They cannot have perpetuity, and they seek universality; and therefore they make the whole Church corrupt, that they may be saints.
898
Against those who misuse passages of Scripture, and who pride themselves in finding one which seems to favour their error.—The chapter for Vespers, Passion Sunday, the prayer for the king.
Explanation of these words: "He that is not with me is against me."[369] And of these others: "He that is not against you is for you."[370] A person who says: "I am neither for nor against", we ought to reply to him ...
899
He who will give the meaning of Scripture, and does not take it from Scripture, is an enemy of Scripture. (Aug., De Doct. Christ.)
900
Humilibus dat gratiam; an ideo non dedit humilitatem?[371]
Sui eum non receperunt; quotquot autem non receperunt an non erant sui?[372]
901
"It must indeed be," says Feuillant, "that this is not so certain; for controversy indicates uncertainty, (Saint Athanasius, Saint Chrysostom, morals, unbelievers)."
The Jesuits have not made the truth uncertain, but they have made their own ungodliness certain.
Contradiction has always been permitted, in order to blind the wicked; for all that offends truth or love is evil. This is the true principle.
902
All religions and sects in the world have had natural reason for a guide. Christians alone have been constrained to take their rules from without themselves, and to acquaint themselves with those which Jesus Christ bequeathed to men of old to be handed down to true believers. This constraint wearies these good Fathers. They desire, like other people, to have liberty to follow their own imaginations. It is in vain that we cry to them, as the prophets said to the Jews of old: "Enter into the Church; acquaint yourselves with the precepts which the men of old left to her, and follow those paths." They have answered like the Jews: "We will not walk in them; but we will follow the thoughts of our hearts"; and they have said, "We will be as the other nations."[373]
903
They make a rule of exception.
Have the men of old given absolution before penance? Do this as exceptional. But of the exception you make a rule without exception, so that you do not even want the rule to be exceptional.
904
On confessions and absolutions without signs of regret.
God regards only the inward; the Church judges only by the outward. God absolves as soon as He sees penitence in the heart; the Church when she sees it in works. God will make a Church pure within, which confounds, by its inward and entirely spiritual holiness, the inward impiety of proud sages and Pharisees; and the Church will make an assembly of men whose external manners are so pure as to confound the manners of the heathen. If there are hypocrites among them, but so well disguised that she does not discover their venom, she tolerates them; for, though they are not accepted of God, whom they cannot deceive, they are of men, whom they do deceive. And thus she is not dishonoured by their conduct, which appears holy. But you want the Church to judge neither of the inward, because that belongs to God alone, nor of the outward, because God dwells only upon the inward; and thus, taking away from her all choice of men, you retain in the Church the most dissolute, and those who dishonour her so greatly, that the synagogues of the Jews and sects of philosophers would have banished them as unworthy, and have abhorred them as impious.
905
The easiest conditions to live in according to the world are the most difficult to live in according to God, and vice versa. Nothing is so difficult according to the world as the religious life; nothing is easier than to live it according to God. Nothing is easier, according to the world, than to live in high office and great wealth; nothing is more difficult than to live in them according to God, and without acquiring an interest in them and a liking for them.
906
The casuists submit the decision to the corrupt reason, and the choice of decisions to the corrupt will, in order that all that is corrupt in the nature of man may contribute to his conduct.
907
But is it probable that probability gives assurance?
Difference between rest and security of conscience. Nothing gives certainty but truth; nothing gives rest but the sincere search for truth.
908
The whole society itself of their casuists cannot give assurance to a conscience in error, and that is why it is important to choose good guides.
Thus they will be doubly culpable, both in having followed ways which they should not have followed, and in having listened to teachers to whom they should not have listened.
909
Can it be anything but compliance with the world which makes you find things probable? Will you make us believe that it is truth, and that if duelling were not the fashion, you would find it probable that they might fight, considering the matter in itself?
910
Must we kill to prevent there being any wicked? This is to make both parties wicked instead of one. Vince in bono malum.[374] (Saint Augustine.)
911
Universal.—Ethics and language are special, but universal sciences.
912
Probability.—Each one can employ it; no one can take it away.
913
They allow lust to act, and check scruples; whereas they should do the contrary.
914
Montalte.[375]—Lax opinions please men so much, that it is strange that theirs displease. It is because they have exceeded all bounds. Again, there are many people who see the truth, and who cannot attain to it; but there are few who do not know that the purity of religion is opposed to our corruptions. It is absurd to say that an eternal recompense is offered to the morality of Escobar.
915
Probability.—They have some true principles; but they misuse them. Now, the abuse of truth ought to be as much punished as the introduction of falsehood.
As if there were two hells, one for sins against love, the other for those against justice!
916
Probability.[376]—The earnestness of the saints in seeking the truth was useless, if the probable is trustworthy. The fear of the saints who have always followed the surest way (Saint Theresa having always followed her confessor).
917
Take away probability, and you can no longer please the world; give probability, and you can no longer displease it.
918
These are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the Jesuits. The great have wished to be flattered. The Jesuits have wished to be loved by the great. They have all been worthy to be abandoned to the spirit of lying, the one party to deceive, the others to be deceived. They have been avaricious, ambitious, voluptuous. Coacervabunt tibi magistros.[377] Worthy disciples of such masters, they have sought flatterers, and have found them.
919
If they do not renounce their doctrine of probability, their good maxims are as little holy as the bad, for they are founded on human authority; and thus, if they are more just, they will be more reasonable, but not more holy. They take after the wild stem on which they are grafted.
If what I say does not serve to enlighten you, it will be of use to the people.
If these[378] are silent, the stones will speak.
Silence is the greatest persecution; the saints were never silent. It is true that a call is necessary; but it is not from the decrees of the Council that we must learn whether we are called, it is from the necessity of speaking. Now, after Rome has spoken, and we think that she has condemned the truth, and that they have written it, and after the books which have said the contrary are censured; we must cry out so much the louder, the more unjustly we are censured, and the more violently they would stifle speech, until there come a Pope who hears both parties, and who consults antiquity to do justice. So the good Popes will find the Church still in outcry.
The Inquisition and the Society[379] are the two scourges of the truth.
Why do you not accuse them of Arianism? For, though they have said that Jesus Christ is God, perhaps they mean by it not the natural interpretation, but as it is said, Dii estis.
If my Letters are condemned at Rome, that which I condemn in them is condemned in heaven. Ad tuum, Domine Jesu, tribunal appello.
You yourselves are corruptible.
I feared that I had written ill, seeing myself condemned; but the example of so many pious writings makes me believe the contrary. It is no longer allowable to write well, so corrupt or ignorant is the Inquisition!
"It is better to obey God than men."
I fear nothing; I hope for nothing. It is not so with the bishops. Port-Royal fears, and it is bad policy to disperse them; for they will fear no longer and will cause greater fear. I do not even fear your like censures, if they are not founded on those of tradition. Do you censure all? What! even my respect? No. Say then what, or you will do nothing, if you do not point out the evil, and why it is evil. And this is what they will have great difficulty in doing.
Probability.—They have given a ridiculous explanation of certitude; for, after having established that all their ways are sure, they have no longer called that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not arriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger of going out of that road.
920
... The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves criminals, and impeach their better actions. And these indulge in subtleties in order to excuse the most wicked.
The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a bad foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance based upon the most different foundation.
Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so good a capture as you....
The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise my cause.
You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that men do justice, do you not fear that God does justice?
You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...
There is something supernatural in such a blindness. Digna necessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime ...
Doctrina sua noscitur vir ...
False piety, a double sin.
I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court; protect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my strength. If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and persecutions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it away.
I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error and injustice. Let God, out of His compassion, having no regard to the evil which is in me, and having regard to the good which is in you, grant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in my hands, and that falsehood ...
921
Probable.—Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by comparison of the things which we love. It is probable that this food will not poison me. It is probable that I shall not lose my action by not prosecuting it ...
922
It is not absolution only which remits sins by the sacrament of penance, but contrition, which is not real if it does not seek the sacrament.
923
People who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour, without truth, deceitful in heart, deceitful in speech; for which that amphibious animal in fable was once reproached, which held itself in a doubtful position between the fish and the birds ...
It is important to kings and princes to be considered pious; and therefore they must confess themselves to you.
NOTES
The following brief notes are mainly based on those of M. Brunschvicg. But those of MM. Faugère, Molinier, and Havet have also been consulted. The biblical references are to the Authorised English Version. Those in the text are to the Vulgate, except where it has seemed advisable to alter the reference to the English Version.
[1] P. 1, l. 1. The difference between the mathematical and the intuitive mind.—Pascal is here distinguishing the logical or discursive type of mind, a good example of which is found in mathematical reasoning, and what we should call the intuitive type of mind, which sees everything at a glance. A practical man of sound judgment exemplifies the latter; for he is in fact guided by impressions of past experience, and does not consciously reason from general principles.
[2] P. 2, l. 34. There are different kinds, etc.—This is probably a subdivision of the discursive type of mind.
[3] P. 3, l. 31. By rule.—This is an emendation by M. Brunschvicg. The MS. has sans règle.
[4] P. 4, l. 3. I judge by my watch.—Pascal is said to have always carried a watch attached to his left wrist-band.
[5] P. 5, l. 21. Scaramouch.—A traditional character in Italian comedy.
[6] P. 5, l. 22. The doctor.—Also a traditional character in Italian comedy.
[7] P. 5, l. 24. Cleobuline.—Princess, and afterwards Queen of Corinth, figures in the romance of Mademoiselle de Scudéry, entitled Artamène ou le Grand Cyrus. She is enamoured of one of her subjects, Myrinthe. But she "loved him without thinking of love; and remained so long in that error, that this affection was no longer in a state to be overcome, when she became aware of it." The character is supposed to have been drawn from Christina of Sweden.
[8] P. 6, l. 21. Rivers are, etc.—Apparently suggested by a chapter in Rabelais: How we descended in the isle of Odes, in which the roads walk.
[9] P. 6, l. 30. Salomon de Tultie.—A pseudonym adopted by Pascal as the author of the Provincial Letters.
[10] P. 7, l. 7. Abstine et sustine.—A maxim of the Stoics.
[11] P. 7, l. 8. Follow nature.—The maxim in which the Stoics summed up their positive ethical teaching.
[12] P. 7, l. 9. As Plato.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, iii, 9.
[13] P. 9, l. 29. We call this jargon poetical beauty.—According to M. Havet, Pascal refers here to Malherbe and his school.
[14] P. 10, l. 23. Ne quid nimis.—Nothing in excess, a celebrated maxim in ancient Greek philosophy.
[15] P. 11, l. 26. That epigram about two one-eyed people.—M. Havet points out that this is not Martial's, but is to be found in Epigrammatum Delectus, published by Port-Royal in 1659.
Et potis est forma vincere uterque deos.
Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede parenti,
Sic tu cæcus Amor, sic erit ilia Venus.
[16] P. 11, l. 29. Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta.—Horace, De Arte Poetica, 447.
[17] P. 13, l. 2. Cartesian.—One who follows the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650), "the father of modern philosophy."
[18] P. 13, l. 8. Le Maître.—A famous French advocate in Pascal's time. His Plaidoyers el Harangues appeared in 1657. Plaidoyer VI is entitled Pour un fils mis en religion par force, and on the first page occurs the word répandre: "Dieu qui répand des aveuglements et des ténèbres sur les passions illégitimes." Pascal's reference is probably to this passage.
[19] P. 13, l. 12. The Cardinal.—Mazarin. He was one of those statesmen who do not like condolences.
[20] P. 14, l. 12. Saint Thomas.—Thomas Aquinas (1223-74), one of the greatest scholastic philosophers.
[21] P. 14, l. 16. Charron.—A friend of Montaigne. His Traité de la Sagesse (1601), which is not a large book, contains 117 chapters, each of which is subdivided.
[22] P. 14, l. 17. Of the confusion of Montaigne.—The Essays of Montaigne follow each other without any kind of order.
[23] P. 14, l. 27. Mademoiselle de Gournay.—The adopted daughter of Montaigne. She published in 1595 an edition of his Essais, and, in a Preface (added later), she defends him on this point.
[24] P. 15, l. 1. People without eyes.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[25] P. 15, l. 1. Squaring the circle.—Ibid., ii, 14.
[26] P. 15, l. 1. A greater world.—Ibid., ii, 12.
[27] P. 15, l. 2. On suicide and on death.—Ibid., ii, 3.
[28] P. 15, l. 3. Without fear and without repentance.—Ibid., iii., 2.
[29] P. 15, l. 7. (730, 231).—These two references of Pascal are to the edition of the Essais of Montaigne, published in 1636.
[30] P. 16, l. 32. The centre which is everywhere, and the circumference nowhere.—M. Havet traces this saying to Empedocles. Pascal must have read it in Mlle de Gournay's preface to her edition of Montaigne's Essais.
[31] P. 18, l. 33. I will speak of the whole.—This saying of Democritus is quoted by Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[32] P. 18, l. 37. Principles of Philosophy.—The title of one of Descartes's philosophical writings, published in 1644. See note on p. 13, l. 8 above.
[33] P. 18, l. 39. De omni scibili.—The title under which Pico della Mirandola announced nine hundred propositions which he proposed to uphold publicly at Rome in 1486.
[34] P. 19, l. 26. Beneficia eo usque læta sunt.—Tacitus, Ann., lib. iv, c. xviii. Compare Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[35] P. 21, l. 35. Modus quo, etc.—St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei, xxi, 10. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[36] P. 22, l. 8. Felix qui, etc.—Virgil, Georgics, ii, 489, quoted by Montaigne, Essais, iii, 10.
[37] P. 22, l. 10. Nihil admirari, etc.—Horace, Epistles, I. vi. 1. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 10.
[38] P. 22, l. 19. 394.—A reference to Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[39] P. 22, l. 20. 395.—Ibid.
[40] P. 22, l. 22. 399.—Ibid.
[41] P. 22, l. 28. Harum sententiarum.—Cicero, Tusc., i, 11, Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[42] P. 22, l. 39. Felix qui, etc.—See above, notes on p. 22, l. 8 and l. 10.
[43] P. 22, l. 40. 280 kinds of sovereign good in Montaigne.—Essais, ii, 12.
[44] P. 23, l. 1. Part I, 1, 2, c. 1, section 4.—This reference is to Pascal's Traité du vide.
[45] P. 23, l. 25. How comes it, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, iii, 8.
[46] P. 23, l. 29. See Epictetus, Diss., iv, 6. He was a great Roman Stoic in the time of Domitian.
[47] P. 24, l. 9. It is natural, etc.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, i, 4.
[48] P. 24, l. 12. Imagination.—This fragment is suggestive of Montaigne. See Essais, iii, 8.
[49] P. 25, l. 16. If the greatest philosopher, etc. See Raymond Sebond's Apologie, from which Pascal has derived his illustrations.
[50] P. 26, l. 1. Furry cats.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 8.
[51] P. 26, l. 31. Della opinione, etc.—No work is known under this name. It may refer to a treatise by Carlo Flori, which bears a title like this. But its date (1690) is after Pascal's death (1662), though there may have been earlier editions.
[52] P. 27, l. 12. Source of error in diseases.—Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[53] P. 27, l. 27. They rival each other, etc.—Ibid.
[54] P. 28, l. 31. Næ iste, etc.—Terence, Heaut., IV, i, 8. Montaigne, Essais, iii, 1.
[55] P. 28, l. 15. Quasi quidquam, etc.—Plin., ii, 7. Montaigne, ibid.
[56] P. 28, l. 29. Quod crebro, etc.—Cicero, De Divin., ii, 49.
[57] P. 29, l. 1. Spongia solis.—The spots on the sun. Pascal sees in them the beginning of the darkening of the sun, and thinks that there will therefore come a day when there will be no sun.
[58] P. 29, l. 15. Custom is a second nature, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, i, 22.
[59] P. 29, l. 19. Omne animal.—See Genesis vii, 14.
[60] P. 30, l. 22. Hence savages, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, i, 22.
[61] P. 32, l. 3. A great part of Europe, etc.—An allusion to the Reformation.
[62] P. 33, l. 13. Alexander's chastity.—Pascal apparently has in mind Alexander's treatment of Darius's wife and daughters after the battle of Issus.
[63] P. 34, l. 17. Lustravit lampade terras.—Part of Cicero's translation of two lines from Homer, Odyssey, xviii, 136. Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
Jupiter auctiferas lustravit lampade terras.
[64] P. 34, l. 32. Nature gives, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, i, 19.
[65] P. 37, l. 23. Our nature consists, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, iii, 13.
[66] P. 38, l. 1. Weariness.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.
[67] P. 38, l. 8. Cæsar was too old, etc.—See Montaigne, Essais, ii, 34.
[68] P. 38, l. 30. A mere trifle, etc.—Montaigne, Essais, iii, 4.
[69] P. 40, l. 21. Advice given to Pyrrhus.—Ibid., i, 42.
[70] P. 41, l. 2. They do not know, etc.—Ibid., i, 19.
[71] P. 44, l. 14. They are, etc.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, i, 38.
[72] P. 46, l. 7. Those who write, etc.—A thought of Cicero in Pro Archia, mentioned by Montaigne, Essais, i, 41.
[73] P. 47, l. 3. Ferox gens.—Livy, xxxiv, 17. Montaigne, Essais, i, 40.
[74] P. 47, l. 5. Every opinion, etc.—Montaigne, ibid.
[75] P. 47, l. 12. 184.—This is a reference to Montaigne, Essais, i, 40. See also ibid., iii, 10.
[76] P. 48, l. 8. I know not what (Corneille).—See Médée, II, vi, and Rodogune, I, v.
[77] P. 48, l. 22. In omnibus requiem quæsivi.—Eccles. xxiv, II, in the Vulgate.
[78] P. 50, l. 5. The future alone is our end.—Montaigne, Essais, i, 3.
[79] P. 50, l. 14. Solomon.—Considered by Pascal as the author of Ecclesiastes.
[80] P. 50, l. 20. Unconscious of approaching fever.—Compare Montaigne, Essais, i, 19.
[81] P. 50, l. 22. Cromwell.—Cromwell died in 1658 of a fever, and not of the gravel. The Restoration took place in 1660, and this fragment was written about that date.
[82] P. 50, l. 28. The three hosts.—Charles I was beheaded in 1649; Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated in 1654; Jean Casimir, King of Poland, was deposed in 1656.
[83] P. 50, l. 32. Macrobius.—A Latin writer of the fifth century. He was a Neo-Platonist in philosophy. One of his works is entitled Saturnalia.
[84] P. 51, l. 5. The great and the humble, etc.—See Montaigne, Essais, ii, 12.