him understand that we were of their sentiments. He ex-
pressed some pleasure at this. I then told him that I thought that
many things could be demonstrated upon the mere principles of
common-sense that their adversaries said were contrary to it, and
that well-directed reasoning led to a belief in them, although it was
necessary to believe in them without the aid of reasoning. These
were my own words, in which I think there was not wherewith to
wound the most severe modesty. But as you know that all actions
may have two sources, and that such language might proceed from
a principle of vanity and of confidence in reasoning, this suspicion,
which was increased by the knowledge that he had of my studies
in geometry, sufficed to make him find this language strange, and
2 One of the confessors of Port-Royal.
LETTERS 323
he expressed it to me by a repartee so full of humility and gentle-
ness that it would doubtless have confounded the pride that he
wished to refute. Still I endeavored to make him understand my
motive; but my justification increased his suspicions and he took
my excuses for obstinacy. I acknowledge that his discourse was so
beautiful that if I had been in the state in which he believed me, he
would have drawn me from it; but as I did not think myself in this
disease, I opposed the remedy which he presented me; but he insisted
on it the more, the more I seemed to evade it, because he took my re-
fusal for obstinacy; and the more he strove to continue, the more my
thanks testified to him that I did not consider it necessary; so that
the whole of this interview passed in this equivocation and in an
embarrassment which continued in all the rest, and which could not
be unravelled. I shall not relate the others word for word, since it
would not be necessary to my purpose; I shall only tell you in sub-
stance the purport of what was said on them, or rather, the principle
of their restraint.
But I entreat you before all things to draw no conclusions from
what I write, for things may escape me without sufficient precision;
and this may cause some suspicion to spring up in you as disadvan-
tageous as unjust. For indeed, after having reflected on it carefully,
I find in it only an obscurity which it would be difficult and danger-
ous to decide, and for myself, I suspend my judgment entirely, as
much from my weakness as from my want of knowledge.
LETTER FROM PASCAL AND His SISTER JACQUELINE TO THEIR
SISTER, MADAME PERIER
April i, 1648.
WE do not know whether this letter will be interminable, like the
rest, but we know that we would gladly write to you without end.
We have here the letter of M. de Saint-Cyran, de la Vocation, lately
published without approbation or privilege, which has shocked many.
We are reading it; we will send it afterwards to you. We should be
glad to know your opinion of it, and that of my father. It takes
high ground.
324 PASCAL
We have several times begun to write to you, but I have been de-
terred from it by the example and the speeches, or, if you like, the
rebuffs of which you know; but, since we have been enlightened
upon the matter as much as possible, I believe that it is necessary to
use some circumspection in it, and if there are occasions in which
we ought not to speak of these things, we may now dispense with
them; for we do not doubt each other, and as we are, as it were,
mutually assured that we have, in all these discourses, nothing but
the glory of God for our object, and scarcely any communication
outside of ourselves, I do not see that we should have any scruple,
so long as he shall give us these sentiments. If we add to these con-
siderations that of the union which nature has made between us,
and to this last that which grace has made, I think that, far from
finding a prohibition, we shall find an obligation to it; for I find that
our happiness has been so great in being united in the latter way that
we ought to unite to acknowledge and to rejoice at it. For it must
be confessed that it is properly since this time (which M. de Saint-
Cyran wishes should be called the commencement of life), that we
should consider ourselves as truly related, and that it has pleased God
to join us in his new world by the spirit, as he had done in the terres-
trial world by the flesh.
We beg you that there may not be a day in which you do not
revolve this in memory, and often acknowledge the way which God
has used in this conjunction, in which he has not only made us
brothers of each other, but children of the same father; for you
know that my father has foreseen us all, and, as it were, conceived
us in this design. It is in this that we should marvel, that God has
given us both the type and the reality of this union; for, as we
have often said among ourselves, corporeal things are nothing but
an image of spiritual, and God has represented invisible things in
the visible. This thought is so general and so useful that we ought
not to let much time pass without thinking of it with attention. We
have discoursed particularly enough of the relation of these two
sorts of things, for which reason we shall not speak of it here; for
it is too long to write, and too beautiful not to have remained in
your memory, and, what is more, is absolutely necessary according
to my opinion. For, as our sins hold us wrapped in things corporeal
LETTERS 325
and terrestrial, and as these are not only the penalty of our sins, but
also the occasion of committing new ones, and the cause of the first,
it is necessary that we should make use of the same position into
which we have fallen to raise us from our overthrow. For this
reason, we should use carefully the advantage which the goodness
of God bestows upon us in having always before our eyes an
image of the good that we have lost, and in surrounding us
in the very captivity to which his justice has reduced us, with so many
objects that serve to us as an ever-present lesson.
So that we should consider ourselves as criminals in a prison filled
with images of their liberator, and instructions necessary to escape
from their bondage; but it must be acknowledged that we cannot
perceive these sacred characters without a supernatural light; for as
all things speak of God to those who know him, and as they reveal
him to all those who love him, these same things conceal him from
all those who know him not. Thus it is seen, that in the darkness of
the world men follow them in a brutal blindness, and cling to them,
and make of them the final end of their desires, which they cannot
do without sacrilege, for there is nothing but God that should be the
final end, as he alone is the principle. For whatever resemblance
created nature may have to its Creator, and although the most trifling
things, and the smallest and the vilest portions of the world rep-
resent at least by their unity the perfect unity that is found only in
God, we cannot legitimately bear to them sovereign respect, since
there is nothing so abominable in the eyes of God and man as
idolatry, because it renders to the creature the honor that is due to
none but the Creator. The Scripture is full of the vengeance that
God executes on all those who have been guilty of it, and the first
commandment of the Decalogue, which includes all the rest, prohibits
above everything the adoration of his images. But as he is much
more jealous of our affections than our respect, it is evident that there
is no crime more injurious or more detestable to him than to bestow
sovereign love upon created things, although they represent him.
This is why those to whom God has made known these great
truths ought to use these images to enjoy that which they represent,
and not remain eternally in that carnal and Judaical blindness which
causes the type to be taken for the reality. And those whom God,
326 PASCAL
by regeneration, has drawn freely from sin (which is the veritable
nothingness, since it is opposed to God, who is the veritable being)
to give them a place in his Church, which is his real temple, after
having drawn them freely from nothingness to the point of their
creation, in order to give them a place in the universe, have a
double obligation to honor him and serve him; since as created
beings they should remain in the order of created beings, and not
profane the place that they fill, and as Christians they should aspire
without ceasing to render themselves worthy to form part of the
body of Jesus Christ. But as whilst the created things that compose
the world acquit themselves of their obligation by remaining within
a limited perfection, because the perfection of the world is also limit-
ed, the children of God should set no bounds to their purity and their
perfection, because they form part of a body wholly divine, and infi-
nitely perfect; as it is evident that Jesus Christ does not limit the
commandment of perfection, and that he proposes it to us as a model
wherein it exists infinite when he says: "Be ye also perfect as your
Father in heaven is perfect." Thus it is a very prejudicial and very
common error among Christians, and even among those who make a
profession of piety, to persuade themselves that there may be a degree
of perfection in which they can be with assurance, and which it is not
necessary to pass, since there is none at which it will not be wrong to
stop, and from which we can only avoid falling by mounting still
higher.
LETTER FROM PASCAL AND His SISTER JACQUELINE TO THEIR
SISTER, MADAME PERIER
Paris, November 5, afternoon, 1648.
MY DEAR SISTER,
Your letter has recalled to us a misunderstanding of which we had
lost recollection, so absolutely had it passed from us. The somewhat
too diffuse explanations that we have received have brought to
light the general and former subject of our complaints, and the
satisfaction that we have given has softened the harshness which
my father had conceived for them. We said what you had already
LETTERS 327
said, without knowing that you had said it, and then we excused
verbally what you had afterwards excused in writing, without
knowing that you had done so; and we knew not what you had
done until after we had acted ourselves; for as we have hidden noth-
ing from my father, he has revealed every thing, and thus cured all
our suspicions. You know how much such troubles disturb the
peace of the family both within and without, and what need we have
in these junctures of the warnings which you have given us a little
too late.
We have some to give you on the subject of your own. The first
is in respect to what you say, that we have instructed you as to what
you should write to us. I do not remember to have spoken to you
of it, so that this was a novelty to me; and, besides, even though this
were true, I should fear that you had not retained this humanly,
if you had not forgotten the person of whom you learned it to remem-
ber only God, who alone could have truly instructed you in it. If
you remember it as a good thing, you cannot think to hold it from
any other, since neither you nor the others can learn it except from
God alone. For, although in this kind of gratitude, we do not stop
at the men whom we address as though they were the authors of the
good that we receive through their means, this nevertheless forms a
partial opposition to the views of God, and chiefly in the persons who
are not entirely divested of the carnal impressions which make them
consider as the source of good the objects that transmit it.
Not that we ought not to remember those persons from whom we
have received any instructions, when these persons have been author-
ized to make them, as fathers, bishops, and confessors, because they
are the masters of whom others are the disciples. But as to us, it is
different; for as the angel refused the adoration of a holy servant
like himself, we tell you, in entreating you no longer to use these
terms of human gratitude, to refrain from paying us such compli-
ments, since we are disciples like yourself.
The second is in respect to what you say of its being unnecessary
to repeat these things to us, since we know them perfectly already;
which causes us to fear that you do not distinguish clearly enough
here between the things of which you speak and those of which the
world speaks, since it is doubtless quite enough to have learned the
328 PASCAL
latter once and retained them well to be no further instructed in
them, while it does not suffice to have comprehended once those of
the other kind and to have known them well, that is, by the internal
impulse of God, to preserve the knowledge of them in the same de-
gree, although we may retain the memory. Not that we may not re-
member and as easily retain an epistle of St. Paul as a book of Virgil;
but the knowledge that we acquire in this manner, as well as its
continuation, is only an effect of memory, while to understand this
secret language, unknown to those who are not of Heaven, it is
necessary that the same grace, which alone can give the first knowl-
edge of it, shall continue and render it ever present by retracing it
without ceasing in the hearts of the faithful to keep it constantly
existing there; as God continually renews their beatitude in the
blessed, which is an effect and a consequence of grace; as likewise
the Church holds that the Father perpetually produces the Son and
maintains the eternity of this essence by an effusion of his substance,
which is without interruption as well as without end.
Thus the continuation of the justice of the faithful is nothing else
than the continuation of the infusion of grace, and not a single grace
that subsists continually; and this it is that teaches us perfectly our
perpetual dependence on the mercy of God, since if he suspends the
course of it ever so slightly, barrenness necessarily becomes the result.
In this necessity, it is easy to see that it is necessary to make new
efforts continually to acquire this continual newness of spirit, since
we can only preserve the former grace by the acquisition of a new
grace, and since otherwise we shall lose what we think to retain, as
those who wish to shut in the light shut in nothing but darkness.
Thus we should watch unceasingly to purify the interior, which is
constantly sullied by new spots while retaining the old ones, since
without this assiduous renovation we shall be incapable of receiving
that new wine that cannot be put into old bottles.
For this reason you should not fear to place before our eyes the
things which we have in our memory, and which it is necessary
to cause to enter into the heart, since it is unquestionable that your
discourse can better serve as the instrument of grace than can the
impression of it that remains in our memory, since grace is especially
accorded to prayer, and since this charity that you have had for us
LETTERS 329
is among those prayers that ought never to be interrupted. Thus we
never should refuse to read or to hear holy things, however common
or well-known they may be; for our memory as well as the instruc-
tions which it contains, is only an inanimate and Judaical body with-
out the spirit that should vivify them. And it often happens that
God avails himself of these exterior means to make them understood
and to leave so much the less food for the vanity of men when they
thus receive grace in themselves. Thus, a book or a sermon, however
common it may be, brings much more profit to him who hears or
reads it with better disposition than does the excellence of the most
elevated discourses which usually bring more pleasure than in-
struction; and it is sometimes seen that those who listen as they
ought, although ignorant and almost stupid, are touched by the
simple name of God and the words that menace them with hell,
although these may be all that they comprehend and although they
knew it as well before.
The third is in respect to what you say about only writing things
to make us understand that you share the same feeling. We have
equally to praise and to thank you on this subject; we praise you
for your perseverance and thank you for the testimony that you give
us of it. We had already drawn this confession from M. Perier,
and the things that we induced him to say had assured us of it: we
can only tell you how much we are pleased by representing to you
the joy which you would receive if you should hear the same thing
of us.
We have nothing in particular to tell you, except touching the
design of your house. 1 We know that M. Perier is too earnest in
what he undertakes to fully think of two things at once, and that
the entire design is of such magnitude that, in order to complete it,
he must remain a long time without thinking of any thing else.
We know, too, that his project is only for a part of the building;
but this, besides being only too large alone, engages for the com-
pletion of the rest as soon as there shall be no farther obstacles to it,
however determined he may be to the contrary, especially if he em-
ploys the time in building that it would take to undeceive him of
1 A country house built by M. Perier, which is still standing, at Bienassis, near
the gates of Clermont. Faugere.
33 PASCAL
the secret pleasure that he finds in it. Thus we have counselled him
to build much less than he intended, and only what is actually
necessary, although according to the same design, in order that he
may not have cause to become absorbed in it, nor yet deprive him-
self of the opportunity of doing so. We entreat you to think seriously
of it, and to resolve to counsel him likewise, lest it may happen that
he may be far more prudent and bestow much more care and pains
in the building of an earthly house than he is obliged to bestow on
that mystic tower, of which you know St. Augustine speaks in one
of his letters, which he has promised to finish in his conversations.
Adieu. B. P. J. P.
Postscript of Jacqueline. I hope shortly to write you the partic-
ulars of my own affair, of which I shall send you the details; mean-
while, pray to God for the result.
If you know any pious soul, let him pray to God for me also. 2
LETTER TO MADAME PERIER AND HER HUSBAND/ ON THE
DEATH OF M. PASCAL, PERE
OCTOBER 17, 1651.
As you are both now informed of our common misfortune, and
as the letter which we commenced has given you some consolation
by the recital of the happy circumstances that accompanied the sub-
ject of our affliction, I cannot refuse to you those which remain in
my mind, and which I pray God to give me, and to recall to me
several which we formerly received from his grace, and which have
been newly given to us by our friends on this occasion.
1 know not now where my first letter ended. My sister sent it
away without noticing that it was not finished. It only seems to me
that it contained in substance some particulars of the conduct of
2 This last sentence is in the handwriting of Pascal; usually Jacqueline wrote under
the dictation of her brother. Wright.
1 Fragments of this letter have figured in a great number of the editions of Pascal,
under the title of: Thoughts upon Death, extracted from a letter written by M.
Pascal upon the subject of the death of his father. M. Cousin, upon this indication,
sought for and found the letter, such as we publish it here. Wright.
LETTERS 331
God over life and sickness, which I would repeat to you here, so
deeply are they engraven in my heart, and so solid is the consola-
tion that they bring me, if you could not have seen them yourselves
in the preceding letter, and if my sister did not intend to make to
you a more exact recital of them at her earliest convenience. I
shall, therefore, only speak to you here of the conclusion which I
draw from them, which is that, except those who are interested by
the feelings of nature, there is not a Christian who should not rejoice
at it.
Upon this great foundation, I shall commence what I have to say
to you by a remark that is very consoling to those who have sufficient
liberty of spirit to conceive it in the midst of grief. It is that we
should seek consolation in our ills, not in ourselves, not in men, not
in any thing that is created; but in God. And the reason is, that
all creatures are not the first cause of the accidents that we call
evils; but that the providence of God being the only and veritable
cause, the arbiter and the sovereign of them, it is indubitable that we
must resort directly to the source, and go back to the origin to find
a solid alleviation. If we follow this precept, and if we regard this
event, not as an effect of chance, not as a fatal necessity of nature,
not as the play of the elements and parts of which man is composed
(for God has not abandoned his elect to caprice and chance), but
as a result indispensable, inevitable, just, holy, useful to the good of
the Church, and to the exaltation of the name and the greatness of
God, of a decree of his providence conceived from all eternity to be
executed in the plenitude of its time in such a year, such a day, such
an hour, such a place, such a manner; and, in short, that all that has
happened has been from all time foreknown and foreordained of
God; if, I say, through a transport of grace, we regard this accident,
not in itself and apart from God, but apart from itself, and in the
inmost part of the will of God, in the justice of his decree, in the
order of his providence, which is the true cause of it, without which
it would not have happened, through which alone it has happened,
and in the manner in which it has happened; we shall adore in
humble silence the impenetrable loftiness of his secrets, we shall
venerate the sanctity of his decrees, we shall bless the acts of his
providence, and, uniting our will to that of God himself, we shall
33 2 PASCAL
wish with him, in him, and for him, the thing that he has willed in
us and for us from all eternity.
Let us regard it, then, in this manner, and let us practice this pre-
cept, which I learned of a great man in the time of our deepest afflic-
tion, that there is no consolation except in truth alone. It is certain
that Socrates and Seneca have nothing consolatory on such an occa-
sion as this. They have been in the error that has blinded all men in
the beginning: they have all taken death as natural to man; and all
the discourses which they have founded upon this false principle are
so futile that they only serve to demonstrate by their inutility how
weak man is in general, since the most elevated productions of the
greatest among men are so weak and puerile. It is not the same with
Jesus Christ, it is not thus in the canonical books: the truth is there
revealed, and consolation is also as infallibly joined with it as it is
infallibly separated from error.
Let us, then, consider death in the truth which the Holy Spirit has
taught us. We have this admirable advantage, of knowing that
death is really and actually a penalty of sin imposed on man in order
to expiate his crime, necessary to man to purge him from sin; that
it is the only one that can deliver the soul from the concupiscence of
the members, without which saints come not into the world. We
know that life, and the life of Christians, is a continual sacrifice, that
can only be completed by death; we know that as Jesus Christ, being
in the world, regarded and offered himself to God as a sacrifice, and
a veritable victim; as his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, his
ascension, his presence in the Eucharist, and his eternal seat at the
right hand, are only a sole and single sacrifice; we know that what
has been accomplished in Jesus Christ should be accomplished also
in all his members.
Let us, then, consider life as a sacrifice; and let the accidents of
life make no impression upon the minds of Christians, except in
proportion as they interrupt or accomplish this sacrifice. Let us only
call that evil which renders the victim of God the victim of the devil,
but let us call that good which renders the victim of the devil in
Adam the victim of God; and by this rule let us examine the nature
of death.
LETTERS 333
For this consideration it is necessary to have recourse to the person
of Jesus Christ, for all that is in men is abominable, and as God looks
upon men only through the mediator Jesus Christ, men should also
look neither upon others nor themselves except mediately through
Jesus Christ. For if we do not take this course, we shall find in our-
selves nothing but veritable misfortunes, or abominable pleasures;
but if we regard all things in Jesus Christ, we shall find full conso-
lation, full satisfaction, and full edification.
Let us, then, consider death in Jesus Christ, and not without
Jesus Christ. Without Jesus Christ it is horrible, detestable, the
horror of nature. In Jesus Christ it is altogether different; it is be-
nignant, holy, the joy of the faithful. Every thing is sweet in Jesus
Christ, even to death: and this is why he suffered and died to sanc-
tify death and suffering; and, in common with God and man, he
has been all that was great, and all that was abject, in order to sanc-
tify in himself all things except sin, and to be the model of every
condition.
To consider the nature of death, and of death in Jesus Christ, it
is necessary to see what rank it holds in his continual and uninter-
rupted sacrifice, and for this to remark that in sacrifices the most
important part is the death of the victim. The oblation and sanctifi-
cation which precede are the details; but the accomplishment is the
death, in which, by the annihilation of life, the creature renders to
God all the homage of which it is capable, in annihilating itself
before the face of his majesty, and in adoring his sovereign existence,
which alone exists in reality. It is true that there is another part,
after the death of the victim, without which its death would be
useless, that is, God's acceptance of the sacrifice. This is what is said
in the Scripture: Et odoratus est Dominus suavitatem. "And the
Lord smelled a sweet sacrifice." This it is that really consummates
the oblation; but it is rather an action of God towards the creature
than of the creature towards God, and does not hinder the last act
of the creature from being death.
All these things have been accomplished in Jesus Christ. In enter-
ing the world, he offered himself: Obtulit semetipsum per Spiritum
Sanctum. Ingredient mundum, dixit: Hostiam noluisti . . . Tune
334 PASCAL
dixi: Ecce venio. In capite, etc. "Through the Eternal Spirit he
offered himself. When he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst not. Then said I, Lo, I come." This is his
oblation. His sanctification was immediate upon his oblation. This
sacrifice lasted all his life, and was accomplished by his death.
"Ought he not to have suffered these things, and to enter into his
glory?" "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered." But "in the days of his flesh, when he
had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong cries and tears
unto him that was able to save, he was heard in that he feared :" and
God raised him from the dead, and sent him his glory, prefigured
formerly by the fire from heaven that fell upon the victim to burn
and consume his body, and to make it live the spiritual life of glory.
This is what Jesus Christ has obtained, and what has been accom-
plished through his resurrection.
Thus this sacrifice being perfected by the death of Christ, and
consummated even in his body by his resurrection, in which the
image of sinful flesh was absorbed by glory, Jesus Christ had wholly
finished his part; it remained only that the sacrifice should be ac-
cepted of God, that, as the smoke ascended and carried the odor to
the throne of God, thus Jesus Christ was, in this state of perfect im-
molation, offered, carried to, and accepted at the throne of God him-
self: and this it is that has been accomplished in the ascension, in
which he mounted on high and by his own power and by the power
of his Holy Spirit, which surrounded him on every side, was carried
away; as the smoke of the victims, the emblem of Jesus Christ, was
carried on high by the air that sustained it, the type of the Holy
Spirit: and the Acts of the Apostles indicate to us expressly that he
was received up into heaven, in order to assure us that this holy
sacrifice accomplished on earth was welcome and acceptable to God,
and was received into the bosom of God, to shine in glory through
ages upon ages.
This is the state of things as regards our sovereign Lord. Let us
consider them now in ourselves. From the moment we enter the
Church, which is the world of the Faithful and especially of the elect,
into which Jesus Christ entered at the moment of his incarnation by
a privilege peculiar to the only Son of God, we are offered and sac-
LETTERS 335
rificed. This sacrifice is continued by life and completed at death,
in which the soul truly quitting all vices, and the love of the
world, with the contagion of which it is always infected through-
out life, achieves its immolation and is received into the bosom
of God.
Let us not grieve then like the heathen who have no hope. We
did not lose our father at the moment of his death: we lost him, so
to say, when he entered the Church through baptism. From that
time, he belonged to God; his life was devoted to God; his actions
regarded the world only for God. In his death, he became totally
separated from sin, and it was at that moment that he was accepted
by God, and that his sacrifice received its accomplishment and its
consummation. He has performed therefore what he had vowed : he
has finished the work that God had given him to do; he has accom-
plished the only thing for which he was created. The will of God is
accomplished in him, and his will is absorbed in God. Let not our
will then separate what God has joined together; and let us stifle or
moderate, by the understanding of truth, the feelings of a corrupt
and fallen nature which has only false images, and which troubles
by its illusions the sanctity of the feelings which truth and the Gospel
should give us.
Let us then no longer look upon death like the heathen, but like
Christians, that is with hope, as St. Paul commands, since this is the
especial privilege of Christians. Let us no longer regard a corpse as
putrid carrion because deceitful nature figures it thus; but as the
inviolable and eternal temple of the Holy Spirit, as faith teaches.
For we know that sainted bodies are inhabited by the Holy Spirit
until the resurrection, which will be caused by virtue of this spirit
which dwells in them for this effect. It is for this reason that we
honor the relics of the dead, and it was on this true principle that
the Eucharist was formerly placed in the mouth of the dead, since,
as it was known that they were the temple of the Holy Spirit, it was
believed that they also merited to be united to this holy sacrament.
But the Church has changed this custom, not in order that these
bodies shall not be holy, but for the reason that the Eucharist being
the bread of life and of the living, it ought not to be given to the dead.
Let us no longer regard a man as having ceased to live although
336 PASCAL
nature suggests it; but as beginning to live, as truth assures. Let us
no longer regard his soul as perished and reduced to nothingness,
but as quickened and united to the sovereign life; and let us thus
correct, by attention to these truths, the sentiments of error so deeply
imprinted in ourselves and those emotions of honor so natural to
mankind.
To subdue this dread more effectually, it is necessary fully to com-
prehend its origin; and to paint it to you in a few words, I am forced
to tell you in general what is the source of all vice and all sin. This
I have learned from two very great and holy personages. The truth
covered by this mystery is that God has created man with two loves,
the one for God, the other for himself; but with this law, that the
love for God shall be infinite, that is without any other limits than
God himself; and that the love for self shall be finite and relating
to God.
Man in this state not only loves himself without sin, but could
not do otherwise than love himself without sin.
Since, sin being come, man has lost the first of these loves; and the
love for himself being left alone in this great soul capable of an
infinite love, this self-love has extended and overflowed in the empty
space which the love of God has quitted; and thus he loves himself
alone, and all things for himself, that is, infinitely. This is the origin
of self-love. It was natural to Adam and just in his innocence; but it
became criminal and immoderate after his sin.
Here is the source of this love, and the cause of its defect and of
its excess. It is the same with the passion of ruling, of indolence,
and others. The application is easy. Let us come to our single sub-
ject. The dread of death was natural to innocent Adam, because, his
life being pleasing to God, it must have been pleasing to man: and
death was terrible when it ended a life conformed to the will of
God. Since, man having sinned, his life has become corrupt, his
body and soul enemies to each other, and both to God. This horrible
change having infected so holy a life, the love of life has nevertheless
remained; and the dread of death being equally felt, that which was
just in Adam is unjust and criminal in us.
Such is the origin of the dread of death and the cause of its faulti-
ness. Let us then illumine the error of nature by the light of faith.
LETTERS 337
The dread o death is natural, but it is in the state of innocence;
death in truth is terrible, but it is when it puts an end to a pure life-
It was just to hate it when it separated a holy soul from a holy body;
but it is just to love it when it separates a holy soul from an impure
body. It was just to flee it, when it broke the peace between the
body and the soul; but not when it calms the irreconcilable dissen-
sion between them. In short, when it afflicted an innocent body,
when it took away from the body the liberty of honoring God, when
it separated from the soul a body submissive to and co-operative with
its will, when it put an end to all the good of which man is capable,
it was just to abhor it; but when it puts an end to an impure life,
when it takes away from the body the liberty of sinning, when it
delivers the soul from a powerful rebel that contradicts all the
motives for its salvation, it is very unjust to preserve the same feelings.
Let us not therefore relinquish this love for life which nature has
given us, since we have received it from God; but let this be for the
same life for which God has given it to us and not for a contrary
object. In consenting to the love that Adam had for his innocent
life and that Jesus Christ himself had for his own, let us bring our-
selves to hate a life contrary to that which Jesus Christ has loved,
and only to fear the death which Jesus Christ has feared, which
comes to a body pleasing to God; but not to fear a death that, pun-
ishing a guilty body, and purging a vicious body, ought to give us
quite contrary feelings, if we have any thing of faith, of hope, and
of charity.
It is one of the great principles of Christianity that every thing
that happened to Jesus Christ should take place in the soul and the
body of each Christian : that as Jesus Christ suffered during his mortal
life, died to this mortal life, was raised to a new life, ascended to
heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father; so the body and
soul should suffer, die, be raised from the dead, ascend to heaven,
and sit at the right hand of God. All these things are accomplished
in the soul during life, but not in the body. The soul suffers and dies
to sin in penitence and in baptism; the soul is raised again to a new
life in the same baptism; the soul quits the earth and ascends to
heaven at death, and takes its seat at the right hand of God at the
time that he appoints. None of these things happen to the body
PASCAL
during this life; but the same things befall it afterwards. For at
death the body dies to its mortal life; at the judgment it will rise to
a new life; after the judgment, it will ascend to heaven and will sit
at the right hand of God. Thus the same things happen to the body
and the soul, but at different times; and the changes of the body
come only when those of the soul are accomplished, that is at the
hour of death : so that death is the consummation of the beatitude of
the soul and the commencement of the beatitude of the body.
These are the admirable ways of the wisdom of God for the salva-
tion of his saints, and St. Augustine teaches us on this subject, that
God has arranged them in this wise for fear that if the body of man
should die and rise again forever at baptism, men would only enter
into the obedience of the Gospel through the love of life; whilst the
grandeur of faith shines forth far more when it tends to immortality
through the shades of death.
This is, certainly, our belief and the faith that we profess, and I
believe that there is in this more than is needed to aid your consola-
tions by my small efforts. I should not undertake to carry you this
aid of myself; but as these are only repetitions of what I have learned,
I give them with assurance, praying God to bless these seeds, and to
give them growth, for without him we can do nothing, and his most
holy words will not take root in us, as he himself has said.
It is not that I wish that you should be without feeling; the blow is
too sensible; it would be even insupportable without supernatural
aid. It is not therefore right that we should be without grief, like
the angels who have no sentiment of nature; neither is it right that
we should be without consolation, like the heathen who have no
sentiment of grace: but it is right that we should be afflicted and
consoled like Christians, and that the consolations of grace should
overcome the feelings of nature; that we should say with the apostles:
"We are afflicted but not cast down," in order that grace may not
only be in us but victorious in us; that thus, in sanctifying the name
of our Father, his will may be made ours; that his grace may reign
and prevail over nature, and that our afflictions may be as the sub-
stance of a sacrifice which his grace perfects and annihilates for the
glory of God; and that these individual sacrifices may honor and
precede the universal sacrifice wherein all nature should be perfected
LETTERS 339
by the power of Jesus Christ. Thus we derive advantage from our
own imperfections, since they serve as material for this sacrifice; for
it is the aim of true Christians to profit by their own imperfections,
because "all things work together for good to the elect."
And if we pay close attention to this, we shall find great advantages
for our edification, in considering the thing truly as we said just
now. For, since it is true that the death of the body is only the type
of that of the soul, and since we build upon the principle that in this
chance we have all possible reason to hope for its sure salvation, it is
certain that if we cannot arrest the progress of grief, we should de-
rive this benefit, that since the death of the body is so terrible that it
causes in us such emotions, that of the soul ought to cause in us those
far more inconsolable. God sends us the first, God turns away the
second. Let us then consider the greatness of our blessings in the
greatness of our ills, and let the excess of our grief be in proportion
to that of our joy.
There is nothing that can moderate it, except the fear that he may
languish for some time in the pains which are destined to purge the
remains of the sin of this life, and we ought carefully to apply our-
selves to appease the anger of God towards him. Prayer and sacri-
fices are a sovereign remedy for his pains. But I have learned of a
holy man in our affliction that one of the most solid and useful
charities towards the dead is to do the things that they would com-
mand were they still in the world, to practise the holy advice which
they have given us, and put ourselves, for their sakes, in the condi-
tion in which they would wish us at present. By this practice, we
shall in some sort revive them in ourselves, since their counsels are
still living and acting within us; and as heresiarchs are punished in
the other life for the sins into which they have drawn their votaries,
in whom their venom is still living, so the dead are recompensed,
exclusive of their own merit, for those to whom they have given
succession by their counsels and their example.
Let us strive then with all our power to revive him in us before
God; and let us console ourselves in the union of our hearts, in
which it seems to me that he still lives, and that our reunion in some
sort restores to us his presence, as Jesus Christ makes himself present
in the assembly of his faithful.
34 PASCAL
I pray God to form and to maintain these sentiments in us, and to
continue those which it appears to me he has given me, of having
more tenderness than ever for you and for my sister; for it seems
to me that the love that we had for my father ought not to be lost,
and that we should make a division of it among ourselves, and that
we should chiefly inherit the affection which he bore to us, to love
each other still more cordially if possible.
I pray God to strengthen us in these resolutions, and in this hope
I entreat you to permit me to give you a counsel which indeed you
could take without me; but I shall not refrain from giving it. It is
that after having found grounds of consolation for him, we shall not
come to lack them for ourselves by dwelling upon the need and the
utility that we shall have of his presence.
It is I who am the most interested in it. If I had lost him six years
ago, I should have lost myself, and although I believe my necessity
of him at present to be less absolute, I know that he would still have
been necessary to me ten years and useful all my life. But we should
hope that God having ordered it in such a time, such a place and
such a manner, it is doubtless the most expedient for his glory and
for our salvation.
However strange this may appear, I believe that we should regard
all events in the same manner, and that, however sinister they may
appear to us, we should hope that God would draw from them a
source of joy to us if we will but intrust the direction of them to him.
We know of persons of condition who have feared the death of rela-
tives which God has perhaps averted at their prayer, who have caused
or been the occasion of so much misery that there was reason to wish
that the prayers had not been granted.
Man is assuredly too weak to judge soundly of the result of future
things. Let us therefore hope in God, and let us not weary ourselves
by rash and indiscreet forecasts. Let us commit ourselves then to God
for the direction of our lives, and that grief may not prevail within us.
St. Augustine teaches us that there is in every man a serpent, an
Eve and an Adam. The serpent is the senses and our nature, the
Eve is the concupiscible appetite, and the Adam is the reason. Nature
tempts us continually, concupiscible appetite often fills us with
desires, but the sin is not consummated if reason does not consent.
LETTERS 341
Let the serpent and the Eve therefore act i we cannot hinder it;
but let us pray to God that his grace may so strengthen our Adam
that he may remain victorious; and that Jesus Christ may be the
conqueror over him and may reign eternally in us. Amen.
5
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER OF M. PASCAL TO M. PERIER
PARIS, Friday, June 6, 1653.
I HAVE just received your letter, inclosing that of my sister, which
I have not had leisure to read, and moreover believe that this would
be useless.
My sister made her profession yesterday, Thursday, the 5th of
June, 1653. It was impossible for me to delay her: the Messieurs of
Port Royal feared that a slight delay might bring on a greater one,
and wished to hasten it for the reason that they hope ere long to
put her in office; and consequently, it was necessary to hasten, be-
cause for this several years of profession are needed. This is the
way they paid me. In fine, I could not, etc.
EXTRACT FROM A LETTER TO MADAME PERIER, UPON THE PROJECTED
MARRIAGE OF MADEMOISELLE JACQUELINE PERIER
1659.
IN general, their advice was that you could in no way, without
mortally wounding charity and your conscience, and rendering your-
self guilty of one of the greatest crimes, pledge a child of her age
and innocence, and even of her piety, to the most perilous and low-
est of the conditions of Christianity. That indeed, according to the
world, the affair had no difficulty, and she was to conclude it with-
out hesitation; but that according to God, she had less difficulty in
it, and she was to reject it without hesitation, because the condition
of an advantageous marriage is as desirable in the opinion of the
world as it is vile and prejudicial in the sight of God. That not
knowing to what she may be called, nor whether her temperament
may not be so tranquil that she can support her virginity with piety,
342 PASCAL
it were little to know the value of it to pledge her to lose this good
so desirable to every one in himself, and so desirable to fathers
and mothers for their children, since as they can no longer desire
it for themselves, it is in them that they should strive to render
to God what they have lost in general for other causes than for
God.
Besides, that husbands, although rich and wise in the opinion of the
world, are in truth complete pagans in the sight of God; so that the
last words of these gentlemen are that to pledge a child to an ordinary
man is a species of homicide and a deicide as it were in their own
persons.
7
NOTE FROM PASCAL TO THE MARCHIONESS DE SABLE
December, 1660.
ALTHOUGH I am much embarrassed, I can no longer defer render-
ing you a thousand thanks for having procured me the acquaintance
of M. Menjot; for it is doubtless to you, Madame, that I owe it; and
as I esteemed him highly already from the things which my sister
had told me of him, I cannot tell you with how much joy I have re-
ceived the favor which he has wished to render me. It is only neces-
sary to read his letter to see how much intellect and judgment he
possesses; and although I may not be capable of understanding the
depth of the matters which he treats in his book, I will tell you,
nevertheless, Madame, that I have learned much from the manner
in which he reconciles in a few words the immateriality of the soul
with the power of matter to change its functions and to cause
delirium. I am very impatient to have the honor to converse with
you on it.
8
FRAGMENT OF A LETTER TO M. PERIER
1661.
You give me pleasure by sending me all the details of your con-
troversies, and chiefly because you are interested therein; for I
LETTERS 343
imagine that you do not imitate our controversialists of this country,
who avail themselves so badly, at least so it seems to me, of the ad-
vantage which God offers them of suffering something for the
establishment of his truths. For, if this were for the establishment
of their truths, they would not act differently; and it seems that
they are ignorant that the same Providence that has inspired some
with light, has refused it to others; and it seems that in laboring to
persuade them of it they are serving another God than the one who
permits the obstacles that oppose their progress. They think to ren-
der service to God by murmuring against the hindrances, as if this
were another power that should excite their piety, and another
that should give vigor to those who oppose them.
This is what comes of self-will. When we wish by our own efforts
that something shall succeed, we become irritated with obstacles,
because we feel in these hindrances that the motive that makes us
act has not placed them there, and we find things in them which the
self-will that makes us act has not formed there.
But when God inspires our actions, we never feei any thing out-
side that does not come from the same principle that causes us to
act; there is no opposition in the motive that impels us; the same
motive power which leads us to act, leads others to resist us, or per-
mits them at least; so that as we find no difference in this, and as it
is not our own will that combats external events, but the same will
that produces the good and permits the evil, this uniformity does
not trouble the peace of the soul, and is one of the best tokens that we
are acting by the will of God, since it is much more certain that God
permits the evil, however great it may be, than that God causes the
good in us (and not some secret motive), however great it may ap-
pear to us; so that in order really to perceive whether it is God
that makes us act, it is much better to test ourselves by our deport-
ment without than by our motives within, since if we only examine
ourselves within, although we may find nothing but good there, we
cannot assure ourselves that this good comes truly from God. But
when we examine ourselves without, that is when we consider
whether we suffer external hindrances with patience, this signifies
that there is a uniformity of will between the motive power that
inspires our passions and the one that permits the resistance to them;
344 PASCAL
and as there is no doubt that it is God who permits the one, we have
a right humbly to hope that it is God who produces the other.
But what! we act as if it were our mission to make truth triumph
whilst it is only our mission to combat for it. The desire to con-
quer is so natural that when it is covered by the desire of making
the truth triumph, we often take the one for the other, and think
that we are seeking the glory of God when in truth we are seeking
our own. It seems to me that the way in which we support these
hindrances is the surest token of it, for in fine if we wish only the
order established by God, it is certain that we wish the triumph of
his justice as much as that of his mercy, and that when it does not
come of our negligence, we shall be in an equal mood, whether the
truth be known or whether it be combated, since in the one the mercy
of God triumphs, and in the other, his justice.
Pater juste, mundus te non cognovit. Righteous father, the world
has not known thee. Upon which St. Augustine says that it is
through his justice that the world has not known him. Let us pray,
labor, and rejoice evermore, as St. Paul says.
If you had reproved me in my first faults, I should not have been
guilty of this, and should have been moderate. But I shall not sup-
press this any more than the other; you can suppress it yourself if
you wish. I could not refrain, so angry am I against those who insist
absolutely that the truth shall be believed when they demonstrate
it, which Jesus Christ did not do in his created humanity. It is a
mockery, and it seems to me treating ... I am grieved on account
of the malady of M. de Laporte. I assure you that I honor him
with all my heart. I, etc.
9
LETTER TO MADAME PERIER
(Addressed: To Mademoiselle Perier la Conseillere.)
ROUEN, Saturday, the last of January, 1643.
MY DEAR SISTER,
I doubt not that you have been greatly troubled at the length of
time in which you have received no news from these parts. But I
LETTERS 345
think that you must have suspected that the journey of the Elus has
been the cause, as in fact it was. Had it not been for this, I should
not have failed to write to you oftener. I have to tell you that
Messieurs the commissioners being at Gizors, my father made me
take a tour to Paris, where I found a letter which you had written,
in which you say that you are surprised that I reproach you that you
do not write often enough, and in which you tell me that you write
to Rouen once every week. It is very certain, if this is so, that the
letters are lost, for I do not receive one once in three weeks. On my
return to Rouen, I found a letter from M. Perier, who writes that
you are ill. He does not write whether your sickness is dangerous
or whether you are better; and an unusual length of time has passed
since without having received any letter, so that we are in an anxiety
from which I pray you to relieve us as soon as possible; but I think
the prayer I make you will be useless, for before you shall have
received this letter, I hope that we shall have received letters from you
or from M. Perier. The department is finished, God be praised. If
I knew of any thing new, I would let you know it. I am, my dear
sister, etc.
Postscript in the handwriting of Etienne Pascal, the father: "My
dear daughter will excuse me if I do not write to her as I wished,
having no leisure for it; for I have never been in a tenth part the
perplexity that I am at present. I could not be more so without being
overwhelmed; for the last four months I have not been in bed six
times before two o'clock in the morning.
"I lately commenced a jesting letter upon the subject of your last,
concerning the marriage of M. Desjeux, but I have never had leisure
to finish it. For news, the daughter of M. de Paris, maitre des
comptes, the wife of M. de Neufirlle, also maitre des comptes, is
dead, as well as the daughter of Belair, the wife of young Lambert.
Your little boy slept here last night. He is very well, thank God.
"I am ever your true and affectionate friend,
"PASCAL."
Your very humble and affectionate servant and brother,
PASCAL.
346 PASCAL
10
NOTE FROM PASCAL TO HIS SISTER, MADAME PERIER
(Superscribed, To Mademoiselle Perier, at Clermont, in Auvergne.)
MY DEAR SISTER,
I do not believe that it is quite right that you should be vexed;
for, if you are not so because we have forgotten you, then you ought
not to be at all. I tell you no news, for there is too much that is gen-
eral, and there must always be too much that is private. I should
have much to tell you that happens in complete secrecy, but I
regard it as useless to send it to you; all that I pray you is, to mingle
acts of grace with the prayers which you make for me, and which I
entreat you to multiply at this time. I carried your letter myself
with the aid of God, in order that it might be forwarded to Madame
de Maubuisson. They gave me a little book, in which this sentence
was written with the hand. 1 I know not whether it is in the little
book of sentences, but it is beautiful. I am so much hurried that I
can say no more. Do not fail in your fasts. Adieu.
ii
LETTERS TO MADEMOISELLE DE ROANNEZ*
i
1656.
IN order to answer all the points upon which you address me, and,
indeed, to write, although my time is limited.
I am delighted that you like the book of M. de Laval, 3 and the
Meditations on Grace; I draw from this important conclusions for
what I desire.
I send the details of this condemnation which had frightened 4 you :
1 It is wanting here. Wright.
2 Charlotte Gouffier de Roannez, sister of the duke of this name, the friend of
Pascal, and one of the editors of the Thoughts.
3 Pseudonym under which the Duke de Luynes published different works of piety,
among others, Sentences drawn from Holy Scripture and the Fathers. Wright.
4 The allusion is probably to the censure of the Sorbonne against Arnauld, in
1656. Wright.
LETTERS 347
it is nothing at all, thank God, and it is a miracle that nothing
worse is done, since the enemies of truth have the power and the
will to oppress him. Perhaps you are of those who merit not to be
abandoned by God, and removed from an undeserving world, and
he is assured that you will serve the Church by your prayers, if the
Church has served you by hers. For it is the Church that merits with
Jesus Christ, who is inseparable from her, the conversion of all those
who are not in the truth; and it is in turn these converted persons
who succor the mother who has delivered them. I praise with all
my heart the little zeal that I have recognized in your letter for the
union with the pope. The body is not more living without the head,
than the head without the body. Whoever separates himself from the
one or the other is no longer of the body, and belongs no more to
Jesus Christ. I know not whether there are persons in the Church
more attached to this unity of body than those that you call ours.
We know that all the virtues, martyrdom, the austerities and all
good works are useless out of the Church, and out of communion
with the head of the Church, which is the pope. I will never separate
myself from his communion, at least I pray God to give me this grace,
without which I should be lost forever.
I make to you a sort of profession of faith, and I know not
wherefore; but I would neither efface it nor commence it again.
M. du Gas has spoken to me this morning of your letter with as
much astonishment and joy as it is possible to have: he knows not
where you have taken what he has reported to me of your words;
he has said to me surprising things, that no longer surprise me so
much. I begin to accustom myself to you and to the grace that
God gives you, and nevertheless I avow to you that it is to me always
new, as it is always new in reality.
For it is a continual flow of graces that the Scripture compares
to a river, and to the light which the sun continually emits from itself,
and is always new, so that if it ceased an instant to emit them, all
that we have received would disappear, and we should remain in
darkness.
He has said to me that he had begun a response to you, and that
he would transcribe it to render it more legible, and that, at the same
time, he would extend it. But he has just sent it to me with a little
348 PASCAL
note, wherein he informs me that he has been able neither to tran-
scribe it nor to extend it; this makes me think that it will be ill-
written. But I am a witness of his want of leisure, and of his
desire that he had leisure for your sake.
I take part in the joy that the affair of the . . . 5 will afford you,
for I see clearly that you are interested for the Church: you are
indeed under obligations to her. For sixteen hundred years she has
groaned for you. It is time to groan for her and for us altogether,
and to give her all that remains to us of life, since Jesus Christ has
assumed life only to lose it for her and for us.
ii
OCTOBER, 1656.
IT seems to me that you take sufficient interest in the miracle to
send you particular notice that its verification is consummated by
the Church, as you will see by the sentence of the grand vicar.
There are so few persons to whom God would manifest himself
by these extraordinary acts, that we ought indeed to profit by these
occasions, since he does not leave the secrecy of the nature that
covers him but to excite our faith to serve him with so much the
more ardor as we know him with the more certainty.
If God discovered himself continually to men, there would be no
merit in believing him; and, if he never discovered himself, there
would be little faith. But he conceals himself ordinarily and dis-
covers himself rarely to those whom he wishes to engage in his serv-
ice. This strange secrecy, in which God is impenetrably withdrawn
from the sight of men, is a great lesson to betake ourselves to solitude
far from the sight of men. He remained concealed under the veil of
the nature that covers him till the Incarnation; and when it was
necessary that he should appear, he concealed himself still the more
in covering himself with humanity. He was much more recogniza-
ble when he was invisible than when he rendered himself visible.
And in fine, when he wished to fulfil the promise that he made to
his apostles to remain with men until his final coming, he chose to
remain in the strangest and most obscure secret of all, which are the
5 In the manuscript of the Oratory: of the Nuns. Faugere.
LETTERS 349
species of the Eucharist. It is this sacrament that St. John calls in
the Apocalypse a concealed manner; and I believe that Isaiah saw it
in that state, when he said in the spirit of prophecy: Truly thou art
a God concealed. This is the last secrecy wherein he can be. The
veil of nature that covers God has been penetrated by some of the
unbelieving, who, as St. Paul says, have recognized an invisible God
in visible nature. Heretical Christians have recognized him through
his humanity and adored Jesus Christ God and man. But to recog-
nize him under the species of bread is peculiar to Catholics alone:
none but us are thus enlightened by God. We may add to these con-
siderations the secrecy of the spirit of God concealed still in the
Scripture. For there are two perfect senses, the literal and the mys-
tical; and the Jews, stopping at the one, do not even think that there
is another, and take no thought for searching it out, just as the
impious, seeing natural effects, attribute them to nature, without
thinking that there is another author, and, as the Jews, seeing a per-
fect man in Jesus Christ, have not thought to seek in him another
nature: We had not thought that it was he, again says Isaiah: and
just as, in fine, the heretics, seeing the perfect appearances of bread
in the Eucharist, do not think to see in it another substance. All
things cover some mystery; all things have veils that cover God.
Christians ought to recognize him in every thing. Temporal afflic-
tions cover eternal goods to which they lead. Temporal joys cover
eternal ills that they cause. Let us pray God to make us recognize
and serve him in every thing; let us give him countless thanks that,
having concealed himself in all things for others, he has discovered
himself in all things and in so many ways for us.
in
I KNOW not how you have taken the loss of your letters. I could
wish indeed that you may have taken it as you ought. It is time to
begin to judge of what is good or bad by the will of God, who can
be neither unjust nor blind, and not by our own, which is always full
of malice and error. If you have had these sentiments, I shall be
greatly pleased, inasmuch as you will have received consolation
for a more valid reason than that which I have to communicate to
35O PASCAL
you, which is that I hope that they are found again. That of the
5th has already been brought to me; and although it is not the most
important (for that of M. du Gas is more so), nevertheless this makes
me hope to recover the other.
I know not why you complain that I have written nothing for you,
I do not separate you two, and continually think of both. You see
plainly that my other letters, and this also, refer sufficiently to you.
In truth, I cannot refrain from telling you that I could wish to be
infallible in my judgments; you would not be badly of! if that were
the case, for I am very much pleased with you; but my judgment is
nothing. I say this with reference to the manner in which I see you
speak of that good persecuted friar, and of what * * * does. I am
not surprised to see M. N. interested in the matter, I am accustomed
to his zeal, but yours is wholly new; this new language is usually
the product of a new heart. Jesus Christ has given in the Church
this sign whereby to recognize those who have faith, that they
shall speak a new language; and in fact the renewal of thoughts
and desires causes that of discourse. What you say of days passed in
solitude, and the consolation afforded you by reading, are things that
M. N. will be extremely happy to know when I shall make him ac-
quainted with them, and my sister also. These certainly are new
things, but they must be unceasingly renewed, for this newness,
which cannot be displeasing to God as the old man cannot be pleas-
ing to him, is different from earthly novelties, inasmuch as worldly
things, however new they may be, grow old as they endure; whilst
this new spirit is renewed the more, the longer it endures. Our old
man perishes, says St. Paul, and is renewed day by day, and will be
perfectly new only in eternity, when shall be sung without ceasing
that new song of which David speaks in the Psalms; that is the song
that springs from the new spirit of love.
I will tell you for news, of what concerns these two persons, that
I clearly perceive their zeal does not grow cold; this surprises me,
for it is much more rare to see continuation in piety than to see en-
trance upon it. I have them always in mind, especially her of the
miracle, because there is something in her case more extraordinary,
although the other may be also very extraordinary and almost with-
out example. It is certain that the graces conferred by God in this
LETTERS 351
life are the measure of the glory prepared by him for the other.
Thus when I foresee the end and crown of this work by the com-
mencements that appear in pious persons, I feel a veneration that
overcomes me with respect towards those whom he seems to have
chosen for his elect. I confess to you that it seems to me that I see
them already on one of those thrones where those who shall have
left all will judge the world with Jesus Christ, according to the
promise that he has made. But when I come to think that these
same persons may fall, and be on the contrary, of the unfortunate
number of the judged, and that there will be so many of them who
will fall from glory and leave to others by their negligence the
crown that God had offered them, I cannot bear the thought; and
the distress that I should feel in seeing them in this eternal state of
misery, after having imagined them with so much reason in the
other state, makes me turn my mind from the idea and recur to
God in order to pray him not to abandon the weak creatures that
he has acquired, and to say to him for the two persons whom you
know what the Church says to-day with St. Paul: O Lord, do thou
complete that wor\ which thou thyself hast commenced. St. Paul
often regarded himself in these two states, and it is what makes him
say elsewhere: 7 %eep under my body, and bring it into subjection;
lest when I have preached to others, I myself be a castaway. I end
therefore with these words of Job: 7 have always feared the Lord
like the waves of a raging sea and swollen to engulf me. And else-
where: Happy is the man that feareth always!
IV
IT is very certain that separation never takes place without pain.
We do not feel our bond when we voluntarily follow the object that
leads us, as St. Augustine says; but when we begin to resist and draw
back, we suffer; the bond stretches and suffers violence; and this
bond is our body, which is broken but by death. Our Lord has said
that since the coming of John the Baptist, that is, since his coming
in each of the faithful, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and
the violent ta%e it by storm. Before we are touched by the spirit we
feel nothing but the burden of concupiscence that presses us to the
earth. When God draws us on high, these two opposing efforts cause
35 2 PASCAL
that violence which he alone can enable us to overcome. But we can
do all things, says St. Leon, with him, without whom we can do
nothing. We must then resolve to endure this warfare all our lives;
for here there is no peace. Christ came not to bring peace, but a
sword. Nevertheless, it must be acknowledged that, as Scripture
says, the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God; so it may be
said that this warfare which appears hard to men is peace with God,
for it is the peace which Jesus Christ himself has brought us. Yet it
will not be perfected until the body shall be destroyed; and this it
is which makes us wish for death, while we nevertheless cheerfully
endure life for the love of him who has suffered both life and death
for us, and who is able to give us more than we can ask or think, as
says St. Paul in the Epistle of to-day.
GOD be praised, I have no more fears for you, but am full of
hope! These are consoling words indeed of Jesus Christ: To him
that hath shall be given. By this promise, those who have received
much have the right to hope for more, and those who have received
extraordinarily should hope extraordinarily. I try as much as I can
to let nothing distress me, and to take every thing that happens as
for the best. I believe that this is a duty, and that we sin in not doing
so. For, in short, the reason why sins are sins is only because they
are contrary to the will of God : and the essence of sin thus consisting
in having a will opposed to that which we know to be of God, it is
plain, it appears to me, that when he discovers his will to us by
events, it would be a sin not to conform ourselves to it. I have
learned that in every thing that happens there is something worthy
of admiration, since the will of God is manifest in it. I praise him
with all my heart for the continuation of his favors, for I see plainly
that they do not diminish.
The affair of * * * does not go on very well: it is a thing that
makes those tremble who are truly the children of God to see the
persecution which is in preparation, not only against individuals
(this would be little) but against the Truth. To speak truly, God
is indeed abandoned. It appears to me that this is a time in which
LETTERS 353
the service that we render him is very pleasing to him. He desires
that we should judge of grace by nature, and thus we may be allowed
to suppose that as a prince driven from his country by his subjects
feels extreme tenderness for those who remain faithful to him amidst
the public revolt, in the same manner, God looks with especial favor
upon those who are at this time defending the purity of religion and
morals, so warmly assailed. But there is this difference between the
kings of the earth and the King of kings, that the princes do not
render their subjects faithful, but find them so; whilst God never
finds men other than unfaithful, and renders them faithful when
they are so. So that while the kings of the earth are under signal
obligations to those who adhere to their allegiance, it happens, on
the contrary, that those who subsist in the service of God are them-
selves infinitely indebted to him. Let us continue then to praise him
for this grace, if he has bestowed it upon us, for which we shall praise
him throughout eternity, and let us pray that he may give us still
more of it, and that he may look with pity upon us and upon the
whole Church, outside of which there is nothing but malediction.
I am interested in the victim of persecution of whom you speak.
I see plainly that God has reserved to himself some hidden servants,
as he said to Elijah. I pray him that we may be of the number,
and that in spirit, in sincerity, and in truth.
VI
WHATEVER may come of the affair of * * *, enough, thank God,
has already been done to draw an admirable advantage from it
against these accursed precepts. There is need that those who have
taken any part in this should render great thanks to God, and that
their relatives and friends should pray to God for them that they
may not fall from the great happiness and honor which he has be-
stowed on them. All the honors of the world are but the image of this;
this alone is solid and real, and nevertheless it is useless without the
right frame of heart. It is not bodily austerities nor mental exercises,
but good impulses of the heart, which are of merit and which sustain
the sufferings of the body and the mind. For in short two things are
necessary for sanctification sufferings and joys. St. Paul says that
354 PASCAL
we must through much tribulation enter into the \ingdom of God.
This should console those who experience tribulation, since, being
warned that the path to heaven which they seek is filled with it,
they should rejoice at meeting tokens that they are in the right way.
But these very sufferings are not without joys, and are never sur-
mounted but by pleasure. For as those who forsake God to return
to the world do it only because they find more enjoyment in the
pleasures of the world than in those of a union with God, and be-
cause this conquering charm leads them away and, making them
repent of their first choice, renders them penitents of the devil, ac-
cording to the saying of Tertullian; so none would ever quit the
pleasures of the world to embrace the cross of Jesus Christ, did he
not find more enjoyment in contempt, in poverty, in destitution,
and in the scorn of men, than in the delights of sin. And thus, says
Tertullian, it must not be supposed that the Christian s life is a life
of sadness. We forsake pleasures only for others which are greater.
Pray without ceasing, says St. Paul, in every thing give thanks,
rejoice evermore. It is the joy of having found God that is the prin-
ciple of the sorrow of having offended him, and of the whole change
of life. He that finds a treasure in a field, according to Jesus Christ,
has such joy that he goes directly and sells all that he has to purchase
the field. The people of the world know nothing of this joy, which
the world can neither give nor ta\e away, as is said by Jesus Christ.
The blessed have this joy without sorrow; the people of the world
have their sorrows without this joy, and Christians have this joy
mingled with the sorrow of having pursued other pleasures and the
fear of losing it by the allurements of these same pleasures which
tempt us without ceasing. And thus we should labor unceasingly to
cherish this joy which moderates our fear, and to preserve this fear
which preserves our joy, so that on feeling ourselves too much carried
away by the one we may incline towards the other, and thus remain
poised between the two. In the day of prosperity be joyful; but in
the day of adversity consider, says the Scripture, and so it shall be till
the promise of Jesus Christ shall be accomplished in us that our joy
shall be full. Let us not then be cast down by sadness, nor believe
that piety consists only in bitterness without consolation. The true
piety, which is found perfect only in heaven, is so full of satisfactions
LETTERS 355
that it overflows with them in its beginning, its progress, and its
consummation. Its light is so shining that it is reflected on all about
it; and if there is sadness mingled with it, especially at the outset,
this comes from ourselves and not from virtue; for it is not the effect
of the piety that is springing up in us, but of the impiety that still is
there. Remove the impiety and the joy will be unalloyed. Let us
not ascribe this then to devotion, but to ourselves and seek relief from
it only through our correction.
VII
I AM very glad of the hope which you give me of the success of
the affair which you fear may make you vain. There is something to
fear in any case; for, were it successful, I should fear from it that evil
sorrow of which St. Paul says that it leads to death, instead of that
different one that leads to life.
It is certain that the matter was a thorny one, and that, if the per-
son should be extricated from it, the result would give reason for
some vanity, were it not that we had entreated it of God, and should
therefore believe the good that comes of it his work. But if it should
not succeed well, we ought not therefore to fall into despondency,
for the same reason that having prayed to God in the affair, it is
evident that he has taken it into his own hand; thus he must be
regarded as the author of all good and of all evil, with the exception
of sin. Thereupon I would repeat to the person the passage of
Scripture to which I have before referred: In the day of prosperity
rejoice, but in the day of adversity consider. Nevertheless, I must
say to you in respect to the other person whom you know, who sends
word that she has many things on her mind that trouble her, that I
am very sorry to see her in this state. I am deeply grieved at her
troubles, and should be glad to be able to relieve them; I entreat her
not to anticipate the future, and to remember that, as our Lord has
said, Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The past ought not to trouble us, since we have only to feel regret
for our faults; but the future ought to concern us still less, since it
is wholly beyond our control, and since perhaps we may not reach
it at all. The present is the only time that is truly our own, and this
PASCAL
we ought to employ according to the will of God. It is in this that
our thoughts ought chiefly to be centred. Yet the world is so restless
that men scarcely ever think of the present life and of the moment in
which they are living, but of that in which they will live. In this
manner we are always living in the future, and never in the present.
Our Lord has willed that our foresight should not extend beyond the
present day. These are the bounds within which we must keep both
for our safety and for our own repose. For in truth, the Christian pre-
cepts are those fullest of consolation, exceeding, I affirm, the maxims
of the world.
I also foresee many troubles, both for that person, for others, and
for myself. But I pray to God, when I find myself absorbed in these
forebodings, to restrain me within my prescribed course. I call my-
self to an account, and I find that I am neglecting to do many things
that I ought at present, in order to escape from useless thoughts of
the future on which, far from being obliged to dwell, it is on the con-
trary my duty not to dwell at all. It is only for want of not under-
standing how to know and study the present that we undertake to
study the future. What I say here, I say for myself, and not for that
person who has assuredly more virtue and reflection than I; but I
show him my defect to hinder him from falling into it: we some-
times correct ourselves better by the sight of evil than by the example
of good; and it is well to accustom ourselves to profit by evil, since
this is so common while goodness is so rare.
VIII
I PITY the person whom you know in the disquietude in which I
know she is, and in which I am not surprised to see her. It is a little
day of judgment which cannot come without a universal emotion of
the person, as the general judgment will cause a general emotion in
the world, those excepted who shall have already judged themselves,
as she pretends to have done. This temporal suffering would guar-
antee her from the eternal, through the infinite merits of Jesus
Christ, who has endured it and rendered it his own; this it is that
should console her. Our yoke is also his own; without this it would
be insupportable.
LETTERS 357
TaJ^e my yot(e upon you, says he. It is not our yoke; it is his, and
he also bears it. Know, says he, that my yo^e is easy and light. It is
light only to him and to his divine power. I would say to her that
she should remember that these disquietudes come not from the good
that is springing up in her, but from the evil which is still remaining
and must be continually diminished; that she must do like a child
that is being torn by robbers from the arms of its mother who will
not let it go; for it should not charge the mother that fondly holds it
back with the violence that it suffers, but its unjust ravishers. The
whole office of Advent is well fitted to give courage to the weak;
these words of Scripture: Ta^e courage, ye fearful and unbelieving,
behold, your Redeemer cometh, are often repeated there, and in the
vesper service of to-day it is said: "Take courage and fear not; for
your God shall come to save and deliver you."
IX
YOUR letter has given me the greatest joy. I confess that I was be-
ginning to fear or at least to be astonished. I know not what was the
beginning of the trouble of which you speak; but I know that trouble
must come. I was reading the thirteenth chapter of St. Mark. I was
thinking of writing you; and I will tell you therefore what I found in
it. Jesus Christ is there addressing a solemn discourse to his disciples
on his second coming; and as whatever happens to the Church hap-
pens also to each individual Christian, it is certain that this whole
chapter predicts the state of each person in whom on conversion the
old man is destroyed, as well as that of the whole universe which
shall be destroyed to give place to a new heaven and a new earth, as
the Scripture says. And thus I should think that the overthrow of
the reprobate temple, which prefigures the overthrow of the repro-
bate man within us, and of which it is said that there shall not be
one stone left upon another, indicates that no passion of the old man
shall remain; 6 and these fierce contentions, both civil and domestic,
represent so well the internal conflicts experienced by those who give
themselves up to God, that nothing can be better depicted.
But very striking are these words: When ye shall see the abomina-
6 The two MSS. of the Bibliotheque Imp. say: "no passion in us." Faugere.
358 PASCAL
tion of desolation in the holy place, let not him that is on the house-
top go into the house. It seems to me that this perfectly predicts the
times in which we live, in which moral corruption is in the houses of
sanctity and in the books of theologians and ecclesiastics, in which
we should least expect it. We must shun such disorder; and woe to
those with child and to those that give suck in those days, that is to
those that are held back by worldly ties! The words of a sainted
woman are applicable here : "We are not to consider whether we are
called to quit the world, but solely whether we are called to remain
in it, as we should not deliberate whether we were called to fly a
house infected with plague or on fire."
This chapter of the Evangelist, which I should like to read with
you entire, concludes with an exhortation to watch and pray in order
to shun all these misfortunes, and in truth, it is proper indeed that
when the danger is continual the prayer should be continual also.
For this purpose I send the prayers which were asked of me; it is
now three in the afternoon. Since your departure, a miracle has been
performed upon a nun of Pontoise, who, without leaving her con-
vent, has been cured of an extraordinary headache by an act of de-
votion to the holy Thorn. I will tell you more about it another time.
But I must quote to you, in respect to this, an excellent saying of
St. Augustine, very consoling to certain persons, that those alone
really see miracles whom the miracles benefit; for they are not seen
at all if they do not benefit.
I am under obligations that I cannot sufficiently express for the
present which you have made me; I did not know what it could be,
for I unfolded it before reading your letter, and I afterwards repented
for not having rendered to it at first the respect that was due to it.
It is a truth that the Holy Spirit reposes invisibly in the relics of those
who have died in the grace of God, until they shall appear visibly
in the resurrection, and this it is that renders the relics of the saints
so worthy of veneration. For God never abandons his own, even in
the sepulchre in which their bodies, though dead to the eyes of men,
are more than ever living in the sight of God, since sin is no more in
them; whilst it constantly resides in them during life, at least in
its root, for the fruits of sin are not always in them; and this fatal
root, which is inseparable from them in life, causes it to be forbidden
LETTERS 359
us during life to honor them, since they are rather worthy of detes-
tation. It is for this that death becomes necessary to mortify entirely
this fatal root, and this it is that renders it desirable. But it is of no
use to tell you what you know so well; it would be better to tell it
to the other persons of whom you speak, but they would not listen
to it.
12
LETTER FROM PASCAL TO QUEEN CHRISTINA, ON SENDING
HER THE ARITHMETICAL MACHINE, 1650
MADAME,
If I had as much health as zeal, I should go myself to present to
Your Majesty a work of several years which I dare offer you from
so far; and I should not suffer any other hands than mine to have
the honor of bearing it to the feet of the greatest princess in the
world. This work, Madame, is a machine for making arithmetical
calculations without pen or counters. Your Majesty is not ignorant
of the cost of time and pains of new productions, above all when the
inventors wish to bring them themselves to their highest perfection;
this is why it would be useless to say how much I have laboured
upon this one, and I cannot better express myself than by saying that
I have devoted myself to it with as much ardor as though I had
foreseen that it would one day appear before so august a person.
But, Madame, if this honor has not been the veritable motive of my
work, it will be at least its recompense; and I shall esteem myself too
happy if, after so many vigils, it can give Your Majesty a few
moments' satisfaction. I shall not importune Your Majesty with
the details of the parts which compose this machine; if you have
any curiosity in respect to it, you can satisfy yourself in a discourse
which I have addressed to M. de Bourdelot; in which I have sketched
in a few words the whole history of this work, the object of its in-
vention, the occasion that led to its investigation, the utility of its
applications, the difficulty of its execution, the degree of its progress,
the success of its accomplishment, and the rules for its use. I shall
therefore only speak here of the motive that led me to orler it to Your
Majesty, which I consider as the consummation and happiest for-
360 PASCAL
tune of its destiny. I know, Madame, that I may be suspected of
having sought honor in presenting it to Your Majesty, since it can
pass only for something extraordinary when it is seen that it is
addressed to you: and that whilst it should only be offered to you
through the consideration of its excellence, it will be judged that it
is excellent for the sole reason that it is offered to you. It is not this
hope, however, that has inspired me with such a design. It is too
great, Madame, to have any other object than Your Majesty your-
self. What has really determined me to this is the union that I find
in your sacred person of two things that equally overwhelm me with
admiration and respect which are, sovereign authority and solid
science; for I have an especial veneration for those who are elevated
to the supreme degree either of power or of knowledge. The latter
may, if I am not mistaken, as well as the former, pass for sovereigns.
The same gradations are found in genius as in condition; and the
power of kings over their subjects is, it seems to me, only an image of
the power of minds over inferior minds, over whom they exercise
the right of persuasion, which is with them what the right of com-
mand is in political government. This second empire even appears
to me of an order so much the more elevated, as minds are of an
order more elevated than bodies; and so much the more just, as it
can be shared and preserved only by merit, whilst the other can
be shared and preserved by birth and fortune. It must be acknowl-
edged then that each of these empires is great in itself; but, Madame,
let Your Majesty, who is not wounded by it, permit me to say, the one
without the other appears to me defective. However powerful a
monarch may be, something is wanting to his glory if he has not
pre-eminence of mind; and however enlightened a subject may be,
his condition is always lowered by dependence. Men who naturally
desire what is most perfect, have hitherto continually aspired to meet
this sovereign par excellence. All kings and scholars have hitherto
been but faint outlines of it, only half performing their endeavor;
this masterpiece has been reserved for our own times. And that this
great marvel might appear accompanied with all possible subjects of
wonder, the position that men could not attain is filled by a youth-
ful queen, in whom are found combined the advantage of experience
with the tenderness of youth, the leisure of study with the occupation
LETTERS 361
of royal birth, and the eminence of science with the feebleness of
sex. It is Your Majesty, Madame, that furnishes to the world this
unique example that was wanting to it. You it is in whom power is
dispensed by the light of science, and science exalted by the lustre of
authority. It is from this marvellous union that, as Your Majesty
sees nothing beneath your power, you also see nothing above your
mind, and that you will be the admiration of every age. Reign then,
incomparable princess, in a manner wholly new; let your genius
subdue every thing that is not submissive to your arms; reign by
right of birth during a long course of years over so many triumphant
provinces; but reign continually by the force of your merit over the
whole extent of the earth. As for me, not having been born under the
former of your empires, I wish all the world to know that I glory in
living under the latter; and it is to bear witness to this that I dare to
raise my eyes to my queen, in giving her this first proof of my
dependence.
This, Madame, is what leads me to make to Your Majesty this
present, although unworthy of you. My weakness has not checked
my ambition. I have figured to myself that although the name alone
of Your Majesty seems to put away from you every thing that is
disproportioned to your greatness, you will not however reject every
thing that is inferior to yourself; as your greatness would thus be
without homage and your glory without praise. You will be con-
tented to receive a great mental effort, without exacting that it
should be the effort of a mind as great as your own. It is by this
condescension that you will deign to enter into communication with
the rest of mankind; and all these joint considerations make me
protest, with all the submission of which one of the greatest ad-
mirers of your heroic qualities is capable, that I desire nothing with
so much ardor as to be able to be adopted, Madame, by Your
Majesty, as your most humble, most obedient, and most faithful
servant.
BLAISE PASCAL.
MINOR WORKS OF PASCAL
TRANSLATED BY
O. W. WIGHT
MINOR WORKS OF PASCAL
EPITAPH OF M. PASCAL, PERE
HERE lies, etc.
Illustrious for his great knowledge which was recognized
by the scholars of all Europe; more illustrious still for the
great probity which he exercised in the offices and employments
with which he was honored; but much more illustrious for his
exemplary piety. He tasted good and bad fortune, that he might be
known in every thing for what he was. He was seen temperate in
prosperity and patient in adversity. He sought the aid of God in
misfortune, and rendered him thanks in happiness. His heart was
devoted to his God, his king, his family, and his friends. He had
respect for the great and love for the small; it pleased God to crown
all the graces of nature that he had bestowed on him with a divine
grace which made his great love for God the foundation, the stay,
and the consummation of all his other virtues.
Thou, who seest in this epitome the only thing that remains to us
of so beautiful a life, admire the fragility of all present things,
weep the loss that we have suffered; render thanks to God for
having left for a time to earth the enjoyment of such a treasure; and
pray his goodness to crown with his eternal glory him whom he
crowned here below with more graces and virtues than the limits
of an epitaph permit us to relate.
His grief-stricken children have placed this epitaph on this spot,
which they have composed from the fulness of their hearts, in order
to render homage to the truth and not to appear ingrates in the sight
of God.
365
366 PASCAL
PRAYER
To ASK OF GOD THE PROPER USE OF SICKNESS
I. LORD, whose spirit is so good and so gentle in all things, and
who art so merciful that not only the prosperity but the very disgrace
that happens to thy elect is the effect of thy mercy, grant me the
favor not to act towards me as towards a heathen in the condition
to which thy justice has reduced me: that like a true Christian I may
recognize thee for my Father and my God, in whatever condition I
may find myself, since the change of my condition brings none to
thine; as thou art always the same, however subject I may be to
change, and as thou art none the less God when thou afflictest and
punishest, than when thou comfortest and showest indulgence.
II. Thou gavest me health to serve thee, and I made a profane
use of it. Thou sendest me sickness now to correct me; suffer not that
I use it to irritate thee by my impatience. I made a bad use of my
health, and thou hast justly punished me for it. Suffer not that I
make a bad use of my punishment. And since the corruption of my
nature is such that it renders thy favors pernicious to me, grant, O
my God! that thy all-powerful grace may render thy chastisements
salutary. If my heart was full of affection for the world while it
retained its vigor, destroy this vigor for my salvation; and render
me incapable of enjoying the world, either through weakness of
body or through zeal of charity, that I may enjoy but thee alone.
III. O God, before whom I must render an exact account of all
my actions at the end of my life and at the end of the world! O God,
who lettest the world and all the things of the world subsist but to
train thy elect or to punish sinners! O God, who allowest sinners
hardened in the pleasurable and criminal use of the world! O God,
who makest our bodies to die, and who at the hour of death separat-
est our soul from all that it loved in the world! O God, who wilt
snatch me, at this last moment of my life, from all the things to
which I am attached and on which I have set my heart! O God,
who wilt consume at the last day the heavens and the earth with
all the creatures they contain, to show to all mankind that nothing
subsists save thee, and that thus nothing is worthy of love save thee,
MINOR WORKS 367
since nothing is durable save thee! O God, who wilt destroy all
these vain idols and all these fatal objects of our passions! I praise
thee, my God, and I will bless thee all the days of my life, that it
has pleased thee to anticipate in my favor this terrible day, by de-
stroying all things in respect to me through the weakness to which
thou hast reduced me. I praise thee, my God, and I will bless thee
all the days of my life, that it has pleased thee to reduce me to the
incapacity of enjoying the sweets of health and the pleasures of the
world, and that thou hast destroyed in some sort, for my advantage,
the deceitful idols that thou wilt destroy effectively, for the confusion
of the wicked, in the day of thy wrath. Grant, Lord, that I may
judge myself, after the destruction that thou hast made with respect
to me, that thou mayest not judge me thyself, after the entire de-
struction that thou wilt make of my life and of the world. For,
Lord, as at the instant of my death I shall find myself separated
from the world, stripped of all things, alone in thy presence, to
answer to thy justice for all the emotions of my heart, grant that I
may consider myself in this sickness as in a species of death, separated
from the world, stripped of all the objects of my attachment, alone
in thy presence, to implore of thy mercy the conversion of my heart;
and that thus I may have extreme consolation in knowing that thou
sendest me now a partial death in order to exercise thy mercy, before
thou sendest me death effectively in order to exercise thy judgment.
Grant then, O my God, that as thou hast anticipated my death, I
may anticipate the rigor of thy sentence, and that I may examine
myself before thy judgment, so that I may find mercy in thy presence.
IV. Grant, O my God! that I may adore in silence the order of
thy adorable providence in the direction of my life; that this scourge
may console me; and that, having lived during peace in the bitter-
ness of my sins, I may taste the heavenly sweets of thy grace during
the salutary evils with which thou afflictest me. But I perceive, my
God, that my heart is so obdurate and full of the thoughts, the cares,
the anxieties, and the attachments of the world, that sickness no
more than health, nor discourses, nor books, nor thy sacred Scrip-
tures, nor thy Gospel, nor thy most holy mysteries, nor alms, nor
fasts, nor mortifications, nor miracles, nor the use of sacraments, nor
the sacrifice of thy body, nor all my efforts, nor those of all the world
368 PASCAL
together, can do any thing at all for the commencement of my con-
version, if thou dost not accompany all these things with an ex-
traordinary assistance of thy grace. It is for this that I address myself
to thee, all-powerful God, to ask of thee a gift which all created things
together cannot accord to me. I should not have the boldness to
address to thee my cries, if any other had power to grant them.
But, my God, as the conversion of my heart, which I ask of thee, is
a work which surpasses all the efforts of nature, I can only address
myself to the all-powerful Author and Master of nature and of my
heart. To whom shall I cry, O Lord, to whom shall I have recourse,
if not to thee? Nothing that is less than God can fulfil my ex-
pectation. It is God himself that I ask and seek; and it is to thee
alone, my God, that I address myself to obtain thee. Open my heart,
O Lord; enter into the rebellious place which has been occupied by
vices. They hold it subject. Enter into it as into the strong man's
house; but first bind the strong and powerful enemy that has pos-
session of it, and then take the treasures which are there. Lord,
take my affections, which the world had stolen; take this treasure
thyself, or rather retake it, since it belongs to thee as a tribute that I
owe thee, since thy image is imprinted in it. Thou formedst it, O
Lord, at the moment of my baptism, which was my second birth;
but it is wholly effaced. The image of the world is so deeply en-
graven there that thine is no longer to be recognized. Thou alone
couldst create my soul, thou alone canst create it anew; thou alone
couldst form thy image, thou alone canst reform and reimprint thy
effaced portrait, that is, my Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is thy image,
and the expression of thy substance.
V. O my God! how happy is a heart that can love sb charming
an object, that does not dishonor it, and the attachment of which is
so salutary to it! I feel that I cannot love the world without displeas-
ing thee, and destroying and dishonoring myself; yet the world is
still the object of my delight. O my God! how happy is the soul of
which thou art the delight, since it can abandon itself to loving thee,
not only without scruple, but also with merit! How firm and du-
rable is its happiness, since its expectation will never be frustrated,
because thou wilt never be destroyed, and neither life nor death will
ever separate it from the obiect of its desires; and since the same
MINOR WORKS 369
moment that will plunge the wicked with their idols into a com-
mon ruin, will unite the just with thee in a common glory; and
since, as the former will perish with the perishable objects to which
they are attached, the latter will subsist eternally in the eternal and
self-subsistent object to which they are closely bound! Oh! how
happy are those who with an entire liberty, and irresistible inclina-
tion of their will, love perfectly and freely that which they are
obliged to love necessarily!
VI. Perfect, O my God, the good impulses that thou givest me.
Be their end as thou art their principle. Crown thy own gifts, for
I recognize that they are from thee. Yes, my God, and far from
pretending that my prayers may have some merit that forces thee
to accord them of necessity, I humbly acknowledge that, having
given to created things my heart, which thou hadst formed only for
thyself, and not for the world, nor for myself, I can expect no grace
except from thy mercy, since I have nothing in me that can oblige
thee to it, and since all the natural impulses of my heart, whether
tending towards created things, or towards myself, can only irritate
thee. I, therefore, render thee thanks, my God, for the good impulses
which thou givest me, and for the very one that thou hast given me
to render thanks for them.
VII. Move my heart to repent of my faults, since, without this
internal sorrow, the external ills with which thou aflfectest my body
will be to me a new occasion of sin. Make me truly to know that
the ills of the body are nothing else than the punishment and the
symbol combined of the ills of the soul. But, Lord, grant also that
they may be their remedy, by making me consider, in the pains
which I feel, those that I did not feel in my soul, although wholly
diseased, and covered with sores. For, Lord, the greatest of its dis-
eases is this insensibility and extreme weakness, which had taken
away from it all feeling of its own sufferings. Make me to feel them
acutely, and grant that the portion of life that remains to me may
be a continual penitence to wash away the offences that I have
committed.
VIII. Lord, although my past life may have been exempt from
great crimes, of which thou hast removed from me the occasions,
it has nevertheless been most odious to thee by its continual negli-
37O PASCAL
gence, by the bad use of thy most august sacraments, by the contempt
of thy word and of thy inspirations, by the indolence and total use-
lessness of my actions and my thoughts, by the complete loss of the
time which thou hadst given me only to adore thee, to seek in all
my occupations the means of pleasing thee, and to repent of faults
that are committed every day, and are even common to the most
just; so that their life should be a continual penitence, without which
they are in danger of falling from their justice. Thus, my God, I
have always been opposed to thee.
IX. Yes, Lord, hitherto I have always been deaf to thy inspirations,
I have despised thy oracles; I have judged the contrary of that which
thou hast judged; I have contradicted the holy maxims which thou
hast brought to the world from the bosom of thy eternal Father,
and conformably to which thou wilt judge the world. Thou sayest:
Blessed are those that mourn, and woe to those that are comforted!
And I have said: Woe to those that mourn and blessed are those
that are comforted! I have said: Blessed are those that enjoy an
affluent fortune, a glorious reputation, and robust health! And why
have I reputed them blessed, if not because all these advantages
furnished them ample facility for enjoying created things, that is
for offending thee! Yes, Lord, I confess that I have esteemed health
a blessing, not because it is an easy means for serving thee with
utility, for accomplishing more cares and vigils in thy service, and
for the assistance of my neighbor; but because by its aid I could
abandon myself with less restraint to the abundance of the delights
of life, and better relish fatal pleasures. Grant me the favor, Lord,
to reform my corrupt reason and to conform my sentiments to thine.
Let me esteem myself happy in affliction, and, in the impotence of
acting externally, purify my sentiments so that they may no longer
be repugnant to thine; and let me thus find thee within myself,
since I cannot seek thee without because of my weakness. For, Lord,
thy kingdom is within thy faithful; and I shall find it within myself,
if I find there thy spirit and thy sentiments.
X. But, Lord, what shall I do to force thee to diffuse thy spirit
over this miserable earth ? All that I am is odious to thee, and I find
nothing in myself that can be pleasing to thee. I see nothing therein,
Lord, but my sufferings, which bear some resemblance to thine.
MINOR WORKS 371
Consider then the ills that I suffer and those that menace me. Look
with an eye of mercy upon the wounds that thy hand has made, O
my Saviour, who lovedst thy sufferings in death! O God, who wert
made man only to suffer more than any other man for the salvation
of mankind! O God, who wert not incarnated until after the sin
of mankind, and who only tookest upon thyself a body in order to
suffer therein all the ills which our sins had merited! O God, who
lovedst so much these suffering bodies that thou hast chosen for
thyself a body more oppressed with suffering than any that has ever
appeared on earth! Look with favor upon my body, not for itself,
nor for all that it contains, for everything therein deserving of thy
anger, but for the ills that it endures, which alone can be worthy of
thy love. Love my sufferings, Lord, and let my ills invite thee to
visit me. But to finish the preparation for thy abode, grant, O my
Saviour, that if my body has this in common with thine that it
suffers for my offences, my soul may also have this in common with
thine that it may be plunged in sorrow for the same offences; and
that thus I may suffer with thee, and like thee, both in my body and
in my soul, for the sins that I have committed.
XI. Grant me the favor, Lord, to join thy consolations to my suf-
ferings, that I may suffer like a Christian. I ask not to be exempt
from sorrow, for this is the recompense of the saints; but I ask that
I may not be abandoned to the sorrows of nature without the con-
solations of thy spirit; for this is the curse of the Jews and the heathen.
I ask not to have a fulness of consolation without any suffering;
for this is the life of glory. Neither do I ask to be in the fulness of
evils without consolation; for this is the state of Judaism. But I ask,
Lord, to feel at the same time both the sorrows of nature for my
sins, and the consolations of thy spirit through thy grace; for this
is the true condition of Christianity. Let me not feel sorrow without
consolation; but let me feel sorrow and consolation together, that I
may come at last to feel thy consolation without any sorrow. For,
Lord, thou lettest the world languish in natural suffering without
consolation, before the coming of thy only Son: now thou consolest
and assuagest the sufferings of thy faithful through the grace of thy
only Son : and thou crownest thy saints with a pure beatitude in the
glory of thy only Son. Such are the admirable degrees through which
372 PASCAL
thou conductest thy work. Thou hast drawn me from the first:
make me pass through the second, to arrive at the third. Lord, this
is the favor that I ask of thee.
XII. Suffer me not to be so far removed from thee, that I can
consider thy soul sorrowful unto death, and thy body a prey to
death for my own sins, without rejoicing to suffer both in my body
and in my soul. For what is there more shameful, and yet more
common in Christians and in myself, than that, whilst thou sweat-
est blood for the expiation of our offences, we live in delights; and
that those Christians who profess to belong to thee, that those who
by baptism have renounced the world to follow thee, that those who
have sworn solemnly in the presence of the Church to live and die
for thee, that those who profess to believe that the world has perse-
cuted and crucified thee, that those who believe that thou wert
exposed to the wrath of God and the cruelty of men to ransom them
from their crimes; that those, I say, who believe all these truths, who
consider thy body as the victim that was yielded up for their salva-
tion, who consider the pleasures and the sins of the world as the only
cause of thy sufferings, and the world itself as thy executioner, seek
to flatter their bodies by these very pleasures, in this very world;
and that those who cannot, without shuddering with horror, see a
man caress and cherish the murderer of his father, who would devote
himself to give him life, can live as I have done, with full joy, in
the world that I know to have been veritably the murderer of him
whom I acknowledge for my God and my Father, who has delivered
himself up for my own salvation, and who has borne in his person
the penalty of my iniquities? It is just, Lord, that thou shouldst
have interrupted a joy so criminal as that in which I was reposing
in the shadow of death.
XIII. Remove from me then, Lord, the sadness that the love of
self might give me for my own sufferings and for the things of the
world that do not succeed to the satisfaction of the inclinations of
my heart, and that do not regard thy glory; but create in me a sad-
ness in conformity with thine. Let my sufferings serve to appease
thy wrath. Make of them an occasion for my salvation and my con-
version. Let me henceforth desire health and life only to employ
them and end them for thee, with thee, and in thee. I ask of thee
MINOR WORKS 373
neither health, nor sickness, nor life, nor death; but that thou wilt
dispose of my health and my sickness, my life and my death, for
thy glory, for my salvation, and for the utility of the Church and
of thy saints, of whom I hope by thy grace to form a part. Thou
alone knowest what is most expedient for me : thou art the sovereign
master, do what thou wilt. Give to me, take from me; but conform
my will to thine; and grant that in humble and perfect submission
and in holy confidence, I may be disposed to receive the orders of
thy eternal providence, and that I may adore alike all that comes to
me from thee.
XIV. Grant, my God, that in a constantly equal uniformity of
spirit I may receive all kinds of events, since we know not what we
should ask, and since I cannot desire one more than another without
presumption, and without rendering myself the judge of and re-
sponsible for the results that thy wisdom has rightly been pleased to
hide from me. Lord, I know only that I know but one thing, that
it is good to follow thee and that it is evil to offend thee. After this,
I know not which is the better or worse of any thing; I know not
which is more profitable to me, health or sickness, wealth or poverty,
nor of all the things of the world. This is a discernment that ex-
ceeds the power of men or of angels, and that is hidden in the secrets
of thy providence which I adore, and which I wish not to fathom.
XV. Grant then, Lord, that such as I am I may conform myself
to thy will; and that being sick as I am, I may glorify thee in my
sufferings. Without them I could not arrive at glory; and thou, too,
my Saviour, hast only wished to attain it through them. It was by
the tokens of thy sufferings that thou wert recognized by thy dis-
ciples; and it is by sufferings also that thou wilt recognize thy dis-
ciples. Acknowledge me then for thy disciple in the evils which I
endure both in my body and my mind, for the offences that I have
committed. And since nothing is pleasing to God if it be not offered
through thee, unite my will to thine, and my sorrows to those which
thou hast suffered. Grant that mine may become thine. Unite me
to thee; fill me with thyself and with thy Holy Spirit. Enter into
my heart and soul, to bear in them my sufferings, and to continue to
endure in me what remains to thee to suffer of thy passion, that thou
mayest complete in thy members even the perfect consummation of
374 PASCAL
thy body, so that being full of thee, it may no longer be that I live
and suffer, but that it may be thou that livest and sufferest in me,
O my Saviour! And that thus having some small part in thy suffer-
ings, thou wilt fill me entirely with the glory that they have acquired
for thee, in which thou wilt live with the Father and the Holy Spirit
through ages upon ages. So be it.
COMPARISON BETWEEN CHRISTIANS
OF EARLY TIMES AND THOSE OF TO-DAY
IN early times, Christians were perfectly instructed in all the
points necessary to salvation; whilst we see to-day so gross an ig-
norance of them, that it makes all those mourn who have sentiments
of tenderness for the Church.
Men only entered then into the Church after great labors and long
desires; they find their way into it now without any trouble, with-
out care, and without labor.
They were only admitted to it after a strict examination. They
are received into it now before they are in a condition to be examined.
They were not received then until after having abjured their past
life, until after having renounced the world, the flesh, and the deviL
They enter it now before they are in a condition to do any of these
things.
In short, it was necessary formerly to forsake the world in order
to be received into the Church; whilst men enter now into the
Church at the same time as into the world. By this process, an es-
sential distinction was then known between the world and the
Church. They were considered as two opposites, as two irrecon-
cilable enemies, of which the one persecuted the other without ces-
sation, and of which the weaker in appearance should one day
triumph over the stronger; so that of these two antagonistic parties
men quitted the one to enter the other; they abandoned the maxims
of the one to embrace the maxims of the other; they put off the sen-
timents of the one to put on the sentiments of the other; in fine, they
quitted, they renounced, they abjured this world in which they had
received their first birth, to devote themselves entirely to the Church
MINOR WORKS 375
in which they received as it were their second birth and thus they
conceived a terrible difference between the two; whilst they now find
themselves almost at the same time in both; and the same moment
that brings us forth into the world makes us acknowledged by the
Church, so that the reason supervening, no longer makes a difference
between these two opposite worlds. It is developed in both together.
Men frequent the Sacraments, and enjoy the pleasures of the world;
and thus whilst formerly they saw an essential difference between
the two, they see them now confounded and blended together, so
that they can no longer discriminate between them.
Hence it is that formerly none but well-instructed persons were to
be seen among the Christians, whilst they are now in an ignorance
that inspires one with horror; hence it is that those who had formerly
been regenerated by baptism, and had forsaken the vices of the world
to enter into the piety of the Church, fell back so rarely from the
Church into the world; whilst nothing more common is to be seen
at this time than the vices of the world in the hearts of Christians.
The Church of the Saints is found defiled by the mingling of the
wicked; and her children, whom she has conceived and nourished
from childhood in her bosom, are the very ones who carry into her
heart, that is to the participation in her most august mysteries, the
most cruel of her enemies, the spirit of the world, the spirit of ambi-
tion, the spirit of vengeance, the spirit of impurity, the spirit of con-
cupiscence and the love that she has for her children obliges her to
admit into her very bowels the most cruel of her persecutors.
But it is not to the Church that should be imputed the misfortunes
which have followed a change in such salutary discipline, for she has
not changed in spirit, however she may have changed in conduct.
Having therefore seen that the deferring of baptism left a great num-
ber of children in the curse of Adam, she wished to deliver them from
this mass of perdition by hastening the aid which she could give
them; and this good mother sees only with extreme regret that what
she devised for the salvation of these children has become the occa-
sion for the destruction of adults. Her true spirit is that those whom
she withdraws at so tender an age from the contagion of the world,
shall adopt sentiments wholly opposed to those of the world. She
anticipates the use of reason to anticipate the vices into which corrupt
376 PASCAL
reason will allure them; and before their mind has power to act, she
fills them with her spirit, that they may live in ignorance of the
world and in a condition so much the more remote from vice as they
will never have known it. This appears from the ceremonies of
baptism; for she does not accord baptism to children until after they
have declared, by the mouth of sponsors, that they desire it, that they
believe, that they renounce the world and Satan. And as she wishes
that they should preserve these intentions throughout the whole
course of their lives, she commands them expressly to keep them in-
violate, and orders the sponsors, by an indispensable commandment,
to instruct the children in all these things; for she does not wish that
those whom she has nourished in her bosom should to-day be less
instructed and less zealous than the adults whom she admitted in
former times to the number of her own; she does not desire a less
perfection in those whom she nourishes than in those whom she
receives Yet men use it in a manner so contrary to the inten-
tion of the Church, that one cannot think of it without horror. They
scarcely reflect any longer upon so great a benefit, because they have
never wished it, because they have never asked it, because they do
not even remember having received it. ...
But as it is evident that the Church demands no less zeal in those
who have been brought up servants of the faith than in those who
aspire to become such, it is necessary to place before their eyes the
example of the catechumens, to consider their ardor, their devotion,
their horror of the world, their generous renunciation of the world;
and if they were not deemed worthy of receiving baptism without
this disposition, those who do not find it in themselves
They must therefore submit to receive the instruction that they
would have had if they had begun to enter into the communion of
the Church; they must moreover submit to a continual penitence,
and have less aversion for the austerity or their mortification than
pleasure in the use of delights poisoned by sin
To dispose them to be instructed, they must be made to understand
the difference of the customs that have been practised in the Church
in conformity with the diversity of the times
As in the infant Church they taught the catechumens, that is those
who aspired to baptism, before conferring it upon them; and only
MINOR WORKS 377
admitted them to it after full instruction in the mysteries of religion,
after a penitence for their past lives, after profound knowledge of
the greatness and excellence of the profession of the faith and of the
Christian maxims into which they desired to enter forever, after
eminent tokens of a genuine conversion of the heart, and after an
extreme desire of baptism. These things being known to all the
Church, the sacrament of incorporation was conferred upon them
by which they became members of the Church; whilst in these
times, baptism having been accorded to children before the use of
reason, through very important considerations, it happens that the
negligence of parents suffers Christians to grow old without any
knowledge of the greatness of our religion.
When instruction preceded baptism, all were instructed; but now
that baptism precedes instruction, the instruction that was necessary
has become voluntary, and then neglected and almost abolished.
The true reason of this conduct is that men are persuaded of the
necessity of baptism, and they are not persuaded of the necessity of
instruction. So that when instruction preceded baptism, the neces-
sity of the one caused men to have recourse to the other necessarily;
whilst baptism at the present time preceding instruction, as men
have been made Christians without having been instructed, they
believe that they can remain Christians without seeking instruc-
tion. . . . And whilst the early Christians testified so much gratitude
towards the Church for the favor which she accorded only to their
long prayers, they testify to-day so much ingratitude for this same
favor, which she accords to them even before they are in a condition
to ask it. And if she detested so strongly the lapses of the former,
although so rare, how much must she hold in abomination the con-
tinual lapses and relapses of the latter, although they are much more
indebted to her, since she has drawn them much sooner and much
more unsparingly from the damnation to which they were bound
by their first birth. She cannot, without mourning, see the greatest
of her favors abused, and what she has done to secure their salvation
becomes the almost certain occasion of their destruction. .
PASCAL
DISCOURSES
ON THE CONDITION OF THE GREAT
IN order to enter into a real knowledge of your condition, con-
sider it in this image:
A man was cast by a tempest upon an unknown island, the in-
habitants of which were in trouble to find their king, who was lost;
and having a strong resemblance both in form and face to this king,
he was taken for him, and acknowledged in this capacity by all the
people. At first he knew not what course to take; but finally he
resolved to give himself up to his good fortune. He received all the
homage that they chose to render him, and suffered himself to be
treated as a king.
But as he could not forget his real condition, he was conscious, at
the same time that he was receiving this homage, that he was not the
king whom this people had sought, and that this kingdom did not
belong to him. Thus he had a double thought: the one by which he
acted as king, the other by which he recognized his true state, and
that it was accident alone that had placed him in his present condi-
tion. He concealed the latter thought, and revealed the other. It was
by the former that he treated with the people, and by the latter that
he treated with himself.
Do not imagine that it is less an accident by which you find your-
self master of the wealth which you possess, than that by which this
man found himself king. You have no right to it of yourself and
by your own nature any more than he: and not only do you find your-
self the son of a duke, but also do you find yourself in the world at
all, only through an infinity of chances. Your birth depends on a
marriage, or rather on the marriages of all those from whom you
descend. But upon what do these marriages depend? A visit made
by chance, an idle word, a thousand unforeseen occasions.
You hold, you say, your wealth from your ancestors; but was it
not by a thousand accidents that your ancestors acquired it and that
they preserved it? A thousand others, as capable as they, have
MINOR WORKS 379
either been unable to acquire it, or have lost it after having gained
it. Do you imagine, too, that it may have been by some natural way
that this wealth has passed from your ancestors to you? This is not
true. This order is founded only upon the mere will of legislators
who may have had good reasons, but none of which was drawn
from a natural right that you have over these things. If it had pleased
them to order that this wealth, after having been possessed by fathers
during their life, should return to the republic after their death, you
would have no reason to complain of it.
Thus the whole title by which you possess your property, is not
a title of nature but of a human institution. Another turn of imagi-
nation in those who made the laws would have rendered you poor;
and it is only this concurrence of chance which caused your birth
with the caprice of laws favorable in your behalf, that puts you in
possession of all this property.
I will not say that it does not legitimately belong to you, and that
it is permissible for another to wrest it from you; for God, who is
its master, has permitted communities to make laws for its division,
and when these laws are once established, it is unjust to violate them.
This it is that distinguishes you somewhat from the man who pos-
sessed his kingdom only through the error of the people; because
God did not authorize this possession, and required him to renounce
it, whilst he authorizes yours. But what you have wholly in common
with him is, that this right which you have, is not founded any more
than his upon any quality or any merit in yourself which renders you
worthy of it. Your soul and your body are, of themselves, indifferent
to the state of boatman or that of duke; and there is no natural bond
that attaches them to one condition rather than to another.
What follows from this? that you should have a double thought,
like the man of whom we have spoken, and that, if you act externally
with men in conformity with your rank, you should recognize, by
a more secret but truer thought, that you have nothing naturally
superior to them. If the public thought elevates you above the gen-
erality of men, let the other humble you, and hold you in a perfect
equality with all mankind, for this is your natural condition.
The populace that admires you knows not, perhaps, this secret.
It believes that nobility is real greatness, and it almost considers the
380 PASCAL
great as being of a different nature from others. Do not discover to
them this error, unless you choose; but do not abuse this elevation
with insolence, and, above all, do not mistake yourself by believing
that your being has something in it more exalted than that of others.
What would you say of that man who was made king by the error
of the people, if he had so far forgotten his natural condition as to
imagine that this kingdom was due to him, that he deserved it, and
that it belonged to him of right ? You would marvel at his stupidity
and folly. But is there less in the people of rank who live in so strange
a forgetf ulness of their natural condition ?
How important is this advice! For all the excesses, all the violence,
and all the vanity of great men, come from the fact that they know
not what they are : it being difficult for those who regard themselves
at heart as equal with all men, and who are fully persuaded that they
have nothing within themselves that merits these trifling advantages
which God has given them over others, to treat them with insolence.
For this it is necessary for one to forget himself, and to believe that
he has some real excellence above them, in which consists this illusion
that I am endeavoring to discover to you.
ii
IT is well, sir, that you should know what is due to you, that you
may not pretend to exact from men that which is not due to you;
for this is an obvious injustice; and nevertheless it is very common to
those of your condition, because they are ignorant of the nature of it.
There is in the world two kinds of greatness: for there is great-
ness of institution, and natural greatness. Greatness of institution
depends upon the will of men who have with reason thought it
right to honor certain positions, and to attach to them certain marks
of respect. Dignities and nobility are of this class. In one country the
nobles are honored, in another the plebeians: in this the eldest, in the
other the youngest. Why is this ? because thus it has been pleasing to
men. The thing was indifferent before the institution; since the
institution it becomes just, because it is unjust to disturb it.
Natural greatness is that which is independent of the caprice of
men, because it consists in the real and effective qualities of the soul
MINOR WORKS 381
or the body, which render the one or the other more estimable, as the
sciences, the enlightenment of the mind, virtue, health, strength.
We owe something to both these kinds of greatness; but as they
are of a different nature, we owe them likewise different respect.
To the greatness of institution we owe the respect of institution, that
is, certain external ceremonies which should be nevertheless accom-
panied, in conformity with reason, with an internal recognition of
the justice of this order, but which do not make us conceive any real
quality in those whom we honor after this manner. It is necessary to
speak to kings on the bended knee, to remain standing in the pres-
ence-chamber of princes. It is a folly and baseness of spirit to refuse
to them these duties.
But as for the natural homage which consists in esteem, we owe it
only to natural greatness; and we owe, on the contrary, contempt and
aversion to qualities contrary to this natural greatness. It is not
necessary, because you are a duke, that I should esteem you; but it
is necessary that I should salute you. If you are a duke and a gentle-
man, I shall render what I owe to both these qualities. I shall not
refuse you the ceremonies that are merited by your quality of duke,
nor the esteem that is merited by that of a gentleman. But if you
were a duke without being a gentleman, I should still do you justice;
for in rendering you the external homage which the order of men
has attached to your birth, I should not fail to have for you the
internal contempt that would be merited by your baseness of mind.
Therein consists the justice of these duties. And the injustice con-
sists in attaching natural respect to greatness of condition, or in
exacting respect of condition for natural greatness. M. N. ... is a
greater geometrician than I; in this quality, he wishes to take pre-
cedence of me: I will tell him that he understands nothing of the
matter. Geometry is a natural greatness; it demands a preference of
esteem; but men have not attached to it any external preference. I
shall, therefore, take precedence of him, and shall esteem him greater
than I in the quality of geometrician. In the same manner, if, being
duke and peer, you would not be contented with my standing un-
covered before you, but should also wish that I should esteem you, I
should ask you to show me the qualities that merit my esteem. If
you did this, you would gain it, and I could not refuse it to you with
382 PASCAL
justice; but if you did not do it, you would be unjust to demand it
of me; and assuredly you would not succeed, were you the greatest
prince in the world.
in
I WISH, sir, to make known to you your true condition; for this is
the thing of all others of which persons of your class are the most
ignorant. What is it, in your opinion, to be a great nobleman? It
is to be master of several objects that men covet, and thus to be able to
satisfy the wants and the desires of many. It is these wants and these
desires that attract them towards you, and that make them submit
to you: were it not for these, they would not even look at you; but
they hope, by these services, and this deference which they render
you, to obtain from you some part of the good which they desire, and
of which they see that you have the disposal.
God is surrounded with people full of love who demand of him
the benefits of love which are in his power: thus he is properly the
king of love. You are in the same manner surrounded with a small
circle of persons, over whom you reign in your way. These men are
full of desire. They demand of you the benefits of desire; it is desire
that binds them to you. You are therefore properly the king of de-
sire. Your kingdom is of small extent; but you are equal in this to
the greatest kings of the earth: they are like you the sovereigns of
desire. It is desire that constitutes their power; that is the possession
of things that men covet.
But while knowing your natural condition, avail yourself of the
means that it gives you, and do not pretend to rule by a different
power than by that which makes you king. It is not your strength
and your natural power that subjects all these people to you. Do
not pretend then to rule them by force or to treat them with harsh-
ness. Satisfy their reasonable desires; alleviate their necessities; let
your pleasure consist in being beneficent; advance them as much as
you can, and you will act like the true king of desire.
What I tell you does not go very far; and if you stop there you
will not save yourself from being lost; but at least you will be lost
like an honest man. There are some men who expose themselves to
MINOR WORKS 383
damnation so foolishly by avarice, by brutality, by debauches, by
violence, by excesses, by blasphemies! The way which I open to you
is doubtless the most honorable; but in truth it is always a great
folly for a man to expose himself to damnation; and therefore he
must not stop at this. He must despise desire and its kingdom, and
aspire to that kingdom of love in which all the subjects breathe
nothing but love, and desire nothing but the benefits of love. Others
than I will show you the way to this; it is sufficient for me to have
turned you from those gross ways into which I see many persons of
your condition suffer themselves to be led, for want of knowing the
true state of this condition.
ON THE CONVERSION OF THE SINNER 1
THE first thing with which God inspires the soul that he deigns
to touch truly, is a knowledge and most extraordinary insight by
which the soul considers things and herself in a manner wholly new.
This new light gives her fear, and brings her a trouble that pene-
trates the repose which she found in the things that made her
delights.
She can no longer relish with tranquillity the things that charmed
her. A continual scruple opposes her in this enjoyment, and this in-
ternal sight causes her to find no longer this accustomed sweetness
among the things to which she abandoned herself with a full effu-
sion of heart.
But she finds still more bitterness in the exercises of piety than in
the vanities of the world. On one side, the vanity of the visible ob-
jects interests her more than the hope of the invisible, and on the
other the solidity of the invisible interests her more than the vanity
of the visible. And thus the presence of the one and the solidity of
the other dispute her affection, and the vanity of the one and the
absence of the other excite her aversion; so that a disorder and con-
fusion spring up in her, that
She considers perishable things as perishable and even already per-
ished; and in the certain prospect of the annihilation of every thing
1 By some scholars this fragment is attributed to Mile. Pascal.
384 PASCAL
that she loves, she is terrified by this consideration, in seeing that
each moment snatches from her the enjoyment of her good, and that
what is most dear to her glides away at every moment, and that
finally a certain day will come in which she will find herself stripped
of all the things in which she had placed her hope. So that she com-
prehends perfectly that her heart being attached only to vain and
fragile things, her soul must be left alone and forsaken on quitting
this life, since she has not taken care to unite herself to a true and
self-subsisting good which could sustain her both during and after
this life.
Thence it comes that she begins to consider as nothingness all
that must return to nothingness, the heavens, the earth, her spirit,
her body, her relatives, her friends, her enemies, wealth, poverty,
disgrace, prosperity, honor, ignominy, esteem, contempt, authority,
indigence, health, sickness, life itself. In fine, all that is less durable
than her soul is incapable of satisfying the desire of this soul, which
seeks earnestly to establish itself in a felicity as durable as herself.
She begins to be astonished at the blindness in which she has
lived, and when she considers, on the one hand, the long time that
she has lived without making these reflections, and the great number
of people who live in the same way, and, on the other hand, how
certain it is that the soul, being immortal as she is, cannot find her
felicity among perishable things which will be taken away from her,
at all events, by death, she enters into a holy confusion and an as-
tonishment that brings to her a most salutary trouble.
For she considers that, however great may be the number of
those who grow old in the maxims of the world, and whatever may
be the authority of this multitude of examples of those who place
their felicity in this world, it is nevertheless certain that, even though
the things of the world should have some solid pleasure, which is
recognized as false by an infinite number of fearful and continual
examples, it is inevitable that we shall lose these things, or that death
at last will deprive us of them; so that the soul having amassed
treasures of temporal goods, of whatever nature they may be, whether
gold, or science, or reputation, it is an indispensable necessity that
she shall find herself stripped of all these objects of her felicity; and
that thus, if they have had wherewith to satisfy her, they will not
MINOR WORKS 385
always have wherewith to satisfy her; and that, if it is to procure
herself a real happiness, it is not to promise herself a very durable
happiness, since it must be limited to the course of this life.
So that, by a holy humility which God exalts above pride, she be-
gins to exalt herself above the generality of mankind: she con-
demns their conduct, she detests their maxims, she bewails their
blindness; she devotes herself to the search for the true good; she
comprehends that it is necessary that it should have the two follow-
ing qualities: the one that it shall last as long as herself, and that it
cannot be taken away from her except by her consent, and the other
that there shall be nothing more lovely.
She sees that in the love she has had for the world, she found in
it this second quality in her blindness; for she perceived nothing
more lovely. But as she does not see the first in it, she knows that
it is not the sovereign good. She seeks it, therefore, elsewhere, and
knowing by a pure light that it is not in the things that are within
her, or without her, or before her (in nothing, therefore, within or
around her), she begins to seek it above her.
This elevation is so eminent and so transcendent that she does not
stop at the heavens, they have not wherewith to satisfy her, nor
above the heavens, nor at the angels, nor at the most perfect beings.
She passes through all created things, and cannot stop her heart until
she has rendered herself up at the throne of God, in which she be-
gins to find her repose and that good which is such that there is
nothing more lovely, and which cannot be taken away from her
except by her own consent.
For although she does not feel those charms with which God
recompenses continuance in piety, she comprehends, nevertheless,
that created things cannot be more lovely than their Creator; and
her reason, aided by the light of grace, makes her understand that
there is nothing more lovely than God, and that he can only be taken
away from those who reject him, since to possess him is only to desire
him, and to refuse him is to lose him.
Thus she rejoices at having found a good which cannot be wrested
from her so long as she shall desire it, and which has nothing above it.
And in these new reflections she enters into sight of the grandeur
of her Creator, and into humiliations and profound adorations. She
386 PASCAL
becomes, in consequence, reduced to nothing and being unable to
form a base enough idea of herself, or to conceive an exalted enough
idea of this sovereign good, she makes new efforts to abase herself
to the lowest abysses of nothingness, in considering God in the
immensities which she multiplies without ceasing. In fine, in this
conception, which exhausts her strength, she adores him in silence,
she considers herself as his vile and useless creature, and by her
reiterated homage adores and blesses him, and wishes to bless and
to adore him forever. Then she acknowledges the grace which he
has granted her in manifesting his infinite majesty to so vile a worm;
and after a firm resolution to be eternally grateful for it, she be-
comes confused for having preferred so many vanities to this divine
master; and in a spirit of compunction and penitence she has re-
course to his pity to arrest his anger, the effect of which appears
terrible to her. In the sight of these immensities
She makes ardent prayers to God to obtain of his mercy that, as it
has pleased him to discover himself to her, it may please him to con-
duct her to him, and to show her the means of arriving there. For
as it is to God that she aspires, she aspires also only to reach him by
means that come from God himself, because she wishes that he him-
self should be her path, her object, and her final end. After these
prayers, she begins to act, and seeks among these
She begins to know God, and to desire to reach him; but as she is
ignorant of the means of attaining this, if her desire is sincere and
true, she does the same as a person who, desiring to reach some place,
having lost his way, and knowing his aberration, would have re-
course to those who knew this way perfectly, and
She resolves to conform to his will during the remainder of her
life; but as her natural weakness, with the habit that she has of the
sins in which she has lived, have reduced her to the impotence of
attaining this felicity, she implores of his mercy the means of reach-
ing him, of attaching herself to him, of adhering to him eternally.
Thus she perceives that she should adore
God as a creature, render thanks to him as a debtor, satisfy him as a
criminal, and pray to him as one poor and needy.
MINOR WORKS 387
CONVERSATION OF PASCAL
WITH M. DE SACI
ON EPICTETUS AND MONTAIGNE
M. PASCAL came, too, at this time, to live at Port-Royal des Champs.
I do not stop to tell who this man was, whom not only all France,
but all Europe admired; his mind always acute, always active, was
of an extent, an elevation, a firmness, a penetration, and a clearness
exceeding any thing that can be believed. . . . This admirable man,
being finally moved by God, submitted this lofty mind to the yoke of
Jesus Christ, and this great and noble heart embraced penitence with
humility. He came to Paris to throw himself into the arms of M.
Singlin, resolved to do all that he should order him. M. Singlin
thought, on seeing this great genius, that he should do well to send
him to Port-Royal des Champs, where M. Arnauld would cope with
him in the sciences, and where M. de Saci would teach him to
despise them. He came therefore to live at Port-Royal. M. de Saci
could not courteously avoid seeing him, especially having been urged
to it by M. Singlin; but the holy enlightenment which he found in
the Scripture and in the Fathers made him hope that he would not
be dazzled by all the brilliancy of M. Pascal, which nevertheless
charmed and carried away all the world. He found in fact all that
he said very just. He acknowledged with pleasure the strength of
his mind and conversation. All that M. Pascal said to him that was
remarkable he had seen before in St. Augustine, and doing justice
to every one, he said: "M. Pascal is extremely estimable in that, not
having read the Fathers of the Church, he has of himself, by the
penetration of his mind, found the same truths that they had found.
He finds them surprising, he says, because he has not found them in
any place; but for us, we are accustomed to see them on every side
in our books." Thus, this wise ecclesiastic, finding that the ancients
had not less light than the moderns, held to them, and esteemed
M. Pascal greatly because he agreed in all things with St. Augus-
tine.
The usual way of M. de Saci, in conversing with people, was
to adapt his conversation to those with whom he was talking. If he
met, for example, M. Champagne, he talked with him of painting.
388 PASCAL
If he met M. Hamon, he talked with him of medicine. If he met the
surgeon of the place, he questioned him on surgery. Those who cul-
tivated the vine, or trees, or grain, told him all that was remarkable
about them. Every thing served to lead him speedily to God and to
lead others there with him. He thought it his duty therefore to put
M. Pascal in his province, and to talk with him of the philosophical
readings with which he had been most occupied. He led him to
this subject in the first conversations that they had together. M.
Pascal told him that his two most familiar books had been Epictetus
and Montaigne, and highly eulogized these two minds. M. de Saci,
who had always thought it a duty to read but little of these two
authors, entreated M. Pascal to speak of them to him at length.
"Epictetus," says he, "is among the philosophers of the world who
have best understood the duties of man. He requires, before all
things, that he should regard God as his principal object; that he
should be persuaded that he governs every thing with justice; that
he should submit to him cheerfully, and that he should follow him
voluntarily in every thing, as doing nothing except with the utmost
wisdom: as thus this disposition will check all complaints and mur-
murs, and will prepare his mind to suffer tranquilly the most vexa-
tious events. Never say, says he, I have lost this; say rather, I have
restored it. My son is dead, I have restored him. My wife is dead, I
have restored her. So with property and with every thing else. But
he who has deprived me of it is a wicked man, you say. Why does it
trouble you by whom the one who has lent it to you demands it of
you again? While he permits you the use of it, take care of it as
property belonging to another, as a man who is travelling would
do in an inn. You ought not, says he, to desire that things should be
done as you wish, but you ought to wish that they should be done
as they are done. Remember, says he elsewhere, that you are here as
an actor, and that you play the part in a drama that it pleases the
manager to give you. If he gives you a short one, play a short one;
if he gives you a long one, play a long one; if he wishes you to feign
the beggar, you should do it with all the simplicity possible to you;
and so with the rest. It is your business to play well the part that is
given you; but to choose it is the business of another. Have every
day before your eyes death and the evils which seem the most
MINOR WORKS 389
intolerable; and you will never think of any thing lower and will
desire nothing with excess.
"He shows, too, in a thousand ways what man should do. He
requires that he should be humble, that he should conceal his good
resolutions, especially in the beginning, and that he should accomplish
them in secret: nothing destroys them more than to reveal them. He
never tires of repeating that the whole study and desire of man
should be to perceive the will of God and to pursue it.
"Such sir," said M. Pascal to M. de Saci, "was the enlightenment
of this great mind that so well understood the duties of man. I dare
say that he would have merited to be adored if he had also known
his impotence as well, since it is necessary to be a god to teach both
to men. Thus as he was clay and ashes, after having so well com-
prehended what was due, behold how he destroys himself in the
presumption of what can be done. He says that God has given to
every man the means of acquitting himself of all his obligations;
that these means are always in our power; that we must seek felicity
through the things that are in our power, since God has given them
to us for this end: we must see what there is in us that is free; that
wealth, life, esteem, are not in our power, and therefore do not lead
to God; but that the mind cannot be forced to believe what it knows
to be false, nor the will to love what it knows will render it unhappy;
that these two powers are therefore free, and that it is through
them that we can render ourselves perfect; that man can by these
powers perfectly know God, love him, obey him, please him, cure
himself of all his vices, acquire all the virtues, render himself holy,
and thus the companion of God. These principles of a diabolic pride
lead him to other errors, as that the soul is a portion of the divine
substance; that sorrow and death are not evils; that one may kill
himself when he is persecuted to such a degree that he has reason
to believe that God calls him, and others.
"As for Montaigne, of whom you wish too, sir, that I should speak
to you, being born in a Christian State, he made profession of the
Catholic religion, and in this there was nothing peculiar. But as he
wished to discover what morals reason would dictate without the
light of faith, he based his principles upon this supposition; and thus,
considering man as destitute of all revelation, he discourses in this
390 PASCAL
wise. He puts all things in a universal doubt, so general that this
doubt bears away itself, that is whether he doubts, and even doubting
this latter proposition, his uncertainty revolves upon itself in a per-
petual and restless circle, alike opposed to those who affirm that every
thing is uncertain and to those who affirm that every thing is not so,
because he will affirm nothing. It is in this doubt which doubts itself,
and in this ignorance which is ignorant of itself, and which he calls
his master-form, that lies the essence of his opinion, which he was
unable to express by any positive term. For if he says that he doubts,
he betrays himself in affirming at least that he doubts; which being
formally against his intention, he could only explain it by interroga-
tion; so that, not wishing to say: 'I do not know,' he says: 'What do
I know?' Of this he makes his device, placing it under the scales
which, weighing contradictories, are found in perfect equilibrium:
that is, it is pure Pyrrhonism. Upon this principle revolve all his
discourses and all his essays; and it is the only thing that he pretends
really to establish, although he does not always point out his inten-
tion. He destroys in them insensibly all that passes for the most
certain among men, not indeed to establish the contrary with a cer-
tainty to which alone he is the enemy, but merely to show that, ap-
pearances being equal on both sides, one knows not where to fix
his belief.
"In this spirit he jests at all affirmations; for example, he combats
those who have thought to establish in France a great remedy against
lawsuits by the multitude and the pretended justice of the laws: as
if one could cut off the root of the doubts whence arise these law-
suits, and as if there were dikes that could arrest the torrent of un-
certainty and take conjectures captive! Thus it is that, when he
says that he would as soon submit his cause to the first passer-by as
to judges armed with such a number of ordinances, he does not pre-
tend that we should change the order of the State, he has not so
much ambition; nor that his advice may be better, he believes none
good. It is only to prove the vanity of the most received opinions;
showing that the exclusion of all laws would rather diminish the
number of disputants whilst the multiplicity of laws serves only to
increase them, since difficulties grow in proportion as they are
weighed; since obscurities are multiplied by commentaries; and
MINOR WORKS 391
since the surest way to understand the meaning of a discourse is not
to examine it, and to take it on the first appearance: as soon as it is
scrutinized, all its clearness becomes dissipated. In the like manner
he judges by chance of all the acts of men and the points of history,
sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, freely following his
first impression, and, without constraining his thought by the rules
of reason, which has only false measures, he delights to show, by his
example, the contrarieties of the same mind. In this free genius, it
is alike equal to him to get the better or not in the dispute, having
always, by either example, a means of showing the weakness of
opinions; being sustained with so much advantage in this universal
doubt, that he is strengthened in it alike by his triumph and his
defeat.
"It is from this position, floating and wavering as it is, that he
combats with an invincible firmness the heretics of his times in
respect to their affirmation of alone knowing the true sense of the
Scripture; and it is also from this that he thunders forth most vigor-
ously against the horrible impiety of those who dare to affirm that
God is not. He attacks them especially in the apology of Raimond
de Sebonde; and finding them voluntarily destitute of all revela-
tion, and abandoned to their natural intelligence, all faith set aside,
he demands of them upon what authority they undertake to judge
of this sovereign Being who is infinite by his own definition, they
who know truly none of the things of nature! He asks them upon
what principles they rest; he presses them to show them. He exam-
ines all that they can produce, and penetrates them so deeply, by the
talent in which he excels, that he demonstrates the vanity of all those
that pass for the firmest and the most natural. He asks whether the
soul knows any thing; whether she knows herself; whether she is
substance or accident, body or spirit, what is each of these things,
and whether there is any thing that does not belong to one of these
orders; whether she knows her own body, what is matter and
whether she can discern among the innumerable variety of bodies
from which it is produced; how she can reason if she is material; and
how she can be united to a particular body and feel its passions if she
is spiritual; when she commenced to be; with the body or before; and
whether she will end with it or not; whether she is never mistaken;
392 PASCAL
whether she knows when she errs, seeing that the essence of con-
tempt consists in not knowing it; whether in her obscurity she does
not believe as firmly that two and three make six as she knows after-
wards that they make five; whether animals reason, think, talk; and
who can determine what is time, what is space or extent, what is
motion, what is unity, what are all the things that surround us and
are wholly inexplicable to us; what is health, sickness, life, death,
good, evil, justice, sin, of which we constantly speak; whether we
have within us the principles of truth, and whether those which we
believe, and which are called axioms or common notions, because
they are common to all men, are in conformity with the essential
truth. And since we know but by faith alone that an all-good Being
has given them to us truly in creating us to know the truth, who can
know without this light whether, being formed by chance, they are
not uncertain, or whether, being formed by a lying and malicious
being, he has not given them to us falsely in order to lead us astray ?
Showing by this that God and truth are inseparable, and that if the
one is or is not, if it is certain or uncertain, the other is necessarily the
same. Who knows then whether the common-sense, that we take
for the judge of truth, can be the judge of that which has created it?
Besides, who knows what truth is, and how can we be sure of having
it without understanding it ? Who knows even what is being which
it is impossible to define, since there is nothing more general, and
since it would be necessary at first, to explain it, to use the word itself:
It is being . . . ? And since we know not what is soul, body, time,
space, motion, truth, good, nor even being, nor how to explain the
idea that we form within ourselves, how can we assure ourselves
that it is the same in all men, seeing that we have no other token
than the uniformity of consequences, which is not always a sign of
that of principles; for they may indeed be very different, and lead
nevertheless to the same conclusions, every one knowing that the true
is often inferred from the false.
"Lastly, he examines thus profoundly the sciences, both geometry,
of which he shows the uncertainty in the axioms and the terms that
she does not define, as centre, motion, etc., physics in many more
ways, and medicine in an infinity of methods; history, politics, ethics,
jurisprudence, and the rest. So that we remain convinced that we
MINOR WORKS 393
think no better at present that in a dream from which we shall wake
only at death, and during which we have the principles of truth as
little as during natural sleep. It is thus that he reproaches reason
divested of faith so strongly and so cruelly that, making her doubt
whether she is rational, and whether animals are so or not, or in a
greater or less degree, he makes her descend from the excellence
which she has attributed to herself, and places her through grace on
a level with the brutes, without permitting her to quit this order until
she shall have been instructed by her Creator himself in respect to
her rank, of which she is ignorant; threatening, if she grumbles, to
place her beneath every thing, which is as easy as the opposite, and
nevertheless giving her power to act only in order to remark her
weakness with sincere humility, instead of exalting herself by a
foolish insolence."
M. de Saci, fancying himself living in a new country, and listen-
ing to a new language, repeated to himself the words of St. Augus-
tine: O God of truth! are those who know these subtleties of reason-
ing therefore more pleasing to thee ? He pitied this philosopher who
pricked and tore himself on every side with the thorns that he
formed, as St. Augustine said of himself when he was in this state.
After some meditation, he said to M. Pascal :
"I thank you, sir; I am sure that if I had read Montaigne a long
time, I should not know him so well as I do, since the conversation
that I have just had with you. This man should wish that he might
never be known, except by the recitals that you make of his writings;
and he might say with St. Augustine: Ibi me vide, attends. I believe
assuredly that this man had talent; but I know not whether you do
not lend to him a little more than he had, by the logical chain that you
make of his principles. You can judge that having passed my life
as I have done, I have had little counsel to read this author, the works
of whom had nothing of that which we ought chiefly to seek in our
reading, according to the rule of St. Augustine, because his works do
not appear to proceed from a solid basis of humility and piety. We
should forgive those philosophers of former times who styled them-
selves academicians, for putting every thing in doubt. But what need
had Montaigne to divert the mind by reviving a doctrine which
passes now in the eyes of Christians for the folly? This is the judg-
394 PASCAL
ment that St. Augustine passes on these persons. For we can say
after him of Montaigne: He sets faith aside in every thing that he
says; therefore we, who have faith, should set aside every thing that
he says. I do not blame the talent of this author, which was a great
gift from God; but he might have used it better, and made a sacri-
fice of it to God rather than to the devil. What avails a blessing when
one uses it so ill? Quid proderat, etc., said this holy doctor of him
before his conversion. You are fortunate, sir, in having raised your-
self above these people, who are called doctors, who are plunged in
drunkenness, but whose hearts are void of truth. God has poured
out into your heart other sweets and other attractions than those
which you find in Montaigne. He has recalled you from that dan-
gerous pleasure, a jucunditate pestifera, says St. Augustine, who
renders thanks to God that he has forgiven him the sins which he
had committed in delighting too much in vanity. St. Augustine is
so much the more credible in this that he held formerly the same
sentiments; and as you say of Montaigne that it is through universal
doubt that he combats the heretics of his times, so through this same
doubt of the academicians, St. Augustine forsook the heresy of the
Manicheans. As soon as he belonged to God, he renounced these
vanities, which he calls sacrileges. He perceived with what wisdom
St. Paul warned us not to suffer ourselves to be seduced by these
discourses. For he acknowledges that there is in them a certain har-
mony which fascinates: we sometimes believe things true only be-
cause they are narrated eloquently. Those are dangerous viands,
says he, that are served up in fine dishes; but these viands, instead of
nourishing the heart, starve it. We then resemble men who sleep,
and who fancy that they eat while sleeping: these imaginary viands
leave them as empty as they were before."
M. de Saci made several similar remarks to M. Pascal: whereupon
M. Pascal said to him, that if he complimented him on thoroughly
possessing Montaigne, and of knowing how to construe him well,
he could tell him without flattery that he understood St. Augustine
much better, and that he knew how to construe him much better,
though little to the advantage of poor Montaigne. He expressed
himself as being extremely edified by the solidity of all that he had
MINOR WORKS 395
just represented to him; nevertheless, being full of his author, he
could not contain himself, and thus continued:
"I acknowledge, sir, that I cannot see without joy in this author
proud reason so irresistibly baffled by its own weapons, and that
fierce contention of man with man, which, from the companionship
with God, to which he had exalted himself by maxims, hurls him
down to the nature of brutes; and I should have loved with all my
heart the minister of so great a vengeance, if, being a disciple of the
Church by faith, he had followed the rules of ethics, in bringing men
whom he had so usefully humiliated, not to irritate by new crimes
him who alone can draw them from the crimes which he has con-
victed them of not being able even to know.
"But he acts on the contrary like a heathen in this wise. On this
principle, says he, outside of faith every thing is in uncertainty, and
considering how much men seek the true and the good without
making any progress towards tranquillity, he concludes that one
should leave the care of them to others; and remain nevertheless in
repose, skimming lightly over subjects for fear of going beyond one's
depth in them; and take the true and the good on first appearances,
without dwelling on them, for they are so far from being solid that if
one grasps them ever so lightly, they will slip through his fingers
and leave them empty. For this reason he follows the evidence of
the senses and common-sense, because he would be obliged to do
violence to himself to contradict them, and because he knows not
whether he would gain by it, ignorant as to where the truth is.
So he shuns pain and death, because his instinct impels him to it,
and because he will not resist for the same reason, but without con-
cluding thence that these may be the real evils, not confiding too
much in these natural emotions of fear, seeing that we feel others of
pleasure which are accused of being wrong, although nature speaks
to the contrary. Thus there is nothing extravagant in his conduct; he
acts like the rest of mankind, and all that they do in the foolish idea
that they are pursuing the true good, he does from another principle,
which is that probabilities being equal on either side, example and
convenience are the counterpoises that decide him.
"He mounts his horse like a man that is not a philosopher, because
396 PASCAL
he suffers it, but without believing that this is his right, not knowing
whether this animal has not, on the contrary, the right to make use
of him. He also does some violence to himself to avoid certain vices;
and he even preserves fidelity to marriage on account of the penalty
that follows irregularities; but if the trouble that he takes exceeds
that which he avoids, it does not disturb him, the rule of this action
being convenience and tranquillity. He utterly rejects therefore that
stoical virtue which is depicted with a severe mien, fierce glance,
bristling locks, and wrinkled and moist brow, in a painful and dis-
torted posture, far from men in a gloomy silence, alone upon the
summit of a rock: a phantom, he says, fit to frighten children, and
which does nothing else with continual effort than to seek the re-
pose which it never attains. His own is simple, familiar, pleasant,
playful, and as we may say sportive: she follows whatever charms
her, and toys negligently with good and bad accidents, reclining
effeminately in the bosom of a tranquil indolence, from which she
shows to those who seek felicity with so much toil that it is only
there where she is reposing, and that ignorance and incuriosity are
soft pillows for a well-balanced head, as he himself has said.
"I cannot conceal from you, sir, that in reading this author and
comparing him with Epictetus, I have found that they are assuredly
the two greatest defenders of the two most celebrated sects of the
world, and the only ones conformable to reason, since we can only
follow one of these two roads, namely: either that there is a God, and
then we place in him the sovereign good; or that he is uncertain,
and that then the true good is also uncertain, since he is incapable of
it. I have taken extreme pleasure in remarking in these different
reasonings wherein both have reached some conformity with the
true wisdom which they have essayed to understand. For if it is
pleasing to observe in nature her desire to paint God in all his works,
in which we see some traces of him because they are his images, how
much more just is it to consider in the productions of minds the
efforts which they make to imitate the essential truth, even in shun-
ning it, and to remark wherein they attain it and wherein they wan-
der from it, as I have endeavored to do in this study.
"It is true, sir, that you have just shown me, in an admirable man-
ner, the little utility that Christians can draw from these philosophic
MINOR WORKS 397
studies. I shall not refrain however, with your permission, from tell-
ing you still further my thoughts on the subject, ready, however,
to renounce all light that does not come from you, in which I shall
have the advantage either of having encountered truth by good for-
tune or of receiving it from you with certainty. It appears to me that
the source of the errors of these two sects, is in not having known
that the state of man at the present time differs from that of his
creation; so that the one, remarking some traces of his first greatness
and being ignorant of his corruption, has treated nature as sound
and without need of redemption, which leads him to the height of
pride; whilst the other, feeling the present wretchedness and being
ignorant of the original dignity, treats nature as necessarily infirm
and irreparable, which precipitates it into despair of arriving at
real good, and thence into extreme laxity. Thus these two states
which it is necessary to know together in order to see the whole truth,
being known separately, lead necessarily to one of these two vices,
pride or indolence, in which all men are invariably before grace,
since if they do not remain in their disorders through laxity, they
forsake them through vanity, so true is that which you have just re-
peated to me from St. Augustine, and which I find to a great extent;
for in fact homage is rendered to them in many ways.
"It is therefore from this imperfect enlightenment that it happens
that the one, knowing the duties of man and being ignorant of his
impotence, is lost in presumption, and that the other, knowing the
impotence and being ignorant of the duty, falls into laxity; whence
it seems that since the one leads to truth, the other to error, there
would be formed from their alliance a perfect system of morals. But
instead of this peace, nothing but war and a general ruin would
result from their union; for the one establishing certainty, the other
doubt, the one the greatness of man, the other his weakness, they
would destroy the truths as well as the falsehoods of each other. So
that they cannot subsist alone because of their defects, nor unite
because of their opposition, and thus they break and destroy each
other to give place to the truth of the Gospel. This it is that har-
monizes the contrarieties by a wholly divine act, and uniting all
that is true and expelling all that is false, thus makes of them a truly
celestial wisdom in which those opposites accord that were incompat-
PASCAL
ible in human doctrines. And the reason of this is, that these philoso-
phers of the world place contrarieties in the same subject; for the one
attributed greatness to nature and the other weakness to this same
nature, which could not subsist; whilst faith teaches us to place them
in different subjects: all that is infirm belonging to nature, all that is
powerful belonging to grace. Such is the marvellous and novel
union which God alone could teach, and which he alone could make,
and which is only a type and an effect of the ineffable union of two
natures in the single person of a Man-God.
"I ask your pardon, sir," said M. Pascal to M. de Saci, "for being
thus carried away in your presence into theology, instead of remain-
ing in philosophy, which alone was my subject; but I was led to it
insensibly; and it is difficult not to enter upon it whatever truth may
be discussed, because it is the centre of all the truths; which appears
here perfectly, since it so obviously includes all those that are found
in these opinions. Thus I do not see how any of them could refuse
to follow it. For if they are full of the idea of the greatness of man,
what have they imagined that does not yield to the promises of the
Gospel, which are nothing else than the worthy price of the death
of a God ? And if they delighted in viewing the infirmities of nature,
their ideas do not equal those of the real weakness of sin, of which
the same death has been the remedy. Thus all find in it more than
they have desired; and what is marvellous, they who could not har-
monize in an infinitely inferior degree, then find themselves in
unison!"
M. de Saci could not refrain from testifying to M. Pascal that he
was surprised to see how well he knew how to interpret things; but
he acknowledged at the same time that every one had not the secret
of making on these readings such wise and elevated reflections. He
told him that he was like those skilful physicians, who by an adroit
method of preparing the most deadly poisons knew how to extract
from them the most efficacious remedies. He added, that though he
saw clearly, from what he had just said, that these readings were
useful to him, he could not believe however that they would be ad-
vantageous to many people of slow intellect, who would not have ele-
vation of mind enough to read these authors and judge of them, and
to know how to draw pearls from the midst of the dunghill, aurum
MINOR WORKS 399
ex stercore, as said one of the Fathers. This could be much better
said of these philosophers, the dunghill of whom, by its black fumes,
might obscure the wavering faith of those who read them. For this
reason he would always counsel such persons not to expose them-
selves lightly to these readings, for fear of being destroyed with these
philosophers, and of becoming the prey of demons and the food of
worms, according to the language of the Scripture, as these philoso-
phers have been.
"As to the utility of these readings," said M. Pascal, "I will tell
you simply my thought. I find in Epictetus an incomparable art for
troubling the repose of those who seek it in external things, and for
forcing them to acknowledge that they are veritable slaves and mis-
erable blind men; that it is impossible that they should find any
thing else than the error and pain which they fly, unless they give
themselves without reserve to God alone. Montaigne is incomparable
for confounding the pride of those who, outside of faith, pique them-
selves in a genuine justice; for disabusing those who cling to their
opinions, and who think to find in the sciences impregnable truths;
and for so effectually convicting reason of its want of light and its
aberrations, that it is difficult, when one makes a good use of its
principles, to be tempted to find repugnance in mysteries, for the
mind is so overwhelmed by him, that it is far from wishing to judge
whether the Incarnation or the mystery of the Eucharist are possible;
which the generality of mankind discuss but too often.
"But if Epictetus combats indolence, he leads to pride, so that he
may be very injurious to those who are not persuaded of the corrup-
tion of the most perfect justice which is not from faith. And Mon-
taigne is absolutely pernicious to those who have any leaning to
impiety or vice. For this reason these readings should be regulated
with much care, discretion, and regard to the condition and dispo-
sition of those to whom they are counselled. It seems to me only that
by joining them together they would not succeed ill, since the one
is opposed to the evil of the other : not that they could bestow virtue
but only disturb vice; the soul finding itself combated by contrarie-
ties, the one of which expels pride and the other indolence, and
being unable to be tranquil in any of these vices by their reasonings,
or to shun them all."
40O PASCAL
It was thus that these two persons of so fine an intellect agreed
at last upon the subject o the reading of these philosophers, and met
at the same goal, which they reached however by a somewhat differ-
ent method; M. de Saci arriving there at once through the clear
views of Christianity, and M. Pascal reaching it only after many turns
by clinging to the principles of these philosophers.
THE ART OF PERSUASION
THE art of persuasion has a necessary relation to the manner in
which men are led to consent to that which is proposed to them,
and to the conditions of things which it is sought to make them
believe.
No one is ignorant that there are two avenues by which opinions
are received into the soul, which are its two principal powers: the
understanding and the will. The more natural is that of the under-
standing, for we should never consent to any but demonstrated
truths; but the more common, though the one contrary to nature, is
that of the will; for all men are almost led to believe not of proof,
but by attraction. This way is base, ignoble, and irrelevant: every
one therefore disavows it. Each one professes to believe and even
to love nothing but what he knows to be worthy of belief and love.
I do not speak here of divine truths, which I shall take care not to
comprise under the art of persuasion, because they are infinitely
superior to nature: God alone can place them in the soul and in such
a way as it pleases him. I know that he has desired that they should
enter from the heart into the mind, and not from the mind into the
heart, to humiliate that proud power of reasoning that pretends to
the right to be the judge of the things that the will chooses; and to
cure this infirm will which is wholly corrupted by its filthy attach-
ments. And thence it comes that whilst in speaking of human things,
we say that it is necessary to know them before we can love them,
which has passed into a proverb, 1 the saints on the contrary say in
speaking of divine things that it is necessary to love them in order
to know them, and that we only enter truth through charity, from
which they have made one of their most useful maxims.
1 Ignoti nulla cupido "We do not desire what we do not know."
MINOR WORKS 40 1
From which it appears that God has established this super-
natural order, which is directly contrary to the order that should be
natural to men in natural things. They have nevertheless corrupted
this order by making of profane things what they should make of
holy things, because in fact we believe scarcely any thing except that
which pleases us. And thence comes the aversion which we have to
consenting to the truths of the Christian religion that are opposed to
our pleasures. "Tell us of pleasant things and we will hearken to
you," said the Jews to Moses; as if the agreeableness of a thing should
regulate belief! And it is to punish this disorder by an order which
is conformed to him, that God only pours out his light into the mind
after having subdued the rebellion of the will by an altogether
heavenly gentleness which charms and wins it.
I speak therefore only of the truths within our reach; and it is of
them that I say that the mind and the heart are as doors by which
they are received into the soul, but that very few enter by the mind,
whilst they are brought in in crowds by the rash caprices of the will,
without the counsel of the reason.
These powers have each their principles and their main-springs of
action.
Those of the mind are truths which are natural and known to all
the world, as that the whole is greater than its part, besides several
particular maxims that are received by some and not by others, but
which as soon as they are admitted are as powerful, although false,
in carrying away belief, as those the most true.
Those of the will are certain desires natural and common to all
mankind, as the desire of being happy, which no one can avoid
having, besides several particular objects which each one follows in
order to attain, and which having the power to please us are as
powerful, although pernicious in fact, in causing the will to act, as
though they made its veritable happiness.
So much for that which regards the powers that lead us to consent.
But as for the qualities of things which should persuade us, they
are very different.
Some are drawn, by a necessary consequence, from common prin-
ciples and admitted truths. These may be infallibly persuasive; for
in showing the harmony which they have with acknowledged prin-
4O2 PASCAL
ciples there is an inevitable necessity of conviction, and it is impos-
sible that they shall not be received into the soul as soon as it has been
enabled to class them among the principles which it has already
admitted.
There are some which have a close connection with the objects of
our satisfaction; and these again are received with certainty, for as
soon as the soul has been made to perceive that a thing can conduct
it to that which it loves supremely, it must inevitably embrace it
with joy.
But those which have this double union both with admitted truths
and with the desires of the heart, are so sure of their effect that there
is nothing that can be more so in nature.
As, on the contrary, that which does not accord either with our
belief or with our pleasures is importunate, false, and absolutely
alien to us.
In all these positions, there is no room for doubt. But there are
some wherein the things which it is sought to make us believe are
well established upon truths which are known, but which are at the
same time contrary to the pleasures that interest us most. And these
are in great danger of showing, by an experience which is only too
common, what I said at the beginning that this imperious soul,
which boasted of acting only by reason, follows by a rash and shame-
ful choice the desires of a corrupt will, whatever resistance may be
opposed to it by the too enlightened mind.
Then it is that a doubtful balance is made between truth and
pleasure, and that the knowledge of the one and the feeling of the
other stir up a combat the success of which is very uncertain, since,
in order to judge of it, it would be necessary to know all that passes
in the innermost spirit of the man, of which the man himself is
scarcely ever conscious.
It appears from this, that whatever it may be of which we wish
to persuade men, it is necessary to have regard to the person whom
we wish to persuade, of whom we must know the mind and the
heart, what principles he acknowledges, what things he loves; and
then observe in the thing in question what affinity it has with the
acknowledged principles, or with the objects so delightful by the
pleasure which they give him.
MINOR WORKS 403
So that the art o persuasion consists as much in that of pleasing
as in that of convincing, so much more are men governed by caprice
than by reason!
Now, of these two methods, the one of convincing, the other of
pleasing, I shall only give here the rules of the first; and this in case
we have granted the principles, and remain firm in avowing them:
otherwise I do not know whether there could be an art for adapting
proofs to the inconstancy of our caprices.
But the manner of pleasing is incomparably more difficult, more
subtle, more useful, and more admirable; therefore, if I do not treat
of it, it is because I am not capable of it; and I feel myself so far
disproportionate to the task, that I believe the thing absolutely im-
possible.
Not that I do not believe that there may be as sure rules for pleas-
ing as for demonstrating, and that he who knows perfectly how to
comprehend and to practice them will as surely succeed in making
himself beloved by princes and by people of all conditions, as in
demonstrating the elements of geometry to those who have enough
imagination to comprehend its hypotheses. But I consider, and it is,
perhaps, my weakness that makes me believe it, that it is impossible
to reach this. At least I know that if any are capable of it, they are
certain persons whom I know, and that no others have such clear
and such abundant light on this matter.
The reason of this extreme difficulty comes from the fact that the
principles of pleasure are not firm and stable. They are different in
all mankind, and variable in every particular with such a diversity
that there is no man more different from another than from himself
at different times. A man has other pleasures than a woman; a rich
man and a poor man have different enjoyments; a prince, a warrior,
a merchant, a citizen, a peasant, the old, the young, the well, the
sick, all vary; the least accidents change them.
Now there is an art, and it is that which I give, for showing the
connection of truths with their principles, whether of truth or of
pleasure, provided that the principles which have once been avowed
remain firm, and without being ever contradicted.
But as there are few principles of this kind, and as, apart from
geometry, which deals only with very simple figures, there are
404 PASCAL
hardly any truths upon which we always remain agreed, and still
fewer objects of pleasure which we do not change every hour, I do
not know whether there is a means of giving fixed rules for adapting
discourse to the inconstancy of our caprices.
This art, which I call the art of persuading, and which, properly
speaking, is simply the process of perfect methodical proofs, consists
of three essential parts: of defining the terms of which we should
avail ourselves by clear definitions; of proposing principles or evident
axioms to prove the thing in question; and of always mentally sub-
stituting in the demonstrations the definition in the place of the
thing defined.
The reason of this method is evident, since it would be useless to
propose what it is sought to prove, and to undertake the demonstra-
tion of it, if all the terms which are not intelligible had not first
been clearly defined; and since it is necessary in the same manner
that the demonstration should be preceded by the demand for the
evident principles that are necessary to it, for if we do not secure
the foundation we cannot secure the edifice; and since, in fine, it is
necessary in demonstrating mentally, to substitute the definitions in
the place of the things defined, as otherwise there might be an abuse
of the different meanings that are encountered in the terms. It is
easy to see that, by observing this method, we are sure of convincing,
since the terms all being understood, and perfectly exempt from
ambiguity by the definitions, and the principles being granted, if
in the demonstration we always mentally substitute the definitions
for the things defined, the invincible force of the conclusions cannot
fail of having its whole effect.
Thus, never can a demonstration in which these conditions have
been observed be subject to the slightest doubt; and never can those
have force in which they are wanting.
It is, therefore, of great importance to comprehend and to possess
them; and hence, to render the thing easier and more practicable,
I shall give them all in a few rules which include all that is necessary
for the perfection of the definitions, the axioms, and the demonstra-
tions, and consequently of the entire method of the geometrical
proofs of the art of persuading.
MINOR WORKS 405
Rules for Definitions
I. Not to undertake to define any of the things so well known of
themselves that clearer terms cannot be had to explain them.
II. Not to leave any terms that are at all obscure or ambiguous
without definition.
III. Not to employ in the definition of terms any words but such
as are perfectly known or already explained.
Rules for Axioms
I. Not to omit any necessary principle without asking whether
it is admitted, however clear and evident it may be.
II. Not to demand, in axioms, any but things that are perfectly
evident of themselves.
Rules for Demonstrations
I. Not to undertake to demonstrate any thing that is so evident
of itself that nothing can be given that is clearer to prove it.
II. To prove all propositions at all obscure, and to employ in their
proof only very evident maxims or propositions already admitted
or demonstrated.
III. To always mentally substitute definitions in the place of things
defined, in order not to be misled by the ambiguity of terms which
have been restricted by definitions.
These eight rules contain all the precepts for solid and immutable
proofs, three of which are not absolutely necessary and may be
neglected without error; while it is difficult and almost impossible
to observe them always exactly, although it is more accurate to do
so as far as possible; these are the three first of each of the divisions.
For definitions. Not to define any terms that are perfectly known.
For axioms. Not to omit to require any axioms perfectly evident
and simple.
For demonstrations. Not to demonstrate any things well-known
of themselves.
For it is unquestionable that it is no great error to define and
clearly explain things, although very clear of themselves, nor to
406 PASCAL
omit to require in advance axioms which cannot be refused in the
place where they are necessary; nor lastly to prove propositions that
would be admitted without proof.
But the five other rules are of absolute necessity, and cannot be
dispensed with without essential defect and often without error;
and for this reason I shall recapitulate them here in detail.
Rules necessary for definitions. Not to leave any terms at all ob-
scure or ambiguous without definition;
Not to employ in definitions any but terms perfectly known or
already explained.
Rule necessary for axioms. Not to demand in axioms any but
things perfectly evident.
Rules necessary for demonstrations. To prove all proposi-
tions, and to employ nothing for their proof but axioms fully
evident of themselves, or propositions already demonstrated or ad-
mitted;
Never to take advantage of the ambiguity of terms by failing
mentally to substitute definitions that restrict and explain them.
These five rules form all that is necessary to render proofs con-
vincing, immutable, and to say all, geometrical; and the eight rules
together render them still more perfect.
I pass now to that of the order in which the propositions should
be arranged, to be in a complete geometrical series.
After having established 2
This is in what consists the art of persuading, which is comprised
in these two principles: to define all the terms of which we make
use; to prove them all by mentally substituting definitions in the
place of things defined.
And here it seems to me proper to anticipate three principal ob-
jections which may be made:
ist, that this method has nothing new; 2d, that it is very easy to
learn, it being unnecessary for this to study the elements of geom-
etry, since it consists in these two words that are known at the first
2 The rest of the phrase is wanting; and all this second part of the composition,
either because it was not redacted by Pascal, or because it has been lost, is found
neither in our MS. nor in Father Desmolets. Faugere.
MINOR WORKS 407
reading; and, 3d, that it is of little utility, since its use is almost con-
fined to geometrical subjects alone.
It is necessary therefore to show that there is nothing so little
known, nothing more difficult to practise, and nothing more useful
or more universal.
As to the first objection, that these rules are common in the world,
that it is necessary to define every thing and to prove every thing,
and that logicians themselves have placed them among the principles
of their art, I would that the thing were true and that it were so
well known that I should not have the trouble of tracing with so
much care the source of all the defects of reasonings which are truly
so common. But so little is this the case, that, geometricians alone
excepted, who are so few in number that they are single in a whole
nation and long periods of time, we see no others who know it.
It will be easy to make this understood by those who have per-
fectly comprehended the little that I have said; but if they have
not fully comprehended this, I confess that they will learn nothing
from it.
But if they have entered into the spirit of these rules, and if the
rules have made sufficient impression on them to become rooted and
established in their minds, they will feel how much difference there
is between what is said here and what a few logicians may perhaps
have written by chance approximating to it in a few passages of
their works.
Those who have the spirit of discernment know how much dif-
ference there is between two similar words, according to their posi-
tion, and the circumstances that accompany them. Will it be
maintained, indeed, that two persons who have read the same book,
and learned it by heart, have a like acquaintance with it, if the one
comprehends it in such a manner that he knows all its principles,
the force of its conclusions, the answers to the objections that may
be made to it, and the whole economy of the work; while to the
other these are but dead letters and seeds, which, although like those
which have produced such fruitful trees, remain dry and unpro-
ductive in the sterile mind that has received them in vain.
All who say the same things do not possess them in the same
manner; and hence the incomparable author of the Art of Conversa-
408 PASCAL
tion 3 pauses with so much care to make it understood that we must
not judge of the capacity of a man by the excellence of a happy re-
mark that we have heard him make; but instead of extending our
admiration of a good speech to the speaker, let us penetrate, says
he, the mind from which it proceeds; let us try whether he owes it
to his memory, or to a happy chance; let us receive it with coldness
and contempt, in order to see whether he will feel that we do not
give to what he says the esteem which its value deserves: it will
oftenest be seen that he will be made to disavow it on the spot, and
will be drawn very far from this better thought in which he does
not believe, to plunge himself into another quite base and ridiculous.
We must, therefore, sound in what manner this thought is lodged
in its author; 4 how, whence, to what extent he possesses it; other-
wise, the hasty judgment will be a rash judge.
I would inquire of reasonable persons whether this principle:
Matter is naturally wholly incapable of thought, and this other: /
thinly, therefore I am, are in fact the same in the mind of Descartes,
and in that of St. Augustine, who said the same thing twelve hun-
dred years before. 5
In truth, I am far from affirming that Descartes is not the real
author of it, even though he may have learned it only in reading
this distinguished saint; for I know how much difference there is
between writing a word by chance without making a longer and
more extended reflection on it, and perceiving in this word an ad-
mirable series of conclusions, which prove the distinction between
material and spiritual natures, and making of it a firm and sustained
principle of a complete metaphysical system, as Descartes has pre-
tended to do. For without examining whether he has effectively
succeeded in his pretension, I assume that he has done so, and it is
on this supposition that I say that this expression is as different in
his writings from the same saying in others who have said it by
chance, as is a man full of life and strength from a corpse.
One man will say a thing of himself without comprehending its
excellence, in which another will discern a marvellous series of con-
3 Montaigne, Essais, liv. Ill, chap. viii. Faugere.
4 Montaigne's expression is: "Feel on all sides how it is lodged in its author."
Essais, same chapter. Ibid.
5 Civitate Dei, 1. XI, c. xxvl
MINOR WORKS 409
elusions, which make us affirm boldly that it is no longer the same
expression, and that he is no more indebted for it to the one from
whom he has learned it, than a beautiful tree belongs to the one
who cast the seed, without thinking of it, or knowing it, into the
fruitful soil which caused its growth by its own fertility.
The same thoughts sometimes put forth quite differently in the
mind of another than in that of their author: unfruitful in their
natural soil, abundant when transplanted. But it much oftener hap-
pens that a good mind itself makes its own thoughts produce all
the fruit of which they are capable, and that afterwards others, hav-
ing heard them admired, borrow them, and adorn themselves with
them, but without knowing their excellence; and it is then that
the difference of the same word in different mouths is the most
apparent.
It is in this manner that logic has borrowed, perhaps, the rules of
geometry, without comprehending their force; and thus, in placing
them by chance among those that belong to it, it does not thence
follow that they 6 have entered into the spirit of geometry, and I
should be greatly averse if they gave no other evidence of it than
that of having mentioned it by chance, to placing them on a level
with that science that teaches the true method of directing the reason.
But I should be, on the contrary, strongly disposed to exclude
them from it, and almost irrevocably. For to have said it by chance,
without having taken care that every thing was included within it,
and instead of following this light to wander blindly in useless re-
searches, pursuing what they promise but never can give, is truly
showing that they are not very clear-sighted, and much more than
if they had failed to follow the light, because they had not per-
ceived it.
The method of not erring is sought by all the world. The logicians
profess to guide to it, the geometricians alone attain it, and apart
from their science, and the imitations of it, there are no true demon-
strations. The whole art is included in the simple precepts that we
have given; they alone are sufficient, they alone afford proofs; all
other rules are useless or injurious. This I know by long experience
of all kinds of books and persons.
6 Doubtless the logicians. Fattgere.
410 PASCAL
And on this point I pass the same judgment as those who say that
geometricians give them nothing new by these rules, because they
possessed them in reality, but confounded with a multitude o others,
either useless or false, from which they could not discriminate them,
as those who, seeking a diamond of great price amidst a number of
false ones, but from which they know not how to distinguish it,
should boast, in holding them all together, of possessing the true
one equally with him who without pausing at this mass of rubbish
lays his hand upon the costly stone which they are seeking and for
which they do not throw away the rest.
The defect of false reasoning is a malady which is cured by these
two remedies. Another has been compounded of an infinity of use-
less herbs in which the good are enveloped and in which they remain
without effect through the ill qualities of the compound.
To discover all the sophistries and equivocations of captious rea-
sonings, they have invented barbarous names that astonish those who
hear them; and whilst we can only unravel all the tangles of this
perplexing knot by drawing out one of the ends in the way proposed
by geometricians, they have indicated a strange number of others in
which the former are found included without knowing which is
the best.
And thus, in showing us a number of paths which they say con-
duct us whither we tend, although there are but two that lead to it,
it is necessary to know how to mark them in particular. It will be
pretended that geometry which indicates them with certainty gives
only what had already been given by others, because they gave in
fact the same thing and more, without heeding that this boon lost
its value by abundance, and was diminished by adding to it.
Nothing is more common than good things : the point in question
is only to discriminate them; and it is certain that they are all natural
and within our reach and even known to all mankind. But they
know not how to distinguish them. This is universal. It is not
among extraordinary and fantastic things that excellence is to be
found, of whatever kind it may be. We rise to attain it and become
removed from it: it is oftenest necessary to stoop for it. The best
books are those, which those who read them believe they themselves
MINOR WORKS 411
could have written. Nature, which alone is good, is wholly familiar
and common.
I make no doubt therefore that these rules, being the true ones,
are simple, artless, and natural, as in fact they are. It is not Barbara
and Baralipton that constitute reasoning. The mind must not be
forced; artificial and constrained manners fill it with foolish pre-
sumption, through unnatural elevation and vain and ridiculous in-
flation, instead of solid and vigorous nutriment. And one of the
principal reasons that diverts those who are entering upon this
knowledge so much from the true path which they should follow,
is the fancy that they take at the outset that good things are in-
accessible, giving them the name of great, lofty, elevated, sublime.
This destroys every thing. I would call them low, common, familiar:
these names suit them better; I hate such inflated expressions.
DISCOURSE
ON THE PASSION OF LovE 1
MAN is born for thought; therefore he is not a moment without it;
but the pure thoughts that would render him happy, if he could
always maintain them, weary and oppress him. They make a uni-
form life to which he cannot adapt himself; he must have excitement
and action, that is, it is necessary that he should sometimes be agi-
tated by those passions the deep and vivid sources of which he feels
within his heart.
The passions which are the best suited to man and include many
others, are love and ambition: they have little connection with each
other; nevertheless they are often allied; but they mutually weaken,
not to say destroy, each other.
Whatever compass of mind one may have, he is capable of only
one great passion; hence, when love and ambition are found to-
gether, they are only half as great as they would be if only one of
them existed. The time of life determines neither the beginning nor
the end of these two passions; they spring up in the earliest years
1 The authenticity of this fragment is disputed.
412 PASCAL
and subsist very often unto the tomb. Nevertheless, as they require
much warmth, young persons are best fitted for them, and it seems
that they abate with years: this however is very rare.
The life of man is miserably brief. It is usually computed from
his first entrance into the world; for my part, I would only compute
it from the birth of reason and from the time that man begins to be
influenced by it, which does not ordinarily happen before twenty
years of age. Before this time, we are children, and a child is not
a man.
How happy is a life that begins with love and ends with ambi-
tion! If I had to choose, this is the one I should take. So long as we
have ardor we are amiable; but this ardor dies out, is lost; then what
a fine and noble place is left for ambition! A tumultuous life is
pleasing to great minds, but those who are mediocre have no pleas-
ure in it; they are machines everywhere. Hence when love and
ambition begin and end life, we are in the happiest condition of
which human nature is capable.
The more mind we have the greater the passions are, since the
passions being only sentiments and thoughts that belong purely to
the mind although they are occasioned by the body, it is obvious
that they are no longer any thing but the mind itself, and that thus
they fill up its entire capacity. I speak here only of the ardent pas-
sions, for the others are often mingled together and cause a very
annoying confusion; but this is never the case in those who have
mind.
In a great soul everything is great.
It is asked whether it is necessary to love? This should not be
asked, it should be felt. We do not deliberate upon it, we are
forced to it, and take pleasure in deceiving ourselves when we
discuss it.
Definiteness of mind causes definiteness of passion; this is why a
great and definite mind loves with ardor, and sees distinctly what
it loves.
There are two kinds of mind: the one geometrical, and the other
what may be called the imaginative (de finesse).
The former is slow, rigid, and inflexible in its views, but the latter
has a suppleness of thought which fastens at once upon the various
MINOR WORKS 413
pleasing qualities of what it loves. From the eyes it goes to the heart
itself, and from the expression without it knows what is passing
within.
When we have both kinds of mind combined, how much pleasure
is given by love! For we possess at the same time the strength and
the flexibility of mind essentially necessary for the eloquence of two
persons.
We are born with a disposition to love in our hearts, which is
developed in proportion as the mind is perfected, and impels us to
love what appears to us beautiful without ever having been told
what this is. Who can doubt after this whether we are in the world
for anything else than to love? In fact, we conceal in vain, we
always love. In the very things from which love seems to have been
separated, it is found secretly and under seal, and man could not
live a moment without this.
Man does not like to dwell with himself; nevertheless he loves;
it is necessary then that he seek elsewhere something to love. He
can find it only in beauty; but as he is himself the most beautiful
creature that God has ever formed, he must find in himself the
model of this beauty which he seeks without. Every one can per-
ceive in himself the first glimmerings of it; and according as we
observe that what is without agrees or disagrees with these, we
form our ideas of beauty or deformity in all things. Nevertheless,
although man seeks wherewith to fill up the great void he makes
in going out of himself, he cannot however be satisfied with every
kind of object. His heart is too large; it is necessary at least that it
should be something that resembles him and approaches him as
near as may be. Hence the beauty that can satisfy man consists not
only in fitness, but also in resemblance; it is restricted and confined
to the difference of sex.
Nature has so well impressed this truth on our souls, that we find
a predisposition to all this; neither art nor study is required; it even
seems that we have a place to fill in our hearts which is thus filled
effectively. But we feel this better than we can express it. It is only
those who know how to confuse and contemn their ideas who do
not see it.
Although this general idea of beauty may be engraven in the
414 PASCAL
innermost part of our souls with ineffaceable characters, it does not
prevent us from being susceptible of great differences in its indi-
vidual application; but this is only in the manner of regarding what
pleases us. For we do not wish for beauty alone, but desire in con-
nection with it a thousand circumstances that depend on the dis-
position in which it is found, and it is in this sense that it may be
said that each one possesses the original of his beauty, the copy of
which he is seeking externally. Nevertheless, women often deter-
mine this original. As they have an absolute empire over the minds
of men, they paint on them either the qualities of the beauties which
they possess or those which they esteem, and by this means add what
pleases them to this radical beauty. Hence there is one epoch for
blondes, another for brunettes, and the division there is among
women in respect to esteem for the one or the other makes at the
same time the difference among men in this regard.
Fashion even and country often regulate what is called beauty.
It is a strange thing that custom should mingle so strongly with our
passions. This does not hinder each one from having his idea of
beauty by which he judges others and with which he compares
them; it is on this principle that a lover finds his mistress the most
beautiful and proposes her as a model.
Beauty is divided in a thousand different ways. The most proper
object to sustain it is a woman. When she has intellect, she enlivens
it and sets it off marvellously. If a woman wishes to please, and
possesses the advantages of beauty or a portion of them at least, she
will succeed; and even though men take ever so little heed of it,
although she does not strive for it, she will make herself loved.
There is an accessible point in their hearts; she will take up her
abode there.
Man is born for pleasure; he feels it; no other proof of it is needed.
He therefore follows his reason in giving himself to pleasure. But
very often he feels passion in his heart without knowing in what it
originated.
A true or false pleasure can equally fill the mind. For what mat-
ters it that this pleasure is false, if we are persuaded that it is true?
By force of speaking of love we become enamored. There is
nothing so easy. It is the passion most natural to man.
MINOR WORKS 415
Love has no age; it is always young. So the poets tell us; it is for
this that they represent it to us under the figure of a child. But with-
out asking any thing of it, we feel it.
Love gives intellect and is sustained by intellect. Address is
needed in order to love. We daily exhaust the methods of pleasing;
nevertheless it is necessary to please and we please.
We have a fountain of self-love which represents us to ourselves
as being able to fill several places outside of ourselves; this is what
makes us happy to be loved. As we desire it with ardor, we quickly
remark it and perceive it in the eyes of the person who loves. For
the eyes are the interpreters of the heart; but he alone who is inter-
ested in them can understand their language.
Man by himself is something imperfect; he must find a second in
order to be happy. He oftenest seeks it in equality of condition,
because in that the liberty and the opportunity of manifesting his
wishes are most easily found. Yet he sometimes rises above this,
and feels the kindling flame although he dares not tell it to the one
who has caused it.
When we love a woman of unequal condition, ambition may
accompany the beginning of the love; but in a little time the latter
becomes master. It is a tyrant that will suffer no companion; it
wishes to be alone; all the other passions must bend to it and obey it.
An elevated attachment fills the heart of man much better than
a common and equal one; and little things float in his capacity; none
but great ones lodge and dwell therein.
We often write things which we only prove by obliging every one
to reflect upon himself, and find the truth of which we are speaking.
In this consists the force of the proofs of what I assert.
When a man is fastidious in any quality of his mind, he is so in
love. For as he must be moved by every object that is outside of
himself, if there is any thing that is repugnant to his ideas, he per-
ceives and shuns it; the rule of this fastidiousness depends on a pure,
noble, and sublime reason. Thus we can believe ourselves fastidious
without actually being so, and others have the right to condemn us;
whilst for beauty each one has his rule, sovereign and independent
of that of others. Yet between being fastidious and not being so at
all, it must be granted that when one desires to be fastidious he is
41 6 PASCAL
not far from actually being so. Women like to perceive fastidious-
ness in men, and this is, it seems to me, the most vulnerable point
whereby to gain them: we are pleased to see that a thousand others
are contemned and that we alone are esteemed.
Qualities of mind are not acquired by habit; they are only per-
fected. Whence it is easy to see that fastidiousness is a gift of nature
and not an acquisition of art.
In proportion as we have more intellect, we find more original
beauties; but this is not necessary in order to be in love; for when
we love, we find but one.
Does it not seem that as often as a woman goes out of herself to
impress the hearts of others, she makes a place void for others in
her own ? Yet, I know some who affirm that this is not true. Dare
we call this injustice? It is natural to give back as much as we have
taken.
Attachment to the same thought wearies and destroys the mind
of man. Hence for the solidity and permanence of the pleasure of
love, it is sometimes necessary not to know that we love; and this
is not to be guilty of an infidelity, for we do not therefore love
another; it is to regain strength in order to love the better. This
happens without our thinking of it; the mind is borne hither of
itself; nature wills it, commands it. It must however be confessed
that this is a miserable consequence of human weakness, and that
we should be happier if we were not forced to change of thought;
but there is no remedy.
The pleasure of loving without daring to tell it, has its pains, but
it has its joys also. What transport do we not feel in moulding all
our actions in view of pleasing the person whom we infinitely es-
teem! We study each day to find the means of revealing ourselves,
and thus employ as much time as if we were holding converse with
the one whom we love. The eyes kindle and grow dim at the same
moment, and although we do not see plainly that the one who causes
this disorder takes heed of it, we still have the satisfaction of feeling
all these emotions for a person who deserves them so well. We would
gladly have a hundred tongues to make it known; for as we cannot
make use of words, we are obliged to confine ourselves to the elo-
quence of action.
MINOR WORKS 417
Up to this point we have constant delight and sufficient occupa-
tion. Thus we are happy; for the secret of keeping a passion con-
stantly alive is to suffer no void to spring up in the mind, by obliging
it to apply itself without ceasing to what moves it so agreeably. But
when it is in the state that I have just described, it cannot last long,
because being sole actor in a passion in which there must necessarily
be two, it is difficult to hinder it from soon exhausting all the emo-
tions by which it is agitated.
Although the passion may be the same, novelty is needed; the
mind takes delight in it, and he who knows how to procure it,
knows how to make himself loved.
After having gone thus far, this plenitude sometimes diminishes,
and receiving no assistance from the side of its source, we decline
miserably, and hostile passions take possession of a heart which they
rend into a thousand pieces. Yet a ray of hope, however faint it
may be, exalts us as high as we were before. This is sometimes a
play in which women delight; but sometimes in feigning to have
compassion, they have it in reality. How happy we are when this
is the case!
A firm and solid love always begins with the eloquence of action;
the eyes have the best share in it. Nevertheless it is necessary to
conjecture, but to conjecture rightly.
When two persons are of the same sentiments, they do not con-
jecture, or at least one conjectures what the other means to say
without the other understanding it or daring to understand.
When we love, we appear to ourselves quite different from what
we were before. Thus we imagine that every one perceives it; yet
nothing is more false. But because the perception of reason is
bounded by passion, we cannot assure ourselves and are always
suspicious.
When we love, we are persuaded that we shall discover the pas-
sion of another: thus we are afraid.
The longer the way is in love, the greater is the pleasure that a
sensitive mind feels in it.
There are certain minds to which hopes must long be given, and
these are minds of refinement. There are others which cannot long
resist difficulties, and these are the grossest. The former love longer
418 PASCAL
and with more enjoyment; the latter love quicker, with more free-
dom, and sooner end.
The first effect of love is to inspire a profound respect; we have
veneration for what we love. It is very just; we see nothing in the
world so great as this.
Authors cannot tell us much of the love of their heroes; it is
necessary that they should have been the heroes themselves.
Wandering in love is as monstrous as injustice in the mind.
In love, silence is of more avail than speech. It is good to be
abashed; there is an eloquence in silence that penetrates more deeply
than language can. How well a lover persuades his mistress when
he is abashed before her, who elsewhere has so much presence of
mind! Whatever vivacity we may have, it is well that in certain
junctures it should be extinguished. All this takes place without
rule or reflection, and when the mind acts, it is without thinking
of it beforehand. This happens through necessity.
We often adore one that is unconscious of it, and do not fail to
preserve an inviolable fidelity, although its object knows nothing of
it. But this love must be very refined or very pure.
We know the minds of men, and consequently their passions, by
the comparison that we make between ourselves and others.
I am of the opinion of him who said that in love one forgets his
fortune, his relatives, and his friends; the most elevated attachments
go as far as this. What causes us to go so far in love is that we do
not think we have need of anything else than the object of our love:
the mind is full; there is no longer any room for care or solicitude.
Passion cannot exist without excess: thence it comes that we care
no longer for what the world says, as we know already that our con-
duct ought not to be condemned, since it comes from reason. There
is fulness of passion, and can be no beginning of reflection.
It is not an effect of custom, it is an obligation of nature, that men
make the advances to gain the attachment of women.
This forgetfulness that is caused by love, and this attachment to
the object of our love, make qualities spring up that we had not
before. We become magnificent, without ever having been so.
The miser himself who loves becomes liberal, and does not re-
member ever to have had a contrary disposition; we see the reason
MINOR WORKS 419
of this in considering that there are some passions which contract
the soul and render it stagnant, and that there are others which
expand it and cause it to overflow.
We have unaptly taken away the name of reason from love and
have opposed them to each other without good foundation, for love
and reason are but the same thing. It is a precipitation of thought
which is impelled to a side before fully examining every thing, but
it is still a reason, and we should not and cannot wish that it were
otherwise, for we would then be very disagreeable machines. Let
us not therefore exclude reason from love, since they are inseparable.
The poets were not right in painting Love blind; we must take
orT his bandage and restore to him henceforth the enjoyment of
his eyes.
Souls fitted for love demand a life of action which becomes bril-
liant in new events. The external excitement must correspond with
the internal, and this manner of living is a marvellous road to pas-
sion. Thence it is that courtiers are more successful in love than
citizens, since the former are all fire and the latter lead a life in the
uniformity of which there is nothing striking: a tempestuous life
surprises, strikes, and penetrates.
It seems as though we had quite another soul when we love than
when we do not love; we are exalted by this passion and become all
greatness; the rest therefore must have proportion, otherwise this
does not harmonize and is consequently disagreeable.
The pleasing and the beautiful are only the same thing; every
one has his idea of it. It is of a moral beauty that I mean to speak,
which consists in external words and actions. We have a rule indeed
for becoming agreeable; yet the disposition of the body is necessary
to it, but this cannot be acquired.
Men have taken pleasure in forming for themselves so elevated a
standard of the pleasing that no one can attain it. Let us judge of
it better, and say that this is simply nature with surprising facility
and vivacity of mind. In love these two qualities are necessary.
There must be nothing of force, and yet there must be nothing of
slowness: habit gives the rest.
Respect and love should be so well proportioned as to sustain each
other without love being stifled by respect.
420 PASCAL
Great souls are not those that love oftenest; it is a violent love of
which I speak; an inundation of passion is needed to move them
and fill them. But when they begin to love, they love much more
strongly.
It is said that there are some nations more amorous than others;
this is not speaking rightly, or at least it is not true in every sense.
Love consisting only in an attachment of thought, it is certain
that it must be the same over all the earth. It is true that, consider-
ing it otherwise than in the thought, the climate may add something,
but this is only in the body.
It is with love as with good sense; as one man believes himself to
have as much mind as another, he also believes that he loves the
same. Yet, they who have the most perception, love even to the most
trifling things, which is not possible for others. It is necessary to be
very subtle to remark this difference.
One cannot feign to love unless he is very near being a lover, or
at least unless he loves in some direction; for the mind and the
thoughts of love are requisite for this seeming, and how shall we
find means of speaking well without this? The truth of passion is
not so easily disguised as serious truth.
We must have ardor, activity, and prompt and natural warmth of
mind for the former; the latter we conceal by slowness and pliancy,
which it is easier to do
When we are at a distance from the object of our love, we resolve
to do or to say many things; but when we are near, we are irresolute.
Whence comes this? It is because when we are at a distance reason
is not so much perturbed, but is strangely so in the presence of the
object: now for resolution, firmness is needed, which is destroyed
by perturbation.
In love we dare not hazard, because we fear to lose every thing;
it is necessary, however, to advance, but who can say how far ? We
tremble constantly until we have found this point. Prudence does
nothing towards maintaining it when it is found.
There is nothing so embarrassing as to be a lover, and to see
something in our favor without daring to believe it; we are alike
opposed by hope and fear. But finally the latter becomes victorious
over the other.
MINOR WORKS 421
When we love ardently, it is always a novelty to see the person
beloved. After a moment's absence, he finds a void in his heart.
What happiness is it to find her again! he feels at once a cessation
of anxiety.
It is necessary, however, that this love should be already far ad-
vanced; for when it is budding, and has made no progress, we feel
indeed a cessation of anxiety, but others supervene.
Although troubles thus succeed each other, one is not hindered
from desiring the presence of his mistress by the hope of suffering
less; yet, when he sees her, he fancies that he suffers more than
before. Past troubles no longer move him, the present touch him,
and it is of those that touch him that he judges.
Is not a lover in this state worthy of compassion?
OF THE GEOMETRICAL SPIRIT
WE may have three principal objects in the study of truth: one to
discover it when it is sought; another to demonstrate it when it is
possessed; and a third, to discriminate it from the false when it is
examined.
I do not speak of the first; I treat particularly of the second, and
it includes the third. For if we know the method of proving the
truth, we shall have, at the same time, that of discriminating it, since,
in examining whether the proof that is given of it is in conformity
with the rules that are understood, we shall know whether it is
exactly demonstrated.
Geometry, which excels in these three methods, has explained the
art of discovering unknown truths; this it is which is called analysis,
and of which it would be useless to discourse after the many excel-
lent works that have been written on it.
That of demonstrating truths already found, and of elucidating
them in such a manner that the proof of them shall be irresistible,
is the only one that I wish to give; and for this I have only to explain
the method which geometry observes in it; for she teaches it per-
fectly by her examples, although she may produce no discourse on
it. And since this art consists in two principal things, the one in
proving each proposition by itself, the other in disposing all the
422 PASCAL
propositions in the best order, I shall make of it two sections, of
which the one will contain the rules for the conduct of geometrical,
that is, methodical and perfect demonstrations; and the second will
comprehend that of geometrical, that is, methodical and complete
order: so that the two together will include all that will be necessary
to direct reasoning, in proving and discriminating truths, which I
design to give entire.
SECTION FIRST Of the method of geometrical, that is, of methodical and
perfect demonstrations.
I cannot better explain the method that should be preserved to
render demonstrations convincing, than by explaining that which
is observed by geometry.
But it is first necessary that I should give the idea of a method
still more eminent and more complete, but which mankind could
never attain; for what exceeds geometry surpasses us; and, never-
theless, something must be said of it, although it is impossible to
practise it. 1
This true method, which would form demonstrations in the high-
est excellence, if it were possible to arrive at it, would consist in two
principal things: the one, in employing no term the meaning of
which had not first been clearly explained; the other, in never ad-
vancing any proposition which could not be demonstrated by truths
already known; that is, in a word, in defining every term, and in
proving every proposition. But to follow the same order that I am
1 After this paragraph occur in the MS. the following lines, written in a finer
hand, and inclosed in parenthesis:
". . . is much more to succeed in the one than the other, and I have chosen this
science to attain it only because it alone knows the true rules of reasoning, and,
without stopping at the rules of syllogisms which are so natural that we cannot be
ignorant of them, stops and establishes itself upon the true method of conducting
reasoning in all things, which almost every one is ignorant of, and which it is so
advantageous to know, that we see by experience that among equal minds and like
circumstances, he who possesses geometry bears it away, and acquires a new vigor.
"I wish, therefore, to explain what demonstrations are by the example of those of
geometry, which is almost the only one of the human sciences that produces infallible
ones, because she alone observes the true method, whilst all the others are, through a
natural necessity, in a sort of confusion, which the geometricians alone know
exceedingly well how to comprehend."
On the margin of this fragment is in the MS. the following note: "That which is in
small characters was hidden under a paper, the edges of which were glued, and upon
which was written the article beginning: I cannot better explain, etc." Faugere.
MINOR WORKS 423
explaining, it is necessary that I should state what I mean by defi-
nition.
The only definitions recognized in geometry are what the logicians
call definitions of name, that is, the arbitrary application of names
to things which are clearly designated by terms perfectly known;
and it is of these alone that I speak.
Their utility and use is to elucidate and abbreviate discourse, in
expressing by the single name that has been imposed what could
otherwise be only expressed by several terms; so that nevertheless
the name imposed remains divested of all other meaning, if it has
any, having no longer any than that for which it is alone designed.
Here is an example:
If we are under the necessity of discriminating numbers that are
divisible equally by two from those which are not, in order to avoid
the frequent repetition of this condition, a name is given to it in this
manner: I call every number divisible equally by two, an even
number.
This is a geometrical definition; because after having clearly desig-
nated a thing, namely, every member divisible equally by two, we
give it a name divested of every other meaning, if it has any, in order
to give it that of the thing designated.
Hence it appears that definitions are very arbitrary, and that they
are never subject to contradiction; for nothing is more permissible
than to give to a thing which has been clearly designated, whatever
name we choose. It is only necessary to take care not to abuse the
liberty that we possess of imposing names, by giving the same to two
different things.
Not that this may not be permissible, provided we do not con-
found the consequences, and do not extend them from the one to
the other.
But if we fall into this error, we can oppose to it a sure and in-
fallible remedy: that of mentally substituting the definition in the
place of the thing defined, and of having the definition always so
present, that every time we speak, for example, of an even number,
we mean precisely that which is divisible into two equal parts, and
that these two things should be in such a degree joined and in-
separable in thought, that as soon as the discourse expresses the one,
424 PASCAL
the mind attaches it immediately to the other. For geometricians,
and all those who proceed methodically, only impose names on things
to abbreviate discourse, and not to diminish or change the idea of
the things of which they are discoursing. And they pretend that
the mind always supplies the full definition to the concise terms,
which they only employ to avoid the confusion occasioned by the
multitude of words.
Nothing more promptly and more effectually removes the cap-
tious cavils of sophists than this method, which it is necessary to
have always present, and which alone suffices to banish all kinds of
difficulties and equivocations.
These things being well understood, I return to the explanation
of the true order, which consists, as I have said, in defining every
thing and in proving every thing.
This method would certainly be beautiful, but it is absolutely im-
possible; for it is evident that the first terms that we wished to define
would imply precedents to serve for their explanation, and that in
the same manner, the first propositions that we wished to prove
would imply others which had preceded them; and thus it is clear
that we should never reach the first.
Thus, in pushing our researches further and further, we arrive
necessarily at primitive words which can no longer be defined, and
at principles so clear that we can find no others that can serve as a
proof of them.
Hence it appears that men are naturally and immutably impotent
to treat of any science so that it may be in an absolutely complete
order.
But it does not thence follow that we should abandon every kind
of order.
For there is one, and it is that of geometry, which is in truth in-
ferior in that it is less convincing, but not in that it is less certain.
It does not define every thing and does not prove every thing, and
it is in this that it is inferior; but it assumes nothing but things clear
and constant by natural enlightenment, and this is why it is per-
fectly true, nature sustaining it in default of discourse.
This order, the most perfect of any among men, consists not at
all in defining every thing or in demonstrating every thing, nor in
MINOR WORKS 425
defining nothing or in demonstrating nothing, but in adhering to
this middle course of not defining things clear and understood by
all mankind, and of defining the rest; of not proving all the things
known to mankind, and of proving all the rest. Against this order
those sin alike who undertake to define everything and to prove
every thing, and who neglect to do it in those things which are not
evident of themselves.
This is what is perfectly taught by geometry. She does not define
any of these things, space, time, motion, number, equality, and
similar things which exist in great number, because these terms so
naturally designate the things that they mean, to those who under-
stand the language, that their elucidation would afford more ob-
scurity than instruction.
For there is nothing more feeble than the discourse of those who
wish to define these primitive words. What necessity is there, for
example, of explaining what is understood by the word man? Do
we not know well enough what the thing is that we wish to desig-
nate by this term ? And what advantage did Plato think to procure
us in saying that he was a two-legged animal without feathers ? As
though the idea that I have of him naturally, and which I cannot
express, were not clearer and surer than that which he gives me by
his useless and even ridiculous explanation; since a man does not
lose humanity by losing the two legs, nor does a capon acquire it
by losing his feathers.
There are those who are absurd enough to explain a word by the
word itself. I know some who have defined light in this wise : Light
is a luminary movement of luminous bodies, as though we could
understand the words luminary and luminous without the word
light. 2
We cannot undertake to define being without falling into the
2 Pascal alludes here to Father Noel, a Jesuit, with whom he had had a warm
discussion on the subject of his Experiences touchant le vide. In a letter that he
wrote to Father Noel in 1647, he said: "The sentence which precedes your closing
compliments defines light in these terms: Light is a luminous motion of rays composed
of lucid, that is, luminous bodies; upon which, I have to tell you that it seems to
me that you ought first to have defined what luminous is, and what a lucid or
luminous body is, for till then, I cannot understand what light is. And as we never
make use in definitions of the term of the thing defined, I should have difficulty in
conforming to yours which says: Light is a luminary motion of a luminous
body." Faugere.
426 PASCAL
same absurdity: for we cannot define a word without beginning
with the word it is, either expressed or understood. To define being
therefore, it is necessary to say it is, and thus to employ the word
defined in the definition.
We see clearly enough from this that there are some words in-
capable of being defined; and, if nature had not supplied this defect
by a corresponding idea which she has given to all mankind, all our
expressions would be confused; whilst we use them with the same
assurance and the same certainty as though they were explained in
a manner perfectly exempt from ambiguities: because nature herself
has given us, without words, a clearer knowledge of them than art
could acquire by our explanations.
It is not because all men have the same idea of the essence of the
things that I say that it is impossible and useless to define.
For, for example, time is of this sort. Who can define it? And
why undertake it, since all men conceive what is meant in speaking
of time, without any further definition ? Nevertheless there are many
different opinions touching the essence of time. Some say that it is
the movement of a created thing; others, the measure of the move-
ment, etc. Thus it is not the nature of these things that I say is known
to all; it is simply the relation between the name and the thing; so
that at the expression time, all direct their thoughts towards the
same object; which suffices to cause this term to have no need o
being defined, though afterwards, in examining what time is, we
come to differ in sentiment after having been led to think of it;
for definitions are only made to designate the things that are named,
and not to show the nature of them.
It is not because it is not permissible to call by the name of time
the movement of a created thing; for, as I have just said, nothing
is more arbitrary than definitions.
But after this definition there will be two things that will be called
by the name of time: the one is what the whole world understands
naturally by this word and what all those who speak our language
call by this term; the other will be the movement of a created thing,
for this will also be called by this name, according to this new
definition.
It is necessary therefore to shun ambiguities and not to confound
MINOR WORKS 427
consequences. For it will not follow from this that the thing that
is naturally understood by the word time is in fact the movement
of a created thing. It has been allowable to name these two things
the same; but it will not be to make them agree in nature as well
as in name.
Thus, if we advance this proposition time is the movement of a
created thing, it is necessary to ask what is meant by this word time,
that is, whether the usual and generally received meaning is left to
it, or whether it is divested of this meaning in order to give to it on
this occasion that of the movement of a created thing. For if it be
stripped of all other meaning, it cannot be contradicted, and it will
become an arbitrary definition, in consequence of which, as I have
said, there will be two things that will have the same name. But if
its ordinary meaning be left to it, and it be pretended nevertheless
that what is meant by this word is the movement of a created thing,
it can be contradicted. It is no longer an arbitrary definition, but a
proposition that must be proved, if it is not evident of itself; and this
will then be a principle or an axiom, but never a definition, since in
this enunciation it is not understood that the word time signifies the
same thing as the movement of a created thing, but it is understood
that what is conceived by the term time is this supposed movement.
If I did not know how necessary it is to understand this perfectly,
and how continually occasions like this, of which I give the example,
happen both in familiar and scientific discourses, I should not dwell
upon it. But it seems to me, by the experience that I have had from
the confusion of controversies, that we cannot too fully enter into
this spirit of precision, for the sake of which I write this treatise
rather than the subject of which I treat in it.
For how many persons are there who fancy that they have defined
time, when they have said that it is the measure of movement, leav-
ing it, however, its ordinary meaning! And nevertheless they have
made a proposition and not a definition. How many are there, in
the like manner, who fancy that they have defined movement, when
they have said: Motus nee simpliciter motus, non mera potentia est,
sed actus entis in potential And nevertheless, if they leave to the
word movement its ordinary meaning as they do, it is not a definition
but a proposition; and confounding thus the definitions which they
428 PASCAL
call definitions of name, which are the true arbitrary definitions per-
missible and geometrical, with those which they call definitions of
thing, which, properly speaking, are not at all arbitrary definitions,
but are subject to contradiction, they hold themselves at liberty to
make these as well as others; and each defining the same things in
his own way, by a liberty which is as unjustifiable in this kind of
definitions as it is permissible in the former, they perplex every thing,
and losing all order and all light, become lost themselves and wander
into inextricable embarrassments.
We shall never fall into such in following the order of geometry.
This judicious science is far from defining such primitive words as
space, time, motion, equality, majority, diminution, whole, and others
which every one understands. But apart from these, the rest of the
terms that this science employs are to such a degree elucidated and
defined that we have no need of a dictionary to understand any of
them; so that in a word all these terms are perfectly intelligible,
either by natural enlightenment or by the definitions that it gives
of them.
This is the manner in which it avoids all the errors that may
be encountered upon the first point, which consists in defining only
the things that have need of it. It makes use of it in the same manner
in respect to the other point, which consists in proving the proposi-
tions that are not evident.
For, when it has arrived at the first known truths, it pauses there
and asks whether they are admitted, having nothing clearer whereby
to prove them; so that all that is proposed by geometry is perfectly
demonstrated, either by natural enlightenment or by proofs.
Hence it comes that if this science does not define and demonstrate
every thing, it is for the simple reason that this is impossible. 3
It will perhaps be found strange that geometry does not define
any of the things that it has for its principal objects: for it can neither
define motion, numbers, nor space; and nevertheless these three
things are those of which it treats in particular, and according to
the investigation of which it takes the three different names of
3 Here the MS. adds in parenthesis: "(But as nature punishes all that science does
not bestow, its order in truth does not give a superhuman perfection, but it has
all that man can attain. It has seemed to me proper to give from the beginning
of this discourse this, etc.)." Faugere.
MINOR WORKS 429
mechanics, arithmetic, and geometry, this last name belonging to
the genus and species.
But this will not surprise us if we remark that, this admirable
science only attaching itself to the simplest things, this same quality
which renders them worthy of being its objects renders them in-
capable of being defined; so that the lack of definition is a perfection
rather than a defect, since it does not come from their obscurity, but
on the contrary from their extreme obviousness, which is such that
though it may not have the conviction of demonstrations, it has all
their certainty. It supposes therefore that we know what is the thing
that is understood by the words motion, number, space; and with-
out stopping to define them to no purpose, it penetrates their nature
and discovers their marvellous properties.
These three things which comprehend the whole universe, accord-
ing to the words: Deus fecit omnia in pondere, in numero, et men-
sura* have a reciprocal and necessary connection. For we cannot
imagine motion without something that moves; and this thing being
one, this unity is the origin of all numbers; and lastly, motion not
being able to exist without space, we see these three things included
within the first.
Time even is also comprehended in it; for motion and time are
relative to each other; speed and slowness, which are the differences
of motion, having a necessary relation to time.
Thus there are properties common to all these things, the knowl-
edge of which opens the mind to the greatest marvels of nature.
The chief of these comprehends the two infinitudes which are
combined in every thing : the one of greatness, the other of littleness.
For however quick a movement may be, we can conceive of one
still more so; and so on ad infinitum, without ever reaching one that
would be swift to such a degree that nothing more could be added
to it. And, on the contrary, however slow a movement may be, it
can be retarded still more; and thus ad infinitum, without ever reach-
ing such a degree of slowness that we could not thence descend into
an infinite number of others, without falling into rest.
In the same manner, however great a number may be, we can
conceive of a greater; and thus ad infinitum, without ever reaching
4 "God has made all things in weight, number and proportion."
43 PASCAL
one that can no longer be increased. And on the contrary, however
small a number may be, as the hundredth or ten thousandth part,
we can still conceive of a less; and so on ad infinitum, without ever
arriving at zero or nothingness.
However great a space may be, we can conceive of a greater; and
thus ad infinitum, without ever arriving at one which can no longer
be increased. And, on the contrary, however small a space may be,
we can still imagine a smaller; and so on ad infinitum, without ever
arriving at one indivisible, which has no longer any extent.
It is the same with time. We can always conceive of a greater
without an ultimate, and of a less without arriving at a point and a
pure nothingness of duration.
That is, in a word, whatever movement, whatever number, what-
ever space, whatever time there may be, there is always a greater and
a less than these: so that they all stand betwixt nothingness and the
infinite, being always infinitely distant from these extremes.
All these truths cannot be demonstrated; and yet they are the
foundations and principles of geometry. But as the cause that renders
them incapable of demonstration is not their obscurity, but on the
contrary their extreme obviousness, this lack of proof is not a defect,
but rather a perfection.
From which we see that geometry can neither define objects nor
prove principles; but for this single and advantageous reason that
both are in an extreme natural clearness, which convinces reason
more powerfully than discourse.
For what is more evident than this truth, that a number, whatever
it may be, can be increased can be doubled? Again, may not the
speed of a movement be doubled, and may not a space be doubled
in the same manner ?
And who too can doubt that a number, whatever it may be, may
not be divided into a half, and its half again into another half? For
would this half be a nothingness? And would these two halves,
which would be two zeros, compose a number ?
In the same manner, may not a movement, however slow it may
be, be reduced in speed by a half, so that it will pass over the same
space in double the time, and this last movement again? For would
MINOR WORKS 431
this be a perfect rest? And would these two halves of velocity, which
would be two rests, compose again the first velocity?
Lastly, may not a space, however small it may be, be divided into
two, and these halves again? And how could these two halves be-
come indivisible without extent, which joined together made the
former extent?
There is no natural knowledge in mankind that precedes this,
and surpasses it in clearness. Nevertheless, in order that there may
be examples for every thing, we find minds excellent in all things
else, that are shocked by these infinities and can in no wise assent
to them.
I have never known any person who thought that a space could
not be increased. But I have seen some, very capable in other re-
spects, who affirmed that a space could be divided into two indivisible
parts, however absurd the idea may seem.
I have applied myself to investigating what could be the cause of
this obscurity, and have found that it chiefly consisted in this, that
they could not conceive of a continuity divisible ad infinitum, whence
they concluded that it was not divisible.
It is an infirmity natural to man to believe that he possesses truth
directly; and thence it comes that he is always disposed to deny every
thing that is incomprehensible to him; whilst in fact he knows nat-
urally nothing but falsehood, and whilst he ought to receive as true
only those things the contrary of which appear to him as false.
And hence, whenever a proposition is inconceivable, it is necessary
to suspend the judgment on it and not to deny it from this indica-
tion, but to examine its opposite; and if this is found to be manifestly
false, we can boldly affirm the former, however incomprehensible
it may be. Let us apply this rule to our subject.
There is no geometrician that does not believe space divisible ad
infinitum. He can no more be such without this principle than man
can exist without a soul. And nevertheless there is none who com-
prehends an infinite division; and he only assures himself of this
truth by this one, but certainly sufficient reason, that he perfectly
comprehends that it is false that by dividing a space we can reach
an indivisible part, that, is, one that has no extent.
432 PASCAL
For what is there more absurd than to pretend that by continually
dividing a space, we shall finally arrive at such a division that on
dividing it into two, each of the halves shall remain indivisible and
without any extent, and that thus these two negations of extensions
will together compose an extent? For I would ask those who hold
this idea, whether they conceive clearly two indivisibles being brought
into contact; if this is throughout, they are only the same thing, and
consequently the two together are indivisible; and if it is not through-
out, it is then but in a part; then they have parts, therefore they are
not indivisible.
If they confess, as in fact they admit when pressed, that their
proposition is as inconceivable as the other, they acknowledge that
it is not by our capacity for conceiving these things that we should
judge of their truth, since these two contraries being both inconceiv-
able, it is nevertheless necessarily certain that one of the two is true.
But as to these chimerical difficulties, which have relation only to
our weakness, they oppose this natural clearness and these solid
truths: if it were true that space was composed of a certain finite
number of indivisibles, it would follow that two spaces, each of
which should be square, that is, equal and similar on every side,
being the one the double of the other, the one would contain a
number of these indivisibles double the number of the indivisibles
of the other. Let them bear this consequence well in mind, and let
them then apply themselves to ranging points in squares until they
shall have formed two, the one of which shall have double the points
of the other; and then I will make every geometrician in the world
yield to them. But if the thing is naturally impossible, that is, if it
is an insuperable impossibility to range squares of points, the one
of which shall have double the number of the other, as I would
demonstrate on the spot did the thing merit that we should dwell
on it, let them draw therefrom the consequence.
And to console them for the trouble they would have in certain
junctures, as in conceiving that a space may have an infinity of
divisibles, seeing that these are run over in so little time during
which this infinity of divisibles would be run over, we must admonish
them that they should not compare things so disproportionate as
is the infinity of divisibles with the little time in which they are run
MINOR WORKS 433
over: but let them compare the entire space with the entire time,
and the infinite divisibles of the space with the infinite moments of
the time; and thus they will find that we pass over an infinity of
divisibles in an infinity of moments, and a little space in a little time;
in which there is no longer the disproportion that astonished them.
Lastly, if they find it surprising that a small space has as many parts
as a great one, let them understand also that they are smaller in
measure, and let them look at the firmament through a diminishing
glass, to familiarize themselves with this knowledge, by seeing every
part of the sky in every part of the glass.
But if they cannot comprehend that parts so small that to us they
are imperceptible, can be divided as often as the firmament, there
is no better remedy than to make them look through glasses that
magnify this delicate point to a prodigious mass; whence they will
easily conceive that by the aid of another glass still more artistically
cut, they could be magnified so as to equal that firmament the extent
of which they admire. And thus these objects appearing to them
now easily divisible, let them remember that nature can do infinitely
more than art.
For, in fine, who has assured them that these glasses change the
natural magnitude of these objects, instead of re-establishing, on the
contrary, the true magnitude which the shape of our eye may change
and contract like glasses that diminish?
It is annoying to dwell upon such trifles; but there are times for
trifling.
It suffices to say to minds clear on this matter that two negations
of extension cannot make an extension. But as there are some who
pretend to elude this light by this marvellous answer, that two nega-
tions of extension can as well make an extension as two units, neither
of which is a number, can make a number by their combination;
it is necessary to reply to them that they might in the same manner
deny that twenty thousand men make an army, although no single
one of them is an army; that a thousand houses make a town, al-
though no single one is a town; or that the parts make the whole,
although no single one is the whole; or, to remain in the comparison
of numbers, that two binaries make a quaternary, and ten tens a
hundred, although no single one is such.
434 PASCAL
But it is not to have an accurate mind to confound by such un-
equal comparisons the immutable nature of things with their arbi-
trary and voluntary names, names dependent upon the caprice of
the men who invented them. For it is clear that to facilitate dis-
course the name of army has been given to twenty thousand men,
that of town to several houses, that of ten to ten units; and that from
this liberty spring the names of unity, binary, quaternary, ten, hun-
dred, different through our caprices, although these things may be
in fact of the same kind by their unchangeable nature, and are all
proportionate to each other and differ only in being greater or less,
and although, as a result of these names, binary may not be a quater-
nary, nor the house a town, any more than the town is a house.
But again, although a house is not a town, it is not however a nega-
tion of a town; there is a great difference between not being a thing,
and being a negation of it.
For, in order to understand the thing to the bottom, it is necessary
to know that the only reason why unity is not in the ranks of num-
bers, is that Euclid and the earliest authors who treated of arithmetic,
having several properties to give that were applicable to all the num-
bers except unity, in order to avoid often repeating that in all numbers
except unity this condition is found, have excluded unity from the
signification of the word number, by the liberty which we have
already said can be taken at will with definitions. Thus, if they had
wished, they could in the same manner have excluded the binary
and ternary, and all else that it pleased them; for we are master of
these terms, provided we give notice of it; as on the contrary we
may place unity when we like in the rank of numbers, and fractions
in the same manner. And, in fact, we are obliged to do it in general
propositions, to avoid saying constantly, that in all numbers, as well
as in unity and in fractions, such a property is found; and it is in
this indefinite sense that I have taken it in all that I have written
on it.
But the same Euclid who has taken away from unity the name
of number, which it was permissible for him to do, in order to make
it understood nevertheless that it is not a negation, but is on the
contrary of the same species, thus defines homogeneous magnitudes :
Magnitudes are said to be of the same fynd, when one being multi-
MINOR WORKS 435
plied several times may exceed the other; and consequently, since
unity can, being multiplied several times, exceed any number what-
soever, it is precisely of the same kind with numbers through its
essence and its immutable nature, in the meaning of the same Euclid
who would not have it called a number.
It is not the same thing with an indivisible in respect to an exten-
sion. For it not only differs in name, which is voluntary, but it
differs in kind, by the same definition; since an indivisible, multi-
plied as many times as we like, is so far from being able to exceed
an extension, that it can never form any thing else than a single and
exclusive indivisible; which is natural and necessary, as has been
already shown. And as this last proof is founded upon the definition
of these two things, indivisible and extension, we will proceed to
finish and perfect the demonstration.
An indivisible is that which has no part, and extension is that
which has divers separate parts.
According to these definitions, I affirm that two indivisibles united
do not make an extension.
For when they are united, they touch each other in some part;
and thus the parts whereby they come in contact are not separate,
since otherwise they would not touch each other. Now, by their
definition, they have no other parts; therefore they have no separate
parts; therefore they are not an extension by the definition of ex-
tension which involves the separation of parts.
The same thing will be shown of all the other indivisibles that
may be brought into junction, for the same reason. And consequently
an indivisible, multiplied as many times as we like, will not make
an extension. Therefore it is not of the same kind as extension, by
the definition of things of the same kind.
It is in this manner that we demonstrate that indivisibles are not
of the same species as numbers. Hence it arises that two units may
indeed make a number, because they are of the same kind; and that
two indivisibles do not make an extension, because they are not of
the same kind.
Hence we see how little reason there is in comparing the relation
that exists between unity and numbers with that which exists be-
tween indivisibles and extension.
436 PASCAL
But if we wish to take in numbers a comparison that represents
with accuracy what we are considering in extension, this must be
the relation of zero to numbers; for zero is not of the same kind as
numbers, since, being multiplied, it cannot exceed them: so that it
is the true indivisibility of number, as indivisibility is the true zero
of extension. And a like one will be found between rest and motion,
and between an instant and time; for all these things are hetero-
geneous in their magnitudes, since being infinitely multiplied, they
can never make any thing else than indivisibles, any more than the
indivisibles of extension, and for the same reason. And then we shall
find a perfect correspondence between these things; for all these
magnitudes are divisible ad infinitum, without ever falling into their
indivisibles, so that they all hold a middle place between infinity
and nothingness.
Such is the admirable relation that nature has established between
these things, and the two marvellous infinities which she has pro-
posed to mankind, not to comprehend, but to admire; and to finish
the consideration of this by a last remark, I will add that these two
infinites, although infinitely different, are notwithstanding relative
to each other, in such a manner that the knowledge of the one leads
necessarily to the knowledge of the other.
For in numbers, inasmuch as they can be continually augmented,
it absolutely follows that they can be continually diminished, and
this clearly; for if a number can be multiplied to 100,000, for ex-
ample, 100,000th part can also be taken from it, by dividing it by
the same number by which it is multiplied; and thus every term of
augmentation will become a term of division, by changing the whole
into a fraction. So that infinite augmentation also includes neces-
sarily infinite division.
And in space the same relation is seen between these two con-
trary infinites; that is, that inasmuch as a space can be infinitely
prolonged, it follows that it may be infinitely diminished, as appears
in this example: If we look through a glass at a vessel that recedes
continually in a straight line, it is evident that any point of the vessel
observed will continually advance by a perpetual flow in proportion
as the ship recedes. Therefore if the course of the vessel is extended
ad infinitum, this point will continually recede; and yet it will never
MINOR WORKS 437
reach that point in which the horizontal ray carried from the eye
to the glass shall fall, so that it will constantly approach it without
ever reaching it, unceasingly dividing the space which will remain
under this horizontal point without ever arriving at it. From which
is seen the necessary conclusion that is drawn from the infinity of
the extension of the course of the vessel to the infinite and infinitely
minute division of this little space remaining beneath this horizontal
point.
Those who will not be satisfied with these reasons, and will per-
sist in the belief that space is not divisible ad infinitum, can make
no pretensions to geometrical demonstrations, and although they
may be enlightened in other things, they will be very little in
this; for one can easily be a very capable man and a bad geome-
trician.
But those who clearly perceive these truths will be able to admire
the grandeur and power of nature in this double infinity that sur-
rounds us on all sides, and to learn by this marvellous consideration
to know themselves, in regarding themselves thus placed between
infinitude and a negation of extension, between an infinitude and
a negation of number, between an infinitude and a negation of
movement, between an infinitude and a negation of time. From
which we may learn to estimate ourselves at our true value, and to
form reflections which will be worth more than all the rest of
geometry itself.
I have thought myself obliged to enter into this long discussion
for the benefit of those who, not comprehending at first this double
infinity, are capable of being persuaded of it. And although there
may be many who have sufficient enlightenment to dispense with
it, it may nevertheless happen that this discourse which will be
necessary to the one will not be entirely useless to the other.
PREFACE TO THE TREATISE ON VACUUM
THE respect that we bear to antiquity is at the present day carried
to such a point on subjects in which it ought to have less weight,
that oracles are made of all its thoughts and mysteries, even of its
obscurities; that novelties can no longer be advanced without peril,
438 PASCAL
and that the text of an author suffices to destroy the strongest rea-
sons
Not that it is my intention to correct one error by another, and
not to esteem the ancients at all because others have esteemed them
too much.
I do not pretend to banish their authority in order to exalt rea-
soning alone, although others have sought to establish their authority
alone to the prejudice of reasoning
To make this important distinction with care, it is necessary to
consider that the former depend solely on memory and are purely
historical, having nothing for their object except to know what the
authors have written; the latter depend solely on reasoning and are
entirely dogmatic, having for their object to seek and discover con-
cealed truths.
Those of the former kind are limited, inasmuch as the books in
which they are contained
It is according to this distinction that we must regulate differently
the extent of this respect. The respect that we should have for ...
In matters in which we only seek to know what the authors have
written, as in history, geography, jurisprudence, languages, and
especially in theology; and in fine in all those which have for their
principle either simple facts or divine or human institutions, we
must necessarily have recourse to their books, since all that we can
know of them is therein contained, hence it is evident that we can
have full knowledge of them, and that it is not possible to add any
thing thereto.
If it is in question to know who was the first king of the French;
in what spot geographers place the first meridian; what words are
used in a dead language, and all things of this nature; what other
means than books can guide us to them? And who can add any
thing new to what they teach us, since we wish only to know what
they contain?
Authority alone can enlighten us on these. But the subject in
which authority has the principal weight is theology, because there
she is inseparable from truth, and we know it only through her: so
that to give full certainty to matters incomprehensible to reason, it
suffices to show them in the sacred books; as to show the uncertainty
MINOR WORKS 439
of the most probable things, it is only necessary to show that they
are not included therein; since its principles are superior to nature
and reason, and since, the mind of man being too weak to attain
them by its own efforts, he cannot reach these lofty conceptions if
he be not carried thither by an omnipotent and superhuman power.
It is not the same with subjects that fall under the senses and under
reasoning; authority here is useless; it belongs to reason alone to
know them. They have their separate rights: there the one has all
the advantage, here the other reigns in turn. But as subjects of this
kind are proportioned to the grasp of the mind, it finds full liberty
to extend them; its inexhaustible fertility produces continually, and
its inventions may be multiplied altogether without limit and with-
out interruption
It is thus that geometry, arithmetic, music, physics, medicine,
architecture, and all the sciences that are subject to experiment and
reasoning, should be augmented in order to become perfect. The
ancients found them merely outlined by those who preceded them;
and we shall leave them to those who will come after us in a more
finished state than we received them.
As their perfection depends on time and pains, it is evident that
although our pains and time may have acquired less than their
labors separate from ours, both joined together must nevertheless
have more effect than each one alone.
The clearing up of this difference should make us pity the blind-
ness of those who bring authority alone as proof in physical matters,
instead of reasoning or experiments; and inspire us with horror for
the wickedness of others who make use of reasoning alone in theol-
ogy, instead of the authority of the Scripture and the Fathers. We
must raise the courage of those timid people who dare invent nothing
in physics, and confound the insolence of those rash persons who
produce novelties in theology. Nevertheless the misfortune of the
age is such, that we see many new opinions in theology, unknown
to all antiquity, maintained with obstinacy and received with ap-
plause; whilst those that are produced in physics, though small in
number, should, it seems, be convicted of falsehood as soon as they
shock already received opinions in the slightest degree; as if the
respect that we have for the ancient philosophers were a duty, and
44 PASCAL
that which we bear to the most ancient of the Fathers solely a mat-
ter of courtesy! I leave it to judicious persons to remark the im-
portance of this abuse which perverts the order of the sciences with
so much injustice; and I think that there will be few who will not
wish that this liberty 1 might be applied to other matters, since new
inventions are infallible errors in the matters 2 which we profane
with impunity; and since they are absolutely necessary for the per-
fection of so many other subjects incomparably lower, which never-
theless we dare not approach.
Let us divide our credulity and suspicion with more justice, and
limit this respect we have for the ancients. As reason gives it birth,
she ought also to measure it; and let us consider that if they had
continued in this restraint of not daring to add any thing to the
knowledge which they had received, or if those of their times had
made the like difficulty in receiving the novelties which they offered
them, they would have deprived themselves and their posterity of
the fruit of their inventions.
As they only made use of that which had been bequeathed to
them as a means whereby to gain more, and as this happy daring
opened to them the way to great things, we should take that which
they acquired in the same manner, and by their example, make of
it the means and not the end of our study, and thus strive while
imitating to surpass them.
For what is more unjust than to treat our ancestors with more
deference than they showed to those who preceded them, and to
have for them that inviolable respect which they have only merited
from us because they had not the like for those who possessed the
same advantage over them?
The secrets of nature are concealed; although she is continually
working, we do not always discover her effects: time reveals them
from age to age, and although always alike in herself she is not
always alike known.
The experiments that give us the knowledge of these secrets are
multiplied continually; and as they are the sole principles of physics,
the consequences are multiplied in proportion.
1 The word here underlined, which we restore by conjecture, is blank in the
MS. Fatigere.
2 Here seems to be needed theological matters. Ibid.
MINOR WORKS 44!
It is in this manner that we may at the present day adopt different
sentiments and new opinions, without despising the ancients and 3
without ingratitude, since the first knowledge which they have
given us has served as a stepping-stone to our own, and since in
these advantages we are indebted to them for our ascendency over
them; because being raised by their aid to a certain degree, the
slightest effort causes us to mount still higher, and with less pains
and less glory we find ourselves above them. Thence it is that we
are enabled to discover things which it was impossible for them to
perceive. Our view is more extended, and although they knew as
well as we all that they could observe in nature, they did not, never-
theless, know it so well, and we see more than they.
Yet it is marvellous in what manner their sentiments are revered.
It is made a crime to contradict them and an act of treason to add
to them, as though they had left no more truths to be known.
Is not this to treat unworthily the reason of man and to put it
on a level with the instinct of animals, since we take away the
principal difference between them, which is that the effects of rea-
son accumulate without ceasing, whilst instinct remains always in
the same state? The cells of the bees were as correctly measured a
thousand years ago as to-day, and each formed a hexagon as exactly
the first time as the last. It is the same with all that the animals pro-
duce by this occult impulse. Nature instructs them in proportion as
necessity impels them; but this fragile science is lost with the wants
which give it birth : as they received it without study, they have not
the happiness of preserving it; and every time it is given them it is
new to them, since the . . . nature having for her object nothing
but the maintenance of animals in a limited order of perfection,
she inspires them with this necessary science . . . always the same,
lest they may fall into decay, and does not permit them to add to
it, lest they should exceed the limits that she has prescribed to them.
It is not the same with man, who is formed only for infinity. He is
ignorant at the earliest age of his life; but he is instructed unceasingly
in his progress; for he derives advantage, not only from his own ex-
perience, but also from that of his predecessors; since he always
3 Break of two or three words in the MS. We supply them by the words
italicized. Faugere.
44 2 PASCAL
retains in his memory the knowledge which he himself has once ac-
quired, and since he has that of the ancients ever present in the
books which they have bequeathed to him. And as he preserves
this knowledge, he can also add to it easily; so that men are at the
present day in some sort in the same condition in which those
ancient philosophers would have been found, could they have sur-
vived till the present time, adding to the knowledge which they
possessed that which their studies would have acquired by the aid
of so many centuries. Thence it is that by an especial prerogative,
not only does each man advance from day to day in the sciences, but
all mankind together make continual progress in proportion as the
world grows older, since the same thing happens in the succession of
men as in the different ages of single individuals. So that the whole
succession of men, during the course of many ages, should be con-
sidered as a single man who subsists forever and learns continually,
whence we see with what injustice we respect antiquity in philoso-
phers; for as old age is that period of life most remote from infancy,
who does not see that old age in this universal man ought not to be
sought in the times nearest his birth, but in those the most remote
from it ? Those whom we call ancient were really new in all things,
and properly constituted the infancy of mankind; and as we have
joined to their knowledge the experience of the centuries which have
followed them, it is in ourselves that we should find this antiquity
that we revere in others.
They should be admired for the results which they derived from
the very few principles they possessed, and they should be excused
for those in which they failed rather from the lack of the advantage
of experience than the strength of reasoning.
For were they not excusable in the idea that they entertained of
the milJ^y way, when, the weakness of their vision not having yet
received the assistance of art, they attributed this color to a greater
density in that part of the heavens which reflected the light more
strongly? But would we not be inexcusable for remaining in the
same opinion, now that, by the aid of the advantages procured us by
the telescope, we have discovered in it an infinite number of small
stars, whose more abundant splendor has revealed to us the true
cause of this whiteness!
MINOR WORKS 443
Had they not also cause for saying that all corruptible bodies were
inclosed within the orbit of the moon, when, during the course of so
many ages they had not yet remarked either corruption or genera-
tion outside of this space?
But ought we not to be assured of the contrary, when the whole
world has manifestly beheld comets kindle and disappear far beyond
the limits of that sphere ?
In the same way, in respect to vacuum, they had a right to say that
nature would not suffer it, since all their experiments had always
made them remark that she abhorred, and could not suffer it.
But if the modern experiments had been known to them, per-
haps they would have found cause for affirming what they found
cause for denying, for the reason that vacuum had not yet appeared.
Thus, in the judgment they formed that nature would not suffer
vacuum, they only heard nature spoken of in the condition in which
they knew her; since, to speak in general terms, it would not have
been sufficient to have seen it constantly in a hundred cases, a thou-
sand, or any other number, however great it may have been; since,
if a single case remained unexamined, this alone would suffice to
prevent the general definition, and if a single one was contrary, this
alone For in all matters the proof of
which consists in experiments, and not in demonstrations, we can
make no universal assertion, except by the general enumeration of
all the parts and all the different cases. Thus it is that when we say
that the diamond is the hardest of all bodies, we mean of all the
bodies with which we are acquainted, and we neither can nor ought
to comprehend in this assertion those with which we are not ac-
quainted; and when we say that gold is the heaviest of all bodies,
we should be presumptuous to comprehend in this general proposi-
tion those which have not yet come to our knowledge, although it
is not impossible that they may exist in nature.
In the same manner, when the ancients affirmed that nature would
not suffer a vacuum, they meant that she would not suffer it in any
of the experiments they had seen, and they could not, without
temerity, comprehend in it those which had not come to their knowl-
edge. Had they done so, they would doubtless have drawn from
them the same conclusions, and would, by their acknowledgment,
444 PASCAL
have sanctioned them by this antiquity which it is sought at present
to make the sole principle of the sciences.
Thus it is that, without contradicting them, we can affirm the con-
trary of what they say; and, whatever authority, in fine, this antiquity
may have, truth should always have more, although newly discovered,
since she is always older than all the opinions that we have had of her,
and it would be showing ourselves ignorant of her nature to imagine
that she may have begun to be at the time when she began to be
known.
NEW FRAGMENT OF THE TREATISE ON VACUUM
WHAT is there more absurd than to say that inanimate bodies
have passions, fears, horrors; that insensible bodies, without life, and
even incapable of it, may have passions which presuppose a soul at
least sensitive to experience them? Besides, if the object of this
horror were a vacuum, what is there in a vacuum that could make
them afraid? What is there meaner and more ridiculous?
This is not all; if they have in themselves a principle of motion to
shun a vacuum, have they arms, legs, muscles, nerves?
u
