{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_18269/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_18269","id":"gutenberg_18269","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18269","summary":null,"tags":["Apologetics -- Early works to 1800","Banned Books from Anne Haight's list","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Apologetic works -- Early works to 1800","Catholic Church -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800","Harvard Classics"],"text":"Produced by John Hagerson, LN Yaddanapudi, Juliet Sutherland\nand the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPASCAL'S PENS\u00c9ES\n\n\nINTRODUCTION BY\nT. S. ELIOT\n\n_A Dutton Paperback_\n\nNew York\nE. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.\n\n\n\n\n_This paperback edition of \"Pascal's Pens\u00e9es\" Published 1958 by E. P.\nDutton & Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A._\n\n\nSBN 0-525-47018-2\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nIt might seem that about Blaise Pascal, and about the two works on which\nhis fame is founded, everything that there is to say had been said. The\ndetails of his life are as fully known as we can expect to know them;\nhis mathematical and physical discoveries have been treated many times;\nhis religious sentiment and his theological views have been discussed\nagain and again; and his prose style has been analysed by French critics\ndown to the finest particular. But Pascal is one of those writers who\nwill be and who must be studied afresh by men in every generation. It is\nnot he who changes, but we who change. It is not our knowledge of him\nthat increases, but our world that alters and our attitudes towards it.\nThe history of human opinions of Pascal and of men of his stature is a\npart of the history of humanity. That indicates his permanent\nimportance.\n\nThe facts of Pascal's life, so far as they are necessary for this brief\nintroduction to the _Pens\u00e9es_, are as follows. He was born at Clermont,\nin Auvergne, in 1623. His family were people of substance of the upper\nmiddle class. His father was a government official, who was able to\nleave, when he died, a sufficient patrimony to his one son and his two\ndaughters. In 1631 the father moved to Paris, and a few years later took\nup another government post at Rouen. Wherever he lived, the elder Pascal\nseems to have mingled with some of the best society, and with men of\neminence in science and the arts. Blaise was educated entirely by his\nfather at home. He was exceedingly precocious, indeed excessively\nprecocious, for his application to studies in childhood and adolescence\nimpaired his health, and is held responsible for his death at\nthirty-nine. Prodigious, though not incredible stories are preserved,\nespecially of his precocity in mathematics. His mind was active rather\nthan accumulative; he showed from his earliest years that disposition to\nfind things out for himself, which has characterised the infancy of\nClerk-Maxwell and other scientists. Of his later discoveries in physics\nthere is no need for mention here; it must only be remembered that he\ncounts as one of the greatest physicists and mathematicians of all time;\nand that his discoveries were made during the years when most scientists\nare still apprentices.\n\nThe elder Pascal, \u00c9tienne, was a sincere Christian. About 1646 he fell\nin with some representatives of the religious revival within the Church\nwhich has become known as Jansenism--after Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres,\nwhose theological work is taken as the origin of the movement. This\nperiod is usually spoken of as the moment of Pascal's \"first\nconversion.\" The word \"conversion,\" however, is too forcible to be\napplied at this point to Blaise Pascal himself. The family had always\nbeen devout, and the younger Pascal, though absorbed in his scientific\nwork, never seems to have been afflicted with infidelity. His attention\nwas then directed, certainly, to religious and theological matters; but\nthe term \"conversion\" can only be applied to his sisters--the elder,\nalready Madame P\u00e9rier, and particularly the younger, Jacqueline, who at\nthat time conceived a vocation for the religious life. Pascal himself\nwas by no means disposed to renounce the world. After the death of the\nfather in 1650 Jacqueline, a young woman of remarkable strength and\nbeauty of character, wished to take her vows as a sister of Port-Royal,\nand for some time her wish remained unfulfilled owing to the opposition\nof her brother. His objection was on the purely worldly ground that she\nwished to make over her patrimony to the Order; whereas while she lived\nwith him, their combined resources made it possible for him to live more\nnearly on a scale of expense congenial to his tastes. He liked, in fact,\nnot only to mix with the best society, but to keep a coach and\nhorses--six horses is the number at one time attributed to his carriage.\nThough he had no legal power to prevent his sister from disposing of her\nproperty as she elected, the amiable Jacqueline shrank from doing so\nwithout her brother's willing approval. The Mother Superior, M\u00e8re\nAng\u00e9lique--herself an eminent personage in the history of this religious\nmovement--finally persuaded the young novice to enter the order without\nthe satisfaction of bringing her patrimony with her; but Jacqueline\nremained so distressed by this situation that her brother finally\nrelented.\n\nSo far as is known, the worldly life enjoyed by Pascal during this\nperiod can hardly be qualified as \"dissipation,\" and certainly not as\n\"debauchery.\" Even gambling may have appealed to him chiefly as\naffording a study of mathematical probabilities. He appears to have led\nsuch a life as any cultivated intellectual man of good position and\nindependent means might lead and consider himself a model of probity and\nvirtue. Not even a love-affair is laid at his door, though he is said to\nhave contemplated marriage. But Jansenism, as represented by the\nreligious society of Port-Royal, was morally a Puritan movement within\nthe Church, and its standards of conduct were at least as severe as\nthose of any Puritanism in England or America. The period of fashionable\nsociety, in Pascal's life, is however, of great importance in his\ndevelopment. It enlarged his knowledge of men and refined his tastes; he\nbecame a man of the world and never lost what he had learnt; and when he\nturned his thoughts wholly towards religion, his worldly knowledge was a\npart of his composition which is essential to the value of his work.\n\nPascal's interest in society did not distract him from scientific\nresearch; nor did this period occupy much space in what is a very short\nand crowded life. Partly his natural dissatisfaction with such a life,\nonce he had learned all it had to teach him, partly the influence of his\nsaintly sister Jacqueline, partly increasing suffering as his health\ndeclined, directed him more and more out of the world and to thoughts of\neternity. And in 1654 occurs what is called his \"second conversion,\" but\nwhich might be called his conversion simply.\n\nHe made a note of his mystical experience, which he kept always about\nhim, and which was found, after his death, sewn into the coat which he\nwas wearing. The experience occurred on 23 November, 1654, and there is\nno reason to doubt its genuineness unless we choose to deny all mystical\nexperience. Now, Pascal was not a mystic, and his works are not to be\nclassified amongst mystical writings; but what can only be called\nmystical experience happens to many men who do not become mystics. The\nwork which he undertook soon after, the _Lettres \u00e9crites \u00e0 un\nprovincial_, is a masterpiece of religious controversy at the opposite\npole from mysticism. We know quite well that he was at the time when he\nreceived his illumination from God in extremely poor health; but it is a\ncommonplace that some forms of illness are extremely favourable, not\nonly to religious illumination, but to artistic and literary\ncomposition. A piece of writing meditated, apparently without progress,\nfor months or years, may suddenly take shape and word; and in this state\nlong passages may be produced which require little or no retouch. I have\nno good word to say for the cultivation of automatic writing as the\nmodel of literary composition; I doubt whether these moments _can_ be\ncultivated by the writer; but he to whom this happens assuredly has the\nsensation of being a vehicle rather than a maker. No masterpiece can be\nproduced whole by such means; but neither does even the higher form of\nreligious inspiration suffice for the religious life; even the most\nexalted mystic must return to the world, and use his reason to employ\nthe results of his experience in daily life. You may call it communion\nwith the Divine, or you may call it a temporary crystallisation of the\nmind. Until science can teach us to reproduce such phenomena at will,\nscience cannot claim to have explained them; and they can be judged only\nby their fruits.\n\nFrom that time until his death, Pascal was closely associated with the\nsociety of Port-Royal which his sister Jacqueline, who predeceased him,\nhad joined as a _religieuse_; the society was then fighting for its life\nagainst the Jesuits. Five propositions, judged by a committee of\ncardinals and theologians at Rome to be heretical, were found to be put\nforward in the work of Jansenius; and the society of Port-Royal, the\nrepresentative of Jansenism among devotional communities, suffered a\nblow from which it never revived. It is not the place here to review the\nbitter controversy and conflict; the best account, from the point of\nview of a critic of genius who took no side, who was neither Jansenist\nnor Jesuit, Christian nor infidel, is that in the great book of\nSainte-Beuve, _Port-Royal_. And in this book the parts devoted to Pascal\nhimself are among the most brilliant pages of criticism that\nSainte-Beuve ever wrote. It is sufficient to notice that the next\noccupation of Pascal, after his conversion, was to write these eighteen\n\"Letters,\" which as prose are of capital importance in the foundation of\nFrench classical style, and which as polemic are surpassed by none, not\nby Demosthenes, or Cicero, or Swift. They have the limitation of all\npolemic and forensic: they persuade, they seduce, they are unfair. But\nit is also unfair to assert that, in these _Letters to a Provincial_,\nPascal was attacking the Society of Jesus in itself. He was attacking\nrather a particular school of casuistry which relaxed the requirements\nof the Confessional; a school which certainly flourished amongst the\nSociety of Jesus at that time, and of which the Spaniards Escobar and\nMolina are the most eminent authorities. He undoubtedly abused the art\nof quotation, as a polemical writer can hardly help but do; but there\nwere abuses for him to abuse; and he did the job thoroughly. His\n_Letters_ must not be called theology. Academic theology was not a\ndepartment in which Pascal was versed; when necessary, the fathers of\nPort-Royal came to his aid. The _Letters_ are the work of one of the\nfinest mathematical minds of any time, and of a man of the world who\naddressed, not theologians, but the world in general--all of the\ncultivated and many of the less cultivated of the French laity; and with\nthis public they made an astonishing success.\n\nDuring this time Pascal never wholly abandoned his scientific interests.\nThough in his religious writings he composed slowly and painfully, and\nrevised often, in matters of mathematics his mind seemed to move with\nconsummate natural ease and grace. Discoveries and inventions sprang\nfrom his brain without effort; among the minor devices of this later\nperiod, the first omnibus service in Paris is said to owe its origin to\nhis inventiveness. But rapidly failing health, and absorption in the\ngreat work he had in mind, left him little time and energy during the\nlast two years of his life.\n\nThe plan of what we call the _Pens\u00e9es_ formed itself about 1660. The\ncompleted book was to have been a carefully constructed defence of\nChristianity, a true Apology and a kind of Grammar of Assent, setting\nforth the reasons which will convince the intellect. As I have indicated\nbefore, Pascal was not a theologian, and on dogmatic theology had\nrecourse to his spiritual advisers. Nor was he indeed a systematic\nphilosopher. He was a man with an immense genius for science, and at the\nsame time a natural psychologist and moralist. As he was a great\nliterary artist, his book would have been also his own spiritual\nautobiography; his style, free from all diminishing idiosyncrasies, was\nyet very personal. Above all, he was a man of strong passions; and his\nintellectual passion for truth was reinforced by his passionate\ndissatisfaction with human life unless a spiritual explanation could be\nfound.\n\nWe must regard the _Pens\u00e9es_ as merely the first notes for a work which\nhe left far from completion; we have, in Sainte-Beuve's words, a tower\nof which the stones have been laid on each other, but not cemented, and\nthe structure unfinished. In early years his memory had been amazingly\nretentive of anything that he wished to remember; and had it not been\nimpaired by increasing illness and pain, he probably would not have been\nobliged to set down these notes at all. But taking the book as it is\nleft to us, we still find that it occupies a unique place in the history\nof French literature and in the history of religious meditation.\n\nTo understand the method which Pascal employs, the reader must be\nprepared to follow the process of the mind of the intelligent believer.\nThe Christian thinker--and I mean the man who is trying consciously and\nconscientiously to explain to himself the sequence which culminated in\nfaith, rather than the public apologist--proceeds by rejection and\nelimination. He finds the world to be so and so; he finds its character\ninexplicable by any non-religious theory; among religions he finds\nChristianity, and Catholic Christianity, to account most satisfactorily\nfor the world and especially for the moral world within; and thus, by\nwhat Newman calls \"powerful and concurrent\" reasons, he finds himself\ninexorably committed to the dogma of the Incarnation. To the unbeliever,\nthis method seems disingenuous and perverse; for the unbeliever is, as a\nrule, not so greatly troubled to explain the world to himself, nor so\ngreatly distressed by its disorder; nor is he generally concerned (in\nmodern terms) to \"preserve values.\" He does not consider that if certain\nemotional states, certain developments of character, and what in the\nhighest sense can be called \"saintliness\" are inherently and by\ninspection known to be good, then the satisfactory explanation of the\nworld must be an explanation which will admit the \"reality\" of these\nvalues. Nor does he consider such reasoning admissible; he would, so to\nspeak, trim his values according to his cloth, because to him such\nvalues are of no great value. The unbeliever starts from the other end,\nand as likely as not with the question: Is a case of human\nparthenogenesis credible? and this he would call going straight to the\nheart of the matter. Now Pascal's method is, on the whole, the method\nnatural and right for the Christian; and the opposite method is that\ntaken by Voltaire. It is worth while to remember that Voltaire, in his\nattempt to refute Pascal, has given once and for all the type of such\nrefutation; and that later opponents of Pascal's Apology for the\nChristian Faith have contributed little beyond psychological\nirrelevancies. For Voltaire has presented, better than any one since,\nwhat is the unbelieving point of view; and in the end we must all choose\nfor ourselves between one point of view and another.\n\nI have said above that Pascal's method is \"on the whole\" that of the\ntypical Christian apologist; and this reservation was directed at\nPascal's belief in miracles, which plays a larger part in his\nconstruction than it would in that, at least, of the modern liberal\nCatholic. It would seem fantastic to accept Christianity because we\nfirst believe the Gospel miracles to be true, and it would seem impious\nto accept it primarily because we believe more recent miracles to be\ntrue; we accept the miracles, or some miracles, to be true because we\nbelieve the Gospel of Jesus Christ: we found our belief in the miracles\non the Gospel, not our belief in the Gospel on the miracles. But it must\nbe remembered that Pascal had been deeply impressed by a contemporary\nmiracle, known as the miracle of the Holy Thorn: a thorn reputed to have\nbeen preserved from the Crown of Our Lord was pressed upon an ulcer\nwhich quickly healed. Sainte-Beuve, who as a medical man felt himself on\nsolid ground, discusses fully the possible explanation of this apparent\nmiracle. It is true that the miracle happened at Port-Royal, and that it\narrived opportunely to revive the depressed spirits of the community in\nits political afflictions; and it is likely that Pascal was the more\ninclined to believe a miracle which was performed upon his beloved\nsister. In any case, it probably led him to assign a place to miracles,\nin his study of faith, which is not quite that which we should give to\nthem ourselves.\n\nNow the great adversary against whom Pascal set himself, from the time\nof his first conversations with M. de Saci at Port-Royal, was Montaigne.\nOne cannot destroy Pascal, certainly; but of all authors Montaigne is\none of the least destructible. You could as well dissipate a fog by\nflinging hand-grenades into it. For Montaigne is a fog, a gas, a fluid,\ninsidious element. He does not reason, he insinuates, charms, and\ninfluences; or if he reasons, you must be prepared for his having some\nother design upon you than to convince you by his argument. It is\nhardly too much to say that Montaigne is the most essential author to\nknow, if we would understand the course of French thought during the\nlast three hundred years. In every way, the influence of Montaigne was\nrepugnant to the men of Port-Royal. Pascal studied him with the\nintention of demolishing him. Yet, in the _Pens\u00e9es_, at the very end of\nhis life, we find passage after passage, and the slighter they are the\nmore significant, almost \"lifted\" out of Montaigne, down to a figure of\nspeech or a word. The parallels[A] are most often with the long essay of\nMontaigne called _Apologie de Raymond S\u00e9bond_--an astonishing piece of\nwriting upon which Shakespeare also probably drew in _Hamlet_. Indeed,\nby the time a man knew Montaigne well enough to attack him, he would\nalready be thoroughly infected by him.\n\n    [A] Cf. the use of the simile of the _couvreur_. For comparing\n    parallel passages, the edition of the _Pens\u00e9es_ by Henri Massis (_A\n    la cit\u00e9 des livres_) is better than the two-volume edition of\n    Jacques Chevalier (Gabalda). It seems just possible that in the\n    latter edition, and also in his biographical study (_Pascal_; by\n    Jacques Chevalier, English translation, published by Sheed & Ward),\n    M. Chevalier is a little over-zealous to demonstrate the perfect\n    orthodoxy of Pascal.\n\nIt would, however, be grossly unfair to Pascal, to Montaigne, and indeed\nto French literature, to leave the matter at that. It is no diminution\nof Pascal, but only an aggrandisement of Montaigne. Had Montaigne been\nan ordinary life-sized sceptic, a small man like Anatole France, or even\na greater man like Renan, or even like the greatest sceptic of all,\nVoltaire, this \"influence\" would be to the discredit of Pascal; but if\nMontaigne had been no more than Voltaire, he could not have affected\nPascal at all. The picture of Montaigne which offers itself first to our\neyes, that of the original and independent solitary \"personality,\"\nabsorbed in amused analysis of himself, is deceptive. Montaigne's is no\n_limited_ Pyrrhonism, like that of Voltaire, Renan, or France. He\nexists, so to speak, on a plan of numerous concentric circles, the most\napparent of which is the small inmost circle, a personal puckish\nscepticism which can be easily aped if not imitated. But what makes\nMontaigne a very great figure is that he succeeded, God knows how--for\nMontaigne very likely did not know that he had done it--it is not the\nsort of thing that men _can_ observe about themselves, for it is\nessentially bigger than the individual's consciousness--he succeeded in\ngiving expression to the scepticism of _every_ human being. For every\nman who thinks and lives by thought must have his own scepticism, that\nwhich stops at the question, that which ends in denial, or that which\nleads to faith and which is somehow integrated into the faith which\ntranscends it. And Pascal, as the type of one kind of religious\nbeliever, which is highly passionate and ardent, but passionate only\nthrough a powerful and regulated intellect, is in the first sections of\nhis unfinished Apology for Christianity facing unflinchingly the demon\nof doubt which is inseparable from the spirit of belief.\n\nThere is accordingly something quite different from an influence which\nwould prove Pascal's weakness; there is a real affinity between his\ndoubt and that of Montaigne; and through the common kinship with\nMontaigne Pascal is related to the noble and distinguished line of\nFrench moralists, from La Rochefoucauld down. In the honesty with which\nthey face the _donn\u00e9es_ of the actual world this French tradition has a\nunique quality in European literature, and in the seventeenth century\nHobbes is crude and uncivilised in comparison.\n\nPascal is a man of the world among ascetics, and an ascetic among men of\nthe world; he had the knowledge of worldliness and the passion of\nasceticism, and in him the two are fused into an individual whole. The\nmajority of mankind is lazy-minded, incurious, absorbed in vanities, and\ntepid in emotion, and is therefore incapable of either much doubt or\nmuch faith; and when the ordinary man calls himself a sceptic or an\nunbeliever, that is ordinarily a simple pose, cloaking a disinclination\nto think anything out to a conclusion. Pascal's disillusioned analysis\nof human bondage is sometimes interpreted to mean that Pascal was really\nand finally an unbeliever, who, in his despair, was incapable of\nenduring reality and enjoying the heroic satisfaction of the free man's\nworship of nothing. His despair, his disillusion, are, however, no\nillustration of personal weakness; they are perfectly objective, because\nthey are essential moments in the progress of the intellectual soul; and\nfor the type of Pascal they are the analogue of the drought, the dark\nnight, which is an essential stage in the progress of the Christian\nmystic. A similar despair, when it is arrived at by a diseased character\nor an impure soul, may issue in the most disastrous consequences though\nwith the most superb manifestations; and thus we get _Gulliver's\nTravels_; but in Pascal we find no such distortion; his despair is in\nitself more terrible than Swift's, because our heart tells us that it\ncorresponds exactly to the facts and cannot be dismissed as mental\ndisease; but it was also a despair which was a necessary prelude to, and\nelement in, the joy of faith.\n\nI do not wish to enter any further than necessary upon the question of\nthe heterodoxy of Jansenism; and it is no concern of this essay, whether\nthe Five Propositions condemned at Rome were really maintained by\nJansenius in his book _Augustinus_; or whether we should deplore or\napprove the consequent decay (indeed with some persecution) of\nPort-Royal. It is impossible to discuss the matter without becoming\ninvolved as a controversialist either for or against Rome. But in a man\nof the type of Pascal--and the type always exists--there is, I think, an\ningredient of what may be called Jansenism of temperament, without\nidentifying it with the Jansenism of Jansenius and of other devout and\nsincere, but not immensely gifted doctors.[B] It is accordingly needful\nto state in brief what the dangerous doctrine of Jansenius was, without\nadvancing too far into theological refinements. It is recognised in\nChristian theology--and indeed on a lower plane it is recognised by all\nmen in affairs of daily life--that freewill or the natural effort and\nability of the individual man, and also supernatural _grace_, a gift\naccorded we know not quite how, are both required, in co-operation, for\nsalvation. Though numerous theologians have set their wits at the\nproblem, it ends in a mystery which we can perceive but not finally\ndecipher. At least, it is obvious that, like any doctrine, a slight\nexcess or deviation to one side or the other will precipitate a heresy.\nThe Pelagians, who were refuted by St. Augustine, emphasised the\nefficacy of human effort and belittled the importance of supernatural\ngrace. The Calvinists emphasised the degradation of man through Original\nSin, and considered mankind so corrupt that the will was of no avail;\nand thus fell into the doctrine of predestination. It was upon the\ndoctrine of grace according to St. Augustine that the Jansenists relied;\nand the _Augustinus_ of Jansenius was presented as a sound exposition of\nthe Augustinian views.\n\n    [B] The great man of Port-Royal was of course Saint-Cyran, but any\n    one who is interested will certainly consult, first of all, the book\n    of Sainte-Beuve mentioned.\n\nSuch heresies are never antiquated, because they forever assume new\nforms. For instance, the insistence upon good works and \"service\" which\nis preached from many quarters, or the simple faith that any one who\nlives a good and useful life need have no \"morbid\" anxieties about\nsalvation, is a form of Pelagianism. On the other hand, one sometimes\nhears enounced the view that it will make no real difference if all the\ntraditional religious sanctions for moral behaviour break down, because\nthose who are born and bred to be nice people will always prefer to\nbehave nicely, and those who are not will behave otherwise in any case:\nand this is surely a form of predestination--for the hazard of being\nborn a nice person or not is as uncertain as the gift of grace.\n\nIt is likely that Pascal was attracted as much by the fruits of\nJansenism in the life of Port-Royal as by the doctrine itself. This\ndevout, ascetic, thoroughgoing society, striving heroically in the midst\nof a relaxed and easy-going Christianity, was formed to attract a nature\nso concentrated, so passionate, and so thoroughgoing as Pascal's. But\nthe insistence upon the degraded and helpless state of man, in\nJansenism, is something also to which we must be grateful, for to it we\nowe the magnificent analysis of human motives and occupations which was\nto have constituted the early part of his book. And apart from the\nJansenism which is the work of a not very eminent bishop who wrote a\nLatin treatise which is now unread, there is also, so to speak, a\nJansenism of the individual biography. A moment of Jansenism may\nnaturally take place, and take place rightly, in the individual;\nparticularly in the life of a man of great and intense intellectual\npowers, who cannot avoid seeing through human beings and observing the\nvanity of their thoughts and of their avocations, their dishonesty and\nself-deceptions, the insincerity of their emotions, their cowardice, the\npettiness of their real ambitions. Actually, considering that Pascal\ndied at the age of thirty-nine, one must be amazed at the balance and\njustice of his observations; much greater maturity is required for these\nqualities, than for any mathematical or scientific greatness. How easily\nhis brooding on _the misery of man without God_ might have encouraged in\nhim the sin of spiritual pride, the _concupiscence de l'esprit_, and how\nfast a hold he has of humility!\n\nAnd although Pascal brings to his work the same powers which he exerted\nin science, it is not as a scientist that he presents himself. He does\nnot seem to say to the reader: I am one of the most distinguished\nscientists of the day; I understand many matters which will always be\nmysteries to you, and through science I have come to the Faith; you\ntherefore who are not initiated into science ought to have faith if I\nhave it. He is fully aware of the difference of subject-matter; and his\nfamous distinction between the _esprit de g\u00e9om\u00e9trie_ and the _esprit de\nfinesse_ is one to ponder over. It is the just combination of the\nscientist, the _honn\u00eate homme_, and the religious nature with a\npassionate craving for God, that makes Pascal unique. He succeeds where\nDescartes fails; for in Descartes the element of _esprit de g\u00e9om\u00e9trie_\nis excessive.[C] And in a few phrases about Descartes, in the present\nbook, Pascal laid his finger on the place of weakness.\n\n    [C] For a brilliant criticism of the errors of Descartes from a\n    theological point of view the reader is referred to _Three\n    Reformers_ by Jacques Maritain (translation published by Sheed &\n    Ward).\n\nHe who reads this book will observe at once its fragmentary nature; but\nonly after some study will perceive that the fragmentariness lies in the\nexpression more than in the thought. The \"thoughts\" cannot be detached\nfrom each other and quoted as if each were complete in itself. _Le coeur\na ses raisons que la raison ne conna\u00eet point_: how often one has heard\nthat quoted, and quoted often to the wrong purpose! For this is by no\nmeans an exaltation of the \"heart\" over the \"head,\" a defence of\nunreason. The heart, in Pascal's terminology, is itself truly rational\nif it is truly the heart. For him, in theological matters, which seemed\nto him much larger, more difficult, and more important than scientific\nmatters, the whole personality is involved.\n\nWe cannot quite understand any of the parts, fragmentary as they are,\nwithout some understanding of the whole. Capital, for instance, is his\nanalysis of the _three orders_: the order of nature, the order of mind,\nand the order of charity. These three are _discontinuous_; the higher is\nnot implicit in the lower as in an evolutionary doctrine it would be.[D]\nIn this distinction Pascal offers much about which the modern world\nwould do well to think. And indeed, because of his unique combination\nand balance of qualities, I know of no religious writer more pertinent\nto our time. The great mystics like St. John of the Cross, are\nprimarily for readers with a special determination of purpose; the\ndevotional writers, such as St. Fran\u00e7ois de Sales, are primarily for\nthose who already feel consciously desirous of the love of God; the\ngreat theologians are for those interested in theology. But I can think\nof no Christian writer, not Newman even, more to be commended than\nPascal to those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the\nsensibility to feel, the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness,\nthe mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a\nsatisfaction of the whole being.\n\n    [D] An important modern theory of discontinuity, suggested partly by\n    Pascal, is sketched in the collected fragments of _Speculations_ by\n    T. E. Hulme (Kegan Paul).\n\nT. S. ELIOT.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                     Page\n         INTRODUCTION By T. S. Eliot                 vii\nSECTION\nI.       THOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE                 1\nII.      THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD                14\nIII.     OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER                52\nIV.      OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF                       71\nV.       JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS            83\nVI.      THE PHILOSOPHERS                             96\nVII.     MORALITY AND DOCTRINE                       113\nVIII.    THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION  152\nIX.      PERPETUITY                                  163\nX.       TYPOLOGY                                    181\nXI.      THE PROPHECIES                              198\nXII.     PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST                      222\nXIII.    THE MIRACLES                                238\nXIV.     APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS               257\n         NOTES                                       273\n         INDEX                                       289\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\n\nNOTE\n\n_Passages_ erased by Pascal are enclosed in square brackets, thus [].\n_Words_, added or corrected by the editor of the text, are similarly\ndenoted, but are in italics.\n\nIt has been seen fit to transfer Fragment 514 of the French edition to\nthe Notes. All subsequent Fragments have accordingly been renumbered.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION I\n\nTHOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE\n\n\n1\n\n\n_The difference between the mathematical and the intuitive mind._[1]--In\nthe one the principles are palpable, but removed from ordinary use; so\nthat for want of habit it is difficult to turn one's mind in that\ndirection: but if one turns it thither ever so little, one sees the\nprinciples fully, and one must have a quite inaccurate mind who reasons\nwrongly from principles so plain that it is almost impossible they\nshould escape notice.\n\nBut in the intuitive mind the principles are found in common use, and\nare before the eyes of everybody. One has only to look, and no effort is\nnecessary; it is only a question of good eyesight, but it must be good,\nfor the principles are so subtle and so numerous, that it is almost\nimpossible but that some escape notice. Now the omission of one\nprinciple leads to error; thus one must have very clear sight to see all\nthe principles, and in the next place an accurate mind not to draw false\ndeductions from known principles.\n\nAll mathematicians would then be intuitive if they had clear sight, for\nthey do not reason incorrectly from principles known to them; and\nintuitive minds would be mathematical if they could turn their eyes to\nthe principles of mathematics to which they are unused.\n\nThe reason, therefore, that some intuitive minds are not mathematical is\nthat they cannot at all turn their attention to the principles of\nmathematics. But the reason that mathematicians are not intuitive is\nthat they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the\nexact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they\nhave well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in\nmatters of intuition where the principles do not allow of such\narrangement. They are scarcely seen; they are felt rather than seen;\nthere is the greatest difficulty in making them felt by those who do\nnot of themselves perceive them. These principles are so fine and so\nnumerous that a very delicate and very clear sense is needed to perceive\nthem, and to judge rightly and justly when they are perceived, without\nfor the most part being able to demonstrate them in order as in\nmathematics; because the principles are not known to us in the same way,\nand because it would be an endless matter to undertake it. We must see\nthe matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of reasoning, at\nleast to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that mathematicians are\nintuitive, and that men of intuition are mathematicians, because\nmathematicians wish to treat matters of intuition mathematically, and\nmake themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin with definitions and then\nwith axioms, which is not the way to proceed in this kind of reasoning.\nNot that the mind does not do so, but it does it tacitly, naturally, and\nwithout technical rules; for the expression of it is beyond all men, and\nonly a few can feel it.\n\nIntuitive minds, on the contrary, being thus accustomed to judge at a\nsingle glance, are so astonished when they are presented with\npropositions of which they understand nothing, and the way to which is\nthrough definitions and axioms so sterile, and which they are not\naccustomed to see thus in detail, that they are repelled and\ndisheartened.\n\nBut dull minds are never either intuitive or mathematical.\n\nMathematicians who are only mathematicians have exact minds, provided\nall things are explained to them by means of definitions and axioms;\notherwise they are inaccurate and insufferable, for they are only right\nwhen the principles are quite clear.\n\nAnd men of intuition who are only intuitive cannot have the patience to\nreach to first principles of things speculative and conceptual, which\nthey have never seen in the world, and which are altogether out of the\ncommon.\n\n\n2\n\nThere are different kinds of right understanding;[2] some have right\nunderstanding in a certain order of things, and not in others, where\nthey go astray. Some draw conclusions well from a few premises, and this\ndisplays an acute judgment.\n\nOthers draw conclusions well where there are many premises.\n\nFor example, the former easily learn hydrostatics, where the premises\nare few, but the conclusions are so fine that only the greatest\nacuteness can reach them.\n\nAnd in spite of that these persons would perhaps not be great\nmathematicians, because mathematics contain a great number of premises,\nand there is perhaps a kind of intellect that can search with ease a few\npremises to the bottom, and cannot in the least penetrate those matters\nin which there are many premises.\n\nThere are then two kinds of intellect: the one able to penetrate acutely\nand deeply into the conclusions of given premises, and this is the\nprecise intellect; the other able to comprehend a great number of\npremises without confusing them, and this is the mathematical intellect.\nThe one has force and exactness, the other comprehension. Now the one\nquality can exist without the other; the intellect can be strong and\nnarrow, and can also be comprehensive and weak.\n\n\n3\n\nThose who are accustomed to judge by feeling do not understand the\nprocess of reasoning, for they would understand at first sight, and are\nnot used to seek for principles. And others, on the contrary, who are\naccustomed to reason from principles, do not at all understand matters\nof feeling, seeking principles, and being unable to see at a glance.\n\n\n4\n\n_Mathematics, intuition._--True eloquence makes light of eloquence, true\nmorality makes light of morality; that is to say, the morality of the\njudgment, which has no rules, makes light of the morality of the\nintellect.\n\nFor it is to judgment that perception belongs, as science belongs to\nintellect. Intuition is the part of judgment, mathematics of intellect.\n\nTo make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher.\n\n\n5\n\nThose who judge of a work by rule[3] are in regard to others as those\nwho have a watch are in regard to others. One says, \"It is two hours\nago\"; the other says, \"It is only three-quarters of an hour.\" I look at\nmy watch, and say to the one, \"You are weary,\" and to the other, \"Time\ngallops with you\"; for it is only an hour and a half ago, and I laugh\nat those who tell me that time goes slowly with me, and that I judge by\nimagination. They do not know that I judge by my watch.[4]\n\n\n6\n\nJust as we harm the understanding, we harm the feelings also.\n\nThe understanding and the feelings are moulded by intercourse; the\nunderstanding and feelings are corrupted by intercourse. Thus good or\nbad society improves or corrupts them. It is, then, all-important to\nknow how to choose in order to improve and not to corrupt them; and we\ncannot make this choice, if they be not already improved and not\ncorrupted. Thus a circle is formed, and those are fortunate who escape\nit.\n\n\n7\n\nThe greater intellect one has, the more originality one finds in men.\nOrdinary persons find no difference between men.\n\n\n8\n\nThere are many people who listen to a sermon in the same way as they\nlisten to vespers.\n\n\n9\n\nWhen we wish to correct with advantage, and to show another that he\nerrs, we must notice from what side he views the matter, for on that\nside it is usually true, and admit that truth to him, but reveal to him\nthe side on which it is false. He is satisfied with that, for he sees\nthat he was not mistaken, and that he only failed to see all sides. Now,\nno one is offended at not seeing everything; but one does not like to be\nmistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that man naturally\ncannot see everything, and that naturally he cannot err in the side he\nlooks at, since the perceptions of our senses are always true.\n\n\n10\n\nPeople are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have\nthemselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of\nothers.\n\n\n11\n\nAll great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life; but among all\nthose which the world has invented there is none more to be feared than\nthe theatre. It is a representation of the passions so natural and so\ndelicate that it excites them and gives birth to them in our hearts,\nand, above all, to that of love, principally when it is represented as\nvery chaste and virtuous. For the more innocent it appears to innocent\nsouls, the more they are likely to be touched by it. Its violence\npleases our self-love, which immediately forms a desire to produce the\nsame effects which are seen so well represented; and, at the same time,\nwe make ourselves a conscience founded on the propriety of the feelings\nwhich we see there, by which the fear of pure souls is removed, since\nthey imagine that it cannot hurt their purity to love with a love which\nseems to them so reasonable.\n\nSo we depart from the theatre with our heart so filled with all the\nbeauty and tenderness of love, the soul and the mind so persuaded of its\ninnocence, that we are quite ready to receive its first impressions, or\nrather to seek an opportunity of awakening them in the heart of another,\nin order that we may receive the same pleasures and the same sacrifices\nwhich we have seen so well represented in the theatre.\n\n\n12\n\nScaramouch,[5] who only thinks of one thing.\n\nThe doctor,[6] who speaks for a quarter of an hour after he has said\neverything, so full is he of the desire of talking.\n\n\n13\n\nOne likes to see the error, the passion of Cleobuline,[7] because she is\nunconscious of it. She would be displeasing, if she were not deceived.\n\n\n14\n\nWhen a natural discourse paints a passion or an effect, one feels within\noneself the truth of what one reads, which was there before, although\none did not know it. Hence one is inclined to love him who makes us feel\nit, for he has not shown us his own riches, but ours. And thus this\nbenefit renders him pleasing to us, besides that such community of\nintellect as we have with him necessarily inclines the heart to love.\n\n\n15\n\nEloquence, which persuades by sweetness, not by authority; as a tyrant,\nnot as a king.\n\n\n16\n\nEloquence is an art of saying things in such a way--(1) that those to\nwhom we speak may listen to them without pain and with pleasure; (2)\nthat they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more\nwillingly to reflection upon it.\n\nIt consists, then, in a correspondence which we seek to establish\nbetween the head and the heart of those to whom we speak on the one\nhand, and, on the other, between the thoughts and the expressions which\nwe employ. This assumes that we have studied well the heart of man so as\nto know all its powers, and then to find the just proportions of the\ndiscourse which we wish to adapt to them. We must put ourselves in the\nplace of those who are to hear us, and make trial on our own heart of\nthe turn which we give to our discourse in order to see whether one is\nmade for the other, and whether we can assure ourselves that the hearer\nwill be, as it were, forced to surrender. We ought to restrict\nourselves, so far as possible, to the simple and natural, and not to\nmagnify that which is little, or belittle that which is great. It is not\nenough that a thing be beautiful; it must be suitable to the subject,\nand there must be in it nothing of excess or defect.\n\n\n17\n\nRivers are roads which move,[8] and which carry us whither we desire to\ngo.\n\n\n18\n\nWhen we do not know the truth of a thing, it is of advantage that there\nshould exist a common error which determines the mind of man, as, for\nexample, the moon, to which is attributed the change of seasons, the\nprogress of diseases, etc. For the chief malady of man is restless\ncuriosity about things which he cannot understand; and it is not so bad\nfor him to be in error as to be curious to no purpose.\n\nThe manner in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de Tultie[9]\nwrote, is the most usual, the most suggestive, the most remembered, and\nthe oftenest quoted; because it is entirely composed of thoughts born\nfrom the common talk of life. As when we speak of the common error which\nexists among men that the moon is the cause of everything, we never fail\nto say that Salomon de Tultie says that when we do not know the truth\nof a thing, it is of advantage that there should exist a common error,\netc.; which is the thought above.\n\n\n19\n\nThe last thing one settles in writing a book is what one should put in\nfirst.\n\n\n20\n\n_Order._--Why should I undertake to divide my virtues into four rather\nthan into six? Why should I rather establish virtue in four, in two, in\none? Why into _Abstine et sustine_[10] rather than into \"Follow\nNature,\"[11] or, \"Conduct your private affairs without injustice,\" as\nPlato,[12] or anything else? But there, you will say, everything is\ncontained in one word. Yes, but it is useless without explanation, and\nwhen we come to explain it, as soon as we unfold this maxim which\ncontains all the rest, they emerge in that first confusion which you\ndesired to avoid. So, when they are all included in one, they are hidden\nand useless, as in a chest, and never appear save in their natural\nconfusion. Nature has established them all without including one in the\nother.\n\n\n21\n\nNature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes\none dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each keeps its own\nplace.\n\n\n22\n\nLet no one say that I have said nothing new; the arrangement of the\nsubject is new. When we play tennis, we both play with the same ball,\nbut one of us places it better.\n\nI had as soon it said that I used words employed before. And in the same\nway if the same thoughts in a different arrangement do not form a\ndifferent discourse, no more do the same words in their different\narrangement form different thoughts!\n\n\n23\n\nWords differently arranged have a different meaning, and meanings\ndifferently arranged have different effects.\n\n\n24\n\n_Language._--We should not turn the mind from one thing to another,\nexcept for relaxation, and that when it is necessary and the time\nsuitable, and not otherwise. For he that relaxes out of season wearies,\nand he who wearies us out of season makes us languid, since we turn\nquite away. So much does our perverse lust like to do the contrary of\nwhat those wish to obtain from us without giving us pleasure, the coin\nfor which we will do whatever is wanted.\n\n\n25\n\n_Eloquence._--It requires the pleasant and the real; but the pleasant\nmust itself be drawn from the true.\n\n\n26\n\nEloquence is a painting of thought; and thus those who, after having\npainted it, add something more, make a picture instead of a portrait.\n\n\n27\n\n_Miscellaneous. Language._--Those who make antitheses by forcing words\nare like those who make false windows for symmetry. Their rule is not to\nspeak accurately, but to make apt figures of speech.\n\n\n28\n\nSymmetry is what we see at a glance; based on the fact that there is no\nreason for any difference, and based also on the face of man; whence it\nhappens that symmetry is only wanted in breadth, not in height or depth.\n\n\n29\n\nWhen we see a natural style, we are astonished and delighted; for we\nexpected to see an author, and we find a man. Whereas those who have\ngood taste, and who seeing a book expect to find a man, are quite\nsurprised to find an author. _Plus poetice quam humane locutus es._\nThose honour Nature well, who teach that she can speak on everything,\neven on theology.\n\n\n30\n\nWe only consult the ear because the heart is wanting. The rule is\nuprightness.\n\nBeauty of omission, of judgment.\n\n\n31\n\nAll the false beauties which we blame in Cicero have their admirers, and\nin great number.\n\n\n32\n\nThere is a certain standard of grace and beauty which consists in a\ncertain relation between our nature, such as it is, weak or strong, and\nthe thing which pleases us.\n\nWhatever is formed according to this standard pleases us, be it house,\nsong, discourse, verse, prose, woman, birds, rivers, trees, rooms,\ndress, etc. Whatever is not made according to this standard displeases\nthose who have good taste.\n\nAnd as there is a perfect relation between a song and a house which are\nmade after a good model, because they are like this good model, though\neach after its kind; even so there is a perfect relation between things\nmade after a bad model. Not that the bad model is unique, for there are\nmany; but each bad sonnet, for example, on whatever false model it is\nformed, is just like a woman dressed after that model.\n\nNothing makes us understand better the ridiculousness of a false sonnet\nthan to consider nature and the standard, and then to imagine a woman or\na house made according to that standard.\n\n\n33\n\n_Poetical beauty._--As we speak of poetical beauty, so ought we to speak\nof mathematical beauty and medical beauty. But we do not do so; and the\nreason is that we know well what is the object of mathematics, and that\nit consists in proofs, and what is the object of medicine, and that it\nconsists in healing. But we do not know in what grace consists, which is\nthe object of poetry. We do not know the natural model which we ought to\nimitate; and through lack of this knowledge, we have coined fantastic\nterms, \"The golden age,\" \"The wonder of our times,\" \"Fatal,\" etc., and\ncall this jargon poetical beauty.[13]\n\nBut whoever imagines a woman after this model, which consists in saying\nlittle things in big words, will see a pretty girl adorned with mirrors\nand chains, at whom he will smile; because we know better wherein\nconsists the charm of woman than the charm of verse. But those who are\nignorant would admire her in this dress, and there are many villages in\nwhich she would be taken for the queen; hence we call sonnets made after\nthis model \"Village Queens.\"\n\n\n34\n\nNo one passes in the world as skilled in verse unless he has put up the\nsign of a poet, a mathematician, etc. But educated people do not want a\nsign, and draw little distinction between the trade of a poet and that\nof an embroiderer.\n\nPeople of education are not called poets or mathematicians, etc.; but\nthey are all these, and judges of all these. No one guesses what they\nare. When they come into society, they talk on matters about which the\nrest are talking. We do not observe in them one quality rather than\nanother, save when they have to make use of it. But then we remember it,\nfor it is characteristic of such persons that we do not say of them that\nthey are fine speakers, when it is not a question of oratory, and that\nwe say of them that they are fine speakers, when it is such a question.\n\nIt is therefore false praise to give a man when we say of him, on his\nentry, that he is a very clever poet; and it is a bad sign when a man is\nnot asked to give his judgment on some verses.\n\n\n35\n\nWe should not be able to say of a man, \"He is a mathematician,\" or \"a\npreacher,\" or \"eloquent\"; but that he is \"a gentleman.\" That universal\nquality alone pleases me. It is a bad sign when, on seeing a person, you\nremember his book. I would prefer you to see no quality till you meet it\nand have occasion to use it (_Ne quid nimis_[14]), for fear some one\nquality prevail and designate the man. Let none think him a fine\nspeaker, unless oratory be in question, and then let them think it.\n\n\n36\n\nMan is full of wants: he loves only those who can satisfy them all.\n\"This one is a good mathematician,\" one will say. But I have nothing to\ndo with mathematics; he would take me for a proposition. \"That one is a\ngood soldier.\" He would take me for a besieged town. I need, then, an\nupright man who can accommodate himself generally to all my wants.\n\n\n37\n\n[Since we cannot be universal and know all that is to be known of\neverything, we ought to know a little about everything. For it is far\nbetter to know something about everything than to know all about one\nthing. This universality is the best. If we can have both, still better;\nbut if we must choose, we ought to choose the former. And the world\nfeels this and does so; for the world is often a good judge.]\n\n\n38\n\nA poet and not an honest man.\n\n\n39\n\nIf lightning fell on low places, etc., poets, and those who can only\nreason about things of that kind, would lack proofs.\n\n\n40\n\nIf we wished to prove the examples which we take to prove other things,\nwe should have to take those other things to be examples; for, as we\nalways believe the difficulty is in what we wish to prove, we find the\nexamples clearer and a help to demonstration.\n\nThus when we wish to demonstrate a general theorem, we must give the\nrule as applied to a particular case; but if we wish to demonstrate a\nparticular case, we must begin with the general rule. For we always find\nthe thing obscure which we wish to prove, and that clear which we use\nfor the proof; for, when a thing is put forward to be proved, we first\nfill ourselves with the imagination that it is therefore obscure, and on\nthe contrary that what is to prove it is clear, and so we understand it\neasily.\n\n\n41\n\n_Epigrams of Martial._--Man loves malice, but not against one-eyed men\nnor the unfortunate, but against the fortunate and proud. People are\nmistaken in thinking otherwise.\n\nFor lust is the source of all our actions, and humanity, etc. We must\nplease those who have humane and tender feelings. That epigram about two\none-eyed people is worthless,[15] for it does not console them, and only\ngives a point to the author's glory. All that is only for the sake of\nthe author is worthless. _Ambitiosa recident ornamenta_.[16]\n\n\n42\n\nTo call a king \"Prince\" is pleasing, because it diminishes his rank.\n\n\n43\n\nCertain authors, speaking of their works, say, \"My book,\" \"My\ncommentary,\" \"My history,\" etc. They resemble middle-class people who\nhave a house of their own, and always have \"My house\" on their tongue.\nThey would do better to say, \"Our book,\" \"Our commentary,\" \"Our\nhistory,\" etc., because there is in them usually more of other people's\nthan their own.\n\n\n44\n\nDo you wish people to believe good of you? Don't speak.\n\n\n45\n\nLanguages are ciphers, wherein letters are not changed into letters, but\nwords into words, so that an unknown language is decipherable.\n\n\n46\n\nA maker of witticisms, a bad character.\n\n\n47\n\nThere are some who speak well and write badly. For the place and the\naudience warm them, and draw from their minds more than they think of\nwithout that warmth.\n\n\n48\n\nWhen we find words repeated in a discourse, and, in trying to correct\nthem, discover that they are so appropriate that we would spoil the\ndiscourse, we must leave them alone. This is the test; and our attempt\nis the work of envy, which is blind, and does not see that repetition is\nnot in this place a fault; for there is no general rule.\n\n\n49\n\nTo mask nature and disguise her. No more king, pope, bishop--but _august\nmonarch_, etc.; not Paris--_the capital of the kingdom_. There are\nplaces in which we ought to call Paris, Paris, and others in which we\nought to call it the capital of the kingdom.\n\n\n50\n\nThe same meaning changes with the words which express it. Meanings\nreceive their dignity from words instead of giving it to them. Examples\nshould be sought....\n\n\n51\n\nSceptic, for obstinate.\n\n\n52\n\nNo one calls another a Cartesian[17] but he who is one himself, a pedant\nbut a pedant, a provincial but a provincial; and I would wager it was\nthe printer who put it on the title of _Letters to a Provincial_.\n\n\n53\n\nA carriage _upset_ or _overturned_, according to the meaning _To spread\nabroad_ or _upset_, according to the meaning. (The argument by force of\nM. le Ma\u00eetre[18] over the friar.)\n\n\n54\n\n_Miscellaneous._--A form of speech, \"I should have liked to apply myself\nto that.\"\n\n\n55\n\nThe _aperitive_ virtue of a key, the _attractive_ virtue of a hook.\n\n\n56\n\nTo guess: \"The part that I take in your trouble.\" The Cardinal[19] did\nnot want to be guessed.\n\n\"My mind is disquieted.\" _I am disquieted_ is better.\n\n\n57\n\nI always feel uncomfortable under such compliments as these: \"I have\ngiven you a great deal of trouble,\" \"I am afraid I am boring you,\" \"I\nfear this is too long.\" We either carry our audience with us, or\nirritate them.\n\n\n58\n\nYou are ungraceful: \"Excuse me, pray.\" Without that excuse I would not\nhave known there was anything amiss. \"With reverence be it spoken....\"\nThe only thing bad is their excuse.\n\n\n59\n\n\"To extinguish the torch of sedition\"; too luxuriant. \"The restlessness\nof his genius\"; two superfluous grand words.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION II\n\nTHE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD\n\n\n60\n\n_First part_: Misery of man without God.\n\n_Second part_: Happiness of man with God.\n\nOr, _First part_: That nature is corrupt. Proved by nature itself.\n\n_Second part_: That there is a Redeemer. Proved by Scripture.\n\n\n61\n\n_Order._--I might well have taken this discourse in an order like this:\nto show the vanity of all conditions of men, to show the vanity of\nordinary lives, and then the vanity of philosophic lives, sceptics,\nstoics; but the order would not have been kept. I know a little what it\nis, and how few people understand it. No human science can keep it.\nSaint Thomas[20] did not keep it. Mathematics keep it, but they are\nuseless on account of their depth.\n\n\n62\n\n_Preface to the first part._--To speak of those who have treated of the\nknowledge of self; of the divisions of Charron,[21] which sadden and\nweary us; of the confusion of Montaigne;[22] that he was quite aware of\nhis want of method, and shunned it by jumping from subject to subject;\nthat he sought to be fashionable.\n\nHis foolish project of describing himself! And this not casually and\nagainst his maxims, since every one makes mistakes, but by his maxims\nthemselves, and by first and chief design. For to say silly things by\nchance and weakness is a common misfortune; but to say them\nintentionally is intolerable, and to say such as that ...\n\n\n63\n\n_Montaigne._--Montaigne's faults are great. Lewd words; this is bad,\nnotwithstanding Mademoiselle de Gournay.[23] Credulous; _people without\neyes_.[24] Ignorant; _squaring the circle,[25] a greater world_.[26] His\nopinions on suicide, on death.[27] He suggests an indifference about\nsalvation, _without fear and without repentance_.[28] As his book was\nnot written with a religious purpose, he was not bound to mention\nreligion; but it is always our duty not to turn men from it. One can\nexcuse his rather free and licentious opinions on some relations of life\n(730,231)[29]; but one cannot excuse his thoroughly pagan views on\ndeath, for a man must renounce piety altogether, if he does not at least\nwish to die like a Christian. Now, through the whole of his book his\nonly conception of death is a cowardly and effeminate one.\n\n\n64\n\nIt is not in Montaigne, but in myself, that I find all that I see in\nhim.\n\n\n65\n\nWhat good there is in Montaigne can only have been acquired with\ndifficulty. The evil that is in him, I mean apart from his morality,\ncould have been corrected in a moment, if he had been informed that he\nmade too much of trifles and spoke too much of himself.\n\n\n66\n\nOne must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at\nleast serves as a rule of life, and there is nothing better.\n\n\n67\n\n_The vanity of the sciences._--Physical science will not console me for\nthe ignorance of morality in the time of affliction. But the science of\nethics will always console me for the ignorance of the physical\nsciences.\n\n\n68\n\nMen are never taught to be gentlemen, and are taught everything else;\nand they never plume themselves so much on the rest of their knowledge\nas on knowing how to be gentlemen. They only plume themselves on knowing\nthe one thing they do not know.\n\n\n69\n\n_The infinites, the mean._--When we read too fast or too slowly, we\nunderstand nothing.\n\n\n70\n\n_Nature_ ...--[Nature has set us so well in the centre, that if we\nchange one side of the balance, we change the other also. _I act._ +Ta\nz\u00f4a trechei.+ This makes me believe that the springs in our brain are so\nadjusted that he who touches one touches also its contrary.]\n\n\n71\n\nToo much and too little wine. Give him none, he cannot find truth; give\nhim too much, the same.\n\n\n72\n\n_Man's disproportion._--[This is where our innate knowledge leads us. If\nit be not true, there is no truth in man; and if it be true, he finds\ntherein great cause for humiliation, being compelled to abase himself in\none way or another. And since he cannot exist without this knowledge, I\nwish that, before entering on deeper researches into nature, he would\nconsider her both seriously and at leisure, that he would reflect upon\nhimself also, and knowing what proportion there is....] Let man then\ncontemplate the whole of nature in her full and grand majesty, and turn\nhis vision from the low objects which surround him. Let him gaze on that\nbrilliant light, set like an eternal lamp to illumine the universe; let\nthe earth appear to him a point in comparison with the vast circle\ndescribed by the sun; and let him wonder at the fact that this vast\ncircle is itself but a very fine point in comparison with that described\nby the stars in their revolution round the firmament. But if our view be\narrested there, let our imagination pass beyond; it will sooner exhaust\nthe power of conception than nature that of supplying material for\nconception. The whole visible world is only an imperceptible atom in the\nample bosom of nature. No idea approaches it. We may enlarge our\nconceptions beyond all imaginable space; we only produce atoms in\ncomparison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, the\ncentre of which is everywhere, the circumference nowhere.[30] In short\nit is the greatest sensible mark of the almighty power of God, that\nimagination loses itself in that thought.\n\nReturning to himself, let man consider what he is in comparison with all\nexistence; let him regard himself as lost in this remote corner of\nnature; and from the little cell in which he finds himself lodged, I\nmean the universe, let him estimate at their true value the earth,\nkingdoms, cities, and himself. What is a man in the Infinite?\n\nBut to show him another prodigy equally astonishing, let him examine the\nmost delicate things he knows. Let a mite be given him, with its minute\nbody and parts incomparably more minute, limbs with their joints, veins\nin the limbs, blood in the veins, humours in the blood, drops in the\nhumours, vapours in the drops. Dividing these last things again, let him\nexhaust his powers of conception, and let the last object at which he\ncan arrive be now that of our discourse. Perhaps he will think that here\nis the smallest point in nature. I will let him see therein a new abyss.\nI will paint for him not only the visible universe, but all that he can\nconceive of nature's immensity in the womb of this abridged atom. Let\nhim see therein an infinity of universes, each of which has its\nfirmament, its planets, its earth, in the same proportion as in the\nvisible world; in each earth animals, and in the last mites, in which he\nwill find again all that the first had, finding still in these others\nthe same thing without end and without cessation. Let him lose himself\nin wonders as amazing in their littleness as the others in their\nvastness. For who will not be astounded at the fact that our body, which\na little while ago was imperceptible in the universe, itself\nimperceptible in the bosom of the whole, is now a colossus, a world, or\nrather a whole, in respect of the nothingness which we cannot reach? He\nwho regards himself in this light will be afraid of himself, and\nobserving himself sustained in the body given him by nature between\nthose two abysses of the Infinite and Nothing, will tremble at the sight\nof these marvels; and I think that, as his curiosity changes into\nadmiration, he will be more disposed to contemplate them in silence than\nto examine them with presumption.\n\nFor in fact what is man in nature? A Nothing in comparison with the\nInfinite, an All in comparison with the Nothing, a mean between nothing\nand everything. Since he is infinitely removed from comprehending the\nextremes, the end of things and their beginning are hopelessly hidden\nfrom him in an impenetrable secret, he is equally incapable of seeing\nthe Nothing from which he was made, and the Infinite in which he is\nswallowed up.\n\nWhat will he do then, but perceive the appearance of the middle of\nthings, in an eternal despair of knowing either their beginning or their\nend. All things proceed from the Nothing, and are borne towards the\nInfinite. Who will follow these marvellous processes? The Author of\nthese wonders understands them. None other can do so.\n\nThrough failure to contemplate these Infinites, men have rashly rushed\ninto the examination of nature, as though they bore some proportion to\nher. It is strange that they have wished to understand the beginnings of\nthings, and thence to arrive at the knowledge of the whole, with a\npresumption as infinite as their object. For surely this design cannot\nbe formed without presumption or without a capacity infinite like\nnature.\n\nIf we are well informed, we understand that, as nature has graven her\nimage and that of her Author on all things, they almost all partake of\nher double infinity. Thus we see that all the sciences are infinite in\nthe extent of their researches. For who doubts that geometry, for\ninstance, has an infinite infinity of problems to solve? They are also\ninfinite in the multitude and fineness of their premises; for it is\nclear that those which are put forward as ultimate are not\nself-supporting, but are based on others which, again having others for\ntheir support, do not permit of finality. But we represent some as\nultimate for reason, in the same way as in regard to material objects we\ncall that an indivisible point beyond which our senses can no longer\nperceive anything, although by its nature it is infinitely divisible.\n\nOf these two Infinites of science, that of greatness is the most\npalpable, and hence a few persons have pretended to know all things. \"I\nwill speak of the whole,\"[31] said Democritus.\n\nBut the infinitely little is the least obvious. Philosophers have much\noftener claimed to have reached it, and it is here they have all\nstumbled. This has given rise to such common titles as _First\nPrinciples_, _Principles of Philosophy_,[32] and the like, as\nostentatious in fact, though not in appearance, as that one which blinds\nus, _De omni scibili_.[33]\n\nWe naturally believe ourselves far more capable of reaching the centre\nof things than of embracing their circumference. The visible extent of\nthe world visibly exceeds us; but as we exceed little things, we think\nourselves more capable of knowing them. And yet we need no less capacity\nfor attaining the Nothing than the All. Infinite capacity is required\nfor both, and it seems to me that whoever shall have understood the\nultimate principles of being might also attain to the knowledge of the\nInfinite. The one depends on the other, and one leads to the other.\nThese extremes meet and reunite by force of distance, and find each\nother in God, and in God alone.\n\nLet us then take our compass; we are something, and we are not\neverything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of\nfirst beginnings which are born of the Nothing; and the littleness of\nour being conceals from us the sight of the Infinite.\n\nOur intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our\nbody occupies in the expanse of nature.\n\nLimited as we are in every way, this state which holds the mean between\ntwo extremes is present in all our impotence. Our senses perceive no\nextreme. Too much sound deafens us; too much light dazzles us; too great\ndistance or proximity hinders our view. Too great length and too great\nbrevity of discourse tend to obscurity; too much truth is paralysing (I\nknow some who cannot understand that to take four from nothing leaves\nnothing). First principles are too self-evident for us; too much\npleasure disagrees with us. Too many concords are annoying in music; too\nmany benefits irritate us; we wish to have the wherewithal to over-pay\nour debts. _Beneficia eo usque l\u00e6ta sunt dum videntur exsolvi posse; ubi\nmultum antevenere, pro gratia odium redditur._[34] We feel neither\nextreme heat nor extreme cold. Excessive qualities are prejudicial to us\nand not perceptible by the senses; we do not feel but suffer them.\nExtreme youth and extreme age hinder the mind, as also too much and too\nlittle education. In short, extremes are for us as though they were not,\nand we are not within their notice. They escape us, or we them.\n\nThis is our true state; this is what makes us incapable of certain\nknowledge and of absolute ignorance. We sail within a vast sphere, ever\ndrifting in uncertainty, driven from end to end. When we think to attach\nourselves to any point and to fasten to it, it wavers and leaves us; and\nif we follow it, it eludes our grasp, slips past us, and vanishes for\never. Nothing stays for us. This is our natural condition, and yet most\ncontrary to our inclination; we burn with desire to find solid ground\nand an ultimate sure foundation whereon to build a tower reaching to the\nInfinite. But our whole groundwork cracks, and the earth opens to\nabysses.\n\nLet us therefore not look for certainty and stability. Our reason is\nalways deceived by fickle shadows; nothing can fix the finite between\nthe two Infinites, which both enclose and fly from it.\n\nIf this be well understood, I think that we shall remain at rest, each\nin the state wherein nature has placed him. As this sphere which has\nfallen to us as our lot is always distant from either extreme, what\nmatters it that man should have a little more knowledge of the universe?\nIf he has it, he but gets a little higher. Is he not always infinitely\nremoved from the end, and is not the duration of our life equally\nremoved from eternity, even if it lasts ten years longer?\n\nIn comparison with these Infinites all finites are equal, and I see no\nreason for fixing our imagination on one more than on another. The only\ncomparison which we make of ourselves to the finite is painful to us.\n\nIf man made himself the first object of study, he would see how\nincapable he is of going further. How can a part know the whole? But he\nmay perhaps aspire to know at least the parts to which he bears some\nproportion. But the parts of the world are all so related and linked to\none another, that I believe it impossible to know one without the other\nand without the whole.\n\nMan, for instance, is related to all he knows. He needs a place wherein\nto abide, time through which to live, motion in order to live, elements\nto compose him, warmth and food to nourish him, air to breathe. He sees\nlight; he feels bodies; in short, he is in a dependent alliance with\neverything. To know man, then, it is necessary to know how it happens\nthat he needs air to live, and, to know the air, we must know how it is\nthus related to the life of man, etc. Flame cannot exist without air;\ntherefore to understand the one, we must understand the other.\n\nSince everything then is cause and effect, dependent and supporting,\nmediate and immediate, and all is held together by a natural though\nimperceptible chain, which binds together things most distant and most\ndifferent, I hold it equally impossible to know the parts without\nknowing the whole, and to know the whole without knowing the parts in\ndetail.\n\n[The eternity of things in itself or in God must also astonish our\nbrief duration. The fixed and constant immobility of nature, in\ncomparison with the continual change which goes on within us, must have\nthe same effect.]\n\nAnd what completes our incapability of knowing things, is the fact that\nthey are simple, and that we are composed of two opposite natures,\ndifferent in kind, soul and body. For it is impossible that our rational\npart should be other than spiritual; and if any one maintain that we are\nsimply corporeal, this would far more exclude us from the knowledge of\nthings, there being nothing so inconceivable as to say that matter knows\nitself. It is impossible to imagine how it should know itself.\n\nSo if we are simply material, we can know nothing at all; and if we are\ncomposed of mind and matter, we cannot know perfectly things which are\nsimple, whether spiritual or corporeal. Hence it comes that almost all\nphilosophers have confused ideas of things, and speak of material things\nin spiritual terms, and of spiritual things in material terms. For they\nsay boldly that bodies have a tendency to fall, that they seek after\ntheir centre, that they fly from destruction, that they fear the void,\nthat they have inclinations, sympathies, antipathies, all of which\nattributes pertain only to mind. And in speaking of minds, they consider\nthem as in a place, and attribute to them movement from one place to\nanother; and these are qualities which belong only to bodies.\n\nInstead of receiving the ideas of these things in their purity, we\ncolour them with our own qualities, and stamp with our composite being\nall the simple things which we contemplate.\n\nWho would not think, seeing us compose all things of mind and body, but\nthat this mixture would be quite intelligible to us? Yet it is the very\nthing we least understand. Man is to himself the most wonderful object\nin nature; for he cannot conceive what the body is, still less what the\nmind is, and least of all how a body should be united to a mind. This is\nthe consummation of his difficulties, and yet it is his very being.\n_Modus quo corporibus adh\u00e6rent spiritus comprehendi ab hominibus non\npotest, et hoc tamen homo est_.[35] Finally, to complete the proof of\nour weakness, I shall conclude with these two considerations....\n\n\n73\n\n[But perhaps this subject goes beyond the capacity of reason. Let us\ntherefore examine her solutions to problems within her powers. If there\nbe anything to which her own interest must have made her apply herself\nmost seriously, it is the inquiry into her own sovereign good. Let us\nsee, then, wherein these strong and clear-sighted souls have placed it,\nand whether they agree.\n\nOne says that the sovereign good consists in virtue, another in\npleasure, another in the knowledge of nature, another in truth, _Felix\nqui potuit rerum cognoscere causas_,[36] another in total ignorance,\nanother in indolence, others in disregarding appearances, another in\nwondering at nothing, _nihil admirari prope res una qu\u00e6 possit facere et\nservare beatum_,[37] and the true sceptics in their indifference, doubt,\nand perpetual suspense, and others, wiser, think to find a better\ndefinition. We are well satisfied.\n\n_To transpose after the laws to the following title._\n\nWe must see if this fine philosophy have gained nothing certain from so\nlong and so intent study; perhaps at least the soul will know itself.\nLet us hear the rulers of the world on this subject. What have they\nthought of her substance? 394.[38] Have they been more fortunate in\nlocating her? 395.[39] What have they found out about her origin,\nduration, and departure? 399.[40]\n\nIs then the soul too noble a subject for their feeble lights? Let us\nthen abase her to matter and see if she knows whereof is made the very\nbody which she animates, and those others which she contemplates and\nmoves at her will. What have those great dogmatists, who are ignorant of\nnothing, known of this matter? _Harum sententiarum_,[41] 393.\n\nThis would doubtless suffice, if reason were reasonable. She is\nreasonable enough to admit that she has been unable to find anything\ndurable, but she does not yet despair of reaching it; she is as ardent\nas ever in this search, and is confident she has within her the\nnecessary powers for this conquest. We must therefore conclude, and,\nafter having examined her powers in their effects, observe them in\nthemselves, and see if she has a nature and a grasp capable of laying\nhold of the truth.]\n\n\n74\n\nA letter _On the Foolishness of Human Knowledge and Philosophy_.\n\nThis letter before _Diversion_.\n\n_Felix qui potuit ... Nihil admirari._[42]\n\n280 kinds of sovereign good in Montaigne.[43]\n\n\n75\n\nPart I, 1, 2, c. 1, section 4.[44]\n\n[_Probability._--It will not be difficult to put the case a stage lower,\nand make it appear ridiculous. To begin at the very beginning.] What is\nmore absurd than to say that lifeless bodies have passions, fears,\nhatreds--that insensible bodies, lifeless and incapable of life, have\npassions which presuppose at least a sensitive soul to feel them, nay\nmore, that the object of their dread is the void? What is there in the\nvoid that could make them afraid? Nothing is more shallow and\nridiculous. This is not all; it is said that they have in themselves a\nsource of movement to shun the void. Have they arms, legs, muscles,\nnerves?\n\n\n76\n\nTo write against those who made too profound a study of science:\nDescartes.\n\n\n77\n\nI cannot forgive Descartes. In all his philosophy he would have been\nquite willing to dispense with God. But he had to make Him give a fillip\nto set the world in motion; beyond this, he has no further need of God.\n\n\n78\n\nDescartes useless and uncertain.\n\n\n79\n\n[_Descartes._--We must say summarily: \"This is made by figure and\nmotion,\" for it is true. But to say what these are, and to compose the\nmachine, is ridiculous. For it is useless, uncertain, and painful. And\nwere it true, we do not think all philosophy is worth one hour of pain.]\n\n\n80\n\nHow comes it that a cripple does not offend us, but that a fool\ndoes?[45] Because a cripple recognises that we walk straight, whereas a\nfool declares that it is we who are silly; if it were not so, we should\nfeel pity and not anger.\n\nEpictetus[46] asks still more strongly: \"Why are we not angry if we are\ntold that we have a headache, and why are we angry if we are told that\nwe reason badly, or choose wrongly?\" The reason is that we are quite\ncertain that we have not a headache, or are not lame, but we are not so\nsure that we make a true choice. So having assurance only because we see\nwith our whole sight, it puts us into suspense and surprise when another\nwith his whole sight sees the opposite, and still more so when a\nthousand others deride our choice. For we must prefer our own lights to\nthose of so many others, and that is bold and difficult. There is never\nthis contradiction in the feelings towards a cripple.\n\n\n81\n\nIt is natural for the mind to believe, and for the will to love;[47] so\nthat, for want of true objects, they must attach themselves to false.\n\n\n82\n\n_Imagination._[48]--It is that deceitful part in man, that mistress of\nerror and falsity, the more deceptive that she is not always so; for she\nwould be an infallible rule of truth, if she were an infallible rule of\nfalsehood. But being most generally false, she gives no sign of her\nnature, impressing the same character on the true and the false.\n\nI do not speak of fools, I speak of the wisest men; and it is among them\nthat the imagination has the great gift of persuasion. Reason protests\nin vain; it cannot set a true value on things.\n\nThis arrogant power, the enemy of reason, who likes to rule and dominate\nit, has established in man a second nature to show how all-powerful she\nis. She makes men happy and sad, healthy and sick, rich and poor; she\ncompels reason to believe, doubt, and deny; she blunts the senses, or\nquickens them; she has her fools and sages; and nothing vexes us more\nthan to see that she fills her devotees with a satisfaction far more\nfull and entire than does reason. Those who have a lively imagination\nare a great deal more pleased with themselves than the wise can\nreasonably be. They look down upon men with haughtiness; they argue with\nboldness and confidence, others with fear and diffidence; and this\ngaiety of countenance often gives them the advantage in the opinion of\nthe hearers, such favour have the imaginary wise in the eyes of judges\nof like nature. Imagination cannot make fools wise; but she can make\nthem happy, to the envy of reason which can only make its friends\nmiserable; the one covers them with glory, the other with shame.\n\nWhat but this faculty of imagination dispenses reputation, awards\nrespect and veneration to persons, works, laws, and the great? How\ninsufficient are all the riches of the earth without her consent!\n\nWould you not say that this magistrate, whose venerable age commands the\nrespect of a whole people, is governed by pure and lofty reason, and\nthat he judges causes according to their true nature without considering\nthose mere trifles which only affect the imagination of the weak? See\nhim go to sermon, full of devout zeal, strengthening his reason with the\nardour of his love. He is ready to listen with exemplary respect. Let\nthe preacher appear, and let nature have given him a hoarse voice or a\ncomical cast of countenance, or let his barber have given him a bad\nshave, or let by chance his dress be more dirtied than usual, then\nhowever great the truths he announces. I wager our senator loses his\ngravity.\n\nIf the greatest philosopher in the world find himself upon a plank wider\nthan actually necessary, but hanging over a precipice, his imagination\nwill prevail, though his reason convince him of his safety.[49] Many\ncannot bear the thought without a cold sweat. I will not state all its\neffects.\n\nEvery one knows that the sight of cats or rats, the crushing of a coal,\netc. may unhinge the reason. The tone of voice affects the wisest, and\nchanges the force of a discourse or a poem.\n\nLove or hate alters the aspect of justice. How much greater confidence\nhas an advocate, retained with a large fee, in the justice of his cause!\nHow much better does his bold manner make his case appear to the judges,\ndeceived as they are by appearances! How ludicrous is reason, blown with\na breath in every direction!\n\nI should have to enumerate almost every action of men who scarce waver\nsave under her assaults. For reason has been obliged to yield, and the\nwisest reason takes as her own principles those which the imagination of\nman has everywhere rashly introduced. [He who would follow reason only\nwould be deemed foolish by the generality of men. We must judge by the\nopinion of the majority of mankind. Because it has pleased them, we must\nwork all day for pleasures seen to be imaginary; and after sleep has\nrefreshed our tired reason, we must forthwith start up and rush after\nphantoms, and suffer the impressions of this mistress of the world. This\nis one of the sources of error, but it is not the only one.]\n\nOur magistrates have known well this mystery. Their red robes, the\nermine in which they wrap themselves like furry cats,[50] the courts in\nwhich they administer justice, the _fleurs-de-lis_, and all such august\napparel were necessary; if the physicians had not their cassocks and\ntheir mules, if the doctors had not their square caps and their robes\nfour times too wide, they would never have duped the world, which cannot\nresist so original an appearance. If magistrates had true justice, and\nif physicians had the true art of healing, they would have no occasion\nfor square caps; the majesty of these sciences would of itself be\nvenerable enough. But having only imaginary knowledge, they must employ\nthose silly tools that strike the imagination with which they have to\ndeal; and thereby in fact they inspire respect. Soldiers alone are not\ndisguised in this manner, because indeed their part is the most\nessential; they establish themselves by force, the others by show.\n\nTherefore our kings seek out no disguises. They do not mask themselves\nin extraordinary costumes to appear such; but they are accompanied by\nguards and halberdiers. Those armed and red-faced puppets who have hands\nand power for them alone, those trumpets and drums which go before them,\nand those legions round about them, make the stoutest tremble. They have\nnot dress only, they have might. A very refined reason is required to\nregard as an ordinary man the Grand Turk, in his superb seraglio,\nsurrounded by forty thousand janissaries.\n\nWe cannot even see an advocate in his robe and with his cap on his head,\nwithout a favourable opinion of his ability. The imagination disposes of\neverything; it makes beauty, justice, and happiness, which is everything\nin the world. I should much like to see an Italian work, of which I only\nknow the title, which alone is worth many books, _Della opinione regina\ndel mondo_.[51] I approve of the book without knowing it, save the evil\nin it, if any. These are pretty much the effects of that deceptive\nfaculty, which seems to have been expressly given us to lead us into\nnecessary error. We have, however, many other sources of error.\n\nNot only are old impressions capable of misleading us; the charms of\nnovelty have the same power. Hence arise all the disputes of men, who\ntaunt each other either with following the false impressions of\nchildhood or with running rashly after the new. Who keeps the due mean?\nLet him appear and prove it. There is no principle, however natural to\nus from infancy, which may not be made to pass for a false impression\neither of education or of sense.\n\n\"Because,\" say some, \"you have believed from childhood that a box was\nempty when you saw nothing in it, you have believed in the possibility\nof a vacuum. This is an illusion of your senses, strengthened by custom,\nwhich science must correct.\" \"Because,\" say others, \"you have been\ntaught at school that there is no vacuum, you have perverted your common\nsense which clearly comprehended it, and you must correct this by\nreturning to your first state.\" Which has deceived you, your senses or\nyour education?\n\nWe have another source of error in diseases.[52] They spoil the judgment\nand the senses; and if the more serious produce a sensible change, I do\nnot doubt that slighter ills produce a proportionate impression.\n\nOur own interest is again a marvellous instrument for nicely putting out\nour eyes. The justest man in the world is not allowed to be judge in his\nown cause; I know some who, in order not to fall into this self-love,\nhave been perfectly unjust out of opposition. The sure way of losing a\njust cause has been to get it recommended to these men by their near\nrelatives.\n\nJustice and truth are two such subtle points, that our tools are too\nblunt to touch them accurately. If they reach the point, they either\ncrush it, or lean all round, more on the false than on the true.\n\n[Man is so happily formed that he has no ... good of the true, and\nseveral excellent of the false. Let us now see how much.... But the most\npowerful cause of error is the war existing between the senses and\nreason.]\n\n\n83\n\n_We must thus begin the chapter on the deceptive powers._ Man is only a\nsubject full of error, natural and ineffaceable, without grace. Nothing\nshows him the truth. Everything deceives him. These two sources of\ntruth, reason and the senses, besides being both wanting in sincerity,\ndeceive each other in turn. The senses mislead the reason with false\nappearances, and receive from reason in their turn the same trickery\nwhich they apply to her; reason has her revenge. The passions of the\nsoul trouble the senses, and make false impressions upon them. They\nrival each other in falsehood and deception.[53]\n\nBut besides those errors which arise accidentally and through lack of\nintelligence, with these heterogeneous faculties ...\n\n\n84\n\nThe imagination enlarges little objects so as to fill our souls with a\nfantastic estimate; and, with rash insolence, it belittles the great to\nits own measure, as when talking of God.\n\n\n85\n\nThings which have most hold on us, as the concealment of our few\npossessions, are often a mere nothing. It is a nothing which our\nimagination magnifies into a mountain. Another turn of the imagination\nwould make us discover this without difficulty.\n\n\n86\n\n[My fancy makes me hate a croaker, and one who pants when eating. Fancy\nhas great weight. Shall we profit by it? Shall we yield to this weight\nbecause it is natural? No, but by resisting it ...]\n\n\n87\n\n_N\u00e6 iste magno conatu magnas nugas dixerit.[54]\n\nQuasi quidquam infelicius sit homini cui sua figmenta dominantur._[55]\n(Plin.)\n\n\n88\n\nChildren who are frightened at the face they have blackened are but\nchildren. But how shall one who is so weak in his childhood become\nreally strong when he grows older? We only change our fancies. All that\nis made perfect by progress perishes also by progress. All that has been\nweak can never become absolutely strong. We say in vain, \"He has grown,\nhe has changed\"; he is also the same.\n\n\n89\n\nCustom is our nature. He who is accustomed to the faith believes in it,\ncan no longer fear hell, and believes in nothing else. He who is\naccustomed to believe that the king is terrible ... etc. Who doubts then\nthat our soul, being accustomed to see number, space, motion, believes\nthat and nothing else?\n\n\n90\n\n_Quod crebro videt non miratur, etiamsi cur fiat nescit; quod ante non\nviderit, id si evenerit, ostentum esse censet._[56] (Cic. 583.)\n\n\n91\n\n_Spongia solis._[57]--When we see the same effect always recur, we infer\na natural necessity in it, as that there will be a to-morrow, etc. But\nnature often deceives us, and does not subject herself to her own rules.\n\n\n92\n\nWhat are our natural principles but principles of custom? In children\nthey are those which they have received from the habits of their\nfathers, as hunting in animals. A different custom will cause different\nnatural principles. This is seen in experience; and if there are some\nnatural principles ineradicable by custom, there are also some customs\nopposed to nature, ineradicable by nature, or by a second custom. This\ndepends on disposition.\n\n\n93\n\nParents fear lest the natural love of their children may fade away. What\nkind of nature is that which is subject to decay? Custom is a second\nnature which destroys the former.[58] But what is nature? For is custom\nnot natural? I am much afraid that nature is itself only a first custom,\nas custom is a second nature.\n\n\n94\n\nThe nature of man is wholly natural, _omne animal_.[59]\n\nThere is nothing he may not make natural; there is nothing natural he\nmay not lose.\n\n\n95\n\nMemory, joy, are intuitions; and even mathematical propositions become\nintuitions, for education produces natural intuitions, and natural\nintuitions are erased by education.\n\n\n96\n\nWhen we are accustomed to use bad reasons for proving natural effects,\nwe are not willing to receive good reasons when they are discovered. An\nexample may be given from the circulation of the blood as a reason why\nthe vein swells below the ligature.\n\n\n97\n\nThe most important affair in life is the choice of a calling; chance\ndecides it. Custom makes men masons, soldiers, slaters. \"He is a good\nslater,\" says one, and, speaking of soldiers, remarks, \"They are perfect\nfools.\" But others affirm, \"There is nothing great but war, the rest of\nmen are good for nothing.\" We choose our callings according as we hear\nthis or that praised or despised in our childhood, for we naturally love\ntruth and hate folly. These words move us; the only error is in their\napplication. So great is the force of custom that out of those whom\nnature has only made men, are created all conditions of men. For some\ndistricts are full of masons, others of soldiers, etc. Certainly nature\nis not so uniform. It is custom then which does this, for it constrains\nnature. But sometimes nature gains the ascendancy, and preserves man's\ninstinct, in spite of all custom, good or bad.\n\n\n98\n\n_Bias leading to error._--It is a deplorable thing to see all men\ndeliberating on means alone, and not on the end. Each thinks how he will\nacquit himself in his condition; but as for the choice of condition, or\nof country, chance gives them to us.\n\nIt is a pitiable thing to see so many Turks, heretics, and infidels\nfollow the way of their fathers for the sole reason that each has been\nimbued with the prejudice that it is the best. And that fixes for each\nman his conditions of locksmith, soldier, etc.\n\nHence savages care nothing for Providence.[60]\n\n\n99\n\nThere is an universal and essential difference between the actions of\nthe will and all other actions.\n\nThe will is one of the chief factors in belief, not that it creates\nbelief, but because things are true or false according to the aspect in\nwhich we look at them. The will, which prefers one aspect to another,\nturns away the mind from considering the qualities of all that it does\nnot like to see; and thus the mind, moving in accord with the will,\nstops to consider the aspect which it likes, and so judges by what it\nsees.\n\n\n100\n\n_Self-love._--The nature of self-love and of this human Ego is to love\nself only and consider self only. But what will man do? He cannot\nprevent this object that he loves from being full of faults and wants.\nHe wants to be great, and he sees himself small. He wants to be happy,\nand he sees himself miserable. He wants to be perfect, and he sees\nhimself full of imperfections. He wants to be the object of love and\nesteem among men, and he sees that his faults merit only their hatred\nand contempt. This embarrassment in which he finds himself produces in\nhim the most unrighteous and criminal passion that can be imagined; for\nhe conceives a mortal enmity against that truth which reproves him, and\nwhich convinces him of his faults. He would annihilate it, but, unable\nto destroy it in its essence, he destroys it as far as possible in his\nown knowledge and in that of others; that is to say, he devotes all his\nattention to hiding his faults both from others and from himself, and he\ncannot endure either that others should point them out to him, or that\nthey should see them.\n\nTruly it is an evil to be full of faults; but it is a still greater evil\nto be full of them, and to be unwilling to recognise them, since that is\nto add the further fault of a voluntary illusion. We do not like others\nto deceive us; we do not think it fair that they should be held in\nhigher esteem by us than they deserve; it is not then fair that we\nshould deceive them, and should wish them to esteem us more highly than\nwe deserve.\n\nThus, when they discover only the imperfections and vices which we\nreally have, it is plain they do us no wrong, since it is not they who\ncause them; they rather do us good, since they help us to free ourselves\nfrom an evil, namely, the ignorance of these imperfections. We ought not\nto be angry at their knowing our faults and despising us; it is but\nright that they should know us for what we are, and should despise us,\nif we are contemptible.\n\nSuch are the feelings that would arise in a heart full of equity and\njustice. What must we say then of our own heart, when we see in it a\nwholly different disposition? For is it not true that we hate truth and\nthose who tell it us, and that we like them to be deceived in our\nfavour, and prefer to be esteemed by them as being other than what we\nare in fact? One proof of this makes me shudder. The Catholic religion\ndoes not bind us to confess our sins indiscriminately to everybody; it\nallows them to remain hidden from all other men save one, to whom she\nbids us reveal the innermost recesses of our heart, and show ourselves\nas we are. There is only this one man in the world whom she orders us to\nundeceive, and she binds him to an inviolable secrecy, which makes this\nknowledge to him as if it were not. Can we imagine anything more\ncharitable and pleasant? And yet the corruption of man is such that he\nfinds even this law harsh; and it is one of the main reasons which has\ncaused a great part of Europe to rebel against the Church.[61]\n\nHow unjust and unreasonable is the heart of man, which feels it\ndisagreeable to be obliged to do in regard to one man what in some\nmeasure it were right to do to all men! For is it right that we should\ndeceive men?\n\nThere are different degrees in this aversion to truth; but all may\nperhaps be said to have it in some degree, because it is inseparable\nfrom self-love. It is this false delicacy which makes those who are\nunder the necessity of reproving others choose so many windings and\nmiddle courses to avoid offence. They must lessen our faults, appear to\nexcuse them, intersperse praises and evidence of love and esteem.\nDespite all this, the medicine does not cease to be bitter to self-love.\nIt takes as little as it can, always with disgust, and often with a\nsecret spite against those who administer it.\n\nHence it happens that if any have some interest in being loved by us,\nthey are averse to render us a service which they know to be\ndisagreeable. They treat us as we wish to be treated. We hate the truth,\nand they hide it from us. We desire flattery, and they flatter us. We\nlike to be deceived, and they deceive us.\n\nSo each degree of good fortune which raises us in the world removes us\nfarther from truth, because we are most afraid of wounding those whose\naffection is most useful and whose dislike is most dangerous. A prince\nmay be the byword of all Europe, and he alone will know nothing of it. I\nam not astonished. To tell the truth is useful to those to whom it is\nspoken, but disadvantageous to those who tell it, because it makes them\ndisliked. Now those who live with princes love their own interests more\nthan that of the prince whom they serve; and so they take care not to\nconfer on him a benefit so as to injure themselves.\n\nThis evil is no doubt greater and more common among the higher classes;\nbut the lower are not exempt from it, since there is always some\nadvantage in making men love us. Human life is thus only a perpetual\nillusion; men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our\npresence as he does of us in our absence. Human society is founded on\nmutual deceit; few friendships would endure if each knew what his friend\nsaid of him in his absence, although he then spoke in sincerity and\nwithout passion.\n\nMan is then only disguise, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in himself and\nin regard to others. He does not wish any one to tell him the truth; he\navoids telling it to others, and all these dispositions, so removed from\njustice and reason, have a natural root in his heart.\n\n\n101\n\nI set it down as a fact that if all men knew what each said of the\nother, there would not be four friends in the world. This is apparent\nfrom the quarrels which arise from the indiscreet tales told from time\nto time. [I say, further, all men would be ...]\n\n\n102\n\nSome vices only lay hold of us by means of others, and these, like\nbranches, fall on removal of the trunk.\n\n\n103\n\nThe example of Alexander's chastity[62] has not made so many continent\nas that of his drunkenness has made intemperate. It is not shameful not\nto be as virtuous as he, and it seems excusable to be no more vicious.\nWe do not believe ourselves to be exactly sharing in the vices of the\nvulgar, when we see that we are sharing in those of great men; and yet\nwe do not observe that in these matters they are ordinary men. We hold\non to them by the same end by which they hold on to the rabble; for,\nhowever exalted they are, they are still united at some point to the\nlowest of men. They are not suspended in the air, quite removed from our\nsociety. No, no; if they are greater than we, it is because their heads\nare higher; but their feet are as low as ours. They are all on the same\nlevel, and rest on the same earth; and by that extremity they are as low\nas we are, as the meanest folk, as infants, and as the beasts.\n\n\n104\n\nWhen our passion leads us to do something, we forget our duty; for\nexample, we like a book and read it, when we ought to be doing something\nelse. Now, to remind ourselves of our duty, we must set ourselves a task\nwe dislike; we then plead that we have something else to do, and by this\nmeans remember our duty.\n\n\n105\n\nHow difficult it is to submit anything to the judgment of another,\nwithout prejudicing his judgment by the manner in which we submit it!\nIf we say, \"I think it beautiful,\" \"I think it obscure,\" or the like, we\neither entice the imagination into that view, or irritate it to the\ncontrary. It is better to say nothing; and then the other judges\naccording to what really is, that is to say, according as it then is,\nand according as the other circumstances, not of our making, have placed\nit. But we at least shall have added nothing, unless it be that silence\nalso produces an effect, according to the turn and the interpretation\nwhich the other will be disposed to give it, or as he will guess it from\ngestures or countenance, or from the tone of the voice, if he is a\nphysiognomist. So difficult is it not to upset a judgment from its\nnatural place, or, rather, so rarely is it firm and stable!\n\n\n106\n\nBy knowing each man's ruling passion, we are sure of pleasing him; and\nyet each has his fancies, opposed to his true good, in the very idea\nwhich he has of the good. It is a singularly puzzling fact.\n\n\n107\n\n_Lustravit lampade terras._[63]--The weather and my mood have little\nconnection. I have my foggy and my fine days within me; my prosperity or\nmisfortune has little to do with the matter. I sometimes struggle\nagainst luck, the glory of mastering it makes me master it gaily;\nwhereas I am sometimes surfeited in the midst of good fortune.\n\n\n108\n\nAlthough people may have no interest in what they are saying, we must\nnot absolutely conclude from this that they are not lying; for there are\nsome people who lie for the mere sake of lying.\n\n\n109\n\nWhen we are well we wonder what we would do if we were ill, but when we\nare ill we take medicine cheerfully; the illness persuades us to do so.\nWe have no longer the passions and desires for amusements and promenades\nwhich health gave to us, but which are incompatible with the necessities\nof illness. Nature gives us, then, passions and desires suitable to our\npresent state.[64] We are only troubled by the fears which we, and not\nnature, give ourselves, for they add to the state in which we are the\npassions of the state in which we are not.\n\nAs nature makes us always unhappy in every state, our desires picture to\nus a happy state; because they add to the state in which we are the\npleasures of the state in which we are not. And if we attained to these\npleasures, we should not be happy after all; because we should have\nother desires natural to this new state.\n\nWe must particularise this general proposition....\n\n\n110\n\nThe consciousness of the falsity of present pleasures, and the ignorance\nof the vanity of absent pleasures, cause inconstancy.\n\n\n111\n\n_Inconstancy._--We think we are playing on ordinary organs when playing\nupon man. Men are organs, it is true, but, odd, changeable, variable\n[with pipes not arranged in proper order. Those who only know how to\nplay on ordinary organs] will not produce harmonies on these. We must\nknow where [_the keys_] are.\n\n\n112\n\n_Inconstancy._--Things have different qualities, and the soul different\ninclinations; for nothing is simple which is presented to the soul, and\nthe soul never presents itself simply to any object. Hence it comes that\nwe weep and laugh at the same thing.\n\n\n113\n\n_Inconstancy and oddity._--To live only by work, and to rule over the\nmost powerful State in the world, are very opposite things. They are\nunited in the person of the great Sultan of the Turks.\n\n\n114\n\nVariety is as abundant as all tones of the voice, all ways of walking,\ncoughing, blowing the nose, sneezing. We distinguish vines by their\nfruit, and call them the Condrien, the Desargues, and such and such a\nstock. Is this all? Has a vine ever produced two bunches exactly the\nsame, and has a bunch two grapes alike? etc.\n\nI can never judge of the same thing exactly in the same way. I cannot\njudge of my work, while doing it. I must do as the artists, stand at a\ndistance, but not too far. How far, then? Guess.\n\n\n115\n\n_Variety._--Theology is a science, but at the same time how many\nsciences? A man is a whole; but if we dissect him, will he be the head,\nthe heart, the stomach, the veins, each vein, each portion of a vein,\nthe blood, each humour in the blood?\n\nA town, a country-place, is from afar a town and a country-place. But,\nas we draw near, there are houses, trees, tiles, leaves, grass, ants,\nlimbs of ants, in infinity. All this is contained under the name of\ncountry-place.\n\n\n116\n\n_Thoughts._--All is one, all is different. How many natures exist in\nman? How many vocations? And by what chance does each man ordinarily\nchoose what he has heard praised? A well-turned heel.\n\n\n117\n\n_The heel of a slipper._--\"Ah! How well this is turned! Here is a clever\nworkman! How brave is this soldier!\" This is the source of our\ninclinations, and of the choice of conditions. \"How much this man\ndrinks! How little that one!\" This makes people sober or drunk,\nsoldiers, cowards, etc.\n\n\n118\n\nChief talent, that which rules the rest.\n\n\n119\n\nNature imitates herself. A seed sown in good ground brings forth fruit.\nA principle, instilled into a good mind, brings forth fruit. Numbers\nimitate space, which is of a different nature.\n\nAll is made and led by the same master, root, branches, and fruits;\nprinciples and consequences.\n\n\n120\n\n[Nature diversifies and imitates; art imitates and diversifies.]\n\n\n121\n\nNature always begins the same things again, the years, the days, the\nhours; in like manner spaces and numbers follow each other from\nbeginning to end. Thus is made a kind of infinity and eternity. Not that\nanything in all this is infinite and eternal, but these finite realities\nare infinitely multiplied. Thus it seems to me to be only the number\nwhich multiplies them that is infinite.\n\n\n122\n\nTime heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same\npersons. Neither the offender nor the offended are any more themselves.\nIt is like a nation which we have provoked, but meet again after two\ngenerations. They are still Frenchmen, but not the same.\n\n\n123\n\nHe no longer loves the person whom he loved ten years ago. I quite\nbelieve it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was young, and she\nalso; she is quite different. He would perhaps love her yet, if she were\nwhat she was then.\n\n\n124\n\nWe view things not only from different sides, but with different eyes;\nwe have no wish to find them alike.\n\n\n125\n\n_Contraries._--Man is naturally credulous and incredulous, timid and\nrash.\n\n\n126\n\nDescription of man: dependency, desire of independence, need.\n\n\n127\n\nCondition of man: inconstancy, weariness, unrest.\n\n\n128\n\nThe weariness which is felt by us in leaving pursuits to which we are\nattached. A man dwells at home with pleasure; but if he sees a woman who\ncharms him, or if he enjoys himself in play for five or six days, he is\nmiserable if he returns to his former way of living. Nothing is more\ncommon than that.\n\n\n129\n\nOur nature consists in motion; complete rest is death.[65]\n\n\n130\n\n_Restlessness._--If a soldier, or labourer, complain of the hardship of\nhis lot, set him to do nothing.\n\n\n131\n\n_Weariness._[66]--Nothing is so insufferable to man as to be completely\nat rest, without passions, without business, without diversion, without\nstudy. He then feels his nothingness, his forlornness, his\ninsufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his emptiness. There will\nimmediately arise from the depth of his heart weariness, gloom, sadness,\nfretfulness, vexation, despair.\n\n\n132\n\nMethinks C\u00e6sar was too old to set about amusing himself with conquering\nthe world.[67] Such sport was good for Augustus or Alexander. They were\nstill young men, and thus difficult to restrain. But C\u00e6sar should have\nbeen more mature.\n\n\n133\n\nTwo faces which resemble each other, make us laugh, when together, by\ntheir resemblance, though neither of them by itself makes us laugh.\n\n\n134\n\nHow useless is painting, which attracts admiration by the resemblance of\nthings, the originals of which we do not admire!\n\n\n135\n\nThe struggle alone pleases us, not the victory. We love to see animals\nfighting, not the victor infuriated over the vanquished. We would only\nsee the victorious end; and, as soon as it comes, we are satiated. It is\nthe same in play, and the same in the search for truth. In disputes we\nlike to see the clash of opinions, but not at all to contemplate truth\nwhen found. To observe it with pleasure, we have to see it emerge out of\nstrife. So in the passions, there is pleasure in seeing the collision of\ntwo contraries; but when one acquires the mastery, it becomes only\nbrutality. We never seek things for themselves, but for the search.\nLikewise in plays, scenes which do not rouse the emotion of fear are\nworthless, so are extreme and hopeless misery, brutal lust, and extreme\ncruelty.\n\n\n136\n\nA mere trifle consoles us, for a mere trifle distresses us.[68]\n\n\n137\n\nWithout examining every particular pursuit, it is enough to comprehend\nthem under diversion.\n\n\n138\n\nMen naturally slaters and of all callings, save in their own rooms.\n\n\n139\n\n_Diversion._--When I have occasionally set myself to consider the\ndifferent distractions of men, the pains and perils to which they expose\nthemselves at court or in war, whence arise so many quarrels, passions,\nbold and often bad ventures, etc., I have discovered that all the\nunhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay\nquietly in their own chamber. A man who has enough to live on, if he\nknew how to stay with pleasure at home, would not leave it to go to sea\nor to besiege a town. A commission in the army would not be bought so\ndearly, but that it is found insufferable not to budge from the town;\nand men only seek conversation and entering games, because they cannot\nremain with pleasure at home.\n\nBut on further consideration, when, after finding the cause of all our\nills, I have sought to discover the reason of it, I have found that\nthere is one very real reason, namely, the natural poverty of our feeble\nand mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can comfort us when we\nthink of it closely.\n\nWhatever condition we picture to ourselves, if we muster all the good\nthings which it is possible to possess, royalty is the finest position\nin the world. Yet, when we imagine a king attended with every pleasure\nhe can feel, if he be without diversion, and be left to consider and\nreflect on what he is, this feeble happiness will not sustain him; he\nwill necessarily fall into forebodings of dangers, of revolutions which\nmay happen, and, finally, of death and inevitable disease; so that if he\nbe without what is called diversion, he is unhappy, and more unhappy\nthan the least of his subjects who plays and diverts himself.\n\nHence it comes that play and the society of women, war, and high posts,\nare so sought after. Not that there is in fact any happiness in them, or\nthat men imagine true bliss to consist in money won at play, or in the\nhare which they hunt; we would not take these as a gift. We do not seek\nthat easy and peaceful lot which permits us to think of our unhappy\ncondition, nor the dangers of war, nor the labour of office, but the\nbustle which averts these thoughts of ours, and amuses us.\n\nReasons why we like the chase better than the quarry.\n\nHence it comes that men so much love noise and stir; hence it comes that\nthe prison is so horrible a punishment; hence it comes that the pleasure\nof solitude is a thing incomprehensible. And it is in fact the greatest\nsource of happiness in the condition of kings, that men try incessantly\nto divert them, and to procure for them all kinds of pleasures.\n\nThe king is surrounded by persons whose only thought is to divert the\nking, and to prevent his thinking of self. For he is unhappy, king\nthough he be, if he think of himself.\n\nThis is all that men have been able to discover to make themselves\nhappy. And those who philosophise on the matter, and who think men\nunreasonable for spending a whole day in chasing a hare which they would\nnot have bought, scarce know our nature. The hare in itself would not\nscreen us from the sight of death and calamities; but the chase which\nturns away our attention from these, does screen us.\n\nThe advice given to Pyrrhus to take the rest which he was about to seek\nwith so much labour, was full of difficulties.[69]\n\n[To bid a man live quietly is to bid him live happily. It is to advise\nhim to be in a state perfectly happy, in which he can think at leisure\nwithout finding therein a cause of distress. This is to misunderstand\nnature.\n\nAs men who naturally understand their own condition avoid nothing so\nmuch as rest, so there is nothing they leave undone in seeking turmoil.\nNot that they have an instinctive knowledge of true happiness ...\n\nSo we are wrong in blaming them. Their error does not lie in seeking\nexcitement, if they seek it only as a diversion; the evil is that they\nseek it as if the possession of the objects of their quest would make\nthem really happy. In this respect it is right to call their quest a\nvain one. Hence in all this both the censurers and the censured do not\nunderstand man's true nature.]\n\nAnd thus, when we take the exception against them, that what they seek\nwith such fervour cannot satisfy them, if they replied--as they should\ndo if they considered the matter thoroughly--that they sought in it only\na violent and impetuous occupation which turned their thoughts from\nself, and that they therefore chose an attractive object to charm and\nardently attract them, they would leave their opponents without a\nreply. But they do not make this reply, because they do not know\nthemselves.[70] They do not know that it is the chase, and not the\nquarry, which they seek.\n\nDancing: we must consider rightly where to place our feet.--A gentleman\nsincerely believes that hunting is great and royal sport; but a beater\nis not of this opinion.\n\nThey imagine that if they obtained such a post, they would then rest\nwith pleasure, and are insensible of the insatiable nature of their\ndesire. They think they are truly seeking quiet, and they are only\nseeking excitement.\n\nThey have a secret instinct which impels them to seek amusement and\noccupation abroad, and which arises from the sense of their constant\nunhappiness. They have another secret instinct, a remnant of the\ngreatness of our original nature, which teaches them that happiness in\nreality consists only in rest, and not in stir. And of these two\ncontrary instincts they form within themselves a confused idea, which\nhides itself from their view in the depths of their soul, inciting them\nto aim at rest through excitement, and always to fancy that the\nsatisfaction which they have not will come to them, if, by surmounting\nwhatever difficulties confront them, they can thereby open the door to\nrest.\n\nThus passes away all man's life. Men seek rest in a struggle against\ndifficulties; and when they have conquered these, rest becomes\ninsufferable. For we think either of the misfortunes we have or of those\nwhich threaten us. And even if we should see ourselves sufficiently\nsheltered on all sides, weariness of its own accord would not fail to\narise from the depths of the heart wherein it has its natural roots, and\nto fill the mind with its poison.\n\nThus so wretched is man that he would weary even without any cause for\nweariness from the peculiar state of his disposition; and so frivolous\nis he, that, though full of a thousand reasons for weariness, the least\nthing, such as playing billiards or hitting a ball, is sufficient to\namuse him.\n\nBut will you say what object has he in all this? The pleasure of\nbragging to-morrow among his friends that he has played better than\nanother. So others sweat in their own rooms to show to the learned that\nthey have solved a problem in algebra, which no one had hitherto been\nable to solve. Many more expose themselves to extreme perils, in my\nopinion as foolishly, in order to boast afterwards that they have\ncaptured a town. Lastly, others wear themselves out in studying all\nthese things, not in order to become wiser, but only in order to prove\nthat they know them; and these are the most senseless of the band, since\nthey are so knowingly, whereas one may suppose of the others, that if\nthey knew it, they would no longer be foolish.\n\nThis man spends his life without weariness in playing every day for a\nsmall stake. Give him each morning the money he can win each day, on\ncondition he does not play; you make him miserable. It will perhaps be\nsaid that he seeks the amusement of play and not the winnings. Make him\nthen play for nothing; he will not become excited over it, and will feel\nbored. It is then not the amusement alone that he seeks; a languid and\npassionless amusement will weary him. He must get excited over it, and\ndeceive himself by the fancy that he will be happy to win what he would\nnot have as a gift on condition of not playing; and he must make for\nhimself an object of passion, and excite over it his desire, his anger,\nhis fear, to obtain his imagined end, as children are frightened at the\nface they have blackened.\n\nWhence comes it that this man, who lost his only son a few months ago,\nor who this morning was in such trouble through being distressed by\nlawsuits and quarrels, now no longer thinks of them? Do not wonder; he\nis quite taken up in looking out for the boar which his dogs have been\nhunting so hotly for the last six hours. He requires nothing more.\nHowever full of sadness a man may be, he is happy for the time, if you\ncan prevail upon him to enter into some amusement; and however happy a\nman may be, he will soon be discontented and wretched, if he be not\ndiverted and occupied by some passion or pursuit which prevents\nweariness from overcoming him. Without amusement there is no joy; with\namusement there is no sadness. And this also constitutes the happiness\nof persons in high position, that they have a number of people to amuse\nthem, and have the power to keep themselves in this state.\n\nConsider this. What is it to be superintendent, chancellor, first\npresident, but to be in a condition wherein from early morning a large\nnumber of people come from all quarters to see them, so as not to leave\nthem an hour in the day in which they can think of themselves? And when\nthey are in disgrace and sent back to their country houses, where they\nlack neither wealth nor servants to help them on occasion, they do not\nfail to be wretched and desolate, because no one prevents them from\nthinking of themselves.\n\n\n140\n\n[How does it happen that this man, so distressed at the death of his\nwife and his only son, or who has some great lawsuit which annoys him,\nis not at this moment sad, and that he seems so free from all painful\nand disquieting thoughts? We need not wonder; for a ball has been served\nhim, and he must return it to his companion. He is occupied in catching\nit in its fall from the roof, to win a game. How can he think of his own\naffairs, pray, when he has this other matter in hand? Here is a care\nworthy of occupying this great soul, and taking away from him every\nother thought of the mind. This man, born to know the universe, to judge\nall causes, to govern a whole state, is altogether occupied and taken up\nwith the business of catching a hare. And if he does not lower himself\nto this, and wants always to be on the strain, he will be more foolish\nstill, because he would raise himself above humanity; and after all he\nis only a man, that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and\nof nothing; he is neither angel nor brute, but man.]\n\n\n141\n\nMen spend their time in following a ball or a hare; it is the pleasure\neven of kings.\n\n\n142\n\n_Diversion._--Is not the royal dignity sufficiently great in itself to\nmake its possessor happy by the mere contemplation of what he is? Must\nhe be diverted from this thought like ordinary folk? I see well that a\nman is made happy by diverting him from the view of his domestic sorrows\nso as to occupy all his thoughts with the care of dancing well. But will\nit be the same with a king, and will he be happier in the pursuit of\nthese idle amusements than in the contemplation of his greatness? And\nwhat more satisfactory object could be presented to his mind? Would it\nnot be a deprivation of his delight for him to occupy his soul with the\nthought of how to adjust his steps to the cadence of an air, or of how\nto throw a [ball] skilfully, instead of leaving it to enjoy quietly the\ncontemplation of the majestic glory which encompasses him? Let us make\nthe trial; let us leave a king all alone to reflect on himself quite at\nleisure, without any gratification of the senses, without any care in\nhis mind, without society; and we will see that a king without\ndiversion is a man full of wretchedness. So this is carefully avoided,\nand near the persons of kings there never fail to be a great number of\npeople who see to it that amusement follows business, and who watch all\nthe time of their leisure to supply them with delights and games, so\nthat there is no blank in it. In fact, kings are surrounded with persons\nwho are wonderfully attentive in taking care that the king be not alone\nand in a state to think of himself, knowing well that he will be\nmiserable, king though he be, if he meditate on self.\n\nIn all this I am not talking of Christian kings as Christians, but only\nas kings.\n\n\n143\n\n_Diversion._--Men are entrusted from infancy with the care of their\nhonour, their property, their friends, and even with the property and\nthe honour of their friends. They are overwhelmed with business, with\nthe study of languages, and with physical exercise;[71] and they are\nmade to understand that they cannot be happy unless their health, their\nhonour, their fortune and that of their friends be in good condition,\nand that a single thing wanting will make them unhappy. Thus they are\ngiven cares and business which make them bustle about from break of\nday.--It is, you will exclaim, a strange way to make them happy! What\nmore could be done to make them miserable?--Indeed! what could be done?\nWe should only have to relieve them from all these cares; for then they\nwould see themselves: they would reflect on what they are, whence they\ncame, whither they go, and thus we cannot employ and divert them too\nmuch. And this is why, after having given them so much business, we\nadvise them, if they have some time for relaxation, to employ it in\namusement, in play, and to be always fully occupied.\n\nHow hollow and full of ribaldry is the heart of man!\n\n\n144\n\nI spent a long time in the study of the abstract sciences, and was\ndisheartened by the small number of fellow-students in them. When I\ncommenced the study of man, I saw that these abstract sciences are not\nsuited to man, and that I was wandering farther from my own state in\nexamining them, than others in not knowing them. I pardoned their little\nknowledge; but I thought at least to find many companions in the study\nof man, and that it was the true study which is suited to him. I have\nbeen deceived; still fewer study it than geometry. It is only from the\nwant of knowing how to study this that we seek the other studies. But is\nit not that even here is not the knowledge which man should have, and\nthat for the purpose of happiness it is better for him not to know\nhimself?\n\n\n145\n\n[One thought alone occupies us; we cannot think of two things at the\nsame time. This is lucky for us according to the world, not according to\nGod.]\n\n\n146\n\nMan is obviously made to think. It is his whole dignity and his whole\nmerit; and his whole duty is to think as he ought. Now, the order of\nthought is to begin with self, and with its Author and its end.\n\nNow, of what does the world think? Never of this, but of dancing,\nplaying the lute, singing, making verses, running at the ring, etc.,\nfighting, making oneself king, without thinking what it is to be a king\nand what to be a man.\n\n\n147\n\nWe do not content ourselves with the life we have in ourselves and in\nour own being; we desire to live an imaginary life in the mind of\nothers, and for this purpose we endeavour to shine. We labour\nunceasingly to adorn and preserve this imaginary existence, and neglect\nthe real. And if we possess calmness, or generosity, or truthfulness, we\nare eager to make it known, so as to attach these virtues to that\nimaginary existence. We would rather separate them from ourselves to\njoin them to it; and we would willingly be cowards in order to acquire\nthe reputation of being brave. A great proof of the nothingness of our\nbeing, not to be satisfied with the one without the other, and to\nrenounce the one for the other! For he would be infamous who would not\ndie to preserve his honour.\n\n\n148\n\nWe are so presumptuous that we would wish to be known by all the world,\neven by people who shall come after, when we shall be no more; and we\nare so vain that the esteem of five or six neighbours delights and\ncontents us.\n\n\n149\n\nWe do not trouble ourselves about being esteemed in the towns through\nwhich we pass. But if we are to remain a little while there, we are so\nconcerned. How long is necessary? A time commensurate with our vain and\npaltry life.\n\n\n150\n\nVanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a soldier's\nservant, a cook, a porter brags, and wishes to have his admirers. Even\nphilosophers wish for them. Those who write against it want to have the\nglory of having written well;[72] and those who read it desire the glory\nof having read it. I who write this have perhaps this desire, and\nperhaps those who will read it ...\n\n\n151\n\n_Glory._--Admiration spoils all from infancy. Ah! How well said! Ah! How\nwell done! How well-behaved he is! etc.\n\nThe children of Port-Royal, who do not receive this stimulus of envy and\nglory, fall into carelessness.\n\n\n152\n\n_Pride._--Curiosity is only vanity. Most frequently we wish to know but\nto talk. Otherwise we would not take a sea voyage in order never to talk\nof it, and for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever\ncommunicating it.\n\n\n153\n\n_Of the desire of being esteemed by those with whom we are._--Pride\ntakes such natural possession of us in the midst of our woes, errors,\netc. We even lose our life with joy, provided people talk of it.\n\nVanity: play, hunting, visiting, false shame, a lasting name.\n\n\n154\n\n[I have no friends] to your advantage].\n\n\n155\n\nA true friend is so great an advantage, even for the greatest lords, in\norder that he may speak well of them, and back them in their absence,\nthat they should do all to have one. But they should choose well; for,\nif they spend all their efforts in the interests of fools, it will be of\nno use, however well these may speak of them; and these will not even\nspeak well of them if they find themselves on the weakest side, for\nthey have no influence; and thus they will speak ill of them in company.\n\n\n156\n\n_Ferox gens, nullam esse vitam sine armis rati._[73]--They prefer death\nto peace; others prefer death to war.\n\nEvery opinion may be held preferable to life, the love of which is so\nstrong and so natural.[74]\n\n\n157\n\nContradiction: contempt for our existence, to die for nothing, hatred of\nour existence.\n\n\n158\n\n_Pursuits._--The charm of fame is so great, that we like every object to\nwhich it is attached, even death.\n\n\n159\n\nNoble deeds are most estimable when hidden. When I see some of these in\nhistory (as p. 184)[75], they please me greatly. But after all they have\nnot been quite hidden, since they have been known; and though people\nhave done what they could to hide them, the little publication of them\nspoils all, for what was best in them was the wish to hide them.\n\n\n160\n\nSneezing absorbs all the functions of the soul, as well as work does;\nbut we do not draw therefrom the same conclusions against the greatness\nof man, because it is against his will. And although we bring it on\nourselves, it is nevertheless against our will that we sneeze. It is not\nin view of the act itself; it is for another end. And thus it is not a\nproof of the weakness of man, and of his slavery under that action.\n\nIt is not disgraceful for man to yield to pain, and it is disgraceful to\nyield to pleasure. This is not because pain comes to us from without,\nand we ourselves seek pleasure; for it is possible to seek pain, and\nyield to it purposely, without this kind of baseness. Whence comes it,\nthen, that reason thinks it honourable to succumb under stress of pain,\nand disgraceful to yield to the attack of pleasure? It is because pain\ndoes not tempt and attract us. It is we ourselves who choose it\nvoluntarily, and will it to prevail over us. So that we are masters of\nthe situation; and in this man yields to himself. But in pleasure it is\nman who yields to pleasure. Now only mastery and sovereignty bring\nglory, and only slavery brings shame.\n\n\n161\n\n_Vanity._--How wonderful it is that a thing so evident as the vanity of\nthe world is so little known, that it is a strange and surprising thing\nto say that it is foolish to seek greatness!\n\n\n162\n\nHe who will know fully the vanity of man has only to consider the causes\nand effects of love. The cause is a _je ne sais quoi_ (Corneille),[76]\nand the effects are dreadful. This _je ne sais quoi_, so small an object\nthat we cannot recognise it, agitates a whole country, princes, armies,\nthe entire world.\n\nCleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world\nwould have been altered.\n\n\n163\n\n_Vanity._--The cause and the effects of love: Cleopatra.\n\n\n164\n\nHe who does not see the vanity of the world is himself very vain. Indeed\nwho do not see it but youths who are absorbed in fame, diversion, and\nthe thought of the future? But take away diversion, and you will see\nthem dried up with weariness. They feel then their nothingness without\nknowing it; for it is indeed to be unhappy to be in insufferable sadness\nas soon as we are reduced to thinking of self, and have no diversion.\n\n\n165\n\n_Thoughts._--_In omnibus requiem qu\u00e6sivi._[77] If our condition were\ntruly happy, we would not need diversion from thinking of it in order to\nmake ourselves happy.\n\n\n166\n\n_Diversion._--Death is easier to bear without thinking of it, than is\nthe thought of death without peril.\n\n\n167\n\nThe miseries of human life have established all this: as men have seen\nthis, they have taken up diversion.\n\n\n168\n\n_Diversion._--As men are not able to fight against death, misery,\nignorance, they have taken it into their heads, in order to be happy,\nnot to think of them at all.\n\n\n169\n\nDespite these miseries, man wishes to be happy, and only wishes to be\nhappy, and cannot wish not to be so. But how will he set about it? To be\nhappy he would have to make himself immortal; but, not being able to do\nso, it has occurred to him to prevent himself from thinking of death.\n\n\n170\n\n_Diversion._--If man were happy, he would be the more so, the less he\nwas diverted, like the Saints and God.--Yes; but is it not to be happy\nto have a faculty of being amused by diversion?--No; for that comes from\nelsewhere and from without, and thus is dependent, and therefore subject\nto be disturbed by a thousand accidents, which bring inevitable griefs.\n\n\n171\n\n_Misery._--The only thing which consoles us for our miseries is\ndiversion, and yet this it the greatest of our miseries. For it is this\nwhich principally hinders us from reflecting upon ourselves, and which\nmakes us insensibly ruin ourselves. Without this we should be in a state\nof weariness, and this weariness would spur us to seek a more solid\nmeans of escaping from it. But diversion amuses us, and leads us\nunconsciously to death.\n\n\n172\n\nWe do not rest satisfied with the present. We anticipate the future as\ntoo slow in coming, as if in order to hasten its course; or we recall\nthe past, to stop its too rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we\nwander in the times which are not ours, and do not think of the only one\nwhich belongs to us; and so idle are we that we dream of those times\nwhich are no more, and thoughtlessly overlook that which alone exists.\nFor the present is generally painful to us. We conceal it from our\nsight, because it troubles us; and if it be delightful to us, we regret\nto see it pass away. We try to sustain it by the future, and think of\narranging matters which are not in our power, for a time which we have\nno certainty of reaching.\n\nLet each one examine his thoughts, and he will find them all occupied\nwith the past and the future. We scarcely ever think of the present; and\nif we think of it, it is only to take light from it to arrange the\nfuture. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our\nmeans; the future alone is our end.[78] So we never live, but we hope to\nlive; and, as we are always preparing to be happy, it is inevitable we\nshould never be so.\n\n\n173\n\nThey say that eclipses foretoken misfortune, because misfortunes are\ncommon, so that, as evil happens so often, they often foretell it;\nwhereas if they said that they predict good fortune, they would often be\nwrong. They attribute good fortune only to rare conjunctions of the\nheavens; so they seldom fail in prediction.\n\n\n174\n\n_Misery._--Solomon[79] and Job have best known and best spoken of the\nmisery of man; the former the most fortunate, and the latter the most\nunfortunate of men; the former knowing the vanity of pleasures from\nexperience, the latter the reality of evils.\n\n\n175\n\nWe know ourselves so little, that many think they are about to die when\nthey are well, and many think they are well when they are near death,\nunconscious of approaching fever,[80] or of the abscess ready to form\nitself.\n\n\n176\n\nCromwell[81] was about to ravage all Christendom; the royal family was\nundone, and his own for ever established, save for a little grain of\nsand which formed in his ureter. Rome herself was trembling under him;\nbut this small piece of gravel having formed there, he is dead, his\nfamily cast down, all is peaceful, and the king is restored.\n\n\n177\n\n[Three hosts.[82]] Would he who had possessed the friendship of the King\nof England, the King of Poland, and the Queen of Sweden, have believed\nhe would lack a refuge and shelter in the world?\n\n\n178\n\nMacrobius:[83] on the innocents slain by Herod.\n\n\n179\n\nWhen Augustus learnt that Herod's own son was amongst the infants under\ntwo years of age, whom he had caused to be slain, he said that it was\nbetter to be Herod's pig than his son.--Macrobius, _Sat._, book ii,\nchap. 4.\n\n\n180\n\nThe great and the humble have the same misfortunes, the same griefs, the\nsame passions;[84] but the one is at the top of the wheel, and the other\nnear the centre, and so less disturbed by the same revolutions.\n\n\n181\n\nWe are so unfortunate that we can only take pleasure in a thing on\ncondition of being annoyed if it turn out ill, as a thousand things can\ndo, and do every hour. He who should find the secret of rejoicing in the\ngood, without troubling himself with its contrary evil, would have hit\nthe mark. It is perpetual motion.\n\n\n182\n\nThose who have always good hope in the midst of misfortunes, and who are\ndelighted with good luck, are suspected of being very pleased with the\nill success of the affair, if they are not equally distressed by bad\nluck; and they are overjoyed to find these pretexts of hope, in order to\nshow that they are concerned and to conceal by the joy which they feign\nto feel that which they have at seeing the failure of the matter.\n\n\n183\n\nWe run carelessly to the precipice, after we have put something before\nus to prevent us seeing it.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION III\n\nOF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER\n\n\n184\n\nA letter to incite to the search after God.\n\nAnd then to make people seek Him among the philosophers, sceptics, and\ndogmatists, who disquiet him who inquires of them.\n\n\n185\n\nThe conduct of God, who disposes all things kindly, is to put religion\ninto the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace. But to will to put\nit into the mind and heart by force and threats is not to put religion\nthere, but terror, _terorrem potius quam religionem_.\n\n\n186\n\n_Nisi terrerentur et non docerentur, improba quasi dominatio videretur_\n(Aug., Ep. 48 or 49), _Contra Mendacium ad Consentium_.\n\n\n187\n\n_Order._--Men despise religion; they hate it, and fear it is true. To\nremedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to\nreason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we must\nmake it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we must\nprove it is true.\n\nVenerable, because it has perfect knowledge of man; lovable, because it\npromises the true good.\n\n\n188\n\nIn every dialogue and discourse, we must be able to say to those who\ntake offence, \"Of what do you complain?\"\n\n\n189\n\nTo begin by pitying unbelievers; they are wretched enough by their\ncondition. We ought only to revile them where it is beneficial; but this\ndoes them harm.\n\n\n190\n\nTo pity atheists who seek, for are they not unhappy enough? To inveigh\nagainst those who make a boast of it.\n\n\n191\n\nAnd will this one scoff at the other? Who ought to scoff? And yet, the\nlatter does not scoff at the other, but pities him.\n\n\n192\n\nTo reproach Miton[85] with not being troubled, since God will reproach\nhim.\n\n\n193\n\n_Quid fiet hominibus qui minima contemnunt, majora non credunt?_\n\n\n194\n\n... Let them at least learn what is the religion they attack, before\nattacking it. If this religion boasted of having a clear view of God,\nand of possessing it open and unveiled, it would be attacking it to say\nthat we see nothing in the world which shows it with this clearness. But\nsince, on the contrary, it says that men are in darkness and estranged\nfrom God, that He has hidden Himself from their knowledge, that this is\nin fact the name which He gives Himself in the Scriptures, _Deus\nabsconditus_;[86] and finally, if it endeavours equally to establish\nthese two things: that God has set up in the Church visible signs to\nmake Himself known to those who should seek Him sincerely, and that He\nhas nevertheless so disguised them that He will only be perceived by\nthose who seek Him with all their heart; what advantage can they obtain,\nwhen, in the negligence with which they make profession of being in\nsearch of the truth, they cry out that nothing reveals it to them; and\nsince that darkness in which they are, and with which they upbraid the\nChurch, establishes only one of the things which she affirms, without\ntouching the other, and, very far from destroying, proves her doctrine?\n\nIn order to attack it, they should have protested that they had made\nevery effort to seek Him everywhere, and even in that which the Church\nproposes for their instruction, but without satisfaction. If they talked\nin this manner, they would in truth be attacking one of her pretensions.\nBut I hope here to show that no reasonable person can speak thus, and I\nventure even to say that no one has ever done so. We know well enough\nhow those who are of this mind behave. They believe they have made great\nefforts for their instruction, when they have spent a few hours in\nreading some book of Scripture, and have questioned some priest on the\ntruths of the faith. After that, they boast of having made vain search\nin books and among men. But, verily, I will tell them what I have often\nsaid, that this negligence is insufferable. We are not here concerned\nwith the trifling interests of some stranger, that we should treat it in\nthis fashion; the matter concerns ourselves and our all.\n\nThe immortality of the soul is a matter which is of so great consequence\nto us, and which touches us so profoundly, that we must have lost all\nfeeling to be indifferent as to knowing what it is. All our actions and\nthoughts must take such different courses, according as there are or are\nnot eternal joys to hope for, that it is impossible to take one step\nwith sense and judgment, unless we regulate our course by our view of\nthis point which ought to be our ultimate end.\n\nThus our first interest and our first duty is to enlighten ourselves on\nthis subject, whereon depends all our conduct. Therefore among those who\ndo not believe, I make a vast difference between those who strive with\nall their power to inform themselves, and those who live without\ntroubling or thinking about it.\n\nI can have only compassion for those who sincerely bewail their doubt,\nwho regard it as the greatest of misfortunes, and who, sparing no effort\nto escape it, make of this inquiry their principal and most serious\noccupations.\n\nBut as for those who pass their life without thinking of this ultimate\nend of life, and who, for this sole reason that they do not find within\nthemselves the lights which convince them of it, neglect to seek them\nelsewhere, and to examine thoroughly whether this opinion is one of\nthose which people receive with credulous simplicity, or one of those\nwhich, although obscure in themselves, have nevertheless a solid and\nimmovable foundation, I look upon them in a manner quite different.\n\nThis carelessness in a matter which concerns themselves, their eternity,\ntheir all, moves me more to anger than pity; it astonishes and shocks\nme; it is to me monstrous. I do not say this out of the pious zeal of a\nspiritual devotion. I expect, on the contrary, that we ought to have\nthis feeling from principles of human interest and self-love; for this\nwe need only see what the least enlightened persons see.\n\nWe do not require great education of the mind to understand that here is\nno real and lasting satisfaction; that our pleasures are only vanity;\nthat our evils are infinite; and, lastly, that death, which threatens us\nevery moment, must infallibly place us within a few years under the\ndreadful necessity of being for ever either annihilated or unhappy.\n\nThere is nothing more real than this, nothing more terrible. Be we as\nheroic as we like, that is the end which awaits the noblest life in the\nworld. Let us reflect on this, and then say whether it is not beyond\ndoubt that there is no good in this life but in the hope of another;\nthat we are happy only in proportion as we draw near it; and that, as\nthere are no more woes for those who have complete assurance of\neternity, so there is no more happiness for those who have no insight\ninto it.\n\nSurely then it is a great evil thus to be in doubt, but it is at least\nan indispensable duty to seek when we are in such doubt; and thus the\ndoubter who does not seek is altogether completely unhappy and\ncompletely wrong. And if besides this he is easy and content, professes\nto be so, and indeed boasts of it; if it is this state itself which is\nthe subject of his joy and vanity, I have no words to describe so silly\na creature.\n\nHow can people hold these opinions? What joy can we find in the\nexpectation of nothing but hopeless misery? What reason for boasting\nthat we are in impenetrable darkness? And how can it happen that the\nfollowing argument occurs to a reasonable man?\n\n\"I know not who put me into the world, nor what the world is, nor what I\nmyself am. I am in terrible ignorance of everything. I know not what my\nbody is, nor my senses, nor my soul, not even that part of me which\nthinks what I say, which reflects on all and on itself, and knows itself\nno more than the rest. I see those frightful spaces of the universe\nwhich surround me, and I find myself tied to one corner of this vast\nexpanse, without knowing why I am put in this place rather than in\nanother, nor why the short time which is given me to live is assigned to\nme at this point rather than at another of the whole eternity which was\nbefore me or which shall come after me. I see nothing but infinites on\nall sides, which surround me as an atom, and as a shadow which endures\nonly for an instant and returns no more. All I know is that I must soon\ndie, but what I know least is this very death which I cannot escape.\n\n\"As I know not whence I come, so I know not whither I go. I know only\nthat, in leaving this world, I fall for ever either into annihilation or\ninto the hands of an angry God, without knowing to which of these two\nstates I shall be for ever assigned. Such is my state, full of weakness\nand uncertainty. And from all this I conclude that I ought to spend all\nthe days of my life without caring to inquire into what must happen to\nme. Perhaps I might find some solution to my doubts, but I will not take\nthe trouble, nor take a step to seek it; and after treating with scorn\nthose who are concerned with this care, I will go without foresight and\nwithout fear to try the great event, and let myself be led carelessly to\ndeath, uncertain of the eternity of my future state.\"\n\nWho would desire to have for a friend a man who talks in this fashion?\nWho would choose him out from others to tell him of his affairs? Who\nwould have recourse to him in affliction? And indeed to what use in life\ncould one put him?\n\nIn truth, it is the glory of religion to have for enemies men so\nunreasonable: and their opposition to it is so little dangerous that it\nserves on the contrary to establish its truths. For the Christian faith\ngoes mainly to establish these two facts, the corruption of nature, and\nredemption by Jesus Christ. Now I contend that if these men do not serve\nto prove the truth of the redemption by the holiness of their behaviour,\nthey at least serve admirably to show the corruption of nature by\nsentiments so unnatural.\n\nNothing is so important to man as his own state, nothing is so\nformidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there\nshould be men indifferent to the loss of their existence, and to the\nperils of everlasting suffering. They are quite different with regard to\nall other things. They are afraid of mere trifles; they foresee them;\nthey feel them. And this same man who spends so many days and nights in\nrage and despair for the loss of office, or for some imaginary insult to\nhis honour, is the very one who knows without anxiety and without\nemotion that he will lose all by death. It is a monstrous thing to see\nin the same heart and at the same time this sensibility to trifles and\nthis strange insensibility to the greatest objects. It is an\nincomprehensible enchantment, and a supernatural slumber, which\nindicates as its cause an all-powerful force.\n\nThere must be a strange confusion in the nature of man, that he should\nboast of being in that state in which it seems incredible that a single\nindividual should be. However, experience has shown me so great a\nnumber of such persons that the fact would be surprising, if we did not\nknow that the greater part of those who trouble themselves about the\nmatter are disingenuous, and not in fact what they say. They are people\nwho have heard it said that it is the fashion to be thus daring. It is\nwhat they call shaking off the yoke, and they try to imitate this. But\nit would not be difficult to make them understand how greatly they\ndeceive themselves in thus seeking esteem. This is not the way to gain\nit, even I say among those men of the world who take a healthy view of\nthings, and who know that the only way to succeed in this life is to\nmake ourselves appear honourable, faithful, judicious, and capable of\nuseful service to a friend; because naturally men love only what may be\nuseful to them. Now, what do we gain by hearing it said of a man that he\nhas now thrown off the yoke, that he does not believe there is a God who\nwatches our actions, that he considers himself the sole master of his\nconduct, and that he thinks he is accountable for it only to himself?\nDoes he think that he has thus brought us to have henceforth complete\nconfidence in him, and to look to him for consolation, advice, and help\nin every need of life? Do they profess to have delighted us by telling\nus that they hold our soul to be only a little wind and smoke,\nespecially by telling us this in a haughty and self-satisfied tone of\nvoice? Is this a thing to say gaily? Is it not, on the contrary, a thing\nto say sadly, as the saddest thing in the world?\n\nIf they thought of it seriously, they would see that this is so bad a\nmistake, so contrary to good sense, so opposed to decency and so removed\nin every respect from that good breeding which they seek, that they\nwould be more likely to correct than to pervert those who had an\ninclination to follow them. And indeed, make them give an account of\ntheir opinions, and of the reasons which they have for doubting\nreligion, and they will say to you things so feeble and so petty, that\nthey will persuade you of the contrary. The following is what a person\none day said to such a one very appositely: \"If you continue to talk in\nthis manner, you will really make me religious.\" And he was right, for\nwho would not have a horror of holding opinions in which he would have\nsuch contemptible persons as companions!\n\nThus those who only feign these opinions would be very unhappy, if they\nrestrained their natural feelings in order to make themselves the most\nconceited of men. If, at the bottom of their heart, they are troubled at\nnot having more light, let them not disguise the fact; this avowal will\nnot be shameful. The only shame is to have none. Nothing reveals more an\nextreme weakness of mind than not to know the misery of a godless man.\nNothing is more indicative of a bad disposition of heart than not to\ndesire the truth of eternal promises. Nothing is more dastardly than to\nact with bravado before God. Let them then leave these impieties to\nthose who are sufficiently ill-bred to be really capable of them. Let\nthem at least be honest men, if they cannot be Christians. Finally, let\nthem recognise that there are two kinds of people one can call\nreasonable; those who serve God with all their heart because they know\nHim, and those who seek Him with all their heart because they do not\nknow Him.\n\nBut as for those who live without knowing Him and without seeking Him,\nthey judge themselves so little worthy of their own care, that they are\nnot worthy of the care of others; and it needs all the charity of the\nreligion which they despise, not to despise them even to the point of\nleaving them to their folly. But because this religion obliges us always\nto regard them, so long as they are in this life, as capable of the\ngrace which can enlighten them, and to believe that they may, in a\nlittle time, be more replenished with faith than we are, and that, on\nthe other hand, we may fall into the blindness wherein they are, we must\ndo for them what we would they should do for us if we were in their\nplace, and call upon them to have pity upon themselves, and to take at\nleast some steps in the endeavour to find light. Let them give to\nreading this some of the hours which they otherwise employ so uselessly;\nwhatever aversion they may bring to the task, they will perhaps gain\nsomething, and at least will not lose much. But as for those who bring\nto the task perfect sincerity and a real desire to meet with truth,\nthose I hope will be satisfied and convinced of the proofs of a religion\nso divine, which I have here collected, and in which I have followed\nsomewhat after this order ...\n\n\n195\n\nBefore entering into the proofs of the Christian religion, I find it\nnecessary to point out the sinfulness of those men who live in\nindifference to the search for truth in a matter which is so important\nto them, and which touches them so nearly.\n\nOf all their errors, this doubtless is the one which most convicts them\nof foolishness and blindness, and in which it is easiest to confound\nthem by the first glimmerings of common sense, and by natural feelings.\n\nFor it is not to be doubted that the duration of this life is but a\nmoment; that the state of death is eternal, whatever may be its nature;\nand that thus all our actions and thoughts must take such different\ndirections according to the state of that eternity, that it is\nimpossible to take one step with sense and judgment, unless we regulate\nour course by the truth of that point which ought to be our ultimate\nend.\n\nThere is nothing clearer than this; and thus, according to the\nprinciples of reason, the conduct of men is wholly unreasonable, if they\ndo not take another course.\n\nOn this point, therefore, we condemn those who live without thought of\nthe ultimate end of life, who let themselves be guided by their own\ninclinations and their own pleasures without reflection and without\nconcern, and, as if they could annihilate eternity by turning away their\nthought from it, think only of making themselves happy for the moment.\n\nYet this eternity exists, and death, which must open into it, and\nthreatens them every hour, must in a little time infallibly put them\nunder the dreadful necessity of being either annihilated or unhappy for\never, without knowing which of these eternities is for ever prepared for\nthem.\n\nThis is a doubt of terrible consequence. They are in peril of eternal\nwoe; and thereupon, as if the matter were not worth the trouble, they\nneglect to inquire whether this is one of those opinions which people\nreceive with too credulous a facility, or one of those which, obscure in\nthemselves, have a very firm, though hidden, foundation. Thus they know\nnot whether there be truth or falsity in the matter, nor whether there\nbe strength or weakness in the proofs. They have them before their eyes;\nthey refuse to look at them; and in that ignorance they choose all that\nis necessary to fall into this misfortune if it exists, to await death\nto make trial of it, yet to be very content in this state, to make\nprofession of it, and indeed to boast of it. Can we think seriously on\nthe importance of this subject without being horrified at conduct so\nextravagant?\n\nThis resting in ignorance is a monstrous thing, and they who pass their\nlife in it must be made to feel its extravagance and stupidity, by\nhaving it shown to them, so that they may be confounded by the sight of\ntheir folly. For this is how men reason, when they choose to live in\nsuch ignorance of what they are, and without seeking enlightenment. \"I\nknow not,\" they say ...\n\n\n196\n\nMen lack heart; they would not make a friend of it.\n\n\n197\n\nTo be insensible to the extent of despising interesting things, and to\nbecome insensible to the point which interests us most.\n\n\n198\n\nThe sensibility of man to trifles, and his insensibility to great\nthings, indicates a strange inversion.\n\n\n199\n\nLet us imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to death,\nwhere some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who\nremain see their own fate in that of their fellows, and wait their turn,\nlooking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of\nthe condition of men.\n\n\n200\n\nA man in a dungeon, ignorant whether his sentence be pronounced, and\nhaving only one hour to learn it, but this hour enough, if he know that\nit is pronounced, to obtain its repeal, would act unnaturally in\nspending that hour, not in ascertaining his sentence, but in playing\npiquet. So it is against nature that man, etc. It is making heavy the\nhand of God.\n\nThus not only the zeal of those who seek Him proves God, but also the\nblindness of those who seek Him not.\n\n\n201\n\nAll the objections of this one and that one only go against themselves,\nand not against religion. All that infidels say ...\n\n\n202\n\n[From those who are in despair at being without faith, we see that God\ndoes not enlighten them; but as to the rest, we see there is a God who\nmakes them blind.]\n\n\n203\n\n_Fascinatio nugacitatis._[87]--That passion may not harm us, let us act\nas if we had only eight hours to live.\n\n\n204\n\nIf we ought to devote eight hours of life, we ought to devote a hundred\nyears.\n\n\n205\n\nWhen I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the\neternity before and after, the little space which I fill, and even can\nsee, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am\nignorant, and which know me not, I am frightened, and am astonished at\nbeing here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather\nthan there, why now rather than then. Who has put me here? By whose\norder and direction have this place and time been allotted to me?\n_Memoria hospitis unius diei pr\u00e6tereuntis._[88]\n\n\n206\n\nThe eternal silence of these infinite spaces frightens me.\n\n\n207\n\nHow many kingdoms know us not!\n\n\n208\n\nWhy is my knowledge limited? Why my stature? Why my life to one hundred\nyears rather than to a thousand? What reason has nature had for giving\nme such, and for choosing this number rather than another in the\ninfinity of those from which there is no more reason to choose one than\nanother, trying nothing else?\n\n\n209\n\nArt thou less a slave by being loved and favoured by thy master? Thou\nart indeed well off, slave. Thy master favours thee; he will soon beat\nthee.\n\n\n210\n\nThe last act is tragic, however happy all the rest of the play is; at\nthe last a little earth is thrown upon our head, and that is the end for\never.\n\n\n211\n\nWe are fools to depend upon the society of our fellow-men. Wretched as\nwe are, powerless as we are, they will not aid us; we shall die alone.\nWe should therefore act as if we were alone, and in that case should we\nbuild fine houses, etc.? We should seek the truth without hesitation;\nand, if we refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more than\nthe search for truth.\n\n\n212\n\n_Instability._[89]--It is a horrible thing to feel all that we possess\nslipping away.\n\n\n213\n\nBetween us and heaven or hell there is only life, which is the frailest\nthing in the world.\n\n\n214\n\n_Injustice._--That presumption should be joined to meanness is extreme\ninjustice.\n\n\n215\n\nTo fear death without danger, and not in danger, for one must be a man.\n\n\n216\n\nSudden death alone is feared; hence confessors stay with lords.\n\n\n217\n\nAn heir finds the title-deeds of his house. Will he say, \"Perhaps they\nare forged?\" and neglect to examine them?\n\n\n218\n\n_Dungeon._--I approve of not examining the opinion of Copernicus; but\nthis...! It concerns all our life to know whether the soul be mortal or\nimmortal.\n\n\n219\n\nIt is certain that the mortality or immortality of the soul must make an\nentire difference to morality. And yet philosophers have constructed\ntheir ethics independently of this: they discuss to pass an hour.\n\nPlato, to incline to Christianity.\n\n\n220\n\nThe fallacy of philosophers who have not discussed the immortality of\nthe soul. The fallacy of their dilemma in Montaigne.\n\n\n221\n\nAtheists ought to say what is perfectly evident; now it is not perfectly\nevident that the soul is material.\n\n\n222\n\n_Atheists._--What reason have they for saying that we cannot rise from\nthe dead? What is more difficult, to be born or to rise again; that what\nhas never been should be, or that what has been should be again? Is it\nmore difficult to come into existence than to return to it? Habit makes\nthe one appear easy to us; want of habit makes the other impossible. A\npopular way of thinking!\n\nWhy cannot a virgin bear a child? Does a hen not lay eggs without a\ncock? What distinguishes these outwardly from others? And who has told\nus that the hen may not form the germ as well as the cock?\n\n\n223\n\nWhat have they to say against the resurrection, and against the\nchild-bearing of the Virgin? Which is the more difficult, to produce a\nman or an animal, or to reproduce it? And if they had never seen any\nspecies of animals, could they have conjectured whether they were\nproduced without connection with each other?\n\n\n224\n\nHow I hate these follies of not believing in the Eucharist, etc.! If the\nGospel be true, if Jesus Christ be God, what difficulty is there?\n\n\n225\n\nAtheism shows strength of mind, but only to a certain degree.\n\n\n226\n\nInfidels, who profess to follow reason, ought to be exceedingly strong\nin reason. What say they then? \"Do we not see,\" say they, \"that the\nbrutes live and die like men, and Turks like Christians? They have their\nceremonies, their prophets, their doctors, their saints, their monks,\nlike us,\" etc. (Is this contrary to Scripture? Does it not say all\nthis?)\n\nIf you care but little to know the truth, here is enough of it to leave\nyou in repose. But if you desire with all your heart to know it, it is\nnot enough; look at it in detail. This would be sufficient for a\nquestion in philosophy; but not here, where it concerns your all. And\nyet, after a trifling reflection of this kind, we go to amuse ourselves,\netc. Let us inquire of this same religion whether it does not give a\nreason for this obscurity; perhaps it will teach it to us.\n\n\n227\n\n_Order by dialogues._--What ought I to do? I see only darkness\neverywhere. Shall I believe I am nothing? Shall I believe I am God?\n\n\"All things change and succeed each other.\" You are mistaken; there\nis ...\n\n\n228\n\nObjection of atheists: \"But we have no light.\"\n\n\n229\n\nThis is what I see and what troubles me. I look on all sides, and I see\nonly darkness everywhere. Nature presents to me nothing which is not\nmatter of doubt and concern. If I saw nothing there which revealed a\nDivinity, I would come to a negative conclusion; if I saw everywhere the\nsigns of a Creator, I would remain peacefully in faith. But, seeing too\nmuch to deny and too little to be sure, I am in a state to be pitied;\nwherefore I have a hundred time wished that if a God maintains nature,\nshe should testify to Him unequivocally, and that, if the signs she\ngives are deceptive, she should suppress them altogether; that she\nshould say everything or nothing, that I might see which cause I ought\nto follow. Whereas in my present state, ignorant of what I am or of what\nI ought to do, I know neither my condition nor my duty. My heart\ninclines wholly to know where is the true good, in order to follow it;\nnothing would be too dear to me for eternity.\n\nI envy those whom I see living in the faith with such carelessness, and\nwho make such a bad use of a gift of which it seems to me I would make\nsuch a different use.\n\n\n230\n\nIt is incomprehensible that God should exist, and it is incomprehensible\nthat He should not exist; that the soul should be joined to the body,\nand that we should have no soul; that the world should be created, and\nthat it should not be created, etc.; that original sin should be, and\nthat it should not be.\n\n\n231\n\nDo you believe it to be impossible that God is infinite, without\nparts?--Yes. I wish therefore to show you an infinite and indivisible\nthing. It is a point moving everywhere with an infinite velocity; for it\nis one in all places, and is all totality in every place.\n\nLet this effect of nature, which previously seemed to you impossible,\nmake you know that there may be others of which you are still ignorant.\nDo not draw this conclusion from your experiment, that there remains\nnothing for you to know; but rather that there remains an infinity for\nyou to know.\n\n\n232\n\nInfinite movement, the point which fills everything, the moment of rest;\ninfinite without quantity, indivisible and infinite.\n\n\n233\n\n_Infinite_--_nothing._--Our soul is cast into a body, where it finds\nnumber, time, dimension. Thereupon it reasons, and calls this nature,\nnecessity, and can believe nothing else.\n\nUnity joined to infinity adds nothing to it, no more than one foot to an\ninfinite measure. The finite is annihilated in the presence of the\ninfinite, and becomes a pure nothing. So our spirit before God, so our\njustice before divine justice. There is not so great a disproportion\nbetween our justice and that of God, as between unity and infinity.\n\nThe justice of God must be vast like His compassion. Now justice to the\noutcast is less vast, and ought less to offend our feelings than mercy\ntowards the elect.\n\nWe know that there is an infinite, and are ignorant of its nature. As we\nknow it to be false that numbers are finite, it is therefore true that\nthere is an infinity in number. But we do not know what it is. It is\nfalse that it is even, it is false that it is odd; for the addition of a\nunit can make no change in its nature. Yet it is a number, and every\nnumber is odd or even (this is certainly true of every finite number).\nSo we may well know that there is a God without knowing what He is. Is\nthere not one substantial truth, seeing there are so many things which\nare not the truth itself?\n\nWe know then the existence and nature of the finite, because we also are\nfinite and have extension. We know the existence of the infinite, and\nare ignorant of its nature, because it has extension like us, but not\nlimits like us. But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God,\nbecause He has neither extension nor limits.\n\nBut by faith we know His existence; in glory we shall know His nature.\nNow, I have already shown that we may well know the existence of a\nthing, without knowing its nature.\n\nLet us now speak according to natural lights.\n\nIf there is a God, He is infinitely incomprehensible, since, having\nneither parts nor limits, He has no affinity to us. We are then\nincapable of knowing either what He is or if He is. This being so, who\nwill dare to undertake the decision of the question? Not we, who have no\naffinity to Him.\n\nWho then will blame Christians for not being able to give a reason for\ntheir belief, since they profess a religion for which they cannot give a\nreason? They declare, in expounding it to the world, that it is a\nfoolishness, _stultitiam_;[90] and then you complain that they do not\nprove it! If they proved it, they would not keep their word; it is in\nlacking proofs, that they are not lacking in sense. \"Yes, but although\nthis excuses those who offer it as such, and takes away from them the\nblame of putting it forward without reason, it does not excuse those who\nreceive it.\" Let us then examine this point, and say, \"God is, or He is\nnot.\" But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide nothing\nhere. There is an infinite chaos which separated us. A game is being\nplayed at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails\nwill turn up. What will you wager? According to reason, you can do\nneither the one thing nor the other; according to reason, you can defend\nneither of the propositions.\n\nDo not then reprove for error those who have made a choice; for you know\nnothing about it. \"No, but I blame them for having made, not this\nchoice, but a choice; for again both he who chooses heads and he who\nchooses tails are equally at fault, they are both in the wrong. The true\ncourse is not to wager at all.\"\n\nYes; but you must wager. It is not optional. You are embarked. Which\nwill you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see\nwhich interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the\ngood; and two things to stake, your reason and your will, your\nknowledge and your happiness; and your nature has two things to shun,\nerror and misery. Your reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather\nthan the other, since you must of necessity choose. This is one point\nsettled. But your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in\nwagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain,\nyou gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without\nhesitation that He is.--\"That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may\nperhaps wager too much.\"--Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of\ngain and of loss, if you had only to gain two lives, instead of one, you\nmight still wager. But if there were three lives to gain, you would have\nto play (since you are under the necessity of playing), and you would be\nimprudent, when you are forced to play, not to chance your life to gain\nthree at a game where there is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there\nis an eternity of life and happiness. And this being so, if there were\nan infinity of chances, of which one only would be for you, you would\nstill be right in wagering one to win two, and you would act stupidly,\nbeing obliged to play, by refusing to stake one life against three at a\ngame in which out of an infinity of chances there is one for you, if\nthere were an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain. But there is\nhere an infinity of an infinitely happy life to gain, a chance of gain\nagainst a finite number of chances of loss, and what you stake is\nfinite. It is all divided; wherever the infinite is and there is not an\ninfinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no time to\nhesitate, you must give all. And thus, when one is forced to play, he\nmust renounce reason to preserve his life, rather than risk it for\ninfinite gain, as likely to happen as the loss of nothingness.\n\nFor it is no use to say it is uncertain if we will gain, and it is\ncertain that we risk, and that the infinite distance between the\n_certainty_ of what is staked and the _uncertainty_ of what will be\ngained, equals the finite good which is certainly staked against the\nuncertain infinite. It is not so, as every player stakes a certainty to\ngain an uncertainty, and yet he stakes a finite certainty to gain a\nfinite uncertainty, without transgressing against reason. There is not\nan infinite distance between the certainty staked and the uncertainty of\nthe gain; that is untrue. In truth, there is an infinity between the\ncertainty of gain and the certainty of loss. But the uncertainty of the\ngain is proportioned to the certainty of the stake according to the\nproportion of the chances of gain and loss. Hence it comes that, if\nthere are as many risks on one side as on the other, the course is to\nplay even; and then the certainty of the stake is equal to the\nuncertainty of the gain, so far is it from fact that there is an\ninfinite distance between them. And so our proposition is of infinite\nforce, when there is the finite to stake in a game where there are equal\nrisks of gain and of loss, and the infinite to gain. This is\ndemonstrable; and if men are capable of any truths, this is one.\n\n\"I confess it, I admit it. But, still, is there no means of seeing the\nfaces of the cards?\"--Yes, Scripture and the rest, etc. \"Yes, but I have\nmy hands tied and my mouth closed; I am forced to wager, and am not\nfree. I am not released, and am so made that I cannot believe. What,\nthen, would you have me do?\"\n\nTrue. But at least learn your inability to believe, since reason brings\nyou to this, and yet you cannot believe. Endeavour then to convince\nyourself, not by increase of proofs of God, but by the abatement of your\npassions. You would like to attain faith, and do not know the way; you\nwould like to cure yourself of unbelief, and ask the remedy for it.\nLearn of those who have been bound like you, and who now stake all their\npossessions. These are people who know the way which you would follow,\nand who are cured of an ill of which you would be cured. Follow the way\nby which they began; by acting as if they believed, taking the holy\nwater, having masses said, etc. Even this will naturally make you\nbelieve, and deaden your acuteness.--\"But this is what I am afraid\nof.\"--And why? What have you to lose?\n\nBut to show you that this leads you there, it is this which will lessen\nthe passions, which are your stumbling-blocks.\n\n_The end of this discourse._--Now, what harm will befall you in taking\nthis side? You will be faithful, honest, humble, grateful, generous, a\nsincere friend, truthful. Certainly you will not have those poisonous\npleasures, glory and luxury; but will you not have others? I will tell\nyou that you will thereby gain in this life, and that, at each step you\ntake on this road, you will see so great certainty of gain, so much\nnothingness in what you risk, that you will at last recognise that you\nhave wagered for something certain and infinite, for which you have\ngiven nothing.\n\n\"Ah! This discourse transports me, charms me,\" etc.\n\nIf this discourse pleases you and seems impressive, know that it is\nmade by a man who has knelt, both before and after it, in prayer to that\nBeing, infinite and without parts, before whom he lays all he has, for\nyou also to lay before Him all you have for your own good and for His\nglory, that so strength may be given to lowliness.\n\n\n234\n\nIf we must not act save on a certainty, we ought not to act on religion,\nfor it is not certain. But how many things we do on an uncertainty, sea\nvoyages, battles! I say then we must do nothing at all, for nothing is\ncertain, and that there is more certainty in religion than there is as\nto whether we may see to-morrow; for it is not certain that we may see\nto-morrow, and it is certainly possible that we may not see it. We\ncannot say as much about religion. It is not certain that it is; but who\nwill venture to say that it is certainly possible that it is not? Now\nwhen we work for to-morrow, and so on an uncertainty, we act reasonably;\nfor we ought to work for an uncertainty according to the doctrine of\nchance which was demonstrated above.\n\nSaint Augustine has seen that we work for an uncertainty, on sea, in\nbattle, etc. But he has not seen the doctrine of chance which proves\nthat we should do so. Montaigne has seen that we are shocked at a fool,\nand that habit is all-powerful; but he has not seen the reason of this\neffect.\n\nAll these persons have seen the effects, but they have not seen the\ncauses. They are, in comparison with those who have discovered the\ncauses, as those who have only eyes are in comparison with those who\nhave intellect. For the effects are perceptible by sense, and the causes\nare visible only to the intellect. And although these effects are seen\nby the mind, this mind is, in comparison with the mind which sees the\ncauses, as the bodily senses are in comparison with the intellect.\n\n\n235\n\n_Rem viderunt, causam non viderunt._\n\n\n236\n\nAccording to the doctrine of chance, you ought to put yourself to the\ntrouble of searching for the truth; for if you die without worshipping\nthe True Cause, you are lost.--\"But,\" say you, \"if He had wished me to\nworship Him, He would have left me signs of His will.\"--He has done so;\nbut you neglect them. Seek them, therefore; it is well worth it.\n\n\n237\n\n_Chances._--We must live differently in the world, according to these\ndifferent assumptions: (1) that we could always remain in it; (2) that\nit is certain that we shall not remain here long, and uncertain if we\nshall remain here one hour. This last assumption is our condition.\n\n\n238\n\nWhat do you then promise me, in addition to certain troubles, but ten\nyears of self-love (for ten years is the chance), to try hard to please\nwithout success?\n\n\n239\n\n_Objection._--Those who hope for salvation are so far happy; but they\nhave as a counterpoise the fear of hell.\n\n_Reply._--Who has most reason to fear hell: he who is in ignorance\nwhether there is a hell, and who is certain of damnation if there is; or\nhe who certainly believes there is a hell, and hopes to be saved if\nthere is?\n\n\n240\n\n\"I would soon have renounced pleasure,\" say they, \"had I faith.\" For my\npart I tell you, \"You would soon have faith, if you renounced pleasure.\"\nNow, it is for you to begin. If I could, I would give you faith. I\ncannot do so, nor therefore test the truth of what you say. But you can\nwell renounce pleasure, and test whether what I say is true.\n\n\n241\n\n_Order._--I would have far more fear of being mistaken, and of finding\nthat the Christian religion was true, than of not being mistaken in\nbelieving it true.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION IV\n\nOF THE MEANS OF BELIEF\n\n\n242\n\n_Preface to the second part._--To speak of those who have treated of\nthis matter.\n\nI admire the boldness with which these persons undertake to speak of\nGod. In addressing their argument to infidels, their first chapter is to\nprove Divinity from the works of nature.[91] I should not be astonished\nat their enterprise, if they were addressing their argument to the\nfaithful; for it is certain that those who have the living faith in\ntheir heart see at once that all existence is none other than the work\nof the God whom they adore. But for those in whom this light is\nextinguished, and in whom we purpose to rekindle it, persons destitute\nof faith and grace, who, seeking with all their light whatever they see\nin nature that can bring them to this knowledge, find only obscurity and\ndarkness; to tell them that they have only to look at the smallest\nthings which surround them, and they will see God openly, to give them,\nas a complete proof of this great and important matter, the course of\nthe moon and planets, and to claim to have concluded the proof with such\nan argument, is to give them ground for believing that the proofs of our\nreligion are very weak. And I see by reason and experience that nothing\nis more calculated to arouse their contempt.\n\nIt is not after this manner that Scripture speaks, which has a better\nknowledge of the things that are of God. It says, on the contrary, that\nGod is a hidden God, and that, since the corruption of nature, He has\nleft men in a darkness from which they can escape only through Jesus\nChrist, without whom all communion with God is cut off. _Nemo novit\nPatrem, nisi Filius, et cui voluerit Filius revelare._[92]\n\nThis is what Scripture points out to us, when it says in so many places\nthat those who seek God find Him.[93] It is not of that light, \"like the\nnoonday sun,\" that this is said. We do not say that those who seek the\nnoonday sun, or water in the sea, shall find them; and hence the\nevidence of God must not be of this nature. So it tells us elsewhere:\n_Vere tu es Deus absconditus_.[94]\n\n\n243\n\nIt is an astounding fact that no canonical writer has ever made use of\nnature to prove God. They all strive to make us believe in Him. David,\nSolomon, etc., have never said, \"There is no void, therefore there is a\nGod.\" They must have had more knowledge than the most learned people who\ncame after them, and who have all made use of this argument. This is\nworthy of attention.\n\n\n244\n\n\"Why! Do you not say yourself that the heavens and birds prove God?\" No.\n\"And does your religion not say so?\" No. For although it is true in a\nsense for some souls to whom God gives this light, yet it is false with\nrespect to the majority of men.\n\n\n245\n\nThere are three sources of belief: reason, custom, inspiration. The\nChristian religion, which alone has reason, does not acknowledge as her\ntrue children those who believe without inspiration. It is not that she\nexcludes reason and custom. On the contrary, the mind must be opened to\nproofs, must be confirmed by custom, and offer itself in humbleness to\ninspirations, which alone can produce a true and saving effect. _Ne\nevacuetur crux Christi._[95]\n\n\n246\n\n_Order._--After the letter _That we ought to seek God_, to write the\nletter _On removing obstacles_; which is the discourse on \"the\nmachine,\"[96] on preparing the machine, on seeking by reason.\n\n\n247\n\n_Order._--A letter of exhortation to a friend to induce him to seek. And\nhe will reply, \"But what is the use of seeking? Nothing is seen.\" Then\nto reply to him, \"Do not despair.\" And he will answer that he would be\nglad to find some light, but that, according to this very religion, if\nhe believed in it, it will be of no use to him, and that therefore he\nprefers not to seek. And to answer to that: The machine.\n\n\n248\n\n_A letter which indicates the use of proofs by the machine._--Faith is\ndifferent from proof; the one is human, the other is a gift of God.\n_Justus ex fide vivit._[97] It is this faith that God Himself puts into\nthe heart, of which the proof is often the instrument, _fides ex\nauditu_;[98] but this faith is in the heart, and makes us not say\n_scio_, but _credo_.\n\n\n249\n\nIt is superstition to put one's hope in formalities; but it is pride to\nbe unwilling to submit to them.\n\n\n250\n\nThe external must be joined to the internal to obtain anything from God,\nthat is to say, we must kneel, pray with the lips, etc., in order that\nproud man, who would not submit himself to God, may be now subject to\nthe creature.[99] To expect help from these externals is superstition;\nto refuse to join them to the internal is pride.\n\n\n251\n\nOther religions, as the pagan, are more popular, for they consist in\nexternals. But they are not for educated people. A purely intellectual\nreligion would be more suited to the learned, but it would be of no use\nto the common people. The Christian religion alone is adapted to all,\nbeing composed of externals and internals. It raises the common people\nto the internal, and humbles the proud to the external; it is not\nperfect without the two, for the people must understand the spirit of\nthe letter, and the learned must submit their spirit to the letter.\n\n\n252\n\nFor we must not misunderstand ourselves; we are as much automatic as\nintellectual; and hence it comes that the instrument by which conviction\nis attained is not demonstrated alone. How few things are demonstrated?\nProofs only convince the mind. Custom is the source of our strongest and\nmost believed proofs. It bends the automaton, which persuades the mind\nwithout its thinking about the matter. Who has demonstrated that there\nwill be a to-morrow, and that we shall die? And what is more believed?\nIt is, then, custom which persuades us of it; it is custom that makes\nso many men Christians; custom that makes them Turks, heathens,\nartisans, soldiers, etc. (Faith in baptism is more received among\nChristians than among Turks.) Finally, we must have recourse to it when\nonce the mind has seen where the truth is, in order to quench our\nthirst, and steep ourselves in that belief, which escapes us at every\nhour; for always to have proofs ready is too much trouble. We must get\nan easier belief, which is that of custom, which, without violence,\nwithout art, without argument, makes us believe things, and inclines all\nour powers to this belief, so that out soul falls naturally into it. It\nis not enough to believe only by force of conviction, when the automaton\nis inclined to believe the contrary. Both our parts must be made to\nbelieve, the mind by reasons which it is sufficient to have seen once in\na lifetime, and the automaton by custom, and by not allowing it to\nincline to the contrary. _Inclina cor meum, Deus._[100]\n\nThe reason acts slowly, with so many examinations, and on so many\nprinciples, which must be always present, that at every hour it falls\nasleep, or wanders, through want of having all its principles present.\nFeeling does not act thus; it acts in a moment, and is always ready to\nact. We must then put our faith in feeling; otherwise it will be always\nvacillating.\n\n\n253\n\nTwo extremes: to exclude reason, to admit reason only.\n\n\n254\n\nIt is not a rare thing to have to reprove the world for too much\ndocility. It is a natural vice like credulity, and as pernicious.\nSuperstition.\n\n\n255\n\nPiety is different from superstition.\n\nTo carry piety as far as superstition is to destroy it.\n\nThe heretics reproach us for this superstitious submission. This is to\ndo what they reproach us for ...\n\nInfidelity, not to believe in the Eucharist, because it is not seen.\n\nSuperstition to believe propositions. Faith, etc.\n\n\n256\n\nI say there are few true Christians, even as regards faith. There are\nmany who believe but from superstition. There are many who do not\nbelieve solely from wickedness. Few are between the two.\n\nIn this I do not include those who are of truly pious character, nor all\nthose who believe from a feeling in their heart.\n\n\n257\n\nThere are only three kinds of persons; those who serve God, having found\nHim; others who are occupied in seeking Him, not having found Him; while\nthe remainder live without seeking Him, and without having found Him.\nThe first are reasonable and happy, the last are foolish and unhappy;\nthose between are unhappy and reasonable.\n\n\n258\n\n_Unusquisque sibi Deum fingit._[101]\n\nDisgust.\n\n\n259\n\nOrdinary people have the power of not thinking of that about which they\ndo not wish to think. \"Do not meditate on the passages about the\nMessiah,\" said the Jew to his son. Thus our people often act. Thus are\nfalse religions preserved, and even the true one, in regard to many\npersons.\n\nBut there are some who have not the power of thus preventing thought,\nand who think so much the more as they are forbidden. These undo false\nreligions, and even the true one, if they do not find solid arguments.\n\n\n260\n\nThey hide themselves in the press, and call numbers to their rescue.\nTumult.\n\n_Authority._--So far from making it a rule to believe a thing because\nyou have heard it, you ought to believe nothing without putting yourself\ninto the position as if you had never heard it.\n\nIt is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own\nreason, and not of others, that should make you believe.\n\nBelief is so important! A hundred contradictions might be true. If\nantiquity were the rule of belief, men of ancient time would then be\nwithout rule. If general consent, if men had perished?\n\nFalse humanity, pride.\n\nLift the curtain. You try in vain; if you must either believe, or deny,\nor doubt. Shall we then have no rule? We judge that animals do well what\nthey do. Is there no rule whereby to judge men?\n\nTo deny, to believe, and to doubt well, are to a man what the race is to\na horse.\n\nPunishment of those who sin, error.\n\n\n261\n\nThose who do not love the truth take as a pretext that it is disputed,\nand that a multitude deny it. And so their error arises only from this,\nthat they do not love either truth or charity. Thus they are without\nexcuse.\n\n\n262\n\nSuperstition and lust. Scruples, evil desires. Evil fear; fear, not such\nas comes from a belief in God, but such as comes from a doubt whether He\nexists or not. True fear comes from faith; false fear comes from doubt.\nTrue fear is joined to hope, because it is born of faith, and because\nmen hope in the God in whom they believe. False fear is joined to\ndespair, because men fear the God in whom they have no belief. The\nformer fear to lose Him; the latter fear to find Him.\n\n\n263\n\n\"A miracle,\" says one, \"would strengthen my faith.\" He says so when he\ndoes not see one. Reasons, seen from afar, appear to limit our view; but\nwhen they are reached, we begin to see beyond. Nothing stops the\nnimbleness of our mind. There is no rule, say we, which has not some\nexceptions, no truth so general which has not some aspect in which it\nfails. It is sufficient that it be not absolutely universal to give us a\npretext for applying the exceptions to the present subject, and for\nsaying, \"This is not always true; there are therefore cases where it is\nnot so.\" It only remains to show that this is one of them; and that is\nwhy we are very awkward or unlucky, if we do not find one some day.\n\n\n264\n\nWe do not weary of eating and sleeping every day, for hunger and\nsleepiness recur. Without that we should weary of them. So, without the\nhunger for spiritual things, we weary of them. Hunger after\nrighteousness, the eighth beatitude.[102]\n\n\n265\n\nFaith indeed tells what the senses do not tell, but not the contrary of\nwhat they see. It is above them and not contrary to them.\n\n\n266\n\nHow many stars have telescopes revealed to us which did not exist for\nour philosophers of old! We freely attack Holy Scripture on the great\nnumber of stars, saying, \"There are only one thousand and\ntwenty-eight,[103] we know it.\" There is grass on the earth, we see\nit--from the moon we would not see it--and on the grass are leaves, and\nin these leaves are small animals; but after that no more.--O\npresumptuous man!--The compounds are composed of elements, and the\nelements not.--O presumptuous man! Here is a fine reflection.--We must\nnot say that there is anything which we do not see.--We must then talk\nlike others, but not think like them.\n\n\n267\n\nThe last proceeding of reason is to recognise that there is an infinity\nof things which are beyond it. It is but feeble if it does not see so\nfar as to know this. But if natural things are beyond it, what will be\nsaid of supernatural?\n\n\n268\n\n_Submission._--We must know where to doubt, where to feel certain, where\nto submit. He who does not do so, understands not the force of reason.\nThere are some who offend against these three rules, either by affirming\neverything as demonstrative, from want of knowing what demonstration is;\nor by doubting everything, from want of knowing where to submit; or by\nsubmitting in everything, from want of knowing where they must judge.\n\n\n269\n\nSubmission is the use of reason in which consists true Christianity.\n\n\n270\n\n_St. Augustine._[104]--Reason would never submit, if it did not judge\nthat there are some occasions on which it ought to submit. It is then\nright for it to submit, when it judges that it ought to submit.\n\n\n271\n\nWisdom sends us to childhood. _Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli._[105]\n\n\n272\n\nThere is nothing so conformable to reason as this disavowal of reason.\n\n\n273\n\nIf we submit everything to reason, our religion will have no mysterious\nand supernatural element. If we offend the principles of reason, our\nreligion will be absurd and ridiculous.\n\n\n274\n\nAll our reasoning reduces itself to yielding to feeling.\n\nBut fancy is like, though contrary to feeling, so that we cannot\ndistinguish between these contraries. One person says that my feeling is\nfancy, another that his fancy is feeling. We should have a rule. Reason\noffers itself; but it is pliable in every sense; and thus there is no\nrule.\n\n\n275\n\nMen often take their imagination for their heart; and they believe they\nare converted as soon as they think of being converted.\n\n\n276\n\nM. de Roannez said: \"Reasons come to me afterwards, but at first a thing\npleases or shocks me without my knowing the reason, and yet it shocks me\nfor that reason which I only discover afterwards.\" But I believe, not\nthat it shocked him for the reasons which were found afterwards, but\nthat these reasons were only found because it shocks him.\n\n\n277\n\nThe heart has its reasons, which reason does not know. We feel it in a\nthousand things. I say that the heart naturally loves the Universal\nBeing, and also itself naturally, according as it gives itself to them;\nand it hardens itself against one or the other at its will. You have\nrejected the one, and kept the other. Is it by reason that you love\nyourself?\n\n\n278\n\nIt is the heart which experiences God, and not the reason. This, then,\nis faith: God felt by the heart, not by the reason.\n\n\n279\n\nFaith is a gift of God; do not believe that we said it was a gift of\nreasoning. Other religions do not say this of their faith. They only\ngave reasoning in order to arrive at it, and yet it does not bring them\nto it.\n\n\n280\n\nThe knowledge of God is very far from the love of Him.\n\n\n281\n\nHeart, instinct, principles.\n\n\n282\n\nWe know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart, and it is\nin this last way that we know first principles; and reason, which has no\npart in it, tries in vain to impugn them. The sceptics, who have only\nthis for their object, labour to no purpose. We know that we do not\ndream, and however impossible it is for us to prove it by reason, this\ninability demonstrates only the weakness of our reason, but not, as they\naffirm, the uncertainty of all our knowledge. For the knowledge of first\nprinciples, as space, time, motion, number, is as sure as any of those\nwhich we get from reasoning. And reason must trust these intuitions of\nthe heart, and must base them on every argument. (We have intuitive\nknowledge of the tri-dimensional nature of space, and of the infinity of\nnumber, and reason then shows that there are no two square numbers one\nof which is double of the other. Principles are intuited, propositions\nare inferred, all with certainty, though in different ways.) And it is\nas useless and absurd for reason to demand from the heart proofs of her\nfirst principles, before admitting them, as it would be for the heart to\ndemand from reason an intuition of all demonstrated propositions before\naccepting them.\n\nThis inability ought, then, to serve only to humble reason, which would\njudge all, but not to impugn our certainty, as if only reason were\ncapable of instructing us. Would to God, on the contrary, that we had\nnever need of it, and that we knew everything by instinct and intuition!\nBut nature has refused us this boon. On the contrary, she has given us\nbut very little knowledge of this kind; and all the rest can be acquired\nonly by reasoning.\n\nTherefore, those to whom God has imparted religion by intuition are very\nfortunate, and justly convinced. But to those who do not have it, we can\ngive it only by reasoning, waiting for God to give them spiritual\ninsight, without which faith is only human, and useless for salvation.\n\n\n283\n\n_Order.--Against the objection that Scripture has no order._\n\nThe heart has its own order; the intellect has its own, which is by\nprinciple and demonstration. The heart has another. We do not prove that\nwe ought to be loved by enumerating in order the causes of love; that\nwould be ridiculous.\n\nJesus Christ and Saint Paul employ the rule of love, not of intellect;\nfor they would warm, not instruct. It is the same with Saint Augustine.\nThis order consists chiefly in digressions on each point to indicate the\nend, and keep it always in sight.\n\n\n284\n\nDo not wonder to see simple people believe without reasoning. God\nimparts to them love of Him and hatred of self. He inclines their heart\nto believe. Men will never believe with a saving and real faith, unless\nGod inclines their heart; and they will believe as soon as He inclines\nit. And this is what David knew well, when he said: _Inclina cor meum,\nDeus, in ..._[106]\n\n\n285\n\nReligion is suited to all kinds of minds. Some pay attention only to its\nestablishment,[107] and this religion is such that its very\nestablishment suffices to prove its truth. Others trace it even to the\napostles. The more learned go back to the beginning of the world. The\nangels see it better still, and from a more distant time.\n\n\n286\n\nThose who believe without having read the Testaments, do so because they\nhave an inward disposition entirely holy, and all that they hear of our\nreligion conforms to it. They feel that a God has made them; they desire\nonly to love God; they desire to hate themselves only. They feel that\nthey have no strength in themselves; that they are incapable of coming\nto God; and that if God does not come to them, they can have no\ncommunion with Him. And they hear our religion say that men must love\nGod only, and hate self only; but that all being corrupt and unworthy of\nGod, God made Himself man to unite Himself to us. No more is required to\npersuade men who have this disposition in their heart, and who have this\nknowledge of their duty and of their inefficiency.\n\n\n287\n\nThose whom we see to be Christians without the knowledge of the prophets\nand evidences, nevertheless judge of their religion as well as those who\nhave that knowledge. They judge of it by the heart, as others judge of\nit by the intellect. God Himself inclines them to believe, and thus they\nare most effectively convinced.\n\nI confess indeed that one of those Christians who believe without proofs\nwill not perhaps be capable of convincing an infidel who will say the\nsame of himself. But those who know the proofs of religion will prove\nwithout difficulty that such a believer is truly inspired by God, though\nhe cannot prove it himself.\n\nFor God having said in His prophecies (which are undoubtedly\nprophecies), that in the reign of Jesus Christ He would spread His\nspirit abroad among nations, and that the youths and maidens and\nchildren of the Church would prophesy;[108] it is certain that the\nSpirit of God is in these, and not in the others.\n\n\n288\n\nInstead of complaining that God had hidden Himself, you will give Him\nthanks for having revealed so much of Himself; and you will also give\nHim thanks for not having revealed Himself to haughty sages, unworthy to\nknow so holy a God.\n\nTwo kinds of persons know Him: those who have a humble heart, and who\nlove lowliness, whatever kind of intellect they may have, high or low;\nand those who have sufficient understanding to see the truth, whatever\nopposition they may have to it.\n\n\n289\n\n_Proof._--1. The Christian religion, by its establishment, having\nestablished itself so strongly, so gently, whilst contrary to\nnature.--2. The sanctity, the dignity, and the humility of a Christian\nsoul.--3. The miracles of Holy Scripture.--4. Jesus Christ in\nparticular.--5. The apostles in particular.--6. Moses and the prophets\nin particular.--7. The Jewish people.--8. The prophecies.--9.\nPerpetuity; no religion has perpetuity.--10. The doctrine which gives a\nreason for everything.--11. The sanctity of this law.--12. By the course\nof the world.\n\nSurely, after considering what is life and what is religion, we should\nnot refuse to obey the inclination to follow it, if it comes into our\nheart; and it is certain that there is no ground for laughing at those\nwho follow it.\n\n\n290\n\n_Proofs of religion._--Morality, Doctrine, Miracles, Prophecies, Types.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION V\n\nJUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS\n\n\n291\n\nIn the letter _On Injustice_ can come the ridiculousness of the law that\nthe elder gets all. \"My friend, you were born on this side of the\nmountain, it is therefore just that your elder brother gets everything.\"\n\n\"Why do you kill me?\"\n\n\n292\n\nHe lives on the other side of the water.\n\n\n293\n\n\"Why do you kill me? What! do you not live on the other side of the\nwater? If you lived on this side, my friend, I should be an assassin,\nand it would be unjust to slay you in this manner. But since you live on\nthe other side, I am a hero, and it is just.\"\n\n\n294\n\nOn what shall man found the order of the world which he would\ngovern?[109] Shall it be on the caprice of each individual? What\nconfusion! Shall it be on justice? Man is ignorant of it.\n\nCertainly had he known it, he would not have established this maxim, the\nmost general of all that obtain among men, that each should follow the\ncustom of his own country. The glory of true equity would have brought\nall nations under subjection, and legislators would not have taken as\ntheir model the fancies and caprice of Persians and Germans instead of\nthis unchanging justice. We should have seen it set up in all the States\non earth and in all times; whereas we see neither justice nor injustice\nwhich does not change its nature with change in climate. Three degrees\nof latitude reverse all jurisprudence; a meridian decides the truth.\nFundamental laws change after a few years of possession; right has its\nepochs; the entry of Saturn into the Lion marks to us the origin of\nsuch and such a crime. A strange justice that is bounded by a river!\nTruth on this side of the Pyrenees, error on the other side.\n\nMen admit that justice does not consist in these customs, but that it\nresides in natural laws, common to every country. They would certainly\nmaintain it obstinately, if reckless chance which has distributed human\nlaws had encountered even one which was universal; but the farce is that\nthe caprice of men has so many vagaries that there is no such law.\n\nTheft, incest, infanticide, parricide, have all had a place among\nvirtuous actions. Can anything be more ridiculous than that a man should\nhave the right to kill me because he lives on the other side of the\nwater, and because his ruler has a quarrel with mine, though I have none\nwith him?\n\nDoubtless there are natural laws; but good reason once corrupted has\ncorrupted all. _Nihil amplius nostrum est;[110] quod nostrum dicimus,\nartis est. Ex senatus--consultis et plebiscitis crimina exercentur.[111]\nUt olim vitiis, sic nunc legibus laboramus._[112]\n\nThe result of this confusion is that one affirms the essence of justice\nto be the authority of the legislator; another, the interest of the\nsovereign;[113] another, present custom,[114] and this is the most sure.\nNothing, according to reason alone, is just in itself; all changes with\ntime. Custom creates the whole of equity, for the simple reason that it\nis accepted. It is the mystical foundation of its authority;[115]\nwhoever carries it back to first principles destroys it. Nothing is so\nfaulty as those laws which correct faults. He who obeys them because\nthey are just, obeys a justice which is imaginary, and not the essence\nof law; it is quite self-contained, it is law and nothing more. He who\nwill examine its motive will find it so feeble and so trifling that if\nhe be not accustomed to contemplate the wonders of human imagination, he\nwill marvel that one century has gained for it so much pomp and\nreverence. The art of opposition and of revolution is to unsettle\nestablished customs, sounding them even to their source, to point out\ntheir want of authority and justice. We must, it is said, get back to\nthe natural and fundamental laws of the State, which an unjust custom\nhas abolished. It is a game certain to result in the loss of all;\nnothing will be just on the balance. Yet people readily lend their ear\nto such arguments. They shake off the yoke as soon as they recognise it;\nand the great profit by their ruin, and by that of these curious\ninvestigators of accepted customs. But from a contrary mistake men\nsometimes think they can justly do everything which is not without an\nexample. That is why the wisest of legislators[116] said that it was\nnecessary to deceive men for their own good; and another, a good\npolitician, _Cum veritatem qua liberetur ignoret, expedit quod\nfallatur._[117] We must not see the fact of usurpation; law was once\nintroduced without reason, and has become reasonable. We must make it\nregarded as authoritative, eternal, and conceal its origin, if we do not\nwish that it should soon come to an end.\n\n\n295\n\n_Mine, thine._--\"This dog is mine,\" said those poor children; \"that is\nmy place in the sun.\" Here is the beginning and the image of the\nusurpation of all the earth.\n\n\n296\n\nWhen the question for consideration is whether we ought to make war, and\nkill so many men--condemn so many Spaniards to death--only one man is\njudge, and he is an interested party. There should be a third, who is\ndisinterested.\n\n\n297\n\n_Veri juris._[118]--We have it no more; if we had it, we should take\nconformity to the customs of a country as the rule of justice. It is\nhere that, not finding justice, we have found force, etc.\n\n\n298\n\n_Justice, might._--It is right that what is just should be obeyed; it is\nnecessary that what is strongest should be obeyed. Justice without might\nis helpless; might without justice is tyrannical. Justice without might\nis gainsaid, because there are always offenders; might without justice\nis condemned. We must then combine justice and might, and for this end\nmake what is just strong, or what is strong just.\n\nJustice is subject to dispute; might is easily recognised and is not\ndisputed. So we cannot give might to justice, because might has gainsaid\njustice, and has declared that it is she herself who is just. And thus\nbeing unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong\njust.\n\n\n299\n\nThe only universal rules are the laws of the country in ordinary\naffairs, and of the majority in others. Whence comes this? From the\nmight which is in them. Hence it comes that kings, who have power of a\ndifferent kind, do not follow the majority of their ministers.\n\nNo doubt equality of goods is just; but, being unable to cause might to\nobey justice, men have made it just to obey might. Unable to strengthen\njustice, they have justified might; so that the just and the strong\nshould unite, and there should be peace, which is the sovereign good.\n\n\n300\n\n\"When a strong man armed keepeth his goods, his goods are in\npeace.\"[119]\n\n\n301\n\nWhy do we follow the majority? It is because they have more reason? No,\nbecause they have more power.\n\nWhy do we follow the ancient laws and opinions? Is it because they are\nmore sound? No, but because they are unique, and remove from us the root\nof difference.\n\n\n302\n\n... It is the effect of might, not of custom. For those who are capable\nof originality are few; the greater number will only follow, and refuse\nglory to those inventors who seek it by their inventions. And if these\nare obstinate in their wish to obtain glory, and despise those who do\nnot invent, the latter will call them ridiculous names, and would beat\nthem with a stick. Let no one then boast of his subtlety, or let him\nkeep his complacency to himself.\n\n\n303\n\nMight is the sovereign of the world, and not opinion.--But opinion makes\nuse of might.--It is might that makes opinion. Gentleness is beautiful\nin our opinion. Why? Because he who will dance on a rope will be\nalone,[120] and I will gather a stronger mob of people who will say that\nit is unbecoming.\n\n\n304\n\nThe cords which bind the respect of men to each other are in general\ncords of necessity; for there must be different degrees, all men wishing\nto rule, and not all being able to do so, but some being able.\n\nLet us then imagine we see society in the process of formation. Men will\ndoubtless fight till the stronger party overcomes the weaker, and a\ndominant party is established. But when this is once determined, the\nmasters, who do not desire the continuation of strife, then decree that\nthe power which is in their hands shall be transmitted as they please.\nSome place it in election by the people, others in hereditary\nsuccession, etc.\n\nAnd this is the point where imagination begins to play its part. Till\nnow power makes fact; now power is sustained by imagination in a certain\nparty, in France in the nobility, in Switzerland in the burgesses, etc.\n\nThese cords which bind the respect of men to such and such an individual\nare therefore the cords of imagination.\n\n\n305\n\nThe Swiss are offended by being called gentlemen, and prove themselves\ntrue plebeians in order to be thought worthy of great office.\n\n\n306\n\nAs duchies, kingships, and magistracies are real and necessary, because\nmight rules all, they exist everywhere and always. But since only\ncaprice makes such and such a one a ruler, the principle is not\nconstant, but subject to variation, etc.\n\n\n307\n\nThe chancellor is grave, and clothed with ornaments, for his position is\nunreal. Not so the king, he has power, and has nothing to do with the\nimagination. Judges, physicians, etc. appeal only to the imagination.\n\n\n308\n\nThe habit of seeing kings accompanied by guards, drums, officers, and\nall the paraphernalia which mechanically inspire respect and awe, makes\ntheir countenance, when sometimes seen alone without these\naccompaniments, impress respect and awe on their subjects; because we\ncannot separate in thought their persons from the surroundings with\nwhich we see them usually joined. And the world, which knows not that\nthis effect is the result of habit, believes that it arises by a natural\nforce, whence come these words, \"The character of Divinity is stamped on\nhis countenance,\" etc.\n\n\n309\n\n_Justice._--As custom determines what is agreeable, so also does it\ndetermine justice.\n\n\n310\n\n_King and tyrant._--I, too, will keep my thoughts secret.\n\nI will take care on every journey.\n\nGreatness of establishment, respect for establishment.\n\nThe pleasure of the great is the power to make people happy.\n\nThe property of riches is to be given liberally.\n\nThe property of each thing must be sought. The property of power is to\nprotect.\n\nWhen force attacks humbug, when a private soldier takes the square cap\noff a first president, and throws it out of the window.\n\n\n311\n\nThe government founded on opinion and imagination reigns for some time,\nand this government is pleasant and voluntary; that founded on might\nlasts for ever. Thus opinion is the queen of the world, but might is its\ntyrant.\n\n\n312\n\nJustice is what is established; and thus all our established laws will\nnecessarily be regarded as just without examination, since they are\nestablished.\n\n\n313\n\n_Sound opinions of the people._--Civil wars are the greatest of\nevils.[121] They are inevitable, if we wish to reward desert; for all\nwill say they are deserving. The evil we have to fear from a fool who\nsucceeds by right of birth, is neither so great nor so sure.\n\n\n314\n\nGod has created all for Himself. He has bestowed upon Himself the power\nof pain and pleasure.\n\nYou can apply it to God, or to yourself. If to God, the Gospel is the\nrule. If to yourself, you will take the place of God. As God is\nsurrounded by persons full of charity, who ask of Him the blessings of\ncharity that are in His power, so ... Recognise then and learn that you\nare only a king of lust, and take the ways of lust.\n\n\n315\n\n_The reason of effects._--It is wonderful that men would not have me\nhonour a man clothed in brocade, and followed by seven or eight lackeys!\nWhy! He will have me thrashed, if I do not salute him. This custom is a\nforce. It is the same with a horse in fine trappings in comparison with\nanother! Montaigne[122] is a fool not to see what difference there is,\nto wonder at our finding any, and to ask the reason. \"Indeed,\" says he,\n\"how comes it,\" etc....\n\n\n316\n\n_Sound opinions of the people._--To be spruce is not altogether foolish,\nfor it proves that a great number of people work for one. It shows by\none's hair, that one has a valet, a perfumer, etc., by one's band,\nthread, lace, ... etc. Now it is not merely superficial nor merely\noutward show to have many arms at command. The more arms one has, the\nmore powerful one is. To be spruce is to show one's power.\n\n\n317\n\nDeference means, \"Put yourself to inconvenience.\" This is apparently\nsilly, but is quite right. For it is to say, \"I would indeed put myself\nto inconvenience if you required it, since indeed I do so when it is of\nno service to you.\" Deference further serves to distinguish the great.\nNow if deference was displayed by sitting in an arm-chair, we should\nshow deference to everybody, and so no distinction would be made; but,\nbeing put to inconvenience, we distinguish very well.\n\n\n318\n\nHe has four lackeys.\n\n\n319\n\nHow rightly do we distinguish men by external appearances rather than by\ninternal qualities! Which of us two shall have precedence? Who will give\nplace to the other? The least clever. But I am as clever as he. We\nshould have to fight over this. He has four lackeys, and I have only\none. This can be seen; we have only to count. It falls to me to yield,\nand I am a fool if I contest the matter. By this means we are at peace,\nwhich is the greatest of boons.\n\n\n320\n\nThe most unreasonable things in the world become most reasonable,\nbecause of the unruliness of men. What is less reasonable than to choose\nthe eldest son of a queen to rule a State? We do not choose as captain\nof a ship the passenger who is of the best family.\n\nThis law would be absurd and unjust; but because men are so themselves,\nand always will be so, it becomes reasonable and just. For whom will men\nchoose, as the most virtuous and able? We at once come to blows, as each\nclaims to be the most virtuous and able. Let us then attach this quality\nto something indisputable. This is the king's eldest son. That is clear,\nand there is no dispute. Reason can do no better, for civil war is the\ngreatest of evils.\n\n\n321\n\nChildren are astonished to see their comrades respected.\n\n\n322\n\nTo be of noble birth is a great advantage. In eighteen years it places a\nman within the select circle, known and respected, as another would have\nmerited in fifty years. It is a gain of thirty years without trouble.\n\n\n323\n\nWhat is the Ego?\n\nSuppose a man puts himself at a window to see those who pass by. If I\npass by, can I say that he placed himself there to see me? No; for he\ndoes not think of me in particular. But does he who loves someone on\naccount of beauty really love that person? No; for the small-pox, which\nwill kill beauty without killing the person, will cause him to love her\nno more.\n\nAnd if one loves me for my judgment, memory, he does not love _me_, for\nI can lose these qualities without losing myself. Where, then, is this\nEgo, if it be neither in the body nor in the soul? And how love the body\nor the soul, except for these qualities which do not constitute _me_,\nsince they are perishable? For it is impossible and would be unjust to\nlove the soul of a person in the abstract, and whatever qualities might\nbe therein. We never, then, love a person, but only qualities.\n\nLet us, then, jeer no more at those who are honoured on account of rank\nand office; for we love a person only on account of borrowed qualities.\n\n\n324\n\nThe people have very sound opinions, for example:\n\n1. In having preferred diversion and hunting to poetry. The half-learned\nlaugh at it, and glory in being above the folly of the world; but the\npeople are right for a reason which these do not fathom.\n\n2. In having distinguished men by external marks, as birth or wealth.\nThe world again exults in showing how unreasonable this is; but it is\nvery reasonable. Savages laugh at an infant king.[123]\n\n3. In being offended at a blow, on in desiring glory so much. But it is\nvery desirable on account of the other essential goods which are joined\nto it; and a man who has received a blow, without resenting it, is\noverwhelmed with taunts and indignities.\n\n4. In working for the uncertain; in sailing on the sea; in walking over\na plank.\n\n\n325\n\nMontaigne is wrong. Custom should be followed only because it is custom,\nand not because it is reasonable or just. But people follow it for this\nsole reason, that they think it just. Otherwise they would follow it no\nlonger, although it were the custom; for they will only submit to reason\nor justice. Custom without this would pass for tyranny; but the\nsovereignty of reason and justice is no more tyrannical than that of\ndesire. They are principles natural to man.\n\nIt would therefore be right to obey laws and customs, because they are\nlaws; but we should know that there is neither truth nor justice to\nintroduce into them, that we know nothing of these, and so must follow\nwhat is accepted. By this means we would never depart from them. But\npeople cannot accept this doctrine; and, as they believe that truth can\nbe found, and that it exists in law and custom, they believe them, and\ntake their antiquity as a proof of their truth, and not simply of their\nauthority apart from truth. Thus they obey laws, but they are liable to\nrevolt when these are proved to be valueless; and this can be shown of\nall, looked at from a certain aspect.\n\n\n326\n\n_Injustice._--It is dangerous to tell the people that the laws are\nunjust; for they obey them only because they think them just. Therefore\nit is necessary to tell them at the same time that they must obey them\nbecause they are laws, just as they must obey superiors, not because\nthey are just, but because they are superiors. In this way all sedition\nis prevented, if this can be made intelligible, and it be understood\nwhat is the proper definition of justice.\n\n\n327\n\nThe world is a good judge of things, for it is in natural ignorance,\nwhich is man's true state.[124] The sciences have two extremes which\nmeet. The first is the pure natural ignorance in which all men find\nthemselves at birth. The other extreme is that reached by great\nintellects, who, having run through all that men can know, find they\nknow nothing, and come back again to that same ignorance from which they\nset out; but this is a learned ignorance which is conscious of itself.\nThose between the two, who have departed from natural ignorance and not\nbeen able to reach the other, have some smattering of this vain\nknowledge, and pretend to be wise. These trouble the world, and are bad\njudges of everything. The people and the wise constitute the world;\nthese despise it, and are despised. They judge badly of everything, and\nthe world judges rightly of them.\n\n\n328\n\n_The reason of effects._--Continual alternation of pro and con.\n\nWe have then shown that man is foolish, by the estimation he makes of\nthings which are not essential; and all these opinions are destroyed. We\nhave next shown that all these opinions are very sound, and that thus,\nsince all these vanities are well founded, the people are not so foolish\nas is said. And so we have destroyed the opinion which destroyed that of\nthe people.\n\nBut we must now destroy this last proposition, and show that it remains\nalways true that the people are foolish, though their opinions are\nsound; because they do not perceive the truth where it is, and, as they\nplace it where it is not, their opinions are always very false and very\nunsound.\n\n\n329\n\n_The reason of effects._--The weakness of man is the reason why so many\nthings are considered fine, as to be good at playing the lute. It is\nonly an evil because of our weakness.\n\n\n330\n\nThe power of kings is founded on the reason and on the folly of the\npeople, and specially on their folly. The greatest and most important\nthing in the world has weakness for its foundation, and this foundation\nis wonderfully sure; for there is nothing more sure than this, that the\npeople will be weak. What is based on sound reason is very ill founded,\nas the estimate of wisdom.\n\n\n331\n\nWe can only think of Plato and Aristotle in grand academic robes. They\nwere honest men, like others, laughing with their friends, and when they\ndiverted themselves with writing their _Laws_ and the _Politics_, they\ndid it as an amusement. That part of their life was the least\nphilosophic and the least serious; the most philosophic was to live\nsimply and quietly. If they wrote on politics, it was as if laying down\nrules for a lunatic asylum; and if they presented the appearance of\nspeaking of a great matter, it was because they knew that the madmen, to\nwhom they spoke, thought they were kings and emperors. They entered into\ntheir principles in order to make their madness as little harmful as\npossible.\n\n\n332\n\nTyranny consists in the desire of universal power beyond its scope.\n\nThere are different assemblies of the strong, the fair, the sensible,\nthe pious, in which each man rules at home, not elsewhere. And sometimes\nthey meet, and the strong and the fair foolishly fight as to who shall\nbe master, for their mastery is of different kinds. They do not\nunderstand one another, and their fault is the desire to rule\neverywhere. Nothing can effect this, not even might, which is of no use\nin the kingdom of the wise, and is only mistress of external actions.\n\n_Tyranny_--... So these expressions are false and tyrannical: \"I am\nfair, therefore I must be feared. I am strong, therefore I must be\nloved. I am ...\"\n\nTyranny is the wish to have in one way what can only be had in another.\nWe render different duties to different merits; the duty of love to the\npleasant; the duty of fear to the strong; the duty of belief to the\nlearned.\n\nWe must render these duties; it is unjust to refuse them, and unjust to\nask others. And so it is false and tyrannical to say, \"He is not strong,\ntherefore I will not esteem him; he is not able, therefore I will not\nfear him.\"\n\n\n333\n\nHave you never seen people who, in order to complain of the little fuss\nyou make about them, parade before you the example of great men who\nesteem them? In answer I reply to them, \"Show me the merit whereby you\nhave charmed these persons, and I also will esteem you.\"\n\n\n334\n\n_The reason of effects._--Lust and force are the source of all our\nactions; lust causes voluntary actions, force involuntary ones.\n\n\n335\n\n_The reason of effects._--It is then true to say that all the world is\nunder a delusion; for, although the opinions of the people are sound,\nthey are not so as conceived by them, since they think the truth to be\nwhere it is not. Truth is indeed in their opinions, but not at the point\nwhere they imagine it. [Thus] it is true that we must honour noblemen,\nbut not because noble birth is real superiority, etc.\n\n\n336\n\n_The reason of effects._--We must keep our thought secret, and judge\neverything by it, while talking like the people.\n\n\n337\n\n_The reason of effects._--Degrees. The people honour persons of high\nbirth. The semi-learned despise them, saying that birth is not a\npersonal, but a chance superiority. The learned honour them, not for\npopular reasons, but for secret reasons. Devout persons, who have more\nzeal than knowledge, despise them, in spite of that consideration which\nmakes them honoured by the learned, because they judge them by a new\nlight which piety gives them. But perfect Christians honour them by\nanother and higher light. So arise a succession of opinions for and\nagainst, according to the light one has.\n\n\n338\n\nTrue Christians nevertheless comply with folly, not because they respect\nfolly, but the command of God, who for the punishment of men has made\nthem subject to these follies. _Omnis creatura subjecta est\nvanitati.[125] Liberabitur._[126] Thus Saint Thomas[127] explains the\npassage in Saint James on giving place to the rich, that if they do it\nnot in the sight of God, they depart from the command of religion.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION VI\n\nTHE PHILOSOPHERS\n\n\n339\n\nI can well conceive a man without hands, feet, head (for it is only\nexperience which teaches us that the head is more necessary than feet).\nBut I cannot conceive man without thought; he would be a stone or a\nbrute.\n\n\n340\n\nThe arithmetical machine produces effects which approach nearer to\nthought than all the actions of animals. But it does nothing which would\nenable us to attribute will to it, as to the animals.\n\n\n341\n\nThe account of the pike and frog of Liancourt.[128] They do it always,\nand never otherwise, nor any other thing showing mind.\n\n\n342\n\nIf an animal did by mind what it does by instinct, and if it spoke by\nmind what it speaks by instinct, in hunting, and in warning its mates\nthat the prey is found or lost; it would indeed also speak in regard to\nthose things which affect it closer, as example, \"Gnaw me this cord\nwhich is wounding me, and which I cannot reach.\"\n\n\n343\n\nThe beak of the parrot, which it wipes, although it is clean.\n\n\n344\n\nInstinct and reason, marks of two natures.\n\n\n345\n\nReason commands us far more imperiously than a master; for in disobeying\nthe one we are unfortunate, and in disobeying the other we are fools.\n\n\n346\n\nThought constitutes the greatness of man.\n\n\n347\n\nMan is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking\nreed. The entire universe need not arm itself to crush him. A vapour, a\ndrop of water suffices to kill him. But, if the universe were to crush\nhim, man would still be more noble than that which killed him, because\nhe knows that he dies and the advantage which the universe has over him;\nthe universe knows nothing of this.\n\nAll our dignity consists, then, in thought. By it we must elevate\nourselves, and not by space and time which we cannot fill. Let us\nendeavour, then, to think well; this is the principle of morality.\n\n\n348\n\n_A thinking reed._--It is not from space that I must seek my dignity,\nbut from the government of my thought. I shall have no more if I possess\nworlds. By space the universe encompasses and swallows me up like an\natom; by thought I comprehend the world.\n\n\n349\n\n_Immateriality of the soul._--Philosophers[129] who have mastered their\npassions. What matter could do that?\n\n\n350\n\n_The Stoics._--They conclude that what has been done once can be done\nalways, and that since the desire of glory imparts some power to those\nwhom it possesses, others can do likewise. There are feverish movements\nwhich health cannot imitate.\n\nEpictetus[130] concludes that since there are consistent Christians,\nevery man can easily be so.\n\n\n351\n\nThose great spiritual efforts, which the soul sometimes assays, are\nthings on which it does not lay hold.[131] It only leaps to them, not as\nupon a throne, for ever, but merely for an instant.\n\n\n352\n\nThe strength of a man's virtue must not be measured by his efforts, but\nby his ordinary life.\n\n\n353\n\nI do not admire the excess of a virtue as of valour, except I see at the\nsame time the excess of the opposite virtue, as in Epaminondas,[132] who\nhad the greatest valour and the greatest kindness. For otherwise it is\nnot to rise, it is to fall. We do not display greatness by going to one\nextreme, but in touching both at once, and filling all the intervening\nspace. But perhaps this is only a sudden movement of the soul from one\nto the other extreme, and in fact it is ever at one point only, as in\nthe case of a firebrand. Be it so, but at least this indicates agility\nif not expanse of soul.\n\n\n354\n\nMan's nature is not always to advance; it has its advances and retreats.\n\nFever has its cold and hot fits; and the cold proves as well as the hot\nthe greatness of the fire of fever.\n\nThe discoveries of men from age to age turn out the same. The kindness\nand the malice of the world in general are the same. _Plerumque grat\u00e6\nprincipibus vices._[133]\n\n\n355\n\nContinuous eloquence wearies.\n\nPrinces and kings sometimes play. They are not always on their thrones.\nThey weary there. Grandeur must be abandoned to be appreciated.\nContinuity in everything is unpleasant. Cold is agreeable, that we may\nget warm.\n\nNature acts by progress, _itus et reditus_. It goes and returns, then\nadvances further, then twice as much backwards, then more forward than\never, etc.\n\nThe tide of the sea behaves in the same manner; and so apparently does\nthe sun in its course.\n\n\n356\n\nThe nourishment of the body is little by little. Fullness of nourishment\nand smallness of substance.\n\n\n357\n\nWhen we would pursue virtues to their extremes on either side, vices\npresent themselves, which insinuate themselves insensibly there, in\ntheir insensible journey towards the infinitely little: and vices\npresent themselves in a crowd towards the infinitely great, so that we\nlose ourselves in them, and no longer see virtues. We find fault with\nperfection itself.\n\n\n358\n\nMan is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is that he who\nwould act the angel acts the brute.[134]\n\n\n359\n\nWe do not sustain ourselves in virtue by our own strength, but by the\nbalancing of two opposed vices, just as we remain upright amidst two\ncontrary gales. Remove one of the vices, and we fall into the other.\n\n\n360\n\nWhat the Stoics propose is so difficult and foolish!\n\nThe Stoics lay down that all those who are not at the high degree of\nwisdom are equally foolish and vicious, as those who are two inches\nunder water.\n\n\n361\n\n_The sovereign good. Dispute about the sovereign good._--_Ut sis\ncontentus temetipso et ex te nascentibus bonis._[135] There is a\ncontradiction, for in the end they advise suicide. Oh! What a happy\nlife, from which we are to free ourselves as from the plague!\n\n\n362\n\n_Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscitis_ ...\n\nTo ask like passages.\n\n\n363\n\n_Ex senatus-consultis et plebiscitis scelera exercentur._ Sen. 588.[136]\n\n_Nihil tam absurde dici potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo\nphilosophorum._ Divin.[137]\n\n_Quibusdam destinatis sententiis consecrati qu\u00e6 non probant coguntur\ndefendere._ Cic.[138]\n\n_Ut omnium rerum sic litterarum quoque intemperantia laboramus._\nSenec.[139]\n\n_Id maxime quemque decet, quod est cujusque suum maxime._[140]\n\n_Hos natura modos primum dedit._[141] Georg.\n\n_Paucis opus est litteris ad bonam mentem._[142]\n\n_Si quando turpe non sit, tamen non est non turpe quum id a multitudine\nlaudetur._\n\n_Mihi sic usus est, tibi ut opus est facto, fac._[143] Ter.\n\n\n364\n\n_Rarum est enim ut satis se quisque vereatur._[144]\n\n_Tot circa unum caput tumultuantes deos._[145]\n\n_Nihil turpius quam cognitioni assertionem pr\u00e6currere._ Cic.[146]\n\n_Nec me pudet, ut istos, fateri nescire quid nesciam._[147]\n\n_Melius non incipient._[148]\n\n\n365\n\n_Thought._--All the dignity of man consists in thought. Thought is\ntherefore by its nature a wonderful and incomparable thing. It must have\nstrange defects to be contemptible. But it has such, so that nothing is\nmore ridiculous. How great it is in its nature! How vile it is in its\ndefects!\n\nBut what is this thought? How foolish it is!\n\n\n366\n\nThe mind of this sovereign judge of the world is not so independent that\nit is not liable to be disturbed by the first din about it. The noise of\na cannon is not necessary to hinder its thoughts; it needs only the\ncreaking of a weathercock or a pulley. Do not wonder if at present it\ndoes not reason well; a fly is buzzing in its ears; that is enough to\nrender it incapable of good judgment. If you wish it to be able to reach\nthe truth, chase away that animal which holds its reason in check and\ndisturbs that powerful intellect which rules towns and kingdoms. Here is\na comical god! _O ridicolosissimo eroe!_\n\n\n367\n\nThe power of flies; they win battles,[149] hinder our soul from acting,\neat our body.\n\n\n368\n\nWhen it is said that heat is only the motions of certain molecules, and\nlight the _conatus recedendi_ which we feel,[150] it astonishes us.\nWhat! Is pleasure only the ballet of our spirits? We have conceived so\ndifferent an idea of it! And these sensations seem so removed from those\nothers which we say are the same as those with which we compare them!\nThe sensation from the fire, that warmth which affects us in a manner\nwholly different from touch, the reception of sound and light, all this\nappears to us mysterious, and yet it is material like the blow of a\nstone. It is true that the smallness of the spirits which enter into the\npores touches other nerves, but there are always some nerves touched.\n\n\n369\n\nMemory is necessary for all the operations of reason.\n\n\n370\n\n[Chance gives rise to thoughts, and chance removes them; no art can keep\nor acquire them.\n\nA thought has escaped me. I wanted to write it down. I write instead,\nthat it has escaped me.]\n\n\n371\n\n[When I was small, I hugged my book; and because it sometimes happened\nto me to ... in believing I hugged it, I doubted....]\n\n\n372\n\nIn writing down my thought, it sometimes escapes me; but this makes me\nremember my weakness, that I constantly forget. This is as instructive\nto me as my forgotten thought; for I strive only to know my nothingness.\n\n\n373\n\n_Scepticism._--I shall here write my thoughts without order, and not\nperhaps in unintentional confusion; that is true order, which will\nalways indicate my object by its very disorder. I should do too much\nhonour to my subject, if I treated it with order, since I want to show\nthat it is incapable of it.\n\n\n374\n\nWhat astonishes me most is to see that all the world is not astonished\nat its own weakness. Men act seriously, and each follows his own mode of\nlife, not because it is in fact good to follow since it is the custom,\nbut as if each man knew certainly where reason and justice are. They\nfind themselves continually deceived, and by a comical humility think it\nis their own fault, and not that of the art which they claim always to\npossess. But it is well there are so many such people in the world, who\nare not sceptics for the glory of scepticism, in order to show that man\nis quite capable of the most extravagant opinions, since he is capable\nof believing that he is not in a state of natural and inevitable\nweakness, but, on the contrary, of natural wisdom. Nothing fortifies\nscepticism more than that there are some who are not sceptics; if all\nwere so, they would be wrong.\n\n\n375\n\n[I have passed a great part of my life believing that there was justice,\nand in this I was not mistaken; for there is justice according as God\nhas willed to reveal it to us. But I did not take it so, and this is\nwhere I made a mistake; for I believed that our justice was essentially\njust, and that I had that whereby to know and judge of it. But I have so\noften found my right judgment at fault, that at last I have come to\ndistrust myself, and then others. I have seen changes in all nations and\nmen, and thus after many changes of judgment regarding true justice, I\nhave recognised that our nature was but in continual change, and I have\nnot changed since; and if I changed, I would confirm my opinion.\n\nThe sceptic Arcesilaus,[151] who became a dogmatist.]\n\n\n376\n\nThis sect derives more strength from its enemies than from its friends;\nfor the weakness of man is far more evident in those who know it not\nthan in those who know it.\n\n\n377\n\nDiscourses on humility are a source of pride in the vain, and of\nhumility in the humble. So those on scepticism cause believers to\naffirm. Few men speak humbly of humility, chastely of chastity, few\ndoubtingly of scepticism. We are only falsehood, duplicity,\ncontradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.\n\n\n378\n\n_Scepticism._--Excess, like defect of intellect, is accused of madness.\nNothing is good but mediocrity. The majority has settled that, and finds\nfault with him who escapes it at whichever end. I will not oppose it. I\nquite consent to put myself there, and refuse to be at the lower end,\nnot because it is low, but because it is an end; for I would likewise\nrefuse to be placed at the top. To leave the mean is to abandon\nhumanity. The greatness of the human soul consists in knowing how to\npreserve the mean. So far from greatness consisting in leaving it, it\nconsists in not leaving it.\n\n\n379\n\nIt is not good to have too much liberty. It is not good to have all one\nwants.\n\n\n380\n\nAll good maxims are in the world. We only need to apply them. For\ninstance, we do not doubt that we ought to risk our lives in defence of\nthe public good; but for religion, no.\n\nIt is true there must be inequality among men; but if this be conceded,\nthe door is opened not only to the highest power, but to the highest\ntyranny.\n\nWe must relax our minds a little; but this opens the door to the\ngreatest debauchery. Let us mark the limits. There are no limits in\nthings. Laws would put them there, and the mind cannot suffer it.\n\n\n381\n\nWhen we are too young, we do not judge well; so, also, when we are too\nold. If we do not think enough, or if we think too much on any matter,\nwe get obstinate and infatuated about it. If one considers one's work\nimmediately after having done it, one is entirely prepossessed in its\nfavour; by delaying too long, one can no longer enter into the spirit of\nit. So with pictures seen from too far or too near; there is but one\nexact point which is the true place wherefrom to look at them: the rest\nare too near, too far, too high, or too low. Perspective determines that\npoint in the art of painting. But who shall determine it in truth and\nmorality?\n\n\n382\n\nWhen all is equally agitated, nothing appears to be agitated, as in a\nship. When all tend to debauchery, none appears to do so. He who stops\ndraws attention to the excess of others, like a fixed point.\n\n\n383\n\nThe licentious tell men of orderly lives that they stray from nature's\npath, while they themselves follow it; as people in a ship think those\nmove who are on the shore. On all sides the language is similar. We must\nhave a fixed point in order to judge. The harbour decides for those who\nare in a ship; but where shall we find a harbour in morality?\n\n\n384\n\nContradiction is a bad sign of truth; several things which are certain\nare contradicted; several things which are false pass without\ncontradiction. Contradiction is not a sign of falsity, nor the want of\ncontradiction a sign of truth.\n\n\n385\n\n_Scepticism._--Each thing here is partly true and partly false.\nEssential truth is not so; it is altogether pure and altogether true.\nThis mixture dishonours and annihilates it. Nothing is purely true, and\nthus nothing is true, meaning by that pure truth. You will say it is\ntrue that homicide is wrong. Yes; for we know well the wrong and the\nfalse. But what will you say is good? Chastity? I say no; for the world\nwould come to an end. Marriage? No; continence is better. Not to kill?\nNo; for lawlessness would be horrible, and the wicked would kill all the\ngood. To kill? No; for that destroys nature. We possess truth and\ngoodness only in part, and mingled with falsehood and evil.\n\n\n386\n\nIf we dreamt the same thing every night, it would affect us as much as\nthe objects we see every day. And if an artisan were sure to dream every\nnight for twelve hours' duration that he was a king, I believe he would\nbe almost as happy as a king, who should dream every night for twelve\nhours on end that he was an artisan.\n\nIf we were to dream every night that we were pursued by enemies, and\nharassed by these painful phantoms, or that we passed every day in\ndifferent occupations, as in making a voyage, we should suffer almost as\nmuch as if it were real, and should fear to sleep, as we fear to wake\nwhen we dread in fact to enter on such mishaps. And, indeed, it would\ncause pretty nearly the same discomforts as the reality.\n\nBut since dreams are all different, and each single one is diversified,\nwhat is seen in them affects us much less than what we see when awake,\nbecause of its continuity, which is not, however, so continuous and\nlevel as not to change too; but it changes less abruptly, except rarely,\nas when we travel, and then we say, \"It seems to me I am dreaming.\" For\nlife is a dream a little less inconstant.\n\n\n387\n\n[It may be that there are true demonstrations; but this is not certain.\nThus, this proves nothing else but that it is not certain that all is\nuncertain, to the glory of scepticism.]\n\n\n388\n\n_Good sense._--They are compelled to say, \"You are not acting in good\nfaith; we are not asleep,\" etc. How I love to see this proud reason\nhumiliated and suppliant! For this is not the language of a man whose\nright is disputed, and who defends it with the power of armed hands. He\nis not foolish enough to declare that men are not acting in good faith,\nbut he punishes this bad faith with force.\n\n\n389\n\nEcclesiastes[152] shows that man without God is in total ignorance and\ninevitable misery. For it is wretched to have the wish, but not the\npower. Now he would be happy and assured of some truth, and yet he can\nneither know, nor desire not to know. He cannot even doubt.\n\n\n390\n\nMy God! How foolish this talk is! \"Would God have made the world to damn\nit? Would He ask so much from persons so weak?\" etc. Scepticism is the\ncure for this evil, and will take down this vanity.\n\n\n391\n\n_Conversation._--Great words: Religion, I deny it.\n\n_Conversation._--Scepticism helps religion.\n\n\n392\n\n_Against Scepticism._--[... It is, then, a strange fact that we cannot\ndefine these things without obscuring them, while we speak of them with\nall assurance.] We assume that all conceive of them in the same way; but\nwe assume it quite gratuitously, for we have no proof of it. I see, in\ntruth, that the same words are applied on the same occasions, and that\nevery time two men see a body change its place, they both express their\nview of this same fact by the same word, both saying that it has moved;\nand from this conformity of application we derive a strong conviction of\na conformity of ideas. But this is not absolutely or finally convincing,\nthough there is enough to support a bet on the affirmative, since we\nknow that we often draw the same conclusions from different premisses.\n\nThis is enough, at least, to obscure the matter; not that it completely\nextinguishes the natural light which assures us of these things. The\nacademicians[153] would have won. But this dulls it, and troubles the\ndogmatists to the glory of the sceptical crowd, which consists in this\ndoubtful ambiguity, and in a certain doubtful dimness from which our\ndoubts cannot take away all the clearness, nor our own natural lights\nchase away all the darkness.\n\n\n393\n\nIt is a singular thing to consider that there are people in the world\nwho, having renounced all the laws of God and nature, have made laws for\nthemselves which they strictly obey, as, for instance, the soldiers of\nMahomet, robbers, heretics, etc. It is the same with logicians. It seems\nthat their licence must be without any limits or barriers, since they\nhave broken through so many that are so just and sacred.\n\n\n394\n\nAll the principles of sceptics, stoics, atheists, etc., are true. But\ntheir conclusions are false, because the opposite principles are also\ntrue.\n\n\n395\n\n_Instinct, reason._--We have an incapacity of proof, insurmountable by\nall dogmatism. We have an idea of truth, invincible to all scepticism.\n\n\n396\n\nTwo things instruct man about his whole nature; instinct and experience.\n\n\n397\n\nThe greatness of man is great in that he knows himself to be miserable.\nA tree does not know itself to be miserable. It is then being miserable\nto know oneself to be miserable; but it is also being great to know that\none is miserable.\n\n\n398\n\nAll these same miseries prove man's greatness. They are the miseries of\na great lord, of a deposed king.\n\n\n399\n\nWe are not miserable without feeling it. A ruined house is not\nmiserable. Man only is miserable. _Ego vir videns._[154]\n\n\n400\n\n_The greatness of man._--We have so great an idea of the soul of man\nthat we cannot endure being despised, or not being esteemed by any soul;\nand all the happiness of men consists in this esteem.\n\n\n401\n\n_Glory._--The brutes do not admire each other. A horse does not admire\nhis companion. Not that there is no rivalry between them in a race, but\nthat is of no consequence; for, when in the stable, the heaviest and\nmost ill-formed does not give up his oats to another, as men would have\nothers do to them. Their virtue is satisfied with itself.\n\n\n402\n\nThe greatness of man even in his lust, to have known how to extract from\nit a wonderful code, and to have drawn from it a picture of benevolence.\n\n\n403\n\n_Greatness._--The reasons of effects indicate the greatness of man, in\nhaving extracted so fair an order from lust.\n\n\n404\n\nThe greatest baseness of man is the pursuit of glory. But it is also the\ngreatest mark of his excellence; for whatever possessions he may have on\nearth, whatever health and essential comfort, he is not satisfied if he\nhas not the esteem of men. He values human reason so highly that,\nwhatever advantages he may have on earth, he is not content if he is not\nalso ranked highly in the judgment of man. This is the finest position\nin the world. Nothing can turn him from that desire, which is the most\nindelible quality of man's heart.\n\nAnd those who most despise men, and put them on a level with the brutes,\nyet wish to be admired and believed by men, and contradict themselves by\ntheir own feelings; their nature, which is stronger than all, convincing\nthem of the greatness of man more forcibly than reason convinces them of\ntheir baseness.\n\n\n405\n\n_Contradiction._--Pride counterbalancing all miseries. Man either hides\nhis miseries, or, if he disclose them, glories in knowing them.\n\n\n406\n\nPride counterbalances and takes away all miseries. Here is a strange\nmonster, and a very plain aberration. He is fallen from his place, and\nis anxiously seeking it. This is what all men do. Let us see who will\nhave found it.\n\n\n407\n\nWhen malice has reason on its side, it becomes proud, and parades reason\nin all its splendour. When austerity or stern choice has not arrived at\nthe true good, and must needs return to follow nature, it becomes proud\nby reason of this return.\n\n\n408\n\nEvil is easy, and has infinite forms; good is almost unique.[155] But a\ncertain kind of evil is as difficult to find as what we call good; and\noften on this account such particular evil gets passed off as good. An\nextraordinary greatness of soul is needed in order to attain to it as\nwell as to good.\n\n\n409\n\n_The greatness of man._--The greatness of man is so evident, that it is\neven proved by his wretchedness. For what in animals is nature we call\nin man wretchedness; by which we recognise that, his nature being now\nlike that of animals, he has fallen from a better nature which once was\nhis.\n\nFor who is unhappy at not being a king, except a deposed king? Was\nPaulus \u00c6milius[156] unhappy at being no longer consul? On the contrary,\neverybody thought him happy in having been consul, because the office\ncould only be held for a time. But men thought Perseus so unhappy in\nbeing no longer king, because the condition of kingship implied his\nbeing always king, that they thought it strange that he endured life.\nWho is unhappy at having only one mouth? And who is not unhappy at\nhaving only one eye? Probably no man ever ventured to mourn at not\nhaving three eyes. But any one is inconsolable at having none.\n\n\n410\n\n_Perseus, King of Macedon._--Paulus \u00c6milius reproached Perseus for not\nkilling himself.\n\n\n411\n\nNotwithstanding the sight of all our miseries, which press upon us and\ntake us by the throat, we have an instinct which we cannot repress, and\nwhich lifts us up.\n\n\n412\n\nThere is internal war in man between reason and the passions.\n\nIf he had only reason without passions ...\n\nIf he had only passions without reason ...\n\nBut having both, he cannot be without strife, being unable to be at\npeace with the one without being at war with the other. Thus he is\nalways divided against, and opposed to himself.\n\n\n413\n\nThis internal war of reason against the passions has made a division of\nthose who would have peace into two sects. The first would renounce\ntheir passions, and become gods; the others would renounce reason, and\nbecome brute beasts. (Des Barreaux.)[157] But neither can do so, and\nreason still remains, to condemn the vileness and injustice of the\npassions, and to trouble the repose of those who abandon themselves to\nthem; and the passions keep always alive in those who would renounce\nthem.\n\n\n414\n\nMen are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another\nform of madness.\n\n\n415\n\nThe nature of man may be viewed in two ways: the one according to its\nend, and then he is great and incomparable; the other according to the\nmultitude, just as we judge of the nature of the horse and the dog,\npopularly, by seeing its fleetness, _et animum arcendi_; and then man is\nabject and vile. These are the two ways which make us judge of him\ndifferently, and which occasion such disputes among philosophers.\n\nFor one denies the assumption of the other. One says, \"He is not born\nfor this end, for all his actions are repugnant to it.\" The other says,\n\"He forsakes his end, when he does these base actions.\"\n\n\n416\n\n_For Port-Royal.[158] Greatness and wretchedness._--Wretchedness being\ndeduced from greatness, and greatness from wretchedness, some have\ninferred man's wretchedness all the more because they have taken his\ngreatness as a proof of it, and others have inferred his greatness with\nall the more force, because they have inferred it from his very\nwretchedness. All that the one party has been able to say in proof of\nhis greatness has only served as an argument of his wretchedness to the\nothers, because the greater our fall, the more wretched we are, and\n_vice versa._ The one party is brought back to the other in an endless\ncircle, it being certain that in proportion as men possess light they\ndiscover both the greatness and the wretchedness of man. In a word, man\nknows that he is wretched. He is therefore wretched, because he is so;\nbut he is really great because he knows it.\n\n\n417\n\nThis twofold nature of man is so evident that some have thought that we\nhad two souls. A single subject seemed to them incapable of such sudden\nvariations from unmeasured presumption to a dreadful dejection of\nheart.\n\n\n418\n\nIt is dangerous to make man see too clearly his equality with the brutes\nwithout showing him his greatness. It is also dangerous to make him see\nhis greatness too clearly, apart from his vileness. It is still more\ndangerous to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very advantageous\nto show him both. Man must not think that he is on a level either with\nthe brutes or with the angels, nor must he be ignorant of both sides of\nhis nature; but he must know both.\n\n\n419\n\nI will not allow man to depend upon himself, or upon another, to the end\nthat being without a resting-place and without repose ...\n\n\n420\n\nIf he exalt himself, I humble him; if he humble himself, I exalt him;\nand I always contradict him, till he understands that he is an\nincomprehensible monster.\n\n\n421\n\nI blame equally those who choose to praise man, those who choose to\nblame him, and those who choose to amuse themselves; and I can only\napprove of those who seek with lamentation.\n\n\n422\n\nIt is good to be tired and wearied by the vain search after the true\ngood, that we may stretch out our arms to the Redeemer.\n\n\n423\n\n_Contraries. After having shown the vileness and the greatness of\nman._--Let man now know his value. Let him love himself, for there is in\nhim a nature capable of good; but let him not for this reason love the\nvileness which is in him. Let him despise himself, for this capacity is\nbarren; but let him not therefore despise this natural capacity. Let him\nhate himself, let him love himself; he has within him the capacity of\nknowing the truth and of being happy, but he possesses no truth, either\nconstant or satisfactory.\n\nI would then lead man to the desire of finding truth; to be free from\npassions, and ready to follow it where he may find it, knowing how much\nhis knowledge is obscured by the passions. I would indeed that he should\nhate in himself the lust which determined his will by itself, so that it\nmay not blind him in making his choice, and may not hinder him when he\nhas chosen.\n\n\n424\n\nAll these contradictions, which seem most to keep me from the knowledge\nof religion, have led me most quickly to the true one.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION VII\n\nMORALITY AND DOCTRINE\n\n\n425\n\n_Second part.--That man without faith cannot know the true good, nor\njustice._\n\nAll men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different\nmeans they employ, they all tend to this end.[159] The cause of some\ngoing to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both,\nattended with different views. The will never takes the least step but\nto this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of\nthose who hang themselves.\n\nAnd yet after such a great number of years, no one without faith has\nreached the point to which all continually look. All complain, princes\nand subjects, noblemen and commoners, old and young, strong and weak,\nlearned and ignorant, healthy and sick, of all countries, all times, all\nages, and all conditions.\n\nA trial so long, so continuous, and so uniform, should certainly\nconvince us of our inability to reach the good by our own efforts. But\nexample teaches us little. No resemblance is ever so perfect that there\nis not some slight difference; and hence we expect that our hope will\nnot be deceived on this occasion as before. And thus, while the present\nnever satisfies us, experience dupes us, and from misfortune to\nmisfortune leads us to death, their eternal crown.\n\nWhat is it then that this desire and this inability proclaim to us, but\nthat there was once in man a true happiness of which there now remain to\nhim only the mark and empty trace, which he in vain tries to fill from\nall his surroundings, seeking from things absent the help he does not\nobtain in things present? But these are all inadequate, because the\ninfinite abyss can only be filled by an infinite and immutable object,\nthat is to say, only by God Himself.\n\nHe only is our true good, and since we have forsaken Him, it is a\nstrange thing that there is nothing in nature which has not been\nserviceable in taking His place; the stars, the heavens, earth, the\nelements, plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents,\nfever, pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since man\nhas lost the true good, everything can appear equally good to him, even\nhis own destruction, though so opposed to God, to reason, and to the\nwhole course of nature.\n\nSome seek good in authority, others in scientific research, others in\npleasure. Others, who are in fact nearer the truth, have considered it\nnecessary that the universal good, which all men desire, should not\nconsist in any of the particular things which can only be possessed by\none man, and which, when shared, afflict their possessor more by the\nwant of the part he has not, than they please him by the possession of\nwhat he has. They have learned that the true good should be such as all\ncan possess at once, without diminution and without envy, and which no\none can lose against his will. And their reason is that this desire\nbeing natural to man, since it is necessarily in all, and that it is\nimpossible not to have it, they infer from it ...\n\n\n426\n\nTrue nature being lost, everything becomes its own nature; as the true\ngood being lost, everything becomes its own true good.\n\n\n427\n\nMan does not know in what rank to place himself. He has plainly gone\nastray, and fallen from his true place without being able to find it\nagain. He seeks it anxiously and unsuccessfully everywhere in\nimpenetrable darkness.\n\n\n428\n\nIf it is a sign of weakness to prove God by nature, do not despise\nScripture; if it is a sign of strength to have known these\ncontradictions, esteem Scripture.\n\n\n429\n\nThe vileness of man in submitting himself to the brutes, and in even\nworshipping them.\n\n\n430\n\n_For Port Royal. The beginning, after having explained the\nincomprehensibility._--The greatness and the wretchedness of man are so\nevident that the true religion must necessarily teach us both that there\nis in man some great source of greatness, and a great source of\nwretchedness. It must then give us a reason for these astonishing\ncontradictions.\n\nIn order to make man happy, it must prove to him that there is a God;\nthat we ought to love Him; that our true happiness is to be in Him, and\nour sole evil to be separated from Him; it must recognise that we are\nfull of darkness which hinders us from knowing and loving Him; and that\nthus, as our duties compel us to love God, and our lusts turn us away\nfrom Him, we are full of unrighteousness. It must give us an explanation\nof our opposition to God and to our own good. It must teach us the\nremedies for these infirmities, and the means of obtaining these\nremedies. Let us therefore examine all the religions of the world, and\nsee if there be any other than the Christian which is sufficient for\nthis purpose.\n\nShall it be that of the philosophers, who put forward as the chief good,\nthe good which is in ourselves? Is this the true good? Have they found\nthe remedy for our ills? Is man's pride cured by placing him on an\nequality with God? Have those who have made us equal to the brutes, or\nthe Mahommedans who have offered us earthly pleasures as the chief good\neven in eternity, produced the remedy for our lusts? What religion,\nthen, will teach us to cure pride and lust? What religion will in fact\nteach us our good, our duties, the weakness which turns us from them,\nthe cause of this weakness, the remedies which can cure it, and the\nmeans of obtaining these remedies?\n\nAll other religions have not been able to do so. Let us see what the\nwisdom of God will do.\n\n\"Expect neither truth,\" she says, \"nor consolation from men. I am she\nwho formed you, and who alone can teach you what you are. But you are\nnow no longer in the state in which I formed you. I created man holy,\ninnocent, perfect. I filled him with light and intelligence. I\ncommunicated to him my glory and my wonders. The eye of man saw then the\nmajesty of God. He was not then in the darkness which blinds him, nor\nsubject to mortality and the woes which afflict him. But he has not been\nable to sustain so great glory without falling into pride. He wanted to\nmake himself his own centre, and independent of my help. He withdrew\nhimself from my rule; and, on his making himself equal to me by the\ndesire of finding his happiness in himself, I abandoned him to himself.\nAnd setting in revolt the creatures that were subject to him, I made\nthem his enemies; so that man is now become like the brutes, and so\nestranged from me that there scarce remains to him a dim vision of his\nAuthor. So far has all his knowledge been extinguished or disturbed! The\nsenses, independent of reason, and often the masters of reason, have led\nhim into pursuit of pleasure. All creatures either torment or tempt him,\nand domineer over him, either subduing him by their strength, or\nfascinating him by their charms, a tyranny more awful and more\nimperious.\n\n\"Such is the state in which men now are. There remains to them some\nfeeble instinct of the happiness of their former state; and they are\nplunged in the evils of their blindness and their lust, which have\nbecome their second nature.\n\n\"From this principle which I disclose to you, you can recognise the\ncause of those contradictions which have astonished all men, and have\ndivided them into parties holding so different views. Observe, now, all\nthe feelings of greatness and glory which the experience of so many woes\ncannot stifle, and see if the cause of them must not be in another\nnature.\"\n\n_For Port-Royal to-morrow (Prosopopoea)._--\"It is in vain, O men, that\nyou seek within yourselves the remedy for your ills. All your light can\nonly reach the knowledge that not in yourselves will you find truth or\ngood. The philosophers have promised you that, and have been unable to\ndo it. They neither know what is your true good, nor what is your true\nstate. How could they have given remedies for your ills, when they did\nnot even know them? Your chief maladies are pride, which takes you away\nfrom God, and lust, which binds you to earth; and they have done nothing\nelse but cherish one or other of these diseases. If they gave you God as\nan end, it was only to administer to your pride; they made you think\nthat you are by nature like Him, and conformed to Him. And those who saw\nthe absurdity of this claim put you on another precipice, by making you\nunderstand that your nature was like that of the brutes, and led you to\nseek your good in the lusts which are shared by the animals. This is not\nthe way to cure you of your unrighteousness, which these wise men never\nknew. I alone can make you understand who you are....\"\n\nAdam, Jesus Christ.\n\nIf you are united to God, it is by grace, not by nature. If you are\nhumbled, it is by penitence, not by nature.\n\nThus this double capacity ...\n\nYou are not in the state of your creation.\n\nAs these two states are open, it is impossible for you not to recognise\nthem. Follow your own feelings, observe yourselves, and see if you do\nnot find the lively characteristics of these two natures. Could so many\ncontradictions be found in a simple subject?\n\n--Incomprehensible.--Not all that is incomprehensible ceases to exist.\nInfinite number. An infinite space equal to a finite.\n\n--Incredible that God should unite Himself to us.--This consideration is\ndrawn only from the sight of our vileness. But if you are quite sincere\nover it, follow it as far as I have done, and recognise that we are\nindeed so vile that we are incapable in ourselves of knowing if His\nmercy cannot make us capable of Him. For I would know how this animal,\nwho knows himself to be so weak, has the right to measure the mercy of\nGod, and set limits to it, suggested by his own fancy. He has so little\nknowledge of what God is, that he does not know what he himself is, and,\ncompletely disturbed at the sight of his own state, dares to say that\nGod cannot make him capable of communion with Him.\n\nBut I would ask him if God demands anything else from him than the\nknowledge and love of Him, and why, since his nature is capable of love\nand knowledge, he believes that God cannot make Himself known and loved\nby him. Doubtless he knows at least that he exists, and that he loves\nsomething. Therefore, if he sees anything in the darkness wherein he is,\nand if he finds some object of his love among the things on earth, why,\nif God impart to him some ray of His essence, will he not be capable of\nknowing and of loving Him in the manner in which it shall please Him to\ncommunicate Himself to us? There must then be certainly an intolerable\npresumption in arguments of this sort, although they seem founded on an\napparent humility, which is neither sincere nor reasonable, if it does\nnot make us admit that, not knowing of ourselves what we are, we can\nonly learn it from God.\n\n\"I do not mean that you should submit your belief to me without reason,\nand I do not aspire to overcome you by tyranny. In fact, I do not claim\nto give you a reason for everything. And to reconcile these\ncontradictions, I intend to make you see clearly, by convincing proofs,\nthose divine signs in me, which may convince you of what I am, and may\ngain authority for me by wonders and proofs which you cannot reject; so\nthat you may then believe without ... the things which I teach you,\nsince you will find no other ground for rejecting them, except that you\ncannot know of yourselves if they are true or not.\n\n\"God has willed to redeem men, and to open salvation to those who seek\nit. But men render themselves so unworthy of it, that it is right that\nGod should refuse to some, because of their obduracy, what He grants to\nothers from a compassion which is not due to them. If He had willed to\novercome the obstinacy of the most hardened, He could have done so by\nrevealing Himself so manifestly to them that they could not have doubted\nof the truth of His essence; as it will appear at the last day, with\nsuch thunders and such a convulsion of nature, that the dead will rise\nagain, and the blindest will see Him.\n\n\"It is not in this manner that He has willed to appear in His advent of\nmercy, because, as so many make themselves unworthy of His mercy, He has\nwilled to leave them in the loss of the good which they do not want. It\nwas not then right that He should appear in a manner manifestly divine,\nand completely capable of convincing all men; but it was also not right\nthat He should come in so hidden a manner that He could not be known by\nthose who should sincerely seek Him. He has willed to make Himself quite\nrecognisable by those; and thus, willing to appear openly to those who\nseek Him with all their heart, and to be hidden from those who flee from\nHim with all their heart, He so regulates the knowledge of Himself that\nHe has given signs of Himself, visible to those who seek Him, and not to\nthose who seek Him not. There is enough light for those who only desire\nto see, and enough obscurity for those who have a contrary disposition.\"\n\n\n431\n\nNo other religion has recognised that man is the most excellent\ncreature. Some, which have quite recognised the reality of his\nexcellence, have considered as mean and ungrateful the low opinions\nwhich men naturally have of themselves; and others, which have\nthoroughly recognised how real is this vileness, have treated with proud\nridicule those feelings of greatness, which are equally natural to man.\n\n\"Lift your eyes to God,\" say the first; \"see Him whom you resemble, and\nwho has created you to worship Him. You can make yourselves like unto\nHim; wisdom will make you equal to Him, if you will follow it.\" \"Raise\nyour heads, free men,\" says Epictetus. And others say, \"Bend your eyes\nto the earth, wretched worm that you are, and consider the brutes whose\ncompanion you are.\"\n\nWhat, then, will man become? Will he be equal to God or the brutes? What\na frightful difference! What, then, shall we be? Who does not see from\nall this that man has gone astray, that he has fallen from his place,\nthat he anxiously seeks it, that he cannot find it again? And who shall\nthen direct him to it? The greatest men have failed.\n\n\n432\n\nScepticism is true; for, after all, men before Jesus Christ did not know\nwhere they were, nor whether they were great or small. And those who\nhave said the one or the other, knew nothing about it, and guessed\nwithout reason and by chance. They also erred always in excluding the\none or the other.\n\n_Quod ergo ignorantes, qu\u00e6ritis, religio annuntiat vobis._[160]\n\n\n433\n\n_After having understood the whole nature of man._--That a religion may\nbe true, it must have knowledge of our nature. It ought to know its\ngreatness and littleness, and the reason of both. What religion but the\nChristian has known this?\n\n\n434\n\nThe chief arguments of the sceptics--I pass over the lesser ones--are\nthat we have no certainty of the truth of these principles apart from\nfaith and revelation, except in so far as we naturally perceive them in\nourselves. Now this natural intuition is not a convincing proof of their\ntruth; since, having no certainty, apart from faith, whether man was\ncreated by a good God, or by a wicked demon,[161] or by chance, it is\ndoubtful whether these principles given to us are true, or false, or\nuncertain, according to our origin. Again, no person is certain, apart\nfrom faith, whether he is awake or sleeps, seeing that during sleep we\nbelieve that we are awake as firmly as we do when we _are_ awake; we\nbelieve that we see space, figure, and motion; we are aware of the\npassage of time, we measure it; and in fact we act as if we were awake.\nSo that half of our life being passed in sleep, we have on our own\nadmission no idea of truth, whatever we may imagine. As all our\nintuitions are then illusions, who knows whether the other half of our\nlife, in which we think we are awake, is not another sleep a little\ndifferent from the former, from which we awake when we suppose ourselves\nasleep?\n\n[And who doubts that, if we dreamt in company, and the dreams chanced to\nagree, which is common enough, and if we were always alone when awake,\nwe should believe that matters were reversed? In short, as we often\ndream that we dream, heaping dream upon dream, may it not be that this\nhalf of our life, wherein we think ourselves awake, is itself only a\ndream on which the others are grafted, from which we wake at death,\nduring which we have as few principles of truth and good as during\nnatural sleep, these different thoughts which disturb us being perhaps\nonly illusions like the flight of time and the vain fancies of our\ndreams?]\n\nThese are the chief arguments on one side and the other.\n\nI omit minor ones, such as the sceptical talk against the impressions of\ncustom, education, manners, country, and the like. Though these\ninfluence the majority of common folk, who dogmatise only on shallow\nfoundations, they are upset by the least breath of the sceptics. We have\nonly to see their books if we are not sufficiently convinced of this,\nand we shall very quickly become so, perhaps too much.\n\nI notice the only strong point of the dogmatists, namely, that, speaking\nin good faith and sincerely, we cannot doubt natural principles. Against\nthis the sceptics set up in one word the uncertainty of our origin,\nwhich includes that of our nature. The dogmatists have been trying to\nanswer this objection ever since the world began.\n\nSo there is open war among men, in which each must take a part, and side\neither with dogmatism or scepticism. For he who thinks to remain neutral\nis above all a sceptic. This neutrality is the essence of the sect; he\nwho is not against them is essentially for them. [In this appears their\nadvantage.] They are not for themselves; they are neutral, indifferent,\nin suspense as to all things, even themselves being no exception.\n\nWhat then shall man do in this state? Shall he doubt everything? Shall\nhe doubt whether he is awake, whether he is being pinched, or whether he\nis being burned? Shall he doubt whether he doubts? Shall he doubt\nwhether he exists? We cannot go so far as that; and I lay it down as a\nfact that there never has been a real complete sceptic. Nature sustains\nour feeble reason, and prevents it raving to this extent.\n\nShall he then say, on the contrary, that he certainly possesses\ntruth--he who, when pressed ever so little, can show no title to it, and\nis forced to let go his hold?\n\nWhat a chimera then is man! What a novelty! What a monster, what a\nchaos, what a contradiction, what a prodigy! Judge of all things,\nimbecile worm of the earth; depositary of truth, a sink of uncertainty\nand error; the pride and refuse of the universe!\n\nWho will unravel this tangle? Nature confutes the sceptics, and reason\nconfutes the dogmatists. What then will you become, O men! who try to\nfind out by your natural reason what is your true condition? You cannot\navoid one of these sects, nor adhere to one of them.\n\nKnow then, proud man, what a paradox you are to yourself. Humble\nyourself, weak reason; be silent, foolish nature; learn that man\ninfinitely transcends man, and learn from your Master your true\ncondition, of which you are ignorant. Hear God.\n\nFor in fact, if man had never been corrupt, he would enjoy in his\ninnocence both truth and happiness with assurance; and if man had always\nbeen corrupt, he would have no idea of truth or bliss. But, wretched as\nwe are, and more so than if there were no greatness in our condition, we\nhave an idea of happiness, and cannot reach it. We perceive an image of\ntruth, and possess only a lie. Incapable of absolute ignorance and of\ncertain knowledge, we have thus been manifestly in a degree of\nperfection from which we have unhappily fallen.\n\nIt is, however, an astonishing thing that the mystery furthest removed\nfrom our knowledge, namely, that of the transmission of sin, should be a\nfact without which we can have no knowledge of ourselves. For it is\nbeyond doubt that there is nothing which more shocks our reason than to\nsay that the sin of the first man has rendered guilty those, who, being\nso removed from this source, seem incapable of participation in it. This\ntransmission does not only seem to us impossible, it seems also very\nunjust. For what is more contrary to the rules of our miserable justice\nthan to damn eternally an infant incapable of will, for a sin wherein he\nseems to have so little a share, that it was committed six thousand\nyears before he was in existence? Certainly nothing offends us more\nrudely than this doctrine; and yet, without this mystery, the most\nincomprehensible of all, we are incomprehensible to ourselves. The knot\nof our condition takes its twists and turns in this abyss, so that man\nis more inconceivable without this mystery than this mystery is\ninconceivable to man.\n\n[Whence it seems that God, willing to render the difficulty of our\nexistence unintelligible to ourselves, has concealed the knot so high,\nor, better speaking, so low, that we are quite incapable of reaching it;\nso that it is not by the proud exertions of our reason, but by the\nsimple submissions of reason, that we can truly know ourselves.\n\nThese foundations, solidly established on the inviolable authority of\nreligion, make us know that there are two truths of faith equally\ncertain: the one, that man, in the state of creation, or in that of\ngrace, is raised above all nature, made like unto God and sharing in His\ndivinity; the other, that in the state of corruption and sin, he is\nfallen from this state and made like unto the beasts.\n\nThese two propositions are equally sound and certain. Scripture\nmanifestly declares this to us, when it says in some places: _Delici\u00e6\nme\u00e6 esse cum filiis hominum.[162] Effundam spiritum meum super omnem\ncarnem.[163] Dii estis[164]_, etc.; and in other places, _Omnis caro\nf\u00e6num.[165] Homo assimilatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis\nfactus est illis.[166] Dixi in corde meo de filiis hominum._ Eccles.\niii.\n\nWhence it clearly seems that man by grace is made like unto God, and a\npartaker in His divinity, and that without grace he is like unto the\nbrute beasts.]\n\n\n435\n\nWithout this divine knowledge what could men do but either become elated\nby the inner feeling of their past greatness which still remains to\nthem, or become despondent at the sight of their present weakness? For,\nnot seeing the whole truth, they could not attain to perfect virtue.\nSome considering nature as incorrupt, others as incurable, they could\nnot escape either pride or sloth, the two sources of all vice; since\nthey cannot but either abandon themselves to it through cowardice, or\nescape it by pride. For if they knew the excellence of man, they were\nignorant of his corruption; so that they easily avoided sloth, but fell\ninto pride. And if they recognised the infirmity of nature, they were\nignorant of its dignity; so that they could easily avoid vanity, but it\nwas to fall into despair. Thence arise the different schools of the\nStoics and Epicureans, the Dogmatists, Academicians, etc.\n\nThe Christian religion alone has been able to cure these two vices, not\nby expelling the one through means of the other according to the wisdom\nof the world, but by expelling both according to the simplicity of the\nGospel. For it teaches the righteous that it raises them even to a\nparticipation in divinity itself; that in this lofty state they still\ncarry the source of all corruption, which renders them during all their\nlife subject to error, misery, death, and sin; and it proclaims to the\nmost ungodly that they are capable of the grace of their Redeemer. So\nmaking those tremble whom it justifies, and consoling those whom it\ncondemns, religion so justly tempers fear with hope through that double\ncapacity of grace and of sin, common to all, that it humbles infinitely\nmore than reason alone can do, but without despair; and it exalts\ninfinitely more than natural pride, but without inflating; thus making\nit evident that alone being exempt from error and vice, it alone fulfils\nthe duty of instructing and correcting men.\n\nWho then can refuse to believe and adore this heavenly light? For is it\nnot clearer than day that we perceive within ourselves ineffaceable\nmarks of excellence? And is it not equally true that we experience every\nhour the results of our deplorable condition? What does this chaos and\nmonstrous confusion proclaim to us but the truth of these two states,\nwith a voice so powerful that it is impossible to resist it?\n\n\n436\n\n_Weakness._--Every pursuit of men is to get wealth; and they cannot have\na title to show that they possess it justly, for they have only that of\nhuman caprice; nor have they strength to hold it securely. It is the\nsame with knowledge, for disease takes it away. We are incapable both of\ntruth and goodness.\n\n\n437\n\nWe desire truth, and find within ourselves only uncertainty.\n\nWe seek happiness, and find only misery and death.\n\nWe cannot but desire truth and happiness, and are incapable of certainty\nor happiness. This desire is left to us, partly to punish us, partly to\nmake us perceive wherefrom we are fallen.\n\n\n438\n\nIf man is not made for God, why is he only happy in God? If man is made\nfor God, why is he so opposed to God?\n\n\n439\n\n_Nature corrupted._--Man does not act by reason, which constitutes his\nbeing.\n\n\n440\n\nThe corruption of reason is shown by the existence of so many different\nand extravagant customs. It was necessary that truth should come, in\norder that man should no longer dwell within himself.\n\n\n441\n\nFor myself, I confess that so soon as the Christian religion reveals the\nprinciple that human nature is corrupt and fallen from God, that opens\nmy eyes to see everywhere the mark of this truth: for nature is such\nthat she testifies everywhere, both within man and without him, to a\nlost God and a corrupt nature.\n\n\n442\n\nMan's true nature, his true good, true virtue, and true religion, are\nthings of which the knowledge is inseparable.\n\n\n443\n\n_Greatness, wretchedness._--The more light we have, the more greatness\nand the more baseness we discover in man. Ordinary men--those who are\nmore educated: philosophers, they astonish ordinary men--Christians,\nthey astonish philosophers.\n\nWho will then be surprised to see that religion only makes us know\nprofoundly what we already know in proportion to our light?\n\n\n444\n\nThis religion taught to her children what men have only been able to\ndiscover by their greatest knowledge.\n\n\n445\n\nOriginal sin is foolishness to men, but it is admitted to be such. You\nmust not then reproach me for the want of reason in this doctrine, since\nI admit it to be without reason. But this foolishness is wiser than all\nthe wisdom of men, _sapientius est hominibus_.[167] For without this,\nwhat can we say that man is? His whole state depends on this\nimperceptible point. And how should it be perceived by his reason, since\nit is a thing against reason, and since reason, far from finding it out\nby her own ways, is averse to it when it is presented to her?\n\n\n446\n\n_Of original sin.[168] Ample tradition of original sin according to the\nJews._\n\nOn the saying in Genesis viii, 21: \"The imagination of man's heart is\nevil from his youth.\"\n\n_R. Moses Haddarschan_: This evil leaven is placed in man from the time\nthat he is formed.\n\n_Massechet Succa_: This evil leaven has seven names in Scripture. It is\ncalled _evil, the foreskin, uncleanness, an enemy, a scandal, a heart of\nstone, the north wind_; all this signifies the malignity which is\nconcealed and impressed in the heart of man.\n\n_Midrasch Tillim_ says the same thing, and that God will deliver the\ngood nature of man from the evil.\n\nThis malignity is renewed every day against man, as it is written, Psalm\nxxxvii, 32: \"The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay\nhim\"; but God will not abandon him. This malignity tries the heart of\nman in this life, and will accuse him in the other. All this is found in\nthe Talmud.\n\n_Midrasch Tillim_ on Psalm iv, 4: \"Stand in awe and sin not.\" Stand in\nawe and be afraid of your lust, and it will not lead you into sin. And\non Psalm xxxvi, 1: \"The wicked has said within his own heart, Let not\nthe fear of God be before me.\" That is to say that the malignity natural\nto man has said that to the wicked.\n\n_Midrasch el Kohelet_: \"Better is a poor and wise child than an old and\nfoolish king who cannot foresee the future.\"[169] The child is virtue,\nand the king is the malignity of man. It is called king because all the\nmembers obey it, and old because it is in the human heart from infancy\nto old age, and foolish because it leads man in the way of\n[_perdition_], which he does not foresee. The same thing is in _Midrasch\nTillim_.\n\n_Bereschist Rabba_ on Psalm xxxv, 10: \"Lord, all my bones shall bless\nThee, which deliverest the poor from the tyrant.\" And is there a greater\ntyrant than the evil leaven? And on Proverbs xxv, 21: \"If thine enemy be\nhungry, give him bread to eat.\" That is to say, if the evil leaven\nhunger, give him the bread of wisdom of which it is spoken in Proverbs\nix., and if he be thirsty, give him the water of which it is spoken in\nIsaiah lv.\n\n_Midrasch Tillim_ says the same thing, and that Scripture in that\npassage, speaking of the enemy, means the evil leaven; and that, in\n[_giving_] him that bread and that water, we heap coals of fire on his\nhead.\n\n_Midrasch el Kohelet_ on Ecclesiastes ix, 14: \"A great king besieged a\nlittle city.\" This great king is the evil leaven; the great bulwarks\nbuilt against it are temptations; and there has been found a poor wise\nman who has delivered it--that is to say, virtue.\n\nAnd on Psalm xli, 1: \"Blessed is he that considereth the poor.\"\n\nAnd on Psalm lxxviii, 39: \"The spirit passeth away, and cometh not\nagain\"; whence some have erroneously argued against the immortality of\nthe soul. But the sense is that this spirit is the evil leaven, which\naccompanies man till death, and will not return at the resurrection.\n\nAnd on Psalm ciii the same thing.\n\nAnd on Psalm xvi.\n\nPrinciples of Rabbinism: two Messiahs.\n\n\n447\n\nWill it be said that, as men have declared that righteousness has\ndeparted the earth, they therefore knew of original sin?--_Nemo ante\nobitum beatus est_[170]--that is to say, they knew death to be the\nbeginning of eternal and essential happiness?\n\n\n448\n\n[_Miton_] sees well that nature is corrupt, and that men are averse to\nvirtue; but he does not know why they cannot fly higher.\n\n\n449\n\n_Order._--After _Corruption_ to say: \"It is right that all those who are\nin that state should know it, both those who are content with it, and\nthose who are not content with it; but it is not right that all should\nsee Redemption.\"\n\n\n450\n\nIf we do not know ourselves to be full of pride, ambition, lust,\nweakness, misery, and injustice, we are indeed blind. And if, knowing\nthis, we do not desire deliverance, what can we say of a man...?\n\nWhat, then, can we have but esteem for a religion which knows so well\nthe defects of man, and desire for the truth of a religion which\npromises remedies so desirable?\n\n\n451\n\nAll men naturally hate one another. They employ lust as far as possible\nin the service of the public weal. But this is only a [_pretence_] and a\nfalse image of love; for at bottom it is only hate.\n\n\n452\n\nTo pity the unfortunate is not contrary to lust. On the contrary, we can\nquite well give such evidence of friendship, and acquire the reputation\nof kindly feeling, without giving anything.\n\n\n453\n\nFrom lust men have found and extracted excellent rules of policy,\nmorality, and justice; but in reality this vile root of man, this\n_figmentum malum_,[171] is only covered, it is not taken away.\n\n\n454\n\n_Injustice._--They have not found any other means of satisfying lust\nwithout doing injury to others.\n\n\n455\n\nSelf is hateful. You, Miton, conceal it; you do not for that reason\ndestroy it; you are, then, always hateful.\n\n--No; for in acting as we do to oblige everybody, we give no more\noccasion for hatred of us.--That is true, if we only hated in Self the\nvexation which comes to us from it. But if I hate it because it is\nunjust, and because it makes itself the centre of everything, I shall\nalways hate it.\n\nIn a word, the Self has two qualities: it is unjust in itself since it\nmakes itself the centre of everything; it is inconvenient to others\nsince it would enslave them; for each Self is the enemy, and would like\nto be the tyrant of all others. You take away its inconvenience, but not\nits injustice, and so you do not render it lovable to those who hate\ninjustice; you render it lovable only to the unjust, who do not any\nlonger find in it an enemy. And thus you remain unjust, and can please\nonly the unjust.\n\n\n456\n\nIt is a perverted judgment that makes every one place himself above the\nrest of the world, and prefer his own good, and the continuance of his\nown good fortune and life, to that of the rest of the world!\n\n\n457\n\nEach one is all in all to himself; for he being dead, all is dead to\nhim. Hence it comes that each believes himself to be all in all to\neverybody. We must not judge of nature by ourselves, but by it.\n\n\n458\n\n\"All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the\neyes, or the pride of life; _libido sentiendi, libido sciendi, libido\ndominandi._\"[172] Wretched is the cursed land which these three rivers\nof fire enflame rather than water![173] Happy they who, on these rivers,\nare not overwhelmed nor carried away, but are immovably fixed, not\nstanding but seated on a low and secure base, whence they do not rise\nbefore the light, but, having rested in peace, stretch out their hands\nto Him, who must lift them up, and make them stand upright and firm in\nthe porches of the holy Jerusalem! There pride can no longer assail them\nnor cast them down; and yet they weep, not to see all those perishable\nthings swept away by the torrents, but at the remembrance of their loved\ncountry, the heavenly Jerusalem, which they remember without ceasing\nduring their prolonged exile.\n\n\n459\n\nThe rivers of Babylon rush and fall and sweep away.\n\nO holy Sion, where all is firm and nothing falls!\n\nWe must sit upon the waters, not under them or in them, but on them; and\nnot standing but seated; being seated to be humble, and being above them\nto be secure. But we shall stand in the porches of Jerusalem.\n\nLet us see if this pleasure is stable or transitory; if it pass away, it\nis a river of Babylon.\n\n\n460\n\n_The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride, etc._--There are\nthree orders of things: the flesh, the spirit, and the will. The carnal\nare the rich and kings; they have the body as their object. Inquirers\nand scientists; they have the mind as their object. The wise; they have\nrighteousness as their object.\n\nGod must reign over all, and all men must be brought back to Him. In\nthings of the flesh lust reigns specially; in intellectual matters,\ninquiry specially; in wisdom, pride specially. Not that a man cannot\nboast of wealth or knowledge, but it is not the place for pride; for in\ngranting to a man that he is learned, it is easy to convince him that he\nis wrong to be proud. The proper place for pride is in wisdom, for it\ncannot be granted to a man that he has made himself wise, and that he is\nwrong to be proud; for that is right. Now God alone gives wisdom, and\nthat is why _Qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur_.[174]\n\n\n461\n\nThe three lusts have made three sects; and the philosophers have done no\nother thing than follow one of the three lusts.\n\n\n462\n\n_Search for the true good._--Ordinary men place the good in fortune and\nexternal goods, or at least in amusement. Philosophers have shown the\nvanity of all this, and have placed it where they could.\n\n\n463\n\n[_Against the philosophers who believe in God without Jesus Christ_]\n\n_Philosophers._--They believe that God alone is worthy to be loved and\nadmired; and they have desired to be loved and admired of men, and do\nnot know their own corruption. If they feel full of feelings of love and\nadmiration, and find therein their chief delight, very well, let them\nthink themselves good. But if they find themselves averse to Him, if\nthey have no inclination but the desire to establish themselves in the\nesteem of men, and if their whole perfection consists only in making\nmen--but without constraint--find their happiness in loving them, I\ndeclare that this perfection is horrible. What! they have known God, and\nhave not desired solely that men should love Him, but that men should\nstop short at them! They have wanted to be the object of the voluntary\ndelight of men.\n\n\n464\n\n_Philosophers._--We are full of things which take us out of ourselves.\n\nOur instinct makes us feel that we must seek our happiness outside\nourselves. Our passions impel us outside, even when no objects present\nthemselves to excite them. External objects tempt us of themselves, and\ncall to us, even when we are not thinking of them. And thus philosophers\nhave said in vain, \"Retire within yourselves, you will find your good\nthere.\" We do not believe them, and those who believe them are the most\nempty and the most foolish.\n\n\n465\n\nThe Stoics say, \"Retire within yourselves; it is there you will find\nyour rest.\" And that is not true.\n\nOthers say, \"Go out of yourselves; seek happiness in amusement.\" And\nthis is not true. Illness comes.\n\nHappiness is neither without us nor within us. It is in God, both\nwithout us and within us.\n\n\n466\n\nHad Epictetus seen the way perfectly, he would have said to men, \"You\nfollow a wrong road\"; he shows that there is another, but he does not\nlead to it. It is the way of willing what God wills. Jesus Christ alone\nleads to it: _Via, veritas._[175]\n\nThe vices of Zeno[176] himself.\n\n\n467\n\n_The reason of effects._--Epictetus.[177] Those who say, \"You have a\nheadache;\" this is not the same thing. We are assured of health, and not\nof justice; and in fact his own was nonsense.\n\nAnd yet he believed it demonstrable, when he said, \"It is either in our\npower or it is not.\" But he did not perceive that it is not in our power\nto regulate the heart, and he was wrong to infer this from the fact that\nthere were some Christians.\n\n\n468\n\nNo other religion has proposed to men to hate themselves. No other\nreligion then can please those who hate themselves, and who seek a Being\ntruly lovable. And these, if they had never heard of the religion of a\nGod humiliated, would embrace it at once.\n\n\n469\n\nI feel that I might not have been; for the Ego consists in my thoughts.\nTherefore I, who think, would not have been, if my mother had been\nkilled before I had life. I am not then a necessary being. In the same\nway I am not eternal or infinite; but I see plainly that there exists in\nnature a necessary Being, eternal and infinite.\n\n\n470\n\n\"Had I seen a miracle,\" say men, \"I should become converted.\" How can\nthey be sure they would do a thing of the nature of which they are\nignorant? They imagine that this conversion consists in a worship of God\nwhich is like commerce, and in a communion such as they picture to\nthemselves. True religion consists in annihilating self before that\nUniversal Being, whom we have so often provoked, and who can justly\ndestroy us at any time; in recognising that we can do nothing without\nHim, and have deserved nothing from Him but His displeasure. It consists\nin knowing that there is an unconquerable opposition between us and God,\nand that without a mediator there can be no communion with Him.\n\n\n471\n\nIt is unjust that men should attach themselves to me, even though they\ndo it with pleasure and voluntarily. I should deceive those in whom I\nhad created this desire; for I am not the end of any, and I have not the\nwherewithal to satisfy them. Am I not about to die? And thus the object\nof their attachment will die. Therefore, as I would be blamable in\ncausing a falsehood to be believed, though I should employ gentle\npersuasion, though it should be believed with pleasure, and though it\nshould give me pleasure; even so I am blamable in making myself loved,\nand if I attract persons to attach themselves to me. I ought to warn\nthose who are ready to consent to a lie, that they ought not to believe\nit, whatever advantage comes to me from it; and likewise that they ought\nnot to attach themselves to me; for they ought to spend their life and\ntheir care in pleasing God, or in seeking Him.\n\n\n472\n\nSelf-will will never be satisfied, though it should have command of all\nit would; but we are satisfied from the moment we renounce it. Without\nit we cannot be discontented; with it we cannot be content.\n\n\n473\n\nLet us imagine a body full of thinking members.[178]\n\n\n474\n\n_Members, To commence with that._--To regulate the love which we owe to\nourselves, we must imagine a body full of thinking members, for we are\nmembers of the whole, and must see how each member should love itself,\netc....\n\n\n475\n\nIf the feet and the hands had a will of their own, they could only be in\ntheir order in submitting this particular will to the primary will which\ngoverns the whole body. Apart from that, they are in disorder and\nmischief; but in willing only the good of the body, they accomplish\ntheir own good.\n\n\n476\n\nWe must love God only and hate self only.\n\nIf the foot had always been ignorant that it belonged to the body, and\nthat there was a body on which it depended, if it had only had the\nknowledge and the love of self, and if it came to know that it belonged\nto a body on which it depended, what regret, what shame for its past\nlife, for having been useless to the body which inspired its life, which\nwould have annihilated it if it had rejected it and separated it from\nitself, as it kept itself apart from the body! What prayers for its\npreservation in it! And with what submission would it allow itself to be\ngoverned by the will which rules the body, even to consenting, if\nnecessary, to be cut off, or it would lose its character as member! For\nevery member must be quite willing to perish for the body, for which\nalone the whole is.\n\n\n477\n\nIt is false that we are worthy of the love of others; it is unfair that\nwe should desire it. If we were born reasonable and impartial, knowing\nourselves and others, we should not give this bias to our will. However,\nwe are born with it; therefore born unjust, for all tends to self. This\nis contrary to all order. We must consider the general good; and the\npropensity to self is the beginning of all disorder, in war, in\npolitics, in economy, and in the particular body of man. The will is\ntherefore depraved.\n\nIf the members of natural and civil communities tend towards the weal of\nthe body, the communities themselves ought to look to another more\ngeneral body of which they are members. We ought therefore to look to\nthe whole. We are therefore born unjust and depraved.\n\n\n478\n\nWhen we want to think of God, is there nothing which turns us away, and\ntempts us to think of something else? All this is bad, and is born in\nus.\n\n\n479\n\nIf there is a God, we must love Him only, and not the creatures of a\nday. The reasoning of the ungodly in the book of Wisdom[179] is only\nbased upon the non-existence of God. \"On that supposition,\" say they,\n\"let us take delight in the creatures.\" That is the worst that can\nhappen. But if there were a God to love, they would not have come to\nthis conclusion, but to quite the contrary. And this is the conclusion\nof the wise: \"There is a God, let us therefore not take delight in the\ncreatures.\"\n\nTherefore all that incites us to attach ourselves to the creatures is\nbad; since it prevents us from serving God if we know Him, or from\nseeking Him if we know Him not. Now we are full of lust. Therefore we\nare full of evil; therefore we ought to hate ourselves and all that\nexcited us to attach ourselves to any other object than God only.\n\n\n480\n\nTo make the members happy, they must have one will, and submit it to the\nbody.\n\n\n481\n\nThe examples of the noble deaths of the Laced\u00e6monians and others scarce\ntouch us. For what good is it to us? But the example of the death of the\nmartyrs touches us; for they are \"our members.\" We have a common tie\nwith them. Their resolution can form ours, not only by example, but\nbecause it has perhaps deserved ours. There is nothing of this in the\nexamples of the heathen. We have no tie with them; as we do not become\nrich by seeing a stranger who is so, but in fact by seeing a father or a\nhusband who is so.\n\n\n482\n\n_Morality._--God having made the heavens and the earth, which do not\nfeel the happiness of their being, He has willed to make beings who\nshould know it, and who should compose a body of thinking members. For\nour members do not feel the happiness of their union, of their\nwonderful intelligence, of the care which has been taken to infuse into\nthem minds, and to make them grow and endure. How happy they would be if\nthey saw and felt it! But for this they would need to have intelligence\nto know it, and good-will to consent to that of the universal soul. But\nif, having received intelligence, they employed it to retain nourishment\nfor themselves without allowing it to pass to the other members, they\nwould hate rather than love themselves; their blessedness, as well as\ntheir duty, consisting in their consent to the guidance of the whole\nsoul to which they belong, which loves them better than they love\nthemselves.\n\n\n483\n\nTo be a member is to have neither life, being, nor movement, except\nthrough the spirit of the body, and for the body.\n\nThe separate member, seeing no longer the body to which it belongs, has\nonly a perishing and dying existence. Yet it believes it is a whole, and\nseeing not the body on which it depends, it believes it depends only on\nself, and desires to make itself both centre and body. But not having in\nitself a principle of life, it only goes astray, and is astonished in\nthe uncertainty of its being; perceiving in fact that it is not a body,\nand still not seeing that it is a member of a body. In short, when it\ncomes to know itself, it has returned as it were to its own home, and\nloves itself only for the body. It deplores its past wanderings.\n\nIt cannot by its nature love any other thing, except for itself and to\nsubject it to self, because each thing loves itself more than all. But\nin loving the body, it loves itself, because it only exists in it, by\nit, and for it. _Qui adh\u00e6ret Deo unus spiritus est._[180]\n\nThe body loves the hand; and the hand, if it had a will, should love\nitself in the same way as it is loved by the soul. All love which goes\nbeyond this is unfair.\n\n_Adh\u00e6rens Deo unus spiritus est._ We love ourselves, because we are\nmembers of Jesus Christ. We love Jesus Christ, because He is the body of\nwhich we are members. All is one, one is in the other, like the Three\nPersons.\n\n\n484\n\nTwo laws[181] suffice to rule the whole Christian Republic better than\nall the laws of statecraft.\n\n\n485\n\nThe true and only virtue, then, is to hate self (for we are hateful on\naccount of lust), and to seek a truly lovable being to love. But as we\ncannot love what is outside ourselves, we must love a being who is in\nus, and is not ourselves; and that is true of each and all men. Now,\nonly the Universal Being is such. The kingdom of God is within us;[182]\nthe universal good is within us, is ourselves--and not ourselves.\n\n\n486\n\nThe dignity of man in his innocence consisted in using and having\ndominion over the creatures, but now in separating himself from them,\nand subjecting himself to them.\n\n\n487\n\nEvery religion is false, which as to its faith does not worship one God\nas the origin of everything, and which as to its morality does not love\none only God as the object of everything.\n\n\n488\n\n... But it is impossible that God should ever be the end, if He is not\nthe beginning. We lift our eyes on high, but lean upon the sand; and the\nearth will dissolve, and we shall fall whilst looking at the heavens.\n\n\n489\n\nIf there is one sole source of everything, there is one sole end of\neverything; everything through Him, everything for Him. The true\nreligion, then, must teach us to worship Him only, and to love Him only.\nBut as we find ourselves unable to worship what we know not, and to love\nany other object but ourselves, the religion which instructs us in these\nduties must instruct us also of this inability, and teach us also the\nremedies for it. It teaches us that by one man all was lost, and the\nbond broken between God and us, and that by one man the bond is renewed.\n\nWe are born so averse to this love of God, and it is so necessary that\nwe must be born guilty, or God would be unjust.\n\n\n490\n\nMen, not being accustomed to form merit, but only to recompense it where\nthey find it formed, judge of God by themselves.\n\n\n491\n\nThe true religion must have as a characteristic the obligation to love\nGod. This is very just, and yet no other religion has commanded this;\nours has done so. It must also be aware of human lust and weakness; ours\nis so. It must have adduced remedies for this; one is prayer. No other\nreligion has asked of God to love and follow Him.\n\n\n492\n\nHe who hates not in himself his self-love, and that instinct which leads\nhim to make himself God, is indeed blinded. Who does not see that there\nis nothing so opposed to justice and truth? For it is false that we\ndeserve this, and it is unfair and impossible to attain it, since all\ndemand the same thing. It is, then, a manifest injustice which is innate\nin us, of which we cannot get rid, and of which we must get rid.\n\nYet no religion has indicated that this was a sin; or that we were born\nin it; or that we were obliged to resist it; or has thought of giving us\nremedies for it.\n\n\n493\n\nThe true religion teaches our duties; our weaknesses, pride, and lust;\nand the remedies, humility and mortification.\n\n\n494\n\nThe true religion must teach greatness and misery; must lead to the\nesteem and contempt of self, to love and to hate.\n\n\n495\n\nIf it is an extraordinary blindness to live without investigating what\nwe are, it is a terrible one to live an evil life, while believing in\nGod.\n\n\n496\n\nExperience makes us see an enormous difference between piety and\ngoodness.\n\n\n497\n\n_Against those who, trusting to the mercy of God, live heedlessly,\nwithout doing good works._--As the two sources of our sins are pride and\nsloth, God has revealed to us two of His attributes to cure them, mercy\nand justice. The property of justice is to humble pride, however holy\nmay be our works, _et non intres in judicium_,[183] etc.; and the\nproperty of mercy is to combat sloth by exhorting to good works,\naccording to that passage: \"The goodness of God leadeth to\nrepentance,\"[184] and that other of the Ninevites: \"Let us do penance to\nsee if peradventure He will pity us.\"[185] And thus mercy is so far from\nauthorising slackness, that it is on the contrary the quality which\nformally attacks it; so that instead of saying, \"If there were no mercy\nin God we should have to make every kind of effort after virtue,\" we\nmust say, on the contrary, that it is because there is mercy in God,\nthat we must make every kind of effort.\n\n\n498\n\nIt is true there is difficulty in entering into godliness. But this\ndifficulty does not arise from the religion which begins in us, but from\nthe irreligion which is still there. If our senses were not opposed to\npenitence, and if our corruption were not opposed to the purity of God,\nthere would be nothing in this painful to us. We suffer only in\nproportion as the vice which is natural to us resists supernatural\ngrace. Our heart feels torn asunder between these opposed efforts. But\nit would be very unfair to impute this violence to God, who is drawing\nus on, instead of to the world, which is holding us back. It is as a\nchild, which a mother tears from the arms of robbers, in the pain it\nsuffers, should love the loving and legitimate violence of her who\nprocures its liberty, and detest only the impetuous and tyrannical\nviolence of those who detain it unjustly. The most cruel war which God\ncan make with men in this life is to leave them without that war which\nHe came to bring. \"I came to send war,\"[186] He says, \"and to teach them\nof this war. I came to bring fire and the sword.\"[187] Before Him the\nworld lived in this false peace.\n\n\n499\n\n_External works._--There is nothing so perilous as what pleases God and\nman. For those states, which please God and man, have one property which\npleases God, and another which pleases men; as the greatness of Saint\nTeresa. What pleased God was her deep humility in the midst of her\nrevelations; what pleased men was her light. And so we torment ourselves\nto imitate her discourses, thinking to imitate her conditions, and not\nso much to love what God loves, and to put ourselves in the state which\nGod loves.\n\nIt is better not to fast, and thereby humbled, than to fast and be\nself-satisfied therewith. The Pharisee and the Publican.[188]\n\nWhat use will memory be to me, if it can alike hurt and help me, and all\ndepends upon the blessing of God, who gives only to things done for Him,\naccording to His rules and in His ways, the manner being as important as\nthe thing, and perhaps more; since God can bring forth good out of evil,\nand without God we bring forth evil out of good?\n\n\n500\n\nThe meaning of the words, good and evil.\n\n\n501\n\nFirst step: to be blamed for doing evil, and praised for doing good.\n\nSecond step: to be neither praised, nor blamed.\n\n\n502\n\nAbraham[189] took nothing for himself, but only for his servants. So the\nrighteous man takes for himself nothing of the world, nor the applause\nof the world, but only for his passions, which he uses as their master,\nsaying to the one, \"Go,\" and to another, \"Come.\" _Sub te erit appetitus\ntuus._[190] The passions thus subdued are virtues. Even God attributes\nto Himself avarice, jealousy, anger; and these are virtues as well as\nkindness, pity, constancy, which are also passions. We must employ them\nas slaves, and, leaving to them their food, prevent the soul from taking\nany of it. For, when the passions become masters, they are vices; and\nthey give their nutriment to the soul, and the soul nourishes itself\nupon it, and is poisoned.\n\n\n503\n\nPhilosophers have consecrated the vices by placing them in God Himself.\nChristians have consecrated the virtues.\n\n\n504\n\nThe just man acts by faith in the least things; when he reproves his\nservants, he desires their conversion by the Spirit of God, and prays\nGod to correct them; and he expects as much from God as from his own\nreproofs, and prays God to bless his corrections. And so in all his\nother actions he proceeds with the Spirit of God; and his actions\ndeceive us by reason of the ... or suspension of the Spirit of God in\nhim; and he repents in his affliction.\n\n\n505\n\nAll things can be deadly to us, even the things made to serve us; as in\nnature walls can kill us, and stairs can kill us, if we do not walk\ncircumspectly.\n\nThe least movement affects all nature; the entire sea changes because of\na rock. Thus in grace, the least action affects everything by its\nconsequences; therefore everything is important.\n\nIn each action we must look beyond the action at our past, present, and\nfuture state, and at others whom it affects, and see the relations of\nall those things. And then we shall be very cautious.\n\n\n506\n\nLet God not impute to us our sins, that is to say, all the consequences\nand results of our sins, which are dreadful, even those of the smallest\nfaults, if we wish to follow them out mercilessly!\n\n\n507\n\nThe spirit of grace; the hardness of the heart; external circumstances.\n\n\n508\n\nGrace is indeed needed to turn a man into a saint; and he who doubts it\ndoes not know what a saint or a man is.\n\n\n509\n\n_Philosophers._--A fine thing to cry to a man who does not know himself,\nthat he should come of himself to God! And a fine thing to say so to a\nman who does know himself!\n\n\n510\n\nMan is not worthy of God, but he is not incapable of being made worthy.\n\nIt is unworthy of God to unite Himself to wretched man; but it is not\nunworthy of God to pull him out of his misery.\n\n\n511\n\nIf we would say that man is too insignificant to deserve communion with\nGod, we must indeed be very great to judge of it.\n\n\n512\n\nIt is, in peculiar phraseology, wholly the body of Jesus Christ, but it\ncannot be said to be the whole body of Jesus Christ.[191] The union of\ntwo things without change does not enable us to say that one becomes the\nother; the soul thus being united to the body, the fire to the timber,\nwithout change. But change is necessary to make the form of the one\nbecome the form of the other; thus the union of the Word to man. Because\nmy body without my soul would not make the body of a man; therefore my\nsoul united to any matter whatsoever will make my body. It does not\ndistinguish the necessary condition from the sufficient condition; the\nunion is necessary, but not sufficient. The left arm is not the right.\n\nImpenetrability is a property of matter.\n\nIdentity _de numers_ in regard to the same time requires the identity of\nmatter.\n\nThus if God united my soul to a body in China, the same body, _idem\nnumero_, would be in China.\n\nThe same river which runs there is _idem numero_ as that which runs at\nthe same time in China.\n\n\n513\n\nWhy God has established prayer.\n\n1. To communicate to His creatures the dignity of causality.\n2. To teach us from whom our virtue comes.\n3. To make us deserve other virtues by work.\n\n(But to keep His own pre-eminence, He grants prayer to whom He pleases.)\n\nObjection: But we believe that we hold prayer of ourselves.\n\nThis is absurd; for since, though having faith, we cannot have virtues,\nhow should we have faith? Is there a greater distance between infidelity\nand faith than between faith and virtue?\n\n_Merit._ This word is ambiguous.\n\n_Meruit habere Redemptorem.\n\nMeruit tam sacra membra tangere.\n\nDigno tam sacra membra tangere.\n\nNon sum dignus.[192]\n\nQui manducat indignus[193]\n\nDignus est accipere.[194]\n\nDignare me._\n\nGod is only bound according to His promises. He has promised to grant\njustice to prayers; He has never promised prayer only to the children of\npromise.\n\nSaint Augustine has distinctly said that strength would be taken away\nfrom the righteous. But it is by chance that he said it; for it might\nhave happened that the occasion of saying it did not present itself. But\nhis principles make us see that when the occasion for it presented\nitself, it was impossible that he should not say it, or that he should\nsay anything to the contrary. It is then rather that he was forced to\nsay it, when the occasion presented itself, than that he said it, when\nthe occasion presented itself, the one being of necessity, the other of\nchance. But the two are all that we can ask.\n\n\n514\n\nThe elect will be ignorant of their virtues, and the outcast of the\ngreatness of their sins: \"Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, thirsty?\"\netc.[195][196]\n\n\n515\n\nRomans iii, 27. Boasting is excluded. By what law? Of works? nay, but by\nfaith. Then faith is not within our power like the deeds of the law, and\nit is given to us in another way.\n\n\n516\n\nComfort yourselves. It is not from yourselves that you should expect\ngrace; but, on the contrary, it is in expecting nothing from yourselves,\nthat you must hope for it.\n\n\n517\n\nEvery condition, and even the martyrs, have to fear, according to\nScripture.\n\nThe greatest pain of purgatory is the uncertainty of the judgment. _Deus\nabsconditus._\n\n\n518\n\nJohn viii. _Multi crediderunt in eum. Dicebat ergo Jesus: \"Si\nmanseritis_ ... VERE _mei discipuli eritis, et_ VERITAS LIBERABIT VOS.\"\n_Responderunt: \"Semen Abrah\u00e6 sumus, et nemini servimus unquam.\"_\n\nThere is a great difference between disciples and true disciples. We\nrecognise them by telling them that the truth will make them free; for\nif they answer that they are free, and that it is in their power to come\nout of slavery to the devil, they are indeed disciples, but not true\ndisciples.\n\n\n519\n\nThe law has not destroyed nature, but has instructed it; grace has not\ndestroyed the law, but has made it act. Faith received at baptism is the\nsource of the whole life of Christians and of the converted.\n\n\n520\n\nGrace will always be in the world, and nature also; so that the former\nis in some sort natural. And thus there will always be Pelagians, and\nalways Catholics, and always strife; because the first birth makes the\none, and the grace of the second birth the other.\n\n\n521\n\nThe law imposed what it did not give. Grace gives what is imposes.\n\n\n522\n\nAll faith consists in Jesus Christ and in Adam, and all morality in lust\nand in grace.\n\n\n523\n\nThere is no doctrine more appropriate to man than this, which teaches\nhim his double capacity of receiving and of losing grace, because of the\ndouble peril to which he is exposed, of despair or of pride.\n\n\n524\n\nThe philosophers did not prescribe feelings suitable to the two states.\n\nThey inspired feelings of pure greatness, and that is not man's state.\n\nThey inspired feelings of pure littleness, and that is not man's state.\n\nThere must be feelings of humility, not from nature, but from penitence,\nnot to rest in them, but to go on to greatness. There must be feelings\nof greatness, not from merit, but from grace, and after having passed\nthrough humiliation.\n\n\n525\n\nMisery induces despair, pride induces presumption. The Incarnation shows\nman the greatness of his misery by the greatness of the remedy which he\nrequired.\n\n\n526\n\nThe knowledge of God without that of man's misery causes pride. The\nknowledge of man's misery without that of God causes despair. The\nknowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him\nwe find both God and our misery.\n\n\n527\n\nJesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before whom we\nhumble ourselves without despair.\n\n\n528\n\n... Not a degradation which renders us incapable of good, nor a holiness\nexempt from evil.\n\n\n529\n\nA person told me one day that on coming from confession he felt great\njoy and confidence. Another told me that he remained in fear. Whereupon\nI thought that these two together would make one good man, and that each\nwas wanting in that he had not the feeling of the other. The same often\nhappens in other things.\n\n\n530\n\nHe who knows the will of his master will be beaten with more blows,\nbecause of the power he has by his knowledge. _Qui justus est,\njustificetur adhuc_,[197] because of the power he has by justice. From\nhim who has received most, will the greatest reckoning be demanded,\nbecause of the power he has by this help.\n\n\n531\n\nScripture has provided passages of consolation and of warning for all\nconditions.\n\nNature seems to have done the same thing by her two infinities, natural\nand moral; for we shall always have the higher and the lower, the more\nclever and the less clever, the most exalted and the meanest, in order\nto humble our pride, and exalt our humility.\n\n\n532\n\n_Comminutum cor_ (Saint Paul). This is the Christian character. _Alba\nhas named you, I know you no more_ (Corneille).[198] That is the inhuman\ncharacter. The human character is the opposite.\n\n\n533\n\nThere are only two kinds of men: the righteous who believe themselves\nsinners; the rest, sinners, who believe themselves righteous.\n\n\n534\n\nWe owe a great debt to those who point out faults. For they mortify us.\nThey teach us that we have been despised. They do not prevent our being\nso in the future; for we have many other faults for which we may be\ndespised. They prepare for us the exercise of correction and freedom\nfrom fault.\n\n\n535\n\nMan is so made that by continually telling him he is a fool he believes\nit, and by continually telling it to himself he makes himself believe\nit. For man holds an inward talk with his self alone, which it behoves\nhim to regulate well: _Corrumpunt bonos mores colloquia prava_.[199] We\nmust keep silent as much as possible and talk with ourselves only of\nGod, whom we know to be true; and thus we convince ourselves of the\ntruth.\n\n\n536\n\nChristianity is strange. It bids man recognise that he is vile, even\nabominable, and bids him desire to be like God. Without such a\ncounterpoise, this dignity would make him horribly vain, or this\nhumiliation would make him terribly abject.\n\n\n537\n\nWith how little pride does a Christian believe himself united to God!\nWith how little humiliation does he place himself on a level with the\nworms of earth!\n\nA glorious manner to welcome life and death, good and evil!\n\n\n538\n\nWhat difference in point of obedience is there between a soldier and a\nCarthusian monk? For both are equally under obedience and dependent,\nboth engaged in equally painful exercises. But the soldier always hopes\nto command, and never attains this, for even captains and princes are\never slaves and dependants; still he ever hopes and ever works to attain\nthis. Whereas the Carthusian monk makes a vow to be always dependent. So\nthey do not differ in their perpetual thraldom, in which both of them\nalways exist, but in the hope, which one always has, and the other\nnever.\n\n\n539\n\nThe hope which Christians have of possessing an infinite good is mingled\nwith real enjoyment as well as with fear; for it is not as with those\nwho should hope for a kingdom, of which they, being subjects, would have\nnothing; but they hope for holiness, for freedom from injustice, and\nthey have something of this.\n\n\n540\n\nNone is so happy as a true Christian, nor so reasonable, virtuous, or\namiable.\n\n\n541\n\nThe Christian religion alone makes man altogether _lovable and happy_.\nIn honesty, we cannot perhaps be altogether lovable and happy.\n\n\n542\n\n_Preface._--The metaphysical proofs of God are so remote from the\nreasoning of men, and so complicated, that they make little impression;\nand if they should be of service to some, it would be only during the\nmoment that they see such demonstration; but an hour afterwards they\nfear they have been mistaken.\n\n_Quod curiositate cognoverunt superbia amiserunt._[200]\n\nThis is the result of the knowledge of God obtained without Jesus\nChrist; it is communion without a mediator with the God whom they have\nknown without a mediator. Whereas those who have known God by a mediator\nknow their own wretchedness.\n\n\n543\n\nThe God of the Christians is a God who makes the soul feel that He is\nher only good, that her only rest is in Him, that her only delight is\nin loving Him; and who makes her at the same time abhor the obstacles\nwhich keep her back, and prevent her from loving God with all her\nstrength. Self-love and lust, which hinder us, are unbearable to her.\nThus God makes her feel that she has this root of self-love which\ndestroys her, and which He alone can cure.\n\n\n544\n\nJesus Christ did nothing but teach men that they loved themselves, that\nthey were slaves, blind, sick, wretched, and sinners; that He must\ndeliver them, enlighten, bless, and heal them; that this would be\neffected by hating self, and by following Him through suffering and the\ndeath on the cross.\n\n\n545\n\nWithout Jesus Christ man must be in vice and misery; with Jesus Christ\nman is free from vice and misery; in Him is all our virtue and all our\nhappiness. Apart from Him there is but vice, misery, darkness, death,\ndespair.\n\n\n546\n\nWe know God only by Jesus Christ. Without this mediator all communion\nwith God is taken away; through Jesus Christ we know God. All those who\nhave claimed to know God, and to prove Him without Jesus Christ, have\nhad only weak proofs. But in proof of Jesus Christ we have the\nprophecies, which are solid and palpable proofs. And these prophecies,\nbeing accomplished and proved true by the event, mark the certainty of\nthese truths, and therefore the divinity of Christ. In Him then, and\nthrough Him, we know God. Apart from Him, and without the Scripture,\nwithout original sin, without a necessary Mediator promised and come, we\ncannot absolutely prove God, nor teach right doctrine and right\nmorality. But through Jesus Christ, and in Jesus Christ, we prove God,\nand teach morality and doctrine. Jesus Christ is then the true God of\nmen.\n\nBut we know at the same time our wretchedness; for this God is none\nother than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well\nby knowing our iniquities. Therefore those who have known God, without\nknowing their wretchedness, have not glorified Him, but have glorified\nthemselves. _Quia ... non cognovit per sapientiam ... placuit Deo per\nstultitiam pr\u00e6dicationis salvos facere._[201]\n\n\n547\n\nNot only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves\nonly by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ.\nApart from Jesus Christ, we do not know what is our life, nor our death,\nnor God, nor ourselves.\n\nThus without the Scripture, which has Jesus Christ alone for its object,\nwe know nothing, and see only darkness and confusion in the nature of\nGod, and in our own nature.\n\n\n548\n\nIt is not only impossible but useless to know God without Jesus Christ.\nThey have not departed from Him, but approached; they have not humbled\nthemselves, but ...\n\n_Quo quisque optimus est, pessimus, si hoc ipsum, quod optimus est,\nadscribat sibi._\n\n\n549\n\nI love poverty because He loved it. I love riches because they afford me\nthe means of helping the very poor. I keep faith with everybody; I do\nnot render evil to those who wrong me, but I wish them a lot like mine,\nin which I receive neither evil nor good from men. I try to be just,\ntrue, sincere, and faithful to all men; I have a tender heart for those\nto whom God has more closely united me; and whether I am alone, or seen\nof men, I do all my actions in the sight of God, who must judge of them,\nand to whom I have consecrated them all.\n\nThese are my sentiments; and every day of my life I bless my Redeemer,\nwho has implanted them in me, and who, of a man full of weakness, of\nmiseries, of lust, of pride, and of ambition, has made a man free from\nall these evils by the power of His grace, to which all the glory of it\nis due, as of myself I have only misery and error.\n\n\n550\n\n_Dignior plagis quam osculis non timeo quia amo._\n\n\n551\n\n_The Sepulchre of Jesus Christ._--Jesus Christ was dead, but seen on the\nCross. He was dead, and hidden in the Sepulchre.\n\nJesus Christ was buried by the saints alone.\n\nJesus Christ wrought no miracle at the Sepulchre.\n\nOnly the saints entered it.\n\nIt is there, not on the Cross, that Jesus Christ takes a new life.\n\nIt is the last mystery of the Passion and the Redemption.\n\nJesus Christ had nowhere to rest on earth but in the Sepulchre.\n\nHis enemies only ceased to persecute Him at the Sepulchre.\n\n\n552\n\n_The Mystery of Jesus._--Jesus suffers in His passions the torments\nwhich men inflict upon Him; but in His agony He suffers the torments\nwhich He inflicts on Himself; _turbare semetipsum_.[202] This is a\nsuffering from no human, but an almighty hand, for He must be almighty\nto bear it.\n\nJesus seeks some comfort at least in His three dearest friends, and they\nare asleep. He prays them to bear with Him for a little, and they leave\nHim with entire indifference, having so little compassion that it could\nnot prevent their sleeping even for a moment. And thus Jesus was left\nalone to the wrath of God.\n\nJesus is alone on the earth, without any one not only to feel and share\nHis suffering, but even to know of it; He and Heaven were alone in that\nknowledge.\n\nJesus is in a garden, not of delight as the first Adam, where he lost\nhimself and the whole human race, but in one of agony, where He saved\nHimself and the whole human race.\n\nHe suffers this affliction and this desertion in the horror of night.\n\nI believe that Jesus never complained but on this single occasion; but\nthen He complained as if he could no longer bear His extreme suffering.\n\"My soul is sorrowful, even unto death.\"[203]\n\nJesus seeks companionship and comfort from men. This is the sole\noccasion in all His life, as it seems to me. But He receives it not, for\nHis disciples are asleep.\n\nJesus will be in agony even to the end of the world. We must not sleep\nduring that time.\n\nJesus, in the midst of this universal desertion, including that of His\nown friends chosen to watch with Him, finding them asleep, is vexed\nbecause of the danger to which they expose, not Him, but themselves; He\ncautions them for their own safety and their own good, with a sincere\ntenderness for them during their ingratitude, and warns them that the\nspirit is willing and the flesh weak.\n\nJesus, finding them still asleep, without being restrained by any\nconsideration for themselves or for Him, has the kindness not to waken\nthem, and leaves them in repose.\n\nJesus prays, uncertain of the will of His Father, and fears death; but,\nwhen He knows it, He goes forward to offer Himself to death. _Eamus.\nProcessit_[204] (John).\n\nJesus asked of men and was not heard.\n\nJesus, while His disciples slept, wrought their salvation. He has\nwrought that of each of the righteous while they slept, both in their\nnothingness before their birth, and in their sins after their birth.\n\nHe prays only once that the cup pass away, and then with submission; and\ntwice that it come if necessary.\n\nJesus is weary.\n\nJesus, seeing all His friends asleep and all His enemies wakeful,\ncommits Himself entirely to His Father.\n\nJesus does not regard in Judas his enmity, but the order of God, which\nHe loves and admits, since He calls him friend.\n\nJesus tears Himself away from His disciples to enter into His agony; we\nmust tear ourselves away from our nearest and dearest to imitate Him.\n\nJesus being in agony and in the greatest affliction, let us pray longer.\n\nWe implore the mercy of God, not that He may leave us at peace in our\nvices, but that He may deliver us from them.\n\nIf God gave us masters by His own hand, oh! how necessary for us to obey\nthem with a good heart! Necessity and events follow infallibly.\n\n--\"Console thyself, thou wouldst not seek Me, if thou hadst not found\nMe.\n\n\"I thought of thee in Mine agony, I have sweated such drops of blood for\nthee.\n\n\"It is tempting Me rather than proving thyself, to think if thou wouldst\ndo such and such a thing on an occasion which has not happened; I shall\nact in thee if it occur.\n\n\"Let thyself be guided by My rules; see how well I have led the Virgin\nand the saints who have let Me act in them.\n\n\"The Father loves all that I do.\n\n\"Dost thou wish that it always cost Me the blood of My humanity, without\nthy shedding tears?\n\n\"Thy conversion is My affair; fear not, and pray with confidence as for\nMe.\n\n\"I am present with thee by My Word in Scripture, by My Spirit in the\nChurch and by inspiration, by My power in the priests, by My prayer in\nthe faithful.\n\n\"Physicians will not heal thee, for thou wilt die at last. But it is I\nwho heal thee, and make the body immortal.\n\n\"Suffer bodily chains and servitude, I deliver thee at present only from\nspiritual servitude.\n\n\"I am more a friend to thee than such and such an one, for I have done\nfor thee more than they, they would not have suffered what I have\nsuffered from thee, and they would not have died for thee as I have done\nin the time of thine infidelities and cruelties, and as I am ready to\ndo, and do, among my elect and at the Holy Sacrament.\"\n\n\"If thou knewest thy sins, thou wouldst lose heart.\"\n\n--I shall lose it then, Lord, for on Thy assurance I believe their\nmalice.\n\n--\"No, for I, by whom thou learnest, can heal thee of them, and what I\nsay to thee is a sign that I will heal thee. In proportion to thy\nexpiation of them, thou wilt know them, and it will be said to thee:\n'Behold, thy sins are forgiven thee.' Repent, then, for thy hidden sins,\nand for the secret malice of those which thou knowest.\"\n\n--Lord, I give Thee all.\n\n--\"I love thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine abominations,\n_ut immundus pro luto_.\n\n\"To Me be the glory, not to thee, worm of the earth.\n\n\"Ask thy confessor, when My own words are to thee occasion of evil,\nvanity, or curiosity.\"\n\n--I see in me depths of pride, curiosity, and lust. There is no relation\nbetween me and God, nor Jesus Christ the Righteous. But He has been made\nsin for me; all Thy scourges are fallen upon Him. He is more abominable\nthan I, and, far from abhorring me, He holds Himself honoured that I go\nto Him and succour Him.\n\nBut He has healed Himself, and still more so will He heal me.\n\nI must add my wounds to His, and join myself to Him; and He will save me\nin saving Himself. But this must not be postponed to the future.\n\n_Eritis sicut dii scientes bonum et malum._[205] Each one creates his\ngod, when judging, \"This is good or bad\"; and men mourn or rejoice too\nmuch at events.\n\nDo little things as though they were great, because of the majesty of\nJesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our life; and do the\ngreatest things as though they were little and easy, because of His\nomnipotence.\n\n\n553\n\nIt seems to me that Jesus Christ only allowed His wounds to be touched\nafter His resurrection: _Noli me tangere._[206] We must unite ourselves\nonly to His sufferings.\n\nAt the Last Supper He gave Himself in communion as about to die; to the\ndisciples at Emmaus as risen from the dead; to the whole Church as\nascended into heaven.\n\n\n554\n\n\"Compare not thyself with others, but with Me. If thou dost not find Me\nin those with whom thou comparest thyself, thou comparest thyself to one\nwho is abominable. If thou findest Me in them, compare thyself to Me.\nBut whom wilt thou compare? Thyself, or Me in thee? If it is thyself, it\nis one who is abominable. If it is I, thou comparest Me to Myself. Now I\nam God in all.\n\n\"I speak to thee, and often counsel thee, because thy director cannot\nspeak to thee, for I do not want thee to lack a guide.\n\n\"And perhaps I do so at his prayers, and thus he leads thee without thy\nseeing it. Thou wouldst not seek Me, if thou didst not possess Me.\n\n\"Be not therefore troubled.\"\n\n\n\n\nSECTION VIII\n\nTHE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION\n\n\n555\n\n... Men blaspheme what they do not know. The Christian religion consists\nin two points. It is of equal concern to men to know them, and it is\nequally dangerous to be ignorant to them. And it is equally of God's\nmercy that He has given indications of both.\n\nAnd yet they take occasion to conclude that one of these points does not\nexist, from that which should have caused them to infer the other. The\nsages who have said there is only one God have been persecuted, the Jews\nwere hated, and still more the Christians. They have seen by the light\nof nature that if there be a true religion on earth, the course of all\nthings must tend to it as to a centre.\n\nThe whole course of things must have for its object the establishment\nand the greatness of religion. Men must have within them feelings suited\nto what religion teaches us. And, finally, religion must so be the\nobject and centre to which all things tend, that whoever knows the\nprinciples of religion can give an explanation both of the whole nature\nof man in particular, and of the whole course of the world in general.\n\nAnd on this ground they take occasion to revile the Christian religion,\nbecause they misunderstand it. They imagine that it consists simply in\nthe worship of a God considered as great, powerful, and eternal; which\nis strictly deism, almost as far removed from the Christian religion as\natheism, which is its exact opposite. And thence they conclude that this\nreligion is not true, because they do not see that all things concur to\nthe establishment of this point, that God does not manifest Himself to\nmen with all the evidence which He could show.\n\nBut let them conclude what they will against deism, they will conclude\nnothing against the Christian religion, which properly consists in the\nmystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the two natures, human\nand divine, has redeemed men from the corruption of sin in order to\nreconcile them in His divine person to God.\n\nThe Christian religion, then, teaches men these two truths; that there\nis a God whom men can know, and that there is a corruption in their\nnature which renders them unworthy of Him. It is equally important to\nmen to know both these points; and it is equally dangerous for man to\nknow God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own\nwretchedness without knowing the Redeemer who can free him from it. The\nknowledge of only one of these points gives rise either to the pride of\nphilosophers, who have known God, and not their own wretchedness, or to\nthe despair of atheists, who know their own wretchedness, but not the\nRedeemer.\n\nAnd, as it is alike necessary to man to know these two points, so is it\nalike merciful of God to have made us know them. The Christian religion\ndoes this; it is in this that it consists.\n\nLet us herein examine the order of the world, and see if all things do\nnot tend to establish these two chief points of this religion: Jesus\nChrist is the end of all, and the centre to which all tends. Whoever\nknows Him knows the reason of everything.\n\nThose who fall into error err only through failure to see one of these\ntwo things. We can then have an excellent knowledge of God without that\nof our own wretchedness, and of our own wretchedness without that of\nGod. But we cannot know Jesus Christ without knowing at the same time\nboth God and our own wretchedness.\n\nTherefore I shall not undertake here to prove by natural reasons either\nthe existence of God, or the Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or\nanything of that nature; not only because I should not feel myself\nsufficiently able to find in nature arguments to convince hardened\natheists, but also because such knowledge without Jesus Christ is\nuseless and barren. Though a man should be convinced that numerical\nproportions are immaterial truths, eternal and dependent on a first\ntruth, in which they subsist, and which is called God, I should not\nthink him far advanced towards his own salvation.\n\nThe God of Christians is not a God who is simply the author of\nmathematical truths, or of the order of the elements; that is the view\nof heathens and Epicureans. He is not merely a God who exercises His\nprovidence over the life and fortunes of men, to bestow on those who\nworship Him a long and happy life. That was the portion of the Jews. But\nthe God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of\nChristians, is a God of love and of comfort, a God who fills the soul\nand heart of those whom He possesses, a God who makes them conscious of\ntheir inward wretchedness, and His infinite mercy, who unites Himself to\ntheir inmost soul, who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence\nand love, who renders them incapable of any other end than Himself.\n\nAll who seek God without Jesus Christ, and who rest in nature, either\nfind no light to satisfy them, or come to form for themselves a means of\nknowing God and serving Him without a mediator. Thereby they fall either\ninto atheism, or into deism, two things which the Christian religion\nabhors almost equally.\n\nWithout Jesus Christ the world would not exist; for it should needs be\neither that it would be destroyed or be a hell.\n\nIf the world existed to instruct man of God, His divinity would shine\nthrough every part in it in an indisputable manner; but as it exists\nonly by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ, and to teach men both their\ncorruption and their redemption, all displays the proofs of these two\ntruths.\n\nAll appearance indicates neither a total exclusion nor a manifest\npresence of divinity, but the presence of a God who hides Himself.\nEverything bears this character.\n\n... Shall he alone who knows his nature know it only to be miserable?\nShall he alone who knows it be alone unhappy?\n\n... He must not see nothing at all, nor must he see sufficient for him\nto believe he possesses it; but he must see enough to know that he has\nlost it. For to know of his loss, he must see and not see; and that is\nexactly the state in which he naturally is.\n\n... Whatever part he takes, I shall not leave him at rest ...\n\n\n556\n\n... It is then true that everything teaches man his condition, but he\nmust understand this well. For it is not true that all reveals God, and\nit is not true that all conceals God. But it is at the same time true\nthat He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He reveals\nHimself to those who seek Him, because men are both unworthy and capable\nof God; unworthy by their corruption capable by their original nature.\n\n\n557\n\nWhat shall we conclude from all our darkness, but our unworthiness?\n\n\n558\n\nIf there never had been any appearance of God, this eternal deprivation\nwould have been equivocal, and might have as well corresponded with the\nabsence of all divinity, as with the unworthiness of men to know Him;\nbut His occasional, though not continual, appearances remove the\nambiguity, If He appeared once, He exists always; and thus we cannot but\nconclude both that there is a God, and that men are unworthy of Him.\n\n\n559\n\nWe do not understand the glorious state of Adam, nor the nature of his\nsin, nor the transmission of it to us. These are matters which took\nplace under conditions of a nature altogether different from our own,\nand which transcend our present understanding.\n\nThe knowledge of all this is useless to us as a means of escape from it;\nand all that we are concerned to know, is that we are miserable,\ncorrupt, separated from God, but ransomed by Jesus Christ, whereof we\nhave wonderful proofs on earth.\n\nSo the two proofs of corruption and redemption are drawn from the\nungodly, who live in indifference to religion, and from the Jews who are\nirreconcilable enemies.\n\n\n560\n\nThere are two ways of proving the truths of our religion; one by the\npower of reason, the other by the authority of him who speaks.\n\nWe do not make use of the latter, but of the former. We do not say,\n\"This must be believed, for Scripture, which says it, is divine.\" But we\nsay that it must be believed for such and such a reason, which are\nfeeble arguments, as reason may be bent to everything.\n\n\n561\n\nThere is nothing on earth that does not show either the wretchedness of\nman, or the mercy of God; either the weakness of man without God, or the\nstrength of man with God.\n\n\n562\n\nIt will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are\ncondemned by their own reason, by which they claimed to condemn the\nChristian religion.\n\n\n563\n\nThe prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are not of\nsuch a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing. But\nthey are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is\nunreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and obscurity\nto enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that it\nsurpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it\nis not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can\nonly be lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient\nevidence to condemn, and insufficient to convince; so that it appears in\nthose who follow it, that it is grace, and not reason, which makes them\nfollow it; and in those who shun it, that it is lust, not reason, which\nmakes them shun it.\n\n_Vere discipuli, vere Isra\u00eblita, vere liberi, vere cibus._[207]\n\n\n564\n\nRecognise, then, the truth of religion in the very obscurity of\nreligion, in the little light we have of it, and in the indifference\nwhich we have to knowing it.\n\n\n565\n\nWe understand nothing of the works of God, if we do not take as a\nprinciple that He has willed to blind some, and enlighten others.\n\n\n566\n\nThe two contrary reasons. We must begin with that; without that we\nunderstand nothing, and all is heretical; and we must even add at the\nend of each truth that the opposite truth is to be remembered.\n\n\n567\n\n_Objection._ The Scripture is plainly full of matters not dictated by\nthe Holy Spirit.--_Answer._ Then they do not harm faith.--_Objection._\nBut the Church has decided that all is of the Holy Spirit.--_Answer._ I\nanswer two things: first, the Church has not so decided; secondly, if\nshe should so decide, it could be maintained.\n\nDo you think that the prophecies cited in the Gospel are related to make\nyou believe? No, it is to keep you from believing.\n\n\n568\n\n_Canonical._--The heretical books in the beginning of the Church serve\nto prove the canonical.\n\n\n569\n\nTo the chapter on the _Fundamentals_ must be added that on _Typology_\ntouching the reason of types: why Jesus Christ was prophesied as to His\nfirst coming; why prophesied obscurely as to the manner.\n\n\n570\n\n_The reason why. Types._--[They had to deal with a carnal people and to\nrender them the depositary of the spiritual covenant.] To give faith to\nthe Messiah, it was necessary there should have been precedent\nprophecies, and that these should be conveyed by persons above\nsuspicion, diligent, faithful, unusually zealous, and known to all the\nworld.\n\nTo accomplish all this, God chose this carnal people, to whom He\nentrusted the prophecies which foretell the Messiah as a deliverer, and\nas a dispenser of those carnal goods which this people loved. And thus\nthey have had an extraordinary passion for their prophets, and, in sight\nof the whole world, have had charge of these books which foretell their\nMessiah, assuring all nations that He should come, and in the way\nforetold in the books, which they held open to the whole world. Yet this\npeople, deceived by the poor and ignominious advent of the Messiah, have\nbeen His most cruel enemies. So that they, the people least open to\nsuspicion in the world of favouring us, the most strict and most zealous\nthat can be named for their law and their prophets, have kept the books\nincorrupt. Hence those who have rejected and crucified Jesus Christ, who\nhas been to them an offence, are those who have charge of the books\nwhich testify of Him, and state that He will be an offence and rejected.\nTherefore they have shown it was He by rejecting Him, and He has been\nalike proved both by the righteous Jews who received Him, and by the\nunrighteous who rejected Him, both facts having been foretold.\n\nWherefore the prophecies have a hidden and spiritual meaning, to which\nthis people were hostile, under the carnal meaning which they loved. If\nthe spiritual meaning had been revealed, they would not have loved it,\nand, unable to bear it, they would not have been zealous of the\npreservation of their books and their ceremonies; and if they had loved\nthese spiritual promises, and had preserved them incorrupt till the time\nof the Messiah, their testimony would have had no force, because they\nhad been his friends.\n\nTherefore it was well that the spiritual meaning should be concealed;\nbut, on the other hand, if this meaning had been so hidden as not to\nappear at all, it could not have served as a proof of the Messiah. What\nthen was done? In a crowd of passages it has been hidden under the\ntemporal meaning, and in a few has been clearly revealed; besides that\nthe time and the state of the world have been so clearly foretold that\nit is clearer than the sun. And in some places this spiritual meaning is\nso clearly expressed, that it would require a blindness like that which\nthe flesh imposes on the spirit when it is subdued by it, not to\nrecognise it.\n\nSee, then, what has been the prudence of God. This meaning is concealed\nunder another in an infinite number of passages, and in some, though\nrarely, it is revealed; but yet so that the passages in which it is\nconcealed are equivocal, and can suit both meanings; whereas the\npassages where it is disclosed are unequivocal, and can only suit the\nspiritual meaning.\n\nSo that this cannot lead us into error, and could only be misunderstood\nby so carnal a people.\n\nFor when blessings are promised in abundance, what was to prevent them\nfrom understanding the true blessings, but their covetousness, which\nlimited the meaning to worldly goods? But those whose only good was in\nGod referred them to God alone. For there are two principles, which\ndivide the wills of men, covetousness and charity. Not that covetousness\ncannot exist along with faith in God, nor charity with worldly riches;\nbut covetousness uses God, and enjoys the world, and charity is the\nopposite.\n\nNow the ultimate end gives names to things. All which prevents us from\nattaining it, is called an enemy to us. Thus the creatures, however\ngood, are the enemies of the righteous, when they turn them away from\nGod, and God Himself is the enemy of those whose covetousness He\nconfounds.\n\nThus as the significance of the word \"enemy\" is dependent on the\nultimate end, the righteous understood by it their passions, and the\ncarnal the Babylonians; and so these terms were obscure only for the\nunrighteous. And this is what Isaiah says: _Signa legem in electis\nmeis_,[208] and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling. But,\n\"Blessed are they who shall not be offended in him.\" Hosea,[209] _ult._,\nsays excellently, \"Where is the wise? and he shall understand what I\nsay. The righteous shall know them, for the ways of God are right; but\nthe transgressors shall fall therein.\"\n\n\n571\n\nHypothesis that the apostles were impostors.--The time clearly, the\nmanner obscurely.--Five typical proofs.\n\n        {1600 prophets.\n   2000 {\n        { 400 scattered.\n\n\n572\n\n_Blindness of Scripture._--\"The Scripture,\" said the Jews, \"says that we\nshall not know whence Christ will come (John vii, 27, and xii, 34). The\nScripture says that Christ abideth for ever, and He said that He should\ndie.\" Therefore, says Saint John,[210] they believed not, though He had\ndone so many miracles, that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled: \"He\nhath blinded them,\" etc.\n\n\n573\n\n_Greatness._--Religion is so great a thing that it is right that those\nwho will not take the trouble to seek it, if it be obscure, should be\ndeprived of it. Why, then, do any complain, if it be such as can be\nfound by seeking?\n\n\n574\n\nAll things work together for good to the elect, even the obscurities of\nScripture; for they honour them because of what is divinely clear. And\nall things work together for evil to the rest of the world, even what is\nclear; for they revile such, because of the obscurities which they do\nnot understand.\n\n\n575\n\n_The general conduct of the world towards the Church: God willing to\nblind and to enlighten._--The event having proved the divinity of these\nprophecies, the rest ought to be believed. And thereby we see the order\nof the world to be of this kind. The miracles of the Creation and the\nDeluge being forgotten, God sends the law and the miracles of Moses, the\nprophets who prophesied particular things; and to prepare a lasting\nmiracle, He prepares prophecies and their fulfilment; but, as the\nprophecies could be suspected, He desires to make them above suspicion,\netc.\n\n\n576\n\nGod has made the blindness of this people subservient to the good of the\nelect.\n\n\n577\n\nThere is sufficient clearness to enlighten the elect, and sufficient\nobscurity to humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to blind the\nreprobate, and sufficient clearness to condemn them, and make them\ninexcusable.--Saint Augustine, Montaigne, S\u00e9bond.\n\nThe genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament is intermingled with\nso many others that are useless, that it cannot be distinguished. If\nMoses had kept only the record of the ancestors of Christ, that might\nhave been too plain. If he had not noted that of Jesus Christ, it might\nnot have been sufficiently plain. But, after all, whoever looks closely\nsees that of Jesus Christ expressly traced through Tamar,[211]\nRuth,[212] etc.\n\nThose who ordained these sacrifices, knew their uselessness; those who\nhave declared their uselessness, have not ceased to practise them.\n\nIf God had permitted only one religion, it had been too easily known;\nbut when we look at it closely, we clearly discern the truth amidst this\nconfusion.\n\n_The premiss._--Moses was a clever man. If, then, he ruled himself by\nhis reason, he would say nothing clearly which was directly against\nreason.\n\nThus all the very apparent weaknesses are strength. Example; the two\ngenealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. What can be clearer than\nthat this was not concerted?\n\n\n578\n\nGod (and the Apostles), foreseeing that the seeds of pride would make\nheresies spring up, and being unwilling to give them occasion to arise\nfrom correct expressions, has put in Scripture and the prayers of the\nChurch contrary words and sentences to produce their fruit in time.\n\nSo in morals He gives charity, which produces fruits contrary to lust.\n\n\n579\n\nNature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God, and\nsome defects to show that she is only His image.\n\n\n580\n\nGod prefers rather to incline the will than the intellect. Perfect\nclearness would be of use to the intellect, and would harm the will. To\nhumble pride.\n\n\n581\n\nWe make an idol of truth itself; for truth apart from charity is not\nGod, but His image and idol, which we must neither love nor worship; and\nstill less must we love or worship its opposite, namely, falsehood.\n\nI can easily love total darkness; but if God keeps me in a state of\nsemi-darkness, such partial darkness displeases me, and, because I do\nnot see therein the advantage of total darkness, it is unpleasant to me.\nThis is a fault, and a sign that I make for myself an idol of darkness,\napart from the order of God. Now only His order must be worshipped.\n\n\n582\n\nThe feeble-minded are people who know the truth, but only affirm it so\nfar as consistent with their own interest. But, apart from that, they\nrenounce it.\n\n\n583\n\nThe world exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, not as if men\nwere placed in it out of the hands of God, but as hostile to God; and to\nthem He grants by grace sufficient light, that they may return to Him,\nif they desire to seek and follow Him; and also that they may be\npunished, if they refuse to seek or follow Him.\n\n\n584\n\n_That God has willed to hide Himself._--If there were only one religion,\nGod would indeed be manifest. The same would be the case, if there were\nno martyrs but in our religion.\n\nGod being thus hidden, every religion which does not affirm that God is\nhidden, is not true; and every religion which does not give the reason\nof it, is not instructive. Our religion does, all this: _Vere tu es Deus\nabsconditus._\n\n\n585\n\nIf there were no obscurity, man would not be sensible of his corruption;\nif there were no light, man would not hope for a remedy. Thus, it is not\nonly fair, but advantageous to us, that God be partly hidden and partly\nrevealed; since it is equally dangerous to man to know God without\nknowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness without\nknowing God.\n\n\n586\n\nThis religion, so great in miracles, saints, blameless Fathers, learned\nand great witnesses, martyrs, established kings as David, and Isaiah, a\nprince of the blood, and so great in science, after having displayed all\nher miracles and all her wisdom, rejects all this, and declares that she\nhas neither wisdom nor signs, but only the cross and foolishness.\n\nFor those, who, by these signs and that wisdom, have deserved your\nbelief, and who have proved to you their character, declare to you that\nnothing of all this can change you, and render you capable of knowing\nand loving God, but the power of the foolishness of the cross without\nwisdom and signs, and not the signs without this power. Thus our\nreligion is foolish in respect to the effective cause, and wise in\nrespect to the wisdom which prepares it.\n\n\n587\n\nOur religion is wise and foolish. Wise, because it is the most learned,\nand the most founded on miracles, prophecies, etc. Foolish, because it\nis not all this which makes us belong to it. This makes us indeed\ncondemn those who do not belong to it; but it does not cause belief in\nthose who do belong to it. It is the cross that makes them believe, _ne\nevacuata sit crux_. And so Saint Paul, who came with wisdom and signs,\nsays that he has come neither with wisdom nor with signs; for he came to\nconvert. But those who come only to convince, can say that they come\nwith wisdom and with signs.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION IX\n\nPERPETUITY\n\n\n588\n\n_On the fact that the Christian religion is not the only religion._--So\nfar is this from being a reason for believing that it is not the true\none, that, on the contrary, it makes us see that it is so.\n\n\n589\n\nMen must be sincere in all religions; true heathens, true Jews, true\nChristians.\n\n\n590\n\n         J. C.\nHeathens __|__ Mahomet\n        \\     /\n       Ignorance\n        of God.\n\n\n591\n\n_The falseness of other religions._--They have no witnesses. Jews have.\nGod defies other religions to produce such signs: Isaiah xliii, 9; xliv,\n8.\n\n\n592\n\n_History of China._[213]-I believe only the histories, whose witnesses\ngot themselves killed.\n\n[Which is the more credible of the two, Moses or China?]\n\nIt is not a question of seeing this summarily. I tell you there is in it\nsomething to blind, and something to enlighten.\n\nBy this one word I destroy all your reasoning. \"But China obscures,\" say\nyou; and I answer, \"China obscures, but there is clearness to be found;\nseek it.\"\n\nThus all that you say makes for one of the views, and not at all against\nthe other. So this serves, and does no harm.\n\nWe must then see this in detail; we must put the papers on the table.\n\n\n593\n\n_Against the history of China._ The historians of Mexico, the five\nsuns,[214] of which the last is only eight hundred years old.\n\nThe difference between a book accepted by a nation, and one which makes\na nation.\n\n\n594\n\nMahomet was without authority. His reasons then should have been very\nstrong, having only their own force. What does he say then, that we must\nbelieve him?\n\n\n595\n\nThe Psalms are chanted throughout the whole world.\n\nWho renders testimony to Mahomet? Himself. Jesus Christ[215] desires His\nown testimony to be as nothing.\n\nThe quality of witnesses necessitates their existence always and\neverywhere; and he, miserable creature, is alone.\n\n\n596\n\n_Against Mahomet._--The Koran is not more of Mahomet than the Gospel is\nof Saint Matthew, for it is cited by many authors from age to age. Even\nits very enemies, Celsus and Porphyry, never denied it.\n\nThe Koran says Saint Matthew was an honest man.[216] Therefore Mahomet\nwas a false prophet for calling honest men wicked, or for not agreeing\nwith what they have said of Jesus Christ.\n\n\n597\n\nIt is not by that which is obscure in Mahomet, and which may be\ninterpreted in a mysterious sense, that I would have him judged, but by\nwhat is clear, as his paradise and the rest. In that he is ridiculous.\nAnd since what is clear is ridiculous, it is not right to take his\nobscurities for mysteries.\n\nIt is not the same with the Scripture. I agree that there are in it\nobscurities as strange as those of Mahomet; but there are admirably\nclear passages, and the prophecies are manifestly fulfilled. The cases\nare therefore not on a par. We must not confound, and put on one level\nthings which only resemble each other in their obscurity, and not in the\nclearness, which requires us to reverence the obscurities.\n\n\n598\n\n_The difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet._--Mahomet was not\nforetold; Jesus Christ was foretold.\n\nMahomet slew; Jesus Christ caused His own to be slain.\n\nMahomet forbade reading; the Apostles ordered reading.\n\nIn fact the two are so opposed, that if Mahomet took the way to succeed\nfrom a worldly point of view, Jesus Christ, from the same point of view,\ntook the way to perish. And instead of concluding that, since Mahomet\nsucceeded, Jesus Christ might well have succeeded, we ought to say that\nsince Mahomet succeeded, Jesus Christ should have failed.\n\n\n599\n\nAny man can do what Mahomet has done; for he performed no miracles, he\nwas not foretold. No man can do what Christ has done.\n\n\n600\n\nThe heathen religion has no foundation [at the present day. It is said\nonce to have had a foundation by the oracles which spoke. But what are\nthe books which assure us of this? Are they so worthy of belief on\naccount of the virtue of their authors? Have they been preserved with\nsuch care that we can be sure that they have not been meddled with?]\n\nThe Mahometan religion has for a foundation the Koran and Mahomet. But\nhas this prophet, who was to be the last hope of the world, been\nforetold? What sign has he that every other man has not, who chooses to\ncall himself a prophet? What miracles does he himself say that he has\ndone? What mysteries has he taught, even according to his own tradition?\nWhat was the morality, what the happiness held out by him?\n\nThe Jewish religion must be differently regarded in the tradition of the\nHoly Bible, and in the tradition of the people. Its morality and\nhappiness are absurd in the tradition of the people, but are admirable\nin that of the Holy Bible. (And all religion is the same; for the\nChristian religion is very different in the Holy Bible and in the\ncasuists.) The foundation is admirable; it is the most ancient book in\nthe world, and the most authentic; and whereas Mahomet, in order to make\nhis own book continue in existence, forbade men to read it, Moses,[217]\nfor the same reason, ordered every one to read his.\n\nOur religion is so divine that another divine religion has only been the\nfoundation of it.\n\n\n601\n\n_Order._--To see what is clear and indisputable in the whole state of\nthe Jews.\n\n\n602\n\nThe Jewish religion is wholly divine in its authority, its duration, its\nperpetuity, its morality, its doctrine, and its effects.\n\n\n603\n\nThe only science contrary to common sense and human nature is that alone\nwhich has always existed among men.\n\n\n604\n\nThe only religion contrary to nature, to common sense, and to our\npleasure, is that alone which has always existed.\n\n\n605\n\nNo religion but our own has taught that man is born in sin. No sect of\nphilosophers has said this. Therefore none have declared the truth.\n\nNo sect or religion has always existed on earth, but the Christian\nreligion.\n\n\n606\n\nWhoever judges of the Jewish religion by its coarser forms will\nmisunderstand it. It is to be seen in the Holy Bible, and in the\ntradition of the prophets, who have made it plain enough that they did\nnot interpret the law according to the letter. So our religion is divine\nin the Gospel, in the Apostles, and in tradition; but it is absurd in\nthose who tamper with it.\n\nThe Messiah, according to the carnal Jews, was to be a great temporal\nprince. Jesus Christ, according to carnal Christians,[218] has come to\ndispense us from the love of God, and to give us sacraments which shall\ndo everything without our help. Such is not the Christian religion, nor\nthe Jewish. True Jews and true Christians have always expected a Messiah\nwho should make them love God, and by that love triumph over their\nenemies.\n\n\n607\n\nThe carnal Jews hold a midway place between Christians and heathens. The\nheathens know not God, and love the world only. The Jews know the true\nGod, and love the world only. The Christians know the true God, and love\nnot the world. Jews and heathens love the same good. Jews and Christians\nknow the same God.\n\nThe Jews were of two kinds; the first had only heathen affections, the\nother had Christian affections.\n\n\n608\n\nThere are two kinds of men in each religion: among the heathen,\nworshippers of beasts, and the worshippers of the one only God of\nnatural religion; among the Jews, the carnal, and the spiritual, who\nwere the Christians of the old law; among Christians, the\ncoarser-minded, who are the Jews of the new law. The carnal Jews looked\nfor a carnal Messiah; the coarser Christians believe that the Messiah\nhas dispensed them from the love of God; true Jews and true Christians\nworship a Messiah who makes them love God.\n\n\n609\n\n_To show that the true Jews and the true Christians have but the same\nreligion._--The religion of the Jews seemed to consist essentially in\nthe fatherhood of Abraham, in circumcision, in sacrifices, in\nceremonies, in the Ark, in the temple, in Jerusalem, and, finally, in\nthe law, and in the covenant with Moses.\n\nI say that it consisted in none of those things, but only in the love of\nGod, and that God disregarded all the other things.\n\nThat God did not accept the posterity of Abraham.\n\nThat the Jews were to be punished like strangers, if they transgressed.\n_Deut._ viii, 19; \"If thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk\nafter other gods, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely\nperish, as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face.\"\n\nThat strangers, if they loved God, were to be received by Him as the\nJews. _Isaiah_ lvi, 3: \"Let not the stranger say, 'The Lord will not\nreceive me.' The strangers who join themselves unto the Lord to serve\nHim and love Him, will I bring unto my holy mountain, and accept therein\nsacrifices, for mine house is a house of prayer.\"\n\nThat the true Jews considered their merit to be from God only, and not\nfrom Abraham. _Isaiah_ lxiii, 16; \"Doubtless thou art our Father, though\nAbraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not. Thou art our\nFather and our Redeemer.\"\n\nMoses himself told them that God would not accept persons. _Deut._ x,\n17: \"God,\" said he, \"regardeth neither persons nor sacrifices.\"\n\nThe Sabbath was only a sign, _Exod._ xxxi, 13; and in memory of the\nescape from Egypt, _Deut._ v, 19. Therefore it is no longer necessary,\nsince Egypt must be forgotten.\n\nCircumcision was only a sign, _Gen._ xvii, 11. And thence it came to\npass that, being in the desert, they were not circumcised because they\ncould not be confounded with other peoples; and after Jesus Christ came,\nit was no longer necessary.\n\nThat the circumcision of the heart is commanded. _Deut._ x, 16;\n_Jeremiah_ iv, 4: \"Be ye circumcised in heart; take away the\nsuperfluities of your heart, and harden yourselves not. For your God is\na mighty God, strong and terrible, who accepteth not persons.\"\n\nThat God said He would one day do it. _Deut._ xxx, 6; \"God will\ncircumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, that thou mayest love\nHim with all thine heart.\"\n\nThat the uncircumcised in heart shall be judged. _Jeremiah_ ix, 26: For\nGod will judge the uncircumcised peoples, and all the people of Israel,\nbecause he is \"uncircumcised in heart.\"\n\nThat the external is of no avail apart from the internal. _Joel_ ii, 13:\n_Scindite corda vestra_, etc.; _Isaiah_ lviii, 3, 4, etc.\n\nThe love of God is enjoined in the whole of Deuteronomy. _Deut._ xxx,\n19: \"I call heaven and earth to record that I have set before you life\nand death, that you should choose life, and love God, and obey Him, for\nGod is your life.\"\n\nThat the Jews, for lack of that love, should be rejected for their\noffences, and the heathen chosen in their stead. _Hosea_ i, 10; _Deut._\nxxxii, 20. \"I will hide myself from them in view of their latter sins,\nfor they are a froward generation without faith. They have moved me to\njealousy with that which is not God, and I will move them to jealousy\nwith those which are not a people, and with an ignorant and foolish\nnation.\" _Isaiah_ lxv, 1.\n\nThat temporal goods are false, and that the true good is to be united to\nGod. _Psalm_ cxliii, 15.\n\nThat their feasts are displeasing to God. _Amos_ v, 21.\n\nThat the sacrifices of the Jews displeased God. _Isaiah_ lxvi. 1-3; i,\nII; _Jer._ vi, 20; David, _Miserere._--Even on the part of the good,\n_Expectavi_. _Psalm_ xlix, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14.\n\nThat He has established them only for their hardness. _Micah_,\nadmirably, vi; 1 _Kings_ xv, 22; _Hosea_ vi, 6.\n\nThat the sacrifices of the Gentiles will be accepted of God, and that\nGod will take no pleasure in the sacrifices of the Jews. _Malachi_ i,\nII.\n\nThat God will make a new covenant with the Messiah, and the old will be\nannulled. _Jer._ xxxi, 31. _Mandata non bona. Ezek._\n\nThat the old things will be forgotten. _Isaiah_ xliii, 18, 19; lxv 17,\n10.\n\nThat the Ark will no longer be remembered. _Jer._ iii, 15, 16.\n\nThat the temple should be rejected. _Jer._ vii, 12, 13, 14.\n\nThat the sacrifices should be rejected, and other pure sacrifices\nestablished. _Malachi_ i, II.\n\nThat the order of Aaron's priesthood should be rejected, and that of\nMelchizedek introduced by the Messiah. _Ps. Dixit Dominus._\n\nThat this priesthood should be eternal. _Ibid._\n\nThat Jerusalem should be rejected, and Rome admitted. _Ps. Dixit\nDominus._\n\nThat the name of the Jews should be rejected, and a new name given.\n_Isaiah_ lxv, 15.\n\nThat this last name should be more excellent than that of the Jews, and\neternal. _Isaiah_ lvi, 5.\n\nThat the Jews should be without prophets (Amos), without a king, without\nprinces, without sacrifice, without an idol.\n\nThat the Jews should nevertheless always remain a people. _Jer._ xxxi,\n36.\n\n\n610\n\n_Republic._--The Christian republic--and even the Jewish--has only had\nGod for ruler, as Philo the Jew notices, _On Monarchy_.\n\nWhen they fought, it was for God only; their chief hope was in God only;\nthey considered their towns as belonging to God only, and kept them for\nGod. 1 _Chron._ xix, 13.\n\n\n611\n\n_Gen._ xvii, 7. _Statuam pactum meum inter me et te foedere sempiterno\n... ut sim Deus tuus ..._\n\n_Et tu ergo custodies pactum meum._\n\n\n612\n\n_Perpetuity._--That religion has always existed on earth, which consists\nin believing that man has fallen from a state of glory and of communion\nwith God into a state of sorrow, penitence, and estrangement from God,\nbut that after this life we shall be restored by a Messiah who should\nhave come. All things have passed away, and this has endured, for which\nall things are.\n\nMen have in the first age of the world been carried away into every kind\nof debauchery, and yet there were saints, as Enoch, Lamech, and others,\nwho waited patiently for the Christ promised from the beginning of the\nworld. Noah saw the wickedness of men at its height; and he was held\nworthy to save the world in his person, by the hope of the Messiah of\nwhom he was the type. Abraham was surrounded by idolaters, when God made\nknown to him the mystery of the Messiah, whom he welcomed from\nafar.[219] In the time of Isaac and Jacob abomination was spread over\nall the earth; but these saints lived in faith; and Jacob, dying and\nblessing his children, cried in a transport which made him break off his\ndiscourse, \"I await, O my God, the Saviour whom Thou hast promised.\n_Salutare taum expectabo, Domine._\"[220] The Egyptians were infected\nboth with idolatry and magic; the very people of God were led astray by\ntheir example. Yet Moses and others believed Him whom they saw not, and\nworshipped Him, looking to the eternal gifts which He was preparing for\nthem.\n\nThe Greeks and Latins then set up false deities; the poets made a\nhundred different theologies, while the philosophers separated into a\nthousand different sects; and yet in the heart of Jud\u00e6a there were\nalways chosen men who foretold the coming of this Messiah, which was\nknown to them alone.\n\nHe came at length in the fullness of time, and time has since witnessed\nthe birth of so many schisms and heresies, so many political\nrevolutions, so many changes in all things; yet this Church, which\nworships Him who has always been worshipped, has endured\nuninterruptedly. It is a wonderful, incomparable, and altogether divine\nfact that this religion, which has always endured, has always been\nattacked. It has been a thousand times on the eve of universal\ndestruction, and every time it has been in that state, God has restored\nit by extraordinary acts of His power. This is astonishing, as also that\nit has preserved itself without yielding to the will of tyrants. For it\nis not strange that a State endures, when its laws are sometimes made\nto give way to necessity, but that.... (See the passage indicated in\nMontaigne.)\n\n\n613\n\nStates would perish if they did not often make their laws give way to\nnecessity. But religion has never suffered this, or practised it.\nIndeed, there must be these compromises, or miracles. It is not strange\nto be saved by yieldings, and this is not strictly self-preservation;\nbesides, in the end they perish entirely. None has endured a thousand\nyears. But the fact that this religion has always maintained itself,\ninflexible as it is, proves its divinity.\n\n\n614\n\nWhatever may be said, it must be admitted that the Christian religion\nhas something astonishing in it. Some will say, \"This is because you\nwere born in it.\" Far from it; I stiffen myself against it for this very\nreason, for fear this prejudice bias me. But although I am born in it, I\ncannot help finding it so.\n\n\n615\n\n_Perpetuity._--The Messiah has always been believed in. The tradition\nfrom Adam was fresh in Noah and in Moses. Since then the prophets have\nforetold him, while at the same time foretelling other things, which,\nbeing from time to time fulfilled in the sight of men, showed the truth\nof their mission, and consequently that of their promises touching the\nMessiah. Jesus Christ performed miracles, and the Apostles also, who\nconverted all the heathen; and all the prophecies being thereby\nfulfilled, the Messiah is for ever proved.\n\n\n616\n\n_Perpetuity._--Let us consider that since the beginning of the world the\nexpectation of worship of the Messiah has existed uninterruptedly; that\nthere have been found men, who said that God had revealed to them that a\nRedeemer was to be born, who should save His people; that Abraham came\nafterwards, saying that he had had a revelation that the Messiah was to\nspring from him by a son, whom he should have; that Jacob declared that,\nof his twelve sons, the Messiah would spring from Judah; that Moses and\nthe prophets then came to declare the time and the manner of His coming;\nthat they said their law was only temporary till that of the Messiah,\nthat it should endure till then, but that the other should last for\never; that thus either their law, or that of the Messiah, of which it\nwas the promise, would be always upon the earth; that, in fact, it has\nalways endured; that at last Jesus Christ came with all the\ncircumstances foretold. This is wonderful.\n\n\n617\n\nThis is positive fact. While all philosophers separate into different\nsects, there is found in one corner of the world the most ancient people\nin it, declaring that all the world is in error, that God has revealed\nto them the truth, that they will always exist on the earth. In fact,\nall other sects come to an end, this one still endures, and has done so\nfor four thousand years.\n\nThey declare that they hold from their ancestors that man has fallen\nfrom communion with God, and is entirely estranged from God, but that He\nhas promised to redeem them; that this doctrine shall always exist on\nthe earth; that their law has a double signification; that during\nsixteen hundred years they have had people, whom they believed prophets,\nforetelling both the time and the manner; that four hundred years after\nthey were scattered everywhere, because Jesus Christ was to be\neverywhere announced; that Jesus Christ came in the manner, and at the\ntime foretold; that the Jews have since been scattered abroad under a\ncurse, and nevertheless still exist.\n\n\n618\n\nI see the Christian religion founded upon a preceding religion, and this\nis what I find as a fact.\n\nI do not here speak of the miracles of Moses, of Jesus Christ, and of\nthe Apostles, because they do not at first seem convincing, and because\nI only wish here to put in evidence all those foundations of the\nChristian religion which are beyond doubt, and which cannot be called in\nquestion by any person whatsoever. It is certain that we see in many\nplaces of the world a peculiar people, separated from all other peoples\nof the world, and called the Jewish people.\n\nI see then a crowd of religions in many parts of the world and in all\ntimes; but their morality cannot please me, nor can their proofs\nconvince me. Thus I should equally have rejected the religion of Mahomet\nand of China, of the ancient Romans and of the Egyptians, for the sole\nreason, that none having more marks of truth than another, nor anything\nwhich should necessarily persuade me, reason cannot incline to one\nrather than the other.\n\nBut, in thus considering this changeable and singular variety of morals\nand beliefs at different times, I find in one corner of the world a\npeculiar people, separated from all other peoples on earth, the most\nancient of all, and whose histories are earlier by many generations than\nthe most ancient which we possess.\n\nI find, then, this great and numerous people, sprung from a single man,\nwho worship one God, and guide themselves by a law which they say that\nthey obtained from His own hand. They maintain that they are the only\npeople in the world to whom God has revealed His mysteries; that all men\nare corrupt and in disgrace with God; that they are all abandoned to\ntheir senses and their own imagination, whence come the strange errors\nand continual changes which happen among them, both of religions and of\nmorals, whereas they themselves remain firm in their conduct; but that\nGod will not leave other nations in this darkness for ever; that there\nwill come a Saviour for all; that they are in the world to announce Him\nto men; that they are expressly formed to be forerunners and heralds of\nthis great event, and to summon all nations to join with them in the\nexpectation of this Saviour.\n\nTo meet with this people is astonishing to me, and seems to me worthy of\nattention. I look at the law which they boast of having obtained from\nGod, and I find it admirable. It is the first law of all, and is of such\na kind that, even before the term _law_ was in currency among the\nGreeks, it had, for nearly a thousand years earlier, been\nuninterruptedly accepted and observed by the Jews. I likewise think it\nstrange that the first law of the world happens to be the most perfect;\nso that the greatest legislators have borrowed their laws from it, as is\napparent from the law of the Twelve Tables at Athens,[221] afterwards\ntaken by the Romans, and as it would be easy to prove, if Josephus[222]\nand others had not sufficiently dealt with this subject.\n\n\n619\n\n_Advantages of the Jewish people._--In this search the Jewish people at\nonce attracts my attention by the number of wonderful and singular facts\nwhich appear about them.\n\nI first see that they are a people wholly composed of brethren, and\nwhereas all others are formed by the assemblage of an infinity of\nfamilies, this, though so wonderfully fruitful, has all sprung from one\nman alone, and, being thus all one flesh, and members one of another,\nthey constitute a powerful state of one family. This is unique.\n\nThis family, or people, is the most ancient within human knowledge, a\nfact which seems to me to inspire a peculiar veneration for it,\nespecially in view of our present inquiry; since if God had from all\ntime revealed Himself to men, it is to these we must turn for knowledge\nof the tradition.\n\nThis people is not eminent solely by their antiquity, but is also\nsingular by their duration, which has always continued from their origin\ntill now. For whereas the nations of Greece and of Italy, of Laced\u00e6mon,\nof Athens and of Rome, and others who came long after, have long since\nperished, these ever remain, and in spite of the endeavours of many\npowerful kings who have a hundred times tried to destroy them, as their\nhistorians testify, and as it is easy to conjecture from the natural\norder of things during so long a space of years, they have nevertheless\nbeen preserved (and this preservation has been foretold); and extending\nfrom the earliest times to the latest, their history comprehends in its\nduration all our histories [which it preceded by a long time].\n\nThe law by which this people is governed is at once the most ancient law\nin the world, the most perfect, and the only one which has been always\nobserved without a break in a state. This is what Josephus admirably\nproves, _against Apion_,[223] and also Philo[224] the Jew, in different\nplaces, where they point out that it is so ancient that the very name of\n_law_ was only known by the oldest nation more than a thousand years\nafterwards; so that Homer, who has written the history of so many\nstates, has never used the term. And it is easy to judge of its\nperfection by simply reading it; for we see that it has provided for all\nthings with so great wisdom, equity, and judgment, that the most ancient\nlegislators, Greek and Roman, having had some knowledge of it, have\nborrowed from it their principal laws; this is evident from what are\ncalled the Twelve Tables, and from the other proofs which Josephus\ngives.\n\nBut this law is at the same time the severest and strictest of all in\nrespect to their religious worship, imposing on this people, in order to\nkeep them to their duty, a thousand peculiar and painful observances, on\npain of death. Whence it is very astonishing that it has been\nconstantly preserved during many centuries by a people, rebellious and\nimpatient as this one was; while all other states have changed their\nlaws from time to time, although these were far more lenient.\n\nThe book which contains this law, the first of all, is itself the most\nancient book in the world, those of Homer, Hesiod, and others, being six\nor seven hundred years later.\n\n\n620\n\nThe creation and the deluge being past, and God no longer requiring to\ndestroy the world, nor to create it anew, nor to give such great signs\nof Himself, He began to establish a people on the earth, purposely\nformed, who were to last until the coming of the people whom the Messiah\nshould fashion by His spirit.\n\n\n621\n\nThe creation of the world beginning to be distant, God provided a single\ncontemporary historian, and appointed a whole people as guardians of\nthis book, in order that this history might be the most authentic in the\nworld, and that all men might thereby learn a fact so necessary to know,\nand which could only be known through that means.\n\n\n622\n\n[Japhet begins the genealogy.]\n\nJoseph folds his arms, and prefers the younger.[225]\n\n\n623\n\nWhy should Moses make the lives of men so long, and their generations so\nfew?\n\nBecause it is not the length of years, but the multitude of generations,\nwhich renders things obscure. For truth is perverted only by the change\nof men. And yet he puts two things, the most memorable that were ever\nimagined, namely, the creation and the deluge, so near that we reach\nfrom one to the other.\n\n\n624\n\nShem, who saw Lamech, who saw Adam, saw also Jacob, who saw those who\nsaw Moses; therefore the deluge and the creation are true. This is\nconclusive among certain people who understand it rightly.\n\n\n625\n\nThe longevity of the patriarchs, instead of causing the loss of past\nhistory, conduced, on the contrary, to its preservation. For the reason\nwhy we are sometimes insufficiently instructed in the history of our\nancestors, is that we have never lived long with them, and that they are\noften dead before we have attained the age of reason. Now, when men\nlived so long, children lived long with their parents. They conversed\nlong with them. But what else could be the subject of their talk save\nthe history of their ancestors, since to that all history was reduced,\nand men did not study science or art, which now form a large part of\ndaily conversation? We see also that in these days tribes took\nparticular care to preserve their genealogies.\n\n\n626\n\nI believe that Joshua was the first of God's people to have this name,\nas Jesus Christ was the last of God's people.\n\n\n627\n\n_Antiquity of the Jews._--What a difference there is between one book\nand another! I am not astonished that the Greeks made the Iliad, nor the\nEgyptians and the Chinese their histories.\n\nWe have only to see how this originates. These fabulous historians are\nnot contemporaneous with the facts about which they write. Homer\ncomposes a romance, which he gives out as such, and which is received as\nsuch; for nobody doubted that Troy and Agamemnon no more existed than\ndid the golden apple. Accordingly he did not think of making a history,\nbut solely a book to amuse; he is the only writer of his time; the\nbeauty of the work has made it last, every one learns it and talks of\nit, it is necessary to know it, and each one knows it by heart. Four\nhundred years afterwards the witnesses of these facts are no longer\nalive, no one knows of his own knowledge if it be a fable or a history;\none has only learnt it from his ancestors, and this can pass for truth.\n\nEvery history which is not contemporaneous, as the books of the Sibyls\nand Trismegistus,[226] and so many others which have been believed by\nthe world, are false, and found to be false in the course of time. It is\nnot so with contemporaneous writers.\n\nThere is a great difference between a book which an individual writes,\nand publishes to a nation, and a book which itself creates a nation. We\ncannot doubt that the book is as old as the people.\n\n\n628\n\nJosephus hides the shame of his nation.\n\nMoses does not hide his own shame.\n\n_Quis mihi det ut omnes prophetent?_[227]\n\nHe was weary of the multitude.\n\n\n629\n\n_The sincerity of the Jews._--Maccabees,[228] after they had no more\nprophets; the Masorah, since Jesus Christ.\n\nThis book will be a testimony for you.[229]\n\nDefective and final letters.\n\nSincere against their honour, and dying for it; this has no example in\nthe world, and no root in nature.\n\n\n630\n\n_Sincerity of the Jews._--They preserve lovingly and carefully the book\nin which Moses declares that they have been all their life ungrateful to\nGod, and that he knows they will be still more so after his death; but\nthat he calls heaven and earth to witness against them, and that he has\n[_taught_] them enough.\n\nHe declares that God, being angry with them, shall at last scatter them\namong all the nations of the earth; that as they have offended Him by\nworshipping gods who were not their God, so He will provoke them by\ncalling a people who are not His people; that He desires that all His\nwords be preserved for ever, and that His book be placed in the Ark of\nthe Covenant to serve for ever as a witness against them.\n\nIsaiah says the same thing, xxx.\n\n\n631\n\n_On Esdras._--The story that the books were burnt with the temple proved\nfalse by Maccabees: \"Jeremiah gave them the law.\"\n\nThe story that he recited the whole by heart. Josephus and Esdras point\nout _that he read the book_. Baronius, _Ann._, p. 180: _Nullus penitus\nHebr\u00e6orum antiquorum reperitur qui tradiderit libros periisse et per\nEsdram esse restitutos, nisi in IV Esdr\u00e6._\n\nThe story that he changed the letters.\n\nPhilo, _in Vita Moysis: Illa lingua ac character quo antiquitus scripta\nest lex sic permansit usque ad LXX._\n\nJosephus says that the Law was in Hebrew when it was translated by the\nSeventy.\n\nUnder Antiochus and Vespasian, when they wanted to abolish the books,\nand when there was no prophet, they could not do so. And under the\nBabylonians, when no persecution had been made, and when there were so\nmany prophets, would they have let them be burnt?\n\nJosephus laughs at the Greeks who would not bear ...\n\nTertullian.[230]--_Perinde potuit abolefactam eam violentia cataclysmi\nin spiritu rursus reformare, quemadmodum et Hierosolymis Babylonia\nexpugnatione deletis, omne instrumentum Judaic\u00e6 literatur\u00e6 per Esdram\nconstat restauratum._\n\nHe says that Noah could as easily have restored in spirit the book of\nEnoch, destroyed by the Deluge, as Esdras could have restored the\nScriptures lost during the Captivity.\n\n+(Theos) hen t\u00ea hepi Nabouchodonosor aichmal\u00f4sia tou laou,\ndiaphthareis\u00f4n t\u00f4n graph\u00f4n ... henepneuse Esdra t\u00f4 ierei hek t\u00eas phyl\u00eas\nLeui tous t\u00f4n progegonot\u00f4n proph\u00eat\u00f4n pantas hanataxasthai logous, kai\nhapokatast\u00easai t\u00f4 la\u00f4 t\u00ean dia M\u00f4yse\u00f4s nomothesian.+[231] He alleges this\nto prove that it is not incredible that the Seventy may have explained\nthe holy Scriptures with that uniformity which we admire in them. And he\ntook that from Saint Iren\u00e6us.[232]\n\nSaint Hilary, in his preface to the Psalms, says that Esdras arranged\nthe Psalms in order.\n\nThe origin of this tradition comes from the 14th chapter of the fourth\nbook of Esdras. _Deus glorificatus est, et Scriptur\u00e6 vere divin\u00e6 credit\u00e6\nsunt, omnibus eandem et eisdem verbis et eisdem nominibus recitantibus\nab initio usque ad finem, uti et pr\u00e6sentes gentes cognoscerent quoniam\nper inspirationem Dei interpretat\u00e6 sunt Scriptur\u00e6, et non esset mirabile\nDeum hoc in eis operatum: quando in ea captivitate populi qu\u00e6 facta est\na Nabuchodonosor, corruptis scripturis et post 70 annos Jud\u00e6is\ndescendentibus in regionem suam, et post deinde temporibus Artaxerxis\nPersarum regis, inspiravit Esdr\u00e6 sacerdoti tribus Levi pr\u00e6teritorum\nprophetarum omnes rememorare sermones, et restituere populo eam legem\nqu\u00e6 data est per Moysen._\n\n\n632\n\n_Against the story in Esdras, 2 Maccab._ ii;--Josephus, _Antiquities_,\nII, i--Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy of Isaiah to release the\npeople. The Jews held their property in peace under Cyrus in Babylon;\nhence they could well have the Law.\n\nJosephus, in the whole history of Esdras, does not say one word about\nthis restoration.--2 Kings xvii, 27.\n\n\n633\n\nIf the story in Esdras[233] is credible, then it must be believed that\nthe Scripture is Holy Scripture; for this story is based only on the\nauthority of those who assert that of the Seventy, which shows that the\nScripture is holy.\n\nTherefore if this account be true, we have what we want therein; if not,\nwe have it elsewhere. And thus those who would ruin the truth of our\nreligion, founded on Moses, establish it by the same authority by which\nthey attack it. So by this providence it still exists.\n\n\n634\n\n_Chronology of Rabbinism._ (The citations of pages are from the book\n_Pugio_.)\n\nPage 27. R. Hakadosch (_anno_ 200), author of the _Mischna_, or vocal\nlaw, or second law.\n\nCommentaries on the _Mischna (anno_ 340): {The one _Siphra_.\n_Barajetot_. _Talmud Hierosol_. _Tosiphtot_.}\n\n_Bereschit Rabah_, by R. Osaiah Rabah, commentary on the _Mischna_.\n\n_Bereschit Rabah, Bar Naconi_, are subtle and pleasant discourses,\nhistorical and theological. This same author wrote the books called\n_Rabot_.\n\nA hundred years after the _Talmud Hierosol_ was composed the _Babylonian\nTalmud_, by R. Ase, A.D. 440, by the universal consent of all the Jews,\nwho are necessarily obliged to observe all that is contained therein.\n\nThe addition of R. Ase is called the _Gemara_, that is to say, the\n\"commentary\" on the _Mischna_.\n\nAnd the Talmud includes together the _Mischna_ and the _Gemara_.\n\n\n635\n\n_If_ does not indicate indifference: Malachi, Isaiah.\n\nIs., _Si volumus_, etc.\n\n_In quacumque die._\n\n\n636\n\n_Prophecies._--The sceptre was not interrupted by the captivity in\nBabylon, because the return was promised and foretold.\n\n\n637\n\n_Proofs of Jesus Christ._--Captivity, with the assurance of deliverance\nwithin seventy years, was not real captivity. But now they are captives\nwithout any hope.\n\nGod has promised them that even though He should scatter them to the\nends of the earth, nevertheless if they were faithful to His law, He\nwould assemble them together again. They are very faithful to it, and\nremain oppressed.\n\n\n638\n\nWhen Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people, for fear they should\nbelieve that the sceptre had departed from Judah, they were told\nbeforehand that they would be there for a short time, and that they\nwould be restored. They were always consoled by the prophets; and their\nkings continued. But the second destruction is without promise of\nrestoration, without prophets, without kings, without consolation,\nwithout hope, because the sceptre is taken away for ever.\n\n\n639\n\nIt is a wonderful thing, and worthy of particular attention, to see this\nJewish people existing so many years in perpetual misery, it being\nnecessary as a proof of Jesus Christ, both that they should exist to\nprove Him, and that they should be miserable because they crucified Him;\nand though to be miserable and to exist are contradictory, they\nnevertheless still exist in spite of their misery.\n\n\n640\n\nThey are visibly a people expressly created to serve as a witness to the\nMessiah (Isaiah, xliii, 9; xliv, 8). They keep the books, and love them,\nand do not understand them. And all this was foretold; that God's\njudgments are entrusted to them, but as a sealed book.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION X\n\nTYPOLOGY\n\n\n641\n\n_Proof of the two Testaments at once._--To prove the two at one stroke,\nwe need only see if the prophecies in one are fulfilled in the other. To\nexamine the prophecies, we must understand them. For if we believe they\nhave only one meaning, it is certain that the Messiah has not come; but\nif they have two meanings, it is certain that He has come in Jesus\nChrist.\n\nThe whole problem then is to know if they have two meanings.\n\nThat the Scripture has two meanings, which Jesus Christ and the Apostles\nhave given, is shown by the following proofs:\n\n1. Proof by Scripture itself.\n\n2. Proof by the Rabbis. Moses Maimonides says that it has two aspects,\nand that the prophets have prophesied Jesus Christ only.\n\n3. Proof by the Kabbala.[234]\n\n4. Proof by the mystical interpretation which the Rabbis themselves give\nto Scripture.\n\n5. Proof by the principles of the Rabbis, that there are two meanings;\nthat there are two advents of the Messiah, a glorious and an humiliating\none, according to their desert; that the prophets have prophesied of the\nMessiah only--the Law is not eternal, but must change at the coming of\nthe Messiah--that then they shall no more remember the Red Sea; that the\nJews and the Gentiles shall be mingled.\n\n[6. Proof by the key which Jesus Christ and the Apostles give us.]\n\n\n642\n\nIsaiah, li. The Red Sea an image of the Redemption. _Ut sciatis quod\nfilius hominis habet potestatem remittendi peccata, tibi dico:\nSurge._[235] God, wishing to show that He could form a people holy with\nan invisible holiness, and fill them with an eternal glory, made visible\nthings. As nature is an image of grace, He has done in the bounties of\nnature what He would do in those of grace, in order that we might judge\nthat He could make the invisible, since He made the visible excellently.\n\nTherefore He saved this people from the deluge; He has raised them up\nfrom Abraham, redeemed them from their enemies, and set them at rest.\n\nThe object of God was not to save them from the deluge, and raise up a\nwhole people from Abraham, only in order to bring them into a rich land.\n\nAnd even grace is only the type of glory, for it is not the ultimate\nend. It has been symbolised by the law, and itself symbolises [_glory_].\nBut it is the type of it, and the origin or cause.\n\nThe ordinary life of men is like that of the saints. They all seek their\nsatisfaction, and differ only in the object in which they place it; they\ncall those their enemies who hinder them, etc. God has then shown the\npower which He has of giving invisible blessings, by that which He has\nshown Himself to have over things visible.\n\n\n643\n\n_Types._--God, wishing to form for Himself an holy people, whom He\nshould separate from all other nations, whom He should deliver from\ntheir enemies, and should put into a place of rest, has promised to do\nso, and has foretold by His prophets the time and the manner of His\ncoming. And yet, to confirm the hope of His elect, He has made them see\nin it an image through all time, without leaving them devoid of\nassurances of His power and of His will to save them. For, at the\ncreation of man, Adam was the witness, and guardian of the promise of a\nSaviour, who should be born of woman, when men were still so near the\ncreation that they could not have forgotten their creation and their\nfall. When those who had seen Adam were no longer in the world, God sent\nNoah whom He saved, and drowned the whole earth by a miracle which\nsufficiently indicated the power which He had to save the world, and the\nwill which He had to do so, and to raise up from the seed of woman Him\nwhom He had promised. This miracle was enough to confirm the hope of\nmen.\n\nThe memory of the deluge being so fresh among men, while Noah was still\nalive, God made promises to Abraham, and, while Shem was still living,\nsent Moses, etc....\n\n\n644\n\n_Types._--God, willing to deprive His own of perishable blessings,\ncreated the Jewish people in order to show that this was not owing to\nlack of power.\n\n\n645\n\nThe Synagogue did not perish, because it was a type. But because it was\nonly a type, it fell into servitude. The type existed till the truth\ncame, in order that the Church should be always visible, either in the\nsign which promised it, or in substance.\n\n\n646\n\nThat the law was figurative.\n\n\n647\n\nTwo errors: 1. To take everything literally. 2. To take everything\nspiritually.\n\n\n648\n\nTo speak against too greatly figurative language.\n\n\n649\n\nThere are some types clear and demonstrative, but others which seem\nsomewhat far-fetched, and which convince only those who are already\npersuaded. These are like the Apocalyptics. But the difference is that\nthey have none which are certain, so that nothing is so unjust as to\nclaim that theirs are as well founded as some of ours; for they have\nnone so demonstrative as some of ours. The comparison is unfair. We must\nnot put on the same level, and confound things, because they seem to\nagree in one point, while they are so different in another. The\nclearness in divine things requires us to revere the obscurities in\nthem.\n\n[It is like men, who employ a certain obscure language among themselves.\nThose who should not understand it, would understand only a foolish\nmeaning.]\n\n\n650\n\n_Extravagances of the Apocalyptics, Preadamites, Millenarians, etc._--He\nwho would base extravagant opinions on Scripture, will, for example,\nbase them on this. It is said that \"this generation shall not pass till\nall these things be fulfilled.\"[236] Upon that I will say that after\nthat generation will come another generation, and so on ever in\nsuccession.\n\nSolomon and the King are spoken of in the second book of Chronicles, as\nif they were two different persons. I will say that they were two.\n\n\n651\n\n_Particular Types._--A double law, double tables of the law, a double\ntemple, a double captivity.\n\n\n652\n\n_Types._--The prophets prophesied by symbols of a girdle, a beard and\nburnt hair, etc.\n\n\n653\n\nDifference between dinner and supper.[237]\n\nIn God the word does not differ from the intention, for He is true; nor\nthe word from the effect, for He is powerful; nor the means from the\neffect, for He is wise. Bern., _Ult. Sermo in Missam_.\n\nAugustine, _De Civit. Dei_, v, 10. This rule is general. God can do\neverything, except those things, which if He could do, He would not be\nalmighty, as dying, being deceived, lying, etc.\n\nSeveral Evangelists for the confirmation of the truth; their difference\nuseful.\n\nThe Eucharist after the Lord's Supper. Truth after the type.\n\nThe ruin of Jerusalem, a type of the ruin of the world, forty years\nafter the death of Jesus. \"I know not,\" as a man, or as an ambassador\n(Mark xiii, 32). (Matthew xxiv, 36.)\n\nJesus condemned by the Jews and the Gentiles.\n\nThe Jews and the Gentiles typified by the two sons. Aug., _De Civ._, xx,\n29.\n\n\n654\n\nThe six ages, the six Fathers of the six ages, the six wonders at the\nbeginning of the six ages, the six mornings at the beginning of the six\nages.[238]\n\n\n655\n\nAdam _forma futuri_.[239] The six days to form the one, the six ages to\nform the other. The six days, which Moses represents for the formation\nof Adam, are only the picture of the six ages to form Jesus Christ and\nthe Church. If Adam had not sinned, and Jesus Christ had not come, there\nhad been only one covenant, only one age of men, and the creation would\nhave been represented as accomplished at one single time.\n\n\n656\n\n_Types._--The Jewish and Egyptian peoples were plainly foretold by the\ntwo individuals whom Moses met; the Egyptian beating the Jew, Moses\navenging him and killing the Egyptian, and the Jew being ungrateful.\n\n\n657\n\nThe symbols of the Gospel for the state of the sick soul are sick\nbodies; but because one body cannot be sick enough to express it well,\nseveral have been needed. Thus there are the deaf, the dumb, the blind,\nthe paralytic, the dead Lazarus, the possessed. All this crowd is in the\nsick soul.\n\n\n658\n\n_Types._--To show that the Old Testament is only figurative, and that\nthe prophets understood by temporal blessings other blessings, this is\nthe proof:\n\nFirst, that this would be unworthy of God.\n\nSecondly, that their discourses express very clearly the promise of\ntemporal blessings, and that they say nevertheless that their discourses\nare obscure, and that their meaning will not be understood. Whence it\nappears that this secret meaning was not that which they openly\nexpressed, and that consequently they meant to speak of other\nsacrifices, of another deliverer, etc. They say that they will be\nunderstood only in the fullness of time (Jer. xxx, _ult._).\n\nThe third proof is that their discourses are contradictory, and\nneutralise each other; so that if we think that they did not mean by the\nwords \"law\" and \"sacrifice\" anything else than that of Moses, there is a\nplain and gross contradiction. Therefore they meant something else,\nsometimes contradicting themselves in the same chapter. Now, to\nunderstand the meaning of an author ...\n\n\n659\n\nLust has become natural to us, and has made our second nature. Thus\nthere are two natures in us--the one good, the other bad. Where is God?\nWhere you are not, and the kingdom of God is within you. The Rabbis.\n\n\n660\n\nPenitence, alone of all these mysteries, has been manifestly declared to\nthe Jews, and by Saint John, the Forerunner; and then the other\nmysteries; to indicate that in each man, as in the entire world, this\norder must be observed.\n\n\n661\n\nThe carnal Jews understood neither the greatness nor the humiliation of\nthe Messiah foretold in their prophecies. They misunderstood Him in His\nforetold greatness, as when He said that the Messiah should be lord of\nDavid, though his son, and that He was before Abraham, who had seen Him.\nThey did not believe Him so great as to be eternal, and they likewise\nmisunderstood Him in His humiliation and in His death. \"The Messiah,\"\nsaid they, \"abideth for ever, and this man says that he shall die.\"[240]\nTherefore they believed Him neither mortal nor eternal; they only sought\nin Him for a carnal greatness.\n\n\n662\n\n_Typical._--Nothing is so like charity as covetousness, and nothing is\nso opposed to it. Thus the Jews, full of possessions which flattered\ntheir covetousness, were very like Christians, and very contrary. And by\nthis means they had the two qualities which it was necessary they should\nhave, to be very like the Messiah to typify Him, and very contrary not\nto be suspected witnesses.\n\n\n663\n\n_Typical._--God made use of the lust of the Jews to make them minister\nto Jesus Christ, [who brought the remedy for their lust].\n\n\n664\n\nCharity is not a figurative precept. It is dreadful to say that Jesus\nChrist, who came to take away types in order to establish the truth,\ncame only to establish the type of charity, in order to take away the\nexisting reality which was there before.\n\n\"If the light be darkness, how great is that darkness!\"[241]\n\n\n665\n\nFascination. _Somnum suum.[242] Figura hujus mundi._[243]\n\nThe Eucharist. _Comedes panem_ tuum.[244] _Panem_ nostrum.\n\n_Inimici Dei terram lingent._[245] Sinners lick the dust, that is to\nsay, love earthly pleasures.\n\nThe Old Testament contained the types of future joy, and the New\ncontains the means of arriving at it. The types were of joy; the means\nof penitence; and nevertheless the Paschal Lamb was eaten with bitter\nherbs, _cum amaritudinibus_.[246]\n\n_Singularis sum ego donec transeam._[247]--Jesus Christ before His death\nwas almost the only martyr.\n\n\n666\n\n_Typical._--The expressions, sword, shield. _Potentissime._\n\n\n667\n\nWe are estranged, only by departing from charity. Our prayers and our\nvirtues are abominable before God, if they are not the prayers and the\nvirtues of Jesus Christ. And our sins will never be the object of\n[_mercy_], but of the justice of God, if they are not [_those of_] Jesus\nChrist. He has adopted our sins, and has [_admitted_] us into union\n[_with Him_], for virtues are [_His own, and_] sins are foreign to Him;\nwhile virtues _[are]_ foreign to us, and our sins are our own.\n\nLet us change the rule which we have hitherto chosen for judging what is\ngood. We had our own will as our rule. Let us now take the will of\n[_God_]; all that He wills is good and right to us, all that He does not\nwill is [_bad_].\n\nAll that God does not permit is forbidden. Sins are forbidden by the\ngeneral declaration that God has made, that He did not allow them. Other\nthings which He has left without general prohibition, and which for that\nreason are said to be permitted, are nevertheless not always permitted.\nFor when God removed some one of them from us, and when, by the event,\nwhich is a manifestation of the will of God, it appears that God does\nnot will that we should have a thing, that is then forbidden to us as\nsin; since the will of God is that we should not have one more than\nanother. There is this sole difference between these two things, that it\nis certain that God will never allow sin, while it is not certain that\nHe will never allow the other. But so long as God does not permit it, we\nought to regard it as sin; so long as the absence of God's will, which\nalone is all goodness and all justice, renders it unjust and wrong.\n\n\n668\n\nTo change the type, because of our weakness.\n\n\n669\n\n_Types._--The Jews had grown old in these earthly thoughts, that God\nloved their father Abraham, his flesh and what sprung from it; that on\naccount of this He had multiplied them, and distinguished them from all\nother nations, without allowing them to intermingle; that when they were\nlanguishing in Egypt, He brought them out with all these great signs in\ntheir favour; that He fed them with manna in the desert, and led them\ninto a very rich land; that He gave them kings and a well-built temple,\nin order to offer up beasts before Him, by the shedding of whose blood\nthey should be purified; and that at last He was to send them the\nMessiah to make them masters of all the world, and foretold the time of\nHis coming.\n\nThe world having grown old in these carnal errors, Jesus Christ came at\nthe time foretold, but not with the expected glory; and thus men did not\nthink it was He. After His death, Saint Paul[248] came to teach men that\nall these things had happened in allegory; that the kingdom of God did\nnot consist in the flesh, but in the spirit; that the enemies of men\nwere not the Babylonians, but the passions; that God delighted not in\ntemples made with hands, but in a pure and contrite heart; that the\ncircumcision of the body was unprofitable, but that of the heart was\nneeded; that Moses had not given them the bread from heaven, etc.[249]\n\nBut God, not having desired to reveal these things to this people who\nwere unworthy of them, and having nevertheless desired to foretell them,\nin order that they might be believed, foretold the time clearly, and\nexpressed the things sometimes clearly, but very often in figures, in\norder that those who loved symbols might consider them, and those who\nloved what was symbolised might see it therein.\n\nAll that tends not to charity is figurative.\n\nThe sole aim of the Scripture is charity.\n\nAll which tends not to the sole end is the type of it. For since there\nis only one end, all which does not lead to it in express terms is\nfigurative.\n\nGod thus varies that sole precept of charity to satisfy our curiosity,\nwhich seeks for variety, by that variety which still leads us to the one\nthing needful. For one thing alone is needful,[250] and we love variety;\nand God satisfies both by these varieties, which lead to the one thing\nneedful.\n\nThe Jews have so much loved the shadows, and have so strictly expected\nthem, that they have misunderstood the reality, when it came in the time\nand manner foretold.\n\nThe Rabbis take the breasts of the Spouse[251] for types, and all that\ndoes not express the only end they have, namely, temporal good.\n\nAnd Christians take even the Eucharist as a type of the glory at which\nthey aim.\n\n\n670\n\nThe Jews, who have been called to subdue nations and kings, have been\nthe slaves of sin; and the Christians, whose calling has been to be\nservants and subjects, are free children.[252]\n\n\n671\n\n_A formal point._--When Saint Peter and the Apostles deliberated about\nabolishing circumcision, where it was a question of acting against the\nlaw of God, they did not heed the prophets, but simply the reception of\nthe Holy Spirit in the persons uncircumcised.[253]\n\nThey thought it more certain that God approved of those whom He filled\nwith His Spirit, than it was that the law must be obeyed. They knew that\nthe end of the law was only the Holy Spirit; and that thus, as men\ncertainly had this without circumcision, it was not necessary.\n\n\n672\n\n_Fac secundum exemplar quod tibi ostensum est in monte._[254]--The\nJewish religion then has been formed on its likeness to the truth of the\nMessiah; and the truth of the Messiah has been recognised by the Jewish\nreligion, which was the type of it.\n\nAmong the Jews the truth was only typified; in heaven it is revealed.\n\nIn the Church it is hidden, and recognised by its resemblance to the\ntype.\n\nThe type has been made according to the truth, and the truth has been\nrecognised according to the type.\n\nSaint Paul[255] says himself that people will forbid to marry, and he\nhimself speaks of it to the Corinthians in a way which is a snare. For\nif a prophet had said the one, and Saint Paul had then said the other,\nhe would have been accused.\n\n\n673\n\n_Typical._--\"Do all things according to the pattern which has been shown\nthee on the mount.\" On which Saint Paul says that the Jews have shadowed\nforth heavenly things.[256]\n\n\n674\n\n... And yet this Covenant, made to blind some and enlighten others,\nindicated in those very persons, whom it blinded, the truth which should\nbe recognised by others. For the visible blessings which they received\nfrom God were so great and so divine, that He indeed appeared able to\ngive them those that are invisible, and a Messiah.\n\nFor nature is an image of Grace, and visible miracles are images of the\ninvisible. _Ut sciatis ... tibi dico: Surge._\n\nIsaiah says that Redemption will be as the passage of the Red Sea.\n\nGod has then shown by the deliverance from Egypt, and from the sea, by\nthe defeat of kings, by the manna, by the whole genealogy of Abraham,\nthat He was able to save, to send down bread from heaven, etc.; so that\nthe people hostile to Him are the type and the representation of the\nvery Messiah whom they know not, etc.\n\nHe has then taught us at last that all these things were only types, and\nwhat is \"true freedom,\" a \"true Israelite,\" \"true circumcision,\" \"true\nbread from heaven,\" etc.\n\nIn these promises each one finds what he has most at heart, temporal\nbenefits or spiritual, God or the creatures; but with this difference,\nthat those who therein seek the creatures find them, but with many\ncontradictions, with a prohibition against loving them, with the command\nto worship God only, and to love Him only, which is the same thing, and,\nfinally, that the Messiah came not for them; whereas those who therein\nseek God find Him, without any contradiction, with the command to love\nHim only, and that the Messiah came in the time foretold, to give them\nthe blessings which they ask.\n\nThus the Jews had miracles and prophecies, which they say fulfilled and\nthe teaching of their law was to worship and love God only; it was also\nperpetual. Thus it had all the marks of the true religion; and so it\nwas. But the Jewish teaching must be distinguished from the teaching of\nthe Jewish law. Now the Jewish teaching was not true, although it had\nmiracles and prophecy and perpetuity, because it had not this other\npoint of worshipping and loving God only.\n\n\n675\n\nThe veil, which is upon these books for the Jews, is there also for evil\nChristians, and for all who do not hate themselves.\n\nBut how well disposed men are to understand them and to know Jesus\nChrist, when they truly hate themselves!\n\n\n676\n\nA type conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain.\n\nA cipher has a double meaning, one clear, and one in which it is said\nthat the meaning is hidden.\n\n\n677\n\n_Types._--A portrait conveys absence and presence, pleasure and pain.\nThe reality excludes absence and pain.\n\nTo know if the law and the sacrifices are a reality or a type, we must\nsee if the prophets, in speaking of these things, confined their view\nand their thought to them, so that they saw only the old covenant; or if\nthey saw therein something else of which they were the representation,\nfor in a portrait we see the thing figured. For this we need only\nexamine what they say of them.\n\nWhen they say that it will be eternal, do they mean to speak of that\ncovenant which they say will be changed; and so of the sacrifices, etc.?\n\nA cipher has two meanings. When we find out an important letter in which\nwe discover a clear meaning, and in which it is nevertheless said that\nthe meaning is veiled and obscure, that it is hidden, so that we might\nread the letter without seeing it, and interpret it without\nunderstanding it, what must we think but that here is a cipher with a\ndouble meaning, and the more so if we find obvious contradictions in the\nliteral meaning? The prophets have clearly said that Israel would be\nalways loved by God, and that the law would be eternal; and they have\nsaid that their meaning would not be understood, and that it was veiled.\n\nHow greatly then ought we to value those who interpret the cipher, and\nteach us to understand the hidden meaning, especially if the principles\nwhich they educe are perfectly clear and natural! This is what Jesus\nChrist did, and the Apostles. They broke the seal; He rent the veil, and\nrevealed the spirit. They have taught us through this that the enemies\nof man are his passions; that the Redeemer would be spiritual, and His\nreign spiritual; that there would be two advents, one in lowliness to\nhumble the proud, the other in glory to exalt the humble; that Jesus\nChrist would be both God and man.\n\n\n678\n\n_Types._--Jesus Christ opened their mind to understand the Scriptures.\n\nTwo great revelations are these. (1) All things happened to them in\ntypes: _vere Isra\u00eblit\u00e6, vere liberi_, true bread from Heaven. (2) A God\nhumbled to the Cross. It was necessary that Christ should suffer in\norder to enter into glory, \"that He should destroy death through\ndeath.\"[257] Two advents.\n\n\n679\n\n_Types._--When once this secret is disclosed, it is impossible not to\nsee it. Let us read the Old Testament in this light, and let us see if\nthe sacrifices were real; if the fatherhood of Abraham was the true\ncause of the friendship of God; and if the promised land was the true\nplace of rest. No. They are therefore types. Let us in the same way\nexamine all those ordained ceremonies, all those commandments which are\nnot of charity, and we shall see that they are types.\n\nAll these sacrifices and ceremonies were then either types or nonsense.\nNow these are things too clear, and too lofty, to be thought nonsense.\n\nTo know if the prophets confined their view in the Old Testament, or saw\ntherein other things.\n\n\n680\n\n_Typical._--The key of the cipher. _Veri adoratores._[258]--_Ecce agnus\nDei qui tollit peccata mundi_.[259]\n\n\n681\n\nIs. i, 21. Change of good into evil, and the vengeance of God. Is. x, I;\nxxvi, 20; xxviii, I. Miracles: Is. xxxiii, 9; xl, 17; xli, 26; xliii,\n13.\n\nJer. xi, 21; xv, 12; xvii, 9. _Pravum est cor omnium et incrustabile;\nquis cognoscet illud?_ that is to say, Who can know all its evil? For it\nis already known to be wicked. _Ego dominus_, etc.--vii, 14, _Faciam\ndomui huic_, etc. Trust in external sacrifices--vii, 22, _Quia non sum\nlocutus_, etc. Outward sacrifice is not the essential point--xi, 13,\n_Secundum numerum_, etc. A multitude of doctrines.\n\nIs. xliv, 20-24; liv, 8; lxiii, 12-17; lxvi, 17. Jer. ii, 35; iv, 22-24;\nv, 4, 29-31; vi, 16; xxiii, 15-17.\n\n\n682\n\n_Types_,--The letter kills. All happened in types. Here is the cipher\nwhich Saint Paul gives us. Christ must suffer. An humiliated God.\nCircumcision of the heart, true fasting, true sacrifice, a true temple.\nThe prophets have shown that all these must be spiritual.\n\nNot the meat which perishes, but that which does not perish.\n\n\"Ye shall be free indeed.\"[260] Then the other freedom was only a type\nof freedom.\n\n\"I am the true bread from Heaven.\"[261]\n\n\n683\n\n_Contradiction._--We can only describe a good character by reconciling\nall contrary qualities, and it is not enough to keep up a series of\nharmonious qualities, without reconciling contradictory ones. To\nunderstand the meaning of an author, we must make all the contrary\npassages agree.\n\nThus, to understand Scripture, we must have a meaning in which all the\ncontrary passages are reconciled. It is not enough to have one which\nsuits many concurring passages; but it is necessary to have one which\nreconciles even contradictory passages.\n\nEvery author has a meaning in which all the contradictory passages\nagree, or he has no meaning at all. We cannot affirm the latter of\nScripture and the prophets; they undoubtedly are full of good sense. We\nmust then seek for a meaning which reconciles all discrepancies.\n\nThe true meaning then is not that of the Jews; but in Jesus Christ all\nthe contradictions are reconciled.\n\nThe Jews could not reconcile the cessation of the royalty and\nprincipality, foretold by Hosea, with the prophecy of Jacob.\n\nIf we take the law, the sacrifices, and the kingdom as realities, we\ncannot reconcile all the passages. They must then necessarily be only\ntypes. We cannot even reconcile the passages of the same author, nor of\nthe same book, nor sometimes of the same chapter, which indicates\ncopiously what was the meaning of the author. As when Ezekiel, chap, xx,\nsays that man will not live by the commandments of God and will live by\nthem.\n\n\n684\n\n_Types._--If the law and the sacrifices are the truth, it must please\nGod, and must not displease Him. If they are types, they must be both\npleasing and displeasing.\n\nNow in all the Scripture they are both pleasing and displeasing. It is\nsaid that the law shall be changed; that the sacrifice shall be changed;\nthat they shall be without law, without a prince, and without a\nsacrifice; that a new covenant shall be made; that the law shall be\nrenewed; that the precepts which they have received are not good; that\ntheir sacrifices are abominable; that God has demanded none of them.\n\nIt is said, on the contrary, that the law shall abide for ever; that\nthis covenant shall be for ever; that sacrifice shall be eternal; that\nthe sceptre shall never depart from among them, because it shall not\ndepart from them till the eternal King comes.\n\nDo all these passages indicate what is real? No. Do they then indicate\nwhat is typical? No, but what is either real or typical. But the first\npassages, excluding as they do reality, indicate that all this is only\ntypical.\n\nAll these passages together cannot be applied to reality; all can be\nsaid to be typical; therefore they are not spoken of reality, but of the\ntype.\n\n_Agnus occisus est ab origine mundi._[262] A sacrificing judge.\n\n\n685\n\n_Contradictions._--The sceptre till the Messiah--without king or prince.\n\nThe eternal law--changed.\n\nThe eternal covenant--a new covenant.\n\nGood laws--bad precepts. Ezekiel.\n\n\n686\n\n_Types._--When the word of God, which is really true, is false\nliterally, it is true spiritually. _Sede a dextris meis:_[263] this is\nfalse literally, therefore it is true spiritually.\n\nIn these expressions, God is spoken of after the manner of men; and\nthis means nothing else but that the intention which men have in giving\na seat at their right hand, God will have also. It is then an indication\nof the intention of God, not of His manner of carrying it out.\n\nThus when it is said, \"God has received the odour of your incense, and\nwill in recompense give you a rich land,\" that is equivalent to saying\nthat the same intention which a man would have, who, pleased with your\nperfumes, should in recompense give you a rich land, God will have\ntowards you, because you have had the same intention as a man has\ntowards him to whom he presents perfumes. So _iratus est_, a \"jealous\nGod,\"[264] etc. For, the things of God being inexpressible, they cannot\nbe spoken of otherwise, and the Church makes use of them even to-day:\n_Quia confortavil seras_,[265] etc.\n\nIt is not allowable to attribute to Scripture the meaning which is not\nrevealed to us that it has. Thus, to say that the closed _mem_[266] of\nIsaiah signifies six hundred, has not been revealed. It might be said\nthat the final _tsade_ and _he deficientes_ may signify mysteries. But\nit is not allowable to say so, and still less to say this is the way of\nthe philosopher's stone. But we say that the literal meaning is not the\ntrue meaning, because the prophets have themselves said so.\n\n\n687\n\nI do not say that the _mem_ is mystical.\n\n\n688\n\nMoses (Deut. xxx) promises that God will circumcise their heart to\nrender them capable of loving Him.\n\n\n689\n\nOne saying of David, or of Moses, as for instance that \"God will\ncircumcise the heart,\" enables us to judge of their spirit. If all their\nother expressions were ambiguous, and left us in doubt whether they were\nphilosophers or Christians, one saying of this kind would in fact\ndetermine all the rest, as one sentence of Epictetus decides the meaning\nof all the rest to be the opposite. So far ambiguity exists, but not\nafterwards.\n\n\n690\n\nIf one of two persons, who are telling silly stories, uses language with\na double meaning, understood in his own circle, while the other uses it\nwith only one meaning, any one not in the secret, who hears them both\ntalk in this manner, will pass upon them the same judgment. But if\nafterwards, in the rest of their conversation one says angelic things,\nand the other always dull commonplaces, he will judge that the one spoke\nin mysteries, and not the other; the one having sufficiently shown that\nhe is incapable of such foolishness, and capable of being mysterious;\nand the other that he is incapable of mystery, and capable of\nfoolishness.\n\nThe Old Testament is a cipher.\n\n\n691\n\nThere are some that see clearly that man has no other enemy than lust,\nwhich turns him from God, and not God; and that he has no other good\nthan God, and not a rich land. Let those who believe that the good of\nman is in the flesh, and evil in what turns him away from sensual\npleasures, [_satiate_] themselves with them, and [_die_] in them. But\nlet those who seek God with all their heart, who are only troubled at\nnot seeing Him, who desire only to possess Him, and have as enemies only\nthose who turn them away from Him, who are grieved at seeing themselves\nsurrounded and overwhelmed with such enemies, take comfort. I proclaim\nto them happy news. There exists a Redeemer for them. I shall show Him\nto them. I shall show that there is a God for them. I shall not show Him\nto others. I shall make them see that a Messiah has been promised, who\nshould deliver them from their enemies, and that One has come to free\nthem from their iniquities, but not from their enemies.\n\nWhen David foretold that the Messiah would deliver His people from their\nenemies, one can believe that in the flesh these would be the Egyptians;\nand then I cannot show that the prophecy was fulfilled. But one can well\nbelieve also that the enemies would be their sins; for indeed the\nEgyptians were not their enemies, but their sins were so. This word,\nenemies, is therefore ambiguous. But if he says elsewhere, as he does,\nthat He will deliver His people from their sins, as indeed do Isaiah and\nothers, the ambiguity is removed, and the double meaning of enemies is\nreduced to the simple meaning of iniquities. For if he had sins in his\nmind, he could well denote them as enemies; but if he thought of\nenemies, he could not designate them as iniquities.\n\nNow Moses, David, and Isaiah used the same terms. Who will say then that\nthey have not the same meaning, and that David's meaning, which is\nplainly iniquities when he spoke of enemies, was not the same as [_that\nof_] Moses when speaking of enemies?\n\nDaniel (ix) prays for the deliverance of the people from the captivity\nof their enemies. But he was thinking of sins, and, to show this, he\nsays that Gabriel came to tell him that his prayer was heard, and that\nthere were only seventy weeks to wait, after which the people would be\nfreed from iniquity, sin would have an end, and the Redeemer, the Holy\nof Holies, would bring _eternal_ justice, not legal, but eternal.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION XI\n\nTHE PROPHECIES\n\n\n692\n\nWhen I see the blindness and the wretchedness of man, when I regard the\nwhole silent universe, and man without light, left to himself, and, as\nit were, lost in this corner of the universe, without knowing who has\nput him there, what he has come to do, what will become of him at death,\nand incapable of all knowledge, I become terrified, like a man who\nshould be carried in his sleep to a dreadful desert island, and should\nawake without knowing where he is, and without means of escape. And\nthereupon I wonder how people in a condition so wretched do not fall\ninto despair. I see other persons around me of a like nature. I ask them\nif they are better informed than I am. They tell me that they are not.\nAnd thereupon these wretched and lost beings, having looked around them,\nand seen some pleasing objects, have given and attached themselves to\nthem. For my own part, I have not been able to attach myself to them,\nand, considering how strongly it appears that there is something else\nthan what I see, I have examined whether this God has not left some sign\nof Himself.\n\nI see many contradictory religions, and consequently all false save one.\nEach wants to be believed on its own authority, and threatens\nunbelievers. I do not therefore believe them. Every one can say this;\nevery one can call himself a prophet. But I see that Christian religion\nwherein prophecies are fulfilled; and that is what every one cannot do.\n\n\n693\n\nAnd what crowns all this is prediction, so that it should not be said\nthat it is chance which has done it.\n\nWhosoever, having only a week to live, will not find out that it is\nexpedient to believe that all this is not a stroke of chance ...\n\nNow, if the passions had no hold on us, a week and a hundred years would\namount to the same thing.\n\n\n694\n\n_Prophecies._--Great Pan is dead.[267]\n\n\n695\n\n_Susceperunt verbum cum omni aviditate, scrutantes Scripturas, si ita se\nhaberent._[268]\n\n\n696\n\n_Prodita lege._--_Impleta cerne._--_Implenda collige._\n\n\n697\n\nWe understand the prophecies only when we see the events happen. Thus\nthe proofs of retreat, discretion, silence, etc. are proofs only to\nthose who know and believe them.\n\nJoseph so internal in a law so external.\n\nOutward penances dispose to inward, as humiliations to humility. Thus\nthe ...\n\n\n698\n\nThe synagogue has preceded the church; the Jews, the Christians. The\nprophets have foretold the Christians; Saint John, Jesus Christ.\n\n\n699\n\nIt is glorious to see with the eyes of faith the history of Herod and of\nC\u00e6sar.\n\n\n700\n\nThe zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple (Josephus, and Philo\nthe Jew, _Ad Ca\u00efum_). What other people had such a zeal? It was\nnecessary they should have it.\n\nJesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. The\nruler taken from the thigh,[269] and the fourth monarchy. How lucky we\nare to see this light amidst this darkness!\n\nHow fine it is to see, with the eyes of faith, Darius and Cyrus,\nAlexander, the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, without knowing it, for\nthe glory of the Gospel!\n\n\n701\n\nZeal of the Jewish people for the law, especially after there were no\nmore prophets.\n\n\n702\n\nWhile the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people were\nindifferent. But since there have been no more prophets, zeal has\nsucceeded them.\n\n\n703\n\nThe devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ, because he\nwould have been their salvation, but not since.\n\nThe Jewish people scorned by the Gentiles; the Christian people\npersecuted.\n\n\n704\n\n_Proof._--Prophecies with their fulfilment; what has preceded and what\nhas followed Jesus Christ.\n\n\n705\n\nThe prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ. It is for them\nalso that God has made most provision; for the event which has fulfilled\nthem is a miracle existing since the birth of the Church to the end. So\nGod has raised up prophets during sixteen hundred years, and, during\nfour hundred years afterwards, He has scattered all these prophecies\namong all the Jews, who carried them into all parts of the world. Such\nwas the preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ, and, as His Gospel\nwas to be believed by all the world, it was not only necessary that\nthere should be prophecies to make it believed, but that these\nprophecies should exist throughout the whole world, in order to make it\nembraced by the whole world.\n\n\n706\n\nBut it was not enough that the prophecies should exist. It was necessary\nthat they should be distributed throughout all places, and preserved\nthroughout all times. And in order that this agreement might not be\ntaken for an effect of chance, it was necessary that this should be\nforetold.\n\nIt is far more glorious for the Messiah that the Jews should be the\nspectators, and even the instruments of His glory, besides that God had\nreserved them.\n\n\n707\n\n_Prophecies._--The time foretold by the state of the Jewish people, by\nthe state of the heathen, by the state of the temple, by the number of\nyears.\n\n\n708\n\nOne must be bold to predict the same thing in so many ways. It was\nnecessary that the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies, the end of the\nkingdom of Judah, and the seventy weeks, should happen at the same time,\nand all this before the second temple was destroyed.\n\n\n709\n\n_Prophecies._--If one man alone had made a book of predictions about\nJesus Christ, as to the time and the manner, and Jesus Christ had come\nin conformity to these prophecies, this fact would have infinite weight.\n\nBut there is much more here. Here is a succession of men during four\nthousand years, who, consequently and without variation, come, one after\nanother, to foretell this same event. Here is a whole people who\nannounce it, and who have existed for four thousand years, in order to\ngive corporate testimony of the assurances which they have, and from\nwhich they cannot be diverted by whatever threats and persecutions\npeople may make against them. This is far more important.\n\n\n710\n\n_Predictions of particular things._--They were strangers in Egypt,\nwithout any private property, either in that country or elsewhere.\n[There was not the least appearance, either of the royalty which had\npreviously existed so long, or of that supreme council of seventy judges\nwhich they called the _Sanhedrin_, and which, having been instituted by\nMoses, lasted to the time of Jesus Christ. All these things were as far\nremoved from their state at that time as they could be], when Jacob,\ndying, and blessing his twelve children, declared to them, that they\nwould be proprietors of a great land, and foretold in particular to the\nfamily of Judah, that the kings, who would one day rule them, should be\nof his race; and that all his brethren should be their subjects; [and\nthat even the Messiah, who was to be the expectation of nations, should\nspring from him; and that the kingship should not be taken away from\nJudah, nor the ruler and law-giver of his descendants, till the expected\nMessiah should arrive in his family].\n\nThis same Jacob, disposing of this future land as though he had been its\nruler, gave a portion to Joseph more than to the others. \"I give you,\"\nsaid he, \"one part more than to your brothers.\" And blessing his two\nchildren, Ephraim and Manasseh, whom Joseph had presented to him, the\nelder, Manasseh, on his right, and the young Ephraim on his left, he put\nhis arms crosswise, and placing his right hand on the head of Ephraim,\nand his left on Manasseh, he blessed them in this manner. And, upon\nJoseph's representing to him that he was preferring the younger, he\nreplied to him with admirable resolution: \"I know it well, my son; but\nEphraim will increase more than Manasseh.\" This has been indeed so true\nin the result, that, being alone almost as fruitful as the two entire\nlines which composed a whole kingdom, they have been usually called by\nthe name of Ephraim alone.\n\nThis same Joseph, when dying, bade his children carry his bones with\nthem when they should go into that land, to which they only came two\nhundred years afterwards.\n\nMoses, who wrote all these things so long before they happened, himself\nassigned to each family portions of that land before they entered it, as\nthough he had been its ruler. [In fact he declared that God was to raise\nup from their nation and their race a prophet, of whom he was the type;\nand he foretold them exactly all that was to happen to them in the land\nwhich they were to enter after his death, the victories which God would\ngive them, their ingratitude towards God, the punishments which they\nwould receive for it, and the rest of their adventures.] He gave them\njudges who should make the division. He prescribed the entire form of\npolitical government which they should observe, the cities of refuge\nwhich they should build, and ...\n\n\n711\n\nThe prophecies about particular things are mingled with those about the\nMessiah, so that the prophecies of the Messiah should not be without\nproofs, nor the special prophecies without fruit.\n\n\n712\n\n_Perpetual captivity of the Jews._--Jer. xi, 11: \"I will bring evil upon\nJudah from which they shall not be able to escape.\"\n\n_Types._--Is. v: \"The Lord had a vineyard, from which He looked for\ngrapes; and it brought forth only wild grapes. I will therefore lay it\nwaste, and destroy it; the earth shall only bring forth thorns, and I\nwill forbid the clouds from _[raining]_ upon it. The vineyard of the\nLord is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant. I\nlooked that they should do justice, and they bring forth only\niniquities.\"\n\nIs. viii: \"Sanctify the Lord with fear and trembling; let Him be your\nonly dread, and He shall be to you for a sanctuary, but for a stone of\nstumbling and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin\nand for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and many among them\nshall stumble against that stone, and fall, and be broken, and be\nsnared, and perish. Hide my words, and cover my law for my disciples.\n\n\"I will then wait in patience upon the Lord that hideth and concealeth\nHimself from the house of Jacob.\"\n\nIs. xxix: \"Be amazed and wonder, people of Israel; stagger and stumble,\nand be drunken, but not with wine; stagger, but not with strong drink.\nFor the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. He will\nclose your eyes; He will cover your princes and your prophets that have\nvisions.\" (Daniel xii: \"The wicked shall not understand, but the wise\nshall understand.\" Hosea, the last chapter, the last verse, after many\ntemporal blessings, says: \"Who is wise, and he shall understand these\nthings, etc.?\") \"And the visions of all the prophets are become unto you\nas a sealed book, which men deliver to one that is learned, and who can\nread; and he saith, I cannot read it, for it is sealed. And when the\nbook is delivered to them that are not learned, they say I am not\nlearned.\n\n\"Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people with their lips do\nhonour me, but have removed their heart far from me,\"--there is the\nreason and the cause of it; for if they adored God in their hearts, they\nwould understand the prophecies,--\"and their fear towards me is taught\nby the precept of man. Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a\nmarvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder;\nfor the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and their understanding\nshall be [hid].\"\n\n_Prophecies. Proofs of Divinity._--Is. xli: \"Shew the things that are to\ncome hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: we will incline our\nheart unto your words. Teach us the things that have been at the\nbeginning, and declare us things for to come.\n\n\"By this we shall know that ye are gods. Yea, do good or do evil, if you\ncan. Let us then behold it and reason together. Behold, ye are of\nnothing, and only an abomination, etc. Who,\" (among contemporary\nwriters), \"hath declared from the beginning that we may know of the\nthings done from the beginning and origin? that we may say, You are\nrighteous. There is none that teacheth us, yea, there is none that\ndeclareth the future.\"\n\nIs. xlii: \"I am the Lord, and my glory will I not give to another. I\nhave foretold the things which have come to pass, and things that are to\ncome do I declare. Sing unto God a new song in all the earth.\n\n\"Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and see not, and the deaf\nthat have ears and hear not. Let all the nations be gathered together.\nWho among them can declare this, and shew us former things, and things\nto come? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be\njustified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth.\n\n\"Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen;\nthat ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am He.\n\n\"I have declared, and have saved, and I alone have done wonders before\nyour eyes: ye are my witnesses, said the Lord, that I am God.\n\n\"For your sake I have brought down the forces of the Babylonians. I am\nthe Lord, your Holy One and creator.\n\n\"I have made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. I am He\nthat drowned and destroyed for ever the mighty enemies that have\nresisted you.\n\n\"Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.\n\n\"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not\nknow it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the\ndesert.\n\n\"This people have I formed for myself; I have established them to shew\nforth my praise, etc.\n\n\"I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own\nsake, and will not remember thy sins. Put in remembrance your\ningratitude: see thou, if thou mayest be justified. Thy first father\nhath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me.\"\n\nIs. xliv: \"I am the first, and I am the last, saith the Lord. Let him\nwho will equal himself to me, declare the order of things since I\nappointed the ancient people, and the things that are coming. Fear ye\nnot: have I not told you all these things? Ye are my witnesses.\"\n\n_Prophecy of Cyrus._--Is. xlv, 4: \"For Jacob's sake, mine elect, I have\ncalled thee by thy name.\"\n\nIs. xlv, 21: \"Come and let us reason together. Who hath declared this\nfrom ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? Have not I, the\nLord?\"\n\nIs. xlvi: \"Remember the former things of old, and know there is none\nlike me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times\nthe things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I\nwill do all my pleasure.\"\n\nIs. xlii: \"Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do\nI declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.\"\n\nIs. xlviii, 3: \"I have declared the former things from the beginning; I\ndid them suddenly; and they came to pass. Because I know that thou art\nobstinate, that thy spirit is rebellious, and thy brow brass; I have\neven declared it to thee before it came to pass: lest thou shouldst say\nthat it was the work of thy gods, and the effect of their commands.\n\n\"Thou hast seen all this; and will not ye declare it? I have shewed thee\nnew things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know\nthem. They are created now, and not from the beginning; I have kept them\nhidden from thee; lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them.\n\n\"Yea, thou knewest not; yea, thou heardest not; yea, from that time that\nthine ear was not opened: for I knew that thou couldst deal very\ntreacherously, and wast called a transgressor from the womb.\"\n\n_Reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles._--Is. lxv: \"I\nam sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought\nme not; I said, Behold me, behold me, behold me, unto a nation that did\nnot call upon my name.\n\n\"I have spread out my hands all the day unto an unbelieving people,\nwhich walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; a\npeople that provoketh me to anger continually by the sins they commit in\nmy face; that sacrificeth to idols, etc.\n\n\"These shall be scattered like smoke in the day of my wrath, etc.\n\n\"Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers, will I assemble\ntogether, and will recompense you for all according to your works.\n\n\"Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one\nsaith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it [and the promise of\nfruit]: for my servants' sake I will not destroy all Israel.\n\n\"Thus I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah, an\ninheritor of my mountains, and mine elect and my servants shall inherit\nit, and my fertile and abundant plains; but I will destroy all others,\nbecause you have forgotten your God to serve strange gods. I called, and\nye did not answer; I spake, and ye did not hear; and ye did choose the\nthing which I forbade.\n\n\"Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye\nshall be hungry; my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed; my\nservants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry and howl for\nvexation of spirit.\n\n\"And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen: for the Lord\nshall slay thee, and call His servants by another name, that he who\nblesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in God, etc., because\nthe former troubles are forgotten.\n\n\"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former\nthings shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.\n\n\"But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for,\nbehold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.\n\n\"And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people; and the voice of\nweeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.\n\n\"Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I\nwill hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall\neat straw like the bullock; and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They\nshall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.\"\n\nIs. lvi, 3: \"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for\nmy salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.\n\n\"Blessed is the man that doeth this, that keepeth the Sabbath, and\nkeepeth his hand from doing any evil.\n\n\"Neither let the strangers that have joined themselves to me, say, God\nwill separate me from His people. For thus saith the Lord: Whoever will\nkeep my Sabbath, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of\nmy covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house a place and a name\nbetter than that of sons and of daughters: I will give them an\neverlasting name, that shall not be cut off.\"\n\nIs. lix, 9: \"Therefore for our iniquities is justice far from us: we\nwait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in\ndarkness. We grope for the wall like the blind; we stumble at noon day\nas in the night: we are in desolate places as dead men.\n\n\"We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves; we look for\njudgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.\"\n\nIs. lxvi, 18: \"But I know their works and their thoughts; it shall come\nthat I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall see my glory.\n\n\"And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of\nthem unto the nations, to Africa, to Lydia, to Italy, to Greece, and to\nthe people that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory. And\nthey shall bring your brethren.\"\n\nJer. vii. _Reprobation of the Temple_: \"Go ye unto Shiloth, where I set\nmy name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my\npeople. And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, I\nwill do unto this house, wherein my name is called upon, wherein ye\ntrust, and unto the place which I gave to your priests, as I have done\nto Shiloth.\" (For I have rejected it, and made myself a temple\nelsewhere.)\n\n\"And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your\nbrethren, even the seed of Ephraim.\" (Rejected for ever.) \"Therefore\npray not for this people.\"\n\nJer. vii, 22: \"What avails it you to add sacrifice to sacrifice? For I\nspake not unto your fathers, when I brought them out of the land of\nEgypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this thing\ncommanded I them, saying, Obey and be faithful to my commandments, and I\nwill be your God, and ye shall be my people.\" (It was only after they\nhad sacrificed to the golden calf that I gave myself sacrifices to turn\ninto good an evil custom.)\n\nJer. vii, 4: \"Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the\nLord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these.\"\n\n\n713\n\nThe Jews witnesses for God. Is. xliii, 9; xliv, 8.\n\n_Prophecies fulfilled._--I Kings xiii, 2.--I Kings xxiii, 16.--Joshua\nvi, 26.--I Kings xvi, 34.--Deut. xxiii.\n\nMalachi i, II. The sacrifice of the Jews rejected, and the sacrifice of\nthe heathen, (even out of Jerusalem,) and in all places.\n\nMoses, before dying, foretold the calling of the Gentiles, Deut. xxxii,\n21, and the reprobation of the Jews.\n\nMoses foretold what would happen to each tribe.\n\n_Prophecy._--\"Your name shall be a curse unto mine elect, and I will\ngive them another name.\"\n\n\"Make their heart fat,\"[270] and how? by flattering their lust and\nmaking them hope to satisfy it.\n\n\n714\n\n_Prophecy._--Amos and Zechariah. They have sold the just one, and\ntherefore will not be recalled.--Jesus Christ betrayed.\n\nThey shall no more remember Egypt. See Is. xliii, 16, 17, 18, 19. Jer.\nxxiii, 6, 7.\n\n_Prophecy._--The Jews shall be scattered abroad. Is. xxvii, 6.--A new\nlaw, Jerem. xxxi, 32.\n\nMalachi. _Grotius._--The second temple glorious.--Jesus Christ will\ncome. Haggai ii, 7, 8, 9, 10.\n\nThe calling of the Gentiles. Joel ii, 28. Hosea ii, 24. Deut. xxxii, 21.\nMalachi i, 11.\n\n\n715\n\nHosea iii.--Is. xlii, xlviii, liv, lx, lxi, last verse. \"I foretold it\nlong since that they might know that it is I.\" Jaddus to Alexander.\n\n\n716\n\n[_Prophecies._--The promise that David will always have descendants.\nJer. xiii, 13.]\n\n\n717\n\nThe eternal reign of the race of David, 2 Chron., by all the prophecies,\nand with an oath. And it was not temporally fulfilled. Jer. xxiii, 20.\n\n\n718\n\nWe might perhaps think that, when the prophets foretold that the sceptre\nshould not depart from Judah until the eternal King came, they spoke to\nflatter the people, and that their prophecy was proved false by Herod.\nBut to show that this was not their meaning, and that, on the contrary,\nthey knew well that this temporal kingdom should cease, they said that\nthey would be without a king and without a prince, and for a long time.\nHosea iii, 4.\n\n\n719\n\n_Non habemus regem nisi C\u00e6sarem._[271] Therefore Jesus Christ was the\nMessiah, since they had no longer any king but a stranger, and would\nhave no other.\n\n\n720\n\nWe have no king but C\u00e6sar.\n\n\n721\n\nDaniel ii: \"All thy soothsayers and wise men cannot shew unto thee the\nsecret which thou hast demanded. But there is a God in heaven who can do\nso, and that hath revealed to thee in thy dream what shall be in the\nlatter days,\" (This dream must have caused him much misgiving.)\n\n\"And it is not by my own wisdom that I have knowledge of this secret,\nbut by the revelation of this same God, that hath revealed it to me, to\nmake it manifest in thy presence.\n\n\"Thy dream was then of this kind. Thou sawest a great image, high and\nterrible, which stood before thee. His head was of gold, his breast and\narms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his\nfeet part of iron and part of clay. Thus thou sawest till that a stone\nwas cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that\nwere of iron and of clay, and brake them to pieces.\n\n\"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken\nto pieces together, and the wind carried them away; but this stone that\nsmote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.\nThis is the dream, and now I will give thee the interpretation thereof.\n\n\"Thou who art the greatest of kings, and to whom God hath given a power\nso vast that thou art renowned among all peoples, art the head of gold\nwhich thou hast seen. But after thee shall arise another kingdom\ninferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear\nrule over all the earth.\n\n\"But the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, and even as iron\nbreaketh in pieces and subdueth all things, so shall this empire break\nin pieces and bruise all.\n\n\"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay and part of\niron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the\nstrength of iron and of the weakness of clay.\n\n\"But as iron cannot be firmly mixed with clay, so they who are\nrepresented by the iron and by the clay, shall not cleave one to another\nthough united by marriage.\n\n\"Now in the days of these kings shall God set up a kingdom, which shall\nnever be destroyed, nor ever be delivered up to other people. It shall\nbreak in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for\never, according as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the\nmountain without hands, and that it fell from the mountain, and brake in\npieces the iron, the clay, the silver, and the gold. God hath made known\nto thee what shall come to pass hereafter. This dream is certain, and\nthe interpretation thereof sure.\n\n\"Then Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face towards the earth,\" etc.\n\nDaniel viii, 8. \"Daniel having seen the combat of the ram and of the\nhe-goat, who vanquished him and ruled over the earth, whereof the\nprincipal horn being broken four others came up toward the four winds of\nheaven, and out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed\nexceedingly great toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the\nland of Israel, and it waxed great even to the host of heaven; and it\ncast down some of the stars, and stamped upon them, and at last\noverthrew the prince, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and\nthe place of his sanctuary was cast down.\n\n\"This is what Daniel saw. He sought the meaning of it, and a voice cried\nin this manner, 'Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision,' And\nGabriel said:\n\n\"The ram which thou sawest is the king of the Medes and Persians, and\nthe he-goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn that is between\nhis eyes is the first king of this monarchy.\n\n\"Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms\nshall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.\n\n\"And in the latter time of their kingdom, when iniquities are come to\nthe full, there shall arise a king, insolent and strong, but not by his\nown power, to whom all things shall succeed after his own will; and he\nshall destroy the holy people, and through his policy also he shall\ncause craft to prosper in his hand, and he shall destroy many. He shall\nalso stand up against the Prince of princes, but he shall perish\nmiserably, and nevertheless by a violent hand.\"\n\nDaniel ix, 20. \"Whilst I was praying with all my heart, and confessing\nmy sin and the sin of all my people, and prostrating myself before my\nGod, even Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, came\nto me and touched me about the time of the evening oblation, and he\ninformed me and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee the\nknowledge of things. At the beginning of thy supplications I came to\nshew that which thou didst desire, for thou are greatly beloved:\ntherefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. Seventy weeks\nare determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the\ntransgression, and to make an end of sins, and to abolish iniquity, and\nto bring in everlasting righteousness; to accomplish the vision and the\nprophecies, and to anoint the Most Holy. (After which this people shall\nbe no more thy people, nor this city the holy city. The times of wrath\nshall be passed, and the years of grace shall come for ever.)\n\n\"Know therefore, and understand, that, from the going forth of the\ncommandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the\nPrince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and two weeks.\" (The\nHebrews were accustomed to divide numbers, and to place the small first.\nThus, 7 and 62 make 69. Of this 70 there will then remain the 70th, that\nis to say, the 7 last years of which he will speak next.)\n\n\"The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.\nAnd after three score and two weeks,\" (which have followed the first\nseven. Christ will then be killed after the sixty-nine weeks, that is to\nsay, in the last week), \"the Christ shall be cut off, and a people of\nthe prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and\noverwhelm all, and the end of that war shall accomplish the desolation.\"\n\n\"Now one week,\" (which is the seventieth, which remains), \"shall confirm\nthe covenant with many, and in the midst of the week,\" (that is to say,\nthe last three and a half years), \"he shall cause the sacrifice and the\noblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall\nmake it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall\nbe poured upon the desolate.\"\n\nDaniel xi. \"The angel said to Daniel: There shall stand up yet,\" (after\nCyrus, under whom this still is), \"three kings in Persia,\" (Cambyses,\nSmerdis, Darius); \"and the fourth who shall then come,\" (Xerxes) \"shall\nbe far richer than they all, and far stronger, and shall stir up all his\npeople against the Greeks.\n\n\"But a mighty king shall stand up,\" (Alexander), \"that shall rule with\ngreat dominion, and do according to his will. And when he shall stand\nup, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided in four parts\ntoward the four winds of heaven,\" (as he had said above, vii, 6; viii,\n8), \"but not his posterity; and his successors shall not equal his\npower, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides\nthese,\" (his four chief successors).\n\n\"And the king of the south,\" (Ptolemy, son of Lagos, Egypt), \"shall be\nstrong; but one of his princes shall be strong above him, and his\ndominion shall be a great dominion,\" (Seleucus, King of Syria. Appian\nsays that he was the most powerful of Alexander's successors).\n\n\"And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, and the\nking's daughter of the south,\" (Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy\nPhiladelphus, son of the other Ptolemy), \"shall come to the king of the\nnorth,\" (to Antiochus Deus, King of Syria and of Asia, son of Seleucus\nLagidas), \"to make peace between these princes.\n\n\"But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority; for she and\nthey that brought her, and her children, and her friends, shall be\ndelivered to death.\" (Berenice and her son were killed by Seleucus\nCallinicus.)\n\n\"But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up,\" (Ptolemy\nEuergetes was the issue of the same father as Berenice), \"which shall\ncome with a mighty army into the land of the king of the north, where he\nshall put all under subjection, and he shall also carry captive into\nEgypt their gods, their princes, their gold, their silver, and all their\nprecious spoils,\" (if he had not been called into Egypt by domestic\nreasons, says Justin, he would have entirely stripped Seleucus); \"and he\nshall continue several years when the king of the north can do nought\nagainst him.\n\n\"And so he shall return into his kingdom. But his sons shall be stirred\nup, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces,\" (Seleucus Ceraunus,\nAntiochus the Great). \"And their army shall come and overthrow all;\nwherefore the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall\nalso form a great army, and fight him,\" (Ptolemy Philopator against\nAntiochus the Great at Raphia), \"and conquer; and his troops shall\nbecome insolent, and his heart shall be lifted up,\" (this Ptolemy\ndesecrated the temple; Josephus): \"he shall cast down many ten\nthousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. For the king of the\nnorth,\" (Antiochus the Great), \"shall return with a greater multitude\nthan before, and in those times also a great number of enemies shall\nstand up against the king of the south,\" (during the reign of the young\nPtolemy Epiphanes); \"also the apostates and robbers of thy people shall\nexalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall.\" (Those\nwho abandon their religion to please Euergetes, when he will send his\ntroops to Scopas; for Antiochus will again take Scopas, and conquer\nthem.) \"And the king of the north shall destroy the fenced cities, and\nthe arms of the south shall not withstand, and all shall yield to his\nwill; he shall stand in the land of Israel, and it shall yield to him.\nAnd thus he shall think to make himself master of all the empire of\nEgypt,\" (despising the youth of Epiphanes, says Justin). \"And for that\nhe shall make alliance with him, and give his daughter\" (Cleopatra, in\norder that she may betray her husband. On which Appian says that\ndoubting his ability to make himself master of Egypt by force, because\nof the protection of the Romans, he wished to attempt it by cunning).\n\"He shall wish to corrupt her, but she shall not stand on his side,\nneither be for him. Then he shall turn his face to other designs, and\nshall think to make himself master of some isles,\" (that is to say,\nseaports), \"and shall take many,\" (as Appian says).\n\n\"But a prince shall oppose his conquests,\" (Scipio Africanus, who\nstopped the progress of Antiochus the Great, because he offended the\nRomans in the person of their allies), \"and shall cause the reproach\noffered by him to cease. He shall then return into his kingdom and there\nperish, and be no more.\" (He was slain by his soldiers.)\n\n\"And he who shall stand up in his estate,\" (Seleucus Philopator or\nSoter, the son of Antiochus the Great), \"shall be a tyrant, a raiser of\ntaxes in the glory of the kingdom,\" (which means the people), \"but\nwithin a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle.\nAnd in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of the honour of\nthe kingdom, but he shall come in cleverly by flatteries. All armies\nshall bend before him; he shall conquer them, and even the prince with\nwhom he has made a covenant. For having renewed the league with him, he\nshall work deceitfully, and enter with a small people into his province,\npeaceably and without fear. He shall take the fattest places, and shall\ndo that which his fathers have not done, and ravage on all sides. He\nshall forecast great devices during his time.\"\n\n\n722\n\n_Prophecies._--The seventy weeks of Daniel are ambiguous as regards\nthe term of commencement, because of the terms of the prophecy; and as\nregards the term of conclusion, because of the differences among\nchronologists. But all this difference extends only to two hundred\nyears.\n\n\n723\n\n_Predictions._--That in the fourth monarchy, before the destruction of\nthe second temple, before the dominion of the Jews was taken away, in\nthe seventieth week of Daniel, during the continuance of the second\ntemple, the heathen should be instructed, and brought to the knowledge\nof the God worshipped by the Jews; that those who loved Him should be\ndelivered from their enemies, and filled with His fear and love.\n\nAnd it happened that in the fourth monarchy, before the destruction of\nthe second temple, etc., the heathen in great number worshipped God, and\nled an angelic life. Maidens dedicated their virginity and their life to\nGod. Men renounced their pleasures. What Plato could only make\nacceptable to a few men, specially chosen and instructed, a secret\ninfluence imparted, by the power of a few words, to a hundred million\nignorant men.\n\nThe rich left their wealth. Children left the dainty homes of their\nparents to go into the rough desert. (See Philo the Jew.) All this was\nforetold a great while ago. For two thousand years no heathen had\nworshipped the God of the Jews; and at the time foretold, a great number\nof the heathen worshipped this only God. The temples were destroyed. The\nvery kings made submission to the cross. All this was due to the Spirit\nof God, which was spread abroad upon the earth.\n\nNo heathen, since Moses until Jesus Christ, believed according to the\nvery Rabbis. A great number of the heathen, after Jesus Christ, believed\nin the books of Moses, kept them in substance and spirit, and only\nrejected what was useless.\n\n\n724\n\n_Prophecies._--The conversion of the Egyptians (Isaiah xix, 19); an\naltar in Egypt to the true God.\n\n\n725\n\n_Prophecies._--_In Egypt._--_Pugio Fidei_, p. 659. _Talmud._\n\n\"It is a tradition among us, that, when the Messiah shall come, the\nhouse of God, destined for the dispensation of His Word, shall be full\nof filth and impurity; and that the wisdom of the scribes shall be\ncorrupt and rotten. Those who shall be afraid to sin, shall be rejected\nby the people, and treated as senseless fools.\"\n\nIs. xlix: \"Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye people, from afar:\nThe Lord hath called me by my name from the womb of my mother; in the\nshadow of His hand hath He hid me, and hath made my words like a sharp\nsword, and said unto me, Thou art my servant in whom I will be\nglorified. Then I said, Lord, have I laboured in vain? have I spent my\nstrength for nought? yet surely my judgment is with Thee, O Lord, and my\nwork with Thee. And now, saith the Lord, that formed me from the womb to\nbe His servant, to bring Jacob and Israel again to Him, Thou shalt be\nglorious in my sight, and I will be thy strength. It is a light thing\nthat thou shouldst convert the tribes of Jacob; I have raised thee up\nfor a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the\nends of the earth. Thus saith the Lord to him whom man despiseth, to him\nwhom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Princes and kings\nshall worship thee, because the Lord is faithful that hath chosen thee.\n\n\"Again saith the Lord unto me, I have heard thee in the days of\nsalvation and of mercy, and I will preserve thee for a covenant of the\npeople, to cause to inherit the desolate nations, that thou mayest say\nto the prisoners: Go forth; to them that are in darkness show\nyourselves, and possess these abundant and fertile lands. They shall not\nhunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for he\nthat hath mercy upon them shall lead them, even by the springs of waters\nshall he guide them, and make the mountains a way before them. Behold,\nthe peoples shall come from all parts, from the east and from the west,\nfrom the north and from the south. Let the heavens give glory to God;\nlet the earth be joyful; for it hath pleased the Lord to comfort His\npeople, and He will have mercy upon the poor who hope in Him.\n\n\"Yet Sion dared to say: The Lord hath forsaken me, and hath forgotten\nme. Can a woman forget her child, that she should not have compassion on\nthe son of her womb? but if she forget, yet will not I forget thee, O\nSion. I will bear thee always between my hands, and thy walls are\ncontinually before me. They that shall build thee are come, and thy\ndestroyers shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and\nbehold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I\nlive, saith the Lord, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as\nwith an ornament. Thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy\ndestruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,\nand the children thou shalt have after thy barrenness shall say again in\nthy ears: The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may\ndwell. Then shalt thou say in thy heart: Who hath begotten me these,\nseeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing\nto and fro? and who brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these,\nwhere had they been? And the Lord shall say to thee: Behold, I will lift\nup mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people; and\nthey shall bring thy sons in their arms and in their bosoms. And kings\nshall be their nursing fathers, and queens their nursing mothers; they\nshall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the\ndust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; for they shall\nnot be ashamed that wait for me. Shall the prey be taken from the\nmighty? But even if the captives be taken away from the strong, nothing\nshall hinder me from saving thy children, and from destroying thy\nenemies; and all flesh shall know that I am the Lord, thy Saviour and\nthy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.\n\n\"Thus saith the Lord: What is the bill of this divorcement, wherewith I\nhave put away the synagogue? and why have I delivered it into the hands\nof your enemies? Is it not for your iniquities and for your\ntransgressions that I have put it away?\n\n\"For I came, and no man received me; I called and there was none to\nhear. Is my arm shortened, that I cannot redeem?\n\n\"Therefore I will show the tokens of mine anger; I will clothe the\nheavens with darkness, and make sackcloth their covering.\n\n\"The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how\nto speak a word in season to him that is weary. He hath opened mine ear,\nand I have listened to Him as a master.\n\n\"The Lord hath revealed His will, and I was not rebellious.\n\n\"I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to outrage; I hid not my\nface from shame and spitting. But the Lord hath helped me; therefore I\nhave not been confounded.\n\n\"He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? who will be\nmine adversary, and accuse me of sin, God himself being my protector?\n\n\"All men shall pass away, and be consumed by time; let those that fear\nGod hearken to the voice of His servant; let him that languisheth in\ndarkness put his trust in the Lord. But as for you, ye do but kindle the\nwrath of God upon you; ye walk in the light of your fire and in the\nsparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall\nlie down in sorrow.\n\n\"Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the\nLord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit\nwhence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah\nthat bare you: for I called him alone, when childless, and increased\nhim. Behold, I have comforted Zion, and heaped upon her blessings and\nconsolations.\n\n\"Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me: for a law shall\nproceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the\nGentiles.\"\n\nAmos viii. The prophet, having enumerated the sins of Israel, said that\nGod had sworn to take vengeance on them.\n\nHe says this: \"And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord,\nthat I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the\nearth in the clear day; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and\nall your songs into lamentation.\n\n\"You all shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make this nation\nmourn as for an only son, and the end therefore as a bitter day. Behold,\nthe days come, saith the Lord, that I will send a famine in the land,\nnot a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words\nof the Lord. And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north\neven to the east; they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the\nLord, and shall not find it.\n\n\"In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. They\nthat have followed the idols of Samaria, and sworn by the god of Dan,\nand followed the manner of Beersheba, shall fall, and never rise up\nagain.\"\n\nAmos iii, 2: \"Ye only have I known of all the families of the earth for\nmy people.\"\n\nDaniel xii, 7. Having described all the extent of the reign of the\nMessiah, he says: \"All these things shall be finished, when the\nscattering of the people of Israel shall be accomplished.\"\n\nHaggai ii, 4: \"Ye who, comparing this second house with the glory of the\nfirst, despise it, be strong, saith the Lord, be strong, O Zerubbabel,\nand O Jesus, the high priest, be strong, all ye people of the land, and\nwork. For I am with you, saith the Lord of hosts; according to the word\nthat I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit\nremaineth among you. Fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet\none little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the\nsea, and the dry land,\" (a way of speaking to indicate a great and an\nextraordinary change); \"and I will shake all nations, and the desire of\nall the Gentiles shall come; and I will fill this house with glory,\nsaith the Lord.\n\n\"The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord,\" (that is to\nsay, it is not by that that I wish to be honoured; as it is said\nelsewhere: All the beasts of the field are mine, what advantages me that\nthey are offered me in sacrifice?). \"The glory of this latter house\nshall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts; and in\nthis place will I establish my house, saith the Lord.\n\n\"According to all that thou desiredst in Horeb in the day of the\nassembly, saying, Let us not hear again the voice of the Lord, neither\nlet us see this fire any more, that we die not.[272] And the Lord said\nunto me, Their prayer is just. I will raise them up a prophet from among\ntheir brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and\nhe shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come\nto pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he will\nspeak in my name, I will require it of him.\"\n\nGenesis xlix: \"Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise, and\nthou shalt conquer thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down\nbefore thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art\ngone up, and art couched as a lion, and as a lioness that shall be\nroused up.\n\n\"The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between\nhis feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the\npeople be.\"\n\n\n726\n\n_During the life of the Messiah._--_\u00c6nigmatis._--Ezek. xvii.\n\nHis forerunner. Malachi iii.\n\nHe will be born an infant. Is. ix.\n\nHe will be born in the village of Bethlehem. Micah v. He will appear\nchiefly in Jerusalem, and will be a descendant of the family of Judah\nand of David.\n\nHe is to blind the learned and the wise, Is. vi, viii, xxix, etc.; and\nto preach the Gospel to the lowly, Is. xxix; to open the eyes of the\nblind, give health to the sick, and bring light to those that languish\nin darkness. Is. lxi.\n\nHe is to show the perfect way, and be the teacher of the Gentiles. Is.\nlv; xlii, 1-7.\n\nThe prophecies are to be unintelligible to the wicked, Dan. xii; Hosea\nxiv, 10; but they are to be intelligible to those who are well informed.\n\nThe prophecies, which represent Him as poor, represent Him as master of\nthe nations. Is. lii, 14, etc.; liii; Zech. ix, 9.\n\nThe prophecies, which foretell the time, foretell Him only as master of\nthe nations and suffering, and not as in the clouds nor as judge. And\nthose, which represent Him thus as judge and in glory, do not mention\nthe time. When the Messiah is spoken of as great and glorious, it is as\nthe judge of the world, and not its Redeemer.\n\nHe is to be the victim for the sins of the world. Is. xxxix, liii, etc.\n\nHe is to be the precious corner-stone. Is. xxviii, 16.\n\nHe is to be a stone of stumbling and offence. Is. viii. Jerusalem is to\ndash against this stone.\n\nThe builders are to reject this stone. Ps. cxvii, 22.\n\nGod is to make this stone the chief corner-stone.\n\nAnd this stone is to grow into a huge mountain, and fill the whole\nearth. Dan. ii.\n\nSo He is to be rejected, despised, betrayed (Ps. cviii, 8), sold (Zech.\nxi, 12), spit upon, buffeted, mocked, afflicted in innumerable ways,\ngiven gall to drink (Ps. lxviii), pierced (Zech. xii), His feet and His\nhands pierced, slain, and lots cast for His raiment.\n\nHe will raise again (Ps. xv) the third day (Hosea vi, 3).\n\nHe will ascend to heaven to sit on the right hand. Ps. cx.\n\nThe kings will arm themselves against Him. Ps. ii.\n\nBeing on the right hand of the Father, He will be victorious over His\nenemies.\n\nThe kings of the earth and all nations will worship Him. Is. lx.\n\nThe Jews will continue as a nation. Jeremiah.\n\nThey will wander, without kings, etc. (Hosea iii), without prophets\n(Amos), looking for salvation and finding it not (Isaiah).\n\nCalling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. Is. lii, 15; lv, 5; lx, etc.\nPs. lxxxi.\n\nHosea i, 9: \"Ye are not my people, and I will not be your God, when ye\nare multiplied after the dispersion. In the places where it was said, Ye\nare not my people, I will call them my people.\"\n\n\n727\n\nIt was not lawful to sacrifice outside of Jerusalem, which was the place\nthat the Lord had chosen, nor even to eat the tithes elsewhere. Deut.\nxii, 5, etc.; Deut. xiv, 23, etc.; xv, 20; xvi, 2, 7, 11, 15.\n\nHosea foretold that they should be without a king, without a prince,\nwithout a sacrifice, and without an idol; and this prophecy is now\nfulfilled, as they cannot make a lawful sacrifice out of Jerusalem.\n\n\n728\n\n_Predictions._--It was foretold that, in the time of the Messiah, He\nshould come to establish a new covenant, which should make them forget\nthe escape from Egypt (Jer. xxiii, 5; Is. xliii, 10); that He should\nplace His law not in externals, but in the heart; that He should put His\nfear, which had only been from without, in the midst of the heart. Who\ndoes not see the Christian law in all this?\n\n\n729\n\n... That then idolatry would be overthrown; that this Messiah would cast\ndown all idols, and bring men into the worship of the true God.\n\nThat the temples of the idols would be cast down, and that among all\nnations, and in all places of the earth, He would be offered a pure\nsacrifice, not of beasts.\n\nThat He would be king of the Jews and Gentiles. And we see this king of\nthe Jews and Gentiles oppressed by both, who conspire His death; and\nruler of both, destroying the worship of Moses in Jerusalem, which was\nits centre, where He made His first Church; and also the worship of\nidols in Rome, the centre of it, where He made His chief Church.\n\n\n730\n\n_Prophecies._--That Jesus Christ will sit on the right hand, till God\nhas subdued His enemies.\n\nTherefore He will not subdue them Himself.\n\n\n731\n\n\"... Then they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, saying,\nHere is the Lord, _for God shall make Himself known to all._\"[273]\n\n\"... Your sons shall prophesy.\"[274] \"I will put my spirit and my fear\n_in your heart_.\"\n\nAll that is the same thing. To prophesy is to speak of God, not from\noutward proofs, but from an inward and immediate feeling.\n\n\n732\n\nThat He would teach men the perfect way.\n\nAnd there has never come, before Him nor after Him, any man who has\ntaught anything divine approaching to this.\n\n\n733\n\n... That Jesus Christ would be small in His beginning, and would then\nincrease. The little stone of Daniel.\n\nIf I had in no wise heard of the Messiah, nevertheless, after such\nwonderful predictions of the course of the world which I see fulfilled,\nI see that He is divine. And if I knew that these same books foretold a\nMessiah, I should be sure that He would come; and seeing that they place\nHis time before the destruction of the second temple, I should say that\nHe had come.\n\n\n734\n\n_Prophecies._--That the Jews would reject Jesus Christ, and would be\nrejected of God, for this reason, that the chosen vine brought forth\nonly wild grapes. That the chosen people would be fruitless, ungrateful,\nand unbelieving, _populum non credentem et contradicentem_.[275] That\nGod would strike them with blindness, and in full noon they would grope\nlike the blind; and that a forerunner would go before Him.\n\n\n735\n\n_Transfixerunt._ Zech. xii, 10.\n\nThat a deliverer should come, who would crush the demon's head, and free\nHis people from their sins, _ex omnibus iniquitatibus_; that there\nshould be a New Covenant, which would be eternal; that there should be\nanother priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, and it should be\neternal; that the Christ should be glorious, mighty, strong, and yet so\npoor that He would not be recognised, nor taken for what He is, but\nrejected and slain; that His people who denied Him should no longer be\nHis people; that the idolaters should receive Him, and take refuge in\nHim; that He should leave Zion to reign in the centre of idolatry; that\nnevertheless the Jews should continue for ever; that He should be of\nJudah, and when there should be no longer a king.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION XII\n\nPROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST\n\n\n736\n\n... Therefore I reject all other religions. In that way I find an answer\nto all objections. It is right that a God so pure should only reveal\nHimself to those whose hearts are purified. Hence this religion is\nlovable to me, and I find it now sufficiently justified by so divine a\nmorality. But I find more in it.\n\nI find it convincing that, since the memory of man has lasted, it was\nconstantly announced to men that they were universally corrupt, but that\na Redeemer should come; that it was not one man who said it, but\ninnumerable men, and a whole nation expressly made for the purpose, and\nprophesying for four thousand years. This is a nation which is more\nancient than every other nation. Their books, scattered abroad, are four\nthousand years old.\n\nThe more I examine them, the more truths I find in them: an entire\nnation foretell Him before His advent, and an entire nation worship Him\nafter His advent; what has preceded and what has followed; in short,\npeople without idols and kings, this synagogue which was foretold, and\nthese wretches who frequent it, and who, being our enemies, are\nadmirable witnesses of the truth of these prophecies, wherein their\nwretchedness and even their blindness are foretold.\n\nI find this succession, this religion, wholly divine in its authority,\nin its duration, in its perpetuity, in its morality, in its conduct, in\nits doctrine, in its effects. The frightful darkness of the Jews was\nforetold: _Eris palpans in meridie.[276] Dabitur liber scienti literas,\net dicet: Non possum legere._[277] While the sceptre was still in the\nhands of the first foreign usurper, there is the report of the coming of\nJesus Christ.\n\nSo I hold out my arms to my _Redeemer_, who, having been foretold for\nfour thousand years, has come to suffer and to die for me on earth, at\nthe time and under all the circumstances foretold. By His grace, I await\ndeath in peace, in the hope of being eternally united to Him. Yet I\nlive with joy, whether in the prosperity which it pleases Him to bestow\nupon me, or in the adversity which He sends for my good, and which He\nhas taught me to bear by His example.\n\n\n737\n\nThe prophecies having given different signs which should all happen at\nthe advent of the Messiah, it was necessary that all these signs should\noccur at the same time. So it was necessary that the fourth monarchy\nshould have come, when the seventy weeks of Daniel were ended; and that\nthe sceptre should have then departed from Judah. And all this happened\nwithout any difficulty. Then it was necessary that the Messiah should\ncome; and Jesus Christ then came, who was called the Messiah. And all\nthis again was without difficulty. This indeed shows the truth of the\nprophecies.\n\n\n738\n\nThe prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints again were\nforetold, but did not foretell. Jesus Christ both foretold and was\nforetold.\n\n\n739\n\nJesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its hope, the\nNew as its model, and both as their centre.\n\n\n740\n\nThe two oldest books in the world are those of Moses and Job, the one a\nJew and the other a Gentile. Both of them look upon Jesus Christ as\ntheir common centre and object: Moses in relating the promises of God to\nAbraham, Jacob, etc., and his prophecies; and Job, _Quis mihi det\nut_,[278] etc. _Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit_, etc.\n\n\n741\n\nThe Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to the time of\nthe birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus Christ.\n\n\n742\n\n_Proofs of Jesus Christ._\n\n     Why was the book of Ruth preserved?\n\n     Why the story of Tamar?\n\n\n743\n\n\"Pray that ye enter not into temptation.\"[279] It is dangerous to be\ntempted; and people are tempted because they do not pray.\n\n_Et tu conversus confirma fratres tuos._ But before, _conversus Jesus\nrespexit Petrum_.\n\nSaint Peter asks permission to strike Malchus, and strikes before\nhearing the answer. Jesus Christ replies afterwards.\n\nThe word, _Galilee_, which the Jewish mob pronounced as if by chance, in\naccusing Jesus Christ before Pilate, afforded Pilate a reason for\nsending Jesus Christ to Herod. And thereby the mystery was accomplished,\nthat He should be judged by Jews and Gentiles. Chance was apparently the\ncause of the accomplishment of the mystery.\n\n\n744\n\nThose who have a difficulty in believing seek a reason in the fact that\nthe Jews do not believe. \"Were this so clear,\" say they, \"why did the\nJews not believe?\" And they almost wish that they had believed, so as\nnot to be kept back by the example of their refusal. But it is their\nvery refusal that is the foundation of our faith. We should be much less\ndisposed to the faith, if they were on our side. We should then have a\nmore ample pretext. The wonderful thing is to have made the Jews great\nlovers of the things foretold, and great enemies of their fulfilment.\n\n\n745\n\nThe Jews were accustomed to great and striking miracles, and so, having\nhad the great miracles of the Red Sea and of the land of Canaan as an\nepitome of the great deeds of their Messiah, they therefore looked for\nmore striking miracles, of which those of Moses were only the patterns.\n\n\n746\n\nThe carnal Jews and the heathen have their calamities, and Christians\nalso. There is no Redeemer for the heathen, for they do not so much as\nhope for one. There is no Redeemer for the Jews; they hope for Him in\nvain. There is a Redeemer only for Christians. (See _Perpetuity_.)\n\n\n747\n\nIn the time of the Messiah the people divided themselves. The spiritual\nembraced the Messiah, and the coarser-minded remained to serve as\nwitnesses of Him.\n\n\n748\n\n\"If this was clearly foretold to the Jews, how did they not believe it,\nor why were they not destroyed for resisting a fact so clear?\"\n\nI reply: in the first place, it was foretold both that they would not\nbelieve a thing so clear, and that they would not be destroyed. And\nnothing is more to the glory of the Messiah; for it was not enough that\nthere should be prophets; their prophets must be kept above suspicion.\nNow, etc.\n\n\n749\n\nIf the Jews had all been converted by Jesus Christ, we should have none\nbut questionable witnesses. And if they had been entirely destroyed, we\nshould have no witnesses at all.\n\n\n750\n\nWhat do the prophets say of Jesus Christ? That He will be clearly God?\nNo; but that He is a God truly hidden; that He will be slighted; that\nnone will think that it is He; that He will be a stone of stumbling,\nupon which many will stumble, etc. Let people then reproach us no longer\nfor want of clearness, since we make profession of it.\n\nBut, it is said, there are obscurities.--And without that, no one would\nhave stumbled over Jesus Christ, and this is one of the formal\npronouncements of the prophets: _Exc\u00e6ca_[280] ...\n\n\n751\n\nMoses first teaches the Trinity, original sin, the Messiah.\n\nDavid: a great witness; a king, good, merciful, a beautiful soul, a\nsound mind, powerful. He prophesies, and his wonder comes to pass. This\nis infinite.\n\nHe had only to say that he was the Messiah, if he had been vain; for the\nprophecies are clearer about him than about Jesus Christ. And the same\nwith Saint John.\n\n\n752\n\nHerod was believed to be the Messiah. He had taken away the sceptre from\nJudah, but he was not of Judah. This gave rise to a considerable sect.\n\nCurse of the Greeks upon those who count three periods of time.\n\nIn what way should the Messiah come, seeing that through Him the sceptre\nwas to be eternally in Judah, and at His coming the sceptre was to be\ntaken away from Judah?\n\nIn order to effect that seeing they should not see, and hearing they\nshould not understand, nothing could be better done.\n\n\n753\n\n_Homo existens te Deum facit.\n\nScriptum est, Dii estis, et non potest solvi Scriptura.\n\nH\u00e6c infirmitas non est ad vitam et est ad mortem.\n\nLazarus dormit, et deinde dixit: Lazarus mortuus est._[281]\n\n\n754\n\nThe apparent discrepancy of the Gospels.[282]\n\n\n755\n\nWhat can we have but reverence for a man who foretells plainly things\nwhich come to pass, and who declares his intention both to blind and to\nenlighten, and who intersperses obscurities among the clear things which\ncome to pass?\n\n\n756\n\nThe time of the first advent was foretold; the time of the second is not\nso; because the first was to be obscure, and the second is to be\nbrilliant, and so manifest that even His enemies will recognise it. But,\nas He was first to come only in obscurity, and to be known only of those\nwho searched the Scriptures ...\n\n\n757\n\nGod, in order to cause the Messiah to be known by the good and not to be\nknown by the wicked, made Him to be foretold in this manner. If the\nmanner of the Messiah had been clearly foretold, there would have been\nno obscurity, even for the wicked. If the time had been obscurely\nforetold, there would have been obscurity, even for the good. For their\n[goodness of heart] would not have made them understand, for instance,\nthat the closed _mem_ signifies six hundred years. But the time has been\nclearly foretold, and the manner in types.\n\nBy this means, the wicked, taking the promised blessings for material\nblessings, have fallen into error, in spite of the clear prediction of\nthe time; and the good have not fallen in error. For the understanding\nof the promised blessings depends on the heart, which calls \"good\" that\nwhich it loves; but the understanding of the promised time does not\ndepend on the heart. And thus the clear prediction of the time, and the\nobscure prediction of the blessings, deceive the wicked alone.\n\n\n758\n\n[Either the Jews or the Christians must be wicked.]\n\n\n759\n\nThe Jews reject Him, but not all. The saints receive Him, and not the\ncarnal-minded. And so far is this from being against His glory, that it\nis the last touch which crowns it. For their argument, the only one\nfound in all their writings, in the Talmud and in the Rabbinical\nwritings, amounts only to this, that Jesus Christ has not subdued the\nnations with sword in hand, _gladiumt uum, potentissime_.[283] (Is this\nall they have to say? Jesus Christ has been slain, say they. He has\nfailed. He has not subdued the heathen with His might. He has not\nbestowed upon us their spoil. He does not give riches. Is this all they\nhave to say? It is in this respect that He is lovable to me. I would not\ndesire Him whom they fancy.) It is evident that it is only His life\nwhich has prevented them from accepting Him; and through this rejection\nthey are irreproachable witnesses, and, what is more, they thereby\naccomplish the prophecies.\n\n[By means of the fact that this people have not accepted Him, this\nmiracle here has happened. The prophecies were the only lasting miracles\nwhich could be wrought, but they were liable to be denied.]\n\n\n760\n\nThe Jews, in slaying Him in order not to receive Him as the Messiah,\nhave given Him the final proof of being the Messiah.\n\nAnd in continuing not to recognise Him, they made themselves\nirreproachable witnesses. Both in slaying Him, and in continuing to deny\nHim, they have fulfilled the prophecies (Isa. lx; Ps. lxxi).\n\n\n761\n\nWhat could the Jews, His enemies, do? If they receive Him, they give\nproof of Him by their reception; for then the guardians of the\nexpectation of the Messiah receive Him. If they reject Him, they give\nproof of Him by their rejection.\n\n\n762\n\nThe Jews, in testing if He were God, have shown that He was man.\n\n\n763\n\nThe Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus Christ was\nman, against those who denied it, as in showing that he was God; and the\nprobabilities were equally great.\n\n\n764\n\n_Source of contradictions._--A God humiliated, even to the death on the\ncross; a Messiah triumphing over death by his own death. Two natures in\nJesus Christ, two advents, two states of man's nature.\n\n\n765\n\n_Types._--Saviour, father, sacrificer, offering, food, king, wise,\nlaw-giver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people whom He must lead\nand nourish, and bring into His land....\n\n_Jesus Christ. Offices._--He alone had to create a great people, elect,\nholy, and chosen; to lead, nourish, and bring it into the place of rest\nand holiness; to make it holy to God; to make it the temple of God; to\nreconcile it to, and save it from, the wrath of God; to free it from the\nslavery of sin, which visibly reigns in man; to give laws to this\npeople, and engrave these laws on their heart; to offer Himself to God\nfor them, and sacrifice Himself for them; to be a victim without\nblemish, and Himself the sacrificer, having to offer Himself, His body,\nand His blood, and yet to offer bread and wine to God ...\n\n_Ingrediens mundum._[284]\n\n\"Stone upon stone.\"[285]\n\nWhat preceded and what followed. All the Jews exist still, and are\nwanderers.\n\n\n766\n\nOf all that is on earth, He partakes only of the sorrows, not of the\njoys. He loves His neighbours, but His love does not confine itself\nwithin these bounds, and overflows to His own enemies, and then to those\nof God.\n\n\n767\n\nJesus Christ typified by Joseph, the beloved of his father, sent by his\nfather to see his brethren, etc., innocent, sold by his brethren for\ntwenty pieces of silver, and thereby becoming their lord, their saviour,\nthe saviour of strangers, and the saviour of the world; which had not\nbeen but for their plot to destroy him, their sale and their rejection\nof him.\n\nIn prison Joseph innocent between two criminals; Jesus Christ on the\ncross between two thieves. Joseph foretells freedom to the one, and\ndeath to the other, from the same omens. Jesus Christ saves the elect,\nand condemns the outcast for the same sins. Joseph foretells only; Jesus\nChrist acts. Joseph asks him who will be saved to remember him, when he\ncomes into his glory; and he whom Jesus Christ saves asks that He will\nremember him, when He comes into His kingdom.\n\n\n768\n\nThe conversion of the heathen was only reserved for the grace of the\nMessiah. The Jews have been so long in opposition to them without\nsuccess; all that Solomon and the prophets said has been useless. Sages,\nlike Plato and Socrates, have not been able to persuade them.\n\n\n769\n\nAfter many persons had gone before, Jesus Christ at last came to\nsay:[286] \"Here am I, and this is the time. That which the prophets have\nsaid was to come in the fullness of time, I tell you My apostles will\ndo. The Jews shall be cast out. Jerusalem shall be soon destroyed. And\nthe heathen shall enter into the knowledge of God. My apostles shall do\nthis after you have slain the heir of the vineyard.\"\n\nThen the apostles said to the Jews: \"You shall be accursed,\" (_Celsus\nlaughed at it_); and to the heathen, \"You shall enter into the knowledge\nof God.\" And this then came to pass.\n\n\n770\n\nJesus Christ came to blind those who saw clearly, and to give sight to\nthe blind; to heal the sick, and leave the healthy to die; to call to\nrepentance, and to justify sinners, and to leave the righteous in their\nsins; to fill the needy, and leave the rich empty.\n\n\n771\n\n_Holiness._--_Effundam spiritum meum._[287] All nations were in unbelief\nand lust. The whole world now became fervent with love. Princes\nabandoned their pomp; maidens suffered martyrdom. Whence came this\ninfluence? The Messiah was come. These were the effect and sign of His\ncoming.\n\n\n772\n\nDestruction of the Jews and heathen by Jesus Christ: _Omnes gentes\nvenient et adorabunt eum.[288] Parum est ut_,[289] etc. _Postula a\nme.[290] Adorabunt eum omnes reges.[291] Testes iniqui.[292] Dabit\nmaxillam percutienti.[293] Dederunt fel in escam._[294]\n\n\n773\n\nJesus Christ for all, Moses for a nation.\n\nThe Jews blessed in Abraham: \"I will bless those that bless thee.\"[295]\nBut: \"All nations blessed in his seed.\"[296] _Parum est ut_, etc.\n\n_Lumen ad revelationem gentium._[297]\n\n_Non fecit taliter omni nationi_,[298] said David, in speaking of the\nLaw. But, in speaking of Jesus Christ, we must say: _Fecit taliter omni\nnationi. Parum est ut_, etc., Isaiah. So it belongs to Jesus Christ to\nbe universal. Even the Church offers sacrifice only for the faithful.\nJesus Christ offered that of the cross for all.\n\n\n774\n\nThere is heresy in always explaining _omnes_ by \"all,\" and heresy in not\nexplaining it sometimes by \"all.\" _Bibite ex hoc omnes_;[299] the\nHuguenots are heretics in explaining it by \"all.\" _In quo omnes\npeccaverunt_;[300] the Huguenots are heretics in excepting the children\nof true believers. We must then follow the Fathers and tradition in\norder to know when to do so, since there is heresy to be feared on both\nsides.\n\n\n775\n\n_Ne timeas pusillus grex.[301] Timore et tremore.--Quid ergo? Ne timeas\n[modo] timeas._ Fear not, provided you fear; but if you fear not, then\nfear.\n\n_Qui me recipit, non me recipit, sed eum qui me misit._[302]\n\n_Nemo scit, neque Filius._\n\n_Nubes lucida obumbravit._\n\nSaint John[303] was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,\nand Jesus Christ[304] to plant division. There is not contradiction.\n\n\n776\n\nThe effects _in communi_ and _in particulari_. The semi-Pelagians err in\nsaying of _in communi_ what is true only _in particulari_; and the\nCalvinists in saying _in particulari_ what is true _in communi_. (Such\nis my opinion.)\n\n\n777\n\n_Omnis Jud\u00e6a regio, et Jerosolomymi universi, et baptizabantur._[305]\nBecause of all the conditions of men who came there. From these stones\nthere _can_ come children unto Abraham.[306]\n\n\n778\n\nIf men knew themselves, God would heal and pardon them. _Ne convertantur\net sanem eos, et dimittantur eis peccata._[307]\n\n\n779\n\nJesus Christ never condemned without hearing. To Judas: _Amice, ad quid\nvenisti?_[308] To him that had not on the wedding garment, the same.\n\n\n780\n\nThe types of the completeness of the Redemption, as that the sun gives\nlight to all, indicate only completeness; but [_the types_] of\nexclusions, as of the Jews elected to the exclusion of the Gentiles,\nindicate exclusion.\n\n\"Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all.\"--Yes, for He has offered, like a man\nwho has ransomed all those who were willing to come to Him. If any die\non the way, it is their misfortune; but, so far as He was concerned, He\noffered them redemption.--That holds good in this example, where he who\nransoms and he who prevents death are two persons, but not of Jesus\nChrist, who does both these things.--No, for Jesus Christ, in the\nquality of Redeemer, is not perhaps Master of all; and thus, in so far\nas it is in Him, He is the Redeemer of all.\n\nWhen it is said that Jesus Christ did not die for all, you take undue\nadvantage of a fault in men who at once apply this exception to\nthemselves; and this is to favour despair, instead of turning them from\nit to favour hope. For men thus accustom themselves in inward virtues by\noutward customs.\n\n\n781\n\nThe victory over death. \"What is a man advantaged if he gain the whole\nworld and lose his own soul?[309] Whosoever will save his soul, shall\nlose it.\"[310]\n\n\"I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil.\"[311]\n\n\"Lambs took not away the sins of the world, but I am the lamb which\ntaketh away the sins.\"[312]\n\n\"Moses[313] hath not led you out of captivity, and made you truly free.\"\n\n\n782\n\n... Then Jesus Christ comes to tell men that they have no other enemies\nbut themselves; that it is their passions which keep them apart from\nGod; that He comes to destroy these, and give them His grace, so as to\nmake of them all one Holy Church; that He comes to bring back into this\nChurch the heathen and Jews; that He comes to destroy the idols of the\nformer and the superstition of the latter. To this all men are opposed,\nnot only from the natural opposition of lust; but, above all, the kings\nof the earth, as had been foretold, join together to destroy this\nreligion at its birth. (_Proph.: Quare fremuerunt gentes ... reges terr\u00e6\n... adversus Christum._)[314]\n\nAll that is great on earth is united together; the learned, the wise,\nthe kings. The first write; the second condemn; the last kill. And\nnotwithstanding all these oppositions, these men, simple and weak,\nresist all these powers, subdue even these kings, these learned men and\nthese sages, and remove idolatry from all the earth. And all this is\ndone by the power which had foretold it.\n\n\n783\n\nJesus Christ would not have the testimony of devils, nor of those who\nwere not called, but of God and John the Baptist.\n\n\n784\n\nI consider Jesus Christ in all persons and in ourselves: Jesus Christ as\na Father in His Father, Jesus Christ as a Brother in His Brethren, Jesus\nChrist as poor in the poor, Jesus Christ as rich in the rich, Jesus\nChrist as Doctor and Priest in priests, Jesus Christ as Sovereign in\nprinces, etc. For by His glory He is all that is great, being God; and\nby His mortal life He is all that is poor and abject. Therefore He has\ntaken this unhappy condition, so that He could be in all persons, and\nthe model of all conditions.\n\n\n785\n\nJesus Christ is an obscurity (according to what the world calls\nobscurity), such that historians, writing only of important matters of\nstates, have hardly noticed Him.\n\n\n786\n\n_On the fact that neither Josephus, nor Tacitus, nor other historians\nhave spoken of Jesus Christ._--So far is this from telling against\nChristianity, that on the contrary it tells for it. For it is certain\nthat Jesus Christ has existed; that His religion has made a great talk;\nand that these persons were not ignorant of it. Thus it is plain that\nthey purposely concealed it, or that, if they did speak of it, their\naccount has been suppressed or changed.\n\n\n787\n\n\"I have reserved me seven thousand.\"[315] I love the worshippers unknown\nto the world and to the very prophets.\n\n\n788\n\nAs Jesus Christ remained unknown among men, so His truth remains among\ncommon opinions without external difference. Thus the Eucharist among\nordinary bread.\n\n\n789\n\nJesus would not be slain without the forms of justice; for it is far\nmore ignominious to die by justice than by an unjust sedition.\n\n\n790\n\nThe false justice of Pilate only serves to make Jesus Christ suffer; for\nhe causes Him to be scourged by his false justice, and afterwards puts\nHim to death. It would have been better to have put Him to death at\nonce. Thus it is with the falsely just. They do good and evil works to\nplease the world, and to show that they are not altogether of Jesus\nChrist; for they are ashamed of Him. And at last, under great temptation\nand on great occasions, they kill Him.\n\n\n791\n\nWhat man ever had more renown? The whole Jewish people foretell Him\nbefore His coming. The Gentile people worship Him after His coming. The\ntwo peoples, Gentile and Jewish, regard Him as their centre.\n\nAnd yet what man enjoys this renown less? Of thirty-three years, He\nlives thirty without appearing. For three years He passes as an\nimpostor; the priests and the chief people reject Him; His friends and\nHis nearest relatives despise Him. Finally, He dies, betrayed by one of\nHis own disciples, denied by another, and abandoned by all.\n\nWhat part, then, has He in this renown? Never had man so much renown;\nnever had man more ignominy. All that renown has served only for us, to\nrender us capable of recognising Him; and He had none of it for Himself.\n\n\n792\n\nThe infinite distance between body and mind is a symbol of the\ninfinitely more infinite distance between mind and charity; for charity\nis supernatural.\n\nAll the glory of greatness has no lustre for people who are in search of\nunderstanding.\n\nThe greatness of clever men is invisible to kings, to the rich, to\nchiefs, and to all the worldly great.\n\nThe greatness of wisdom, which is nothing if not of God, is invisible to\nthe carnal-minded and to the clever. These are three orders differing in\nkind.\n\nGreat geniuses have their power, their glory, their greatness, their\nvictory, their lustre, and have no need of worldly greatness, with which\nthey are not in keeping. They are seen, not by the eye, but by the mind;\nthis is sufficient.\n\nThe saints have their power, their glory, their victory, their lustre,\nand need no worldly or intellectual greatness, with which they have no\naffinity; for these neither add anything to them, nor take away anything\nfrom them. They are seen of God and the angels, and not of the body, nor\nof the curious mind. God is enough for them.\n\nArchimedes,[316] apart from his rank, would have the same veneration. He\nfought no battles for the eyes to feast upon; but he has given his\ndiscoveries to all men. Oh! how brilliant he was to the mind!\n\nJesus Christ, without riches, and without any external exhibition of\nknowledge, is in His own order of holiness. He did not invent; He did\nnot reign. But He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God, terrible to\ndevils, without any sin. Oh! in what great pomp, and in what wonderful\nsplendour, He is come to the eyes of the heart, which perceive wisdom!\n\nIt would have been useless for Archimedes to have acted the prince in\nhis books on geometry, although he was a prince.\n\nIt would have been useless for our Lord Jesus Christ to come like a\nking, in order to shine forth in His kingdom of holiness. But He came\nthere appropriately in the glory of His own order.\n\nIt is most absurd to take offence at the lowliness of Jesus Christ, as\nif His lowliness were in the same order as the greatness which He came\nto manifest. If we consider this greatness in His life, in His passion,\nin His obscurity, in His death, in the choice of His disciples, in their\ndesertion, in His secret resurrection, and the rest, we shall see it to\nbe so immense, that we shall have no reason for being offended at a\nlowliness which is not of that order.\n\nBut there are some who can only admire worldly greatness, as though\nthere were no intellectual greatness; and others who only admire\nintellectual greatness, as though there were not infinitely higher\nthings in wisdom.\n\nAll bodies, the firmament, the stars, the earth and its kingdoms, are\nnot equal to the lowest mind; for mind knows all these and itself; and\nthese bodies nothing.\n\nAll bodies together, and all minds together, and all their products, are\nnot equal to the least feeling of charity. This is of an order\ninfinitely more exalted.\n\nFrom all bodies together, we cannot obtain one little thought; this is\nimpossible, and of another order. From all bodies and minds, we cannot\nproduce a feeling of true charity; this is impossible, and of another\nand supernatural order.\n\n\n793\n\nWhy did Jesus Christ not come in a visible manner, instead of obtaining\ntestimony of Himself from preceding prophecies? Why did He cause Himself\nto be foretold in types?\n\n\n794\n\nIf Jesus Christ had only come to sanctify, all Scripture and all things\nwould tend to that end; and it would be quite easy to convince\nunbelievers. If Jesus Christ had only come to blind, all His conduct\nwould be confused; and we would have no means of convincing unbelievers.\nBut as He came _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_,[317] as Isaiah\nsays, we cannot convince unbelievers, and they cannot convince us. But\nby this very fact we convince them; since we say that in His whole\nconduct there is no convincing proof on one side or the other.\n\n\n795\n\nJesus Christ does not say that He is not of Nazareth, in order to leave\nthe wicked in their blindness; nor that He is not Joseph's son.\n\n\n796\n\n_Proofs of Jesus Christ._--Jesus Christ said great things so simply,\nthat it seems as though He had not thought them great; and yet so\nclearly that we easily see what He thought of them. This clearness,\njoined to this simplicity, is wonderful.\n\n\n797\n\nThe style of the gospel is admirable in so many ways, and among the rest\nin hurling no invectives against the persecutors and enemies of Jesus\nChrist. For there is no such invective in any of the historians against\nJudas, Pilate, or any of the Jews.\n\nIf this moderation of the writers of the Gospels had been assumed, as\nwell as many other traits of so beautiful a character, and they had only\nassumed it to attract notice, even if they had not dared to draw\nattention to it themselves, they would not have failed to secure\nfriends, who would have made such remarks to their advantage. But as\nthey acted thus without pretence, and from wholly disinterested motives,\nthey did not point it out to any one; and I believe that many such facts\nhave not been noticed till now, which is evidence of the natural\ndisinterestedness with which the thing has been done.\n\n\n798\n\nAn artisan who speaks of wealth, a lawyer who speaks of war, of royalty,\netc.; but the rich man rightly speaks of wealth, a king speaks\nindifferently of a great gift he has just made, and God rightly speaks\nof God.\n\n\n799\n\nWho has taught the evangelists the qualities of a perfectly heroic soul,\nthat they paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? Why do they make Him\nweak in His agony? Do they not know how to paint a resolute death? Yes,\nfor the same Saint Luke paints the death of Saint Stephen as braver than\nthat of Jesus Christ.\n\nThey make Him therefore capable of fear, before the necessity of dying\nhas come, and then altogether brave.\n\nBut when they make Him so troubled, it is when He afflicts Himself; and\nwhen men afflict Him, He is altogether strong.\n\n\n800\n\n_Proof of Jesus Christ._--The supposition that the apostles were\nimpostors is very absurd. Let us think it out. Let us imagine those\ntwelve men, assembled after the death of Jesus Christ, plotting to say\nthat He was risen. By this they attack all the powers. The heart of man\nis strangely inclined to fickleness, to change, to promises, to gain.\nHowever little any of them might have been led astray by all these\nattractions, nay more, by the fear of prisons, tortures, and death, they\nwere lost. Let us follow up this thought.\n\n\n801\n\nThe apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition has\ndifficulties; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised from the\ndead ...\n\nWhile Jesus Christ was with them, He could sustain them. But, after\nthat, if He did not appear to them, who inspired them to act?\n\n\n\n\nSECTION XIII\n\nTHE MIRACLES\n\n\n802\n\n_The beginning._--Miracles enable us to judge of doctrine, and doctrine\nenables us to judge of miracles.\n\nThere are false miracles and true. There must be a distinction, in order\nto know them; otherwise they would be useless. Now they are not useless;\non the contrary, they are fundamental. Now the rule which is given to us\nmust be such, that it does not destroy the proof which the true miracles\ngive of the truth, which is the chief end of the miracles.\n\nMoses has given two rules: that the prediction does not come to pass\n(Deut. xviii), and that they do not lead to idolatry (Deut. xiii); and\nJesus Christ[318] one.\n\nIf doctrine regulates miracles, miracles are useless for doctrine.\n\nIf miracles regulate....\n\n_Objection to the rule._--The distinction of the times. One rule during\nthe time of Moses, another at present.\n\n\n803\n\n_Miracle._--It is an effect, which exceeds the natural power of the\nmeans which are employed for it; and what is not a miracle is an effect,\nwhich does not exceed the natural power of the means which are employed\nfor it. Thus, those who heal by invocation of the devil do not work a\nmiracle; for that does not exceed the natural power of the devil.\nBut ...\n\n\n804\n\nThe two fundamentals; one inward, the other outward; grace and miracles;\nboth supernatural.\n\n\n805\n\nMiracles and truth are necessary, because it is necessary to convince\nthe entire man, in body and soul.\n\n\n806\n\nIn all times, either men have spoken of the true God, or the true God\nhas spoken to men.\n\n\n807\n\nJesus Christ has verified that He was the Messiah, never in verifying\nHis doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but always by His\nmiracles.\n\nHe proves by a miracle that He remits sins.\n\nRejoice not in your miracles, said Jesus Christ, but because your names\nare written in heaven.[319]\n\nIf they believe not Moses, neither will they believe one risen from the\ndead.\n\nNicodemus recognises by His miracles that His teaching is of God.\n_Scimus quia venisti a Deo magister; nemo enim potest h\u00e6c signa facere\nqu\u00e6 tu facis nisi Deus fuerit cum eo._[320] He does not judge of the\nmiracles by the teaching, but of the teaching by the miracles.\n\nThe Jews had a doctrine of God as we have one of Jesus Christ, and\nconfirmed by miracles. They were forbidden to believe every worker of\nmiracles; and they were further commanded to have recourse to the chief\npriests, and to rely on them.\n\nAnd thus, in regard to their prophets, they had all those reasons which\nwe have for refusing to believe the workers of miracles.\n\nAnd yet they were very sinful in rejecting the prophets, and Jesus\nChrist, because of their miracles; and they would not have been\nculpable, if they had not seen the miracles. _Nisi fecissem ... peccatum\nnon haberent._[321] Therefore all belief rests upon miracles.\n\nProphecy is not called miracle; as Saint John speaks of the first\nmiracle in Cana, and then of what Jesus Christ says to the woman of\nSamaria, when He reveals to her all her hidden life. Then He heals the\ncenturion's son; and Saint John calls this \"the second miracle.\"[322]\n\n\n808\n\nThe combinations of miracles.\n\n\n809\n\nThe second miracle can suppose the first, but the first cannot suppose\nthe second.\n\n\n810\n\nHad it not been for the miracles, there would have been no sin in not\nbelieving in Jesus Christ.\n\n\n811\n\nI should not be a Christian, but for the miracles, said Saint Augustine.\n\n\n812\n\n_Miracles._--How I hate those who make men doubt of miracles!\nMontaigne[323] speaks of them as he should in two places. In one, we see\nhow careful he is; and yet, in the other, he believes, and makes sport\nof unbelievers.\n\nHowever it may be, the Church is without proofs if they are right.\n\n\n813\n\nMontaigne against miracles.\n\nMontaigne for miracles.\n\n\n814\n\nIt is not possible to have a reasonable belief against miracles.\n\n\n815\n\nUnbelievers the most credulous. They believe the miracles of Vespasian,\nin order not to believe those of Moses.\n\n\n816\n\n_Title: How it happens that men believe so many liars, who say that they\nhave seen miracles, and do not believe any of those who say that they\nhave secrets to make men immortal, or restore youth to them._--Having\nconsidered how it happens that so great credence is given to so many\nimpostors, who say they have remedies, often to the length of men\nputting their lives into their hands, it has appeared to me that the\ntrue cause is that there are true remedies. For it would not be possible\nthat there should be so many false remedies, and that so much faith\nshould be placed in them, if there were none true. If there had never\nbeen any remedy for any ill, and all ills had been incurable, it is\nimpossible that men should have imagined that they could give remedies,\nand still more impossible that so many others should have believed those\nwho boasted of having remedies; in the same way as did a man boast of\npreventing death, no one would believe him, because there is no example\nof this. But as there were a number of remedies found to be true by the\nvery knowledge of the greatest men, the belief of men is thereby\ninduced; and, this being known to be possible, it has been therefore\nconcluded that it was. For people commonly reason thus: \"A thing is\npossible, therefore it is\"; because the thing cannot be denied\ngenerally, since there are particular effects which are true, the\npeople, who cannot distinguish which among these particular effects are\ntrue, believe them all. In the same way, the reason why so many false\neffects are credited to the moon, is that there are some true, as the\ntide.\n\nIt is the same with prophecies, miracles, divination by dreams,\nsorceries, etc. For if there had been nothing true in all this, men\nwould have believed nothing of them; and thus, instead of concluding\nthat there are no true miracles because there are so many false, we\nmust, on the contrary, say that there certainly are true miracles, since\nthere are false, and that there are false miracles only because some are\ntrue. We must reason in the same way about religion; for it would not be\npossible that men should have imagined so many false religions, if there\nhad not been a true one. The objection to this is that savages have a\nreligion; but the answer is that they have heard the true spoken of, as\nappears by the deluge, circumcision, the cross of Saint Andrew, etc.\n\n\n817\n\nHaving considered how it comes that there are so many false miracles,\nfalse revelations, sorceries, etc., it has seemed to me that the true\ncause is that there are some true; for it would not be possible that\nthere should be so many false miracles, if there were none true, nor so\nmany false revelations, if there were none true, nor so many false\nreligions, if there were not one true. For if there had never been all\nthis, it is almost impossible that men should have imagined it, and\nstill more impossible that so many others should have believed it. But\nas there have been very great things true, and as they have been\nbelieved by great men, this impression has been the cause that nearly\neverybody is rendered capable of believing also the false. And thus,\ninstead of concluding that there are no true miracles, since there are\nso many false, it must be said, on the contrary, that there are true\nmiracles, since there are so many false; and that there are false ones\nonly because there are true; and that in the same way there are false\nreligions because there is one true.--Objection to this: savages have a\nreligion. But this is because they have heard the true spoken of, as\nappears by the cross of Saint Andrew, the deluge, circumcision,\netc.--This arises from the fact that the human mind, finding itself\ninclined to that side by the truth, becomes thereby susceptible of all\nthe falsehoods of this ...\n\n\n818\n\nJeremiah xxiii, 32. The _miracles_ of the false prophets. In the Hebrew\nand Vatable[324] they are the _tricks_.\n\n_Miracle_ does not always signify miracle. I Sam. xiv, 15; _miracle_\nsignifies _fear_, and is so in the Hebrew. The same evidently in Job\nxxxiii, 7; and also Isaiah xxi, 4; Jeremiah xliv, 12. _Portentum_\nsignifies _simulacrum_, Jeremiah l, 38; and it is so in the Hebrew and\nVatable. Isaiah viii, 18. Jesus Christ says that He and His will be in\n_miracles_.\n\n\n819\n\nIf the devil favoured the doctrine which destroys him, he would be\ndivided against himself, as Jesus Christ said. If God favoured the\ndoctrine which destroys the Church, He would be divided against Himself.\n_Omne regnum divisum._[325] For Jesus Christ wrought against the devil,\nand destroyed his power over the heart, of which exorcism is the\nsymbolisation, in order to establish the kingdom of God. And thus He\nadds, _Si in digito Dei ... regnum Dei ad vos_.[326]\n\n\n820\n\nThere is a great difference between tempting and leading into error. God\ntempts, but He does not lead into error. To tempt is to afford\nopportunities, which impose no necessity; if men do not love God, they\nwill do a certain thing. To lead into error is to place a man under the\nnecessity of inferring and following out what is untrue.\n\n\n821\n\nAbraham and Gideon are above revelation. The Jews blinded themselves in\njudging of miracles by the Scripture. God has never abandoned His true\nworshippers.\n\nI prefer to follow Jesus Christ than any other, because He has miracle,\nprophecy, doctrine, perpetuity, etc.\n\nThe Donatists. No miracle which obliges them to say it is the devil.\n\nThe more we particularise God, Jesus Christ, the Church ...\n\n\n822\n\nIf there were no false miracles, there would be certainty. If there were\nno rule to judge of them, miracles would be useless, and there would be\nno reason for believing.\n\nNow there is, humanly speaking, no human certainty, but we have reason.\n\n\n823\n\nEither God has confounded the false miracles, or He has foretold them;\nand in both ways He has raised Himself above what is supernatural with\nrespect to us, and has raised us to it.\n\n\n824\n\nMiracles serve not to convert, but to condemn. (Q. 113, A. 10, _Ad._\n2.)[327]\n\n\n825\n\n_Reasons why we do not believe._\n\nJohn xii, 37. _Cum autem tanta signa fecisset, non credebant in eum, ut\nsermo Isay\u00e6 impleretur. Exc\u00e6cavit_, etc.\n\n_H\u00e6c dixit Isaias, quando vidit gloriam ejus et locutus est de eo._\n\n_Jud\u00e6i signa petunt et Gr\u00e6ci sapientiam qu\u00e6runt, nos autem Jesum\ncrucifixum. Sed plenum signis, sed plenum sapientia; vos autem Christum\nnon crucifixum et religionem sine miraculis et sine sapientia._[328]\n\nWhat makes us not believe in the true miracles, is want of love. John:\n_Sed vos non creditis, quia non estis ex ovibus._[329] What makes us\nbelieve the false is want of love. II Thess. ii.\n\nThe foundation of religion. It is the miracles. What then? Does God\nspeak against miracles, against the foundations of the faith which we\nhave in Him?\n\nIf there is a God, faith in God must exist on earth. Now the miracles of\nJesus Christ are not foretold by Antichrist, but the miracles of\nAntichrist are foretold by Jesus Christ. And so if Jesus Christ were not\nthe Messiah, He would have indeed led into error. When Jesus Christ\nforetold the miracles of Antichrist, did He think of destroying faith in\nHis own miracles?\n\nMoses foretold Jesus Christ, and bade to follow Him. Jesus Christ\nforetold Antichrist, and forbade to follow him.\n\nIt was impossible that in the time of Moses men should keep their faith\nfor Antichrist, who was unknown to them. But it is quite easy, in the\ntime of Antichrist, to believe in Jesus Christ, already known.\n\nThere is no reason for believing in Antichrist, which there is not for\nbelieving in Jesus Christ. But there are reasons for believing in Jesus\nChrist, which there are not for believing in the other.\n\n\n826\n\nJudges xiii, 23: \"If the Lord were pleased to kill us, He would not have\nshewed us all these things.\"\n\nHezekiah, Sennacherib.\n\nJeremiah. Hananiah, the false prophet, dies in seven months.\n\n2 Macc. iii. The temple, ready for pillage, miraculously succoured.--2\nMacc. xv.\n\n1 Kings xvii. The widow to Elijah, who had restored her son, \"By this I\nknow that thy words are true.\"\n\n1 Kings xviii. Elijah with the prophets of Baal.\n\nIn the dispute concerning the true God and the truth of religion, there\nhas never happened any miracle on the side of error, and not of truth.\n\n\n827\n\n_Opposition._--Abel, Cain; Moses, the Magicians; Elijah, the false\nprophets: Jeremiah, Hananiah; Micaiah, the false prophets; Jesus Christ,\nthe Pharisees; St. Paul, Bar-jesus; the Apostles, the Exorcists;\nChristians, unbelievers; Catholics, heretics; Elijah, Enoch, Antichrist.\n\n\n828\n\nJesus Christ says that the Scriptures testify of Him. But He does not\npoint out in what respect.\n\nEven the prophecies could not prove Jesus Christ during His life; and\nso, men would not have been culpable for not believing in Him before His\ndeath, had the miracles not sufficed without doctrine. Now those who did\nnot believe in Him, when He was still alive, were sinners, as He said\nHimself, and without excuse. Therefore they must have had proof beyond\ndoubt, which they resisted. Now, they had not the prophecies, but only\nthe miracles. Therefore the latter suffice, when the doctrine is not\ninconsistent with them; and they ought to be believed.\n\nJohn vii, 40. _Dispute among the Jews as among the Christians of\nto-day._ Some believed in Jesus Christ; others believed Him not, because\nof the prophecies which said that He should be born in Bethlehem. They\nshould have considered more carefully whether He was not. For His\nmiracles being convincing, they should have been quite sure of these\nsupposed contradictions of His teaching to Scripture; and this obscurity\ndid not excuse, but blinded them. Thus those who refuse to believe in\nthe miracles in the present day on account of a supposed contradiction,\nwhich is unreal, are not excused.\n\nThe Pharisees said to the people, who believed in Him, because of His\nmiracles: \"This people who knoweth not the law are cursed. But have any\nof the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? For we know that out\nof Galilee ariseth no prophet.\" Nicodemus answered: \"Doth our law judge\nany man before it hear him, [and specially, such a man who works such\nmiracles]?\"\n\n\n829\n\nThe prophecies were ambiguous; they are no longer so.\n\n\n830\n\nThe five propositions were ambiguous; they are no longer so.\n\n\n831\n\nMiracles are no longer necessary, because we have had them already. But\nwhen tradition is no longer minded; when the Pope alone is offered to\nus; when he has been imposed upon; and when the true source of truth,\nwhich is tradition, is thus excluded; and the Pope, who is its guardian,\nis biased; the truth is no longer free to appear. Then, as men speak no\nlonger of truth, truth itself must speak to men. This is what happened\nin the time of Arius. (Miracles under Diocletian and under Arius.)\n\n\n832\n\n_Miracle._--The people concluded this of themselves; but if the reason\nof it must be given to you ...\n\nIt is unfortunate to be in exception to the rule. The same must be\nstrict, and opposed to exception. But yet, as it is certain that there\nare exceptions to a rule, our judgment must though strict, be just.\n\n\n833\n\nJohn vi, 26: _Non quia vidisti signum, sed quia saturati estis._\n\nThose who follow Jesus Christ because of His miracles honour His power\nin all the miracles which it produces. But those who, making profession\nto follow Him because of His miracles, follow Him in fact only because\nHe comforts them and satisfies them with worldly blessings, discredit\nHis miracles, when they are opposed to their own comforts.\n\nJohn ix: _Non est hic homo a Deo, quia sabbatum non custodit. Alii:\nQuomodo potest homo peccator h\u00e6c signa facere?_\n\nWhich is the most clear?\n\nThis house is not of God; for they do not there believe that the five\npropositions are in Jansenius. Others: This house is of God; for in it\nthere are wrought strange miracles.\n\nWhich is the most clear?\n\n_Tu quid dicis? Dico quia propheta est. Nisi esset hic a Deo, non\npoterat facere quidquam._[330]\n\n\n834\n\nIn the Old Testament, when they will turn you from God. In the New, when\nthey will turn you from Jesus Christ. These are the occasions for\nexcluding particular miracles from belief. No others need be excluded.\n\nDoes it therefore follow that they would have the right to exclude all\nthe prophets who came to them? No; they would have sinned in not\nexcluding those who denied God, and would have sinned in excluding those\nwho did not deny God.\n\nSo soon, then, as we see a miracle, we must either assent to it, or have\nstriking proofs to the contrary. We must see if it denies a God, or\nJesus Christ, or the Church.\n\n\n835\n\nThere is a great difference between not being for Jesus Christ and\nsaying so, and not being for Jesus Christ and pretending to be so. The\none party can do miracles, not the others. For it is clear of the one\nparty, that they are opposed to the truth, but not of the others; and\nthus miracles are clearer.\n\n\n836\n\nThat we must love one God only is a thing so evident, that it does not\nrequire miracles to prove it.\n\n\n837\n\nJesus Christ performed miracles, then the apostles, and the first saints\nin great number; because the prophecies not being yet accomplished, but\nin the process of being accomplished by them, the miracles alone bore\nwitness to them. It was foretold that the Messiah should convert the\nnations. How could this prophecy be fulfilled without the conversion of\nthe nations? And how could the nations be converted to the Messiah, if\nthey did not see this final effect of the prophecies which prove Him?\nTherefore, till He had died, risen again, and converted the nations, all\nwas not accomplished; and so miracles were needed during all this time.\nNow they are no longer needed against the Jews; for the accomplished\nprophecies constitute a lasting miracle.\n\n\n838\n\n\"Though ye believe not Me, believe at least the works.\"[331] He refers\nthem, as it were, to the strongest proof.\n\nIt had been told to the Jews, as well as to Christians, that they should\nnot always believe the prophets; but yet the Pharisees and Scribes are\ngreatly concerned about His miracles, and try to show that they are\nfalse, or wrought by the devil. For they must needs be convinced, if\nthey acknowledge that they are of God.\n\nAt the present day we are not troubled to make this distinction. Still\nit is very easy to do: those who deny neither God nor Jesus Christ do no\nmiracles which are not certain. _Nemo facit virtutem in nomine meo, et\ncito possit de me male loqui._[332]\n\nBut we have not to draw this distinction. Here is a sacred relic.[333]\nHere is a thorn from the crown of the Saviour of the world, over whom\nthe prince of this world has no power, which works miracles by the\npeculiar power of the blood shed for us. Now God Himself chooses this\nhouse in order to display conspiciously therein His power.\n\nThese are not men who do miracles by an unknown and doubtful virtue,\nwhich makes a decision difficult for us. It is God Himself. It is the\ninstrument of the Passion of His only Son, who, being in many places,\nchooses this, and makes men come from all quarters there to receive\nthese miraculous alleviations in their weaknesses.\n\n\n839\n\nThe Church has three kinds of enemies: the Jews, who have never been of\nher body; the heretics, who have withdrawn from it; and the evil\nChristians, who rend her from within.\n\nThese three kinds of different adversaries usually attack her in\ndifferent ways. But here they attack her in one and the same way. As\nthey are all without miracles, and as the Church has always had miracles\nagainst them, they have all had the same interest in evading them; and\nthey all make use of this excuse, that doctrine must not be judged by\nmiracles, but miracles by doctrine. There were two parties among those\nwho heard Jesus Christ: those who followed His teaching on account of\nHis miracles; others who said.... There were two parties in the time of\nCalvin.... There are now the Jesuits, etc.\n\n\n840\n\nMiracles furnish the test in matters of doubt, between Jews and\nheathens, Jews and Christians, Catholics and heretics, the slandered and\nslanderers, between the two crosses.\n\nBut miracles would be useless to heretics; for the Church, authorised by\nmiracles which have already obtained belief, tells us that they have not\nthe true faith. There is no doubt that they are not in it, since the\nfirst miracles of the Church exclude belief of theirs. Thus there is\nmiracle against miracle, both the first and greatest being on the side\nof the Church.\n\nThese nuns,[334] astonished at what is said, that they are in the way of\nperdition; that their confessors are leading them to Geneva; that they\nsuggest to them that Jesus Christ is not in the Eucharist, nor on the\nright hand of the Father; know that all this is false, and therefore\noffer themselves to God in this state. _Vide si via iniquitatis in me\nest._[335] What happens thereupon? This place, which is said to be the\ntemple of the devil, God makes His own temple. It is said that the\nchildren must be taken away from it. God heals them there. It is said\nthat it is the arsenal of hell. God makes of it the sanctuary of His\ngrace. Lastly, they are threatened with all the fury and vengeance of\nheaven; and God overwhelms them with favours. A man would need to have\nlost his senses to conclude from this that they are therefore in the way\nof perdition.\n\n(We have without doubt the same signs as Saint Athanasius.)\n\n\n841\n\n_Si tu es Christus, dic nobis.[336]\n\nOpera qu\u00e6 ego facio in nomine patris mei, h\u00e6c testimonium perhibent de\nme. Sed vos non creditis quia non estis ex ovibus meis. Oves meoe vocem\nmeam audiunt._[337]\n\nJohn vi, 30. _Quod ergo tu facis signum ut videamus et credamus\ntibi?--Non dicunt: Quam doctrinam pr\u00e6dicas?\n\nNemo potest facere signa qu\u00e6 tu facis nisi Deus._[338]\n\n2 Macc. xiv, 15. _Deus qui signis evidentibus suam portionem protegit.\n\nVolumus signum videre de coelo, tentantes eum._ Luke xi, 16.\n\n_Generatio prava signum qu\u00e6rit; et non dabitur.[339]\n\nEt ingemiscens ait: Quid generatio ista signum qu\u00e6rit?_ (Mark viii, 12.)\nThey asked a sign with an evil intention.\n\n_Et non poterat facere._[340] And yet he promises them the sign of\nJonah, the great and wonderful miracle of his resurrection.\n\n_Nisi videritis, non creditis._[341] He does not blame them for not\nbelieving unless there are miracles, but for not believing unless they\nare themselves spectators of them.\n\nAntichrist _in signis mendacibus_, says Saint Paul, 2 Thess. ii.\n\n_Secundum operationem Satan\u00e6, in seductione iis qui pereunt eo quod\ncharitatem veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent, ideo mittet illis\nDeus optationes erroris ut credant mendacio._\n\nAs in the passage of Moses: _Tentat enim vos Deus, utrum diligatis\neum.[342]\n\nEcce pr\u00e6dixi vobis: vos ergo videte._[343]\n\n\n842\n\nHere is not the country of truth. She wanders unknown amongst men. God\nhas covered her with a veil, which leaves her unrecognised by those who\ndo not hear her voice. Room is opened for blasphemy, even against the\ntruths that are at least very likely. If the truths of the Gospel are\npublished, the contrary is published too, and the questions are\nobscured, so that the people cannot distinguish. And they ask, \"What\nhave you to make you believed rather than others? What sign do you give?\nYou have only words, and so have we. If you had miracles, good and\nwell.\" That doctrine ought to be supported by miracles is a truth, which\nthey misuse in order to revile doctrine. And if miracles happen, it is\nsaid that miracles are not enough without doctrine; and this is another\ntruth, which they misuse in order to revile miracles.\n\nJesus Christ cured the man born blind, and performed a number of\nmiracles on the Sabbath day. In this way He blinded the Pharisees, who\nsaid that miracles must be judged by doctrine.\n\n\"We have Moses: but, as for this fellow, we know not from whence he\nis.\"[344] It is wonderful that you know not whence He is, and yet He\ndoes such miracles.\n\nJesus Christ spoke neither against God, nor against Moses.\n\nAntichrist and the false prophets, foretold by both Testaments, will\nspeak openly against God and against Jesus Christ. Who is not hidden ...\nGod would not allow him, who would be a secret enemy, to do miracles\nopenly.\n\nIn a public dispute where the two parties profess to be for God, for\nJesus Christ, for the Church, miracles have never been on the side of\nthe false Christians, and the other side has never been without a\nmiracle.\n\n\"He hath a devil.\" John x, 21. And others said, \"Can a devil open the\neyes of the blind?\"\n\nThe proofs which Jesus Christ and the apostles draw from Scripture are\nnot conclusive; for they say only that Moses foretold that a prophet\nshould come. But they do not thereby prove that this is He; and that is\nthe whole question. These passages therefore serve only to show that\nthey are not contrary to Scripture, and that there appears no\ninconsistency, but not that there is agreement. Now this is enough,\nnamely, exclusion of inconsistency, along with miracles.\n\nThere is a mutual duty between God and men. We must pardon Him this\nsaying: Quid debui?[345] \"Accuse me,\" said God in Isaiah.\n\n\"God must fulfil His promises,\" etc.\n\nMen owe it to God to accept the religion which He sends. God owes it to\nmen not to lead them into error. Now, they would be led into error, if\nthe workers of miracles announced a doctrine which should not appear\nevidently false to the light of common sense, and if a greater worker of\nmiracles had not already warned men not to believe them.\n\nThus, if there were divisions in the Church, and the Arians, for\nexample, who declared themselves founded on Scripture just as the\nCatholics, had done miracles, and not the Catholics, men should have\nbeen led into error.\n\nFor, as a man, who announces to us the secrets of God, is not worthy to\nbe believed on his private authority, and that is why the ungodly doubt\nhim; so when a man, as a token of the communion which he has with God,\nraises the dead, foretells the future, removes the seas, heals the sick,\nthere is none so wicked as not to bow to him, and the incredulity of\nPharaoh and the Pharisees is the effect of a supernatural obduracy.\n\nWhen, therefore, we see miracles and a doctrine not suspicious, both on\none side, there is no difficulty. But when we see miracles and\nsuspicious doctrine on the same side, we must then see which is the\nclearest. Jesus Christ was suspected.\n\nBar-jesus blinded.[346] The power of God surpasses that of His enemies.\n\nThe Jewish exorcists[347] beaten by the devils, saying, \"Jesus I know,\nand Paul I know; but who are ye?\"\n\nMiracles are for doctrine, and not doctrine for miracles.\n\nIf the miracles are true, shall we be able to persuade men of all\ndoctrine? No; for this will not come to pass. _Si angelus_[348]....\n\nRule: we must judge of doctrine by miracles; we must judge of miracles\nby doctrine. All this is true, but contains no contradiction.\n\nFor we must distinguish the times.\n\nHow glad you are to know the general rules, thinking thereby to set up\ndissension, and render all useless! We shall prevent you, my father;\ntruth is one and constant.\n\nIt is impossible, from the duty of God to men, that a man, hiding his\nevil teaching, and only showing the good, saying that he conforms to God\nand the Church, should do miracles so as to instil insensibly a false\nand subtle doctrine. This cannot happen.\n\nAnd still less, that God, who knows the heart, should perform miracles\nin favour of such a one.\n\n\n843\n\nThe three marks of religion: perpetuity, a good life, miracles. They\ndestroy perpetuity by their doctrine of probability; a good life by\ntheir morals; miracles by destroying either their truth or the\nconclusions to be drawn from them.\n\nIf we believe them, the Church will have nothing to do with perpetuity,\nholiness, and miracles. The heretics deny them, or deny the conclusions\nto be drawn from them; they do the same. But one would need to have no\nsincerity in order to deny them, or again to lose one's senses in order\nto deny the conclusions to be drawn from them.\n\nNobody has ever suffered martyrdom for the miracles which he says he has\nseen; for the folly of men goes perhaps to the length of martyrdom, for\nthose which the Turks believe by tradition, but not for those which they\nhave seen.\n\n\n844\n\nThe heretics have always attacked these three marks, which they have\nnot.\n\n\n845\n\n_First objection_: \"An angel from heaven.[349] We must not judge of\ntruth by miracles, but of miracles by truth. Therefore the miracles are\nuseless.\"\n\nNow they are of use, and they must not be in opposition to the truth.\nTherefore what Father Lingende[350] has said, that \"God will not permit\nthat a miracle may lead into error....\"\n\nWhen there shall be a controversy in the same Church, miracle will\ndecide.\n\n_Second objection_: \"But Antichrist will do miracles.\"\n\nThe magicians of Pharaoh did not entice to error. Thus we cannot say to\nJesus respecting Antichrist, \"You have led me into error.\" For\nAntichrist will do them against Jesus Christ, and so they cannot lead\ninto error. Either God will not permit false miracles, or He will\nprocure greater.\n\n[Jesus Christ has existed since the beginning of the world: this is more\nimpressive than all the miracles of Antichrist.]\n\nIf in the same Church there should happen a miracle on the side of those\nin error, men would be led into error. Schism is visible; a miracle is\nvisible. But schism is more a sign of error than a miracle is a sign of\ntruth. Therefore a miracle cannot lead into error.\n\nBut apart from schism, error is not so obvious as a miracle is obvious.\nTherefore a miracle could lead into error.\n\n_Ubi est Deus tuus?_[351] Miracles show Him, and are a light.\n\n\n846\n\nOne of the anthems for Vespers at Christmas: _Exortum est in tenebris\nlumen rectis corde._[352]\n\n\n847\n\nIf the compassion of God is so great that He instructs us to our\nbenefit, even when He hides Himself, what light ought we not to expect\nfrom Him when He reveals Himself?\n\n\n848\n\nWill _Est et non est_ be received in faith itself as well as in\nmiracles? And if it is inseparable in the others ...\n\nWhen Saint Xavier[353] works miracles.--[Saint Hilary. \"Ye wretches, who\noblige us to speak of miracles.\"]\n\nUnjust judges, make not your own laws on the moment; judge by those\nwhich are established, and by yourselves. _V\u00e6 qui conditis leges\niniquas._[354]\n\nMiracles endless, false.\n\nIn order to weaken your adversaries, you disarm the whole Church.\n\nIf they say that our salvation depends upon God, they are \"heretics.\" If\nthey say that they are obedient to the Pope, that is \"hypocrisy.\" If\nthey are ready to subscribe to all the articles, that is not enough. If\nthey say that a man must not be killed for an apple, \"they attack the\nmorality of Catholics.\" If miracles are done among them, it is not a\nsign of holiness, and is, on the contrary, a symptom of heresy.\n\nThis way in which the Church has existed is that truth has been without\ndispute, or, if it has been contested, there has been the Pope, or,\nfailing him, there has been the Church.\n\n\n849\n\nThe five propositions[355] condemned, but no miracle; for the truth was\nnot attacked. But the Sorbonne ... but the bull....\n\nIt is impossible that those who love God with all their heart should\nfail to recognise the Church; so evident is she.--It is impossible that\nthose who do not love God should be convinced of the Church.\n\nMiracles have such influence that it was necessary that God should warn\nmen not to believe in them in opposition to Him, all clear as it is that\nthere is a God. Without this they would have been able to disturb men.\n\nAnd thus so far from these passages, Deut. xiii, making against the\nauthority of the miracles, nothing more indicates their influence. And\nthe same in respect of Antichrist. \"To seduce, if it were possible, even\nthe elect.\"[356]\n\n\n850\n\nThe history of the man born blind.\n\nWhat says Saint Paul? Does he continually speak of the evidence of the\nprophecies? No, but of his own miracle. What says Jesus Christ? Does He\nspeak of the evidence of the prophecies? No; His death had not fulfilled\nthem. But He says, _Si non fecissem_.[357] Believe the works.\n\nTwo supernatural foundations of our wholly supernatural religion; one\nvisible, the other invisible; miracles with grace, miracles without\ngrace.\n\nThe synagogue, which had been treated with love as a type of the Church,\nand with hatred, because it was only the type, has been restored, being\non the point of falling when it was well with God, and thus a type.\n\nMiracles prove the power which God has over hearts, by that which He\nexercises over bodies.\n\nThe Church has never approved a miracle among heretics.\n\nMiracles a support of religion: they have been the test of Jews; they\nhave been the test of Christians, saints, innocents, and true believers.\n\nA miracle among schismatics is not so much to be feared; for schism,\nwhich is more obvious than a miracle, visibly indicates their error. But\nwhen there is no schism, and error is in question, miracle decides.\n\n_Si non fecissem qu\u00e6 alius non fecit._ The wretches who have obliged us\nto speak of miracles.\n\nAbraham and Gideon confirm faith by miracles.\n\nJudith. God speaks at last in their greatest oppression.\n\nIf the cooling of love leaves the Church almost without believers,\nmiracles will rouse them. This is one of the last effects of grace.\n\nIf one miracle were wrought among the Jesuits!\n\nWhen a miracle disappoints the expectation of those in whose presence it\nhappens, and there is a disproportion between the state of their faith\nand the instrument of the miracle, it ought then to induce them to\nchange. But with you it is otherwise. There would be as much reason in\nsaying that, if the Eucharist raised a dead man, it would be necessary\nfor one to turn a Calvinist rather than remain a Catholic. But when it\ncrowns the expectation, and those, who hoped that God would bless the\nremedies, see themselves healed without remedies ...\n\n_The ungodly._--No sign has ever happened on the part of the devil\nwithout a stronger sign on the part of God, or even without it having\nbeen foretold that such would happen.\n\n\n851\n\nUnjust persecutors of those whom God visibly protects. If they reproach\nyou with your excesses, \"they speak as the heretics.\" If they say that\nthe grace of Jesus Christ distinguishes us, \"they are heretics.\" If they\ndo miracles, \"it is the mark of their heresy.\"\n\nEzekiel.--They say: These are the people of God who speak thus.\n\nIt is said, \"Believe in the Church\";[358] but it is not said, \"Believe\nin miracles\"; because the last is natural, and not the first. The one\nhad need of a precept, not the other. Hezekiah.\n\nThe synagogue was only a type, and thus it did not perish; and it was\nonly a type, and so it is decayed. It was a type which contained the\ntruth, and thus it has lasted until it no longer contained the truth.\n\nMy reverend father, all this happened in types. Other religions perish;\nthis one perishes not.\n\nMiracles are more important than you think. They have served for the\nfoundation, and will serve for the continuation of the Church till\nAntichrist, till the end.\n\nThe two witnesses.\n\nIn the Old Testament and the New, miracles are performed in connection\nwith types. Salvation, or a useless thing, if not to show that we must\nsubmit to the Scriptures: type of the sacrament.\n\n\n852\n\n[We must judge soberly of divine ordinances, my father.\n\nSaint Paul in the isle of Malta.]\n\n\n853\n\nThe hardness of the Jesuits, then, surpasses that of the Jews, since\nthose refused to believe Jesus Christ innocent only because they doubted\nif His miracles were of God. Whereas the Jesuits, though unable to doubt\nthat the miracles of Port-Royal are of God, do not cease to doubt still\nthe innocence of that house.\n\n\n854\n\nI suppose that men believe miracles. You corrupt religion either in\nfavour of your friends, or against your enemies. You arrange it at your\nwill.\n\n\n855\n\n_On the miracle._--As God has made no family more happy, let it also be\nthe case that He find none more thankful.\n\n\n\n\nSECTION XIV\n\nAPPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS\n\n\n856\n\n_Clearness, obscurity._--There would be too great darkness, if truth had\nnot visible signs. This is a wonderful one, that it has always been\npreserved in one Church and one visible assembly [of men]. There would\nbe too great clearness, if there were only one opinion in this Church.\nBut in order to recognise what is true, one has only to look at what has\nalways existed; for it is certain that truth has always existed, and\nthat nothing false has always existed.\n\n\n857\n\nThe history of the Church ought properly to be called the history of\ntruth.\n\n\n858\n\nThere is a pleasure in being in a ship beaten about by a storm, when we\nare sure that it will not founder. The persecutions which harass the\nChurch are of this nature.\n\n\n859\n\nIn addition to so many other signs of piety, they[359] are also\npersecuted, which is the best sign of piety.\n\n\n860\n\nThe Church is in an excellent state, when it is sustained by God only.\n\n\n861\n\nThe Church has always been attacked by opposite errors, but perhaps\nnever at the same time, as now. And if she suffer more because of the\nmultiplicity of errors, she derives this advantage from it, that they\ndestroy each other.\n\nShe complains of both, but far more of the Calvinists, because of the\nschism.\n\nIt is certain that many of the two opposite sects are deceived. They\nmust be disillusioned.\n\nFaith embraces many truths which seem to contradict each other. _There\nis a time to laugh, and a time to weep_,[360] etc. _Responde. Ne\nrespondeas_,[361] etc.\n\nThe source of this is the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ; and\nalso the two worlds (the creation of a new heaven and a new earth; a new\nlife and a new death; all things double, and the same names remaining);\nand finally the two natures that are in the righteous, (for they are the\ntwo worlds, and a member and image of Jesus Christ. And thus all the\nnames suit them: righteous, yet sinners; dead, yet living; living, yet\ndead; elect, yet outcast, etc.).\n\nThere are then a great number of truths, both of faith and of morality,\nwhich seem contradictory, and which all hold good together in a\nwonderful system. The source of all heresies is the exclusion of some of\nthese truths; and the source of all the objections which the heretics\nmake against us is the ignorance of some of our truths. And it generally\nhappens that, unable to conceive the connection of two opposite truths,\nand believing that the admission of one involves the exclusion of the\nother, they adhere to the one, exclude the other, and think of us as\nopposed to them. Now exclusion is the cause of their heresy; and\nignorance that we hold the other truth causes their objections.\n\n1st example: Jesus Christ is God and man. The Arians, unable to\nreconcile these things, which they believe incompatible, say that He is\nman; in this they are Catholics. But they deny that He is God; in this\nthey are heretics. They allege that we deny His humanity; in this they\nare ignorant.\n\n2nd example: On the subject of the Holy Sacrament. We believe that, the\nsubstance of the bread being changed, and being consubstantial with that\nof the body of our Lord, Jesus Christ is therein really present. That is\none truth. Another is that this Sacrament is also a type of the cross\nand of glory, and a commemoration of the two. That is the Catholic\nfaith, which comprehends these two truths which seem opposed.\n\nThe heresy of to-day, not conceiving that this Sacrament contains at the\nsame time both the presence of Jesus Christ and a type of Him, and that\nit is a sacrifice and a commemoration of a sacrifice, believes that\nneither of these truths can be admitted without excluding the other for\nthis reason.\n\nThey fasten to this point alone, that this Sacrament is typical; and in\nthis they are not heretics. They think that we exclude this truth; hence\nit comes that they raise so many objections to us out of the passages of\nthe Fathers which assert it. Finally, they deny the presence; and in\nthis they are heretics.\n\n3rd example: Indulgences.\n\nThe shortest way, therefore, to prevent heresies is to instruct in all\ntruths; and the surest way to refute them is to declare them all. For\nwhat will the heretics say?\n\nIn order to know whether an opinion is a Father's ...\n\n\n862\n\nAll err the more dangerously, as they each follow a truth. Their fault\nis not in following a falsehood, but in not following another truth.\n\n\n863\n\nTruth is so obscure in these times, and falsehood so established, that\nunless we love the truth, we cannot know it.\n\n\n864\n\nIf there is ever a time in which we must make profession of two opposite\ntruths, it is when we are reproached for omitting one. Therefore the\nJesuits and Jansenists are wrong in concealing them, but the Jansenists\nmore so, for the Jesuits have better made profession of the two.\n\n\n865\n\nTwo kinds of people make things equal to one another, as feasts to\nworking days, Christians to priests, all things among them, etc. And\nhence the one party conclude that what is then bad for priests is also\nso for Christians, and the other that what is not bad for Christians is\nlawful for priests.\n\n\n866\n\nIf the ancient Church was in error, the Church is fallen. If she should\nbe in error to-day, it is not the same thing; for she has always the\nsuperior maxim of tradition from the hand of the ancient Church; and so\nthis submission and this conformity to the ancient Church prevail and\ncorrect all. But the ancient Church did not assume the future Church,\nand did not consider her, as we assume and consider the ancient.\n\n\n867\n\nThat which hinders us in comparing what formerly occurred in the Church\nwith what we see there now, is that we generally look upon Saint\nAthanasius,[362] Saint Theresa, and the rest, as crowned with glory, and\nacting towards us as gods. Now that time has cleared up things, it does\nso appear. But at the time when he was persecuted, this great saint was\na man called Athanasius; and Saint Theresa was a nun. \"Elias was a man\nsubject to like passions as we are,\" says Saint James, to disabuse\nChristians of that false idea which makes us reject the example of the\nsaints, as disproportioned to our state. \"They were saints,\" say we,\n\"they are not like us.\" What then actually happened? Saint Athanasius\nwas a man called Athanasius, accused of many crimes, condemned by such\nand such a council for such and such a crime. All the bishops assented\nto it, and finally the Pope. What said they to those who opposed this?\nThat they disturbed the peace, that they created schism, etc.\n\nZeal, light. Four kinds of persons: zeal without knowledge; knowledge\nwithout zeal; neither knowledge nor zeal; both zeal and knowledge. The\nfirst three condemned him. The last acquitted him, were excommunicated\nby the Church, and yet saved the Church.\n\n\n868\n\nIf Saint Augustine came at the present time, and was as little\nauthorised as his defenders, he would accomplish nothing. God directs\nHis Church well, by having sent him before with authority.\n\n\n869\n\nGod has not wanted to absolve without the Church. As she has part in the\noffence, He desires her to have part in the pardon. He associates her\nwith this power, as kings their parliaments. But if she absolves or\nbinds without God, she is no longer the Church. For, as in the case of\nparliament, even if the king have pardoned a man, it must be ratified;\nbut if parliament ratifies without the king, or refuses to ratify on the\norder of the king, it is no longer the parliament of the king, but a\nrebellious assembly.\n\n\n870\n\n_The Church, the Pope. Unity, plurality._--Considering the Church as a\nunity, the Pope, who is its head, is as the whole. Considering it as a\nplurality, the Pope is only a part of it. The Fathers have considered\nthe Church now in the one way, now in the other. And thus they have\nspoken differently of the Pope. (Saint Cyprian: _Sacerdos Dei._) But in\nestablishing one of these truths, they have not excluded the other.\nPlurality which is not reduced to unity is confusion; unity which does\nnot depend on plurality is tyranny. There is scarcely any other country\nthan France in which it is permissible to say that the Council is above\nthe Pope.\n\n\n871\n\nThe Pope is head. Who else is known of all? Who else is recognised by\nall, having power to insinuate himself into all the body, because he\nholds the principal shoot, which insinuates itself everywhere? How easy\nit was to make this degenerate into tyranny! That is why Christ has laid\ndown for them this precept: _Vos autem non sic._[363]\n\n\n872\n\nThe Pope hates and fears the learned, who do not submit to him at will.\n\n\n873\n\nWe must not judge of what the Pope is by some words of the Fathers--as\nthe Greeks said in a council, important rules--but by the acts of the\nChurch and the Fathers, and by the canons.\n\n_Duo aut tres in unum._[364] Unity and plurality. It is an error to\nexclude one of the two, as the papists do who exclude plurality, or the\nHuguenots who exclude unity.\n\n\n874\n\nWould the Pope be dishonoured by having his knowledge from God and\ntradition; and is it not dishonouring him to separate him from this holy\nunion?\n\n\n875\n\nGod does not perform miracles in the ordinary conduct of His Church. It\nwould be a strange miracle if infallibility existed in one man. But it\nappears so natural for it to reside in a multitude, since the conduct\nof God is hidden under nature, as in all His other works.\n\n\n876\n\nKings dispose of their own power; but the Popes cannot dispose of\ntheirs.\n\n\n877\n\n_Summum jus, summa injuria._\n\nThe majority is the best way, because it is visible, and has strength to\nmake itself obeyed. Yet it is the opinion of the least able.\n\nIf men could have done it, they would have placed might in the hands of\njustice. But as might does not allow itself to be managed as men want,\nbecause it is a palpable quality, whereas justice is a spiritual quality\nof which men dispose as they please, they have placed justice in the\nhands of might. And thus that is called just which men are forced to\nobey.\n\nHence comes the right of the sword, for the sword gives a true right.\nOtherwise we should see violence on one side and justice on the other\n(end of the twelfth _Provincial_). Hence comes the injustice of the\nFronde,[365] which raises its alleged justice against power. It is not\nthe same in the Church, for there is a true justice and no violence.\n\n\n878\n\n_Injustice._--Jurisdiction is not given for the sake of the judge, but\nfor that of the litigant. It is dangerous to tell this to the people.\nBut the people have too much faith in you; it will not harm them, and\nmay serve you. It should therefore be made known. _Pasce oves\nmeas_,[366] non _tuas_. You owe me pasturage.\n\n\n879\n\nMen like certainty. They like the Pope to be infallible in faith, and\ngrave doctors to be infallible in morals, so as to have certainty.\n\n\n880\n\nThe Church teaches, and God inspires, both infallibly. The work of the\nChurch is of use only as a preparation for grace or condemnation. What\nit does is enough for condemnation, not for inspiration.\n\n\n881\n\nEvery time the Jesuits may impose upon the Pope, they will make all\nChristendom perjured.\n\nThe Pope is very easily imposed upon, because of his occupations, and\nthe confidence which he has in the Jesuits; and the Jesuits are very\ncapable of imposing upon him by means of calumny.\n\n\n882\n\nThe wretches who have obliged me to speak of the basis of religion.\n\n\n883\n\nSinners purified without penitence; the righteous justified without\nlove; all Christians without the grace of Jesus Christ; God without\npower over the will of men; a predestination without mystery; a\nredemption without certitude!\n\n\n884\n\nAny one is made a priest, who wants to be so, as under Jeroboam.[367]\n\nIt is a horrible thing that they propound to us the discipline of the\nChurch of to-day as so good, that it is made a crime to desire to change\nit. Formerly it was infallibly good, and it was thought that it could be\nchanged without sin; and now, such as it is, we cannot wish it changed!\nIt has indeed been permitted to change the custom of not making priests\nwithout such great circumspection, that there were hardly any who were\nworthy; and it is not allowed to complain of the custom which makes so\nmany who are unworthy!\n\n\n885\n\n_Heretics._--Ezekiel. All the heathen, and also the Prophet, spoke evil\nof Israel. But the Israelites were so far from having the right to say\nto him, \"You speak like the heathen,\" that he is most forcible upon\nthis, that the heathen say the same as he.\n\n\n886\n\nThe Jansenists are like the heretics in the reformation of morality; but\nyou are like them in evil.\n\n\n887\n\nYou are ignorant of the prophecies, if you do not know that all this\nmust happen; princes, prophets, Pope, and even the priests. And yet the\nChurch is to abide. By the grace of God we have not come to that. Woe to\nthese priests! But we hope that God will bestow His mercy upon us that\nwe shall not be of them.\n\nSaint Peter, ii: false prophets in the past, the image of future ones.\n\n\n888\n\n... So that if it is true, on the one hand, that some lax monks, and\nsome corrupt casuists, who are not members of the hierarchy, are steeped\nin these corruptions, it is, on the other hand, certain that the true\npastors of the Church, who are the true guardians of the Divine Word,\nhave preserved it unchangeably against the efforts of those who have\nattempted to destroy it.\n\nAnd thus true believers have no pretext to follow that laxity, which is\nonly offered to them by the strange hands of these casuists, instead of\nthe sound doctrine which is presented to them by the fatherly hands of\ntheir own pastors. And the ungodly and heretics have no ground for\npublishing these abuses as evidence of imperfection in the providence of\nGod over His Church; since, the Church consisting properly in the body\nof the hierarchy, we are so far from being able to conclude from the\npresent state of matters that God has abandoned her to corruption, that\nit has never been more apparent than at the present time that God\nvisibly protects her from corruption.\n\nFor if some of these men, who, by an extraordinary vocation, have made\nprofession of withdrawing from the world and adopting the monks' dress,\nin order to live in a more perfect state than ordinary Christians, have\nfallen into excesses which horrify ordinary Christians, and have become\nto us what the false prophets were among the Jews; this is a private and\npersonal misfortune, which must indeed be deplored, but from which\nnothing can be inferred against the care which God takes of His Church;\nsince all these things are so clearly foretold, and it has been so long\nsince announced that these temptations would arise from people of this\nkind; so that when we are well instructed, we see in this rather\nevidence of the care of God than of His forgetfulness in regard to us.\n\n\n889\n\nTertullian: _Nunquam Ecclesia reformabitur._\n\n\n890\n\nHeretics, who take advantage of the doctrine of the Jesuits, must be\nmade to know that it is not that of the Church [_the doctrine of the\nChurch_], and that our divisions do not separate us from the altar.\n\n\n891\n\nIf in differing we condemned, you would be right. Uniformity without\ndiversity is useless to others; diversity without uniformity is ruinous\nfor us. The one is harmful outwardly; the other inwardly.\n\n\n892\n\nBy showing the truth, we cause it to be believed; but by showing the\ninjustice of ministers, we do not correct it. Our mind is assured by a\nproof of falsehood; our purse is not made secure by proof of injustice.\n\n\n893\n\nThose who love the Church lament to see the corruption of morals; but\nlaws at least exist. But these corrupt the laws. The model is damaged.\n\n\n894\n\nMen never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from\nreligious conviction.\n\n\n895\n\nIt is in vain that the Church has established these words, anathemas,\nheresies, etc. They are used against her.\n\n\n896\n\nThe servant knoweth not what his lord doeth, for the master tells him\nonly the act and not the intention.[368] And this is why he often obeys\nslavishly, and defeats the intention. But Jesus Christ has told us the\nobject. And you defeat that object.\n\n\n897\n\nThey cannot have perpetuity, and they seek universality; and therefore\nthey make the whole Church corrupt, that they may be saints.\n\n\n898\n\n_Against those who misuse passages of Scripture, and who pride\nthemselves in finding one which seems to favour their error._--The\nchapter for Vespers, Passion Sunday, the prayer for the king.\n\nExplanation of these words: \"He that is not with me is against me.\"[369]\nAnd of these others: \"He that is not against you is for you.\"[370] A\nperson who says: \"I am neither for nor against\", we ought to reply to\nhim ...\n\n\n899\n\nHe who will give the meaning of Scripture, and does not take it from\nScripture, is an enemy of Scripture. (Aug., _De Doct. Christ._)\n\n\n900\n\n_Humilibus dat gratiam; an ideo non dedit humilitatem?[371]\n\nSui eum non receperunt; quotquot autem non receperunt an non erant\nsui?_[372]\n\n\n901\n\n\"It must indeed be,\" says Feuillant, \"that this is not so certain; for\ncontroversy indicates uncertainty, (Saint Athanasius, Saint Chrysostom,\nmorals, unbelievers).\"\n\nThe Jesuits have not made the truth uncertain, but they have made their\nown ungodliness certain.\n\nContradiction has always been permitted, in order to blind the wicked;\nfor all that offends truth or love is evil. This is the true principle.\n\n\n902\n\nAll religions and sects in the world have had natural reason for a\nguide. Christians alone have been constrained to take their rules from\nwithout themselves, and to acquaint themselves with those which Jesus\nChrist bequeathed to men of old to be handed down to true believers.\nThis constraint wearies these good Fathers. They desire, like other\npeople, to have liberty to follow their own imaginations. It is in vain\nthat we cry to them, as the prophets said to the Jews of old: \"Enter\ninto the Church; acquaint yourselves with the precepts which the men of\nold left to her, and follow those paths.\" They have answered like the\nJews: \"We will not walk in them; but we will follow the thoughts of our\nhearts\"; and they have said, \"We will be as the other nations.\"[373]\n\n\n903\n\nThey make a rule of exception.\n\nHave the men of old given absolution before penance? Do this as\nexceptional. But of the exception you make a rule without exception, so\nthat you do not even want the rule to be exceptional.\n\n\n904\n\n_On confessions and absolutions without signs of regret._\n\nGod regards only the inward; the Church judges only by the outward. God\nabsolves as soon as He sees penitence in the heart; the Church when she\nsees it in works. God will make a Church pure within, which confounds,\nby its inward and entirely spiritual holiness, the inward impiety of\nproud sages and Pharisees; and the Church will make an assembly of men\nwhose external manners are so pure as to confound the manners of the\nheathen. If there are hypocrites among them, but so well disguised that\nshe does not discover their venom, she tolerates them; for, though they\nare not accepted of God, whom they cannot deceive, they are of men, whom\nthey do deceive. And thus she is not dishonoured by their conduct, which\nappears holy. But you want the Church to judge neither of the inward,\nbecause that belongs to God alone, nor of the outward, because God\ndwells only upon the inward; and thus, taking away from her all choice\nof men, you retain in the Church the most dissolute, and those who\ndishonour her so greatly, that the synagogues of the Jews and sects of\nphilosophers would have banished them as unworthy, and have abhorred\nthem as impious.\n\n\n905\n\nThe easiest conditions to live in according to the world are the most\ndifficult to live in according to God, and vice versa. Nothing is so\ndifficult according to the world as the religious life; nothing is\neasier than to live it according to God. Nothing is easier, according to\nthe world, than to live in high office and great wealth; nothing is more\ndifficult than to live in them according to God, and without acquiring\nan interest in them and a liking for them.\n\n\n906\n\nThe casuists submit the decision to the corrupt reason, and the choice\nof decisions to the corrupt will, in order that all that is corrupt in\nthe nature of man may contribute to his conduct.\n\n\n907\n\nBut is it _probable_ that _probability_ gives assurance?\n\nDifference between rest and security of conscience. Nothing gives\ncertainty but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for\ntruth.\n\n\n908\n\nThe whole society itself of their casuists cannot give assurance to a\nconscience in error, and that is why it is important to choose good\nguides.\n\nThus they will be doubly culpable, both in having followed ways which\nthey should not have followed, and in having listened to teachers to\nwhom they should not have listened.\n\n\n909\n\nCan it be anything but compliance with the world which makes you find\nthings probable? Will you make us believe that it is truth, and that if\nduelling were not the fashion, you would find it probable that they\nmight fight, considering the matter in itself?\n\n\n910\n\nMust we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make both\nparties wicked instead of one. _Vince in bono malum._[374] (Saint\nAugustine.)\n\n\n911\n\n_Universal._--Ethics and language are special, but universal sciences.\n\n\n912\n\n_Probability._--Each one can employ it; no one can take it away.\n\n\n913\n\nThey allow lust to act, and check scruples; whereas they should do the\ncontrary.\n\n\n914\n\n_Montalte._[375]--Lax opinions please men so much, that it is strange\nthat theirs displease. It is because they have exceeded all bounds.\nAgain, there are many people who see the truth, and who cannot attain to\nit; but there are few who do not know that the purity of religion is\nopposed to our corruptions. It is absurd to say that an eternal\nrecompense is offered to the morality of Escobar.\n\n\n915\n\n_Probability._--They have some true principles; but they misuse them.\nNow, the abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the introduction\nof falsehood.\n\nAs if there were two hells, one for sins against love, the other for\nthose against justice!\n\n\n916\n\n_Probability._[376]--The earnestness of the saints in seeking the truth\nwas useless, if the probable is trustworthy. The fear of the saints who\nhave always followed the surest way (Saint Theresa having always\nfollowed her confessor).\n\n\n917\n\nTake away _probability_, and you can no longer please the world; give\n_probability_, and you can no longer displease it.\n\n\n918\n\nThese are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the Jesuits. The\ngreat have wished to be flattered. The Jesuits have wished to be loved\nby the great. They have all been worthy to be abandoned to the spirit of\nlying, the one party to deceive, the others to be deceived. They have\nbeen avaricious, ambitious, voluptuous. _Coacervabunt tibi\nmagistros._[377] Worthy disciples of such masters, they have sought\nflatterers, and have found them.\n\n\n919\n\nIf they do not renounce their doctrine of probability, their good maxims\nare as little holy as the bad, for they are founded on human authority;\nand thus, if they are more just, they will be more reasonable, but not\nmore holy. They take after the wild stem on which they are grafted.\n\nIf what I say does not serve to enlighten you, it will be of use to the\npeople.\n\nIf these[378] are silent, the stones will speak.\n\nSilence is the greatest persecution; the saints were never silent. It is\ntrue that a call is necessary; but it is not from the decrees of the\nCouncil that we must learn whether we are called, it is from the\nnecessity of speaking. Now, after Rome has spoken, and we think that she\nhas condemned the truth, and that they have written it, and after the\nbooks which have said the contrary are censured; we must cry out so much\nthe louder, the more unjustly we are censured, and the more violently\nthey would stifle speech, until there come a Pope who hears both\nparties, and who consults antiquity to do justice. So the good Popes\nwill find the Church still in outcry.\n\nThe Inquisition and the Society[379] are the two scourges of the truth.\n\nWhy do you not accuse them of Arianism? For, though they have said that\nJesus Christ is God, perhaps they mean by it not the natural\ninterpretation, but as it is said, _Dii estis_.\n\nIf my Letters are condemned at Rome, that which I condemn in them is\ncondemned in heaven. _Ad tuum, Domine Jesu, tribunal appello._\n\nYou yourselves are corruptible.\n\nI feared that I had written ill, seeing myself condemned; but the\nexample of so many pious writings makes me believe the contrary. It is\nno longer allowable to write well, so corrupt or ignorant is the\nInquisition!\n\n\"It is better to obey God than men.\"\n\nI fear nothing; I hope for nothing. It is not so with the bishops.\nPort-Royal fears, and it is bad policy to disperse them; for they will\nfear no longer and will cause greater fear. I do not even fear your like\ncensures, if they are not founded on those of tradition. Do you censure\nall? What! even my respect? No. Say then what, or you will do nothing,\nif you do not point out the evil, and why it is evil. And this is what\nthey will have great difficulty in doing.\n\n_Probability._--They have given a ridiculous explanation of certitude;\nfor, after having established that all their ways are sure, they have no\nlonger called that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not\narriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger of going\nout of that road.\n\n\n920\n\n... The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves\ncriminals, and impeach their better actions. And these indulge in\nsubtleties in order to excuse the most wicked.\n\nThe heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a\nbad foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance\nbased upon the most different foundation.\n\nMan never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so\ngood a capture as you....\n\nThe more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise\nmy cause.\n\nYou say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that\nmen do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?\n\nYou will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...\n\nThere is something supernatural in such a blindness. _Digna\nnecessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime_ ...\n\n_Doctrina sua noscitur vir_ ...\n\nFalse piety, a double sin.\n\nI am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court;\nprotect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my\nstrength. If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and\npersecutions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it\naway.\n\nI do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error\nand injustice. Let God, out of His compassion, having no regard to the\nevil which is in me, and having regard to the good which is in you,\ngrant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in my hands, and that\nfalsehood ...\n\n\n921\n\n_Probable._--Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by comparison of the\nthings which we love. It is _probable_ that this food will not poison\nme. It is _probable_ that I shall not lose my action by not prosecuting\nit ...\n\n\n922\n\nIt is not absolution only which remits sins by the sacrament of penance,\nbut contrition, which is not real if it does not seek the sacrament.\n\n\n923\n\nPeople who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour,\nwithout truth, deceitful in heart, deceitful in speech; for which that\namphibious animal in fable was once reproached, which held itself in a\ndoubtful position between the fish and the birds ...\n\nIt is important to kings and princes to be considered pious; and\ntherefore they must confess themselves to you.\n\n\n\n\nNOTES\n\n\nThe following brief notes are mainly based on those of M. Brunschvicg.\nBut those of MM. Faug\u00e8re, Molinier, and Havet have also been consulted.\nThe biblical references are to the Authorised English Version. Those in\nthe text are to the Vulgate, except where it has seemed advisable to\nalter the reference to the English Version.\n\n[1] P. 1, l. 1. _The difference between the mathematical and the\n    intuitive mind._--Pascal is here distinguishing the logical or\n    discursive type of mind, a good example of which is found in\n    mathematical reasoning, and what we should call the intuitive type\n    of mind, which sees everything at a glance. A practical man of sound\n    judgment exemplifies the latter; for he is in fact guided by\n    impressions of past experience, and does not consciously reason from\n    general principles.\n\n[2] P. 2, l. 34. _There are different kinds_, etc.--This is probably a\n    subdivision of the discursive type of mind.\n\n[3] P. 3, l. 31. _By rule._--This is an emendation by M. Brunschvicg.\n    The MS. has _sans r\u00e8gle_.\n\n[4] P. 4, l. 3. _I judge by my watch._--Pascal is said to have always\n    carried a watch attached to his left wrist-band.\n\n[5] P. 5, l. 21. _Scaramouch._--A traditional character in Italian\n    comedy.\n\n[6] P. 5, l. 22. _The doctor._--Also a traditional character in Italian\n    comedy.\n\n[7] P. 5, l. 24. _Cleobuline._--Princess, and afterwards Queen of\n    Corinth, figures in the romance of Mademoiselle de Scud\u00e9ry, entitled\n    _Artam\u00e8ne ou le Grand Cyrus_. She is enamoured of one of her\n    subjects, Myrinthe. But she \"loved him without thinking of love; and\n    remained so long in that error, that this affection was no longer in\n    a state to be overcome, when she became aware of it.\" The character\n    is supposed to have been drawn from Christina of Sweden.\n\n[8] P. 6, l. 21. _Rivers are_, etc.--Apparently suggested by a chapter\n    in Rabelais: _How we descended in the isle of Odes, in which the\n    roads walk_.\n\n[9] P. 6, l. 30. _Salomon de Tultie._--A pseudonym adopted by Pascal as\n    the author of the _Provincial Letters_.\n\n[10] P. 7, l. 7. _Abstine et sustine._--A maxim of the Stoics.\n\n[11] P. 7, l. 8. _Follow nature._--The maxim in which the Stoics summed\n     up their positive ethical teaching.\n\n[12] P. 7, l. 9. _As Plato._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 9.\n\n[13] P. 9, l. 29. _We call this jargon poetical beauty._--According to\n     M. Havet, Pascal refers here to Malherbe and his school.\n\n[14] P. 10, l. 23. _Ne quid nimis._--Nothing in excess, a celebrated\n     maxim in ancient Greek philosophy.\n\n[15] P. 11, l. 26. _That epigram about two one-eyed people._--M. Havet\n     points out that this is not Martial's, but is to be found in\n     _Epigrammatum Delectus_, published by Port-Royal in 1659.\n\n          _Lumine \u00c6on dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro,\n          Et potis est forma vincere uterque deos.\n          Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti,\n          Sic tu c\u00e6cus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus._\n\n[16] P. 11, l. 29. _Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta._--Horace, _De Arte\n     Poetica_, 447.\n\n[17] P. 13, l. 2. _Cartesian._--One who follows the philosophy of\n     Descartes (1596-1650), \"the father of modern philosophy.\"\n\n[18] P. 13, l. 8. _Le Ma\u00eetre._--A famous French advocate in Pascal's\n     time. His _Plaidoyers el Harangues_ appeared in 1657. _Plaidoyer\n     VI_ is entitled _Pour un fils mis en religion par force_, and on\n     the first page occurs the word _r\u00e9pandre_: \"_Dieu qui r\u00e9pand des\n     aveuglements et des t\u00e9n\u00e8bres sur les passions ill\u00e9gitimes._\"\n     Pascal's reference is probably to this passage.\n\n[19] P. 13, l. 12. _The Cardinal._--Mazarin. He was one of those\n     statesmen who do not like condolences.\n\n[20] P. 14, l. 12. _Saint Thomas._--Thomas Aquinas (1223-74), one of the\n     greatest scholastic philosophers.\n\n[21] P. 14, l. 16. _Charron._--A friend of Montaigne. His _Trait\u00e9 de la\n     Sagesse_ (1601), which is not a large book, contains 117 chapters,\n     each of which is subdivided.\n\n[22] P. 14, l. 17. _Of the confusion of Montaigne._--The Essays of\n     Montaigne follow each other without any kind of order.\n\n[23] P. 14, l. 27. _Mademoiselle de Gournay._--The adopted daughter of\n     Montaigne. She published in 1595 an edition of his _Essais_, and,\n     in a Preface (added later), she defends him on this point.\n\n[24] P. 15, l. 1. _People without eyes._--Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[25] P. 15, l. 1. _Squaring the circle._--Ibid., ii, 14.\n\n[26] P. 15, l. 1. _A greater world._--Ibid., ii, 12.\n\n[27] P. 15, l. 2. _On suicide and on death._--Ibid., ii, 3.\n\n[28] P. 15, l. 3. _Without fear and without repentance._--Ibid., iii.,\n     2.\n\n[29] P. 15, l. 7. (730, 231).--These two references of Pascal are to the\n     edition of the _Essais_ of Montaigne, published in 1636.\n\n[30] P. 16, l. 32. _The centre which is everywhere, and the\n     circumference nowhere._--M. Havet traces this saying to Empedocles.\n     Pascal must have read it in Mlle de Gournay's preface to her\n     edition of Montaigne's _Essais_.\n\n[31] P. 18, l. 33. _I will speak of the whole._--This saying of\n     Democritus is quoted by Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[32] P. 18, l. 37. _Principles of Philosophy._--The title of one of\n     Descartes's philosophical writings, published in 1644. See note on\n     p. 13, l. 8 above.\n\n[33] P. 18, l. 39. _De omni scibili._--The title under which Pico della\n     Mirandola announced nine hundred propositions which he proposed to\n     uphold publicly at Rome in 1486.\n\n[34] P. 19, l. 26. _Beneficia eo usque l\u00e6ta sunt._--Tacitus, _Ann._,\n     lib. iv, c. xviii. Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 8.\n\n[35] P. 21, l. 35. _Modus quo_, etc.--St. Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, xxi,\n     10. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[36] P. 22, l. 8. _Felix qui_, etc.--Virgil, _Georgics_, ii, 489, quoted\n     by Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 10.\n\n[37] P. 22, l. 10. _Nihil admirari_, etc.--Horace, _Epistles_, I. vi. 1.\n     Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 10.\n\n[38] P. 22, l. 19. 394.--A reference to Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[39] P. 22, l. 20. 395.--Ibid.\n\n[40] P. 22, l. 22. 399.--Ibid.\n\n[41] P. 22, l. 28. _Harum sententiarum._--Cicero, _Tusc._, i, 11,\n     Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[42] P. 22, l. 39. _Felix qui_, etc.--See above, notes on p. 22, l. 8\n     and l. 10.\n\n[43] P. 22, l. 40. 280 _kinds of sovereign good in\n     Montaigne._--_Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[44] P. 23, l. 1. _Part I_, 1, 2, _c_. 1, _section_ 4.--This reference\n     is to Pascal's _Trait\u00e9 du vide_.\n\n[45] P. 23, l. 25. _How comes it_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 8.\n\n[46] P. 23, l. 29. See Epictetus, _Diss._, iv, 6. He was a great Roman\n     Stoic in the time of Domitian.\n\n[47] P. 24, l. 9. _It is natural_, etc.--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i,\n     4.\n\n[48] P. 24, l. 12. _Imagination._--This fragment is suggestive of\n     Montaigne. See _Essais_, iii, 8.\n\n[49] P. 25, l. 16. _If the greatest philosopher_, etc. See Raymond\n     Sebond's _Apologie_, from which Pascal has derived his\n     illustrations.\n\n[50] P. 26, l. 1. _Furry cats._--Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 8.\n\n[51] P. 26, l. 31. _Della opinione_, etc.--No work is known under this\n     name. It may refer to a treatise by Carlo Flori, which bears a\n     title like this. But its date (1690) is after Pascal's death\n     (1662), though there may have been earlier editions.\n\n[52] P. 27, l. 12. _Source of error in diseases._--Montaigne, _Essais_,\n     ii, 12.\n\n[53] P. 27, l. 27. _They rival each other_, etc.--Ibid.\n\n[54] P. 28, l. 31. _N\u00e6 iste_, etc.--Terence, _Heaut._, IV, i, 8.\n     Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 1.\n\n[55] P. 28, l. 15. _Quasi quidquam_, etc.--Plin., ii, 7. Montaigne,\n     ibid.\n\n[56] P. 28, l. 29. _Quod crebro_, etc.--Cicero, _De Divin._, ii, 49.\n\n[57] P. 29, l. 1. _Spongia solis._--The spots on the sun. Pascal sees in\n     them the beginning of the darkening of the sun, and thinks that\n     there will therefore come a day when there will be no sun.\n\n[58] P. 29, l. 15. _Custom is a second nature_, etc.--Montaigne,\n     _Essais_, i, 22.\n\n[59] P. 29, l. 19. _Omne animal._--See Genesis vii, 14.\n\n[60] P. 30, l. 22. _Hence savages_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 22.\n\n[61] P. 32, l. 3. _A great part of Europe_, etc.--An allusion to the\n     Reformation.\n\n[62] P. 33, l. 13. _Alexander's chastity._--Pascal apparently has in\n     mind Alexander's treatment of Darius's wife and daughters after the\n     battle of Issus.\n\n[63] P. 34, l. 17. _Lustravit lampade terras._--Part of Cicero's\n     translation of two lines from Homer, _Odyssey_, xviii, 136.\n     Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n          _Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse\n          Jupiter auctiferas lustravit lampade terras._\n\n[64] P. 34, l. 32. _Nature gives_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.\n\n[65] P. 37, l. 23. _Our nature consists_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_,\n     iii, 13.\n\n[66] P. 38, l. 1. _Weariness._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[67] P. 38, l. 8. _C\u00e6sar was too old_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_,\n     ii, 34.\n\n[68] P. 38, l. 30. _A mere trifle_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 4.\n\n[69] P. 40, l. 21. _Advice given to Pyrrhus._--Ibid., i, 42.\n\n[70] P. 41, l. 2. _They do not know_, etc.--Ibid., i, 19.\n\n[71] P. 44, l. 14. _They are_, etc.--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 38.\n\n[72] P. 46, l. 7. _Those who write_, etc.--A thought of Cicero in _Pro\n     Archia_, mentioned by Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 41.\n\n[73] P. 47, l. 3. _Ferox gens._--Livy, xxxiv, 17. Montaigne, _Essais_,\n     i, 40.\n\n[74] P. 47, l. 5. _Every opinion_, etc.--Montaigne, ibid.\n\n[75] P. 47, l. 12. 184.--This is a reference to Montaigne, _Essais_, i,\n     40. See also ibid., iii, 10.\n\n[76] P. 48, l. 8. _I know not what (Corneille)._--See _M\u00e9d\u00e9e,_ II, vi,\n     and _Rodogune_, I, v.\n\n[77] P. 48, l. 22. _In omnibus requiem qu\u00e6sivi._--Eccles. xxiv, II, in\n     the Vulgate.\n\n[78] P. 50, l. 5. _The future alone is our end._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i,\n     3.\n\n[79] P. 50, l. 14. _Solomon._--Considered by Pascal as the author of\n     Ecclesiastes.\n\n[80] P. 50, l. 20. _Unconscious of approaching fever._--Compare\n     Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.\n\n[81] P. 50, l. 22. _Cromwell._--Cromwell died in 1658 of a fever, and\n     not of the gravel. The Restoration took place in 1660, and this\n     fragment was written about that date.\n\n[82] P. 50, l. 28. _The three hosts._--Charles I was beheaded in 1649;\n     Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated in 1654; Jean Casimir, King of\n     Poland, was deposed in 1656.\n\n[83] P. 50, l. 32. _Macrobius._--A Latin writer of the fifth century. He\n     was a Neo-Platonist in philosophy. One of his works is entitled\n     _Saturnalia_.\n\n[84] P. 51, l. 5. _The great and the humble_, etc.--See Montaigne,\n     _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[85] P. 53, l. 5. _Miton._--A man of fashion in Paris known to Pascal.\n\n[86] P. 53, l. 15. _Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.\n\n[87] P. 60, l. 26. _Fascinatio nugacitatis._--Book of Wisdom iv, 12.\n\n[88] P. 61, l. 10. _Memoria hospitis_, etc.--Book of Wisdom v, 15.\n\n[89] P. 62, l. 5. _Instability._--Compare Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 12.\n\n[90] P. 66, l. 19. _Foolishness, stultitium._--I Cor. i, 18.\n\n[91] P. 71, l. 5. _To prove Divinity from the works of nature._--A\n     traditional argument of the Stoics like Cicero and Seneca, and of\n     rationalist theologians like Raymond Sebond, Charron, etc. It is\n     the argument from Design in modern philosophy.\n\n[92] P. 71, l. 27. _Nemo novit_, etc.--Matthew xi, 27. In the Vulgate,\n     it is _Neque patrem quis novit_, etc. Pascal's biblical quotations\n     are often incorrect. Many seem to have been made from memory.\n\n[93] P. 71, l. 30. _Those who seek God find Him._--Matthew vii, 7.\n\n[94] P. 72, l. 3. _Vere tu es Deus absconditus._--Is. xiv, 15.\n\n[95] P. 72, l. 22. _Ne evacuetur crux Christi._--I Cor. i, 17. In the\n     Vulgate we have_ut non_ instead of _ne_.\n\n[96] P. 72, l. 25. _The machine._--A Cartesian expression. Descartes\n     considered animals as mere automata. According to Pascal, whatever\n     does not proceed in us from reflective thought is a product of a\n     necessary mechanism, which has its root in the body, and which is\n     continued into the mind in imagination and the passions. It is\n     therefore necessary for man so to alter, and adjust this mechanism,\n     that it will always follow, and not obstruct, the good will.\n\n[97] P. 73, l. 3. _Justus ex fide vivit._--Romans i, 17.\n\n[98] P. 73, l. 5. _Fides ex auditu._--Romans x, 17.\n\n[99] P. 73, l. 12. _The creature._--What is purely natural in us.\n\n[100] P. 74, l. 15. _Inclina cor meum, Deus._--Ps. cxix, 36.\n\n[101] P. 75, l. 11. _Unus quisque sibi Deum fingit._--See Book of Wisdom\n      xv, 6, 16.\n\n[102] P. 76, l. 34. _Eighth beatitude._--Matthew v, 10. It is to the\n      fourth beatitude that the thought directly refers.\n\n[103] P. 77, l. 6. _One thousand and twenty-eight._--The number of the\n      stars according to Ptolemy's catalogue.\n\n[104] P. 77, l. 29. _Saint Augustine._--_Epist._ cxx, 3.\n\n[105] P. 78, l. 1. _Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli._--Matthew xviii, 3.\n\n[106] P. 80, l. 20. _Inclina cor meum, Deus, in_....--Ps. cxix, 36.\n\n[107] P. 80, l. 22. _Its establishment._--The constitution of the\n      Christian Church.\n\n[108] P. 81, l. 20. _The youths and maidens and children of the Church\n      would prophesy._--Joel ii, 28.\n\n[109] P. 83, l. 11. _On what_, etc.--See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[110] P. 84, l. 16. _Nihil amplius ... est._--Ibid. Cicero, _De\n      Finibus_, v, 21.\n\n[111] P. 84, l. 17. _Ex senatus ... exercentur._--Montaigne, _Essais_,\n      iii, 1. Seneca, _Letters_, 95.\n\n[112] P. 84, l. 18. _Ut olim ... laboramus._--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii,\n      13. Tacitus, _Ann._, iii, 25.\n\n[113] P. 84, l. 20. _The interest of the sovereign._--The view of\n      Thrasymachus in Plato's _Republic_, i, 338.\n\n[114] P. 84, l. 21. _Another, present custom._--The doctrine of the\n      Cyrenaics. Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 13.\n\n[115] P. 84, l. 24. _The mystical foundation of its\n      authority._--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 13. See also ii, 12.\n\n[116] P. 85, l. 2. _The wisest of legislators._--Plato. See _Republic_,\n      ii, 389, and v, 459.\n\n[117] P. 85, l. 4. _Cum veritatem_, etc.--An inexact quotation from St.\n      Augustine, _De Civ. Dei_, iv, 27. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[118] P. 85, l. 17. _Veri juris._--Cicero, _De Officiis_, iii, 17.\n      Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, I.\n\n[119] P. 86, l. 9. _When a strong man_, etc.--Luke xi, 21.\n\n[120] P. 86, l. 26. _Because he who will_, etc.--See Epictetus, _Diss._,\n      iii, 12.\n\n[121] P. 88, l. 19. _Civil wars are the greatest of evils._--Montaigne,\n      _Essais_, iii, 11.\n\n[122] P. 89, l. 5. _Montaigne._--_Essais_, i, 42.\n\n[123] P. 91, l. 8. _Savages laugh at an infant king._--An allusion to a\n      visit of some savages to Europe. They were greatly astonished to\n      see grown men obey the child king, Charles IX. Montaigne,\n      _Essais_, i, 30.\n\n[124] P. 92, l. 8. _Man's true state._--See Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 54.\n\n[125] P. 95, l. 3. _Omnis ... vanitati._--Eccles. iii, 19.\n\n[126] P. 95, l. 4. _Liberabitur._--Romans viii, 20-21.\n\n[127] P. 95, l. 4. _Saint Thomas._--In his Commentary on the Epistle of\n      St. James. James ii, 1.\n\n[128] P. 96, l. 9. _The account of the pike and frog of Liancourt._--The\n      story is unknown. The Duc de Liancourt led a vicious life in\n      youth, but was converted by his wife. He became one of the firmest\n      supporters of Port-Royal.\n\n[129] P. 97, l. 18. _Philosophers._--The Stoics.\n\n[130] P. 97, l. 24. _Epictetus._--_Diss._, iv, 7.\n\n[131] P. 97, l. 26. _Those great spiritual efforts_, etc.--On this, and\n      the following fragment, see Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 29.\n\n[132] P. 98, l. 3. _Epaminondas._--Praised by Montaigne, _Essais_, ii,\n      36. See also iii, 1.\n\n[133] P. 98, l. 17. _Plerumque grat\u00e6 principibus vices._--Horace,\n      _Odes_, III, xxix, 13, cited by Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 42. Horace\n      has _divitibus_ instead of _principibus_.\n\n[134] P. 99, l. 4. _Man is neither angel nor brute_, etc.--Montaigne,\n      _Essais_, iii, 13.\n\n[135] P. 99, l. 14. _Ut sis contentus_, etc.--A quotation from Seneca.\n      See Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 3.\n\n[136] P. 99, l. 21. _Sen._ 588.--Seneca, _Letter to Lucilius_, xv.\n      Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, I.\n\n[137] P. 99, l. 23. _Divin._--Cicero, _De Divin._, ii, 58.\n\n[138] P. 99, l. 25. _Cic._--Cicero, _Tusc_, ii, 2. The quotation is\n      inaccurate. Montaigne, _Essais_, ii, 12.\n\n[139] P. 99, l. 27. _Senec._--Seneca, _Epist._, 106.\n\n[140] P. 99, l. 28. _Id maxime_, etc.--Cicero, _De Off._, i, 31.\n\n[141] P. 99, l. 29. _Hos natura_, etc.--Virgil, _Georgics_, ii, 20.\n\n[142] P. 99, l. 30. _Paucis opus_, etc.--Seneca, _Epist._, 106.\n\n[143] P. 100, l. 3. _Mihi sic usus_, etc.--Terence, _Heaut._, I, i, 28.\n\n[144] P. 100, l. 4. _Rarum est_, etc.--Quintilian, x, 7.\n\n[145] P. 100, l. 5. _Tot circa_, etc.--M. Seneca, _Suasori\u00e6_, i, 4.\n\n[146] P. 100, l. 6. _Cic._--Cicero, _Acad._, i, 45.\n\n[147] P. 100, l. 7. _Nec me pudet_, etc.--Cicero, _Tusc._, i, 25.\n\n[148] P. 100, l. 8. _Melius non incipiet._--The rest of the quotation is\n      _quam desinet_. Seneca, _Epist._, 72.\n\n[149] P. 100, l. 25. _They win battles._--Montaigne, in his _Essais_,\n      ii, 12, relates that the Portuguese were compelled to raise the\n      siege of Tamly on account of the number of flies.\n\n[150] P. 100, l. 27. _When it is said_, etc.--By Descartes.\n\n[151] P. 102, l. 20. _Arcesilaus._--A follower of Pyrrho, the sceptic.\n      He lived in the third century before Christ.\n\n[152] P. 105, l. 20. _Ecclesiastes._--Eccles. viii, 17.\n\n[153] P. 106, l. 16. _The academicians._--Dogmatic sceptics, as opposed\n      to sceptics who doubt their own doubt.\n\n[154] P. 107, l. 10. _Ego vir videns._--Lamentations iii, I.\n\n[155] P. 108, l. 26. _Evil is easy_, etc.--The Pythagoreans considered\n      the good as certain and finite, and evil as uncertain and\n      infinite. Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 9.\n\n[156] P. 109, l. 7. _Paulus \u00c6milius._--Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 19.\n      Cicero, _Tusc._, v, 40.\n\n[157] P. 109, l. 30. _Des Barreaux._--Author of a licentious love song.\n      He was born in 1602, and died in 1673. Balzac call him \"the new\n      Bacchus.\"\n\n[158] P. 110, l. 16. _For Port-Royal._--The letters, A. P. R., occur in\n      several places, and are generally thought to indicate what will be\n      afterwards treated in lectures or conferences at Port-Royal, the\n      famous Cistercian abbey, situated about eighteen miles from Paris.\n      Founded early in the thirteenth century, it acquired its greatest\n      fame in its closing years. Louis XIV was induced to believe it\n      heretical; and the monastery was finally demolished in 1711. Its\n      downfall was no doubt brought about by the Jesuits.\n\n[159] P. 113, l. 4. _They all tend to this end._--Montaigne, _Essais_,\n      i, 19.\n\n[160] P. 119, l. 15. _Quod ergo_, etc.--Acts xvii, 23.\n\n[161] P. 119, l. 26. _Wicked demon._--Descartes had suggested the\n      possibility of the existence of an _evil genius_ to justify his\n      method of universal doubt. See his _First Meditation_. The\n      argument is quite Cartesian.\n\n[162] P. 122, l. 18. _Delici\u00e6 me\u00e6_, etc.--Proverbs viii, 31.\n\n[163] P. 122, l. 18. _Effundam spiritum_, etc.--Is. xliv, 3; Joel ii,\n      28.\n\n[164] P. 122, l. 19. _Dii estis._--Ps. lxxxii, 6.\n\n[165] P. 122, l. 20. _Omnis caro f\u00e6num._--Is. xl, 6.\n\n[166] P. 122, l. 20. _Homo assimilatus_, etc.--Ps. xlix, 20.\n\n[167] P. 124, l. 24. _Sapientius est hominibus._--1 Cor. i, 25.\n\n[168] P. 125, l. 1. _Of original sin._--The citations from the Rabbis in\n      this fragment are borrowed from a work of the Middle Ages,\n      entitled _Pugio christianorum ad impiorum perfidiam jugulandam et\n      maxime jud\u00e6orum_. It was written in the thirteenth century by\n      Raymond Martin, a Catalonian monk. An edition of it appeared in\n      1651, edited by Bosquet, Bishop of Lod\u00e8ve.\n\n[169] P. 125, l. 24. _Better is a poor and wise child_, etc.--Eccles.\n      iv, 13.\n\n[170] P. 126, l. 17. _Nemo ante_, etc.--See Ovid, _Met._, iii, 137, and\n      Montaigne, _Essais_, i, 18.\n\n[171] P. 127, l. 10. _Figmentum._--Borrowed from the Vulgate, Ps. ciii,\n      14.\n\n[172] P. 128. l. 5. _All that is in the world_, etc.--First Epistle of\n      St. John, ii, 16.\n\n[173] P. 128, l. 7. _Wretched is_, etc.--M. Faug\u00e8re thinks this thought\n      is taken from St. Augustine's Commentary on Ps. cxxxvii, _Super\n      flumina Babylonis._\n\n[174] P. 129, l. 6. _Qui gloriatur_, etc.--1 Cor. i, 31.\n\n[175] P. 130, l. 13. _Via, veritas._--John xiv, 6.\n\n[176] P. 130, l. 14. _Zeno._--The original founder of Stoicism.\n\n[177] P. 130, l. 15. _Epictetus._--_Diss._, iv, 6, 7.\n\n[178] P. 131, l. 32. _A body full of thinking members._--See I Cor. xii.\n\n[179] P. 133, l. 5. _Book of Wisdom._--ii, 6.\n\n[180] P. 134, l. 28. _Qui adh\u00e6ret_, etc.--1 Cor. vi, 17.\n\n[181] P. 134, l. 36. _Two laws._--Matthew xxii, 35-40; Mark xii, 28-31.\n\n[182] P. 135, l. 6. _The kingdom of God is within us._--Luke xvii, 29.\n\n[183] P. 137, l. 1. _Et non_, etc.--Ps. cxliii, 2.\n\n[184] P. 137, l. 3. _The goodness of God leadeth to repentance._--Romans\n      ii, 4.\n\n[185] P. 137, l. 5. _Let us do penance_, etc.--See Jonah iii, 8, 9.\n\n[186] P. 137, l. 27. _I came to send war._--Matthew x, 34.\n\n[187] P. 137, l. 28. _I came to bring fire and the sword._--Luke xii,\n      49.\n\n[188] P. 138, l. 2. _Pharisee and the Publican._--Parable in Luke xviii,\n      9-14.\n\n[189] P. 138, l. 13. _Abraham._--Genesis xiv, 22-24.\n\n[190] P. 138, l. 17. _Sub te erit appetitus tuus._--Genesis iv, 7.\n\n[191] P. 140, l. 1. _It is_, etc.--A discussion on the Eucharist.\n\n[192] P. 140, l. 34. _Non sum dignus._--Luke vii, 6.\n\n[193] P. 140, l. 35. _Qui manducat indignus._--I Cor. xi, 29.\n\n[194] P. 140, l. 36. _Dignus est accipere._--Apoc. iv, II.\n\n[195] P. 141. In the French edition on which this translation is based\n      there was inserted the following fragment after No. 513:\n\n        \"Work out your own salvation with fear.\"\n\n        Proofs of prayer. _Petenti dabitur._\n\n        Therefore it is in our power to ask. On the other hand, there is\n        God. So it is not in our power, since the obtaining of (the\n        grace) to pray to Him is not in our power. For since salvation\n        is not in us, and the obtaining of such grace is from Him,\n        prayer is not in our power.\n\n        The righteous man should then hope no more in God, for he ought\n        not to hope, but to strive to obtain what he wants.\n\n        Let us conclude then that, since man is now unrighteous since\n        the first sin, and God is unwilling that he should thereby not\n        be estranged from Him, it is only by a first effect that he is\n        not estranged.\n\n        Therefore, those who depart from God have not this first effect\n        without which they are not estranged from God, and those who do\n        not depart from God have this first effect. Therefore, those\n        whom we have seen possessed for some time of grace by this first\n        effect, cease to pray, for want of this first effect.\n\n        Then God abandons the first in this sense.\n\n        It is doubtful, however that this fragment should be included in\n        the _Pens\u00e9es_, and it has seemed best to separate it from the\n        text. It has only once before appeared--in the edition of\n        Michaut (1896). The first half of it has been freely translated\n        in order to give an interpretation in accordance with a\n        suggestion from M. Emile Boutroux, the eminent authority on\n        Pascal. The meaning seems to be this. In one sense it is in our\n        power to ask from God, who promises to give us what we ask. But,\n        in another sense, it is not in our power to ask; for it is not\n        in our power to obtain the grace which is necessary in asking.\n        We know that salvation is not in our power. Therefore some\n        condition of salvation is not in our power. Now the conditions\n        of salvation are two: (1) The asking for it, and (2) the\n        obtaining it. But God promises to give us what we ask. Hence the\n        obtaining is in our power. Therefore the condition which is not\n        in our power must be the first, namely, the asking. Prayer\n        presupposes a grace which it is not within our power to obtain.\n\n        After giving the utmost consideration to the second half of this\n        obscure fragment, and seeking assistance from some eminent\n        scholars, the translator has been compelled to give a strictly\n        literal translation of it, without attempting to make sense.\n\n[196] P. 141, l. 14. _Lord, when saw we_, etc.--Matthew xxv, 37.\n\n[197] P. 143, l. 19. _Qui justus est, justificetur adhuc._--Apoc. xxii,\n      II.\n\n[198] P. 144, l. 2. _Corneille._--See his _Horace_, II, iii.\n\n[199] P. 144, l. 15. _Corrumpunt mores_, etc.--I Cor. xv, 33.\n\n[200] P. 145. l. 25. _Quod curiositate_, etc.--St. Augustine, _Sermon\n      CXLI_.\n\n[201] P. 146, l. 34. _Quia ... facere._--I Cor. i, 21.\n\n[202] P. 148, l. 7. _Turbare semetipsum._--John xi, 33. The text is\n      _turbavit seipsum_.\n\n[203] P. 148, l. 25. _My soul is sorrowful even unto death._--Mark xiv,\n      34.\n\n[204] P. 149, l. 3. _Eamus. Processit._--John xviii, 4. But _eamus_ does\n      not occur. See, however, Matthew xxvi, 46.\n\n[205] P. 150, l. 36. _Eritis sicut_, etc.--Genesis iv, 5.\n\n[206] P. 151, l. 2. _Noli me tangere._--John xx, 17.\n\n[207] P. 156, l. 14. _Vere discipuli_, etc.--Allusions to John viii, 31,\n      i, 47; viii, 36; vi, 32.\n\n[208] P. 158, l. 41. _Signa legem in electis meis._--Is. viii, 16. The\n      text of the Vulgate is _in discipulis meis_.\n\n[209] P. 159, l. 2. _Hosea._--xiv, 9.\n\n[210] P. 159, l. 13. _Saint John._--xii, 39.\n\n[211] P. 160, l. 17. _Tamar._--Genesis xxxviii, 24-30.\n\n[212] P. 160, l. 17. _Ruth._--Ruth iv, 17-22.\n\n[213] P. 163, l. 13. _History of China._--A History of China in Latin\n      had been published in 1658.\n\n[214] P. 164, l. I. _The five suns_, etc.--Montaigne, _Essais_, iii, 6.\n\n[215] P. 164, l. 9. _Jesus Christ._--John v, 31.\n\n[216] P. 164, l. 17. _The Koran says_, etc.--There is no mention of\n      Saint Matthew in the Koran; but it speaks of the Apostles\n      generally.\n\n[217] P. 165, l. 35. _Moses._--Deut. xxxi, 11.\n\n[218] P. 166, l. 23. _Carnal Christians._--Jesuits and Molinists.\n\n[219] P. 170, l. 14. _Whom he welcomed from afar._--John viii, 56.\n\n[220] P. 170, l. 19. _Salutare_, etc.--Genesis xdix, 18.\n\n[221] P. 173, l. 33. _The Twelve Tables at Athens._--There were no such\n      tables. About 450 B.C. a commission is said to have been appointed\n      in Rome to visit Greece and collect information to frame a code of\n      law. This is now doubted, if not entirely discredited.\n\n[222] P. 173, l. 35. _Josephus.--Reply to Apion_, ii, 16. Josephus, the\n      Jewish historian, gained the favour of Titus, and accompanied him\n      to the siege of Jerusalem. He defended the Jews against a\n      contemporary grammarian, named Apion, who had written a violent\n      satire on the Jews.\n\n[223] P. 174, l. 27. _Against Apion._--ii, 39. See preceding note.\n\n[224] P. 174, l. 28. _Philo._--A Jewish philosopher, who lived in the\n      first century of the Christian era. He was one of the founders of\n      the Alexandrian school of thought. He sought to reconcile Jewish\n      tradition with Greek thought.\n\n[225] P. 175, l. 20. _Prefers the younger._--See No. 710.\n\n[226] P. 176, l. 32. _The books of the Sibyls and Trismegistus._--The\n      Sibyls were the old Roman prophetesses. Their predictions were\n      preserved in three books at Rome, which Tarquinius Superbus had\n      bought from the Sibyl of Erythr\u00e6. Trismegistus was the Greek name\n      of the Egyptian god Thoth, who was regarded as the originator of\n      Egyptian culture, the god of religion, of writing, and of the arts\n      and sciences. Under his name there existed forty-two sacred books,\n      kept by the Egyptian priests.\n\n[227] P. 177, l. 3. _Quis mihi_, etc.--Numbers xi, 29. _Quis tribuat ut\n      omnis populus prophetet_?\n\n[228] P. 177, l. 25. _Maccabees._--2 Macc. xi, 2.\n\n[229] P. 177, l. 7. _This book_, etc.--Is. xxx, 8.\n\n[230] P. 178, l. 9. _Tertullian._--A Christian writer in the second\n      century after Christ. The quotation is from his _De Cultu Femin._,\n      ii, 3.\n\n[231] P. 178, l. 16. (+Theos+), etc.--Eusebius, _Hist._, lib. v, c. 8.\n\n[232] P. 178, l. 22. _And he took that from Saint Iren\u00e6us._--_Hist._,\n      lib. x, c 25.\n\n[233] P. 179, l. 5. _The story in Esdras._--2 Esdras xiv. God appears to\n      Esdras in a bush, and orders him to assemble the people and\n      deliver the message. Esdras replies that the law is burnt. Then\n      God commands him to take five scribes to whom for forty days He\n      dictates the ancient law. This story conflicted with many passages\n      in the prophets, and was therefore rejected from the Canon at the\n      Council of Trent.\n\n[234] P. 181, l. 14. _The Kabbala._--The fantastic secret doctrine of\n      interpretation of Scripture, held by a number of Jewish rabbis.\n\n[235] P. 181, l. 26. _Ut sciatis_, etc.--Mark ii, 10, 11.\n\n[236] P. 183, l. 29. _This generation_, etc.--Matthew xxiv, 34.\n\n[237] P. 184, l. 11. _Difference between dinner and supper._--Luke xiv,\n      12.\n\n[238] P. 184, l. 28. _The six ages_, etc.--M. Havet has traced this to a\n      chapter in St. Augustine, _De Genesi contra Manich\u00e6os_, i, 23.\n\n[239] P. 184, l. 31. _Forma futuri._--Romans v, 14.\n\n[240] P. 186, l. 13. _The Messiah_, etc.--John xii, 34.\n\n[241] P. 186, l. 30. _If the light_, etc.--Matthew vi, 23.\n\n[242] P. 187, l. 1. _Somnum suum._--Ps. lxxvi, 5.\n\n[243] P. 187, l. 1. _Figura hujus mundi._--1 Cor. vii, 31.\n\n[244] P. 187, l. 2. _Comedes panem tuum._--Deut. viii, 9. _Panem\n      nostrum,_ Luke xi, 3.\n\n[245] P. 187, l. 3. _Inimici Dei terram lingent._--Ps. lxxii, 9.\n\n[246] P. 187, l. 8. _Cum amaritudinibus._--Exodus xii, 8. The Vulgate\n      has _cum lacticibus agrestibus_.\n\n[247] P. 187, l. 9. _Singularis sum ego donec transeam._--Ps. cxli, 10.\n\n[248] P. 188, l. 19. _Saint Paul._--Galatians iv, 24; I Cor. iii, 16,\n      17; Hebrews ix, 24; Romans ii, 28, 29.\n\n[249] P. 188, l. 25. _That Moses_, etc.--John vi, 32.\n\n[250] P. 189, l. 3. _For one thing alone is needful._--Luke x, 42.\n\n[251] P. 189, l. 9. _The breasts of the Spouse._--Song of Solomon iv, 5.\n\n[252] P. 189, l. 15. _And the Christians_, etc.--Romans vi, 20; viii,\n      14, 15.\n\n[253] P. 189, l. 17. _When Saint Peter_, etc.--Acts xv. See Genesis\n      xvii, 10; Leviticus xii, 3.\n\n[254] P. 189, l. 27. _Fac secundum_, etc.--Exodus xxv, 40.\n\n[255] P. 190, l. 1. _Saint Paul._--1 Tim. iv, 3; 1 Cor. vii.\n\n[256] P. 190, l. 7. _The Jews_, etc.--Hebrews viii, 5.\n\n[257] P. 192, l. 15. _That He should destroy death through\n      death._--Hebrews ii, 14.\n\n[258] P. 192, l. 30. _Veri adoratores._--John iv, 23.\n\n[259] P. 192, l. 30. _Ecce agnus_, etc.--John i, 29.\n\n[260] P. 193, l. 15. _Ye shall be free indeed._--John viii, 36.\n\n[261] P. 193, l. 17. _I am the true bread from heaven._--Ibid., vi, 32.\n\n[262] P. 194, l. 27. _Agnus occisus_, etc.--Apoc. xiii, 8.\n\n[263] P. 194, l. 34. _Sede a dextris meis._--Ps. cx, 1.\n\n[264] P. 195, l. 12. _A jealous God._--Exodus xx, 5.\n\n[265] P. 195, l. 14. _Quia confortavit seras._--Ps. cxlvii, 13.\n\n[266] P. 195, l. 17. _The closed mem._--The allusions here are to\n      certain peculiarities in Jewish writing. There are some letters\n      written in two ways, closed or open, as the _mem_.\n\n[267] P. 199, l. 1. _Great Pan is dead._--Plutarch, _De Defect. Orac._,\n      xvii.\n\n[268] P. 199, l. 2. _Susceperunt verbum_, etc.--Acts xvii, 11.\n\n[269] P. 199, l. 20. _The ruler taken from the thigh._--Genesis xlix,\n      10.\n\n[270] P. 208, l. 6. _Make their heart fat._--Is. vi, 10; John xii, 40.\n\n[271] P. 209, l. 1. _Non habemus regem nisi C\u00e6sarem._--John xix, 15.\n\n[272] P. 218, l. 17. _In Horeb_, etc.--Deut. xviii, 16-19.\n\n[273] P. 220, l. 34. _Then they shall teach_, etc.--Jeremiah xxxi, 34.\n\n[274] P. 221, l. 1. _Your sons shall prophesy._--Joel ii, 28.\n\n[275] P. 221, l. 20. _Populum_, etc.--Is. lxv, 2; Romans x, 21.\n\n[276] P. 222, l. 25. _Eris palpans in meridie._--Deut. xxviii, 29.\n\n[277] P. 222, l. 26. _Dabitur liber_, etc.--Is. xxix, 12. The quotation\n      is inaccurate.\n\n[278] P. 223, l. 24. _Quis mihi_, etc.--Job xix, 23-25.\n\n[279] P. 224, l. 1. _Pray_, etc.--The fragments here are Pascal's notes\n      on Luke. See chaps. xxii and xxiii.\n\n[280] P. 225, l. 20. _Exc\u00e6ca._--Is. vi, 10.\n\n[281] P, 226, l. 9. _Lazarus dormit_, etc.--John xi, 11, 14.\n\n[282] P. 226, l. 10. _The apparent discrepancy of the Gospels._--To\n      reconcile the apparent discrepancies in the Gospels, Pascal wrote\n      a short life of Christ.\n\n[283] P. 227, l. 13. _Gladium tuum, potentissime._--Ps. xlv, 3.\n\n[284] P. 228, l. 25. _Ingrediens mundum._--Hebrews x, 5.\n\n[285] P. 228, l. 26. _Stone upon stone._--Mark xiii, 2.\n\n[286] P. 229, l. 20. _Jesus Christ at last_, etc.--See Mark xii.\n\n[287] P. 230, l. 1. _Effundam spiritum meum._--Joel ii, 28.\n\n[288] P. 230, l. 6. _Omnes gentes ... eum._--Ps. xxii, 27.\n\n[289] P. 230, l. 7. _Parum est ut_, etc.--Is. xlix, 6.\n\n[290] P. 230, l. 7. _Postula a me._--Ps. ii, 8.\n\n[291] P. 230, l. 8. _Adorabunt ... reges._--Ps. lxxii, 11.\n\n[292] P. 230, l. 8. _Testes iniqui._--Ps. xxv, 11.\n\n[293] P. 230, l. 8. _Dabit maxillam percutienti._--Lamentations iii, 30.\n\n[294] P. 230, l. 9. _Dederunt fel in escam._--Ps. lxix, 21.\n\n[295] P. 230, l. 11. _I will bless them that bless thee._--Genesis xii,\n      3.\n\n[296] P. 230, l. 12. _All nations blessed in his seed._--Ibid., xxii,\n      18.\n\n[297] P. 230, l. 13. _Lumen ad revelationem gentium._--Luke ii, 32.\n\n[298] P. 230, l. 14. _Non fecit taliter_, etc.--Ps. cxlvii, 20.\n\n[299] P. 230, l. 20. _Bibite ex hoc omnes._--Matthew xxvi, 27.\n\n[300] P. 230, l. 22. _In quo omnes peccaverunt._--Romans v, 12.\n\n[301] P. 230, l. 26. _Ne timeas pusillus grex._--Luke xii, 32.\n\n[302] P. 230, l. 29. _Qui me_, etc.--Matthew x, 40.\n\n[303] P. 230, l. 32. _Saint John._--Luke i, 17.\n\n[304] P. 230, l. 33. _Jesus Christ._--Ibid., xii, 51.\n\n[305] P. 231, l. 5. _Omnis Jud\u00e6a_, etc.--Mark i, 5.\n\n[306] P. 231, l. 7. _From these stones_, etc.--Matthew iii, 9.\n\n[307] P. 231, l. 9. _Ne convertantur_, etc.--Mark iv, 12.\n\n[308] P. 231, l. 11. _Amice, ad quid venisti?_--Matthew xxvi, 50.\n\n[309] P. 231, l. 31. _What is a man_, etc.--Luke ix, 25.\n\n[310] P. 231, l. 32. _Whosoever will_, etc.--Ibid., 24.\n\n[311] P. 232, l. 1. _I am not come_, etc.--Matthew v, 17.\n\n[312] P. 232, l. 2. _Lambs took not_, etc.--See John i, 29.\n\n[313] P. 232, l. 4. _Moses._--Ibid., vi, 32; viii, 36.\n\n[314] P. 232, l. 15. _Quare_, etc.--Ps. ii, 1, 2.\n\n[315] P. 233, l. 8. _I have reserved me seven thousand._--1 Kings xix,\n      18.\n\n[316] P. 234, l. 27. _Archimedes._--The founder of statics and\n      hydrostatics. He was born at Syracuse in 287 B.C., and was killed\n      in 212 B.C. He was not a prince, though a relative of a king. M.\n      Havet points out that Cicero talks of him as an obscure man\n      _(Tusc,_ v, 23).\n\n[317] P. 235, l. 33. _In sanctificationem et in scandalum._--Is. viii,\n      14.\n\n[318] P. 238, l. 11. _Jesus Christ._--Mark ix, 39.\n\n[319] P. 239, l. 7. _Rejoice not_, etc.--Luke x, 20.\n\n[320] P. 239, l. 12. _Scimus_, etc.--John iii, 2.\n\n[321] P. 239, l. 25. _Nisi fecissem ... haberent._--Ibid., xv, 24.\n\n[322] P. 239, l. 32. _The second miracle._--Ibid., iv, 54.\n\n[323] P. 240, l. 6. _Montaigne._--_Essais_, ii, 26, and iii, 11.\n\n[324] P. 242, l. 9. _Vatable._--Professor of Hebrew at the Coll\u00e8ge\n      Royal, founded by Francis I. An edition of the Bible with notes\n      under his name, which were not his, was published in 1539.\n\n[325] P. 242, l. 19. _Omne regnum divisum._--Matthew xii, 25; Luke xi,\n      17.\n\n[326] P. 242, l. 23. _Si in digito ... vos._--Luke xi, 20.\n\n[327] P. 243, l. 12. _Q. 113, A. 10, Ad. 2._--Thomas Aquinas's _Summa_,\n      Pt. I, Question 113, Article 10, Reply to the Second Objection.\n\n[328] P. 243, l. 18. _Jud\u00e6i signa petunt_, etc.--I Cor. i, 22.\n\n[329] P. 243, l. 23. _Sed vos_, etc.--John x, 26.\n\n[330] P. 246, l. 15. _Tu quid dicis_? etc.--John ix, 17, 33.\n\n[331] P. 247, l. 14. _Though ye believe not_, etc.--John x, 38.\n\n[332] P. 247, l. 25. _Nemo facit_, etc.--Mark ix, 39.\n\n[333] P. 247, l. 27. _A sacred relic._--This is a reference to the\n      miracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite P\u00e9rier, Pascal's niece, was\n      cured of a fistula lachrymalis on 24 March, 1656, after her eye\n      was touched with this sacred relic, supposed to be a thorn from\n      the crown of Christ. This miracle made a great impression upon\n      Pascal.\n\n[334] P. 248, l. 23. _These nuns._--Of Port-Royal, as to which, see note\n      on page 110, line 16, above. They were accused of Calvinism.\n\n[335] P. 248, l. 28. _Vide si_, etc.--Ps. cxxxix, 24.\n\n[336] P. 249, l. 1. _Si tu_, etc.--Luke xxii, 67.\n\n[337] P. 249, l. 2. _Opera qu\u00e6_, etc.--John v, 36; x, 26-27.\n\n[338] P. 249, l. 7. _Nemo potest_, etc.--John iii, 2.\n\n[339] P. 249, l. 11. _Generatio prava_, etc.--Matthew xii, 39.\n\n[340] P. 249, l. 14. _Et non poterat facere._--Mark vi, 5.\n\n[341] P. 249, l. 16. _Nisi videritis, non creditis._--John iv, 8, 48.\n\n[342] P. 249, l. 23. _Tentat enim_, etc.--Deut. xiii, 3.\n\n[343] P. 249, l. 25. _Ecce pr\u00e6dixi vobis: vos ergo videte._--Matthew\n      xxiv, 25, 26.\n\n[344] P. 250, l. 7. _We have Moses_, etc.--John ix, 29.\n\n[345] P. 250, l. 30. _Quid debui._--Is. v, 3, 4. The Vulgate is _Quis\n      est quod debui ultra facere vine\u00e6 me\u00e6, et non feci ei_.\n\n[346] P. 251, l. 12. _Bar-jesus blinded._--Acts xiii, 6-11.\n\n[347] P. 251, l. 14. _The Jewish exorcists._--Ibid., xix, 13-16.\n\n[348] P. 251, l. 18. _Si angelus._--Galatians i, 8.\n\n[349] P. 252, l. 10. _An angel from heaven._--See previous note.\n\n[350] P. 252, l. 14. _Father Lingende._--Claude de Lingendes, an\n      eloquent Jesuit preacher, who died in 1660.\n\n[351] P. 252, l. 33. _Ubi est Deus tuus?_--Ps. xiii, 3.\n\n[352] P. 252, l. 34. _Exortum est_, etc.--Ps. cxii, 4.\n\n[353] P. 253, l. 6. _Saint Xavier._--Saint Fran\u00e7ois Xavier, the friend\n      of Ignatius Loyola, became a Jesuit.\n\n[354] P. 253, l. 9. _V\u00e6 qui_, etc.--Is. x, I.\n\n[355] P. 253, l. 24. _The five propositions._--See Preface.\n\n[356] P. 253, l. 36. _To seduce_, etc.--Mark xiii, 22.\n\n[357] P. 254, l. 6. _Si non fecissem._--John xv, 24.\n\n[358] P. 255, l. 11. _Believe in the Church._--Matthew xviii, 17-20.\n\n[359] P. 257, l. 14. _They._--The Jansenists, who believed in the system\n      of evangelical doctrine deduced from Augustine by Cornelius Jansen\n      (1585-1638), the Bishop of Ypres. They held that interior grace is\n      irresistible, and that Christ died for all, in reaction against\n      the ordinary Catholic dogma of the freedom of the will, and merely\n      sufficient grace.\n\n[360] P. 258, l. 4. _A time to laugh_, etc.--Eccles. iii, 4.\n\n[361] P. 258, l. 4. _Responde. Ne respondeas._--Prov. xxvi, 4, 5.\n\n[362] P. 260, l. 3. _Saint Athanasius._--Patriarch of Alexandria,\n      accused of rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by\n      the Councils of Tyre, Aries, and Milan. Pope Liberius is said to\n      have finally ratified the condemnation in A.D. 357. Athanasius\n      here stands for Jansenius, Saint Thersea for Mother Ang\u00e9lique, and\n      Liberius for Clement IX.\n\n[363] P. 261, l. 17. _Vos autem non sic._--Luke xxii, 26.\n\n[364] P. 261, l. 23. _Duo aut tres in unum._--John x, 30; First Epistle\n      of St. John, V, 8.\n\n[365] P. 262, l. 18. _The Fronde._--The party which rose against Mazarin\n      and the Court during the minority of Louis XIV. They led to civil\n      war.\n\n[366] P. 262, l. 25. _Pasce oves meas._--John xxi, 17.\n\n[367] P. 263, l. 14. _Jeroboam._--I Kings xii, 31.\n\n[368] P. 265, l. 21. _The servant_, etc.--John xv, 15.\n\n[369] P. 266, l. 4. _He that is not_, etc.--Matthew xii, 30.\n\n[370] P. 266, l. 5. _He that is not_, etc.--Mark ix, 40.\n\n[371] P. 266, l. 11. _Humilibus dot gratiam._--James iv, 6.\n\n[372] P. 266, l. 12. _Sui eum non_, etc.--John i, 11, 12.\n\n[373] P. 266, l. 33. _We will be as the other nations._--I Sam. viii,\n      20.\n\n[374] P. 268, l. 19. _Vince in bono malum._--Romans xii, 21.\n\n[375] P. 268, l. 26. _Montalte._--See note on page 6, line 30, above.\n\n[376] P. 269, l. 11. _Probability._--The doctrine in casuistry that of\n      two probable views, both reasonable, one may follow his own\n      inclinations, as a doubtful law cannot impose a certain\n      obligation. It was held by the Jesuits, the famous religious order\n      founded in 1534 by Ignatius Loyola. This section of the _Pens\u00e9es_\n      is directed chiefly against them.\n\n[377] P. 269, l. 22. _Coacervabunt sibi magistros._--2 Tim. iv, 3.\n\n[378] P. 270, l. 3. _These._--The writers of Port-Royal.\n\n[379] P. 270, l. 15. _The Society._--The Society of Jesus.\n\n[380] P. 271, l. 15. _Digna necessitas._--Book of Wisdom xix, 4.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\n_The figures refer to the numbers of the Pens\u00e9es, and not to the pages._\n\n\nABRAHAM,\n  took nothing for himself, 502;\n  from stones can come children unto, 777;\n  and Gideon, 821\n\nAbsolutions, without signs of regret, 903, 904\n\nAct, the last, is tragic, 210\n\nAdam,\n  compared with Christ, 551;\n  his glorious state, 559;\n  _forma futuri_, 655\n\nAdvent, the time of the first, foretold, 756\n\nAge,\n  influences judgment, 381;\n  the six ages, 654\n\nAlexander, the example of his chastity, 103\n\nAmusements, dangerous to the Christian life, 11\n\nAnimals, intelligence and instinct of, 340, 342\n\nAntichrist,\n  miracles of, foretold by Christ, 825;\n  will speak openly against God, 842;\n  miracles of, cannot lead into error, 845\n\nApocalyptics, extravagances of the, 650\n\nApostles,\n  hypothesis that they were deceivers, 571;\n  foresaw heresies, 578;\n  supposition that they were either deceived or deceivers, 801\n\nAquinas, Thomas, 61, 338\n\nArcesilaus, the sceptic, became a dogmatist, 375\n\nArchimedes, greatness of, 792\n\nArians, where they go wrong, 861\n\nAristotle, and Plato, 331\n\nArius, miracles in his time, 831\n\nAthanasius, St., 867\n\nAtheism, shows a certain strength of mind, 225\n\nAtheists,\n  who seek, to be pitied, 190;\n  ought to say what is perfectly evident, 221;\n  objections of, against the Resurrection and the Virgin\n  Birth, 222, 223;\n  objection of, 228\n\nAugustine, St.,\n  saw that we work for an uncertainty, 234;\n  on the submission of reason, 270;\n  on miracles, 811;\n  his authority, 868\n\nAugustus, his saying about Herod's son, 179\n\nAuthority, in belief, 260\n\nAuthors, vanity of certain, 43\n\nAutomatism, human, 252\n\n\nBabylon, rivers of, 459\n\nBeauty,\n  a certain standard of, 32;\n  poetical, 33\n\nBelief,\n  three sources of, 245;\n  rule of, 260;\n  of simple people, 284;\n  without reading the Testaments, 286;\n  the Cross creates, 587;\n  reasons why there is no, in the miracles, 825\n\nBias, leads to error, 98\n\nBirth,\n  noble, an advantage, 322;\n  persons of high, honoured and despised, 337\n\nBlame, and praise, 501\n\nBlood, example of the circulation of, 96\n\nBody,\n  nourishment of the, 356;\n  the, and its members, 475, 476;\n  infinite distance between mind and, 792\n\nBrutes, no mutual admiration among the, 401\n\n\nC\u00e6sar, compared with Alexander and Augustus, 132\n\nCalling, chance decides the choice of a, 97\n\nCalvinism, error of, 776\n\nCanonical, the heretical books prove the, 568\n\nCarthusian monk, difference between a soldier and a, 538\n\nCasuists,\n  true believers have no pretext for following their laxity, 888;\n  submit the decision to a corrupted reason, 906;\n  cannot give assurance to a conscience in error, 908;\n  allow lust to act, 913\n\nCauses, seen by the intellect and not by the senses, 234\n\nCatholic, the, doctrine, of the Holy Sacrament, 861\n\nCeremonies, ordained in the Old Testament, are types, 679\n\nCertain, nothing is, 234\n\nChance,\n  according to the doctrine of chance, one should believe in God, 233;\n  and work for an uncertainty, 234;\n  and seek the truth, 236;\n  gives rise to thoughts, 370\n\nChancellor, the position of the, uneral, 307\n\nCharacter, the Christian, the human, and the inhuman, 532\n\nCharity,\n  nothing so like it as covetousness, 662;\n  not a figurative precept, 664;\n  the sole aim of the Scripture, 669\n\nCharron, the divisions of, 62\n\nChildren,\n  frightened at the face they have blackened, 88;\n  of Port-Royal, 151;\n  illustration of usurpation from, 295\n\nChina, History of, 592, 593\n\nChristianity,\n  alone cures pride and sloth, 435;\n  is strange, 536;\n  consists in two points, 555;\n  evidence for, 563;\n  is wise and foolish, 587\n\nChristians,\n  few true, 256;\n  without the knowledge of the prophecies and evidences, 287;\n  comply with folly, 338;\n  humility of, 537;\n  their hope, 539;\n  their happiness, 540;\n  the God of, 543\n\nChurch,\n  history of the, 857;\n  the, in persecution, like a ship in a storm, 858;\n  when in a good state, 860;\n  has always been attacked by opposite errors, 861;\n  the, and tradition, 866;\n  absolution and the, 869;\n  the Pope and the, 870;\n  the, and infallibility, 875;\n  true justice in the, 877;\n  the work of the, 880;\n  the discipline of the, 884;\n  the anathemas of the, 895\n\nCicero, false beauties in, 31\n\nCipher,\n  a, has a double meaning, 676, 677;\n  key of, 680;\n  the, given by St. Paul, 682\n\nCircumcision,\n  only a sign, 609;\n  the apostles and, 671\n\nClearness,\n  sufficient, for the elect, 577;\n  and obscurity, 856\n\nCleobuline, the passion of, 13\n\nCleopatra,\n  the nose of, 162;\n  and love, 163\n\nCompliments, 57\n\nConditions, the easiest, to live in, according to the world and\n  to God, 905\n\nCondolences, formal, 56\n\nConfession, 100;\n  different effects of, 529\n\nContradiction, 157;\n  a bad sign of truth, 384\n\nConversion, the, 470;\n  of the heathen, 768\n\nCopernicus, 218\n\nCords, the, which bind the respect of men to each other, 304\n\nCorrect, how to, with advantage, 9\n\nCripple, why a, does not offend us, and a fool does, 80\n\nCromwell, death of, 176\n\nCustom,\n  is our nature, 89;\n  our natural principles, principles of, 92;\n  a second nature, 93;\n  the source of our strongest beliefs, 252\n\nCyrus, prediction of, 712\n\n\nDamned, the, condemned by their own reason, 562\n\nDaniel, 721;\n  the seventy weeks of, 722\n\nDavid,\n  a saying of, 689;\n  the eternal reign of the race of, 716, 717\n\nDeath,\n  easier to bear without thinking of it, 166;\n  men do not think of, 168;\n  fear of, 215, 216;\n  examples of the noble deaths of the Laced\u00e6monians, 481\n\nDeference, meaning of, 317\n\nDeeds, noble, best when hidden, 159\n\nDeism, as far removed from Christianity as atheism, 555\n\nDemocritus, saying of, 72\n\nDemonstrations, not certain that there are true, 387\n\nDescartes, 76, 77, 78, 79\n\nDevil,\n  the, and miracle, 803;\n  the, and doctrine, 819\n\nDisciples, and true disciples, 518\n\nDiscourses, on humility, 377\n\nDiseases, a source of error, 82\n\nDisproportion of man, 72\n\nDiversion, reason why men seek, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 168, 170\n\nDocility, 254\n\nDoctor, the, 12\n\nDoctrine, and miracles, 802, 842\n\nDogmatism, and scepticism, 434\n\nDream, life like a, 386\n\nDuty, and the passions, 104\n\n\nEcclesiastes, 389\n\nEclipses, why said to foretoken misfortune, 173\n\nEgo,\n  what is the, 323;\n  consists in thought, 469\n\nEgyptians, conversion of the, 724\n\nElect,\n  the, ignorant of their virtues, 514;\n  all things work together for good to the, 574\n\nEloquence, 15, 16, 25, 26\n\nEmilius, Paulus, 409, 410\n\nEnemies, meaning of, in the prophecies, 570, 691\n\nEpictetus, 80, 466, 467\n\nError, a common, when advantageous, 18\n\nEsdras, the story in, 631, 632, 633\n\nEternity, existence of, 195\n\nEthics,\n  consoles us, 67;\n  a special science, 911\n\nEucharist, the, 224, 512, 788\n\nEvangelists, the, painted a perfectly heroic soul in Jesus Christ, 799\n\nEvil, infinite forms of, 408\n\nExamples, in demonstration, 40\n\nException, and the rule, 832, 903\n\nExcuses, on, 58\n\nExternal, the, must be joined to the internal, 250\n\nEzekiel, spoke evil of Israel, 885\n\n\nFaith,\n  different from proof, 248;\n  and miracle, 263;\n  and the senses, 264;\n  what is, 278;\n  without, man cannot know the true good or justice, 425;\n  consists in Jesus Christ, 522\n\nFancy,\n  effects of, 86;\n  confused with feeling, 274\n\nFaults, we owe a great debt to those who point out, 534\n\nFear, good and bad, 262\n\nFeeling,\n  and reasoning, 3, 274;\n  harmed in the same way as the understanding, 6\n\nFlies, the power of, 366, 367\n\nFriend, importance of a true, 155\n\nFundamentals, the two, 804\n\n\nGalilee, the word, 743\n\nGentiles,\n  conversion of the, 712;\n  calling of the, 713\n\nGentleman,\n  the universal quality, 35;\n  man never taught to be a, 68\n\nGlory, 151, 401;\n  the greatest baseness of man is the pursuit of, 404\n\nGod,\n  the conduct of, 185;\n  is infinite, 231, 233;\n  infinitely incomprehensible, 233;\n  we should wager that there is a, 233;\n  a _Deus absconditus,_ 194, 242;\n  knowledge of, is not the love of Him, 280;\n  two kinds of persons know, 288;\n  has created all for Himself, 314;\n  the wisdom of, 430;\n  must reign over all, 460;\n  we must love Him only, 479;\n  not true that all reveals, 556;\n  has willed to blind some and to enlighten others, 565, 575;\n  foresaw heresies, 578;\n  has willed to hide Himself, 584;\n  formed for Himself the Jewish people, 643;\n  the word does not differ from the intention in, 653;\n  the greatness of His compassion, 847;\n  has not wanted to absolve without the Church, 869\n\nGodliness, why difficult, 498\n\nGood, the inquiry into the sovereign, 73, 462\n\nGospel, the style of the, admirable, 797\n\nGrace,\n  unites us to God, 430, 507;\n  necessary to turn a man into a saint, 508;\n  the law and, 519, 521;\n  nature and, 520;\n  morality and, 522;\n  man's capacity for, 523\n\nGreat, the, and the humble have the same misfortunes, 180\n\nGreatness,\n  the, of man, 397, 398, 400, 409;\n  constituted by thought, 346;\n  even in his lust, 402, 403;\n  and wretchedness of man, 416, 417, 418, 423, 430, 443\n\n\nHaggai, 725\n\nHappiness,\n  all men seek, 425;\n  is in God, 465\n\nHappy, in order to be, man does not think of death, 169\n\nHate, all men naturally, one another, 451\n\nHeart,\n  the, has its reasons, 277;\n  experiences God, 278;\n  we know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the, 282;\n  has its own order, 283\n\nHeresy, 774;\n  source of all, 861\n\nHeretics,\n  and the three marks of religion, 843, 844;\n  and the Jesuits, 890\n\nHerod, 178, 179\n\nHosts, the three, 177\n\n\nImage, an, of the condition of men, 199\n\nImagination,\n  that deceitful part in man, 82;\n  enlarges little objects, 84;\n  magnifies a nothing, 85;\n  often mistaken for the heart, 275;\n  judges, etc., appeal only to the, 307\n\nInconstancy, in, 112, 113\n\nInfinite,\n  the, of greatness and of littleness, 72;\n  and the finite, 233\n\nInjustice, 214, 191, 293, 326, 878\n\nInstability, 212\n\nIntellect, different kinds of, 2\n\nIsaiah, 712, 725\n\n\nJacob, 612, 710\n\nJansenists,\n  the, are persecuted, 859;\n  are like the heretics, 886\n\nJeremiah, 713, 818\n\nJesuits,\n  the, unjust persecutors, 851;\n  hardness of the, 853;\n  and Jansenists, 864;\n  impose upon the Pope, 881;\n  effects of their sins, 918;\n  do not keep their word, 923\n\nJesus Christ\n  employs the rule of love, 283;\n  is a God whom we approach without pride, 527;\n  His teaching, 544;\n  without, man must be in misery, 545;\n  God known only through, 546;\n  we know ourselves only through, 547;\n  useless to know God without, 548;\n  the sepulchre of, 551;\n  the mystery of, 552;\n  and His wounds, 553;\n  genealogy of, 577;\n  came at the time foretold, 669;\n  necessary for Him to suffer, 678;\n  the Messiah, 719;\n  prophecies about, 730, 733, 734;\n  foretold, and was foretold, 738;\n  how regarded by the Old and New Testaments, 239;\n  what the prophets say of, 750;\n  His office, 765;\n  typified by Joseph, 767;\n  what He came to say, 769, 782;\n  came to blind, etc., 770;\n  never condemned without hearing, 779;\n  Redeemer of all, 780;\n  would not have the testimony of devils, 783;\n  an obscurity, 785, 788;\n  would not be slain without the forms of justice, 789;\n  no man had more renown than, 791;\n  absurd to take offence at the lowliness of, 792;\n  came _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_, 794;\n  said great things simply, 796;\n  verified that He was the Messiah, 807;\n  and miracles, 828\n\nJews,\n  their religion must be differently regarded in the Bible and in\n    their tradition, 600;\n  and is wholly divine, 602;\n  the carnal, 606, 607, 661, 746;\n  true, and true Christians have the same religion, 609;\n  their advantages, 619;\n  their antiquity, 627;\n  their sincerity, 629, 630;\n  their long and miserable existence, 639;\n  the, expressly made to witness to the Messiah, 640;\n  earthly thoughts of the, 669;\n  were the slaves of sin, 670;\n  their zeal for the law, 700, 701;\n  the devil troubled their zeal, 703;\n  their captivity, 712;\n  reprobation of the, 712;\n  accustomed to great miracles, 745;\n  the, but not all, reject Christ, 759;\n  the, in slaying Him, have proved Him to be the Messiah, 760;\n  their dilemma, 761\n\nJob and Solomon, 174\n\nJohn, St., the Baptist, 775\n\nJoseph, 622, 697, 767\n\nJosephus, 628, 786\n\nJoshua, 626\n\nJudgment,\n  the, and the intellect, 4;\n  of another easily prejudiced, 105\n\nJust, the, act by faith, 504\n\nJustice,\n  the, of God, 233;\n  relation of, to law and custom, 294, 325;\n  and might, 298, 299;\n  determined by custom, 309;\n  is what is established, 312\n\n\nKing,\n  the, surrounded by people to amuse him, 139;\n  a, without amusement, is full of wretchedness, 142;\n  why he inspires respect, 308;\n  and tyrant, 310;\n  on what his power is founded, 330\n\nKnowledge,\n  limitations of man's, 72;\n  of ourselves impossible, apart from the mystery of the transmission\n    of sin, 434;\n  of God and of man's wretchedness found in Christ, 526\n\nKoran, the, 596\n\n\nLackeys, afford a means of social distinction, 318, 319\n\nLanguage, 27, 45, 49, 53, 54, 59, 648\n\nLaw,\n  the, and nature, 519;\n  the, and grace, 521;\n  the, of the Jews, the oldest and most perfect, 618\n\nLaws,\n  the, are the only universal rules, 299;\n  two, rule the Christian Republic, 484\n\nLiancourt, the frog and the pike of, 341\n\nLife,\n  human, a perpetual illusion, 100;\n  we desire to live an imaginary, 147;\n  short duration of, 205;\n  only, between us and heaven or hell, 213\n\nLove,\n  nature of self-, 100, 455;\n  causes and effects of, 162, 163;\n  nothing so opposed to justice and truth as self-, 492\n\nLusts, the three, 458, 460, 461\n\n\nMachine,\n  the, 246, 247;\n  the arithmetical, 340\n\nMacrobius, 178, 179\n\nMagistrates, make a show to strike the imagination, 82\n\nMahomet, 590;\n  without authority, 594;\n  his own witness, 595;\n  a false prophet, 596;\n  is ridiculous, 597;\n  difference between Christ and, 598, 599;\n  religion of, 600\n\nMan,\n  full of wants, 36;\n  misery of, without God, 60, 389;\n  disproportion of, 72;\n  a subject of error, 83;\n  naturally credulous, 125;\n  description of, 116;\n  condition of, 127;\n  disgraceful for, to yield to pleasure, 160;\n  despises religion, 187;\n  lacks heart, 196;\n  his sensibility to trifles, 197;\n  a thinking reed, 347, 348;\n  neither angel, nor brute, 358;\n  necessarily mad, 414;\n  two views of the nature of, 415;\n  does not know his rank, 427;\n  a chimera, 434;\n  the two vices of, 435;\n  pursues wealth, 436;\n  only happy in God, 438;\n  does not act by reason, 439;\n  unworthy of God, 510;\n  is of two kinds, 533;\n  holds an inward talk with himself, 535;\n  without Christ, must be in vice and misery, 545;\n  everything teaches him his condition, 556\n\nMartial, epigrams of, 41\n\nMaster and servant, 530, 896\n\nMaterialism, on, 72, 75\n\nMembers, we are, of the whole, 474, 477, 482, 483\n\nMemory,\n  intuitive, 95;\n  necessary for reason, 369\n\nMerit, men and, 490\n\nMessiah,\n  necessary that there should be preceding prophecies about the, 570;\n  the, according to the carnal Jews and carnal Christians, 606;\n  the, has always been believed in, 615;\n  and expected, 616;\n  prophecies about the, 726, 728, 729;\n  Herod believed to be the, 752\n\nMind,\n  difference between the mathematical and the intuitive, 1;\n  and body, 72, 792;\n  natural for it to believe, 81;\n  the, easily disturbed, 366\n\nMiracles,\n  and belief, 263;\n  a test of doctrine, 802, 842, 845;\n  definition of, 803;\n  necessary, 805;\n  Christ and 807, 810, 828, 833, 837, 838;\n  Montaigne and, 812, 813;\n  the reason people believe false, 816, 817;\n  the, of the false prophets, 818;\n  false, 822, 823;\n  their use, 824;\n  the foundation of religion, 825, 826, 850;\n  no longer necessary, 831;\n  the miracle of the Holy Thorn, 838, 855;\n  the test in matters of doubt, 840;\n  one mark of religion, 843\n\nMisery,\n  diversion alone consoles us for, and is the greatest, 171;\n  proves man's greatness, 398;\n  we have an instinct which raises us above, 411;\n  induces despair, 525\n\nMiton, 192, 448, 455\n\nMontaigne, 18;\n  criticism of, 62, 63, 64, 65; 220, 234, 325, 812, 813\n\nMoses, 577, 592, 623, 628, 688, 689, 751, 802\n\n\nNature\n  has made her truths independent of one another, 21;\n  and theology, 29;\n  is corrupt, 60;\n  has set us in the centre, 70;\n  only a first custom, 93;\n  makes us unhappy in every state, 109;\n  imitates herself, 110;\n  diversifies, 120;\n  always begins the same things again, 121;\n  our, consists in motion, 129;\n  and God, 229, 242, 243, 244;\n  acts by progress, 355;\n  the least movement affects all, 505;\n  perfections and imperfections of, 579;\n  an image of grace, 674\n\nNebuchadnezzar, 721\n\nNovelty, power of the charms of, 82\n\n\nObscurity,\n  the, of religion shows its truth, 564;\n  without, man would not be sensible of corruption, 585\n\nOpinion, the queen of the world, 311\n\nOutward, the Church judges only by the, 904\n\n\nPainting, vanity of, 134\n\nPassion,\n  makes us forget duty, 104;\n  we are sure of pleasing a man, if we know his ruling, 106;\n  how to prevent the harmful effect of, 203\n\nPatriarchs, longevity of, 625\n\nPaul, St., 283, 532, 672, 682, 852\n\nPelagians, the semi-, 776\n\nPenitence, 660, 922\n\nPeople,\n  ordinary, have the power of not thinking of that about which they do\n    not want to think, 259;\n  sound opinions of the people, 313, 316, 324\n\nPerpetuity, 612, 615, 616\n\nPerseus, 410\n\nPersons,\n  only three kinds of, 257;\n  two kinds of, know God, 288\n\nPeter, St., 671, 743\n\nPhilosophers,\n  the, have confused ideas of things, 72;\n  influence of imagination upon, 82;\n  disquiet inquirers, 184;\n  made their ethics independent of the immortality of the soul,\n  219, 220;\n  have mastered their passions, 349;\n  believe in God without Christ, 463;\n  their motto, 464;\n  have consecrated vices, 503;\n  what they advise, 509;\n  did not prescribe suitable feelings, 524\n\nPiety, different from superstition, 255\n\nPilate, the false justice of, 790\n\nPlato, 219, 331\n\nPoets, 34, 38, 39\n\nPope, the, 870, 871, 872, 873, 874, 879, 881\n\nPort-Royal, 151, 838, 919\n\nPrayer, why established, 513\n\nPredictions\n  of particular things, 710;\n  of Cyrus, 712;\n  of events in the fourth monarchy, 723;\n  of the Messiah, 728, 730\n\nPresent, we do not rest satisfied with the, 172\n\nPresumption of men, 148\n\nPride, 152, 153, 406\n\nProbability, the Jesuitical doctrine of, 901, 907, 909, 912, 915, 916,\n  917, 919, 921\n\nProofs,\n  of religion, 289, 290;\n  metaphysical, of God, 542\n\nProphecies,\n  the, entrusted to the Jews, 570;\n  the strongest proof of Christ, 705;\n  necessarily distributed, 706;\n  about Christ, 709, 726, 730, 732, 735;\n  proofs of divinity, 712;\n  in Egypt, 725\n\nProphets,\n  the, prophesied by symbols, 652;\n  their discourses obscure, 658;\n  their meaning veiled, 677;\n  zeal after the, 702;\n  did not speak to flatter the people, 718;\n  foretold, 738\n\nPropositions,\n  the five, 830, 849\n  Purgatory, 518\n\n_Provincial Letters_, the, 52, 919\n\nPyrrhus, advice given to, 139\n\n\nRabbinism, chronology of, 634\n\nReason\n  and the imagination, 82;\n  and the senses, 83;\n  recognises an infinity of things beyond it, 267;\n  submission of, 268, 269, 270, 272;\n  the heart and, 277, 278, 282;\n  and instinct, 344, 395;\n  commands us imperiously, 345;\n  and the passions, 412, 413;\n  corruption of, 440\n\nReasoning, reduces itself to yielding to feeling, 274\n\nRedemption,\n  the Red Sea an image of the, 642;\n  the completeness of the, 780\n\nReligion,\n  its true nature and the necessity of studying it, 194;\n  sinfulness of indifference to it, 195;\n  whether certain, 234;\n  suited to all kinds of minds, 285;\n  true, 470, 494;\n  test of the falsity of a, 487;\n  two ways of proving its truths, 560;\n  the Christian, has something astonishing in it, 614;\n  the Christian, founded upon a preceding, 618;\n  reasons for preferring the Christian, 736;\n  three marks of, 843;\n  and natural reason, 902\n\nRepublic, the Christian, 482, 610\n\nRivers, moving roads, 17\n\nRoannez, M. de, a saying of, 276\n\nRule, a, necessary to judge a work, 5\n\n\nSabbath, the, only a sign, 609\n\nSacrifices, of the Jews and Gentiles, 609\n\nSalvation, happiness of those who hope for, 239\n\nScaramouch, 12\n\nScepticism, 373, 376, 378, 385, 392, 394;\n  truth of, 432;\n  chief arguments of, 434\n\nSciences, vanity of the, 67\n\nScripture,\n  and the number of stars, 266;\n  its order, 283;\n  has provided passages for all conditions of life, 531;\n  literal inspiration of, 567;\n  blindness of, 572;\n  and Mahomet, 597;\n  extravagant opinions founded on, 650;\n  how to understand, 683, 686;\n  against those who misuse passages of, 898\n\nSelf,\n  necessary to know, 66;\n  the little knowledge we have of, 175\n\nSensations, and molecules, 368\n\nSenses,\n  perceptions of the, always true, 9;\n  perceive no extreme, 72;\n  mislead the reason, 83\n\nSilence,\n  eternal, of infinite space, 206;\n  the greatest persecution, 919\n\nSin, original, 445, 446, 447\n\nSneezing, absorbs all the functions of the soul, 160\n\nSoul,\n  immortality of the, 194, 219,\n  220; immaterial, 349\n\n_Spongia solis_, 91\n\nStoics, the, 350, 360, 465\n\nStruggle, the, alone pleases us, 135\n\nStyle, charm of a natural, 29\n\nSwiss, the, 305\n\nSymmetry, 28\n\nSynagogue, the, a type, 645, 851\n\n\nTalent, chief, 118\n\nTemple, reprobation of the, 712\n\nTestaments,\n  proof of the two, at once, 641;\n  proof that the Old is figurative, 658;\n  the Old and the New, 665\n\nTheology, a science, 115\n\nTheresa, St., 499, 867, 916\n\nThought,\n  one, alone occupies us, 145;\n  constitutes man's greatness, 346;\n  and dignity, 365;\n  sometimes escapes us, 370, 372\n\nTime, effects of, 122, 123\n\nTruth,\n  nothing shows man the, 83;\n  different degrees in man's aversion to, 100;\n  the pretext that it is disputed, 261;\n  known by the heart, 282;\n  we desire, 437;\n  here is not the country of, 842;\n  obscure in these times, 863\n\nTypes, 570, 642, 643, 644, 645, 656, 657, 658, 669, 674, 678, 686;\n  the law typical, 646, 684;\n  some, clear and demonstrative, 649;\n  particular, 651, 652, 653;\n  are like portraits, 676, 677;\n  the sacrifices are, 679, 684\n\nTyranny, 332\n\n\nUnderstanding, different kinds of, 2\n\nUniverse,\n  the relation of man to the, 72;\n  his superiority to it, 347\n\n\nVanity,\n  is anchored in man's heart, 150;\n  effects of, 151, 153;\n  curiosity only, 152;\n  little known, 161;\n  love and, 162, 163;\n  only youths do not see the world's, 164\n\nVariety, 114, 115\n\nVices, some, only lay hold on us through others, 102\n\nVirtues,\n  division of, 20;\n  measure of, 352;\n  excess of, 353, 357;\n  only the balancing of opposed vices, 359;\n  the true, 485\n\n\nWeariness,\n  in leaving favourite pursuits, 128;\n  nothing so insufferable to man as, 131\n\nWill,\n  natural for the, to love, 81;\n  one of the chief factors in belief, 99;\n  self-, will never be satisfied, 472;\n  is depraved, 477;\n  God prefers to incline the, rather than the intellect, 580\n\nWords,\n  and meanings, 23, 50;\n  repeated in a discourse, 48;\n  superfluous, 49, 59\n\nWorks,\n  necessity to do good, 497;\n  external, 499\n\nWorld,\n  the, a good judge of things, 327;\n  all the, under a delusion, 335;\n  all the, not astonished at its own weakness, 314;\n  all good maxims are in the, 380;\n  the, exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, 583\n\n\nTranscribers' note\n\nText in greek transliterated and enclosed in '+' signs in the following\nplaces: Pens\u00e9es 70, 631 Footnote 231\n\nNumbered anchors changed to letter anchors for the four footnotes in the\nintroduction.\n\nAll the notes at the end of the text were numbered and appropriate\nanchors inserted in the text.\n\nNote No. 54 on page 28 has the wrong line number and is positioned two\nnotes after where it should be. Corrected the position.\n\n\"judgment\" was consistently used throughout the text.\n\n\nPage |Pens\u00e9e |Details\n     |       |\n  9  |    32 |\"beauty whch consists\" - Typo for \"which\". Corrected.\n     |       |\n 37  |   121 |\"that is infinite\" - Added a period at the end of the\n     |       |sentence.\n     |       |\n 46  |   154 |Mismatched brackets in original text.\n     |       |\n 75  |   260 |\"youself\" - corrected to \"yourself\".\n     |       |\n 86  |   301 |\"It is because they have more reason?\" - As in image.\n     |       |\n129  |   463 |\"feel ull of feelings\" - Typo corrected to \"feel full of\n     |       |feelings\".\n     |       |\n133  |   479 |\"the worst that can can happen\" - deleted one \"can\".\n     |       |\n134  |   484 |Supplied missing period at the end.\n     |       |\n158  |   570 |\"those whose whose only good\" - deleted one \"whose\"\n     |       |\n162  |   587 |\"they come with wisdom and with signs.\" - Typo corrected\n     |       |to \"they come with wisdom and with signs.\"\n     |       |\n165  |   598 |\"Jesus Christ caused His wn to be slain.\" - Typo\n     |       |corrected to \"Jesus Christ caused His own to be slain.\"\n     |       |\n170  |   612 |\"Salutare taum expectabo, Domine.\" - As in image.\n     |       |\n181  |   641 |\"but it they have\" - Typo corrected to \"but if they\n     |       |have\".\n     |       |\n282  |       |Endnote 210. - \"P. 158, l. 13. _Saint John_.--xii, 39.\"\n     |       |-Corrected to \"\"P. 159, l. 13. _Saint John_.--xii, 39.\"\n     |       |\n286  |       |Endnote 331. \"_Though ye believe not_, ect.--John x, 38.\"\n     |       |-Corrected to \"_Though ye believe not_, etc.--John x, 38.\"","title":"Pascal's Pens\u00e9es","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":110958}