The Thoughts Of Blaise Pascal - free ebook by Blaise Pascal

THE THOUGHTS OF BLAISE PASCAL.

THE THOUGHTS OF BLAISE PASCAL THE THOUGHTS OF BLAISE PASCAL TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF M. AUGUSTE MOLINIER BY C. KEGAN PAUL Pendent opera interrupta LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH &amp; CO. MDCCCLXXXV KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH &amp; CO. MDCCCLXXXV...

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PREFACE.

Those to whom the Life of Pascal and the Story of Port Royal are unknown, must be referred to works treating fully of the subject, since it were impossible to deal with them adequately within the limits of a preface. Sainte-Beuve's great work on Port Royal, especially the second and third volumes, and "Port Royal," by Charles Beard, B.A., London, 1863, may best be consulted by any who require full, lucid, and singularly impartial information. But for such as, already acquainted with the time and

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PASCAL'S PROFESSION OF FAITH.

This year of Grace 1654, Monday, November 23 rd , day of Saint Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology, Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, martyr, and others; From about half past ten at night, to about half after midnight, Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, Not of the philosophers and the wise. Security, security. Feeling, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ Deum meum et Deum vestrum. Thy God shall be my God. Forgetfulness of the world and of all save God. He can be found only

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GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

Let them at least learn what is the Religion they assail, before they assail it. If this religion claimed to have a clear view of God, and to possess it openly and unveiled, then to say that we see nothing in the world which manifests him with this clearness would be to assail it. But since on the contrary it affirms that men are in darkness and estranged from God, that he has hidden himself from their knowledge, that the very name he has given himself in the Scriptures is Deus absconditus ; and

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NOTES FOR THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

To doubt is then a misfortune, but to seek when in doubt is an indispensable duty. So he who doubts and seeks not is at once unfortunate and unfair. If at the same time he is gay and presumptuous, I have no terms in which to describe a creature so extravagant. A fine subject of rejoicing and boasting, with the head uplifted in such a fashion.... Therefore let us rejoice; I see not the conclusion, since it is uncertain, and we shall then see what will become of us. Is it courage in a dying man th

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PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART.

To speak of those who have treated of the knowledge of self, of the divisions of Charron which sadden and weary us, of the confusion of Montaigne; that he was aware he had no definite system, and tried to evade the difficulty by leaping from subject to subject; that he sought to be fashionable. His foolish project of self-description, and this not casually and against his maxims, since everybody may make mistakes, but by his maxims themselves, and by his main and principal design. For to say foo

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MAN'S DISPROPORTION.

This is where our intuitive knowledge leads us. If it be not true, there is no truth in man; and if it be, he finds therein a great reason for humiliation, because he must abase himself in one way or another. And since he cannot exist without such knowledge, I wish that before entering on deeper researches into nature he would consider her seriously and at leisure, that he would examine himself also, and knowing what proportion there is.... Let man then contemplate the whole realm of nature in i

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DIVERSION.

Diversion.—When I have set myself now and then to consider the various distractions of men, the toils and dangers to which they expose themselves in the court or the camp, whence arise so many quarrels and passions, such daring and often such evil exploits, etc., I have discovered that all the misfortunes of men arise from one thing only, that they are unable to stay quietly in their own chamber. A man who has enough to live on, if he knew how to dwell with pleasure in his own home, would not le

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THE GREATNESS AND LITTLENESS OF MAN.

Greatness, Littleness .—The more light we have, the more greatness and the more baseness we discover in man. Ordinary men.... The more cultivated.... Philosophers. They astonish ordinary men. Christians. They astonish Philosophers. Who then will be surprised to see that Religion only makes us know deeply what we already know in proportion to our light. For Port Royal. Greatness and Littleness. Littleness being correlative to greatness, and greatness to littleness, some have inferred man's little

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OF THE DECEPTIVE POWERS OF THE IMAGINATION.

Of the deceptive powers .—Man is only a subject full of natural error, which is indelible without grace. Nothing shows him the truth, everything deceives him. These two principles of truth, reason and the senses, in addition to the fact that they are both wanting in sincerity, reciprocally deceive each other. The senses trick the reason by false appearances, and gain from reason in their turn the same deception with which they deceive; reason avenges herself. The passions of the soul trouble the

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OF JUSTICE, CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES.

On what shall man found the economy of the world which he would fain govern? If on the caprice of each man, all is confusion. If on justice, man is ignorant of it. Certainly had he known it, he would not have established the maxim, most general of all current among men, that every one must conform to the manners of his own country; the splendour of true equity would have brought all nations into subjection, and legislators would not have taken as their model the fancies and caprice of Persians a

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THE WEAKNESS, UNREST, AND DEFECTS OF MAN.

The Misery of Man. —We care nothing for the present. We anticipate the future as too slow in coming, as if we could make it move faster; or we call back the past, to stop its rapid flight. So imprudent are we that we wander through the times in which we have no part, unthinking of that which alone is ours; so frivolous are we that we dream of the days which are not, and pass by without reflection those which alone exist. For the present generally gives us pain; we conceal it from our sight becau

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PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART.

To speak of those who have treated of this subject. I wonder at the boldness with which these persons undertake to speak of God, in addressing their words to the irreligious. Their first chapter is to prove Divinity by the works of nature. I should not be astonished at their undertaking if they addressed their argument to the faithful, for it is certain that those who have a lively faith in their heart see at once that all that exists is none other than the work of the God whom they adore. But f

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OF THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH.

Second Part. That man without faith cannot know the true good, nor justice. All men seek happiness. To this there is no exception, what different means soever they employ, all tend to this goal. The reason that some men go to the wars and others avoid them is but the same desire attended in each with different views. Our will makes no step but towards this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of him who hangs himself. And yet after so many years, no one without faith has

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THE PHILOSOPHERS.

The principal arguments of the sceptics—to omit those of less importance—are that we have no certainty of the truth of these principles apart from faith and revelation, save so far as we naturally perceive them in ourselves. Now this natural perception is no convincing evidence of their truth, since, having no certainty apart from faith, whether man was created by a good God, by an evil demon, or by chance, it may be doubted whether these principles within us are true or false or uncertain accor

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THOUGHTS ON MAHOMET AND ON CHINA.

The foundation of our faith. —The heathen religion has no foundation at the present day. We are told that it once had such a foundation by the voice of the oracles, but what are the books which certify this? Are they worthy of credence on account of the virtue of their writers, have they been kept with such care that we may feel certain none have tampered with them? The Mahomedan religion has for its foundation the Koran and Mahomet. But was this prophet, who was to be the last hope of the world

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OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.

I see the Christian Religion founded on an earlier Religion, and this is what I find of positive fact. I do not here speak of the miracles of Moses, of Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles, because they do not at first seem convincing, and because I only wish here to adduce in evidence all those foundations of the Christian Religion which are beyond a doubt, and on which doubt cannot be cast by any person soever. It is certain that we see in many places in the world a peculiar people, separated fro

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THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SACRED BOOKS.

The Premiss. —Moses was a man of genius. If then he ruled himself by his reason, he should say nothing clearly which was directly against reason. So all the apparent weaknesses are strength. Example: the two genealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint Luke. What can be more clear than that this was not concerted? Proof of Moses. —Why should Moses make the lives of men so long, and their generations so few? Because it is not the length of years, but the number of generations which renders matters obsc

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THE PROPHECIES.

The prophecies are the strongest proofs of Jesus Christ. For these therefore God has made the most provision; since the event which has fulfilled them is a miracle existing from the birth of the Church to the end. Therefore God raised up prophets during sixteen hundred years, and during four hundred years afterwards he dispersed all these prophecies with all the Jews, who bore them into all regions of the world. Such was the preparation for the birth of Jesus Christ, whose Gospel exacting belief

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OF TYPES IN GENERAL AND OF THEIR LAWFULNESS.

Proof of the two Testaments at once. —To prove both the Testaments at one stroke we need only see if the prophecies in one are accomplished in the other. To examine the prophecies we must understand them. For if we believe they have only one sense it is certain that Messiah has not come; but if they have two senses, it is certain that he has come in Jesus Christ. The whole question then is to know if they have two senses.... That the Scripture has two senses, which Jesus Christ and his Apostles

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THAT THE JEWISH LAW WAS FIGURATIVE.

Contradiction. —It is not possible to give a good expression to a portrait save by bringing all contraries into harmony, and it is not enough to dwell upon a series of accordant qualities, without reconciling the contraries. To understand the meaning of an author we must harmonise all the contrary passages. Thus, to understand Scripture, we must find a sense in which all the contrary passages are reconciled; it is not enough to have one which agrees with many consonant passages, but we must find

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OF THE TRUE RELIGION AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS.

For Port Royal. The Beginning, after having explained the incomprehensibility. —Since the greatness and the vileness of man are so evident, it is necessary that the true religion should declare both that there is in man some great principle of greatness, and a great principle of vileness. It must therefore explain these astonishing contradictions. In order to make man happy, it must show him that there is a God; that we ought to love him; that our true happiness is to be in him, our sole evil to

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THE EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

When I see the blindness and the misery of man, when I survey the whole dumb Universe, and man without light, left to himself, and lost, as it were, in this corner of the Universe, not knowing who has placed him here, what he has come to do, what will become of him when he dies, and incapable of any knowledge whatever, I fall into terror like that of a man who, having been carried in his sleep to an island desert and terrible, should awake ignorant of his whereabouts and with no means of escape;

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OF ORIGINAL SIN.

There are two truths of faith equally sure: the one, that man in the state of creation, or in that of grace, is raised above all nature, is made like unto God and is a sharer in divinity; the other, that in the state of corruption and sin, he has fallen from the higher state and is made like unto the beasts. These two propositions are equally firm and certain. The Scripture declares it plainly, as when it says in certain places: Deliciæ meæ, esse cum filiis hominum. Effundam spiritum meum super

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THE PERPETUITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Perpetuity. —That religion has always existed on earth, which consists in believing that man has fallen from a state of glory and of communion with God into a state of sorrow, penitence, and estrangement from God, but that after this life we shall be restored by a Messiah who was to come. All things have passed away, and this has subsisted for which are all things. Men in the first age of the world were carried away into every kind of misconduct, and yet there were holy men, as Enoch, Lamech and

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PROOFS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION.

Proofs of Religion. Morals—Doctrine—Miracles—Prophecies—Figures. Proof —1. The Christian religion having established itself so strongly, yet so quietly, whilst contrary to nature.—2. The sanctity, the dignity, and the humility of a Christian soul.—3. The wonders of holy Scripture.—4. Jesus Christ in particular.—5. The apostles in particular.—6. Moses and the prophets in particular.—7. The Jewish people.—8. The Prophecies.—9. Perpetuity. No religion has perpetuity.—10. The Doctrine, which explain

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PROOFS OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST.

Perpetuity. —Let it be considered that from the beginning of the world the expectation or the worship of the Messiah has subsisted without a break; that there have been men who said that God had revealed to them the future birth of a Redeemer who should save his people; that afterwards came Abraham saying he had had a revelation that the Messiah was to spring from him by a son who should be born; that Jacob declared that of his twelve sons the Messiah would spring from Judah; that Moses and the

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THE MISSION AND GREATNESS OF JESUS CHRIST.

We know God only by Jesus Christ. Without this mediator all communion with God is taken away, by Jesus Christ we know God. All who have thought to know God, and to prove him without Jesus Christ, have had but feeble proofs. But for proof of Jesus Christ we have the prophecies, which are solid and palpable proofs. And these prophecies, accomplished and proved true by the event, mark the certainty of these truths, and consequently the divinity of Jesus Christ. In him then, and by him we know God;

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THE MYSTERY OF JESUS.

Jesus suffered in his passion the torments which men inflicted on him, but in his agony he suffered torments which he inflicted on himself: turbare semetipsum . This is a suffering from no human, but an almighty hand, and he who bears it must also be almighty. Jesus sought some comfort at least in his three dearest friends, and they were asleep. He prayed them to watch with him awhile, and they left him with utter carelessness, having so little compassion that it could not hinder their sleeping

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OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN.

Members. To begin with that. —To regulate the love which we owe to ourselves, we must imagine a body full of thinking members, for we are members of the whole, and see how each member should love itself, etc.... If the feet and the hands had each a separate will they could only be in their order in submitting this separate will to the primary will which governs the whole body. Apart from that they are in disorder and misfortune, but in willing only the good of the body they find their own good.

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THE ARRANGEMENT.

First part : Misery of man without God. Second part : The happiness of man with God. Or. First part : That Nature is naturally corrupt. Second part : That the Scripture shows a Redeemer. The arrangement by dialogues. —What ought I to do? I see only obscurity everywhere. Shall I believe that I am nothing, shall I believe that I am God? All things change and succeed each other.—You are mistaken; there is.... A letter to lead to the search after God. And then to cause him to be sought for among the

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OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL.

The beginning. —Miracles are the test of doctrine, and doctrine is the test of miracles. Of these there are false and true. There must be a mark whereby to know them, or they would be useless. Now they are not useless, and are on the contrary fundamental Now it must be that the rule which he gives us be such as shall not impair the proof afforded by true miracles to the truth, which is the principal end of miracles. Moses has given two; that the prediction does not come to pass, Deut. xviii., an

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JESUITS AND JANSENISTS.

The Church has always been assailed by contrary errors, but perhaps never at the same time, as now; and if she suffer more because of the multiplicity of errors, she receives this advantage from it, that they destroy each other. She complains of both, but much the most of the Calvinists, because of the schism. It is certain that many of the two opposite parties are deceived; they must be disabused. Faith embraces many truths which seem contradictory. There is a time to laugh, and a time to weep,

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THOUGHTS ON STYLE.

Eloquence is an art of saying things in such a manner, 1, that those to whom we speak can hear them without pain, and with pleasure; 2, that they feel themselves interested, so that self-love leads them more willingly to reflect upon what is said. It consists therefore in a correspondence which we endeavour to establish between the mind and the heart of those to whom we speak on the one hand, and, on the other, the thoughts and the expressions employed; this supposes that we have thoroughly stud

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VARIOUS THOUGHTS.

Mathematics, Tact. —True eloquence makes light of eloquence, true morality makes light of morality, that is to say, the morality of the judgment makes light of the morality of the intellect, which has no rules. For perception belongs to judgment, as science belongs to the intellect. Tact is the part of judgment, mathematics of the intellect. To make light of philosophy is to be a true philosopher. The nourishment of the body is little by little, too much nourishment gives little substance. There

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NOTES.

NOTES. P. 2. Pascal's Profession of Faith. A few days after Pascal's death, a servant discovered this profession sewed into a fold of his master's waistcoat, pourpoint . It was written on parchment, with a copy on paper. His family believed that he had carefully placed this in each new garment, desiring to have always about him the memorial of the great spiritual crisis. P. 3, l. 32. Dereliquerunt me. Jer. li. 13. P. 3. General Introduction. In this are apparently two drafts of the same preface,

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