APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS
856
_Clearness, obscurity._--There would be too great darkness, if truth had
not visible signs. This is a wonderful one, 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.
857
The history of the Church ought properly to be called the history of
truth.
858
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.
859
In addition to so many other signs of piety, they[359] are also
persecuted, which is the best sign of piety.
860
The Church is in an excellent state, when it is sustained by God only.
861
The Church has always been attacked by opposite errors, but perhaps
never at the same time, as now. And if she suffer more because 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_,[360] etc. _Responde. Ne
respondeas_,[361] etc.
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 righteous, (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, etc.).
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.
1st 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 consubstantial with that
of the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ is therein really present. That is
one truth. Another is that this Sacrament is 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 excluding 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 presence; 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 ...
862
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.
863
Truth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that
unless we love the truth, we cannot know it.
864
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 profession of the two.
865
Two kinds of people make things equal to one another, as feasts to
working days, Christians to priests, all things among them, etc. 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.
866
If the ancient Church was in error, the Church is fallen. If she should
be in error to-day, 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 prevail and
correct all. But the ancient Church did not assume the future Church,
and did not consider her, as we assume and consider the ancient.
867
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,[362] 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 actually 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 disturbed the peace, that they created schism, etc.
Zeal, light. Four kinds of persons: zeal without knowledge; knowledge
without zeal; neither knowledge nor zeal; both zeal and knowledge. The
first three condemned him. The last acquitted him, were excommunicated
by the Church, and yet saved the Church.
868
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.
869
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 parliament of the king, but a
rebellious assembly.
870
_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 considered
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.
871
The Pope is head. Who else is known of all? Who else is recognised by
all, having power to insinuate himself into all the body, because he
holds the principal shoot, which insinuates itself everywhere? How easy
it was to make this degenerate into tyranny! That is why Christ has laid
down for them this precept: _Vos autem non sic._[363]
872
The Pope hates and fears the learned, who do not submit to him at will.
873
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 aut tres in unum._[364] 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.
874
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?
875
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.
876
Kings dispose of their own power; but the Popes cannot dispose of
theirs.
877
_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.
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 spiritual quality
of which men dispose as they please, they have placed justice 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,[365] which raises its alleged justice against power. It is not
the same in the Church, for there is a true justice and no violence.
878
_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 oves
meas_,[366] non _tuas_. You owe me pasturage.
879
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.
880
The Church teaches, and God inspires, both infallibly. The work of the
Church is of use only as a preparation for grace or condemnation. What
it does is enough for condemnation, not for inspiration.
881
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.
882
The wretches who have obliged me to speak of the basis of religion.
883
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!
884
Any one is made a priest, who wants to be so, as under Jeroboam.[367]
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!
885
_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 heathen say the same as he.
886
The Jansenists are like the heretics in the reformation of morality; but
you are like them in evil.
887
You are ignorant of the prophecies, if you do not know that all this
must happen; princes, prophets, Pope, and even the priests. And 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.
888
... 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 consisting 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 corruption.
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 Christians, 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 temptations would arise from people of this
kind; 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.
889
Tertullian: _Nunquam Ecclesia reformabitur._
890
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.
891
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.
892
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.
893
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.
894
Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from
religious conviction.
895
It is in vain that the Church has established these words, anathemas,
heresies, etc. They are used against her.
896
The servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, for the master tells him
only the act and not the intention.[368] 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.
897
They cannot have perpetuity, and they seek universality; and therefore
they make the whole Church corrupt, that they may be saints.
898
_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."[369]
And of these others: "He that is not against you is for you."[370] A
person who says: "I am neither for nor against", we ought to reply to
him ...
899
He who will give the meaning of Scripture, and does not take it from
Scripture, is an enemy of Scripture. (Aug., _De Doct. Christ._)
900
_Humilibus dat gratiam; an ideo non dedit humilitatem?[371]
Sui eum non receperunt; quotquot autem non receperunt an non erant
sui?_[372]
901
"It must indeed be," says Feuillant, "that this is not so certain; for
controversy indicates uncertainty, (Saint Athanasius, Saint Chrysostom,
morals, unbelievers)."
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.
902
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 precepts 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."[373]
903
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 exception, so
that you do not even want the rule to be exceptional.
904
_On confessions and absolutions without signs of regret._
God regards only the inward; the Church judges only by the outward. 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 holiness, 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 hypocrites among them, but so well disguised that
she does not discover their venom, she tolerates them; for, though they
are not accepted 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 dissolute, 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.
905
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.
906
The casuists submit the decision to the corrupt reason, and the choice
of decisions to the corrupt will, in order that all that is corrupt in
the nature of man may contribute to his conduct.
907
But is it _probable_ that _probability_ gives assurance?
Difference between rest and security of conscience. Nothing gives
certainty but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for
truth.
908
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.
Thus they will be doubly culpable, both in having followed ways which
they should not have followed, and in having listened to teachers to
whom they should not have listened.
909
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?
910
Must we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make both
parties wicked instead of one. _Vince in bono malum._[374] (Saint
Augustine.)
911
_Universal._--Ethics and language are special, but universal sciences.
912
_Probability._--Each one can employ it; no one can take it away.
913
They allow lust to act, and check scruples; whereas they should do the
contrary.
914
_Montalte._[375]--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
recompense is offered to the morality of Escobar.
915
_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!
916
_Probability._[376]--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).
917
Take away _probability_, and you can no longer please the world; give
_probability_, and you can no longer displease it.
918
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
magistros._[377] Worthy disciples of such masters, they have sought
flatterers, and have found them.
919
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 reasonable, but not
more holy. They take after the wild stem on which they are grafted.
If what I say does not serve to enlighten you, it will be of use to the
people.
If these[378] 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[379] 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_.
If my Letters are condemned at Rome, that which I condemn in them is
condemned in heaven. _Ad tuum, Domine Jesu, tribunal appello._
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 censure
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 certitude;
for, after having established that all their ways are sure, they have no
longer called that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not
arriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger of going
out of that road.
920
... 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 deceived men by this apparent resemblance
based upon the most different foundation.
Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished 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
necessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime_ ...
_Doctrina sua noscitur vir_ ...
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
persecutions. 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 ...
921
_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 poison
me. It is _probable_ that I shall not lose my action by not prosecuting
it ...
922
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 sacrament.
923
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.
NOTES
The following brief notes are mainly based on those of M. Brunschvicg.
But those of MM. Faugere, Molinier, and Havet have also been consulted.
The biblical references are to the Authorised English Version. Those in
the text are to the Vulgate, except where it has seemed advisable to
alter the reference to the English Version.
[1] P. 1, l. 1. _The difference between the mathematical and the
intuitive mind._--Pascal is here distinguishing the logical or
discursive type of mind, a good example of which is found in
mathematical reasoning, and what we should call the intuitive type
of mind, which sees everything at a glance. A practical man of sound
judgment exemplifies the latter; for he is in fact guided by
impressions of past experience, and does not consciously reason from
general principles.
[2] P. 2, l. 34. _There are different kinds_, etc.--This is probably a
subdivision of the discursive type of mind.
[3] P. 3, l. 31. _By rule._--This is an emendation by M. Brunschvicg.
The MS. has _sans regle_.
[4] P. 4, l. 3. _I judge by my watch._--Pascal is said to have always
carried a watch attached to his left wrist-band.
[5] P. 5, l. 21. _Scaramouch._--A traditional character in Italian
comedy.
[6] P. 5, l. 22. _The doctor._--Also a traditional character in Italian
comedy.
[7] P. 5, l. 24. _Cleobuline._--Princess, and afterwards Queen of
Corinth, figures in the romance of Mademoiselle de Scudery, entitled
_Artamene ou le Grand Cyrus_. She is enamoured of one of her
subjects, Myrinthe. But she "loved him without thinking of love; and
remained so long in that error, that this affection was no longer in
a state to be overcome, when she became aware of it." The character
is supposed to have been drawn from Christina of Sweden.
[8] P. 6, l. 21. _Rivers are_, etc.--Apparently suggested by a chapter
in Rabelais: _How we descended in the isle of Odes, in which the
roads walk_.
[9] P. 6, l. 30. _Salomon de Tultie._--A pseudonym adopted by Pascal as
the author of the _Provincial Letters_.
[10] P. 7, l. 7. _Abstine et sustine._--A maxim of the Stoics.
[11] P. 7, l. 8. _Follow nature._--The maxim in which the Stoics summed
up their positive ethical teaching.
[12] P. 7, l. 9. _As Plato._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 9.
[13] P. 9, l. 29. _We call this jargon poetical beauty._--According to
M. Havet, Pascal refers here to Malherbe and his school.
[14] P. 10, l. 23. _Ne quid nimis._--Nothing in excess, a celebrated
maxim in ancient Greek philosophy.
[15] P. 11, l. 26. _That epigram about two one-eyed people._--M. Havet
points out that this is not Martial's, but is to be found in
_Epigrammatum Delectus_, published by Port-Royal in 1659.
_Lumine AEon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro,
Et potis est forma vincere uterque deos.
Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti,
Sic tu caecus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus._
[16] P. 11, l. 29. _Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta._--Horace, _De Arte
Poetica_, 447.
[17] P. 13, l. 2. _Cartesian._--One who follows the philosophy of
Descartes (1596-1650), "the father of modern philosophy."
[18] P. 13, l. 8. _Le Maitre._--A famous French advocate in Pascal's
time. His _Plaidoyers el Harangues_ appeared in 1657. _Plaidoyer
VI_ is entitled _Pour un fils mis en religion par force_, and on
the first page occurs the word _repandre_: "_Dieu qui repand des
aveuglements et des tenebres sur les passions illegitimes._"
Pascal's reference is probably to this passage.
[19] P. 13, l. 12. _The Cardinal._--Mazarin. He was one of those
statesmen who do not like condolences.
[20] P. 14, l. 12. _Saint Thomas._--Thomas Aquinas (1223-74), one of the
greatest scholastic philosophers.
[21] P. 14, l. 16. _Charron._--A friend of Montaigne. His _Traite de la
Sagesse_ (1601), which is not a large book, contains 117 chapters,
each of which is subdivided.
[22] P. 14, l. 17. _Of the confusion of Montaigne._--The Essays of
Montaigne follow each other without any kind of order.
[23] P. 14, l. 27. _Mademoiselle de Gournay._--The adopted daughter of
Montaigne. She published in 1595 an edition of his _Essais_, and,
in a Preface (added later), she defends him on this point.
[24] P. 15, l. 1. _People without eyes._--Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[25] P. 15, l. 1. _Squaring the circle._--Ibid., ii, 14.
[26] P. 15, l. 1. _A greater world._--Ibid., ii, 12.
[27] P. 15, l. 2. _On suicide and on death._--Ibid., ii, 3.
[28] P. 15, l. 3. _Without fear and without repentance._--Ibid., iii.,
2.
[29] P. 15, l. 7. (730, 231).--These two references of Pascal are to the
edition of the _Essais_ of Montaigne, published in 1636.
[30] P. 16, l. 32. _The centre which is everywhere, and the
circumference nowhere._--M. Havet traces this saying to Empedocles.
Pascal must have read it in Mlle de Gournay's preface to her
edition of Montaigne's _Essais_.
[31] P. 18, l. 33. _I will speak of the whole._--This saying of
Democritus is quoted by Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[32] P. 18, l. 37. _Principles of Philosophy._--The title of one of
Descartes's philosophical writings, published in 1644. See note on
p. 13, l. 8 above.
[33] P. 18, l. 39. _De omni scibili._--The title under which Pico della
Mirandola announced nine hundred propositions which he proposed to
uphold publicly at Rome in 1486.
[34] P. 19, l. 26. _Beneficia eo usque laeta sunt._--Tacitus, _Ann._,
lib. iv, c. xviii. Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 8.
[35] P. 21, l. 35. _Modus quo_, etc.--St. Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, xxi,
10. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[36] P. 22, l. 8. _Felix qui_, etc.--Virgil, _Georgics_, ii, 489, quoted
by Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 10.
[37] P. 22, l. 10. _Nihil admirari_, etc.--Horace, _Epistles_, I. vi. 1.
Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 10.
[38] P. 22, l. 19. 394.--A reference to Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[39] P. 22, l. 20. 395.--Ibid.
[40] P. 22, l. 22. 399.--Ibid.
[41] P. 22, l. 28. _Harum sententiarum._--Cicero, _Tusc._, i, 11,
Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[42] P. 22, l. 39. _Felix qui_, etc.--See above, notes on p. 22, l. 8
and l. 10.
[43] P. 22, l. 40. 280 _kinds of sovereign good in
Montaigne._--_Essais_, ii, 12.
[44] P. 23, l. 1. _Part I_, 1, 2, _c_. 1, _section_ 4.--This reference
is to Pascal's _Traite du vide_.
[45] P. 23, l. 25. _How comes it_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 8.
[46] P. 23, l. 29. See Epictetus, _Diss._, iv, 6. He was a great Roman
Stoic in the time of Domitian.
[47] P. 24, l. 9. _It is natural_, etc.--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i,
4.
[48] P. 24, l. 12. _Imagination._--This fragment is suggestive of
Montaigne. See _Essais_, iii, 8.
[49] P. 25, l. 16. _If the greatest philosopher_, etc. See Raymond
Sebond's _Apologie_, from which Pascal has derived his
illustrations.
[50] P. 26, l. 1. _Furry cats._--Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 8.
[51] P. 26, l. 31. _Della opinione_, etc.--No work is known under this
name. It may refer to a treatise by Carlo Flori, which bears a
title like this. But its date (1690) is after Pascal's death
(1662), though there may have been earlier editions.
[52] P. 27, l. 12. _Source of error in diseases._--Montaigne, _Essais_,
ii, 12.
[53] P. 27, l. 27. _They rival each other_, etc.--Ibid.
[54] P. 28, l. 31. _Nae iste_, etc.--Terence, _Heaut._, IV, i, 8.
Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 1.
[55] P. 28, l. 15. _Quasi quidquam_, etc.--Plin., ii, 7. Montaigne,
ibid.
[56] P. 28, l. 29. _Quod crebro_, etc.--Cicero, _De Divin._, ii, 49.
[57] P. 29, l. 1. _Spongia solis._--The spots on the sun. Pascal sees in
them the beginning of the darkening of the sun, and thinks that
there will therefore come a day when there will be no sun.
[58] P. 29, l. 15. _Custom is a second nature_, etc.--Montaigne,
_Essais_, i, 22.
[59] P. 29, l. 19. _Omne animal._--See Genesis vii, 14.
[60] P. 30, l. 22. _Hence savages_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 22.
[61] P. 32, l. 3. _A great part of Europe_, etc.--An allusion to the
Reformation.
[62] P. 33, l. 13. _Alexander's chastity._--Pascal apparently has in
mind Alexander's treatment of Darius's wife and daughters after the
battle of Issus.
[63] P. 34, l. 17. _Lustravit lampade terras._--Part of Cicero's
translation of two lines from Homer, _Odyssey_, xviii, 136.
Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
_Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse
Jupiter auctiferas lustravit lampade terras._
[64] P. 34, l. 32. _Nature gives_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.
[65] P. 37, l. 23. _Our nature consists_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_,
iii, 13.
[66] P. 38, l. 1. _Weariness._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[67] P. 38, l. 8. _Caesar was too old_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_,
ii, 34.
[68] P. 38, l. 30. _A mere trifle_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 4.
[69] P. 40, l. 21. _Advice given to Pyrrhus._--Ibid., i, 42.
[70] P. 41, l. 2. _They do not know_, etc.--Ibid., i, 19.
[71] P. 44, l. 14. _They are_, etc.--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 38.
[72] P. 46, l. 7. _Those who write_, etc.--A thought of Cicero in _Pro
Archia_, mentioned by Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 41.
[73] P. 47, l. 3. _Ferox gens._--Livy, xxxiv, 17. Montaigne, _Essais_,
i, 40.
[74] P. 47, l. 5. _Every opinion_, etc.--Montaigne, ibid.
[75] P. 47, l. 12. 184.--This is a reference to Montaigne, _Essais_, i,
40. See also ibid., iii, 10.
[76] P. 48, l. 8. _I know not what (Corneille)._--See _Medee,_ II, vi,
and _Rodogune_, I, v.
[77] P. 48, l. 22. _In omnibus requiem quaesivi._--Eccles. xxiv, II, in
the Vulgate.
[78] P. 50, l. 5. _The future alone is our end._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i,
3.
[79] P. 50, l. 14. _Solomon._--Considered by Pascal as the author of
Ecclesiastes.
[80] P. 50, l. 20. _Unconscious of approaching fever._--Compare
Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.
[81] P. 50, l. 22. _Cromwell._--Cromwell died in 1658 of a fever, and
not of the gravel. The Restoration took place in 1660, and this
fragment was written about that date.
[82] P. 50, l. 28. _The three hosts._--Charles I was beheaded in 1649;
Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated in 1654; Jean Casimir, King of
Poland, was deposed in 1656.
[83] P. 50, l. 32. _Macrobius._--A Latin writer of the fifth century. He
was a Neo-Platonist in philosophy. One of his works is entitled
_Saturnalia_.
[84] P. 51, l. 5. _The great and the humble_, etc.--See Montaigne,
_Essais_, ii, 12.
[85] P. 53, l. 5. _Miton._--A man of fashion in Paris known to Pascal.
[86] P. 53, l. 15. _Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.
[87] P. 60, l. 26. _Fascinatio nugacitatis._--Book of Wisdom iv, 12.
[88] P. 61, l. 10. _Memoria hospitis_, etc.--Book of Wisdom v, 15.
[89] P. 62, l. 5. _Instability._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 12.
[90] P. 66, l. 19. _Foolishness, stultitium._--I Cor. i, 18.
[91] P. 71, l. 5. _To prove Divinity from the works of nature._--A
traditional argument of the Stoics like Cicero and Seneca, and of
rationalist theologians like Raymond Sebond, Charron, etc. It is
the argument from Design in modern philosophy.
[92] P. 71, l. 27. _Nemo novit_, etc.--Matthew xi, 27. In the Vulgate,
it is _Neque patrem quis novit_, etc. Pascal's biblical quotations
are often incorrect. Many seem to have been made from memory.
[93] P. 71, l. 30. _Those who seek God find Him._--Matthew vii, 7.
[94] P. 72, l. 3. _Vere tu es Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.
[95] P. 72, l. 22. _Ne evacuetur crux Christi._--I Cor. i, 17. In the
Vulgate we have_ut non_ instead of _ne_.
[96] P. 72, l. 25. _The machine._--A Cartesian expression. Descartes
considered animals as mere automata. According to Pascal, whatever
does not proceed in us from reflective thought is a product of a
necessary mechanism, which has its root in the body, and which is
continued into the mind in imagination and the passions. It is
therefore necessary for man so to alter, and adjust this mechanism,
that it will always follow, and not obstruct, the good will.
[97] P. 73, l. 3. _Justus ex fide vivit._--Romans i, 17.
[98] P. 73, l. 5. _Fides ex auditu._--Romans x, 17.
[99] P. 73, l. 12. _The creature._--What is purely natural in us.
[100] P. 74, l. 15. _Inclina cor meum, Deus._--Ps. cxix, 36.
[101] P. 75, l. 11. _Unus quisque sibi Deum fingit._--See Book of Wisdom
xv, 6, 16.
[102] P. 76, l. 34. _Eighth beatitude._--Matthew v, 10. It is to the
fourth beatitude that the thought directly refers.
[103] P. 77, l. 6. _One thousand and twenty-eight._--The number of the
stars according to Ptolemy's catalogue.
[104] P. 77, l. 29. _Saint Augustine._--_Epist._ cxx, 3.
[105] P. 78, l. 1. _Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli._--Matthew xviii, 3.
[106] P. 80, l. 20. _Inclina cor meum, Deus, in_....--Ps. cxix, 36.
[107] P. 80, l. 22. _Its establishment._--The constitution of the
Christian Church.
[108] P. 81, l. 20. _The youths and maidens and children of the Church
would prophesy._--Joel ii, 28.
[109] P. 83, l. 11. _On what_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[110] P. 84, l. 16. _Nihil amplius ... est._--Ibid. Cicero, _De
Finibus_, v, 21.
[111] P. 84, l. 17. _Ex senatus ... exercentur._--Montaigne, _Essais_,
iii, 1. Seneca, _Letters_, 95.
[112] P. 84, l. 18. _Ut olim ... laboramus._--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii,
13. Tacitus, _Ann._, iii, 25.
[113] P. 84, l. 20. _The interest of the sovereign._--The view of
Thrasymachus in Plato's _Republic_, i, 338.
[114] P. 84, l. 21. _Another, present custom._--The doctrine of the
Cyrenaics. Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 13.
[115] P. 84, l. 24. _The mystical foundation of its
authority._--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 13. See also ii, 12.
[116] P. 85, l. 2. _The wisest of legislators._--Plato. See _Republic_,
ii, 389, and v, 459.
[117] P. 85, l. 4. _Cum veritatem_, etc.--An inexact quotation from St.
Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, iv, 27. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[118] P. 85, l. 17. _Veri juris._--Cicero, _De Officiis_, iii, 17.
Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, I.
[119] P. 86, l. 9. _When a strong man_, etc.--Luke xi, 21.
[120] P. 86, l. 26. _Because he who will_, etc.--See Epictetus, _Diss._,
iii, 12.
[121] P. 88, l. 19. _Civil wars are the greatest of evils._--Montaigne,
_Essais_, iii, 11.
[122] P. 89, l. 5. _Montaigne._--_Essais_, i, 42.
[123] P. 91, l. 8. _Savages laugh at an infant king._--An allusion to a
visit of some savages to Europe. They were greatly astonished to
see grown men obey the child king, Charles IX. Montaigne,
_Essais_, i, 30.
[124] P. 92, l. 8. _Man's true state._--See Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 54.
[125] P. 95, l. 3. _Omnis ... vanitati._--Eccles. iii, 19.
[126] P. 95, l. 4. _Liberabitur._--Romans viii, 20-21.
[127] P. 95, l. 4. _Saint Thomas._--In his Commentary on the Epistle of
St. James. James ii, 1.
[128] P. 96, l. 9. _The account of the pike and frog of Liancourt._--The
story is unknown. The Duc de Liancourt led a vicious life in
youth, but was converted by his wife. He became one of the firmest
supporters of Port-Royal.
[129] P. 97, l. 18. _Philosophers._--The Stoics.
[130] P. 97, l. 24. _Epictetus._--_Diss._, iv, 7.
[131] P. 97, l. 26. _Those great spiritual efforts_, etc.--On this, and
the following fragment, see Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 29.
[132] P. 98, l. 3. _Epaminondas._--Praised by Montaigne, _Essais_, ii,
36. See also iii, 1.
[133] P. 98, l. 17. _Plerumque gratae principibus vices._--Horace,
_Odes_, III, xxix, 13, cited by Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 42. Horace
has _divitibus_ instead of _principibus_.
[134] P. 99, l. 4. _Man is neither angel nor brute_, etc.--Montaigne,
_Essais_, iii, 13.
[135] P. 99, l. 14. _Ut sis contentus_, etc.--A quotation from Seneca.
See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 3.
[136] P. 99, l. 21. _Sen._ 588.--Seneca, _Letter to Lucilius_, xv.
Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, I.
[137] P. 99, l. 23. _Divin._--Cicero, _De Divin._, ii, 58.
[138] P. 99, l. 25. _Cic._--Cicero, _Tusc_, ii, 2. The quotation is
inaccurate. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.
[139] P. 99, l. 27. _Senec._--Seneca, _Epist._, 106.
[140] P. 99, l. 28. _Id maxime_, etc.--Cicero, _De Off._, i, 31.
[141] P. 99, l. 29. _Hos natura_, etc.--Virgil, _Georgics_, ii, 20.
[142] P. 99, l. 30. _Paucis opus_, etc.--Seneca, _Epist._, 106.
[143] P. 100, l. 3. _Mihi sic usus_, etc.--Terence, _Heaut._, I, i, 28.
[144] P. 100, l. 4. _Rarum est_, etc.--Quintilian, x, 7.
[145] P. 100, l. 5. _Tot circa_, etc.--M. Seneca, _Suasoriae_, i, 4.
[146] P. 100, l. 6. _Cic._--Cicero, _Acad._, i, 45.
[147] P. 100, l. 7. _Nec me pudet_, etc.--Cicero, _Tusc._, i, 25.
[148] P. 100, l. 8. _Melius non incipiet._--The rest of the quotation is
_quam desinet_. Seneca, _Epist._, 72.
[149] P. 100, l. 25. _They win battles._--Montaigne, in his _Essais_,
ii, 12, relates that the Portuguese were compelled to raise the
siege of Tamly on account of the number of flies.
[150] P. 100, l. 27. _When it is said_, etc.--By Descartes.
[151] P. 102, l. 20. _Arcesilaus._--A follower of Pyrrho, the sceptic.
He lived in the third century before Christ.
[152] P. 105, l. 20. _Ecclesiastes._--Eccles. viii, 17.
[153] P. 106, l. 16. _The academicians._--Dogmatic sceptics, as opposed
to sceptics who doubt their own doubt.
[154] P. 107, l. 10. _Ego vir videns._--Lamentations iii, I.
[155] P. 108, l. 26. _Evil is easy_, etc.--The Pythagoreans considered
the good as certain and finite, and evil as uncertain and
infinite. Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 9.
[156] P. 109, l. 7. _Paulus AEmilius._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.
Cicero, _Tusc._, v, 40.
[157] P. 109, l. 30. _Des Barreaux._--Author of a licentious love song.
He was born in 1602, and died in 1673. Balzac call him "the new
Bacchus."
[158] P. 110, l. 16. _For Port-Royal._--The letters, A. P. R., occur in
several places, and are generally thought to indicate what will be
afterwards treated in lectures or conferences at Port-Royal, the
famous Cistercian abbey, situated about eighteen miles from Paris.
Founded early in the thirteenth century, it acquired its greatest
fame in its closing years. Louis XIV was induced to believe it
heretical; and the monastery was finally demolished in 1711. Its
downfall was no doubt brought about by the Jesuits.
[159] P. 113, l. 4. _They all tend to this end._--Montaigne, _Essais_,
i, 19.
[160] P. 119, l. 15. _Quod ergo_, etc.--Acts xvii, 23.
[161] P. 119, l. 26. _Wicked demon._--Descartes had suggested the
possibility of the existence of an _evil genius_ to justify his
method of universal doubt. See his _First Meditation_. The
argument is quite Cartesian.
[162] P. 122, l. 18. _Deliciae meae_, etc.--Proverbs viii, 31.
[163] P. 122, l. 18. _Effundam spiritum_, etc.--Is. xliv, 3; Joel ii,
28.
[164] P. 122, l. 19. _Dii estis._--Ps. lxxxii, 6.
[165] P. 122, l. 20. _Omnis caro faenum._--Is. xl, 6.
[166] P. 122, l. 20. _Homo assimilatus_, etc.--Ps. xlix, 20.
[167] P. 124, l. 24. _Sapientius est hominibus._--1 Cor. i, 25.
[168] P. 125, l. 1. _Of original sin._--The citations from the Rabbis in
this fragment are borrowed from a work of the Middle Ages,
entitled _Pugio christianorum ad impiorum perfidiam jugulandam et
maxime judaeorum_. It was written in the thirteenth century by
Raymond Martin, a Catalonian monk. An edition of it appeared in
1651, edited by Bosquet, Bishop of Lodeve.
[169] P. 125, l. 24. _Better is a poor and wise child_, etc.--Eccles.
iv, 13.
[170] P. 126, l. 17. _Nemo ante_, etc.--See Ovid, _Met._, iii, 137, and
Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 18.
[171] P. 127, l. 10. _Figmentum._--Borrowed from the Vulgate, Ps. ciii,
14.
[172] P. 128. l. 5. _All that is in the world_, etc.--First Epistle of
St. John, ii, 16.
[173] P. 128, l. 7. _Wretched is_, etc.--M. Faugere thinks this thought
is taken from St. Augustine's Commentary on Ps. cxxxvii, _Super
flumina Babylonis._
[174] P. 129, l. 6. _Qui gloriatur_, etc.--1 Cor. i, 31.
[175] P. 130, l. 13. _Via, veritas._--John xiv, 6.
[176] P. 130, l. 14. _Zeno._--The original founder of Stoicism.
[177] P. 130, l. 15. _Epictetus._--_Diss._, iv, 6, 7.
[178] P. 131, l. 32. _A body full of thinking members._--See I Cor. xii.
[179] P. 133, l. 5. _Book of Wisdom._--ii, 6.
[180] P. 134, l. 28. _Qui adhaeret_, etc.--1 Cor. vi, 17.
[181] P. 134, l. 36. _Two laws._--Matthew xxii, 35-40; Mark xii, 28-31.
[182] P. 135, l. 6. _The kingdom of God is within us._--Luke xvii, 29.
[183] P. 137, l. 1. _Et non_, etc.--Ps. cxliii, 2.
[184] P. 137, l. 3. _The goodness of God leadeth to repentance._--Romans
ii, 4.
[185] P. 137, l. 5. _Let us do penance_, etc.--See Jonah iii, 8, 9.
[186] P. 137, l. 27. _I came to send war._--Matthew x, 34.
[187] P. 137, l. 28. _I came to bring fire and the sword._--Luke xii,
49.
[188] P. 138, l. 2. _Pharisee and the Publican._--Parable in Luke xviii,
9-14.
[189] P. 138, l. 13. _Abraham._--Genesis xiv, 22-24.
[190] P. 138, l. 17. _Sub te erit appetitus tuus._--Genesis iv, 7.
[191] P. 140, l. 1. _It is_, etc.--A discussion on the Eucharist.
[192] P. 140, l. 34. _Non sum dignus._--Luke vii, 6.
[193] P. 140, l. 35. _Qui manducat indignus._--I Cor. xi, 29.
[194] P. 140, l. 36. _Dignus est accipere._--Apoc. iv, II.
[195] P. 141. In the French edition on which this translation is based
there was inserted the following fragment after No. 513:
"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.
It is doubtful, however that this fragment should be included in
the _Pensees_, and it has seemed best to separate it from the
text. It has only once before appeared--in the edition of
Michaut (1896). The first half of it has been freely translated
in order to give an interpretation in accordance with a
suggestion from M. Emile Boutroux, the eminent authority on
Pascal. The meaning seems to be this. In one sense it is in our
power to ask from God, who promises to give us what we ask. But,
in another sense, it is not in our power to ask; for it is not
in our power to obtain the grace which is necessary in asking.
We know that salvation is not in our power. Therefore some
condition of salvation is not in our power. Now the conditions
of salvation are two: (1) The asking for it, and (2) the
obtaining it. But God promises to give us what we ask. Hence the
obtaining is in our power. Therefore the condition which is not
in our power must be the first, namely, the asking. Prayer
presupposes a grace which it is not within our power to obtain.
After giving the utmost consideration to the second half of this
obscure fragment, and seeking assistance from some eminent
scholars, the translator has been compelled to give a strictly
literal translation of it, without attempting to make sense.
[196] P. 141, l. 14. _Lord, when saw we_, etc.--Matthew xxv, 37.
[197] P. 143, l. 19. _Qui justus est, justificetur adhuc._--Apoc. xxii,
II.
[198] P. 144, l. 2. _Corneille._--See his _Horace_, II, iii.
[199] P. 144, l. 15. _Corrumpunt mores_, etc.--I Cor. xv, 33.
[200] P. 145. l. 25. _Quod curiositate_, etc.--St. Augustine, _Sermon
CXLI_.
[201] P. 146, l. 34. _Quia ... facere._--I Cor. i, 21.
[202] P. 148, l. 7. _Turbare semetipsum._--John xi, 33. The text is
_turbavit seipsum_.
[203] P. 148, l. 25. _My soul is sorrowful even unto death._--Mark xiv,
34.
[204] P. 149, l. 3. _Eamus. Processit._--John xviii, 4. But _eamus_ does
not occur. See, however, Matthew xxvi, 46.
[205] P. 150, l. 36. _Eritis sicut_, etc.--Genesis iv, 5.
[206] P. 151, l. 2. _Noli me tangere._--John xx, 17.
[207] P. 156, l. 14. _Vere discipuli_, etc.--Allusions to John viii, 31,
i, 47; viii, 36; vi, 32.
[208] P. 158, l. 41. _Signa legem in electis meis._--Is. viii, 16. The
text of the Vulgate is _in discipulis meis_.
[209] P. 159, l. 2. _Hosea._--xiv, 9.
[210] P. 159, l. 13. _Saint John._--xii, 39.
[211] P. 160, l. 17. _Tamar._--Genesis xxxviii, 24-30.
[212] P. 160, l. 17. _Ruth._--Ruth iv, 17-22.
[213] P. 163, l. 13. _History of China._--A History of China in Latin
had been published in 1658.
[214] P. 164, l. I. _The five suns_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 6.
[215] P. 164, l. 9. _Jesus Christ._--John v, 31.
[216] P. 164, l. 17. _The Koran says_, etc.--There is no mention of
Saint Matthew in the Koran; but it speaks of the Apostles
generally.
[217] P. 165, l. 35. _Moses._--Deut. xxxi, 11.
[218] P. 166, l. 23. _Carnal Christians._--Jesuits and Molinists.
[219] P. 170, l. 14. _Whom he welcomed from afar._--John viii, 56.
[220] P. 170, l. 19. _Salutare_, etc.--Genesis xdix, 18.
[221] P. 173, l. 33. _The Twelve Tables at Athens._--There were no such
tables. About 450 B.C. a commission is said to have been appointed
in Rome to visit Greece and collect information to frame a code of
law. This is now doubted, if not entirely discredited.
[222] P. 173, l. 35. _Josephus.--Reply to Apion_, ii, 16. Josephus, the
Jewish historian, gained the favour of Titus, and accompanied him
to the siege of Jerusalem. He defended the Jews against a
contemporary grammarian, named Apion, who had written a violent
satire on the Jews.
[223] P. 174, l. 27. _Against Apion._--ii, 39. See preceding note.
[224] P. 174, l. 28. _Philo._--A Jewish philosopher, who lived in the
first century of the Christian era. He was one of the founders of
the Alexandrian school of thought. He sought to reconcile Jewish
tradition with Greek thought.
[225] P. 175, l. 20. _Prefers the younger._--See No. 710.
[226] P. 176, l. 32. _The books of the Sibyls and Trismegistus._--The
Sibyls were the old Roman prophetesses. Their predictions were
preserved in three books at Rome, which Tarquinius Superbus had
bought from the Sibyl of Erythrae. Trismegistus was the Greek name
of the Egyptian god Thoth, who was regarded as the originator of
Egyptian culture, the god of religion, of writing, and of the arts
and sciences. Under his name there existed forty-two sacred books,
kept by the Egyptian priests.
[227] P. 177, l. 3. _Quis mihi_, etc.--Numbers xi, 29. _Quis tribuat ut
omnis populus prophetet_?
[228] P. 177, l. 25. _Maccabees._--2 Macc. xi, 2.
[229] P. 177, l. 7. _This book_, etc.--Is. xxx, 8.
[230] P. 178, l. 9. _Tertullian._--A Christian writer in the second
century after Christ. The quotation is from his _De Cultu Femin._,
ii, 3.
[231] P. 178, l. 16. (+Theos+), etc.--Eusebius, _Hist._, lib. v, c. 8.
[232] P. 178, l. 22. _And he took that from Saint Irenaeus._--_Hist._,
lib. x, c 25.
[233] P. 179, l. 5. _The story in Esdras._--2 Esdras xiv. God appears to
Esdras in a bush, and orders him to assemble the people and
deliver the message. Esdras replies that the law is burnt. Then
God commands him to take five scribes to whom for forty days He
dictates the ancient law. This story conflicted with many passages
in the prophets, and was therefore rejected from the Canon at the
Council of Trent.
[234] P. 181, l. 14. _The Kabbala._--The fantastic secret doctrine of
interpretation of Scripture, held by a number of Jewish rabbis.
[235] P. 181, l. 26. _Ut sciatis_, etc.--Mark ii, 10, 11.
[236] P. 183, l. 29. _This generation_, etc.--Matthew xxiv, 34.
[237] P. 184, l. 11. _Difference between dinner and supper._--Luke xiv,
12.
[238] P. 184, l. 28. _The six ages_, etc.--M. Havet has traced this to a
chapter in St. Augustine, _De Genesi contra Manichaeos_, i, 23.
[239] P. 184, l. 31. _Forma futuri._--Romans v, 14.
[240] P. 186, l. 13. _The Messiah_, etc.--John xii, 34.
[241] P. 186, l. 30. _If the light_, etc.--Matthew vi, 23.
[242] P. 187, l. 1. _Somnum suum._--Ps. lxxvi, 5.
[243] P. 187, l. 1. _Figura hujus mundi._--1 Cor. vii, 31.
[244] P. 187, l. 2. _Comedes panem tuum._--Deut. viii, 9. _Panem
nostrum,_ Luke xi, 3.
[245] P. 187, l. 3. _Inimici Dei terram lingent._--Ps. lxxii, 9.
[246] P. 187, l. 8. _Cum amaritudinibus._--Exodus xii, 8. The Vulgate
has _cum lacticibus agrestibus_.
[247] P. 187, l. 9. _Singularis sum ego donec transeam._--Ps. cxli, 10.
[248] P. 188, l. 19. _Saint Paul._--Galatians iv, 24; I Cor. iii, 16,
17; Hebrews ix, 24; Romans ii, 28, 29.
[249] P. 188, l. 25. _That Moses_, etc.--John vi, 32.
[250] P. 189, l. 3. _For one thing alone is needful._--Luke x, 42.
[251] P. 189, l. 9. _The breasts of the Spouse._--Song of Solomon iv, 5.
[252] P. 189, l. 15. _And the Christians_, etc.--Romans vi, 20; viii,
14, 15.
[253] P. 189, l. 17. _When Saint Peter_, etc.--Acts xv. See Genesis
xvii, 10; Leviticus xii, 3.
[254] P. 189, l. 27. _Fac secundum_, etc.--Exodus xxv, 40.
[255] P. 190, l. 1. _Saint Paul._--1 Tim. iv, 3; 1 Cor. vii.
[256] P. 190, l. 7. _The Jews_, etc.--Hebrews viii, 5.
[257] P. 192, l. 15. _That He should destroy death through
death._--Hebrews ii, 14.
[258] P. 192, l. 30. _Veri adoratores._--John iv, 23.
[259] P. 192, l. 30. _Ecce agnus_, etc.--John i, 29.
[260] P. 193, l. 15. _Ye shall be free indeed._--John viii, 36.
[261] P. 193, l. 17. _I am the true bread from heaven._--Ibid., vi, 32.
[262] P. 194, l. 27. _Agnus occisus_, etc.--Apoc. xiii, 8.
[263] P. 194, l. 34. _Sede a dextris meis._--Ps. cx, 1.
[264] P. 195, l. 12. _A jealous God._--Exodus xx, 5.
[265] P. 195, l. 14. _Quia confortavit seras._--Ps. cxlvii, 13.
[266] P. 195, l. 17. _The closed mem._--The allusions here are to
certain peculiarities in Jewish writing. There are some letters
written in two ways, closed or open, as the _mem_.
[267] P. 199, l. 1. _Great Pan is dead._--Plutarch, _De Defect. Orac._,
xvii.
[268] P. 199, l. 2. _Susceperunt verbum_, etc.--Acts xvii, 11.
[269] P. 199, l. 20. _The ruler taken from the thigh._--Genesis xlix,
10.
[270] P. 208, l. 6. _Make their heart fat._--Is. vi, 10; John xii, 40.
[271] P. 209, l. 1. _Non habemus regem nisi Caesarem._--John xix, 15.
[272] P. 218, l. 17. _In Horeb_, etc.--Deut. xviii, 16-19.
[273] P. 220, l. 34. _Then they shall teach_, etc.--Jeremiah xxxi, 34.
[274] P. 221, l. 1. _Your sons shall prophesy._--Joel ii, 28.
[275] P. 221, l. 20. _Populum_, etc.--Is. lxv, 2; Romans x, 21.
[276] P. 222, l. 25. _Eris palpans in meridie._--Deut. xxviii, 29.
[277] P. 222, l. 26. _Dabitur liber_, etc.--Is. xxix, 12. The quotation
is inaccurate.
[278] P. 223, l. 24. _Quis mihi_, etc.--Job xix, 23-25.
[279] P. 224, l. 1. _Pray_, etc.--The fragments here are Pascal's notes
on Luke. See chaps. xxii and xxiii.
[280] P. 225, l. 20. _Excaeca._--Is. vi, 10.
[281] P, 226, l. 9. _Lazarus dormit_, etc.--John xi, 11, 14.
[282] P. 226, l. 10. _The apparent discrepancy of the Gospels._--To
reconcile the apparent discrepancies in the Gospels, Pascal wrote
a short life of Christ.
[283] P. 227, l. 13. _Gladium tuum, potentissime._--Ps. xlv, 3.
[284] P. 228, l. 25. _Ingrediens mundum._--Hebrews x, 5.
[285] P. 228, l. 26. _Stone upon stone._--Mark xiii, 2.
[286] P. 229, l. 20. _Jesus Christ at last_, etc.--See Mark xii.
[287] P. 230, l. 1. _Effundam spiritum meum._--Joel ii, 28.
[288] P. 230, l. 6. _Omnes gentes ... eum._--Ps. xxii, 27.
[289] P. 230, l. 7. _Parum est ut_, etc.--Is. xlix, 6.
[290] P. 230, l. 7. _Postula a me._--Ps. ii, 8.
[291] P. 230, l. 8. _Adorabunt ... reges._--Ps. lxxii, 11.
[292] P. 230, l. 8. _Testes iniqui._--Ps. xxv, 11.
[293] P. 230, l. 8. _Dabit maxillam percutienti._--Lamentations iii, 30.
[294] P. 230, l. 9. _Dederunt fel in escam._--Ps. lxix, 21.
[295] P. 230, l. 11. _I will bless them that bless thee._--Genesis xii,
3.
[296] P. 230, l. 12. _All nations blessed in his seed._--Ibid., xxii,
18.
[297] P. 230, l. 13. _Lumen ad revelationem gentium._--Luke ii, 32.
[298] P. 230, l. 14. _Non fecit taliter_, etc.--Ps. cxlvii, 20.
[299] P. 230, l. 20. _Bibite ex hoc omnes._--Matthew xxvi, 27.
[300] P. 230, l. 22. _In quo omnes peccaverunt._--Romans v, 12.
[301] P. 230, l. 26. _Ne timeas pusillus grex._--Luke xii, 32.
[302] P. 230, l. 29. _Qui me_, etc.--Matthew x, 40.
[303] P. 230, l. 32. _Saint John._--Luke i, 17.
[304] P. 230, l. 33. _Jesus Christ._--Ibid., xii, 51.
[305] P. 231, l. 5. _Omnis Judaea_, etc.--Mark i, 5.
[306] P. 231, l. 7. _From these stones_, etc.--Matthew iii, 9.
[307] P. 231, l. 9. _Ne convertantur_, etc.--Mark iv, 12.
[308] P. 231, l. 11. _Amice, ad quid venisti?_--Matthew xxvi, 50.
[309] P. 231, l. 31. _What is a man_, etc.--Luke ix, 25.
[310] P. 231, l. 32. _Whosoever will_, etc.--Ibid., 24.
[311] P. 232, l. 1. _I am not come_, etc.--Matthew v, 17.
[312] P. 232, l. 2. _Lambs took not_, etc.--See John i, 29.
[313] P. 232, l. 4. _Moses._--Ibid., vi, 32; viii, 36.
[314] P. 232, l. 15. _Quare_, etc.--Ps. ii, 1, 2.
[315] P. 233, l. 8. _I have reserved me seven thousand._--1 Kings xix,
18.
[316] P. 234, l. 27. _Archimedes._--The founder of statics and
hydrostatics. He was born at Syracuse in 287 B.C., and was killed
in 212 B.C. He was not a prince, though a relative of a king. M.
Havet points out that Cicero talks of him as an obscure man
_(Tusc,_ v, 23).
[317] P. 235, l. 33. _In sanctificationem et in scandalum._--Is. viii,
14.
[318] P. 238, l. 11. _Jesus Christ._--Mark ix, 39.
[319] P. 239, l. 7. _Rejoice not_, etc.--Luke x, 20.
[320] P. 239, l. 12. _Scimus_, etc.--John iii, 2.
[321] P. 239, l. 25. _Nisi fecissem ... haberent._--Ibid., xv, 24.
[322] P. 239, l. 32. _The second miracle._--Ibid., iv, 54.
[323] P. 240, l. 6. _Montaigne._--_Essais_, ii, 26, and iii, 11.
[324] P. 242, l. 9. _Vatable._--Professor of Hebrew at the College
Royal, founded by Francis I. An edition of the Bible with notes
under his name, which were not his, was published in 1539.
[325] P. 242, l. 19. _Omne regnum divisum._--Matthew xii, 25; Luke xi,
17.
[326] P. 242, l. 23. _Si in digito ... vos._--Luke xi, 20.
[327] P. 243, l. 12. _Q. 113, A. 10, Ad. 2._--Thomas Aquinas's _Summa_,
Pt. I, Question 113, Article 10, Reply to the Second Objection.
[328] P. 243, l. 18. _Judaei signa petunt_, etc.--I Cor. i, 22.
[329] P. 243, l. 23. _Sed vos_, etc.--John x, 26.
[330] P. 246, l. 15. _Tu quid dicis_? etc.--John ix, 17, 33.
[331] P. 247, l. 14. _Though ye believe not_, etc.--John x, 38.
[332] P. 247, l. 25. _Nemo facit_, etc.--Mark ix, 39.
[333] P. 247, l. 27. _A sacred relic._--This is a reference to the
miracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite Perier, Pascal's niece, was
cured of a fistula lachrymalis on 24 March, 1656, after her eye
was touched with this sacred relic, supposed to be a thorn from
the crown of Christ. This miracle made a great impression upon
Pascal.
[334] P. 248, l. 23. _These nuns._--Of Port-Royal, as to which, see note
on page 110, line 16, above. They were accused of Calvinism.
[335] P. 248, l. 28. _Vide si_, etc.--Ps. cxxxix, 24.
[336] P. 249, l. 1. _Si tu_, etc.--Luke xxii, 67.
[337] P. 249, l. 2. _Opera quae_, etc.--John v, 36; x, 26-27.
[338] P. 249, l. 7. _Nemo potest_, etc.--John iii, 2.
[339] P. 249, l. 11. _Generatio prava_, etc.--Matthew xii, 39.
[340] P. 249, l. 14. _Et non poterat facere._--Mark vi, 5.
[341] P. 249, l. 16. _Nisi videritis, non creditis._--John iv, 8, 48.
[342] P. 249, l. 23. _Tentat enim_, etc.--Deut. xiii, 3.
[343] P. 249, l. 25. _Ecce praedixi vobis: vos ergo videte._--Matthew
xxiv, 25, 26.
[344] P. 250, l. 7. _We have Moses_, etc.--John ix, 29.
[345] P. 250, l. 30. _Quid debui._--Is. v, 3, 4. The Vulgate is _Quis
est quod debui ultra facere vineae meae, et non feci ei_.
[346] P. 251, l. 12. _Bar-jesus blinded._--Acts xiii, 6-11.
[347] P. 251, l. 14. _The Jewish exorcists._--Ibid., xix, 13-16.
[348] P. 251, l. 18. _Si angelus._--Galatians i, 8.
[349] P. 252, l. 10. _An angel from heaven._--See previous note.
[350] P. 252, l. 14. _Father Lingende._--Claude de Lingendes, an
eloquent Jesuit preacher, who died in 1660.
[351] P. 252, l. 33. _Ubi est Deus tuus?_--Ps. xiii, 3.
[352] P. 252, l. 34. _Exortum est_, etc.--Ps. cxii, 4.
[353] P. 253, l. 6. _Saint Xavier._--Saint Francois Xavier, the friend
of Ignatius Loyola, became a Jesuit.
[354] P. 253, l. 9. _Vae qui_, etc.--Is. x, I.
[355] P. 253, l. 24. _The five propositions._--See Preface.
[356] P. 253, l. 36. _To seduce_, etc.--Mark xiii, 22.
[357] P. 254, l. 6. _Si non fecissem._--John xv, 24.
[358] P. 255, l. 11. _Believe in the Church._--Matthew xviii, 17-20.
[359] P. 257, l. 14. _They._--The Jansenists, who believed in the system
of evangelical doctrine deduced from Augustine by Cornelius Jansen
(1585-1638), the Bishop of Ypres. They held that interior grace is
irresistible, and that Christ died for all, in reaction against
the ordinary Catholic dogma of the freedom of the will, and merely
sufficient grace.
[360] P. 258, l. 4. _A time to laugh_, etc.--Eccles. iii, 4.
[361] P. 258, l. 4. _Responde. Ne respondeas._--Prov. xxvi, 4, 5.
[362] P. 260, l. 3. _Saint Athanasius._--Patriarch of Alexandria,
accused of rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by
the Councils of Tyre, Aries, and Milan. Pope Liberius is said to
have finally ratified the condemnation in A.D. 357. Athanasius
here stands for Jansenius, Saint Thersea for Mother Angelique, and
Liberius for Clement IX.
[363] P. 261, l. 17. _Vos autem non sic._--Luke xxii, 26.
[364] P. 261, l. 23. _Duo aut tres in unum._--John x, 30; First Epistle
of St. John, V, 8.
[365] P. 262, l. 18. _The Fronde._--The party which rose against Mazarin
and the Court during the minority of Louis XIV. They led to civil
war.
[366] P. 262, l. 25. _Pasce oves meas._--John xxi, 17.
[367] P. 263, l. 14. _Jeroboam._--I Kings xii, 31.
[368] P. 265, l. 21. _The servant_, etc.--John xv, 15.
[369] P. 266, l. 4. _He that is not_, etc.--Matthew xii, 30.
[370] P. 266, l. 5. _He that is not_, etc.--Mark ix, 40.
[371] P. 266, l. 11. _Humilibus dot gratiam._--James iv, 6.
[372] P. 266, l. 12. _Sui eum non_, etc.--John i, 11, 12.
[373] P. 266, l. 33. _We will be as the other nations._--I Sam. viii,
20.
[374] P. 268, l. 19. _Vince in bono malum._--Romans xii, 21.
[375] P. 268, l. 26. _Montalte._--See note on page 6, line 30, above.
[376] P. 269, l. 11. _Probability._--The doctrine in casuistry that of
two probable views, both reasonable, one may follow his own
inclinations, as a doubtful law cannot impose a certain
obligation. It was held by the Jesuits, the famous religious order
founded in 1534 by Ignatius Loyola. This section of the _Pensees_
is directed chiefly against them.
[377] P. 269, l. 22. _Coacervabunt sibi magistros._--2 Tim. iv, 3.
[378] P. 270, l. 3. _These._--The writers of Port-Royal.
[379] P. 270, l. 15. _The Society._--The Society of Jesus.
[380] P. 271, l. 15. _Digna necessitas._--Book of Wisdom xix, 4.
INDEX
_The figures refer to the numbers of the Pensees, and not to the pages._
ABRAHAM,
took nothing for himself, 502;
from stones can come children unto, 777;
and Gideon, 821
Absolutions, without signs of regret, 903, 904
Act, the last, is tragic, 210
Adam,
compared with Christ, 551;
his glorious state, 559;
_forma futuri_, 655
Advent, the time of the first, foretold, 756
Age,
influences judgment, 381;
the six ages, 654
Alexander, the example of his chastity, 103
Amusements, dangerous to the Christian life, 11
Animals, intelligence and instinct of, 340, 342
Antichrist,
miracles of, foretold by Christ, 825;
will speak openly against God, 842;
miracles of, cannot lead into error, 845
Apocalyptics, extravagances of the, 650
Apostles,
hypothesis that they were deceivers, 571;
foresaw heresies, 578;
supposition that they were either deceived or deceivers, 801
Aquinas, Thomas, 61, 338
Arcesilaus, the sceptic, became a dogmatist, 375
Archimedes, greatness of, 792
Arians, where they go wrong, 861
Aristotle, and Plato, 331
Arius, miracles in his time, 831
Athanasius, St., 867
Atheism, shows a certain strength of mind, 225
Atheists,
who seek, to be pitied, 190;
ought to say what is perfectly evident, 221;
objections of, against the Resurrection and the Virgin
Birth, 222, 223;
objection of, 228
Augustine, St.,
saw that we work for an uncertainty, 234;
on the submission of reason, 270;
on miracles, 811;
his authority, 868
Augustus, his saying about Herod's son, 179
Authority, in belief, 260
Authors, vanity of certain, 43
Automatism, human, 252
Babylon, rivers of, 459
Beauty,
a certain standard of, 32;
poetical, 33
Belief,
three sources of, 245;
rule of, 260;
of simple people, 284;
without reading the Testaments, 286;
the Cross creates, 587;
reasons why there is no, in the miracles, 825
Bias, leads to error, 98
Birth,
noble, an advantage, 322;
persons of high, honoured and despised, 337
Blame, and praise, 501
Blood, example of the circulation of, 96
Body,
nourishment of the, 356;
the, and its members, 475, 476;
infinite distance between mind and, 792
Brutes, no mutual admiration among the, 401
Caesar, compared with Alexander and Augustus, 132
Calling, chance decides the choice of a, 97
Calvinism, error of, 776
Canonical, the heretical books prove the, 568
Carthusian monk, difference between a soldier and a, 538
Casuists,
true believers have no pretext for following their laxity, 888;
submit the decision to a corrupted reason, 906;
cannot give assurance to a conscience in error, 908;
allow lust to act, 913
Causes, seen by the intellect and not by the senses, 234
Catholic, the, doctrine, of the Holy Sacrament, 861
Ceremonies, ordained in the Old Testament, are types, 679
Certain, nothing is, 234
Chance,
according to the doctrine of chance, one should believe in God, 233;
and work for an uncertainty, 234;
and seek the truth, 236;
gives rise to thoughts, 370
Chancellor, the position of the, uneral, 307
Character, the Christian, the human, and the inhuman, 532
Charity,
nothing so like it as covetousness, 662;
not a figurative precept, 664;
the sole aim of the Scripture, 669
Charron, the divisions of, 62
Children,
frightened at the face they have blackened, 88;
of Port-Royal, 151;
illustration of usurpation from, 295
China, History of, 592, 593
Christianity,
alone cures pride and sloth, 435;
is strange, 536;
consists in two points, 555;
evidence for, 563;
is wise and foolish, 587
Christians,
few true, 256;
without the knowledge of the prophecies and evidences, 287;
comply with folly, 338;
humility of, 537;
their hope, 539;
their happiness, 540;
the God of, 543
Church,
history of the, 857;
the, in persecution, like a ship in a storm, 858;
when in a good state, 860;
has always been attacked by opposite errors, 861;
the, and tradition, 866;
absolution and the, 869;
the Pope and the, 870;
the, and infallibility, 875;
true justice in the, 877;
the work of the, 880;
the discipline of the, 884;
the anathemas of the, 895
Cicero, false beauties in, 31
Cipher,
a, has a double meaning, 676, 677;
key of, 680;
the, given by St. Paul, 682
Circumcision,
only a sign, 609;
the apostles and, 671
Clearness,
sufficient, for the elect, 577;
and obscurity, 856
Cleobuline, the passion of, 13
Cleopatra,
the nose of, 162;
and love, 163
Compliments, 57
Conditions, the easiest, to live in, according to the world and
to God, 905
Condolences, formal, 56
Confession, 100;
different effects of, 529
Contradiction, 157;
a bad sign of truth, 384
Conversion, the, 470;
of the heathen, 768
Copernicus, 218
Cords, the, which bind the respect of men to each other, 304
Correct, how to, with advantage, 9
Cripple, why a, does not offend us, and a fool does, 80
Cromwell, death of, 176
Custom,
is our nature, 89;
our natural principles, principles of, 92;
a second nature, 93;
the source of our strongest beliefs, 252
Cyrus, prediction of, 712
Damned, the, condemned by their own reason, 562
Daniel, 721;
the seventy weeks of, 722
David,
a saying of, 689;
the eternal reign of the race of, 716, 717
Death,
easier to bear without thinking of it, 166;
men do not think of, 168;
fear of, 215, 216;
examples of the noble deaths of the Lacedaemonians, 481
Deference, meaning of, 317
Deeds, noble, best when hidden, 159
Deism, as far removed from Christianity as atheism, 555
Democritus, saying of, 72
Demonstrations, not certain that there are true, 387
Descartes, 76, 77, 78, 79
Devil,
the, and miracle, 803;
the, and doctrine, 819
Disciples, and true disciples, 518
Discourses, on humility, 377
Diseases, a source of error, 82
Disproportion of man, 72
Diversion, reason why men seek, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 168, 170
Docility, 254
Doctor, the, 12
Doctrine, and miracles, 802, 842
Dogmatism, and scepticism, 434
Dream, life like a, 386
Duty, and the passions, 104
Ecclesiastes, 389
Eclipses, why said to foretoken misfortune, 173
Ego,
what is the, 323;
consists in thought, 469
Egyptians, conversion of the, 724
Elect,
the, ignorant of their virtues, 514;
all things work together for good to the, 574
Eloquence, 15, 16, 25, 26
Emilius, Paulus, 409, 410
Enemies, meaning of, in the prophecies, 570, 691
Epictetus, 80, 466, 467
Error, a common, when advantageous, 18
Esdras, the story in, 631, 632, 633
Eternity, existence of, 195
Ethics,
consoles us, 67;
a special science, 911
Eucharist, the, 224, 512, 788
Evangelists, the, painted a perfectly heroic soul in Jesus Christ, 799
Evil, infinite forms of, 408
Examples, in demonstration, 40
Exception, and the rule, 832, 903
Excuses, on, 58
External, the, must be joined to the internal, 250
Ezekiel, spoke evil of Israel, 885
Faith,
different from proof, 248;
and miracle, 263;
and the senses, 264;
what is, 278;
without, man cannot know the true good or justice, 425;
consists in Jesus Christ, 522
Fancy,
effects of, 86;
confused with feeling, 274
Faults, we owe a great debt to those who point out, 534
Fear, good and bad, 262
Feeling,
and reasoning, 3, 274;
harmed in the same way as the understanding, 6
Flies, the power of, 366, 367
Friend, importance of a true, 155
Fundamentals, the two, 804
Galilee, the word, 743
Gentiles,
conversion of the, 712;
calling of the, 713
Gentleman,
the universal quality, 35;
man never taught to be a, 68
Glory, 151, 401;
the greatest baseness of man is the pursuit of, 404
God,
the conduct of, 185;
is infinite, 231, 233;
infinitely incomprehensible, 233;
we should wager that there is a, 233;
a _Deus absconditus,_ 194, 242;
knowledge of, is not the love of Him, 280;
two kinds of persons know, 288;
has created all for Himself, 314;
the wisdom of, 430;
must reign over all, 460;
we must love Him only, 479;
not true that all reveals, 556;
has willed to blind some and to enlighten others, 565, 575;
foresaw heresies, 578;
has willed to hide Himself, 584;
formed for Himself the Jewish people, 643;
the word does not differ from the intention in, 653;
the greatness of His compassion, 847;
has not wanted to absolve without the Church, 869
Godliness, why difficult, 498
Good, the inquiry into the sovereign, 73, 462
Gospel, the style of the, admirable, 797
Grace,
unites us to God, 430, 507;
necessary to turn a man into a saint, 508;
the law and, 519, 521;
nature and, 520;
morality and, 522;
man's capacity for, 523
Great, the, and the humble have the same misfortunes, 180
Greatness,
the, of man, 397, 398, 400, 409;
constituted by thought, 346;
even in his lust, 402, 403;
and wretchedness of man, 416, 417, 418, 423, 430, 443
Haggai, 725
Happiness,
all men seek, 425;
is in God, 465
Happy, in order to be, man does not think of death, 169
Hate, all men naturally, one another, 451
Heart,
the, has its reasons, 277;
experiences God, 278;
we know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the, 282;
has its own order, 283
Heresy, 774;
source of all, 861
Heretics,
and the three marks of religion, 843, 844;
and the Jesuits, 890
Herod, 178, 179
Hosts, the three, 177
Image, an, of the condition of men, 199
Imagination,
that deceitful part in man, 82;
enlarges little objects, 84;
magnifies a nothing, 85;
often mistaken for the heart, 275;
judges, etc., appeal only to the, 307
Inconstancy, in, 112, 113
Infinite,
the, of greatness and of littleness, 72;
and the finite, 233
Injustice, 214, 191, 293, 326, 878
Instability, 212
Intellect, different kinds of, 2
Isaiah, 712, 725
Jacob, 612, 710
Jansenists,
the, are persecuted, 859;
are like the heretics, 886
Jeremiah, 713, 818
Jesuits,
the, unjust persecutors, 851;
hardness of the, 853;
and Jansenists, 864;
impose upon the Pope, 881;
effects of their sins, 918;
do not keep their word, 923
Jesus Christ
employs the rule of love, 283;
is a God whom we approach without pride, 527;
His teaching, 544;
without, man must be in misery, 545;
God known only through, 546;
we know ourselves only through, 547;
useless to know God without, 548;
the sepulchre of, 551;
the mystery of, 552;
and His wounds, 553;
genealogy of, 577;
came at the time foretold, 669;
necessary for Him to suffer, 678;
the Messiah, 719;
prophecies about, 730, 733, 734;
foretold, and was foretold, 738;
how regarded by the Old and New Testaments, 239;
what the prophets say of, 750;
His office, 765;
typified by Joseph, 767;
what He came to say, 769, 782;
came to blind, etc., 770;
never condemned without hearing, 779;
Redeemer of all, 780;
would not have the testimony of devils, 783;
an obscurity, 785, 788;
would not be slain without the forms of justice, 789;
no man had more renown than, 791;
absurd to take offence at the lowliness of, 792;
came _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_, 794;
said great things simply, 796;
verified that He was the Messiah, 807;
and miracles, 828
Jews,
their religion must be differently regarded in the Bible and in
their tradition, 600;
and is wholly divine, 602;
the carnal, 606, 607, 661, 746;
true, and true Christians have the same religion, 609;
their advantages, 619;
their antiquity, 627;
their sincerity, 629, 630;
their long and miserable existence, 639;
the, expressly made to witness to the Messiah, 640;
earthly thoughts of the, 669;
were the slaves of sin, 670;
their zeal for the law, 700, 701;
the devil troubled their zeal, 703;
their captivity, 712;
reprobation of the, 712;
accustomed to great miracles, 745;
the, but not all, reject Christ, 759;
the, in slaying Him, have proved Him to be the Messiah, 760;
their dilemma, 761
Job and Solomon, 174
John, St., the Baptist, 775
Joseph, 622, 697, 767
Josephus, 628, 786
Joshua, 626
Judgment,
the, and the intellect, 4;
of another easily prejudiced, 105
Just, the, act by faith, 504
Justice,
the, of God, 233;
relation of, to law and custom, 294, 325;
and might, 298, 299;
determined by custom, 309;
is what is established, 312
King,
the, surrounded by people to amuse him, 139;
a, without amusement, is full of wretchedness, 142;
why he inspires respect, 308;
and tyrant, 310;
on what his power is founded, 330
Knowledge,
limitations of man's, 72;
of ourselves impossible, apart from the mystery of the transmission
of sin, 434;
of God and of man's wretchedness found in Christ, 526
Koran, the, 596
Lackeys, afford a means of social distinction, 318, 319
Language, 27, 45, 49, 53, 54, 59, 648
Law,
the, and nature, 519;
the, and grace, 521;
the, of the Jews, the oldest and most perfect, 618
Laws,
the, are the only universal rules, 299;
two, rule the Christian Republic, 484
Liancourt, the frog and the pike of, 341
Life,
human, a perpetual illusion, 100;
we desire to live an imaginary, 147;
short duration of, 205;
only, between us and heaven or hell, 213
Love,
nature of self-, 100, 455;
causes and effects of, 162, 163;
nothing so opposed to justice and truth as self-, 492
Lusts, the three, 458, 460, 461
Machine,
the, 246, 247;
the arithmetical, 340
Macrobius, 178, 179
Magistrates, make a show to strike the imagination, 82
Mahomet, 590;
without authority, 594;
his own witness, 595;
a false prophet, 596;
is ridiculous, 597;
difference between Christ and, 598, 599;
religion of, 600
Man,
full of wants, 36;
misery of, without God, 60, 389;
disproportion of, 72;
a subject of error, 83;
naturally credulous, 125;
description of, 116;
condition of, 127;
disgraceful for, to yield to pleasure, 160;
despises religion, 187;
lacks heart, 196;
his sensibility to trifles, 197;
a thinking reed, 347, 348;
neither angel, nor brute, 358;
necessarily mad, 414;
two views of the nature of, 415;
does not know his rank, 427;
a chimera, 434;
the two vices of, 435;
pursues wealth, 436;
only happy in God, 438;
does not act by reason, 439;
unworthy of God, 510;
is of two kinds, 533;
holds an inward talk with himself, 535;
without Christ, must be in vice and misery, 545;
everything teaches him his condition, 556
Martial, epigrams of, 41
Master and servant, 530, 896
Materialism, on, 72, 75
Members, we are, of the whole, 474, 477, 482, 483
Memory,
intuitive, 95;
necessary for reason, 369
Merit, men and, 490
Messiah,
necessary that there should be preceding prophecies about the, 570;
the, according to the carnal Jews and carnal Christians, 606;
the, has always been believed in, 615;
and expected, 616;
prophecies about the, 726, 728, 729;
Herod believed to be the, 752
Mind,
difference between the mathematical and the intuitive, 1;
and body, 72, 792;
natural for it to believe, 81;
the, easily disturbed, 366
Miracles,
and belief, 263;
a test of doctrine, 802, 842, 845;
definition of, 803;
necessary, 805;
Christ and 807, 810, 828, 833, 837, 838;
Montaigne and, 812, 813;
the reason people believe false, 816, 817;
the, of the false prophets, 818;
false, 822, 823;
their use, 824;
the foundation of religion, 825, 826, 850;
no longer necessary, 831;
the miracle of the Holy Thorn, 838, 855;
the test in matters of doubt, 840;
one mark of religion, 843
Misery,
diversion alone consoles us for, and is the greatest, 171;
proves man's greatness, 398;
we have an instinct which raises us above, 411;
induces despair, 525
Miton, 192, 448, 455
Montaigne, 18;
criticism of, 62, 63, 64, 65; 220, 234, 325, 812, 813
Moses, 577, 592, 623, 628, 688, 689, 751, 802
Nature
has made her truths independent of one another, 21;
and theology, 29;
is corrupt, 60;
has set us in the centre, 70;
only a first custom, 93;
makes us unhappy in every state, 109;
imitates herself, 110;
diversifies, 120;
always begins the same things again, 121;
our, consists in motion, 129;
and God, 229, 242, 243, 244;
acts by progress, 355;
the least movement affects all, 505;
perfections and imperfections of, 579;
an image of grace, 674
Nebuchadnezzar, 721
Novelty, power of the charms of, 82
Obscurity,
the, of religion shows its truth, 564;
without, man would not be sensible of corruption, 585
Opinion, the queen of the world, 311
Outward, the Church judges only by the, 904
Painting, vanity of, 134
Passion,
makes us forget duty, 104;
we are sure of pleasing a man, if we know his ruling, 106;
how to prevent the harmful effect of, 203
Patriarchs, longevity of, 625
Paul, St., 283, 532, 672, 682, 852
Pelagians, the semi-, 776
Penitence, 660, 922
People,
ordinary, have the power of not thinking of that about which they do
not want to think, 259;
sound opinions of the people, 313, 316, 324
Perpetuity, 612, 615, 616
Perseus, 410
Persons,
only three kinds of, 257;
two kinds of, know God, 288
Peter, St., 671, 743
Philosophers,
the, have confused ideas of things, 72;
influence of imagination upon, 82;
disquiet inquirers, 184;
made their ethics independent of the immortality of the soul,
219, 220;
have mastered their passions, 349;
believe in God without Christ, 463;
their motto, 464;
have consecrated vices, 503;
what they advise, 509;
did not prescribe suitable feelings, 524
Piety, different from superstition, 255
Pilate, the false justice of, 790
Plato, 219, 331
Poets, 34, 38, 39
Pope, the, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 879, 881
Port-Royal, 151, 838, 919
Prayer, why established, 513
Predictions
of particular things, 710;
of Cyrus, 712;
of events in the fourth monarchy, 723;
of the Messiah, 728, 730
Present, we do not rest satisfied with the, 172
Presumption of men, 148
Pride, 152, 153, 406
Probability, the Jesuitical doctrine of, 901, 907, 909, 912, 915, 916,
917, 919, 921
Proofs,
of religion, 289, 290;
metaphysical, of God, 542
Prophecies,
the, entrusted to the Jews, 570;
the strongest proof of Christ, 705;
necessarily distributed, 706;
about Christ, 709, 726, 730, 732, 735;
proofs of divinity, 712;
in Egypt, 725
Prophets,
the, prophesied by symbols, 652;
their discourses obscure, 658;
their meaning veiled, 677;
zeal after the, 702;
did not speak to flatter the people, 718;
foretold, 738
Propositions,
the five, 830, 849
Purgatory, 518
_Provincial Letters_, the, 52, 919
Pyrrhus, advice given to, 139
Rabbinism, chronology of, 634
Reason
and the imagination, 82;
and the senses, 83;
recognises an infinity of things beyond it, 267;
submission of, 268, 269, 270, 272;
the heart and, 277, 278, 282;
and instinct, 344, 395;
commands us imperiously, 345;
and the passions, 412, 413;
corruption of, 440
Reasoning, reduces itself to yielding to feeling, 274
Redemption,
the Red Sea an image of the, 642;
the completeness of the, 780
Religion,
its true nature and the necessity of studying it, 194;
sinfulness of indifference to it, 195;
whether certain, 234;
suited to all kinds of minds, 285;
true, 470, 494;
test of the falsity of a, 487;
two ways of proving its truths, 560;
the Christian, has something astonishing in it, 614;
the Christian, founded upon a preceding, 618;
reasons for preferring the Christian, 736;
three marks of, 843;
and natural reason, 902
Republic, the Christian, 482, 610
Rivers, moving roads, 17
Roannez, M. de, a saying of, 276
Rule, a, necessary to judge a work, 5
Sabbath, the, only a sign, 609
Sacrifices, of the Jews and Gentiles, 609
Salvation, happiness of those who hope for, 239
Scaramouch, 12
Scepticism, 373, 376, 378, 385, 392, 394;
truth of, 432;
chief arguments of, 434
Sciences, vanity of the, 67
Scripture,
and the number of stars, 266;
its order, 283;
has provided passages for all conditions of life, 531;
literal inspiration of, 567;
blindness of, 572;
and Mahomet, 597;
extravagant opinions founded on, 650;
how to understand, 683, 686;
against those who misuse passages of, 898
Self,
necessary to know, 66;
the little knowledge we have of, 175
Sensations, and molecules, 368
Senses,
perceptions of the, always true, 9;
perceive no extreme, 72;
mislead the reason, 83
Silence,
eternal, of infinite space, 206;
the greatest persecution, 919
Sin, original, 445, 446, 447
Sneezing, absorbs all the functions of the soul, 160
Soul,
immortality of the, 194, 219,
220; immaterial, 349
_Spongia solis_, 91
Stoics, the, 350, 360, 465
Struggle, the, alone pleases us, 135
Style, charm of a natural, 29
Swiss, the, 305
Symmetry, 28
Synagogue, the, a type, 645, 851
Talent, chief, 118
Temple, reprobation of the, 712
Testaments,
proof of the two, at once, 641;
proof that the Old is figurative, 658;
the Old and the New, 665
Theology, a science, 115
Theresa, St., 499, 867, 916
Thought,
one, alone occupies us, 145;
constitutes man's greatness, 346;
and dignity, 365;
sometimes escapes us, 370, 372
Time, effects of, 122, 123
Truth,
nothing shows man the, 83;
different degrees in man's aversion to, 100;
the pretext that it is disputed, 261;
known by the heart, 282;
we desire, 437;
here is not the country of, 842;
obscure in these times, 863
Types, 570, 642, 643, 644, 645, 656, 657, 658, 669, 674, 678, 686;
the law typical, 646, 684;
some, clear and demonstrative, 649;
particular, 651, 652, 653;
are like portraits, 676, 677;
the sacrifices are, 679, 684
Tyranny, 332
Understanding, different kinds of, 2
Universe,
the relation of man to the, 72;
his superiority to it, 347
Vanity,
is anchored in man's heart, 150;
effects of, 151, 153;
curiosity only, 152;
little known, 161;
love and, 162, 163;
only youths do not see the world's, 164
Variety, 114, 115
Vices, some, only lay hold on us through others, 102
Virtues,
division of, 20;
measure of, 352;
excess of, 353, 357;
only the balancing of opposed vices, 359;
the true, 485
Weariness,
in leaving favourite pursuits, 128;
nothing so insufferable to man as, 131
Will,
natural for the, to love, 81;
one of the chief factors in belief, 99;
self-, will never be satisfied, 472;
is depraved, 477;
God prefers to incline the, rather than the intellect, 580
Words,
and meanings, 23, 50;
repeated in a discourse, 48;
superfluous, 49, 59
Works,
necessity to do good, 497;
external, 499
World,
the, a good judge of things, 327;
all the, under a delusion, 335;
all the, not astonished at its own weakness, 314;
all good maxims are in the, 380;
the, exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, 583
Transcribers' note
Text in greek transliterated and enclosed in '+' signs in the following
places: Pensees 70, 631 Footnote 231
Numbered anchors changed to letter anchors for the four footnotes in the
introduction.
All the notes at the end of the text were numbered and appropriate
anchors inserted in the text.
Note No. 54 on page 28 has the wrong line number and is positioned two
notes after where it should be. Corrected the position.
"judgment" was consistently used throughout the text.
Page |Pensee |Details
| |
9 | 32 |"beauty whch consists" - Typo for "which". Corrected.
| |
37 | 121 |"that is infinite" - Added a period at the end of the
| |sentence.
| |
46 | 154 |Mismatched brackets in original text.
| |
75 | 260 |"youself" - corrected to "yourself".
| |
86 | 301 |"It is because they have more reason?" - As in image.
| |
129 | 463 |"feel ull of feelings" - Typo corrected to "feel full of
| |feelings".
| |
133 | 479 |"the worst that can can happen" - deleted one "can".
| |
134 | 484 |Supplied missing period at the end.
| |
158 | 570 |"those whose whose only good" - deleted one "whose"
| |
162 | 587 |"they come with wisdom and with signs." - Typo corrected
| |to "they come with wisdom and with signs."
| |
165 | 598 |"Jesus Christ caused His wn to be slain." - Typo
| |corrected to "Jesus Christ caused His own to be slain."
| |
170 | 612 |"Salutare taum expectabo, Domine." - As in image.
| |
181 | 641 |"but it they have" - Typo corrected to "but if they
| |have".
| |
282 | |Endnote 210. - "P. 158, l. 13. _Saint John_.--xii, 39."
| |-Corrected to ""P. 159, l. 13. _Saint John_.--xii, 39."
| |
286 | |Endnote 331. "_Though ye believe not_, ect.--John x, 38."
| |-Corrected to "_Though ye believe not_, etc.--John x, 38."