perhaps qualified to convince an infidel who will say the same of
himself; but those who know the proofs of religion can prove without
difficulty that such a believer is truly inspired by God, though he
cannot prove it himself.
For God having said by his prophets, who are beyond a doubt prophets,
that in the reign of Jesus Christ he will spread his spirit abroad
among all nations, that the young men and maidens and the children of
the Church will prophesy, there is no doubt that the spirit of God is
upon these, and not upon the others.
Wonder not to see simple souls believe without reasoning. God gives
to them the love of him, and the hate of self, he inclines their
heart to belief. No man will ever believe with true and saving faith
if God incline not the heart, but each will believe as soon as he
inclines it And this is what David knew well: _Inclina cor meum,
Deus, in testimonia tua_.
Romans iii. 27: Boasting is excluded, by what law? Of works? no, but
by that of faith. Therefore faith is not in our power, like the
works of the law, and it is given us in another way.
Faith is a gift of God, do not suppose us to say it is a gift
of reason. Other religions do not say this of their faith, they
proffered only reason as a means of attaining to it, which after all
does not lead to it.
Faith, it is true, says what the senses do not say, but not the
contrary of what they perceive. It is above them, not contrary to
them.
I am envious of those whom I see professing the true faith, but
living and abusing a gift of which it seems to me I should make a
very different use.
The law imposed what it did not bestow; grace bestows that which it
imposes.
The law has not destroyed Nature, but has instructed it; grace has
not destroyed the law, but has called it into action.
Faith received at baptism is the source of the whole life of the
Christian and of the converted.
We make an idol of truth itself, for truth apart from charity is not
God, it is his image and idol, which we must neither love nor adore;
still less must we love and adore its opposite, which is falsehood.
Submission and use of reason, in which consists true Christianity.
The last process of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity
of things which transcend it; it is but weak if it does not go so far
as to know that.
And if natural things transcend it, what shall we say of the
supernatural?
_Submission._--We must know when to doubt, when to feel certain,
when to submit. Who fails in this understands not the force of
reason. There are those who offend against these three rules, either
by accepting everything as evidence, for want of knowing what
evidence is; or by doubting everything, for want of knowing when to
submit; or by yielding in everything, for want of knowing when to use
their judgment.
There are three means of belief; reason, habit, inspiration. The
Christian religion, which only has reason, does not admit as her true
children those who believe without inspiration; not that she excludes
reason or habit, rather the contrary, but it is necessary to open
the mind to proofs, to confirm ourselves by habit, and then to offer
ourselves humbly to inspiration, which alone can produce a true and
salutary effect. _Ne evacuetur crux Christi._
There are two ways of urging the truths of our religion; one by the
force of reason, the other by the authority of the speaker.
We use not the last, but the first. We do not say: "You must believe
this, for the Scripture which says so is divine," but we say: You
must believe for such and such a reason, which are weak arguments,
since reason bends itself to all.
If we submit all to reason our religion will have nothing in it
mysterious or supernatural. If we violate the principles of reason,
our religion will be absurd and ridiculous.
Saint Augustine. Reason would never submit if it did not judge that
on some occasions submission is a duty.
It is then right that it should submit, when it judges that it ought
to submit.
Piety is different from superstition.
To carry piety as far as superstition is to destroy it.
Heretics reproach us with this superstitious submission. This is to
do that with which they reproach us.
There is nothing so conformable to reason as the disavowal of reason.
Two excesses: to exclude reason, and to admit reason only.
Superstition and lust. Scruples, evil desires, evil fear.
Fear, not such as arises from a belief in God, but that which springs
from doubt whether he is or is not. True fear comes from faith, false
fear from doubt. True fear is allied to hope, because it is born of
faith, and because men hope in the God in whom they behave; false
fear is allied to despair, because they fear the God in whom they do
not believe. The one class fears to lose him, the other fears to find
him.
A person said to me one day that when he came from confession he
felt great joy and confidence. Another said to me that he was still
fearful, whereupon I thought that these two together would make one
good man, and that each was so far wanting in that he had not the
feelings of the other. The same is often true in other matters.
The knowledge of God is very far from the love of him.
We are not wearied of eating and sleeping every day, because hunger
and drowsiness are renewed; without that we should be weary of them.
Thus without the hunger of spiritual things we grow weary of them.
Hunger after righteousness, the eighth beatitude.
The conduct of God, who disposes all things gently, 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 menace is not to
put religion there, but terror, _terrorem potius quam religionem_.
_THE ARRANGEMENT._
_First part_: Misery of man without God.
_Second part_: The happiness of man with God.
Or. _First part_: That Nature is naturally corrupt.
_Second part_: That the Scripture shows a Redeemer.
_The arrangement by dialogues._--What ought I to do? I see only
obscurity everywhere. Shall I believe that I am nothing, shall I
believe that I am God?
All things change and succeed each other.--You are mistaken; there
is....
A letter to lead to the search after God.
And then to cause him to be sought for among the philosophers,
sceptics and dogmatists, who trouble all who seek them.
To pity those atheists who seek, for are they not unhappy enough?--To
rail against those who make a boast of it.
To begin by pitying unbelievers, they are miserable enough by their
condition. We ought not to revile them except where it may be
serviceable, but it does them harm.
_The arrangement._ A letter of advice to a friend to lead him to
seek, and he will answer: What is the good of seeking, since nothing
comes to light.--Then to answer him: "Do not despair."--And he will
answer that he would be glad to find some light, but that according
to this very Religion, thus to believe, will be of no use to him: and
that therefore he would as soon not seek. And to answer to that: The
machine.
_The arrangement._ After the letter _that we ought to seek God_,
to write the letter on _the removal of obstacles_; which is the
discourse on the machine, on preparing the machine, on seeking by
reason.
_The letter which shows the use of proofs by the machine._ Faith is
different from proof; the one is human, the other the gift of God.
_Justus ex fide vivit._ 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 say not _scio_,
but _credo_.
In the letter _on Injustice_ may come the absurdity of the rule
that the elder takes all. My friend, you were born on this side the
mountain, it is therefore just that your elder brother should take
all.
_The arrangement._--Why should I take on myself to divide my moral
qualities 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 _Follow nature_, or, _Conduct your private
affairs without injustice_, as Plato, or anything else?
But there, you will say, is everything contained in one word. Yes,
but that is useless, if not explained, and when we begin to explain
it, as soon as the precept is opened which contains all the others,
they issue in that first confusion which you wished to avoid. Thus
when they are all enclosed in one they are concealed and useless, as
in a box, and never appear but in their natural confusion. Nature has
established them all without enclosing one in the other.
_The arrangement._--Men despise Religion, they hate it, and fear it
may be true. To cure this we must begin by showing that Religion is
not contrary to reason; then that it is venerable, to give respect
for it; then to make it lovable, to make good men hope that it is
true; then to show that it is true.
Venerable because it knows man well, lovable because it promises the
true good.
_The arrangement._--I should be far more afraid of making a mistake
myself, and of finding that the Christian religion was true, than of
not deceiving myself in believing it true.
_The arrangement._--_After_ corruption to say: "It is right that
those who are in that state should know it, both those who are
contented with it, and those who are discontented; but it is not
right that all should see Redemption."
_The arrangement._--To see what is clear and indisputable in the
whole state of the Jews.
To the chapter on _Fundamentals_ must be added that on _Things
figurative_ touching the reason of types. Why Jesus Christ was
foretold at his first coming, why foretold obscurely as to the manner.
A letter, on the folly of human knowledge and philosophy.
This letter before _Diversion_.
_The arrangement._--I might well have taken this discourse in some
such order as the following: To show the vanity of every state of
life, 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 know it. No
human science can keep it. Saint Thomas did not keep it. Mathematics
keep it, but these are useless by reason of their depth.
Without examining each particular occupation it will be enough to
class them under Diversion.
_OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL._
_THE MIRACLE OF THE HOLY THORN._
_The beginning._--Miracles are the test of doctrine, and doctrine is
the test of miracles.
Of these there are false and true. There must be a mark whereby to
know them, or they would be useless.
Now they are not useless, and are on the contrary fundamental Now
it must be that the rule which he gives us be such as shall not
impair the proof afforded by true miracles to the truth, which is the
principal end of miracles.
Moses has given two; 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 regulate miracles, miracles are useless for doctrine.
If miracles regulate....
_Objection to the rule._
Discrimination between times. One rule in Moses's day, another at
present.
Miracle. An effect which exceeds the natural force of the means
employed, and non-miracle an effect not exceeding the natural force
of the means employed. Thus those who heal by invocation of the devil
work no miracle, for that does not exceed the natural power of the
devil But....
The combinations of miracles.
A second miracle may suppose a first, but a first cannot suppose a
second.
No one has ever suffered martyrdom for the miracles he says he has
seen; the folly of men would perhaps go as far as martyrdom, for
those which the Turks believe by tradition, but not for those they
have seen.
Were there no false miracles there would be certainty.
Were there no rule to test them, miracles would be useless, and there
would be no reason for belief.
Now, humanly speaking, there is no human certainty, but reason.
It is said: _Believe 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.
_Miracles._--How I hate those who make men doubt of miracles.
Montaigne speaks of them as he should in the two passages. In one we
see how careful he is, yet in the other he believes, and laughs at
unbelievers.
However it may be, the Church has no proofs if they are right.
Montaigne against miracles.
Montaigne for miracles.
_The reason why men do not believe._
Joh. xii. 37. _Cum autem tanta signa fecisset, non credebant in eum,
ut sermo Isaye impleretur. Excecavit, etc._
_Hæc dixit Isaias, quando vidit gloriam ejus, et locutus est de eo._
--_Judæi signa petunt, et Græci sapientiam quærunt._
_Nos autem Jesum crucifixum._
_Sed plenum signis, sed plenum sapientia._
_Vos autem Christum non crucifixistis, et religionem sine miraculis
et sine sapientia._
The ground of disbelief in true miracles is want of charity. Joh.
_Sed vos non creditis quia non estis ex ovibus._ The ground of belief
in false miracles is want of charity.
2 Thess. ii.
The foundation of religion. This is miracle. Does God then speak
against miracles, against the foundations of the faith which we have
in him?
If there be a God, faith in God must exist on earth. Now the miracles
of Jesus Christ are not foretold by Antichrist, but the miracles
of Antichrist are foretold by Jesus Christ. Thus if Jesus Christ
were not the Messiah he would have certainly led into error, but
Antichrist could not certainly lead into error.
When Jesus Christ foretold the miracles of Antichrist, did he think
of destroying faith in his own miracles?
Moses foretold Jesus Christ, and commanded to follow him; Jesus
Christ foretold Antichrist, and forbade to follow him.
It was impossible that in the time of Moses any should assert their
faith in Antichrist, who was unknown to them, but it is easy in the
time of Antichrist to believe in Jesus Christ, already known.
There is no reason to believe in Antichrist which there is not to
believe in Jesus Christ, but there are reasons for believing in Jesus
Christ, which do not exist for the other.
_Title: How it happens that men believe so many liars, who say they
have seen miracles, and do not believe any of those who say they have
secrets to make men immortal or render them young again._--Having
considered how it happens that men have believed so many impostors,
who pretend they have remedies, often to the length of putting their
lives into their hands, it appears to me that the true cause is that
there are true remedies. For it would not be possible there should
be so many false, to which so much credence is given, were there
none true. Were there no remedy for any evil, and were all diseases
incurable, it is impossible that men should ever have imagined that
they could give remedies, and still more impossible that so many
others should have believed those who boasted that they had them.
Just as if a man boasted that he could prevent death, no one would
believe him because there is no example of this. But as there are a
number of remedies which are approved as true, even by the knowledge
of the greatest men, the belief of men is thereby inclined; and
since the thing was known to be possible, it has been therefore
concluded that it was. For the public as a rule reasons thus: A thing
is possible, therefore it is; because the thing cannot be denied
generally, since there are particular effects which are true, the
people, who cannot discriminate which among particular effects are
true, believe them all. This is the reason that so many false effects
are attributed to the moon, because there are some true, such as the
tide.
It is the same with prophecies, miracles, divination by dreams,
casting lots, etc. For if in all these matters nothing true had ever
taken place, nothing of them had ever been believed; and so instead
of concluding that there are no true miracles, because so many are
false, we must on the contrary say that there are certainly true
miracles because there are false, and that the false only exist
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 had there not been one that is true. The objection to
this is that savages have a religion, but we answer that they have
heard speak of the true, as appears by the deluge, circumcision,
Saint Andrew's cross, etc.
Having considered how it comes that there are so many false miracles,
false revelations, castings of lots, etc., it has appeared to me
that the real cause is that there are true ones, for it would not be
possible that there should be so many false miracles unless there
were true, nor so many false revelations unless there were true,
nor so many false religions unless there were one that is true. For
if all this had never been, it is 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 which are
true and as they have been believed by great men; this impression
has been produced, that almost everybody has been made capable of
believing the false also; and thus instead of concluding that there
are no true miracles since there are so many false, we must on the
contrary say that there are true miracles since there are so many
false, and that false miracles only exist for the reason that there
are true; so also that there are false religions only because there
is one that is true.--The objection to this is that savages have a
religion. But this is because they have heard speak of the true,
as appears by Saint Andrew's cross, the deluge, the circumcision,
etc.--This comes from the fact that the spirit of man, finding
itself inclined to that side by truth, becomes therefore susceptible
of all the falsehoods of that....
I should not be a Christian were it not for the miracles, said Saint
Augustine.
But for the miracles there would have been no sin in not believing in
Jesus Christ.
It is not possible to believe reasonably against miracles.
Miracles have so great a force that it was needful that God should
warn us not to credit them against him, clear as it may be that there
is a God; without this they would have been able to disturb.
And thus so far from these passages, Deut. xiii., making against the
authority of miracles, nothing more marks their force. The same with
Antichrist; "to seduce if it were possible even the very elect."
Abraham and Gideon are above revelation.
The Jews blinded themselves in judging of miracles by the Scripture.
God has never left his true worshippers.
I prefer to follow Jesus Christ than any other, because he has
miracle, prophecy, doctrine, perpetuity, etc.
The Donatists. No miracle which obliged them to say it was the devil.
The more we specialise God, Jesus Christ and the Church.
Jesus Christ worked miracles, then the apostles, and the early saints
in great number, because the prophecies not being yet fulfilled,
but only in the way of fulfilment by them, miracles were their only
witness. It was foretold that the Messiah should convert the nations,
and this prophecy could not be fulfilled without the conversion of
the nations. Nor could the nations be converted to Messiah unless
they saw the final effect of the prophecies concerning him. Till
therefore he died and rose again, and had converted the nations, all
was not fulfilled, wherefore miracles were needed during that time.
We now need no more miracles against the Jews, for the fulfilment of
prophecy is an enduring miracle.
Prophecy is not called _miracle_, as Saint John speaks of the first
miracle in Cana, then of what Jesus Christ said to the woman of
Samaria, revealing to her all her hidden life. Then he healed the
centurion's son, and Saint John calls this the second sign.
Jesus Christ has verified that he was the Messiah, never in verifying
his doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but always by his
miracles.
He proves by a miracle that he remits sins.
Rejoice not that you work miracles, said Jesus Christ, but rather
that your names are written in heaven.
If they believe not Moses, neither will they believe one risen from
the dead.
Nicodemus recognised by his miracles, that his doctrine was of God.
_Scimus quia venisti a Deo, magister, nemo enim potest facere quæ tu
facis, nisi Deus fuerit cum eo._ He judged not of the miracles by the
doctrine, but of the doctrine by the miracles.
Here is no country for truth, she wanders unknown among men. God has
covered her with a veil which leaves her unrecognised by those who
hear not her voice; the way is open for blasphemy even against those
truths which are at the least very apparent. If the truths of the
Gospel are published, the contrary is also published, and questions
are obscured, so that the people cannot discern, and they ask us,
"What have you to make you believed rather than others? what sign
do you give? you have words only, so have we, if you have miracles,
good." That doctrine must be supported by miracle is a truth of which
they make a pretext to blaspheme against doctrine. And if miracles
happen, it is said that miracles are not enough without doctrine, and
that is another way of blaspheming against miracles.
Jesus Christ healed the man born blind, and worked many miracles
on the sabbath day, and thus he blinded the Pharisees who said that
miracles must be tested by doctrine.
"We have Moses, but as for this man, we know not whence he is." It
is wonderful that you know not whence he is, and yet he works 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. Whoever will be a secret enemy, God will not permit that he
work miracles openly.
In a public dispute where the two parties declare themselves on the
side of God, of Jesus Christ, or the Church, there have never been
miracles on the side of the false Christians, while the other party
has remained without 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 Scripture
are not decisive, for they say only that Moses foretold that a
prophet would come; but they do not thereby prove that Jesus Christ
was that prophet, which is the whole question. These passages, then,
serve only to show that we are not contrary to Scripture, and that
there is no contradiction, not that there is accord. Now this is
enough, there is no contradiction; and there are miracles.
It follows, then, that he judged miracles to be certain proofs of
what he taught, and that the Jews were bound to believe him. And as a
fact, it was the miracles especially which made the unbelief of the
Jews so blameworthy.
There is a reciprocal duty between God and men. We must forgive him
this saying: _Quid debui_. "Accuse me," said God in Isaiah.
God must accomplish his promises, etc.
Men owe it to God to receive the Religion which he sends them. God
owes it to men not to lead them into error. Now they would be led
into error, if the workers of miracles should announce a doctrine
which did not appear visibly false to the light of common sense, and
if a greater worker of miracles had not already given warning not to
believe in them.
Thus if there were division in the Church, and the Arians, for
example, who no less than Catholics said they were founded on
Scripture, had worked miracles, and the Catholics had worked none,
men had been led into error.
For, as a man, who announces to us the secret things of God is not
worthy to be believed on his private testimony, and on that very
ground the wicked doubt him; so when a man as a sign of the communion
which he has with God raises the dead, foretells the future, moves
the seas, heals the sick, there is none so wicked as not to yield,
and the incredulity of Pharaoh and the Pharisees is the effect of a
supernatural hardening.
When, therefore, we see miracles and doctrine not open to suspicion
both on one side, there is no difficulty. But when we see miracles
and suspicious doctrine on the same side we must see which is the
clearest. Jesus Christ was suspected.
Barjesus was blinded. The power of God is above that of his enemies.
The Jewish exorcists were beaten by devils, who said, "Jesus we know,
and Paul we know, but who are ye?"
Miracles are for doctrine, and not doctrine for miracles.
But if miracles are true we cannot persuade men of all doctrine, for
that will not come to pass: _Si angelus_....