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THE THOUGHTS 
 
 OF 
 
 BLAISE PASCAL 
 
THE THOUGHTS OF 
 
 BLAISE PASCAL 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF 
 
 M. AUGUSTE MO TINIER 
 
 BY 
 
 C. KEGAN PAUL 
 
 Pendent opera interrnpta 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THOMAS WHITTAKER 
 2 & 3 
 
 BIBLE HOUSE 
 
£ 43^4 
 0 P E P 
 182 ? 
 
 I 
 
 CONTENTS . 
 
 \ Preface . 
 
 | General Introduction 
 
 Pascal’s Profession of Faith . 
 
 Notes for the General Introduction 
 
 '' The Misery of Man without God 
 Preface to the First Part 
 Man’s Disproportion . 
 
 Diversion . . . . 
 
 The Greatness and Littleness of Man 
 Of the Deceptive Powers of the Imagination 
 Of Justice, Customs, and Prejudices 
 The Weakness, Unrest, and Defects of Man 
 
 "he Happiness of Man with God 
 Preface to the Second Part . 
 
 Of the Need of Seeking Truth 
 The Philosophers .... 
 Thoughts on Mahomet and on China . 
 
 Of the Jewish People .... 
 
 The Authenticity of the Sacred Books . 
 
 The Prophecies ..... 
 
 Of Types in General and of their Lawfulness 
 That the Jewish Law was Figurative . 
 
 Of the True Religion and its Characteristics 
 The Excellence of the Christian Religion 
 Of Original Sin ..... 
 
 The Perpetuity of the Christian Religion 
 Proofs of the Christian Religion . 
 
 
 Tage 
 
 vii 
 
 II 
 
 15 
 
 17 
 
 19 
 
 33 
 
 43 
 
 5i 
 
 61 
 
 73 
 
 89 
 
 9i 
 
 95 
 
 105 
 
 115 
 
 119 
 
 125 
 
 131 
 
 157 
 
 167 
 
 179 
 
 183 
 
 191 
 
 197 
 
 203 
 
VI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 The Happiness o-f Man with God [continued). Page 
 
 Proofs of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.213 
 
 The Mission and Greatness of Jesus Christ .... 225 
 
 The Mystery of Jesus.231 
 
 Of the True Righteous Man and of the True Christian . . 237 
 
 The Arrangement ........ 253 
 
 Of Miracles in General ....... 257 
 
 Jesuits and Jansenists ..273 
 
 Thoughts on Style . 301 
 
 Various Thoughts . 307 
 
 Notes .317 
 
 % 
 
 Index . 339 
 
PREFA CE. 
 
 Those to whom the Life of Pascal and the Story of Port Roya. 
 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 im¬ 
 partial information. 
 
 But for such as, already acquainted with the time and the 
 man, need a recapitulation of the more important facts, or for 
 those who may find an outline map useful of the country they 
 are to study in detail, a few words are here given. 
 
 Blaise Pascal was born at Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne, 
 on June 19, 1623. He sprung from a well-known legal family, 
 many members of which had held lucrative and responsible 
 positions. His father, Etienne Pascal, held the post of inten- 
 dant, or provincial administrator, in Normandy, where, and at 
 Paris previously, Pascal lived from the age of sixteen to that of 
 twenty-five ; almost wholly educated by his father on account of 
 his precarious health. His mother died when he was eight years 
 old. Etienne Pascal was a pious but stern person, and by no 
 means disposed to entertain or allow any undue exaltation in 
 religion, refusing as long as he lived to allow his daughter 
 Jaqueline to take the veil. But he had the usual faiths and 
 superstitions of his time, and believing that his son’s ill-health 
 arose from witchcraft, employed the old woman who was sup¬ 
 posed to have caused the malady to remove it, by herbs culled 
 before sunrise, and the expiatory death of a cat. This made a 
 great impression on his son, who in the “ Thoughts ” employs an 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ingenious argument to prove that wonders wrought by the in¬ 
 vocation of the devil are not, in the proper sense of the term, 
 miracles. At any rate the counter-charm was incomplete, as the 
 child’s feeble health remained feeble to the end. 
 
 Intellectually, Blaise Pascal grew rapidly to the stature and 
 strength of a giant ; his genius showing itself mainly in the 
 direction of mathematics ; at the age of fifteen his studies on 
 conic sections were thought worthy to be read before the most 
 scientific men of Paris, and in after years of agonizing pain 
 mathematical research alone was able to calm him, and distract 
 his mind from himself. His actual reading was at all times 
 narrow, and his scholarship was not profound. In 1646, his 
 father, having broken his thigh at Rouen, came under the in¬ 
 fluence of two members of the Jansenist school of thought at 
 that place, who attended him in his illness, and from that time 
 dated the more serious religious views of the family. Jaqueline 
 was from the first deeply affected by the more rigorous opinions 
 with which she came in contact. Forbidden to enter the 
 cloister, she lived at home as austere a life as though she had 
 been professed, but after her father’s death won her brother’s 
 reluctant consent to take the veil at Port Royal, and became 
 one of the strictest nuns of that rigid rule. 
 
 Blaise Pascal went through a double process of conversion. 
 When the family first fell under Jansenist influence he threw 
 himself so earnestly into the study of theology that he seriously 
 injured his frail health, and being advised to refrain from all 
 intellectual labour, he returned to the world of Paris, where his 
 friends the Due de Roannez, the Chevalier de Mere and 
 M. Miton were among the best known and most fashionable 
 persons. His father’s death put him in possession of a fair 
 fortune, which he used freely, not at all viciously, but with no 
 renunciation of the pleasures of society. There is some evidence 
 of a proposal that he should marry the Due de Roannez’ sister, 
 and no doubt with such a scheme before him he wrote his cele¬ 
 brated “ Discours sur les Passions de 1 ’Amour.” This, however, 
 resulted only in the conversion of the duke and his sister, the 
 latter of whom for a time, the former for the whole of his life, 
 remained subject to the religious feelings then excited. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the autumn of 1654, whether after deliverance in a dan¬ 
 gerous accident, or from some hidden cause of which nothing 
 can now be even surmised, there came a second sudden conver¬ 
 sion from which there was no return. That hour wrought a 
 complete change in Pascal’s life ; austerity, self-denial, absolute 
 obedience to his spiritual director, boundless alms-giving suc¬ 
 ceeded to what at most had been a moderate and restrained use 
 of worldly pleasure, and he threw himself into the life, contro¬ 
 versy and interests of Port Royal, with all the passion of one 
 who was not only a new convert, but the champion of a society 
 into which those dearest to him had entered even more fully 
 than he. He became, for a time, one of the solitaries of Port 
 Royal before the close of that same year. 
 
 The Cistercian Abbey of Port Royal des Champs was situated 
 about eighteen miles from Paris. It had been founded early in 
 the thirteenth century, and would have faded away unremem¬ 
 bered but for the grandeur of its closing years. The rule of the 
 community had been greatly relaxed, but it w*as reformed with 
 extreme rigour by Jaqueline Arnauld, its young abbess, known 
 in religion as La Mere Angelique. The priest chosen as Direc¬ 
 tor of the community was Jean du Vergier de Hauranne, Abbe 
 de St. Cyran, a close friend of Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of 
 Ypres. They had together devoted themselves to the study of 
 Saint Augustine; and the “Augustinus,” the work to which Jansen 
 gave his whole life, was planned with the assistance of St. 
 Cyran. Certain propositions drawn from this work were after¬ 
 wards condemned, and the controversy which raged between the 
 two schools of the Jesuits and the Jansenists divided itself into 
 two parts, first, whether the propositions were heretical, and 
 secondly, whether as a fact they were contained in, or could 
 fairly be deduced from, Jansen’s book. The strife, which raged 
 with varying fortunes for many years, need not here detain us. 
 
 After the reform of Port Royal, and when the Society, how¬ 
 ever assailed and in danger, was at the height of its renown, the 
 whole establishment consisted of two convents, the mother house 
 of Port Royal des Champs, and one in Paris to which was at¬ 
 tached a school for girls. To Port Royal des Champs, as to a 
 spiritual centre, and to be under the guidance of the three great 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 directors, who in succession ruled the abbey, M. de St. Cyran, 
 M. Singlin, and M. de Saci, there came men and women, not 
 under monastic vows, but living for a time the monastic or even 
 the eremitical life. The women, for the most part, had rooms 
 in the convent, the men built rooms for themselves hard by, or 
 shared between them La Grange, a farm belonging to the abbey. 
 It need scarcely be said that in so strict a community the sexes 
 were wholly separate; a common worship, and the confidence of 
 the same confessor, together with similarity of views in religion, 
 were the ties which bound together the whole society. 
 
 When Pascal formally joined Port Royal, the Abbey and all 
 that was attached to it greatly needed aid from without. A 
 Bull in condemnation of Jansen had been gained from the Pope, 
 and a Formulary, minimising its effect as far as possible, was 
 drawn up by the General Assembly in France, which was ulti¬ 
 mately accepted by Port Royal itself. But if the Port Royalists 
 minimized the defeat, and, with great intellectual dexterity, 
 showed that the condemned propositions were not in precise 
 terms what they had held, and were not in Jansen’s book, their 
 adversaries exaggerated the victory. A confessor in Paris re¬ 
 fused absolution to a parishioner because he had a Jansenist 
 living in his house, and had sent his grand-daughter to schoo.. 
 at Port Royal. Antoine Arnauld, known ar Le Grand Arnauld, 
 brother of La Mere Ang^lique, himself in danger of condemna¬ 
 tion by the Sorbonne, drew up a statement of the case intended to 
 instruct the public on the points in dispute. On reading this to 
 the Port Royal solitaries before printing it, he saw that it would 
 not do, and turning to Pascal, who had then been a year under 
 M. Singlin’s direction, he suggested to him as a younger man 
 with a lighter pen to see what he could do. The next day 
 Pascal produced the first of the “ Provincial Letters,” or to give 
 it the correct title, “ A Letter written to a Provincial by one of 
 his friends.” In these Letters Pascal formed his true style, and 
 took rank at once among the great French writers. They con¬ 
 tributed largely to turn the scale of feeling against his adver¬ 
 saries ; they, and an occurrence in which he saw the visible 
 finger of God, saved Port Royal for a time. But the history of 
 the “Provincial Letters” must be read elsewhere, as must also in 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 its fulness the miracle of the Holy Thorn, on which a few words 
 are needed. 
 
 The “ Provincial Letters ” were in course of publication, but 
 M. Arnauld had been condemned by the Sorbonne just as the 
 first was issued, and his enemies said he was excommunicated, 
 which was not technically true ; he was in danger of arrest, and 
 was in hiding; the solitaries of Port Royal were almost all dis¬ 
 persed ; the schools were thinned of their pupils and on the 
 ,point of closing, the confessors were about to be withdrawn 
 and the nuns sent to various other convents, when the miracle 
 took place. Marguerite Perier, a child of ten years old, daughter 
 of Pascal’s elder sister, was one of the pupils at Port Royal in 
 Paris, not as yet dismissed to her home. She was tenderly nursed 
 by the nuns for an ulcer in the lachrymal gland, which had 
 destroyed the bones of the nose, and produced other horrors of 
 which there is no need to speak. A relic of the Saviour, one of the 
 thorns of his crown of mockery, which had been intrusted to the 
 nuns, was specially venerated during a service in its honour, and 
 as it would seem was passed from hand to hand in its reliquary. 
 When the turn of the scholars came, Sister Flavia, their mistress, 
 moved by a sudden impulse said, “ My child, pray for your eye,” 
 and touched the ulcer with the reliquary. The child was cured, 
 and the effect on the community was immediate. The remain¬ 
 ing solitaries were not dispersed, some of those who had gone 
 returned, the confessors were not removed, the school was not 
 closed, and Port Royal was respited. 
 
 The miracle was to Pascal at once a solemn matter of religion 
 acid a family occurrence ; he took henceforward as his cogni¬ 
 zance an eye encircled with a crown of thorns and the motto 
 Scio cui credidi , he jotted down various thoughts on the 
 miracle, and the manner in which as it seemed to him God had 
 by it given as by “ a voice of thunder ” his judgment in favour of 
 Port Royal, and he sketched a plan of a work against atheists 
 and unbelievers. In the year between the spring of 1657, and 
 that of 1658, the last year of his good health, if that can be 
 called good which was at best but feeble, he indicated the plan, 
 and wrote the most finished paragraphs of his intended work. 
 The detached thoughts which make up the bulk of it were 
 
xn 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 scribbled, as they occurred to him during the last four years of 
 his life, on scraps of paper, or on the margin of what he had 
 already written, often when he was quite incapable of sustained 
 employment. Many were dictated, some to friends, and some 
 to a servant who constantly attended him in his illness. 
 
 Towards the end of his life he was obliged to move into Paris 
 again, where he was carefully nursed by his sister Madame 
 Perier, to whose house he was moved at the last, where he 
 died on August 9th, 1662, at the age of thirty-nine, having spent 
 his last years in an ecstasy of self-denial, of charity, and of 
 aspiration after God. 
 
 Not for six years after his death were his family and friends 
 able to consider in what form his unfinished work should be 
 given to the world. Then Port Royal had a breathing space, 
 what was known as the Peace of the Church was established by 
 Clement IX., and it was considered that the time had come to 
 set in order these precious fragments. The duty of giving an 
 author’s works to the world as he left them was little under¬ 
 stood in those days, and the Due de Roannez even suggested 
 that Pascal’s whole work should be re-written on the lines he 
 had laid down. Some editing was, on all hands, allowed to be 
 needful; thus the arrangement of chapters, and the fragments 
 to be included in chapters, were matter for fair discussion. But 
 the committee of editors went further, and even when the text 
 had been settled by them, it had to undergo a further censorship 
 by various theologians. Finally, in January, 1670, the “ Pensdes ” 
 appeared as a small duodecimo, with a preface by the Perier 
 family, and no mention of Port Royal in the volume. 
 
 For a full account of this and other editions, the reader must 
 be referred to the preface to M. Molinier’s edition, Paris, 1S77- 
 1879, and to that of M. Faugere, Paris, 1844. 
 
 M. Victor Cousin was the first to draw attention to the need 
 of a new edition of Pascal in 1842. He showed that great 
 liberties had been taken with and suppressions made in the 
 text, and the labour to which he invited was first undertaken by 
 M. Prosper Faugere. M. Havet adopting his text departed 
 from his arrangement, reverted in great measure to that of the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xm 
 
 old editors, and accompanied the whole by an excellent com¬ 
 mentary and notes, 2nd edition, Paris, 1866. M. Molinier has 
 again consulted the MSS. word for word, and while in a degree 
 following M. Faugere’s arrangement has yet been guided by his 
 own skill and judgment. It must always be remembered that 
 each editor must necessarily follow his own judgment in regard 
 to the position he should give to fragments not placed by the 
 writer. But provided that an editor makes no changes merely 
 for the sake of change and that he loyally enters into the spirit of 
 his predecessors, each new comer, till the arrangement is finally 
 fixed, has a great advantage. Such an editor is M. Molinier, 
 and in his arrangement the text of Pascal would seem to be 
 mainly if not wholly fixed; so that for the first time we have 
 not only Pascal’s “ Thoughts,” but we have them approximately 
 arranged as he designed to present them to his readers. 
 
 The course of an English translator is clear ; his responsibi¬ 
 lity is confined to deciding which text to follow, he has no right 
 to make one for himself. In the present edition, therefore, 
 M. Molinier’s text and arrangement are scrupulously followed 
 except in two places. In regard to one, M. Molinier has him¬ 
 self adopted a different reading in his notes made after the text 
 was printed, the second is an obvious misprint. Pascal’s “ Pro¬ 
 fession of Faith,” or “Amulet,” is transferred from the place it 
 occupies in M. Molinier’s edition to serve as an introduction to 
 the work, striking as it does the key-note to the “ Thoughts.” 
 
 Pascal’s quotations from the Bible were made of course from 
 the Vulgate, but very often indeed from memory, and incorrectly, 
 while he often gave the substance alone of the passage he used. 
 No one version of the Bible therefore has been used exclusively, 
 but the Authorised Version and the Douai or Rheims versions 
 have been used as each in turn most nearly afforded the equiva¬ 
 lent of the quotations made by Pascal. 
 
 The notes are mainly based on those of MM. Faugere, Havet, 
 and Molinier. 
 

GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 X 
 
PASCAL’S PROFESSION OF FAITH. 
 
 f 
 
 This year of Grace 1654, 
 
 Monday, November 23 r .?, 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 vestnim. 
 
 Thy God shall be my God. 
 
 Forgetfulness of the world and of all save God; 
 
 He can be found only in the ways taught 
 . in the Gospel. 
 
 Greatness of the human soul. 
 
 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, 
 but I have known thee. 
 
 Joy, j°y» joy,tears of joy. 
 
 I have separated myself from him. 
 
 Dereliquerunt nie fontem aquce vivce. 
 
 My God, why hast thou forsaken me ? . . . 
 
 That I be not separated from thee eternally. 
 
 This is life eternal: That they might know thee 
 the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ, 
 
 Jesus Christ, 
 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 I have separated myself from him ; I have fled, renounced, crucified him. 
 May I never be separated from him. 
 
 He maintains himself in me only in the ways taught 
 in the Gospel. 
 
 Renunciation total and sweet. 
 
 etc. 
 
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 Dens absconditns; 
 and if indeed it aims equally at establishing these two points, 
 that God has set in the Church evident notes to enable those 
 who seek him in sincerity to recognise him, and that he has 
 nevertheless so concealed them that he can only be perceived by 
 those who seek him with their whole hearts ; what advantages 
 it them, when, in their professed neglect of the search after truth, 
 they declare that nothing reveals it to them? For the very 
 obscurity in which they are, and for which they blame th.c 
 Church, does but establish one of the points which she rAhin- 
 tains, without affecting the other, and far from destroying, 
 establishes her doctrine. 
 
 In order to assail it they ought to urge that they have sought 
 everywhere with all their strength, and even in that which 
 the Church proposes for their instruction, but without avail. 
 Did they thus speak, they would indeed assail one of her claims. 
 But I hope here to show that no rational person can thus speak, 
 and I am even bold to say that no one has ever done so. We 
 know v/ell enough how men of this temper behave. They believe 
 they have made great efforts for their instruction, when they have 
 
4 
 
 GENERAL EVER OD UCTION 
 
 spent a few hours in reading some book of Scripture, and have 
 talked with some Ecclesiastic on the truths of the faith. Where¬ 
 upon they boast that they have in vain consulted books and men. 
 But indeed I will tell them what I have often said, that such 
 avrelessness is intolerable. We are not here dealing with the 
 light interest of a stranger, that we should thus treat it; but 
 vrith that which concerns ourselves and our all. 
 
 The immortality of the soul is a matter of so great moment 
 to us, it touches us so deeply, that we must have lost all feeling 
 if we are careless of the truth about it. Our every action and 
 our every thought must take such different courses, according as 
 there are or are not eternal blessings for which to hope, that it is 
 impossible to take a single step with sense or judgment, save 
 in view of that point which ought to be our end and aim. 
 
 Thus our first interest and our first duty is to gain light on 
 this subject, whereon our whole conduct depends. Therefore 
 acnong unbelievers, I make a vast difference between those who 
 labour with all their power to gain instruction, and those who 
 live without taking trouble or thought for it. 
 
 I can have nothing but compassion for all who sincerely 
 lament their doubt, who look upon it as the worst of evils, and 
 who, sparing no pains to escape it, find in that endeavour their 
 principal and most serious occupation. 
 
 But as for those who pass their life without thought of the 
 ultimate goal of life, who, solely because they do not find 
 within themselves the light of conviction, neglect to seek it 
 elsewhere and to examine thoroughly whether the opinion in 
 question be among those which are popularly received with 
 credulous simplicity, or among those which, although in them¬ 
 selves obscure, have yet a solid and indestructible basis,—of 
 those, I say, my thoughts are very different. 
 
 This neglect of a matter in which themselves are concerned, 
 their eternity, and their all, makes me angry rather than compas¬ 
 sionate; it astonishes and terrifies me, it is to me something 
 monstrous. I do not say this out of the pious zeal of a spiritual 
 devotion. I mean on the contrary that such a feeling should spring 
 from principles of human interest and self-love ; and for this we 
 need see no more than what is seen by the least enlightened persons. 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 We need no great elevation of soul to understand that here 
 is no true and solid satisfaction, that all our pleasures are 
 but vanity, our evils infinite, and lastly that death, which 
 threatens us every moment, must infallibly and within a few 
 years place us in the dread alternative of being for ever either 
 annihilated or wretched. 
 
 Nothing is more real than this, nothing more terrible. Brave 
 it out as we may, that is yet the end which awaits the fairest 
 life in the world. Let us reflect on this, and then say if it be not 
 certain that there is no good in this life save in the hope of 
 another, that we are happy only in proportion as we approach it, 
 and that as there is no more sorrow for those who have an entire 
 assurance of eternity, so there is no happiness for those who 
 have not a ray of its light. 
 
 Assuredly then it is a great evil thus to be in doubt, but it is at 
 least an indispensable duty to seek when we are in such doubt ; 
 he therefore who doubts and yet seeks not is at once thoroughly 
 unhappy and thoroughly unfair. And if at the same time he be 
 easy and content, profess to be so, and in fact pride himself 
 thereon ; if even it be this very condition of doubt which forms 
 the subject of his joy and boasting, I have no terms in which 
 to describe a creature so extravagant. 
 
 Whence come such feelings ? What delight can we find in 
 the expectation of nothing but unavailing misery ? What cause of 
 boasting that we are in impenetrable darkness ? How can such 
 an argument as the following occur to a reasoning man ? 
 
 “ I know not who has sent me into the world, nor what the world 
 is, nor what I myself am ; I am terribly ignorant of every thing ; 
 I know not what my body is, nor my senses, nor my soul, nor 
 even that part of me which thinks what I say, which reflects on 
 all and on itself, yet is as ignorant of itself as of all beside. I 
 see those dreadful spaces of the universe which close me in, and 
 I find myself fixed in one corner of this vast expanse, without 
 knowing why I am set in this place rather than elsewhere, nor 
 why this moment of time given me for life is assigned to this 
 point rather than another of the whole Eternity which was before 
 me or which shall be after me. I see nothing but infinities 
 on every side, which close me round as an atom, and as a shadow 
 
6 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which endures but for an instant and returns no more. I know 
 only that I must shortly die, but what I know the least is this 
 very death which I cannot avoid. 
 
 “ As I know not whence I come, so I know not whither I go; 
 only this I know, that on departing this world, I shall either fall 
 for ever into nothingness, or into the hands of an offended God, 
 without knowing which of these two conditions shall eternally be 
 my lot. Such is my state, full of weakness and uncertainty; 
 from all which I conclude that I ought to pass all the days of 
 my life without thought of searching for what must happen to 
 me. Perhaps I might find some ray of light in my doubts, but I 
 will not take the trouble, nor stir a foot to seek it; and after 
 treating with scorn those who are troubled with this care, I will 
 go without foresight and without fear to make trial of the grand 
 event, and allow myself to be led softly on to death, uncertain 
 of the eternity of my future condition.” 
 
 Who would wish to have for his friend a man who should thus 
 speak ; who would choose him rather than another for advice in 
 business ; who would turn to him in sorrow ? And indeed to what 
 use in life could we put him ? 
 
 In truth, it is the glory of Religion to have for enemies men 
 so unreasoning, whose opposition is so little dangerous to her, 
 that it the rather serves to establish her truths. For the 
 Christian faith goes mainly to the establishment of these two 
 points, the corruption of nature, and the Redemption by Jesus 
 Christ. Now I maintain that if these men serve not to demon¬ 
 strate the truth of Redemption by the holiness of their morals, 
 they at least serve admirably to show the corruption of nature 
 by sentiments so unnatural. 
 
 Nothing is so important to man as his condition,nothing so for¬ 
 midable to him as eternity ; and thus it is not natural there should 
 be men indifferent to the loss of their being, and to the peril of 
 an endless woe. They are quite other men in regard to all 
 else; they fear the veriest trifles, they foresee them, they feel 
 them ; and the very man who spends so many days and nights 
 in rage and despair for the loss of office or for some imaginary 
 insult to his honour, is the same who, without disquiet and with¬ 
 out emotion, knows that he must lose all by death. It is a mon- 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 strous thing to see in one and the same heart and at the same 
 time this sensibility to the meanest, and this strange insen¬ 
 sibility to the greatest matters. It is an incomprehensible 
 spell, a supernatural drowsiness, which denotes as its cause an 
 all powerful force. 
 
 There must be a strange revolution in the nature of man, 
 before he can glory at being in a state to which it seems in¬ 
 credible that any should attain. Experience however has shown 
 me a large number of such men, a surprising fact did we not 
 know that the greater part of those who meddle with the matter 
 are not as a fact what they declare themselves. They are 
 people who have been told that the manners of good society 
 consist in such daring. This they call shaking off the yoke, this 
 they try to imitate. Yet it would not be difficult to convince them 
 how much they deceive themselves in thus seeking esteem. Not 
 so is it acquired, even among those men of the world who judge 
 wisely, and who know that the only way of worldly success is 
 to show ourselves honourable, faithful, of sound judgment, and 
 capable of useful service to a friend ; because by nature men 
 love only what may prove useful to them. Now in what way does 
 it advantage us to hear a man say he has at last shaken off the 
 yoke, that he does not believe there is a God who watches his 
 actions, that he considers himself the sole master of his conduct 
 and accountable for it only to himself. Does he think that thus 
 he has brought us to have henceforward confidence in him, and to 
 look to him for comfort, counsel and succour in every need of life ? 
 Do they think to delight us when they declare that they hold 
 our soul to be but a little wind or smoke, nay, when they tell 
 us so in a tone of proud content ? Is this a thing to assert 
 gaily, and not rather to say sadly as the saddest thing in all 
 the world ? 
 
 Did they think on it seriously, they would see that this is so 
 great a mistake, so contrary to good sense, so opposed to 
 honourable conduct, so remote in every respect from that 
 good breeding at which they aim, that they would choose 
 rather to restore than to corrupt those who might have any 
 inclination to follow them. And indeed if they are obliged to 
 give an account of their opinions, and of the reasons they have 
 
8 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for doubts about Religion, they will say things so weak and base, 
 as rather to persuade the contrary. It was once happily said 
 to such an one, “ If you continue to talk thus you will really make 
 me a Christian.” And the speaker was right, for who would not 
 be horrified at entertaining opinions in which he would have 
 such despicable persons as his associates ! 
 
 Thus those who only feign these opinions would be very 
 unhappy were they to put force on their natural disposition in 
 order to make themselves the most inconsequent of men. If, in 
 their inmost hearts, they are troubled at their lack of light, let them 
 not dissemble : the avowal will bring no shame; the only shame is 
 to be shameless. Nothing betrays so much weakness of mind as 
 not to apprehend the misfortune of a man without God, nothing 
 is so sure a token of an evil disposition of heart as not to desire 
 the truth of eternal promises, nothing is more cowardly than to 
 fight against God. Let them therefore leave these impieties to 
 persons who are so ill-bred as to be really capable of them, 
 let them at least be men of honour if they cannot be Chris¬ 
 tians, and lastly, let them recognise that there are but two 
 classes of men who can be called reasonable ; those who serve 
 God with their whole heart because they know him, or those who 
 seek him with their whole heart because they know him not. 
 
 But as for those who live without knowing him and without 
 seeking him, they judge themselves to deserve their own care so 
 little, that they are not worthy the care of others, and it needs 
 all the charity of the Religion they despise, not to despise 
 them so utterly as to abandon them to their madness. But since 
 this Religion obliges us to look on them, while they are in this 
 life, as always capable of illuminating grace, and to believe that 
 in a short while they may be more full of faith than ourselves, 
 while we on the other hand may fall into the blindness which 
 now is theirs, we ought to do for them what we would they should 
 do for us were we in their place, and to entreat them to take pity 
 on themselves and advance at least a few steps, if perchance they 
 may find the light. Let them give to reading these words a few 
 of the hours which otherwise they spend so unprofitably: with 
 whatever aversion they set about it they may perhaps gain 
 something; at least they cannot be great losers. But if any bring 
 
GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 to the task perfect sincerity and a true desire to meet with truth, 
 I despair not of their satisfaction, nor of their being convinced of 
 so divine a Religion by the proofs which I have here gathered 
 up, and have set forth in somewhat the following order . . . 
 
 Before entering upon the proofs of the Christian Religion, I 
 find it necessary to set forth the unfairness of men who live indiffe¬ 
 rent to the search for truth in a matter which is so important to 
 them, and which touches them so nearly. 
 
 Among all their errors this doubtless is the one which most 
 proves them to be fools and blind, and in which it is most easy 
 to confound them by the first gleam of common sense, and by our 
 natural feelings. 
 
 For it is not to be doubted that this life endures but for an 
 instant, that the state of death is eternal, whatever may be its 
 nature, and that thus all our actions and all our thoughts must take 
 such different courses according to the state of that eternity, as to 
 render it impossible to take a single step with sense and judgment, 
 save in view of that point which ought to be our end and aim. 
 
 Nothing is more clear than this, and therefore by all principles 
 of reason the conduct of men is most unreasonable if they do 
 not alter their course. Hence we may judge concerning those 
 who live without thinking of the ultimate goal of life, who 
 allow themselves to be guided by their inclinations and their plea¬ 
 sures without thought or disquiet, and, as if they could annihilate 
 eternity by turning their minds from it, consider only how they 
 may make themselves happy for the moment. 
 
 Yet this eternity exists ; and death the gate of eternity, which 
 threatens them every hour, must in a short while infallibly reduce 
 them to the dread necessity of being through eternity either 
 nothing or miserable, without knowing which of these eternities 
 is for ever prepared for them. 
 
 This is a doubt which has terrible consequences. They 
 are in danger of an eternity of misery, and thereupon, as if the 
 matter were not worth the trouble, they care not to examine 
 whether this is one of those opinions which men in general 
 receive with a too credulous facility, or among those which, them¬ 
 selves obscure, have yet a solid though concealed foundation. 
 Thus they know not whether the matter be true or false, nor if 
 
10 
 
 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 
 
 the proofs be strong or weak. They have them before their 
 eyes, they refuse to look at them, and in that ignorance they 
 choose to do all that will bring them into this misfortune if it 
 exist, to wait for death to verify it, and to be in the mean¬ 
 time thoroughly satisfied with their state, openly avowing and 
 even making boast of it. Can we think seriously on the im¬ 
 portance of this matter without being revolted at conduct so 
 extravagant ? 
 
 Such rest in ignorance is a monstrous thing, and they who 
 live in it ought to be made aware of its extravagance and 
 stupidity, by having it revealed to them, that they may be con¬ 
 founded by the sight of their own folly. For this is how men 
 reason when they choose to live ignorant of what they are and 
 do not seek to be enlightened. “ I know not,” say they . . . 
 
NOTES 
 
 FOR THE GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 
 
 To doubt is then a misfortune, but to seek when in doubt is an indis¬ 
 pensable duty. So he who doubts and seeks not is at once unfortunate 
 and unfair. If at the same time lie 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 that he dare, in his weakness and agony, 
 face an almighty and eternal God ? 
 
 Were I in that state I should be glad if any one would pity my folly, 
 and would have the goodness to deliver me in despite of myself! 
 
 Yet it is certain that man has so fallen from nature that there is in his 
 heart a seed of joy in that very fact. 
 
 A man in a dungeon, -who knows not whether his doom is fixed, who 
 has but one hour to learn it, and this hour enough, should he know that 
 it is fixed, to obtain its repeal, would act against nature did he employ 
 that hour, not in learning his sentence, but in playing piquet. 
 
 So it is against nature that man, etc. It is to weight the hand of 
 God. 
 
12 
 
 NOTES . 
 
 Thus not the zeal alone of those who seek him proves God, but the 
 blindness of those who seek him not. 
 
 We run carelessly to the precipice after having veiled our eyes to 
 hinder us from seeing it. 
 
 Between us and hell or heaven, there is nought but life, the frailest 
 thing in all the world. 
 
 If it be a supernatural blindness to live without seeking to know 
 what we are, it is a terrible blindness to live ill while believing in 
 God. 
 
 The sensibility of man to trifles, and his insensibility to great things, 
 is the mark of a strange inversion, j 
 
 This shows that there is nothing to say to them, not that we despise 
 them, but because they have no common sense : God must touch them. 
 
 We must pity both parties, but for the one we must feel the pity 
 born of tenderness, and for the other the pity born of contempt. 
 
 We must indeed be of that religion which man despises that we may 
 not despise men. 
 
 People of that kind are academicians and scholars, and that is the 
 worst kind of men that I know. 
 
 I do not gather that by system, but by the way in which the heart of 
 man is made. 
 
 To reproach Miton, that he is not troubled when God will reproach 
 him. 
 
 Is this a thing to say with joy ? It is a thing we ought then to say 
 with sadness. 
 
 Nothing is so important as this, yet we neglect this only. 
 
 This is all that a man could do were he assured of the falsehood of 
 that news, and even then he ought not to be joyful, but downcast. 
 
 • • 
 
 Suppose an heir finds the title-deeds of his house. Will he say. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 13 
 
 “ Perhaps they are forgeries? ” and neglect to examine them? 
 
 We must not say that this is a mark of reason. 
 
 To be so insensible as to despise interesting things, and to become 
 insensible to the point which most interests us. 
 
 What then shall we conclude of all these obscurities, if not our own 
 unworthiness ? 
 

 
 
 
 
THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 
 
 OR 
 
 THAT NATURE IS NATURALLY CORRUPT 
 
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 Mpntaigne ; 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 foolish things by chance and weakness is an 
 ordinary evil, but to say them designedly is unbearable, and to 
 say such as that . . . 
 
 Montaigne. —Montaigne’s defects are great. Lewd expres¬ 
 sions. This is bad, whatever Mademoiselle de Gournay may 
 say. He is credulous, people without eyes; ignorant, squaring 
 the circle, a greater world. His opinions on suicide and on 
 death. He suggests a carelessness about salvation, without fear 
 and without repentance. Since his book was not written with a 
 religious intent, it was not his duty to speak of religion ; but 
 it is always a duty not to turn men from it. We may excuse 
 his somewhat lax and licentious opinions on some relations of 
 life, but not his thoroughly pagan opinions on death, for a man 
 must give over piety altogether, if he does not at least wish 
 to die like a Christian. Now through the whole of his book he 
 looks forward to nothing but a soft and indolent death. 
 
 What good there is in Montaigne can only have been 
 
 c 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 18 
 
 acquired with difficulty. What is evil in him, I mean apart 
 from his morality, could have been corrected in a moment, if 
 any one had told him he was too prolix and too egoistical. 
 
 Not in Montaigne, but in myself, I find all that I see in him. 
 
 Let no one say I have said nothing new, the disposition of 
 my matter is new. In playing tennis, two men play with the 
 same ball, but one places it better. 
 
 It might as truly be said that my words have been used before. 
 And if the same thoughts in a different arrangement do not form 
 a different discourse, so neither do the same words in a different 
 arrangement form different thoughts. 
 
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 re¬ 
 searches 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 her full and exalted majesty, and 
 turn his eyes from the low objects which hem him round ; 
 let him observe that brilliant light set like an eternal lamp to 
 illumine the universe, let the earth appear to him a point in 
 comparison with the vast circle described by that sun, and 
 let him see with amazement that even this vast circle is itself 
 but a fine point in regard to that described by the stars revolving 
 in the firmament. If our view' be arrested there, let imagination 
 pass beyond, and it will sooner exhaust the power of thinking 
 than nature that of giving scope for thought. The whole visible 
 world is but an imperceptible speck in the ample bosom of 
 nature. No idea approaches it. We may swell our conceptions 
 beyond all imaginable space, yet bring forth only atoms in 
 comparison with the reality of things. It is an infinite sphere, 
 the centre of which is every where, the circumference no where. 
 It is, in short, the greatest sensible mark of the almighty pow r er 
 of God, that imagination loses itself in that thought. 
 
 Then, returning to himself, let man consider his own 
 being compared with all that is ; let him regard himself as 
 
20 
 
 MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 wandering in this remote province of nature; and from the little 
 dungeon in which he finds himself lodged, I mean the uni¬ 
 verse, let him learn to set a true value on the earth, on its 
 kingdoms, its cities, and on himself. 
 
 What is a man in the infinite? But to show him another 
 prodigy no less astonishing, let him examine the most delicate 
 things he knows. Let him take a mite which in its minute body 
 presents him with parts incomparably more minute ; limbs with 
 their joints, veins in the limbs, blood in the veins, humours in 
 the blood, drops in the humours, vapours in the drops ; let him, 
 again dividing these last, exhaust his power of thought; let 
 the last point at which he arrives be that of which we speak, 
 and he will perhaps think that here is the extremest diminutive 
 in nature. Then I will open before him therein a new abyss. I 
 will paint for him not only the visible universe, but all that he can 
 conceive of nature’s immensity in the enclosure of this diminished 
 atom. Let him therein see an infinity of universes of which each 
 has its firmament, its planets, its earth, in the same proportion 
 as in the visible world ; in each earth animals, and at the last the 
 mites, in which he will come upon all that was in the first, and 
 still find in these others the same without end and without 
 cessation ; let him lose himself in wonders as astonishing in 
 their minuteness as the others in their immensity; for who will 
 not be amazed at seeing that our body, which before was imper¬ 
 ceptible in the universe, itself imperceptible in the bosom of the 
 whole, is now a colossus, a world, a whole, in regard to the 
 nothingness to which we cannot attain. 
 
 Whoso takes this survey of himself will be terrified at the 
 thought that he is upheld in the material being, given him by 
 nature, between these two abysses of the infinite and nothing, 
 he will tremble at the sight of these marvels; and I think that as 
 his curiosity changes into wonder, he will be more disposed to 
 contemplate them in silence than to search into them with 
 presumption. 
 
 For after all what is man in nature? A nothing in regard to 
 the infinite, a whole in regard to nothing, a mean between 
 nothing and the whole ; infinitely removed from understanding 
 either extreme. The end of things and their beginnings are in- 
 
MAX'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 21 
 
 vincibly hidden from him in impenetrable secrecy, he is equally 
 incapable of seeing the nothing whence he was taken, and the 
 infinite in which he is engulfed. 
 
 What shall he do then, but discern somewhat of the middle 
 of things in an eternal despair of knowing either their beginning 
 or their end ? All things arise from nothing, and tend towards 
 the infinite. Who can follow their marvellous course? The 
 author of these wonders can understand them, and none but he. 
 
 Of these two infinites in nature, the infinitely great and the 
 infinitely little, man can more easily conceive the great. 
 
 Because they have not considered these infinities, men have 
 rashly plunged into the research of nature, as though they bore 
 some proportion to her. 
 
 It is strange that they have wished to understand the origin 
 of all that is, and thence to attain to the knowledge of the 
 whole, with a presumption as infinite as their object. For 
 there is no doubt that such a design cannot be formed without 
 presumption or without a capacity as infinite as nature. 
 
 If we are well informed, we understand that nature having 
 graven her own image and that of her author on all things, they 
 are almost all partakers of her double infinity. Thus we see 
 that all the sciences are infinite in the extent of their researches, 
 for none can doubt that geometry, for instance, has an infinite 
 infinity of problems to propose. They are also infinite in the 
 number and in the nicety of their premisses, for it is evident 
 that those which are finally proposed are not self-supporting, 
 but are based on others, which again having others as their 
 support have no finality. 
 
 But we make some apparently final to the reason, just as in 
 regard to material things we call that an indivisible point beyond 
 which our senses can no longer perceive any thing, though by its 
 nature this also is infinitely divisible. 
 
 Of these two scientific infinities, that of greatness is the most 
 obvious to the senses, and therefore a few persons have made 
 pretensions to universal knowledge. “ I will discourse of the 
 all,” said Democritus. 
 
 But beyond the fact that it is a small thing to speak of it 
 simply, without proving and knowing, it is nevertheless impos- 
 
no 
 
 MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 sible to do so, the infinite multitude of things being so hidden, 
 that all we can express by word or thought is but an invisible 
 trace of them. Hence it is plain how foolish, vain, and ignorant 
 is that title of some books : De onini scibili. 
 
 But the infinitely little is far less evident. Philosophers have 
 much more frequently asserted they have attained it, yet in that 
 very point they have all stumbled. This has given occasion to 
 such common titles as The Origin of Creation, The Principles of 
 Philosophy , and the like, as presumptuous in fact though not in 
 appearance as that dazzling one, De omni scibili. 
 
 We naturally think that we can more easily reach the centre 
 of things than embrace their circumference. The visible 
 bulk of the world visibly exceeds us, but as we exceed little 
 things, we think ourselves more capable of possessing them. 
 Yet we need no less capacity to attain the nothing than the 
 whole. Infinite capacity is needed for both, and it seems to me 
 that whoever shall have understood the ultimate principles of 
 existence might also attain to the knowledge of the infinite. 
 The one depends on the other, and one leads to the other. 
 Extremes meet and reunite by virtue of their distance, to find 
 each other in God, and in God alone. 
 
 Let us then know our limits ; we are something, but we are 
 not all. What existence we have conceals from us the knowledge 
 of first principles which spring from the nothing, while the petti¬ 
 ness of that existence hides from us the sight of the infinite. 
 
 In the order of intelligible things our intelligence holds the 
 same position as our body holds in the vast extent of nature. 
 
 Restricted in every way, this middle state between two 
 extremes is common to all our weaknesses. 
 
 Our senses can perceive no extreme. Too much noise deafens 
 us, excess of light blinds us, too great distance or nearness equally 
 interfere with our vision, prolixity or brevity equally obscure a 
 discourse, too much truth overwhelms us. I know even those 
 who cannot understand that if four be taken from nothing 
 nothing remains. First principles are too plain for us, super¬ 
 fluous pleasure troubles us. Too many concords are unpleasing 
 in music, and too many benefits annoy, we wish to have where¬ 
 withal to overpay our debt. Beneficia eo usque lecta sunt dum 
 
MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 *3 
 
 videntur exsolvi posse j ubi multiim antevenere , pro gratia 
 odium redditur. 
 
 We feel neither extreme heat nor extreme cold. Qualities in 
 excess are inimical to us and not apparent to the senses, we 
 do not feel but are passive under them. The weakness of youth 
 and age equally hinder the mind, as also too much and too 
 little teaching. . . 
 
 In a word, all extremes are for us as though they were not; 
 and we are not, in regard to them : they escape us, or we them. 
 
 This is our true state ; this is what renders us incapable 
 both of certain knowledge and of absolute ignorance. We sail 
 on a vast expanse, ever uncertain, ever drifting, hurried from 
 one to the other goal. If we think to attach ourselves firmly 
 to any point, it totters and fails us ; if we follow, it eludes our 
 grasp, and flies us, vanishing for ever. Nothing stays for us. 
 This is our natural condition, yet always the most contrary 
 to our inclination ; we burn with desire to find a steadfast place 
 and an ultimate fixed basis whereon we may build a tower to 
 reach the infinite. But our whole foundation breaks up, and 
 earth opens to the abysses. 
 
 We may not then look for certainty or stability. Our reason 
 is always deceived by changing shows, nothing can fix the 
 finite between the two infinites, which at once enclose and fly 
 from it. 
 
 If this be once well understood I think that we shall rest, each 
 in the state wherein nature has placed him. This element which 
 falls to us as our lot being always distant from either extreme, 
 it matters not that a man should have a trifle more knowledge 
 of the universe. If he has it, he but begins a little higher. He is 
 always infinitely distant from the end, and the duration of our 
 life is infinitely removed from eternity, even if it last ten years 
 longer. 
 
 In regard to these infinites all finites are equal, and I see 
 not why we should fix our imagination on one more than on 
 another. The only comparison which we can make of ourselves 
 to the finite troubles us. 
 
 Were man to begin with the study of himself, he would see 
 how incapable he is of proceeding further. How can a part know 
 
24 
 
 MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 the whole ? But he may perhaps aspire to know at least the parts 
 with which he has proportionate relation. But the parts of the 
 world are so linked and related, that I think it impossible to 
 know one without another, or without the whole. 
 
 Man, for instance, is related to all that he knows. He needs 
 place wherein to abide, time through which to exist, motion 
 in order to live ; he needs constituent elements, warmth and food 
 to nourish him, air to breathe. He sees light, he feels bodies, 
 he contracts an alliance with all that is. 
 
 To know man then it is necessary to understand how it 
 comes that he needs air to breathe, and to know the air we must 
 understand how it has relation to the life of man, etc. 
 
 Flame cannot exist without air, therefore to know one, we must 
 know the other. 
 
 All that exists then is both cause and effect, dependent and 
 supporting, mediate and immediate, and all is held together by 
 a natural though imperceptible bond, which unites things most 
 distant and most different. I hold it impossible to know the parts 
 without knowing the whole, or to know the whole without 
 knowing the parts in detail. 
 
 I hold it impossible to know one alone without all the others, 
 that is to say impossible purely and absolutely. 
 
 The eternity of things in themselves or in God must also 
 confound our brief duration. The fixed and constant immobility 
 of Nature in comparison with the continual changes which 
 take place in us must have the same effect. 
 
 And what completes our inability to know things is that they 
 are in their essence simple, whereas we are composed of two 
 opposite natures differing in kind, soul and body. For it is impos¬ 
 sible that our reasoning part should be other than spiritual ; and 
 should any allege that we are simply material, this would far 
 more exclude us from the knowledge of things, since it is 
 an inconceivable paradox to affirm that matter can know 
 itself, and it is not possible for us to know how it should know 
 itself. 
 
 So, were we simply material, we could know nothing whatever, 
 and if we are composed of spirit and matter we cannot perfectly 
 know what is simple, whether it be spiritual or material. For 
 
MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 25 
 
 how should we know matter distinctly, since our being, which 
 acts on this knowledge, is partly spiritual, and how should we 
 know spiritual substances clearly since we have a body which 
 weights us, and drags us down to earth. 
 
 Moreover what completes our inability is the simplicity of 
 things compared with our double and complex nature. To 
 dispute this point were an invincible absurdity, for it is as absurd 
 as impious to deny that man is composed of two parts, differing 
 in their nature, soul and body. This renders us unable to 
 know all things ; for if this complexity be denied, and it be 
 asserted that we are entirely material, it is plain that matter 
 is incapable of knowing matter. Nothing is more impossible 
 than this. 
 
 Let us conceive then that this mixture of spirit and clay throws 
 us out of proportion. . . 
 
 Hence it comes that almost all philosophers have confounded 
 different ideas, and speak of material things in spiritual phrase, 
 and of spiritual things in material phrase. For they say boldly 
 that bodies have a tendency to fall, that they seek after their 
 centre, that they fly from destruction, that they fear a void, that 
 they have inclinations, sympathies, antipathies ; and all of these 
 are spiritual qualities. Again, in speaking of spirits, they con¬ 
 ceive of them as in a given spot, or as moving from place to 
 place ; qualities which belong to matter alone. 
 
 Instead of receiving the ideas of these things simply, we colour 
 them with our own qualities, and stamp with our complex being 
 all the simple things which we contemplate. 
 
 Who would not think, when we declare that all that is con¬ 
 sists of mind and matter, that we really understood this com¬ 
 bination? Yet it is the one thing we least understand. Man is 
 to himself the most marvellous object in Nature, for he cannot 
 conceive what matter is, still less what is mind, and less than all 
 how a material body should be united to a mind. This is the 
 crown of all his difficulties, yet it is his very being : Modtis quo 
 corporibus adhceret spiritus comprehendi ab homine non potest 
 et hoc tamen homo est. 
 
 These are some of the causes which lender man so totally 
 unable to know nature. For nature has a twofold infinity, he 
 
26 
 
 MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 is finite and limited. Nature is permanent, and continues in one 
 stay ; he is fleeting and mortal. All things fail and change each 
 instant, he sees them only as they pass, they have their beginning 
 and end, he conceives neither the one nor the other. They are 
 simple, he is composed of two different natures. And to com¬ 
 plete the proof of our weakness, I will finish by this reflection 
 on our natural condition. In a word, to complete the proof of 
 our weakness, I will end with these two considerations. . . 
 
 The nature of man may be considered in two ways, one accord¬ 
 ing to its end, and then it is great and incomparable ; the other 
 according to popular opinion, as we judge of the nature of a 
 horse or a dog, by popular opinion which discerns in it the 
 power of speed, et animum arcendi; and then man is abject and 
 vile. These are the two ways which make us judge of it so dif¬ 
 ferently and which cause such disputes among philosophers. 
 
 For one denies the supposition of the other; one says ,He was 
 not born for such an end , for all his actions are repugnant to it; 
 the other says, He cannot gain his end when he commits base deeds. 
 
 Two things instruct man about his whole nature, instinct and 
 experience. 
 
 Inconstancy. —We think we are playing on ordinary organs 
 when we play upon man. Men are organs indeed, but fantastic, 
 changeable, and various, with pipes not arranged in due suc¬ 
 cession. Those who understand only how to play upon ordinary 
 organs make no harmonies on these. We should know where 
 are the . . . 
 
 Nature. —Nature has placed us so truly in the centre, that if 
 we alter one side of the balance we alter also the other. This 
 makes me believe that there is a mechanism in our brain, so ad¬ 
 justed, that who touches one touches also the contrary spring. 
 
 Lustravit lampadi terras. —The weather and my moods have 
 little in common. I have my foggy and my fine days within me, 
 whether my affairs go well or ill has little to do with the matter. 
 I sometimes strive against my luck, the glory of subduing it 
 makes me subdue it gaily, whereas I am sometimes wearied in 
 the midst of my good luck. 
 
MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 27 
 
 It is difficult to submit anything to the judgment of a second 
 person without prejudicing him by the way in which we submit it. 
 If we say, “ I think it beautiful, I think it obscure,” or the like, we 
 either draw the imagination to that opinion, or irritate it to form 
 the contrary. It is better to say nothing, so that the other may 
 judge according to what really is, that is to say, as it then is, and 
 according as the other circumstances which are not of our making 
 have placed it. We at least shall have added nothing of our 
 own, except that silence produces an effect, according to the turn 
 and the interpretation which the other is inclined to give it, or as 
 he may conjecture it, from gestures or countenance, or from the 
 tone of voice, if he be a physiognomist; so difficult is it not to oust 
 the judgment from its natural seat, or rather so rarely is it firm 
 and stable ! 
 
 The spirit of this sovereign judge of the w r orld is not so 
 independent but that if is liable to be troubled by the first 
 disturbance about him. The noise of a cannon is not needed to 
 break his train of thought, it need only be the creaking of a 
 weathercock or a pulley. Do not be astonished if at this moment 
 he argues incoherently, a fly is buzzing about his ears, and that 
 is enough to render him incapable of sound judgment. Would 
 you have him arrive at truth, drive away that creature which 
 holds his reason in check, and troubles that powerful intellect 
 which gives laws to towns and kingdoms. Here is a droll kind 
 of god ! O ridicolosissimo eroe ! 
 
 The power of flies, which win battles, hinder our soul from 
 action, devour our body. 
 
 When we are too young our judgment is at fault, so also when 
 we are too old. 
 
 If we take not thought enough, or too much, on any matter, 
 we are obstinate and infatuated. 
 
 He that considers his work so soon as it leaves his hands, is 
 prejudiced in its favour, he that delays his survey too long, 
 
 . cannot regain the spirit of it. 
 
 So with pictures seen from too near or too far; there is but one 
 
28 
 
 MAN’S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 precise point from which to look at them, all others are too near 
 or too far, too high or too low. Perspective determines that 
 precise point in the art of painting. But who shall determine 
 it in truth or morals ? 
 
 When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up 
 in the eternity before and after, the small space which I fill, or 
 even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces whereof 
 I know nothing, and which know nothing of me, I am terrified, 
 and wonder that I am here rather than there, for there is no 
 reason why here rather than there, or now rather than then. 
 Who has set me here ? By whose order and design have this 
 place and time been destined for me ?—Memoria hospitis unins 
 diei prcetereuntis. 
 
 It is not well to be too much at liberty. It is not well to have 
 all we want. 
 
 How many kingdoms know nothing of us ! 
 
 The eternal silence of these infinite spaces alarms me. 
 
 Nothing more astonishes me than to see that men are not 
 astonished at their own weakness. They act seriously, and 
 every one follows his own mode of life, not because it is, as a 
 fact, good to follow, being the custom, but as if each man knew 
 certainly where are reason and justice. They find themselves 
 constantly deceived, and by an amusing humility always imagine 
 that the fault is in themselves, and not in the art which all pro¬ 
 fess to understand. But it is well there are so many of this kind 
 of people in the world, who are not sceptics for the glory of 
 scepticism, to show that man is thoroughly capable of the most 
 extravagant opinions, because he is capable of believing that his 
 weakness is not natural and inevitable, but that, on the contrary, 
 his wisdom comes by nature. 
 
 Nothing fortifies scepticism more than that there are some 
 who are not sceptics. If all were so, they would be wrong. 
 
 Two infinites, a mean. If we read too quickly or too slowly, 
 we understand nothing. 
 
MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 29 
 
 Too much and too little wine. Give a man none, he cannot 
 find truth, give him too much, the same. 
 
 Chance gives thoughts, and chance takes them away ; there is 
 no art for keeping or gaining them. 
 
 A thought has escaped me. I would write it down. I write 
 instead, that it has escaped me. 
 
 In writing down my thought it now and then escapes me, but 
 this reminds me of my weakness, which I constantly forget. 
 This teaches me as much as my forgotten thought, for my whole 
 study is to know my nothingness. 
 
 Are men so strong, as to be insensible to all which affects 
 them ? Let us try them in the loss of goods or honour. Ah ! the 
 charm is worked. 
 
 To fear death out of danger, and not in danger, for we must 
 be men. 
 
 Sudden death is the only thing to fear, therefore confessors 
 live in the houses of the great. 
 
 We know_ourseIve& so-little, -that many think themselves near 
 deaUTwhen they are perfectly well, and many think themselves 
 well when they are near death, since they do not feel the fever 
 at hand, or the abscess about to form. 
 
 Why is my knowledge so restricted, or my height, or my life to 
 a hundred years rather than to a thousand ? What was nature’s 
 reason for giving me such length of days, and for choosing this i~ 
 number rather than another, in that infinity where there is no » 
 reason to choose one more than another, since none is preferable 
 to another ? 
 
 The nature of man is not always to go forward, it has its 
 advances and retreats. 
 
 Fever has its hot and cold fits, and the cold proves as well as 
 the hot how great is the force of the fever. 
 
33 
 
 MAN'S DISPR OPOR TION. 
 
 The inventions of men from age to age follow the same plan. 
 It is the same with the goodness and the wickedness of the world 
 in general. 
 
 Plerumque gratce principibus vices. 
 
 The strength of a man’s virtue must not be measured by his 
 occasional efforts, but by his ordinary life. 
 
 Those great spiritual efforts to which the soul sometimes 
 attains are things on which it takes no permanent hold. It 
 leaps to them, not as to a throne, for ever, but only for an 
 instant. 
 
 I do not'admire the excess of a virtue as of valour, unless I 
 see at the same time the excess of the opposite virtue, as 
 in Epaminondas, who had exceeding valour and exceeding 
 humanity, for otherwise we do not rise, but fall./ Grandeur is not 
 shown by being at one extremity, but in touching both at once, 
 and filling the whole space between. ! But perhaps this is only a 
 sudden motion of the soul from one to the other extreme, and in 
 fact it is always at one point only, as when a firebrand is whirled. 
 Be it so, but at least this marks the agility if not the magnitude 
 of the soul. 
 
 We do not remain virtuous by our own power, but by the 
 counterpoise of two opposite vices, we remain standing as be¬ 
 tween two contrary winds ; take away one of these vices, we fall 
 into the other. 
 
 When we would pursue the virtues to their extremes on either 
 side, vices present themselves, which insinuate themselves in¬ 
 sensibly there, in their insensible course towards the infinitely 
 great, so that we lose ourselves in vices, and no longer see virtues. 
 
 It is not shameful to man to yield to pain, and it is shameful 
 to yield to pleasure. This is not because pain comes from without 
 us, while we seek pleasure, for we may seek pain, and yield 
 to it willingly without this kind of baseness. How comes it then 
 that reason finds it glorious in us to yield under the assaults of 
 pain, and shameful to yield under the assaults of pleasure? 
 
MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 3i 
 
 It is because pain does not tempt and attract us. We our¬ 
 selves choose it voluntarily, and will that it have dominion over 
 us. We are thus masters of the situation, and so far man yields 
 to himself, but in pleasure man yields to pleasure. Now only 
 mastery and empire bring glory, and only slavery causes shame. 
 
 All things may prove fatal to us, even those made to serve us, 
 as in nature walls may kill us and stairs may kill us, if we 
 walk not aright. 
 
 The slightest movement affects all nature, the whole sea 
 changes because of a rock. Thus in grace, the most trifling 
 action has effect on everything by its consequences ; therefore 
 everything is important. 
 
 Provided we know each man’s ruling passion we are sure of 
 pleasing him; yet each man has his fancies, contrary to his real 
 good, even in the very idea he forms of good; a strange fact 
 AvhTcfr puts all out of tune. 
 
 When our passions lead us to any act we forget our duty. If 
 we like a book we read it, when we should be doing something 
 else. But as a reminder we ought to propose to ourselves to do 
 something distasteful; we then excuse ourselves that we have 
 something else to do, and thus remember our duty. 
 
 Sneezing absorbs all the faculties of the soul, as do certain 
 bodily functions, but we do not draw therefrom the same conclu¬ 
 sions against the greatness of man, because it is against his will. 
 And if we make ourselves sneeze we do so against our will. It 
 is not in view of the act itself, but for another end, and so it is 
 not a mark of the weakness of man, and of his slavery to that act. 
 
 Scaramouch, who thinks of one thing only. 
 
 The doctor, who speaks for a quarter of an hour after he has 
 said all he has to say, so full is he of the desire of talking. 
 
 The parrot’s beak, which he dries though it is clean already. 
 
 The sense of falseness in present pleasures, and our ignorance 
 of the vanity of absent pleasures, are the causes of inconstancy. 
 
32 
 
 MAN'S DISPROPORTION. 
 
 He no longer loves the person he loved ten years ago. I can 
 well believe it. She is no longer the same, nor is he. He was 
 young, and so was she ; she is quite different. He would 
 perhaps love her still were she what she then was. 
 
 Reasons, seen from afar, appear to restrict our view, but not 
 when we reach them ; we begin to see beyond. 
 
 ... We look at things not only from other sides, but with 
 other eyes, and care not to find them alike. 
 
 Diversity is ample, as all tones of the voice, all modes of walk¬ 
 ing, coughing, blowing the nose, sneezing. We distinguish dif¬ 
 ferent kinds of vine by their fruit, and name them the Condrieu, 
 the Desargues, and this stock. But is this all ? Has a vine ever 
 produced two bunches exactly alike, and has a bunch ever two 
 grapes alike ? etc. 
 
 I never can judge of the same thing exactly in the same way. 
 I cannot judge of my work while engaged on it. I must do as 
 the painters, stand at a distance, but not too far. How far, 
 then ? Guess. 
 
 Diversity .—Theology is a science; but at the same time 
 how many sciences ! Man is a whole, but if we dissect him, will 
 man be the head, the heart, the stomach, the veins, each vein, 
 each portion of a vein, the blood, each humour of the blood ? 
 
 A town, a champaign, is from afar a town and a champaign ; 
 but as we approach there are houses, trees, tiles, leaves, grass, 
 emmets, limbs of emmets, in infinite series. All this is comprised 
 under the word champaign. 
 
 We like to see the error, the passion of Cleobuline, because 
 she is not aware of it. She would be displeasing if she were not 
 deceived. 
 
 What a confusion of judgment is that, by which every one puts 
 himself above all the rest of the world, and loves his own advan¬ 
 tage and the duration of his happiness or his life above those of 
 all others. 
 
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 misfor ¬ 
 tunes 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 leave it for sea-faring or to besiege a city. An office 
 in the army would not be bought so dearly but that it seems 
 insupportable not to stir from the town, and people only seek 
 conversation and amusing games because they cannot remain 
 with pleasure in their own homes. 
 
 But upon stricter examination, when, having found the cause 
 of all our ills, I have sought to discover the reason of it, I have 
 found one which is paramount, the natural evil of our weak and 
 mortal condition, so miserable that nothing can console us 
 when we think of it attentively. 
 
 Whatever condition we represent to ourselves, if we bring to 
 our minds all the advantages it is possible to possess, Royalty is 
 the finest position in the world. Yet, when we imagine a king 
 surrounded with all the conditions which he can desire, if he 
 be without diversion, and be allowed to consider and examine 
 ivhat he is, this feeble happiness will never sustain him ; he 
 will necessarily fall into a foreboding of maladies which threaten 
 him, of revolutions which may arise, and lastly, of death and 
 inevitable diseases ; so that if he be without what is called 
 diversion he is unhappy, and more unhappy than the humblest 
 of his subjects who plays and diverts himself. 
 
 Hence it comes that play and the society of women, war, 
 
 D 
 
 V 
 
34 
 
 DIVERSION. 
 
 and offices of state, are so sought after. Not that there is in 
 these any real happiness, or that any imagine true bliss to 
 consist in the money won at play, or in the hare which is 
 hunted; we would not have these as gifts. We do not seek an 
 easy and peaceful lot which leaves us free to think of our un¬ 
 happy condition, nor the dangers of war, nor the troubles of 
 statecraft, but seek rather the distraction which amuses us, and 
 diverts our mind from these thoughts. 
 
 Hence it comes that men so love noise and movement, hence 
 it comes that a prison is so horrible a punishment, hence it 
 comes that the pleasure of solitude is a thing incomprehensible. 
 And it is the great subject of happiness in the condition of kings, 
 that all about them try incessantly to divert them, and to procure 
 for them all manner of pleasures. 
 
 The king is surrounded by persons who think only how to divert 
 the king, and to prevent his thinking of self. For he is unhappy, 
 king though he be, if he think of self. 
 
 That is all that human ingenuity can do for human happiness. 
 And those who philosophise on the matter, and think men un¬ 
 reasonable that they pass a whole day in hunting a hare which 
 they would not have bought, scarce know our nature. The 
 hare itself would not free us from the view of death and our 
 miseries, but the chase of the hare does free us. Thus, when 
 we make it a reproach that what they seek with such eagerness 
 cannot satisfy them, if they answered as on mature judgment they 
 should do, that they sought in it only violent and impetuous oc¬ 
 cupation to turn their thoughts from self, and that therefore 
 they made choice of an attractive object which charms and 
 ardently attracts them, they would leave their adversaries 
 without a reply. But they do not so answer because they do 
 not know themselves ; they do not know they seek the chase 
 and not the quarry. 
 
 They fancy that were they to gain such and such an office 
 they would then rest with pleasure, and are unaware of the in¬ 
 satiable nature of their desire. They believe they are honestly 
 seeking repose, but they are only seeking agitation. 
 
 They have a secret instinct prompting them to look for diver¬ 
 sion and occupation from without, which arises from the sense 
 
DIVERSION. 
 
 35 
 
 of their continual pain. They have another secret instinct, a 
 relic of the greatness of our primitive nature, teaching them that 
 happiness indeed consists in rest, and not in turmoil. And of 
 these two contrary instincts a confused project is formed within 
 them, concealing itself from their sight in the depths of their soul, 
 leading them to aim at rest through agitation, and always to 
 imagine that they will gain the satisfaction which as yet they 
 have not, if by surmounting certain difficulties which now con¬ 
 front them, they may thereby open the door to rest. 
 
 Thus rolls all our life away. We seek repose by resistance to 
 obstacles, and so soon as these are surmounted, repose becomes 
 intolerable. For we think either on the miseries we feel or on 
 those we fear. And even when we seem sheltered on all sides, 
 weariness, of its own accord, will spring from the depths of the 
 heart wherein are its natural roots, and fill the soul with its 
 poison. 
 
 The counsel given to Pyrrhus to take the rest of which he was 
 going in search through so many labours, was full of difficulties. 
 
 A gentleman sincerely believes that the chase is a great, and 
 even a royal sport, but his whipper-in does not share his 
 opinion. 
 
 Dancing .—We must think where to place our feet. 
 
 But can you say what object he has in all this ? The plea¬ 
 sure of boasting to-morrow among his friends that he has played 
 better than another. Thus others sweat in their closets to 
 prove to the learned world that they have solved an algebraical 
 problem hitherto insoluble, while many more expose themselves 
 to the greatest perils, in my judgment as foolishly, for the 
 glory of taking a town. Again, others kill themselves, by their 
 very application to all these studies, not indeed that they may 
 grow wiser, but simply to prove that they know them ; these 
 are the most foolish of the band, because they are so wittingly, 
 whereas it is reasonable to suppose of the others, that were they 
 but aware of it, they would give over their folly. 
 
 A man passes his life without weariness in playing every day 
 
36 
 
 DIVERSION. 
 
 for a small stake. Give him each morning, on condition he does 
 not play, the money he might possibly win, and you make him 
 miserable. It will be said, perhaps, that he seeks the amuse¬ 
 ment of play, and not the winnings. Make him then play for 
 nothing, he will not be excited over it, and will soon be wearied. 
 Mere diversion then is not his pursuit, a languid and passion¬ 
 less amusement wall weary him. He must grow’ warm in it, and 
 cheat himself by thinking that he is made happy by gaining 
 what he would despise if it w r ere given him not to play; and 
 must frame for himself a subject of passion and excitement to 
 employ his desire, his wrath, his fear, as children are frightened 
 at a face themselves have daubed. 
 
 Whence comes it that a man who within a few months has 
 lost his only son, or who this morning was overwhelmed with 
 law suits and w'rangling, now thinks of them no more ? Be 
 not surprised ; he is altogether taken up with looking out 
 for the boar which his hounds have been hunting so hotly 
 for the last six hours. He needs no more. However full of 
 sadness a man may be, he is happy for the time, if you can 
 only get him to enter into some diversion. And however 
 happy a man may be, he will soon become dispirited and mise¬ 
 rable if he be not diverted and occupied by some passion or 
 pursuit which hinders his being overcome by weariness. With¬ 
 out diversion no joy, with diversion no sadness. And this 
 forms the happiness of persons in high position, that they have 
 a number of people to divert them, and that they have the 
 power to keep themselves in this state. 
 
 Take heed to this. What is it to be superintendant, chancellor, 
 first president, but to be in a condition wherein from early morning 
 a vast number of persons flock in from every side, so as not to 
 leave them an hour in the day in which they can think of them¬ 
 selves ? And if they are in disgrace and dismissed to their 
 country houses, though they want neither wealth nor retinue 
 at need, they yet are miserable and desolate because no one 
 hinders them from thinking of themselves. 
 
 Thus man is so unhappy that he wearies himself without 
 cause of weariness by the peculiar state of his temperament, and 
 he is so frivolous that, being full of a thousand essential causes 
 
DIVERSION. 
 
 37 
 
 of weariness, the least thing, such as a cue and a ball to strike 
 with it, is enough to divert him. • 
 
 Diversions .—Men are charged from infancy with the care 
 of their honour, their fortunes, and their friends, and more, with 
 the care of the fortunes and honour of their friends. They are 
 overwhelmed with business, with the study of languages and 
 bodily exercises; they are given to understand that they cannot be 
 happy unless their health, their honour, their fortune and that of 
 their friends be in good condition, and that a single point wanting 
 will render them unhappy. Thus we give them business and 
 occupations which harass them incessantly from the very dawn 
 of day. A strange mode, you will say, of making them happy. 
 What more could be done to make them miserable ? What could 
 be done? We need only release them from all these cares, for 
 then they would see themselves ; they would think on what they 
 are, whence they come, and whither they go, and therefore it 
 is impossible to occupy and distract them too much. This is 
 why, after having provided them with constant business, if there 
 be any time to spare we urge them to employ it in diversion 
 and in play, so as to be always fully occupied. 
 
 How comes it that this man, distressed at the death of his 
 wife and his only son, or who has some great and embarrassing 
 law suit, is not at this moment sad, and that he appears 
 so free from all painful and distressing thoughts ? We need 
 not be astonished, for a ball has just been served to him, and 
 he must return it to his opponent. His whole thoughts are 
 fixed on taking it as it falls from the pent-house, to win a chase ; 
 and you cannot ask that he should think on his business, having 
 this other affair in hand. Here is a care worthy of occupying 
 this great soul, and taking away from him every other thought of 
 the mind. This man, born to know the Universe, to judge of all 
 things, to rule a State, is altogether occupied and filled with the 
 business of catching a hare. And if he will not abase himself 
 to this, and wishes always to be highly strung, he will only be 
 more foolish still, because he wishes to raise himself above 
 humanity ; yet when all is said and done he is only a man, 
 
DIVERSION. 
 
 that is to say capable of little and of much, of all and of 
 nothing. He is neither angel nor brute, but man. 
 
 One thought alone occupies us, we cannot think of two things 
 at once ; a good thing for us from a worldly point of view, but 
 not as regards God. 
 
 Diversion .—Death is easier to bear without the thought of 
 it, than is the thought of death without danger. 
 
 Diversion. —Men, unable to remedy death, sorrow, and igno¬ 
 rance, determine, in order to make themselves happy, not to 
 think on these things. 
 
 Notwithstanding these miseries, man wishes to be happy, and 
 wishes for happiness only ; unable to wish otherwise, he knows 
 not how to gain happiness. For this he must needs make him¬ 
 self immortal; but unable to effect this, he sets himself to avoid 
 the thought of death. 
 
 The miseries of human life are the cause of all this ; having a 
 perception of them men take to diversion. 
 
 Diversion .—If man were happy he would be the more so 
 the less he was diverted, like the Saints and God. 
 
 Yes : but is not the power of being pleased with diversion 
 in itself a happiness? No ; for that comes from elsewhere and 
 from without, so it is dependent, and therefore liable to be 
 troubled by a thousand accidents, which make afflictions 
 inevitable. 
 
 Misery .—The one thing which consoles us for our miseries is 
 diversion, yet this itself is the greatest of our miseries. For 
 this it is which mainly hinders us from thinking of ourselves, 
 and which insensibly destroys us. Without this we should be 
 weary, and weariness would drive us to seek a more abiding way 
 out of it. But diversion beguiles us and leads us insensibly 
 onward to death. 
 
 This is all they have been able to discover to console them in 
 so many evils. But it is a miserable consolation, since it does not 
 
DIVERSION. 
 
 39 
 
 serve for the cure of the evil,but simply for the concealment of it 
 for a short time, and its very concealment prevents the thought of 
 any true cure. Thus by a strange inversion of man’s nature he 
 finds that the weariness which is his most sensible evil, is in 
 some measure his greatest good, because more than any thing 
 thing else it contributes to make him seek his true healing, and 
 that the diversion which he regards as his greatest good is in 
 fact his greatest evil, because more than any thing else it prevents 
 his seeking the remedy for his evils. Both of these are admirable 
 proofs of man’s misery and corruption, and at the same time 
 of his greatness, since man is only weary of all things, and only 
 seeks this multitude of occupations because he has the 
 idea of a lost happiness. And not finding this in himself, 
 he seeks it vainly in external things, without being able to con¬ 
 tent himself, because it is neither in us, nor in the creature, but 
 in God alone. 
 
 Thoughts.—In omnibus requiem qucesivi. 
 
 Were our condition truly happy we need not turn our minds 
 from it in order to become happy. 
 
 A little matter consoles us, because a little matter afflicts us. 
 
 Strife alone pleases us and not the victory. We like to see 
 beasts fighting, not the victor furious over the vanquished. We 
 wish only to see the victorious end, and as soon as it comes, 
 we are surfeited. It is the same in play, and in the search for 
 truth. In all disputes we like to see the clash of opinions, but 
 care not at all to contemplate truth when found. If we are to 
 see truth with pleasure, we must see it arise out of conflict. 
 
 So in the passions, there is pleasure in seeing the shock of 
 two contraries, but as soon as one gains the mastery it becomes 
 mere brutality. We never seek things in themselves, but only 
 the search for things. So on the stage, quiet scenes which raise 
 no emotion are worthless, so is extreme and hopeless misery, so 
 are brutal lust and excessive cruelty. 
 
 Continuous eloquence wearies. 
 
 Princes and kings sometimes unbend. They are not for ever 
 
40 
 
 DIVERSION. 
 
 on their thrones, where they grow weary. Grandeur to be felt 
 must be abandoned, continuity in any thing is displeasing. Cold 
 is pleasant, that we may seek warmth. 
 
 Weariness .— Nothing is so insupportable to man as to be 
 completely at rest, without passion, without business, without 
 diversion, without study. He then feels his nothingness, his 
 loneliness, his insufficiency, his dependence, his weakness, his 
 emptiness. 
 
 At once, from the depth of his soul, will arise weariness, 
 gloom, sadness, vexation, disappointment, despair. 
 
 Agitation .—rWhen a soldier complains of his work, or a 
 ploughman, etc., force them to be idle. 
 
 Diversion .—Is not the royal dignity itself so truly great as to 
 make its possessor happy by the mere contemplation of what he 
 is ? Must he be diverted from this thought like ordinary people ? 
 I see well enough that a man may be made happy by diverting him 
 from the thought of his domestic sorrows so that he apply all his 
 care to excel in dancing. But will it be the same with a king, 
 and will he be happier if he devote himself to these idle amuse¬ 
 ments rather than to the contemplation of his greatness ? And 
 what more satisfactory object can he offer to his mind? Might 
 it not be to lessen his content that he occupy his soul in thinking 
 how to suit his steps to the cadence of an air, or how to throw a 
 bar skilfully, rather than allow it to enjoy peacefully the contem¬ 
 plation of the majesty which wraps him round ? Let us make 
 the experiment, let us leave a king all alone, without any 
 gratifications of sense, or any occupation for the mind, with¬ 
 out companions, reflecting on himself at leisure, and it will be 
 seen that a king without diversion is a man full of miseries. 
 This is therefore carefully avoided, and there are always about 
 the persons of kings a great number of people who watch to see 
 that diversion succeeds to business, and look after their every 
 hour of leisure to furnish them with pleasures and games, so that 
 no vacancy may be left in life ; that is, they are surrounded with 
 persons who take wonderful pains that the king is never alone 
 
DIVERSION. 
 
 4i 
 
 and able to think of self, knowing well that he will be miserable, 
 king though he is, if he think of self. 
 
 In all this I am not speaking of Christian kings as Christians, 
 but simply as kings. 
 
 Men busy themselves in pursuing a ball or a hare, and this 
 is the pleasure even of kings. 
 
 Caesar, as it seems to me, was too old to set about amusing 
 himself with the conquest of the world. Such a pastime was 
 good for Augustus or Alexander, who were still young men, 
 and these are difficult to restrain, but Caesar should have been 
 more mature. 
 
 The weariness we experience in leaving occupations to which 
 we are attached. A man lives with pleasure in his home, but if 
 he see a woman who charms him, or if he take pleasure in play 
 for five or six days, he is miserable if he return to his former 
 mode of life. Nothing is more common than that. 
 
 Frivolity. — It is plain that the frivolity of the world is so little 
 known, that it is a strange and surprising thing to say it is 
 foolish to seek for greatness, and this is great cause for wonder. 
 
 Whoso does not see the frivolity of the world is himself most 
 frivolous. And indeed all see it save young people, who are 
 engaged in turmoil, diversion, and the thought of the future. 
 But take away their diversion and you will see them consumed 
 with weariness ; then they feel their nothingness without know¬ 
 ing it. For it is indeed to be unhappy to be intolerably sad 
 as soon as we are reduced to the thought of self, without any 
 diversion. 
 
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 littleness all the more be¬ 
 cause they have taken his greatness as a proof of it, and others 
 have inferred his greatness with all the more force, because they 
 have inferred it from his littleness ; all that the one party was 
 able to say for his greatness having served only as an argument 
 of his littleness to others, because we are low in proportion to 
 the height from which we have fallen, and the contrary is equally 
 true. So that the one party returns on the other in an endless 
 circle, for it is certain that in measure as men possess light the 
 more they discern both the greatness and the littleness of man. 
 In a word, man knows he is little. He is then little because he 
 is so ; but he is truly great because he knows it. 
 
 Man knows not in what rank to place himself. He has 
 
44 
 
 THE GREATNESS AND 
 
 evidently gone astray and fallen from his true place, unable to 
 find it again. Disquieted and unsuccessful he seeks it everywhere 
 in impenetrable darkness. 
 
 Though we see all the miseries which close upon us and 
 take us by the throat, we have an irrepressible instinct which 
 raises us. 
 
 The greatness of Man .—We have so great an idea of the human 
 soul that we cannot bear to be despised, or to lie under the dis- 
 esteem of any soul, and all the happiness of men consists in that 
 esteem. 
 
 The search after glory is the greatest vileness of man. 
 Yet it is also the greatest mark of his excellence, for whatever 
 riches he may have on earth, whatever health and advantage, he 
 is not satisfied if he have not the esteem of men. He rates 
 human reason so highly that whatever privileges he may have 
 on earth, he is not content unless he stand well in the judgment 
 of men. This is the finest position in the world, nothing can 
 turn him from this desire, which is the most indelible quality of 
 the human heart. 
 
 And those who most despise men, and place them on the 
 level of the brutes, still wish to be admired and believed 
 by men, and are in contradiction with themselves through their 
 own feelings ; their natqre, which is stronger than all else, 
 convincing them of the greatness of man more powerfully than 
 reason convinces them of their vileness. 
 
 The vileness of man in that he submits himself to the brutes, 
 and even worships them. 
 
 Instinct and reason, marks of two natures. 
 
 Description of man. Dependence, desire of independence, 
 bodily needs. 
 
 Contradiction. To despise existence, to die for nothing, to 
 hate our existence. 
 
LITTLENESS OF MAN. 
 
 45 
 
 Man is neither angel nor brute, and the misfortune is that 
 whoever would play the angel plays the brute. 
 
 If man is not made for God, why is he happy only in God ? 
 
 If man is made for God, why is he so contrary to God? 
 
 Contraries. Man is naturally credulous and incredulous, 
 timid and rash. 
 
 A corj'upt nature .—Man does not act by reason, which 
 constitutes his essence. 
 
 The nature of man is his whole nature, o?nne animal. 
 
 There is nothing we cannot make natural, nothing natural we 
 cannot lose. 
 
 The true nature being lost, all becomes natural. As the true 
 good being lost, all becomes truly good. 
 
 Misery .—Solomon and Job best knew, and have best spoken 
 of human misery ; the former the most fortunate, the latter the 
 most unfortunate of men ; the one knowing by experience the 
 vanity of pleasure, the other the reality of evil. ♦ 
 
 It is dangerous to prove to man too plainly how nearly he is 
 on a level with the brutes without showing him his greatness ; 
 it is also dangerous to show him his greatness too clearly 
 apart from his vileness. It is still more dangerous to leave him 
 in ignorance of both. But it is of great advantage to show him 
 both. 
 
 
 How comes it that we have so much patience with those who 
 are maimed in body, and so little with those who are defective 
 in mind ? Because a cripple recognises that we have the true 
 use of our legs, but the fool maintains that we are they whose 
 understanding halts ; were it not so we should feel pity and not 
 anger. 
 
 Epictetus puts it yet more strongly : if How comes it that we 
 
46 
 
 THE GREATNESS AND 
 
 are not angry if a man says we have an headache, but are angry 
 if told we use a weak argument or make a wrong choice ? ” The 
 reason of this is that w r e are quite certain we have no headache, 
 or are not lame, but we are not equally sure that our judgment is 
 correct. So having no assurance but that we see with our 
 whole powers of sight, we are startled and confounded when 
 another with equal powers sees the exact opposite, especially 
 when a thousand others laugh at our decision ; for then we must 
 prefer our light to that of so many others, a daring and difficult 
 matter. There is never this contradiction in feeling as to a 
 cripple. 
 
 Man is so framed that by dint of telling him he is a fool he 
 believes it, and by dint of telling it to himself he makes himself 
 believe it. For man holds a secret communing with himself, 
 which it behoves him well to regulate : Corrumpunt mores bonos 
 eolloquia prava. We must keep silent as much as possible, and 
 converse with ourselves only of God, whom we know to be true, 
 and thus we persuade ourselves of truth. 
 
 I will not suffer him to rest on himself, nor on another, so that 
 being without a resting place or repose . . . 
 
 If he exalt himself I humble him, if he humble himself I 
 exalt him, and ever contradict him, till he comprehend that 
 he is an incomprehensible monster. 
 
 • V 
 
 The greatness of man consists in thought. 
 
 A thinking reed .—Not from space must I seek my dignity, 
 but from the ruling of my thought. I should have no more if 
 I possessed whole worlds. By space the Universe encompasses 
 and swallows me as an atom, by thought I encompass it. 
 
 Man is but a reed, weakest in nature, but a reed which 
 thinks. It needs not that the whole Universe should arm to 
 crush him. A vapour, a drop of water is enough to kill him. 
 But were the Universe to crush him, man would still be more 
 noble than that which has slain him, because he knows that he 
 
LITTLENESS OF MAN 
 
 47 
 
 dies, and that the Universe has the better of him. The Universe 
 knows nothing of this. 
 
 All our dignity therefore consists in thought. By this musfev 
 we raise ourselves, not by space or duration which we cannot 
 fill. Then let us make it our study to think well, for this is the 
 starting-point of morals. 
 
 The greatness of man is great in that he knows he is miserable. 
 
 A tree does not know that it is miserable. 
 
 It is therefore little to know ourselves little, and it is great to 
 know ourselves little. ' 
 
 Thus his very infirmities proves man’s greatness. They are 
 the infirmities of a great lord, of a discrowned king. 
 
 The greatness of man is so evident that it is even proved by 
 feis-littleness. For what in animals is nature we call in man lit- * 
 tleness, whereby we recognise that his nature being now like that 
 of animals he is fallen from a better nature which once was his. 
 
 For what man ever was unhappy at not being a king, save a dis¬ 
 crowned king ? Was Paulus Emilius unhappy at being no longer 
 consul ? On the contrary, all men thought him happy in having 
 filled that office, because it was involved in it that it should be 
 but temporary. But Perseus was thought so unhappy in being 
 no longer king, because the condit ion of royalty involved his 
 being always king, that it was thought strange he could bear 
 to live. No man thinks himself unhappy in having but one 
 mouth, but any man is unhappy if he have but one eye. No man 
 was ever grieved at not having three eyes, but any man is 
 inconsolable if he have none. 
 
 Perseus, King of Macedon .—Paulus Emilius reproached 
 Perseus for not killing himself. 
 
 There is no misery apart from sensation. A ruined house is 
 not miserable. Man only is miserable. Ego vir videns. 
 
 It is then thought which makes man’sbeing, and without this we 
 
48 
 
 THE GREATNESS AND 
 
 cannot conceive him. What is it in us which feels pleasure? 
 The hand ? The arm ? The flesh ? The blood ? We see that it 
 must be something immaterial. 
 
 I can easily conceive a man without hands, feet, head, for it 
 is only experience which teaches us that the head is more 
 necessary than the feet. But I cannot conceive a man without 
 thought ; he would be a stone or a brute. 
 
 Man is evidently made for thought, this is his whole dignity 
 and his whole merit ; his whole duty is to think as he ought. 
 Now the order of thought is to begin with self, and with its 
 author and its end. 
 
 Now of what thinks the world ? Never of these things, but of 
 dancing, playing the lute, singing, making verses, tilting at 
 the ring, etc., of fighting, making ourselves kings, without 
 thinking what it is to be a king, or what to be a man. 
 
 Thought. —The whole dignity of man lies in thought. But 
 what is this thought ? how foolish it is ! 
 
 Thought is then in its nature admirable and incomparable. 
 It must have strange defects to be despicable, but it has these, 
 and so nothing is more ridiculous. 
 
 How great it is in essence, how vile in defects ! 
 
 Contraries. After having shown the vileness and the great¬ 
 ness of man. —Let man now estimate his value. Let him love 
 himself, because he has a nature capable of good, but let him not 
 therefore love the vileness which exists in that nature. Let 
 him despise himself, because this capacity is void, but let him 
 not therefore despise his natural capacity. Let him hate him¬ 
 self, let him love himself: he has in himself the power of know¬ 
 ing the truth and being happy, and yet has found no truth 
 either permanent or satisfactory. 
 
 I would then lead man to the desire of finding it ; to be free 
 from passions and ready to follow it where he may find it, 
 knowing how his knowledge is obscured by the passions. I 
 
LITTLENESS OF MAN. 
 
 49 
 
 would that he should hate in himself the desires which bias his 
 judgment, that they may neither blind him in making his choice, 
 nor obstruct him when he has chosen. 
 
 I blame equally those who take on themselves to praise 
 man, those who take on themselves to blame him, and those who 
 merely amuse themselves; I can approve those only who seek 
 with tears. 
 
 The stoics say, Retire within yourselves, there will you find 
 your rest; ” which is not true. Others say, “ Go out of yourselves, 
 seek your happiness in diversion nor is that true, for sickness 
 may come. 
 
 Happiness is neither without us nor within us ; it is in God, 
 both without us and within us. 
 
 E 
 

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 senses, 
 and make on them false impressions. They lie and deceive, 
 outvieing one another. 
 
 But beyond those errors which come by accident, and by a 
 lack of intelligence, with these heterogeneous faculties . . 
 To begin thus the chapter on the deceptive powers. 
 
 Imagination. —This is that deceitful part of man, the mistress 
 of error and falsity, the more knavish that she is not always 
 so, for she would be an infallible rule of truth, if she were an in¬ 
 fallible rule of lying. But being for the most part false, she 
 gives no mark of her character, stamping the true and the false 
 with the same die. 
 
 I speak not of fools, but of the wisest men, and it is among 
 them that imagination has the great gift of persuasion. Reason 
 protests in vain, for she can make no true estimate. 
 
 This proud potentate, who loves to rule and domineer over her 
 enemy, reason, has established in man a second nature in order 
 to showTTer wide-spread influence. She makes men happy and 
 miserable, sound and sick, rich and poor ; she obliges reason to 
 believe, doubt and deny ; she dulls the senses, or sharpens 
 
 library 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 
52 
 
 THE DECEPTIVE POWERS 
 
 them ; she has her fools and wise ; and nothing vexes us more 
 than to see that she fills her votaries with a satisfaction far more 
 full and entire than does reason. Those whose imagination is 
 active feel greater complacency than the truly wise can reasonably 
 allow themselves to feel. They look down on other men as from 
 the height of empire, they argue with assurance and confidence, 
 others with diffidence and fear, and this gaiety of countenance 
 often gives the former an advantage in the minds of their 
 hearers ; such favour do the imaginary wise find from judges like- 
 minded. Imagination cannot make fools wise, but it makes them 
 content, and so triumphs over reason, which can only make its 
 friends miserable ; the one covers them with glory, the other 
 with shame. 
 
 What but this faculty of imagination dispenses reputation, 
 assigns respect and veneration to persons, works, laws, and the 
 great ? How valueless are all the treasures of earth without her 
 consent ! 
 
 You would say that this magistrate whose reverend age com¬ 
 mands the respect of a whole people is swayed by pure and lofty 
 reason, that he judges all causes according to their true nature, 
 unmoved by those mere accidents which only affect the imagi¬ 
 nation of the weak. See him go to sermon with devout zeal, 
 strengthening his firm and impartial reason by the ardour of his 
 divine love. He is ready to listen with exemplary respect. The 
 preacher appears ; but if nature have given him a hoarse voice or 
 a comic face, if his barber have shaven him ill, or if his clothes 
 be splashed more than is wont, then however great the truths he 
 announces, I wager that our statesman lose his gravity. 
 
 Set the greatest philosopher in the world on a plank really 
 wider than he needs, but hanging over a precipice, and though 
 reason convince him of his security, imagination will prevail. 
 Many will scarce bear the thought without a cold sweat. 
 
 I will not name all its effects. Every one knows that the sight 
 of cats, and rats, or the crushing of a coal, etc., may quite unhinge 
 the reason. The tone of voice will affect the wisest and change 
 the whole force of a speech or a poem. 
 
 Love or hate will change the aspect of justice, and an 
 advocate retained with a large fee has an increased confidence 
 
OF THE IMAGINATION. 
 
 53 
 
 in the right of the cause he pleads, while the assurance of his 
 demeanour commends it to the judges, duped in their turn by 
 appearances. How ridiculous is reason, swayed by a breath 
 in every direction ! 
 
 I should have to enumerate almost every action of men who 
 seldom stagger but under her shocks. For reason has been forced 
 to yield, and the wisest reason accepts as her own those prin¬ 
 ciples which the imagination of men has everywhere casually 
 introduced. 
 
 Our magistrates are well aware of this mystery. Their scarlet 
 robes, the ermine in which they wrap themselves like furred cats, 
 the halls in which they administer justice, the fleurs-de-lis , and 
 all their august apparatus are most necessary ; if the doctors had 
 not their cassocks and their mules, if the lawyers had not their 
 square caps, and their robes four times too wide, they would 
 never have duped the world, which cannot resist so authoritative 
 an appearance. Soldiers alone are not disguised after this 
 fashion, because indeed their part is the more essential, they 
 establish themselves by force, the others by fraud. 
 
 So our kings seek out no disguises. They do not mask them¬ 
 selves in strange garments to appear such, but they are accom¬ 
 panied by guards and halberdiers. Those armed puppets who 
 have hands and power for them alone, those trumpets and drums 
 which go before them, and those legions round about them, 
 make the firmest tremble. They have not dress only, but power; 
 we need an highly refined reason to regard as an ordinary man 
 the Grand Turk, in his superb seraglio, surrounded with forty 
 thousand janissaries. 
 
 We cannot even see an advocate in his long robe and with 
 his cap on his head, without an enhanced opinion of his ability. 
 
 If magistrates had true justice, and if doctors had the true 
 art of healing, they would have no need of square caps, the 
 majesty of these sciences were of itself venerable enough. But 
 having only imaginary knowledge, they must take these instru¬ 
 ments, idle, but striking to the imagination with which they have 
 to deal, and by that in fact they gain respect. 
 
 Imagination is the disposer of all things, it creates beauty, jus¬ 
 tice and happiness, and these are the world’s all. I should much 
 
54 
 
 THE DECEPTIVE POWERS 
 
 like to see an Italian work, of which I know the title only, but 
 such a title is worth many books : Della opinione Regina del 
 inondo. I accept the book without knowing it, save the evil in it, 
 if there be any. 
 
 These are for the most part the effects of that deceptive 
 faculty, which seems to have been given us expressly to lead 
 us into necessary error. Of error however we have many other 
 sources. 
 
 Not only are old impressions capable of deceiving us, the 
 charms of novelty have the same power. Hence arise all the 
 disputes of men, who charge each other either with follow¬ 
 ing the false impressions of childhood or of running rashly 
 after new. Who rightly keeps a middle way? Let him ap¬ 
 pear and make good his pretensions. There is no principle, 
 however natural to us even from childhood, which may not 
 be made to pass for a false impression either of education or 
 of sense. 
 
 “ Because,” say some, “ you have believed from childhood that 
 a box was empty when you saw nothing in it, you have therefore 
 believed the possibility of a vacuum. This is an illusion of your 
 senses, strengthened by custom, which science must correct.” 
 “ Because,” say others, “ you were taught at school that there 
 is no such thing as a vacuum, your common sense, which clearly 
 comprehended the matter before, is corrupted, and you must 
 correct this false impression by returning to your primitive 
 nature.” Which has deceived you, your senses or your education ? 
 
 Diseases are another source of error. They impair our 
 judgment and our senses, and if the more violent produce a 
 sensible change, I do not doubt that slighter ailments produce 
 each its proportionate impression. 
 
 Our own interest is again a wonderful instrument for putting out 
 our eyes in a pleasant way. The man of greatest probity can 
 not be judge in his own cause; I know some who that they 
 may not fall into this self love are, out of opposition, thoroughly 
 unjust. The certain way of ruining a just cause has been to 
 get it recommended to these men by their near relatives. 
 
 Justice and truth are two such subtle points, that our instru¬ 
 ments are too blunt to touch them accurately. If they attain 
 
OF THE IMAGINATION. 55 
 
 the point they cover it so completely that they rest more often 
 on the wrong than the right. 
 
 There is internecine war in man between the reason and the 
 passions. 
 
 If he had only reason without passions . . . 
 
 If he had only passions without reason . . . 
 
 But having both he must have continual strife, since he cannot 
 be at peace with one unless he be at war with the other. Hence 
 he is always divided against and contrary to himself. 
 
 The habit of seeing kings accompanied by guards, drums, 
 officers and all those things which mechanically incline man 
 to respect and terror, causes their countenance, when now and 
 then seen alone, and without these accompaniments, to impress 
 respect and terror on their subjects, because our thought cannot 
 separate their personality from those surroundings with which 
 it is ordinarily joined. And the world which does not know that 
 the effect arises from habit, believes that it arises from natural 
 force, and hence come such expressions as : “ The character of 
 Divinity is imprinted on his countenance,” etc. 
 
 The power of kings is based both on the reason and the folly 
 of the people, and mainly on their folly. The greatest and most 
 important matter in the world has weakness for its foundation, 
 and this foundation is admirably sure, for there is nothing more 
 sure than this, that the people will be weak. What is founded 
 on sound reason is very ill founded, as the value of wisdom. 
 
 The chancellor is grave, and clothed with ornaments, for his 
 position is unreal. Not so the king, he has power and nothing 
 to do with imagination. Judges, doctors, etc., depend solely 
 on imagination. 
 
 Empire founded on opinion and imagination lasts some time, 
 the rule is gentle and willingly accepted ; that founded on power 
 lasts for ever. Thus opinion is, as it were, queen of the world, 
 but power is its tyrant. 
 
THE DECEPTIVE POWERS 
 
 c6 
 
 Power is the queen of the world, not opinion, but opinion makes 
 use of power. 
 
 Power creates opinion. Gentleness is beautiful, as we think. 
 Why ? Because he who goes to extremes will be alone, and I 
 will make a stronger cabal of people who will say it is in¬ 
 expedient. 
 
 The cords attached by the respect of man for man, are, for the 
 most part, cords of necessity, for there must be different degrees, 
 all men wishing to rule, but not all being able to do so, though 
 some are able. 
 
 Let us suppose then we see men beginning to form a society. 
 They will no doubt fight till the stronger party gets the better 
 of the weaker, and a dominant party is constituted. But so 
 soon as this is once settled, the masters not wishing that 
 the‘Strife should continue, declare that the power in their hands 
 shall be transmitted as they please, some placing it in the choice 
 of the people, others in the succession of birth, etc. 
 
 And here imagination begins to play her part. Till now power 
 has constrained facts, now power is upheld by imagination in 
 a certain party, in France that of the nobles, in Switzerland that 
 of the burgesses, etc. 
 
 The cords therefore which bind the respect of men to any given 
 man are the cords of imagination. 
 
 Our imagination so enlarges the present by dint of continually 
 reflecting on it, and so contracts eternity, by never reflecting on 
 it, that we make a nothing of eternity and an eternity of nothing; 
 and all this has such living roots in us, that all our reason cannot 
 suppress them, and that ... 
 
 The imagination enlarges little objects so as to fill our soul 
 with its fantastic estimate, and by a rash insolence belittles the 
 great to its own measure, as when it speaks of God. 
 
 Things which have the greatest hold on us, as the concealing 
 
OF TFIE IMAGINATION. 
 
 57 
 
 our small possessions, are often a mere nothing. It is a nothing 
 which our imagination magnifies into a mountain, another turn 
 of imagination would make us discover its nothingness without 
 difficulty. 
 
 Two faces which resemble each other, neither of which alone 
 causes our laughter, make us laugh, when together, by their 
 resemblance. 
 
 Children who are frightened at the face they have daubed are 
 mere children, but how shall one who is so weak when a child 
 grow truly strong as he grows old ? We only change our fancies. 
 
 All that is brought to perfection by progress perishes also by 
 progress. All that has been weak can never be absolutely 
 strong. It is in vain to say, a He has grown, he has changed.” 
 He is also the same. 
 
 My fancy makes me hate a man who breathes hard when he is 
 eating. Fancy has great weight. Will you profit by yielding 
 to this weight because it is natural ? No ; but by resisting it. 
 
 Prejudice leading into error. —It is a deplorable thing to see 
 all men deliberating on means alone, and not on the end. Every 
 man thinks how he may acquit himself in his condition, but as 
 for the choice of condition or of country, chance gives them 
 to us. 
 
 It is a pitiable thing, to see so many Turks, heretics and 
 infidels, follow the way of their fathers for the simple reason 
 that each has been told it is the best. And that fixes for each 
 man his condition, locksmith, soldier, etc. 
 
 Therefore savages would care nothing for Provence. 
 
 Fe?-ox gens, nullam esse vitam sine armis rati. They love 
 death rather than peace, other men love death rather than war. 
 
 Every opinion may be held in preference to life, of which the 
 love seems so strong and so natural. 
 
 Thoughts. —All is one, all is diverse. How many natures in 
 that of man, how many vocations ! And by what a chance does 
 
5 * 
 
 THE DECEPTIVE POWERS 
 
 each man take ordinarily what he has heard praised. A well 
 turned heel. 
 
 The heel of a slipper .—How well this is turned, here is a clever 
 workman, how brave is this soldier ! Such is the source of our 
 inclinations and of the choice of conditions. How much this 
 man drinks, how little that man ! That is what makes men 
 sober or drunken, soldiers, cowards, etc. 
 
 Glory .—Admiration spoils everything from infancy. How 
 well said, how well done, how clever he is ! etc. 
 
 The children of Port Royal, who are not urged with this spur 
 of envy and glory, become careless. 
 
 Glory .—The brutes have no admiration for each other. A horse 
 does not admire his companion. Not but that they have their 
 rivalries in a race, but that entails no consequences, for once in 
 the stable the heaviest and most ill-formed does not yield his 
 oats to another, as men would expect from others in their own 
 case. Their virtue is satisfied with itself. 
 
 First degree : to be blamed for doing evil, and praised for 
 doing good. Second degree : to be neither praised nor blamed. 
 
 \ 
 
 Brave deeds are most estimable when hidden. When I see 
 some of these in history they please me much. But after all 
 they have not been wholly hidden, since they have become known. 
 And though all has been done to hide them that could be done, 
 the little whereby they have appeared has spoiled all, for what 
 was finest in them was the desire to hide them. 
 
 We are not content with the life we have in ourselves and in 
 our own being, we wish to live an imaginary life in the idea of 
 others, and to this end we strive to make a show. We 
 labour incessantly to embellish and preserve this imaginary 
 being, and we neglect the true. And if we have either calmness, 
 generosity, or fidelity, we hasten to let it be known, that we 
 may attach these virtues to that imaginary being ; we would 
 
OF THE IMAGINATION. 
 
 59 
 
 even part with them for this end, and gladly become cowards 
 for the reputation of valour. It is a great mark of the nothing¬ 
 ness of our own being that we are not satisfied with the one 
 without the other, and that we often renounce one for the other. 
 For he would be infamous w T ho would not die to preserve his 
 honour. 
 
 Vocations .—The sweetness of glory is so great that join it to 
 what we will, even to death, we love it. 
 
 Evil is easy, and its forms are infinite ; good is almost unique. 
 But a certain kind of evil is as difficult to find as what is called 
 good ; and often on this account this particular kind of evil gets 
 passed off as good. There is even needed an extraordinary 
 greatness of soul to attain to it as well as to good. 
 
 We are so presumptuous that we would fain be known by the 
 whole world, even by those who shall come after, when we are no 
 more. And we are such triflers that the esteem of five or six 
 persons about us diverts and contents us. 
 
 Vanity is so anchored in the heart of man that a soldier, a 
 camp-follower, a cook, a porter makes his boasts, and is for 
 having his admirers ; even philosophers wish for them. Those 
 who write against it, yet desire the glory of having written well, 
 those who read, desire the glory of having read ; I who write this 
 have, may be, this desire, and perhaps those who will read it . . . 
 
 In towns through which we pass we care not whether men 
 esteem us, but we do care if we have to live there any time. 
 How long is needed ? A time in proportion to our vain and 
 fleeting life. 
 
 The condition of man ; inconstancy, weariness, unrest. 
 
 Whoever will know fully the vanity of man has but to consider 
 the causes and the effects of love. The cause is an unknown 
 quantity, and the effects are terrible. This unknown quantity, so 
 
6o DECEPTIVE POWERS OF THE IMAGINATION. 
 
 small a matter that we cannot recognise it, moves a whole 
 country, princes, armies, and all the world. 
 
 Cleopatra’s nose : had it been shorter, the face of the world 
 had been changed. 
 
 Nothing better shows the frivolity of men than to consider 
 what are the causes and what the effects of love, for all the 
 universe is changed by them. Cleopatra’s nose. 
 
 P'rivolity. —The cause and the effects of love. Cleopatra. 
 
 Pride is a counterpoise, and turns the scale against all woes. 
 Here is a strange monster, a very visible aberration. Behold him 
 fallen from his place, and anxiously seeking it. That is what 
 all men do. Let us see who has found it. 
 
 Contradiction. —Pride is a counterpoise to all miseries. Man 
 either conceals them, or if he display them, glories in the 
 knowledge of them. 
 
 Of the desire of behig esteemed by those with whom we are .—• 
 Pride has a natural possession of us in the midst of our miseries, 
 errors, etc. We can even lose our life with joy, if men will but 
 talk of it. 
 
 Vanity, play, hunting, visiting, false pretences, a lasting name. 
 
 Pride. —Curiosity is mere frivolity. For the most part we want 
 to know only for the sake of talking. People would not make 
 voyages if they were never to speak of them, for the sole pleasure 
 of seeing, without hope of ever communicating their impressions. 
 
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 and Germans instead of 
 stable justice. We should have seen it established in all the 
 States of the world, in all times, whereas now we see neither 
 justice nor injustice which does not change its quality upon 
 changing its climate. Three degrees of latitude reverse all 
 jurisprudence, a meridian decides what is truth, fundamental 
 laws change after a few years of possession, right has its epochs, 
 the entrance of Saturn into the Lion marks for us the origin of 
 such and such a crime. That is droll justice which is bounded by 
 a stream ! Truth on this side of the Pyrenees, error on that. 
 
 It is admitted that justice is not in these customs, but that it 
 resides in natural laws common to every country. This would 
 no doubt be maintained with obstinacy if the rash chance which 
 has disseminated human laws had lighted upon even one that is 
 universal, but the singularity of the matter is that owing to the 
 vagaries of human caprice there is not one. 
 
 Theft, incest, infanticide, parricide, all have found a place among 
 virtuous actions. Can there be any thing more absurd than that 
 a man should have the right to kill me because he lives across 
 the water, and because his prince has a quarrel with mine, 
 although I have none with him? There are no doubt natural 
 laws, but fair reason once corrupted has corrupted all. Nihil 
 
62 
 
 JUSTICE, CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES. 
 
 amplius nostrum est j quod nostrum dicimus , artis est. Ex 
 senatusconsultis , et plebiscitis crimina exercentur. Ut olim vitiis, 
 sic nunc legibus laboramus. 
 
 From this confusion it results that one declares the essence 
 of justice to be the authority of the legislator, another, the con¬ 
 venience of the sovereign, another, existing custom, and this 
 is the most sure ; nothing which follows reason alone is just in 
 itself, all shifts and changes with time ; custom creates equity, 
 by the simple reason that this is received. It is the mystical 
 foundation of its authority, whoever carries it back to first 
 principles annihilates it. Nothing is so faulty as those laws 
 which correct faults. Whoever obeys them because they are 
 just, obeys an imaginary justice, not law in its essence ; it is 
 altogether self-contained, it is law and nothing more. Who¬ 
 ever will examine its motive will find it so feeble and so slight 
 that if he be not used to contemplate the marvels of human imagi¬ 
 nation, he will wonder that a single century has gained for it 
 so much pomp and reverence. It is the art of disturbance and 
 of revolution to shake established customs, sounding them to 
 their source, to mark their want of authority and justice. We 
 must, it is said, return to the primitive and fundamental laws of 
 the State, abolished by unjust custom. It is a game wherein -we 
 are sure to lose all; in this balance nothing would be true, yet 
 the people easily lends an ear to such talk as this. They shake 
 off the yoke as soon as they recognise it, and the great profit 
 by its ruin, and by the ruin of those who have too curiously 
 examined recognised customs. This is why the wisest of law 
 givers said that it was often necessary to cheat men for their 
 good, and another, a good politician, Quum veritatem qua libere- 
 tur igno7'et, expedit quod Jallatur. We ought not to feel the 
 truth that law is but usurpation ; it was once introduced with¬ 
 out reason, and has become reasonable ; it is necessary to cause 
 it to be regarded as eternal and authoritative, and to conceal 
 the beginning if we do not wish it should soon come to an end. 
 
 I have passed much of my life believing that justice existed, 
 and in this I did not deceive myself, for there is justice ac¬ 
 cording as God has willed to reveal it to us. But I did not 
 
JUSTICE , CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES. 
 
 63 
 
 take it so, and in that I deceived myself, for I believed that 
 our justice was essentially just, and that I had that whereby I 
 was able to know and judge of it. But I so often find that my 
 right judgment was at fault, that at last I have begun to distrust 
 myself, and then others. I saw in all countries that men change, 
 and thus after many changes of judgment concerning true 
 justice, I recognised that our nature was a continual change, 
 and I have not changed since ; were I to change I should 
 but strengthen my opinion. The sceptic Archesilas became a 
 dogmatist. 
 
 The most unreasonable things in the world become most 
 reasonable, because of the unruly lives of men. What is less 
 reasonable than to choose the eldest son of a queen to guide 
 a state ? for we do not choose as steersman of a ship that one ot 
 the passengers who is of the best family. Such a law would be 
 ridiculous and unjust; but since they are so themselves, and ever 
 will be, it becomes reasonable and just. For would they choose 
 the most virtuous and able, we at once fall to blows, since 
 each asserts that he is the most virtuous and able. Let us then 
 affix this quality to something which cannot be disputed. This 
 man is the king’s eldest son. That is clear, and there is no 
 dispute. Reason can do no better, for civil war is the worst 
 of evils. 
 
 Men of unruly lives assert that they alone follow nature, 
 while those who are orderly stray from her paths ; as passengers 
 in a ship think that those move who stand upon the shore. Both 
 sides say the same thing. There must be a fixed point to enable 
 us to judge. The harbour decides the question for those 
 who are in the vessel, but where can we find the harbour in 
 morals ? 
 
 When all moves equally, nothing seems to move, as in a ship. 
 When all tend to vice, none appears to do so. Whoever stops 
 draws attention to the onward movement of others, as does a 
 fixed point. 
 
64 JUSTICE , CUSTOMS , ^A 7 > PREJUDICES 
 
 Justice is what is established, and thus all our established laws 
 are necessarily held to be just without being examined, because 
 they are established. 
 
 Justice .—As fashion makes what is agreeable, so it makes 
 what is just. 
 
 Our natural principles are but principles of custom. In children 
 natural principles are those which they have received from the 
 habits of their fathers, as hunting in animals. 
 
 A different custom will produce different natural principles. 
 This experience testifies, and if there are some natural principles 
 ineradicable by custom, so are there some customs opposed to 
 nature ineradicable by nature, or by a second custom. This 
 depends on constitution. 
 
 F athers fear that the natural love of their ch ildren may be effaced 
 N ow what sort of thing is that nature which is liable to be effaced. 
 Custom is a second nature which destroys the former. But what 
 is nature, for is not custom natural ? I am greatly afraid that nature 
 itself may be only our first custom, as custom is second nature. 
 
 Montaigne was wrong: custom should only be followed because 
 it is custom, and not because it is reasonable or just; but most men 
 follow it for the simple reason that they think it just. Otherwise 
 they would not follow it though it were the custom, for our only 
 wish is to be subjected to reason or to justice. Without this, 
 custom would pass for tyranny, but the empire of reason and 
 justice is no more tyrannical than that of desire. These are 
 principles natural to man. 
 
 It is then good to obey laws and customs because they are 
 laws, but we ought to know that there is neither truth nor justice 
 to introduce into them, that we know nothing about these, and 
 can therefore only follow what is recognised, and thus we should 
 never transgress them. But most men cannot receive this doc¬ 
 trine, and since they believe that truth can be found, and that it 
 resides in law and custom, they believe these laws, and take their 
 antiquity as a proof of their truth, and not merely of their authority 
 apart from truth. Thus they obey the laws, but are liable 
 
JUSTICE , CUSTOMS , TyYZ) PREJUDICES. 
 
 65 
 
 to revolt when these are shown to be of no value ; and this may 
 be proved of all of them, looked at from a certain point of view. 
 
 Injustice .—The authority of the judge is not given him for 
 his sake, but for that of the judged. It is dangerous to say this 
 to the people, but the people have too much faith in you ; that 
 will not harm them, and may serve you. You must then say 
 it openly. Pasce oves meets , not tuas. You owe me pasturage. 
 
 Dijustice .—It is dangerous to say to the people that the laws 
 are not just, for men obey them only because they think them 
 just. Therefore it is necessary to say at the same time that they 
 must be obeyed because they are laws, as superiors must be 
 obeyed, not because they are just, but because they are superiors. 
 All sedition is averted, if this principle be established and it be 
 understood what is rightly the definition of justice. 
 
 ( If God gave us masters direct from himself, how heartily 
 ought we to obey them ! Circumstances and necessity are 
 infallible masters. 
 
 Custom is our nature. Whoever is accustomed to the faith 
 believes in it, can no longer even fear hell, and believes in 
 nothing else. Whoever accustoms himself to believe that the 
 king is terrible . . . etc. Who doubts then that our soul, being 
 accustomed to see number, space, and motion, believes that and 
 nothing else ? 
 
 Veri juris; we have it no longer; had we it, we should not 
 take the manners of our country as our rule of justice. 
 
 Here, not finding justice, we fall back on force, etc. 
 
 It is a ridiculous thing to consider that there are people in 
 the world who, having renounced all the laws of God and 
 nature, have yet made laws for themselves which they exactly 
 obey, as, for instance, the soldiers of Mahomet, thieves, heretics, 
 etc., and thus logicians . . . 
 
 It seems as though their licence must be without limit or barrier, 
 since they have broken down so many that are just and holy. 
 
66 JUSTICE, CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES 
 
 Weakness .—The whole employment of men is to gain wealth ; 
 yet they have no title to show that they justly possess it but 
 human caprice, nor have they power to hold it securely. It is 
 the same with knowledge, of which disease deprives us. We 
 are incapable both of truth and of goodness. 
 
 The Swiss are offended if they are called noble, and bring 
 proof of their plebeian race that they may be judged worthy of 
 office. 
 
 When the question is of judging whether we ought to make 
 war and kill so many men, condemning so many Spaniards to 
 death, there'is only one man who is the judge, and he an 
 interested party; there ought to be a third, and he disinterested. 
 
 “ Why do you kill me ?—What! Do not you live on the other 
 side of the stream, my friend ? If you lived on this side I should 
 be an assassin, and it were unjust to kill you in this fashion, but 
 since you live on the other side, I am a brave soldier, and it is 
 just.” 
 
 Justice , Power .—It is just that what is just should be obeyed, 
 it is of necessity that what is strongest should be obeyed. 
 
 Justice without power is unavailing, power without justice is 
 tyrannical. Justice without power is gainsaid, because the wicked 
 always exist, power without justice is condemned. We must 
 therefore combine justice and power, making what is just strong, 
 and what is strong just. 
 
 Justice is subject to dispute, power is easily recognised and 
 cannot be disputed. Thus we cannot give power to justice, 
 because power has arraigned justice, saying that justice is unjust, 
 and she herself truly just ; so since we are unable to bring 
 about that what is just should be strong, we have made the 
 strong just. 
 
 The sole universal rules are the laws of the country in ordi¬ 
 nary affairs, and the law of the majority in others. And this 
 comes from the power w'hich is in them. 
 
JUSTICE, CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES. 67 
 
 Thus it comes that kings, whose power is of another kind, do 
 not follow the majority of their ministers. 
 
 No doubt equality of goods is just, but since they are unable 
 to bring about that power should obey justice, people have 
 judged it right to obey power; not being able to add power to 
 justice they have justified power, so that justice and power 
 should coalesce, and peace, the sovereign good, result. 
 
 Do we follow the majority because they have more reason ? 
 No ; but because they have more power. 
 
 Do we follow ancient laws and opinions because they are 
 more sound ? No ; but because they stand alone and take from 
 us the root of diversity. 
 
 Summum jus, summa injuria. 
 
 The way of the majority is the best way, because it is plain, 
 and has power to make itself obeyed ; yet it is the opinion of the 
 least able. 
 
 If men could have done so, they would have placed power in 
 the hands of justice, since we cannot deal with power as we 
 please, because it is a tangible quality, while justice is a spiritual 
 quality of which we dispose as we please, they have placed 
 justice in the hands of power, and thus that is called just which 
 we are forced to obey. 
 
 Thence arises the right of the swerd, for the sword gives a 
 true right. 
 
 Otherwise we should see violence on one side and justice on 
 the other. The end of the twelfth Provincial. 
 
 Thence the injustice of the Fronde, which raises its so-called 
 justice against power. 
 
 It is not the same in the Church, for there is true justice and 
 no violence. 
 
 Injustice .—That presumption should be joined to insigni¬ 
 ficance is extreme injustice. 
 
 Tyranny consists in the desire of universal rule outside its 
 sphere. 
 
JUSTICE , CUSTOMS , PREJUDICES. 
 
 There are different societies, in which are the strong, the fair, 
 the judicious, the devout, in which each man rules at home, not 
 elsewhere. Sometimes they meet, and the strong and the fair 
 contend for the mastery, foolishly, for their mastery is each in a 
 different kind. They do not agree, and their fault is that each 
 aims at universal dominion. None can obtain this, not even 
 power, which is of no avail in the realm of the wise ; she is 
 only mistress of our external actions. 
 
 Tyranny .—Thus the following expressions are false and 
 tyrannical: “I am beautiful, therefore I should be feared; I 
 am strong, therefore I should be loved. I am . . . ” 
 
 Tyranny is the wishing to have in one way what can only be 
 had in another. Divers duties are owing to divers merits, the 
 duty of love to the pleasant, of fear to the strong, of belief to the 
 wise. 
 
 These duties should be paid, it is unjust to refuse them, 
 unjust also to require others. In the same way it is false and 
 tyrannous to say, “He is not strong, therefore I will not esteem 
 him ; he is not clever, therefore I will not fear him.” 
 
 It is necessary that men should be unequal. True ; but that 
 being granted, the door is open, not only to the greatest domi¬ 
 nation, but to the greatest tyranny. 
 
 It is necessary to relax the mind a little, but that opens the 
 door to extreme dissipation. 
 
 We must mark the limits.—There are no fixed boundaries in 
 these matters, law wishes to impose them, but the mind will not 
 bear them. 
 
 Mine , Thine .—“This is my dog,” said those poor children, 
 “that is my place in the sunshine.” Here is the beginning and 
 the image of the usurpation of the whole earth. 
 
 Good birth is a great advantage, for it gives a man a chance 
 at the age of eighteen, making him known and respected as 
 an ordinary man is on his merits at fifty. Here are thirty years 
 gained at a stroke. 
 
JUSTICE , CUSTOMS , PREJUDICES. 
 
 69 
 
 It is the result of power and not of custom. For those who are 
 able to originate are few, the greater number will only follow, and 
 refuse glory to those inventors who seek it by their inventions. 
 And if they persist in wishing to gain glory, and in despising 
 those who do not originate, the others will give them ridicule 
 and would fain give them blows. Let no one then pride himself 
 on this subtle capacity, or else let him keep his content to himself. 
 
 The reason ojeffects .—It is strange that men would not have 
 me honour a man clothed in brocade, and followed by seven or 
 eight footmen ! Yet he will have them give me the strap if I do 
 not salute him. This custom is a power. It is the same with a 
 horse in fine trappings compared with another. It is odd that 
 Montaigne does not see what difference there is, wonders that 
 we find any, and asks the reason. “Indeed,” he says, “how 
 comes it,” etc . . . 
 
 When power attacks craft, when a mere soldier takes the square 
 cap of a first president, and flings it out of the window. 
 
 Injustice .—Men have found no means to gratify their sensu¬ 
 ality without wrong to others. 
 
 The greatness of man even in his sensuality, to have known 
 how to extract from it an admirable code, and to have drawn 
 from it a picture of love to others. 
 
 Greatness .—The reasons of effects mark the greatness of man, 
 in having formed so fair an order out of sensuality. 
 
 The reason of effects .—Sensuality and power are the source of 
 all our actions ; sensuality causes those which are voluntary', 
 power the involuntary. 
 
 From sensuality men have found and drawn excellent rules 
 of policy, of morals, and of justice. 
 
 But after all, this evil root of man, this Jigmentum malum , is 
 only hidden, it is not removed. 
 
70 JUSTICE, CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES. 
 
 Aii men by nature hate each other. They have used sensuality 
 as best they could to make it serve the public weal, but this is only 
 a feint, and a false image of charity, for at bottom it is but hate. 
 
 To pity the unfortunate is not contrary to sensuality, rather 
 is it easy to render this evidence of friendship, and to gain the 
 reputation of a tender heart, without giving. 
 
 The people have very sound opinions, for instance: 
 
 1. In having preferred diversion and hunting to poetry. 
 The half educated deride this, and are triumphant over the 
 folly of the world, but the people are right by a reason which the 
 others do not understand. 
 
 2. In distinguishing men by outward marks, as birth or 
 wealth. The world is again triumphant in showing how un¬ 
 reasonable this is, yet it is thoroughly reasonable. Savages 
 laugh at an infant king. 
 
 3. In taking offence at a blow, or in desiring glory so strongly. 
 
 But it is very desirable, on account of the other essential 
 
 goods which are joined to it, and a man who has received a blow 
 without resenting it is overwhelmed with abuse and indignity. 
 
 4. In working for an uncertainty, in going on a sea voyage, 
 in walking over a plank. 
 
 Sound opinions of the people. — Civil wars are the greatest of 
 all evils. They are certain, if we try to reward desert, for all 
 will say they deserve. The evil to fear from a fool who suc¬ 
 ceeds by right of birth, is neither so great nor so certain. 
 
 Sound opinions of the people. —To be well dressed is not 
 altogether foolish, for it proves that a great number of people 
 work for us. It shows by our hair, that we have a valet, a per¬ 
 fumer, etc.; by our band, our thread, our trimming, etc. Now it 
 is not merely superficial nor simply outward show to have many 
 arms at our disposal. 
 
 The more arms we have the stronger we are. To be well 
 dressed is to show our power. 
 
JUSTICE , CUSTOMS, AND PREJUDICES. 
 
 71 
 
 The reason of effects. —Continual alternation of fro and con. 
 
 We have then shown that man is frivolous, by the estimation 
 he has of non-essentials. And all these opinions are destroyed. 
 We have next shown that all these opinions were perfectly 
 sound, and that thus all these frivolities being well founded, 
 the people is not so frivolous as is said. And thus we have 
 destroyed the opinion which destroyed that of the people. 
 
 But we must now destroy this last proposition, and show that 
 it remains always true that the people is frivolous, though its 
 opinions are sound, because it does not feel the truth where it 
 is, and placing it where it is not, its opinions are always very 
 false and very unsound. 
 
 The reason of effects— It is, then, true to say that all men are 
 under an illusion, for even though the opinions of the people 
 be sound, they are not so as they hold them, for they think that 
 truth is where it is not. Truth is indeed in their opinions, but 
 not at the point where they imagine it. 
 
 Thus, it is true that we should honour men of birth, but not 
 because good birth is in itself an advantage, etc. 
 
 The reason of effects— Gradation. The people honours per¬ 
 sons of high birth. The half-educated despise them, saying 
 that birth is not a personal, but a chance advantage. The edu¬ 
 cated honour them, not from the motives of the people, but from 
 another motive. Devout persons of more zeal than knowledge 
 despise them, in spite of that consideration which makes them 
 honoured by the educated, because they judge by a new light 
 arising from their piety. But true Christians honour them by 
 a still higher light. So there is a succession of opinions for and 
 against, according to the measure of our light. 
 
 How rightly do men distinguish by exterior rather than by 
 interior qualities ! Which of us twain shall take the lead ? 
 Who will give place to the other? The least able ? But I am as 
 able as he is. We should have to fight about that. He has four 
 footmen, and I have but one ; that is something which can be 
 seen ; there is nothing to do but to count; it is my place to 
 
72 
 
 JUSTICE , CUSTOMS , ^VZ> PREJUDICES. 
 
 yield, and I am a fool if I contest it. So by this means we 
 remain at peace, the greatest of all blessings. 
 
 Deference is shown by submitting to personal inconvenience. 
 This is apparently foolish but really just, for it is to say, “ I 
 would certainly put myself to inconvenience did you need it, 
 since I do so when it can be of no service to you.” Respect, 
 moreover, is for the purpose of marking distinctions of rank. 
 Now if it showed respect to be seated in an arm-chair, we should 
 pay respect to every body, and thus no distinction would be 
 made, but being put to inconvenience we distinguish very well. 
 
 The reason of effects. —We should keep our own secret 
 thoughts, arid judge of all by those, while speaking like every 
 one else. 
 
 King and tyrant. —I too will have my secret thoughts. I will 
 take care on every journey. 
 
 The reason of effects. —Epictetus. Those who say “ You have a 
 headache,” this is not the same thing. We are assured of 
 health, and not of justice, and indeed his own was folly. 
 
 Yet he believed it demonstrable when he said, “it is either in 
 our power or it is not.” 
 
 But he did not see that it is not in our power to regulate the 
 heart, and he was wrong to draw this conclusion from the fact 
 that some were Christians. 
 
 The reason of effects. —It is owing to the weakness of man 
 that so many things are esteemed beautiful, as to be well skilled 
 in playing the lute. 
 
 It is only an evil because of our weakness. 
 
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 
 because it afflicts us, and if it be pleasant we regret to see it 
 vanish away. We endeavour to sustain the present by the 
 future, and think of arranging things not in our power, for a 
 time at which we have no certainty of arriving. 
 
 If we examine our thoughts, we shall find them always occu¬ 
 pied with the past or the future. We scarcely think of the 
 present, and if we do so, it is only that we may borrow light 
 from it to direct the future. The present is never our end ; 
 the past and the present are our means, the future alone is our 
 end. Thus we never live, but hope to live, and while we always 
 lay ourselves out to be happy, it is inevitable that we can never 
 be so. 
 
 We are so unhappy that we cannot take pleasure in a thing, 
 save on condition of being troubled if it turn out ill, as a thousand 
 things may do, and do every hour. He who should find the 
 secret of rejoicing in good without being troubled at its contrary 
 evil, would have hit the mark. It is perpetual motion. 
 
 Our nature exists by motion ; perfect rest is death. 
 
74 
 
 WEAKNESS , UNREST, AND 
 
 When wc are well we wonder how we should get on if we 
 were sick, but when sickness comes we take our medicine 
 cheerfully, into that the evil resolves itself. We have no ongei 
 those passions and that desire for amusement and gadding 
 abroad, which were ours in health, but are now incompatible 
 with the necessities of our disease. So then nature gives us 
 passions and desires in accordance with the immediate situation 
 Nothing troubles us but fears, which we, and not nature, ma - 
 for ourselves, because fear adds to the condition in which we are 
 the passions of the condition in which we are not. 
 
 Since nature makes us always unhappy in every condition, 
 our desires paint for us a happy condition, joining to that in 
 which we are, the pleasures of the condition m which we are not, 
 and were we to gain these pleasures we should not theiefore be 
 happy, because we should have other desires conformable to 
 
 this new estate. 
 
 We must particularize this general proposition . . . 
 
 What difference in point of obedience is there between a 
 soldier and a Carthusian ? For both are alike under rule and de¬ 
 pendent, both engaged in equally irksome labours. But the 
 soldier always hopes to bear rule, and though he never does so 
 for even captains and princes are always slaves and dependents, 
 he ever hopes and ever works to attain mastery, whereas the 
 Carthusian makes a vow never to be aught else than dependent 
 Thus they do not differ in their perpetual servitude, which is the 
 same always for both, but in the hope which one always has, 
 
 the other never. 
 
 The example of Alexander’s chastity has not made so many 
 continent as that of his drunkenness has made intemperate. t 
 is not shameful to be less virtuous than he, and it seems excusa e 
 to be no more vicious. We do not think ourselves wholly partakers 
 in the vices of ordinary men, when we see that we share those 
 of the great, not considering that in such matters the great are 
 but ordinary men. We hold on to them by the same end by 
 which they hold on to the people, for at whatsoever height t y 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 75 
 
 be, they are yet united at some point to the lowest of mankind. 
 They are not suspended in the air, abstracted from our society. 
 No, doubly no ; if they are greater than we, it is because their 
 heads are higher ; but their feet are as low as ours. There all 
 are on the same level, resting on the same earth, and by the 
 lower extremity are as low as we are, as the meanest men, as 
 children, and the brutes. 
 
 Great men and little have the same accidents, the same 
 tempers, the same passions, but one is on the felloe of the 
 wheel, the other near the axle, and so less agitated by the same 
 revolutions. 
 
 Would he who had enjoyed the friendship of the King of 
 England, the King of Poland, and the Oueen of Sweden have 
 thought he should come to want, and need a retreat or shelter 
 in the world ? 
 
 Man is full of wants, and cares only for those who can satisfy 
 them all. “ Such an one is a good mathematician,” it is said. 
 But I have nothing to do with mathematics, he would take me 
 for a proposition. “ This other is a good soldier.” He would 
 treat me as a besieged city. I need then an honourable man 
 who can lend himself generally to all my wants. 
 
 Men say that eclipses presage misfortune, because misfor¬ 
 tunes are common, so that as evil often happens they often 
 divine it; whereas to say that they presage happiness would 
 often prove false. They attribute happiness only to rare plane¬ 
 tary conjunctions, and thus they seldom fail in their divination. 
 
 We are fools if we rest content with the society of those like 
 ourselves ; miserable as we are, powerless as we are, they will 
 not aid us, we shall die alone. We ought therefore to act as 
 though we were alone, and should we in that case build superb 
 mansions, etc. ? We should search for truth unhesitatingly, and 
 if we refuse it, we show that we value the esteem of men more 
 than the search for truth. 
 
 The last act is tragic, how pleasantly soever the play may 
 
7 6 WEAKNESS , UNREST,\ AND 
 
 have run through the others. At the end a little earth is flung 
 on our head, and all is over for ever. 
 
 I feel that I might not have been, for the ‘ I ’ consists in my 
 thought; therefore I, who think, had not been had my mother 
 beei'Tkilled before I had life. So I am not a necessary being. 
 Neither am I eternal nor infinite, but I see plainly there is in 
 nature a necessary being, eternal and infinite. 
 
 As duchies, kingships, and magistracies are real and neces¬ 
 sary, because power rules all, these exist every where and alwa\ s. 
 But since it is only caprice which makes one or another duke 
 or king, the rule is not constant, and may vary, etc. 
 
 •f- 
 
 Cromwell was about to ravage the whole of Chiistendom, the 
 royal family had been brought to nought, and his own dynasty 
 for ever established, but for a little grain of sand in his bladder. 
 Rome herself began to tremble under him, but this scrap of 
 gravel having got there, he dies, his family falls fiom powei, 
 peace is established, and the king restored. 
 
 Scepticism .—Excessive or deficient mental powers are alike 
 accused of madness. Nothing is good but mediocrity. The 
 majority has settled that, and assails whoever escapes it, no 
 matter by which extreme. I make no objection, would 
 willingly consent to be in the mean, and I refuse to be 
 placed at the lower end, not because it is low, but because it 
 is an extreme, for I would equally refuse to be placed at the 
 top. To leave the mean is to leave humanity. The greatness 
 of the human soul consists in knowing how to keep the mean. 
 So little is it the case that greatness consists in leaving it, that 
 it lies in not leaving it. 
 
 Discourses on humility give occasion for pride to the boastful, 
 and for humility to the humble. Those on scepticism give 
 occasion for believers to affirm. Few men speak humbly of 
 humility, chastely of chastity, few of scepticism doubtingly. We 
 are but falsehood, duplicity and contradiction, using even 
 to ourselves concealment and guile. 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 77 
 
 There are vices which only take hold of us by means of others, 
 and these, like branches, fall with the removal of the trunk. 
 
 For we must not mistake ourselves, we have as much that is 
 automatic in us as intellectual, and hence it comes that the 
 instrument by which persuasion is brought about is not demon¬ 
 stration alone. How few things are demonstrated ! Proofs 
 can only convince the mind ; jcustom makes our strongest proofs 
 and those which we hold most firmly, it sways the automaton, 
 which draws the unconscious intellect after it. Who has demon¬ 
 strated that there will be a to-morrow, or that we shall die ; 
 yet what is more universally believed? It is then custom that 
 convinces us of it, custom that makes so many men Christians, 
 custom that makes them Turks, heathen, artisans, soldiers, etc. 
 Lastly, we must resort to custom when once the mind has seen 
 where truth is, in order to slake our thirst, and steep ourselves in 
 that belief, which escapes us at every hour, for to have proofs 
 always at hand were too onerous. We must acquire a move 
 easv belief, that of custom, which without violence, without art, 
 without argument, causes our assent and inclines all our powers 
 to this belief, so that our soul naturally falls into it. It is not 
 enough to believe only by force of conviction if the automaton is 
 inclined to believe the contrary. Both parts of us then must be 
 obliged to believe, the intellect by arguments which it is enough 
 to have admitted once in our lives, the automaton by custom, 
 and by not allowing it to incline in the contrary direction. In- 
 clina cor meum , Dens. 
 
 The intellect believes naturally, and the will loves naturally, 
 so that for lack of true objects, they must needs attach them¬ 
 selves to the false. 
 
 Eritis sicut Hi, scientes bonnm et malum— Every one plays 
 the god in judging whether anything be good or bad, and in 
 being too much afflicted or rejoiced at circumstances. 
 
 Even if people have no interest in what they say, it must not 
 therefore be certainly concluded they are not lying, for there 
 are those who lie simply for lying’s sake. 
 
78 
 
 WEAKNESS , UNREST, ANi> 
 
 Men are of necessity so mad, that not to be mad were madness 
 in another form. 
 
 We cannot think of Plato and Aristotle, save in professorial 
 robes. They were honest men like others, laughing with their 
 friends, and when they amused themselves with writing the 
 Lazos or the Politics , they did it as a pastime. That part of their 
 life was the least philosophic and the least serious ; the most 
 philosophic was to live simply and quietly. Jf they wrote on 
 politics it was as though they were laying down rules for a mad¬ 
 house, and if they made as though they were speaking of a great 
 matter, it was because they knew that the madmen to whom they 
 spoke fancied themselves kings and emperors. They entered into 
 their views in order to make their folly as little harmful as possible. 
 
 The most important affair in life is the choice of a trader 
 vet chance decides it. Custom makes men masons, soldiers, 
 tilers. “ He is a good tiler/’ says one, “ and soldiers are fools.” 
 But others : “ There is nothing great but war, all but soldiers are 
 rogues.” We choose our professions according as we hear this or 
 that praised or despised in our childhood, for we naturally love 
 truth and hate folly. These words move us, the only fault is in 
 their application. So great is the force of custom that out of those 
 who by nature are only men, are made all conditions of men. 
 For some countries are full of masons, others of soldiers, etc. 
 Nature is certainly not so uniform. Custom then produces this 
 effect and gains ascendency over nature, yet sometimes nature 
 gets the upper hand, and obliges man to act by instinct in spite 
 of all custom, whether good or bad. 
 
 Men by nature are tilers and of all callings, except in their own 
 closets. 
 
 We never teach men to be gentlemen, but we teach them 
 everything else, and they never pique themselves so much on all 
 the rest as on knowing how to be gentlemen. They pique them¬ 
 selves only on knowing the one thing they have not learnt. 
 
 People should not be able to say of a man, he is a mathema- 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 79 
 
 tician, or a preacher, or eloquent, but he is a gentleman ; that 
 universal quality alone pleases me.—When you think of a man’s 
 book as soon as you see himself, it is a bad sign. I would 
 rather that none of his qualities should be recognised till you 
 meet them, or have occasion to avail yourself of them. Ne quid 
 minis , for fear some one quality gain the mastery and stamp the 
 man. Let not people think of him as an orator, unless oratory 
 be in question, then let them think of it. 
 
 No man passes in the world as an expert in verse unless he 
 hang out the sign of a poet, a mathematician, etc. But people 
 who are generally accomplished need no sign and scarce recog¬ 
 nise any difference between the trade of a poet and that of an 
 embroiderer. 
 
 People of general accomplishment are not called poets or 
 geometricians, etc., though they are so, and judges of all these. 
 You do not guess what they are. When they enter a society 
 they join in the general conversation. They do not exhibit 
 one quality rather than another, except when they have to 
 make use of it. Then we remember it, for it is natural to 
 such characters that we do not say of them that they are fine 
 speakers when it is not a question of oratory, and that we give 
 them the praise of eloquence if occasion call for it. 
 
 It is false praise then to say of a man as soon as he enters a 
 society that he is a clever poet, and it is a bad sign when a 
 man is never called on to give his opinion on such a subject as 
 verse. 
 
 Inconstancy .—Things have different qualities, and the soul 
 different inclinations ; for nothing is simple which presents 
 itself to the soul, and the soul never presents itself simply to 
 any subject. Hence it comes that men laugh and weep at the 
 same thing. 
 
 Greatness of establishment, respect for establishment. 
 
 The pleasure of the great is to be able to make people happy. 
 
 The property of riches is to be given liberally. 
 
 The property of each thing should be sought out. The pro¬ 
 perty of power is to protect 
 
So 
 
 WEAKNESS, UNREST, AND 
 
 Saint Augustine saw that we labour for an uncertainty, at sea, 
 in a battle, etc.; lie did not see the doctrine of chances, which 
 demonstrates that we must do so. Montaigne saw that we are 
 disgusted at a distorted mind, and that custom can do all 
 things, but he did not see the reason of that effect. 
 
 All these men saw the effects, but did not see the causes ; in 
 relation to those who have discovered the causes they are as those 
 who have only eyes are in regard to those who have intellect. 
 For the effects are as it were sensible, and the causes are visible 
 only to the intellect. And though these effects too are appre¬ 
 hended through reason, yet is it in relation to the reason which 
 apprehends causes, as the bodily senses are to the intellect. 
 
 Suppose a man puts himself at a window to see the passers 
 by. If I pass I cannot say that he stood there to see me, for he 
 does not think of me in particular. Nor does any one who loves 
 another on account of beauty really love that person, for the 
 small-pox, which kills beauty without killing the person, will cause 
 the loss of love. Nor does one who loves me for my judgment, 
 my memory, love me, myself, for I may lose those qualities 
 without losing my identity. Where then is this ‘ T if it reside not 
 in the body nor in the soul, and how love the body or the soul, 
 except for the qualities which do not make ‘ ;//<?,’ since they are 
 perishable ? For it is not possible and it would be unjust to love 
 the soul of a person in the abstract, and whatever qualities might 
 be therein. So then we do not love a person, but only qua lities. 
 We should not then sneer at those who are honoured on account 
 of rank and office, for we love no one save for borrowed qualities. 
 
 Time heals all pain and misunderstanding, because we change 
 and are no longer the same persons. Neither the offender nor 
 the offended are any more themselves. It is like a nation which 
 we have angered and meet again after two generations. They 
 are Frenchmen still, but not the same. 
 
 Inco7istancy and singularity .—To live only by labour, and 
 to reign over the most powerful state in the world, are very 
 opposite things. They are united in the person of the grand 
 Sultan of the Turks. 
 
DEFECTS OF AT A FT. 
 
 Si 
 
 It pleases us to say ‘Prince’ to a king, because it lessens 
 his quality. 
 
 Epigrams of Martial .—Men like malice, but not against one- 
 eyed men, nor against the unfortunate, but against the fortunate 
 and proud. Those who think otherwise make a mistake. 
 
 For sensuality is the source of all our movements, and hu¬ 
 manity, etc. 
 
 We must please those whose feelings are humane and tender. 
 
 That epigram about the two one-eyed people is valueless, for 
 it brings them no consolation, and only gives a point to the 
 author’s glory. All that is merely for the sake of the author is 
 valueless. Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta. 
 
 I put it down as a fact that if all men knew what each said ot 
 the other, there would not be four friends in the world. This is 
 evident from the quarrels which arise from indiscreet reports 
 made from time to time. 
 
 Those who are always hopeful in adversity, and rejoice in 
 good luck, are suspected of being glad of failure should they 
 not be correspondingly depressed under bad luck ; they are 
 delighted to find pretexts for hoping, in order to show that 
 they are interested, and to hide by the joy they pretend to feel 
 that which they really feel at the ill success of the affair. 
 
 Malignity when it has reason on its side becomes proud, and 
 displays reason in all its splendour. 
 
 If austerity or a rigid choice have not found the true good, 
 and we must needs return to follow nature, it becomes proud by 
 reason of this return. 
 
 A maker of epigrams,—a bad man. 
 
 Do you wish men to believe good of you ? Then say none. 
 
 We ought to be much obliged to those who tell us of our 
 faults, for they mortify us, they teach us we have been despised, 
 
 G 
 
82 WEAKNESS , UNREST , AND 
 
 they do not prevent our being so in the future, for we have 
 many other faults which are despicable. They prepare for us 
 the exercise of correction, and freedom from a fault. 
 
 If we would reprove with success, and show another his mis¬ 
 take, we must see from what side he views the matter, for on 
 that side it is generally true, and admitting that truth, show him 
 the side on which it is false. He will be satisfied, for he will 
 see that he was not mistaken, only that he did not see all sides. 
 Now, no one is vexed at not seeing every thing. But we do not 
 like to be mistaken, and that perhaps arises from the fact that 
 man by nature cannot see everything, and that by nature he 
 cannot be mistaken in the side he looks at, since what we 
 apprehend by our senses is always true. 
 
 I passed a long time in the study of the abstract sciences, and 
 was much discouraged at finding how few were my fellow- 
 students. When I began the study of man I saw that these 
 abstract sciences were not fit for him, and that I was wander¬ 
 ing more from my true state in investigating them, than others 
 in* ignoring them. I forgave their scanty knowledge. But 
 I thought at least to find many fellow-students in the study of 
 man, and that this was the real study which befits us. I was 
 deceived, for there are still fewer than those who study mathe¬ 
 matics. It is onlv for want of knowing how to pursue this study 
 that we seek others. But is it not that even here is not the 
 knowledge that man should have, and that it is better for him to 
 be ignorant of himself in ordei to be happy ? 
 
 The Vanity of Knowledge .—The knowledge of external things 
 will not console me for my ignorance of ethics in time of affliction, 
 but the science of morals will always console me for my ignorance 
 
 \ of external knowledge. 
 
 There are plants on the earth, we see them, but they could 
 not be seen from the moon. On these plants are hairs, and in 
 these hairs tiny animals, but beyond that, nothing more. O, pre¬ 
 sumption ! Compound bodies are made up of elements, but 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 83 
 
 not the elementary bodies themselves. 0 presumption ! Here 
 is a fine distinction. We must not assert the existence of what 
 we cannot see, we must then say what others say, but not think 
 with them. 
 
 The world’s judgment is right, for it is in that condition 
 of natural ignorance which is man’s best wisdom. The 
 sciences have two extremes which meet. The first is that pure 
 natural ignorance in which every man is born. The other ex¬ 
 treme is that reached by great minds, who having run through 
 all that men can know, find that they know nothing, and again 
 come round to the same ignorance from which they started ; but 
 this is a learned ignorance, conscious of itself. Those between 
 the two, who have left their natural ignorance and not been able 
 to reach the other, have some tincture of this vain knowledge, 
 and assume to be wise. These trouble the world, and judge 
 all things falsely. The people and the wise make, up the world ; 
 these despise it, and are despised ; they judge ill of all things, 
 and the world rightly judges of them. 
 
 Nature has made all her truths self-contained. Our art 
 encloses them one within another, but that is not according to 
 nature. Each holds its own place. 
 
 Spongia soils .—When we see the same effect invariably recur 
 we conclude there is in it a natural necessity, as that there will be 
 a to-morrow, etc. But nature often gives us the lie, and will not 
 subject herself to her own rules. 
 
 Nature always begins the same things again, years, days, and 
 hours, and in like manner spaces and numbers follow each other, 
 end without end. So is made a sort of infinity and eternity, 
 not that any thing of these is infinite and eternal, but these finite 
 entities are infinitely multiplied. 
 
 Thus as it seems to me the number which multiplies them 
 alone is infinite. 
 
 Nature imitates herself. A seed sown in good ground brings 
 forth fruit. A principle cast into a good mind brings forth fruit. 
 
S 4 
 
 WEAKNESS , UNREST, AND 
 
 Numbers imitate space, which is of an wholly different nature. 
 
 All is made and guided by one and the same master, root, 
 branch and fruits ; principles and consequences. 
 
 Nature works by progress, itus et reditus. It goes and returns, 
 then it goes further, then twice as much backwards, then more 
 
 forward than ever, etc. . 
 
 So is it with the tide of the sea, and so appaventlY with the 
 
 course of the sun. 
 
 Every one is all in all to himself, for he being dead, all 
 is dead to him. Hence it comes that each man believes that 
 he is all to all. We ought not to judge of nature by ourselves, 
 
 but by it. 
 
 Self is hateful. You Miton, conceal self, but do not thereby 
 
 destroy it, therefore you are still hateful. 
 
 —Not so, for in acting as we do, to oblige every body, we give 
 no reason for hating us.-True, if we only hated in self the 
 vexation which it causes us. 
 
 But if I hate it because it is unjust, and because it makes 
 
 itself the centre of all, I shall always hate it. 
 
 In one word Self has two qualities, it is unjust in its essence 
 because it makes itself the centre of all, it is inconvenient to 
 others in that it would bring them into subjection, for each 1 
 is the’enemy, and would fain be the tyrant of all others. You 
 take away the inconvenience, but not the injustice, and thus you 
 do not render it loveable to those who hate injustice ; you render 
 it loveable only to the unjust, who find in it an enemy no longer. 
 Thus you remain unjust and can please none but the unjust. ^ ^ 
 Of Self-love .—The nature of self-love and of this human ‘ I’ 
 is to love self only, and consider self only. But what can it 
 do ? It cannot prevent the object it loves from being full of 
 faults and miseries ; man would fain be great and sees that he 
 is little, would fain be happy, and sees that he is miserable, 
 would fain be perfect, and sees that he is full of imperfections, 
 would fain be the object of the love and esteem of men, and sees 
 that his faults merit only their aversion and contempt. The 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 embarrassment wherein he finds himself produces in him the 
 most unjust and criminal passion imaginable, for he conceives a 
 mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and con¬ 
 vinces him of his faults. Desiring to annihilate it, yet unable to 
 destroy it in its essence, he destroys it as much as he can in his 
 own knowledge, and in that of others ; that is to say, he devotes 
 all his care to the concealment of his faults, both from others 
 and from himself, and he can neither bear that others should 
 show them to him, nor that they should see them. 
 
 It is no doubt an evil to be full of faults, but it is a greater 
 evil to be full of them, yet unwilling to recognise them, because 
 that is to add the further fault of a voluntary illusion. We do 
 not like others to deceive us, we do not think it just in them to 
 require more esteem from us than they deserve ; it is therefore 
 unjust that we should deceive them, desiring more esteem from 
 them than we deserve. 
 
 Thus if they discover no more imperfections and vices in us 
 than we really have, it is plain they do us no wrong, since it 
 is not they who cause them ; but rather they do us a service, 
 since they help us to deliver ourselves from an evil, the 
 ignorance of these imperfections. We ought not to be troubled 
 that they know our faults and despise us, since it is but just 
 they should know us as we are, and despise us if we are 
 despicable. 
 
 Such are the sentiments which would arise in a heart full of 
 equity and justice. What should we say then of our own heart, 
 finding in it an wholly contrary disposition? For is it not 
 true that we hate truth, and those who tell it us, and that we 
 would wish them to have an erroneously favourable opinion 
 of us, and to esteem us other than indeed we are ? 
 
 One proof of this fills me with dismay. The Catholic religion 
 does not oblige us to tell out our sins indiscriminately to all, it 
 allows us to remain hidden from men in general, but she ex¬ 
 cepts one alone, to whom she commands us to open the very 
 depths of our heart, and to show ourselves to him as we are. 
 There is but this one man in the world whom she orders us to 
 undeceive ; she binds him to an inviolable secrecy, so that this 
 knowledge is to him as though it were not. We can imagine 
 
86 
 
 WEAKNESS, UNREST, AND 
 
 nothing more charitable and more tender. Yet such is the 
 corruption of man, that he finds even this law harsh, and it is 
 one of the main reasons which has set a large portion of Europe 
 in revolt against the Church. 
 
 How unjust and unreasonable is the human heart which finds 
 it hard to be obliged to do in regard to one man what in some 
 degree it were just to do to all men. For is it just that we should 
 deceive them ? 
 
 There are different degrees in this dislike to the truth, but it 
 may be said that all have it in some degree, for it is inseparable 
 from self-love. This false delicacy causes those who must needs 
 reprove others to choose so many windings and modifications in 
 order to avoid shocking them. They must needs lessen our faults, 
 seem to excuse them, mix praises with their blame, give evi¬ 
 dences of affection and esteem. Yet this medicine is always 
 bitter to self-love, which takes as little as it can, always with dis¬ 
 gust, often with a secret anger against those who administer it. 
 
 Hence it happens, that if any desire our love, they avoid doing 
 us a service which they know to be disagreeable ; they treat us 
 as we would wish to be treated : we hate the truth, and they 
 hide it from us ; we wish to be flattered, they flatter us ; we love 
 to be deceived, they deceive us. 
 
 Thus each degree of good fortune which raises us in the 
 world removes us further from truth, because we fear most to 
 wound those whose affection is most useful, and whose dislike 
 is most dangerous. A prince may be the by-word of all Europe, 
 yet he alone know nothing of it. I am not surprised ; to speak 
 the truth is useful to whom it is spoken, but disadvantageous to 
 those who speak it, since it makes them hated. Now those who 
 live with princes love their own interests more than that of the 
 prince they serve, and thus they take care not to benefit him so 
 as to do themselves a disservice. 
 
 This misfortune is, no doubt, greater and more common in 
 the higher classes, but lesser men are not exempt from it, since 
 there is always an interest in making men love us. Thus human 
 life is but a perpetual illusion, an interchange of deceit and 
 flattery. No one speaks of us in our presence as in our absence. 
 The society of men is founded on this universal deceit: few 
 
DEFECTS OF MAN. 
 
 87 
 
 friendships would last if every man knew what his friend said of 
 him behind his back, though he then spoke in sincerity and 
 without passion. 
 
 Man is then only disguise, falsehood, and hypocrisy, both in 
 himself and with regard to others. He will not be told the 
 truth, he avoids telling it to others, and all these tendencies, so 
 far removed from justice and reason, have their natuial roots in 
 hTsTreaftT 
 
- » 
 
 * - 
 
 • • » t> 
 
 » V - . t, • 
 
 - . » 
 
 
THE HAPPINESS OF MAN WITH GOD; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THAT THE SCRIPTURE SHOWS A REDEEMER. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
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 for those in whom this light is extinguished, and in 
 whom we desire to revive it, men destitute of faith and grace 
 who, seeking with all their light whatever they see in nature to 
 lead them to this knowledge, find only clouds and darkness,— 
 to tell them they need only look at the smallest things which 
 surround them in order to see God unveiled, to give them as 
 the sole proof of this great and important subject, the course of 
 the moon and planets, and to say that with such an argument we 
 have accomplished the proof; is to give them ground for belief 
 that the proofs of our Religion are very feeble. Indeed I see by 
 reason and experience that nothing is more fitted to excite 
 contempt. 
 
 Not after this fashion speaks the Scripture, which knows 
 better than we the things of God. It says, on the contrary, 
 that God is a God who hides himself, and that since nature 
 became corrupt, he has left men in a blindness from which 
 they can only escape by Jesus Christ, and except through him 
 we are cut off from all communication with God. Nemo novit 
 Patrcm, nisi Films, et aii voluerit Filins revelare. 
 
 This is what Scripture indicates when it says in so many 
 places that those who seek God find him. It is not of a light 
 like the sun at noonday that they thus speak. No one says 
 
92 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 
 
 that those who seek the sun at noonday, or water in the sea 
 shall find them, and thus it follows that the evidence for God is 
 not of that kind. Therefore it says to us elsewhere : Vere tu es 
 
 Dens abscofiditus. 
 
 The metaphysical proofs of God are so apart from man’s 
 reason, and so complicated that they are but little striking, and 
 if they are of use to any, it is only during the moment that the 
 demonstration is before them, but an hour afterwards they fear 
 they have been mistaken. 
 
 Quod curiositate cognoverint , sitpcrbia amiserunt. 
 
 Such is the outcome of the knowledge of God gained without 
 Jesus Christ, for this is to communicate without a mediator with 
 the God whom they have known without a mediator. 
 
 Instead of which those who have known God by a mediator 
 know their own wretchedness. 
 
 Jesus Christ is the goal of all, and the centre to which all 
 tends. Who knows him knows the reason of all things. 
 
 Those who go astray only do so from failing to see one of 
 these two things. It is then possible to know God without 
 knowing our w’retchedness, and to know our wretchedness 
 without knowing God; but we cannot know Jesus Christ 
 without knowing at the same time God and our wietchedness. 
 
 Therefore I do not here undertake to prove by natural rea¬ 
 sons either the existence of God or the Trinity, or the immor¬ 
 tality of the soul, nor anything of that sort, not only because I 
 do not feel myself strong enough to find in nature proofs to 
 convince hardened atheists, but also, because this knowledge 
 without Jesus Christ is useless and barren. Though a man 
 should be persuaded that the proportions of numbers are 
 immaterial truths, eternal, and dependent on a first truth in 
 whom they subsist, and who is called God, I should not consider 
 him far advanced towards his salvation. 
 
 The God of Christians is not a God who is simply the author 
 of mathematical truths, or of the order of the elements, as is 
 the god of the heathen and of Epicureans. Nor is he merely a 
 God who providentially disposes the life and fortunes of men, to 
 
rREFACE TO THE SECOND FART. 
 
 93 
 
 crown his worshippers with length of happy years. Such was the 
 portion of the Jews. But the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, 
 the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and 
 consolation, a God who fills the souls and hearts of his own, a 
 God who makes them feel their inward wretchedness, and his 
 infinite mercy, who unites himself to their inmost spirit, filling 
 it with humility and joy, with confidence and love, rendering 
 them incapable of any end other than himself. 
 
 All who seek God apart from Jesus Christ, and who rest in 
 nature, either find no light to satisfy them, or form for themselves 
 a means of knowing God and serving him without a mediator. 
 Thus they fall either into atheism, or into deism, two things 
 which the Christian religion almost equally abhors. 
 
 The God of Christians is a God who makes the soul perceive 
 that he is her only good, that her only rest is in him, her 
 only joy in loving him; who makes her at the same time 
 abhor the obstacles which withhold her from loving him with 
 all her strength. Her two hindrances, self-love and lust, are 
 insupportable to her. This God makes her perceive that the 
 root of self-love destroys her, and that he alone can heal. 
 
 The knowledge of God without that of our wretchedness 
 creates pride. The knowledge of our wretchedness without 
 that of God creates despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ 
 is the middle way, because in him we find both God and our 
 wretchedness. 
 
OF THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 Second Part. That man without faith cannot knoiv 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 arrived 
 at the point to which all eyes are turned. All complain, princes 
 and subjects, nobles and commons, old and young, strong and 
 weak, learned and ignorant, sound and sick, of all countries, all 
 times, all ages, and all conditions. 
 
 A trial so long, so constant: and so uniform, should surely 
 convince us of our inability to arrive at good by our own strength, 
 but example teaches us but little. No resemblance is so exact but 
 that there is some slight difference, and hence we expect that our 
 endeavour will not be foiled on this occasion as before. Thus 
 while the present never satisfies, experience deceives us, and from 
 misfortune to misfortune leads us on to death, eternal crown of 
 sorrows. 
 
 This desire, and this weakness cry aloud to us that there was 
 once in man a true happiness, of which there now remains to 
 him but the mark and the empty trace, which he vainly tries 
 to fill from all that surrounds him, seeking from things absent 
 the succour he finds not in things present ; and these are all 
 
THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH . 
 
 q6 
 
 inadequate, because this infinite void can only be filled by an 
 infinite and immutable object, that is to say, only by God 
 himself. 
 
 He only is our true good, and since we have left him, it is 
 strange that there is nothing in nature which has not served to 
 take his place ; neither the stars, nor heaven, earth, the elements, 
 plants, cabbages, leeks, animals, insects, calves, serpents, fever, 
 pestilence, war, famine, vices, adultery, incest. And since he has 
 lost the true good, all things can equally appear good to him, 
 even his own destruction, though so contrary to God, to reason, 
 and to the whole course of nature. 
 
 Some seek good in authority, others in research and know¬ 
 ledge, others in pleasure. Others, who indeed are nearer the 
 truth, have considered it necessary that the universal good 
 which all men desire should not consist in any of those particular 
 matters which can only be possessed by one, and which if 
 once shared, afflict their possessor more by the want of what 
 he has not, than they gladden him by the joy of what he has. 
 They have apprehended that the true good should be such as all 
 may possess at once, without diminution, and without envy, and 
 that which none can lose against his will. And their reason is 
 that this desire being natural to man, since it exists necessarily 
 in all, and that all must have it, they conclude from it . . . 
 
 Infinite , nothing .—The soul of man is cast into the body, in 
 which it finds number, time, dimension ; it reasons thereon, 
 and calls this nature or necessity, and cannot believe aught 
 else. 
 
 Unity joined to infinity increases it not, any more than a foot 
 measure added to infinite space. The finite is annihilated in 
 presence of the infinite and becomes simply nought. Thus our 
 intellect before God, thus our justice before the divine justice. 
 There is not so great a disproportion between our justice and 
 that of God, as between unity and infinity. 
 
 The justice of God must be as vast as his mercy, but justice 
 towards the reprobate is less vast, and should be less amazing 
 than mercy towards the elect. 
 
 We know that there is an infinite, but are ignorant of its 
 
THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 97 
 
 nature. As we know it to be false, that numbers are finite, it 
 must therefore be true that there is an infinity in number, but 
 what this is we know not. It can neither be odd nor even, 
 for the addition of an unit can make no change in the 
 nature of number ; yet it is a number, and every number is 
 either odd or even, at least this is understood of every finite 
 number. 
 
 Thus we may well know that there is a God, without knowing 
 what he is. 
 
 We know then the existence and the nature of the finite, 
 because we also are finite and have dimension. 
 
 We know the existence of the infinite, and are ignorant of its 
 nature, because it has dimension like us, but not limits like us. 
 But we know neither the existence nor the nature of God, because 
 he has neither dimension nor limits. 
 
 But by faith we know his existence, by glory we shall know 
 his nature. Now I have already shown that we can know well 
 the existence of a thing without knowing its nature. 
 
 Let us now speak according to the light of nature. 
 
 •TLibere be a God, he is infinitely incomprehensible, since 
 having neither parts nor limits he has no relation to us. We 
 are then incapable of knowing either what he is or if he is. 
 This being so, who will dare to undertake the solution of the 
 question ? Not we, who have no relation to him. 
 
 Who then will blame Christians for not being able to give a 
 
 reason for their faith; those who profess a religion for which they 
 
 cannot give a reason ? They declare in putting it forth to the 
 
 world that it is a foolishness, stultitiam , and then you complain 
 
 that they do not prove it. Were they to prove it they would not 
 
 keep their word, it is in lacking proof that they are not lacking 
 
 in sense.—Yes, but although this excuses those who offer it as 
 
 such, and takes away from them the blame of putting it forth 
 
 without reason, it does not excuse those who receive it.—Let us 
 
 then examine this point, and say “ God is, or he is not.” But to 
 
 which side shall we incline ? Reason can determine nothin^ 
 _ £> 
 
 about it. There is an infinite gulf fixed between us. A game 
 is playing at the extremity of this infinite distance in which heads 
 or tails may turn up. What will you wager ? There is no reason 
 
 H 
 
9 S THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 for backing either one or the other, you cannot reasonably 
 argue in favour of either. 
 
 o not then accuse of error those who have already chosen, 
 for you know nothing about it.—No, but I blame them for having 
 made, not this choice, but a choice, for again both the man who 
 calls 4 heads ’ and his adversary are equally to blame, they are 
 both in the wrong; the true course is not to wager at all.— 
 
 Yes, but you must wager ; this depends not on your will, you 
 are embarked in the affair. Which will you choose? Let us see. 
 Since you must choose, let us see which least interests you. You 
 have two things to lose, truth and good, and two things to stake, 
 your reason and your will, your knowledge and your happiness ; 
 and your nature has two things to avoid, error and misery. 
 Since you must needs choose, your reason is no more wounded 
 in choosing one than the other. Here is one point cleared up, but 
 what of your happiness ? Let us weigh the gain and the loss in 
 choosing heads that God is. Let us weigh the two cases : if you 
 gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager then 
 unhesitatingly that he is.—You are right. Yes, I must wager, 
 but I may stake too much.—Let us see. Since there is an 
 equal chance of gain and loss, if you had only to gain two li\ es 
 for one, you might still wager. But were there three of them to 
 gain, you would have to play, since needs must that you play, and 
 you would be imprudent, since you must play, not to chance your 
 life to gain three at a game where the chances of loss or gain are 
 even. But there is an eternity of life and happiness. And that 
 being so, were there an infinity of chances of which one only 
 would be for you, you would still be right to stake one to win two, 
 and you would act foolishly, being obliged to play, did you refuse 
 to stake one life against three at a game in which out of an 
 infinity of chances there be one for you, if there were an infinity 
 of an infinitely happy life to win. But there is here an infinity 
 of an infinitely happy life to win, a chance of gain against a finite 
 number of chances of loss, and what you stake is finite ; that 
 is decided. Wherever the infinite exists and there is not 
 an infinity of chances of loss against that of gain, there is no 
 room for hesitation, you must risk the whole. Thus when a man 
 is forced to play he must renounce reason to keep life, rather 
 
THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH 
 
 99 
 
 than hazard it for infinite gain, which is as likely to happen as 
 the loss of nothingness. 
 
 For it is of no avail to say it is uncertain that we gain, and 
 certain that we risk, and that the infinite distance between the 
 certainty of that which is staked and the uncertainty of what we 
 shall gain, equals the finite good which is certainly staked 
 against an uncertain infinite. This is not so. Every gambler 
 stakes a certainty to gain an uncertainty, and yet he stakes a 
 finite certainty against a finite uncertainty without acting 
 unreasonably. It is false to say there is infinite distance 
 between the certain stake and the uncertain gain. There is 
 in truth an infinity between the certainty of gain and the 
 certainty of loss. But the uncertainty of gain is proportioned 
 to the certainty of the stake, according to the proportion of 
 chances of gain and loss, and if therefore there are as many 
 chances on one side as on the other, the game is even. And thus 
 the certainty of the venture is equal to the uncertainty of the 
 winnings, so far is it from the truth that there is infinite distance 
 between them. So that our argument is of infinite force, if we 
 stake the finite in a game where there are equal chances of gain 
 and loss, and the infinite is the winnings. This is demonstrable, 
 and if men are capable of any truths, this is one. 
 
 I confess and admit it. Yet is there no means of seeing the 
 hands at the game ?—Yes, the Scripture and the rest, etc. 
 
 —Well, but my hands are tied and my mouth is gagged : I am 
 forced to wager and am not free, none can release me, but I am so 
 made that I cannot believe. What then would you have me do ? 
 
 True. But understand at least your incapacity to believe, 
 since your reason leads you to belief and yet you cannot 
 believe. Labour then to convince yourself, not by increase of the 
 proofs of God, but by the diminution of your passions. You 
 would fain arrive at fa'th, but know not the way; you would 
 heal yourself of unbelief, and you ask remedies for it. Learn of 
 those who have been bound as you are, but who now stake 
 all that they possess; these are they who know the way you 
 would follow, who are cured of a disease of which you would be 
 cured. Follow the way by which they began, by making believe 
 that they believed, taking the holy water, having masses said, 
 
IOO 
 
 THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 etc. Thus you will naturally be brought to believe, and will lose 
 your acuteness.—But that is just what I fear.—Why? what have 
 you to lose ? 
 
 But to show you that this is the right way, this it is that will 
 lessen the passions, which are your great obstacles, etc.— 
 
 What you say comforts and delights me, etc.—If my words 
 please you, and seem to you cogent, know that they are 
 those of one who has thrown himself on his knees before and 
 after to pray that Being, infinite, and without parts, to whom he 
 submits all his own being, that you also would submit to him all 
 yours, for your own good and for his glory, and that this strength 
 may be in accord with this weakness. 
 
 The.end of this argument. —Now what evil will happen to you 
 in taking this side ? You will be trustworthy, honourable, humble, 
 grateful, generous, friendly, sincere, and true. In truth you will 
 no longer have those poisoned pleasures, glory and luxury,but you 
 will have other pleasures. I tell you that you will gain in this 
 life, at each step you make in this path you will see so much 
 certainty of gain, so much nothingness in what you stake, that 
 you will know at last that you have wagered on a certainty, an 
 infinity, for which you have risked nothing. 
 
 Objection. —Those who hope for salvation are so far happy, 
 but they have as a counterpoise the fear of hell. 
 
 Answer. —Who has most reason to fear hell, the man who is in 
 ignorance if there be a hell, and who is certain of damnation if 
 there be ; or he who is certainly convinced that there is a hell, 
 and has a hope of being saved if there be ? 
 
 “ I would soon have given up pleasure,” say they, “ had I but 
 faith.” But I say to you, “ you would soon have faith did you 
 leave off your pleasures. Now it is for you to begin. If I could, 
 I would give you faith. I cannot-do this, nor discover therefore 
 if what you say is true. But you can easily give up pleasure, 
 and discover if what I say is true.” 
 
 Probabilities. —We must live differently in the world, according 
 to these different suppositions : 
 
THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 IOI 
 
 i. That we could always remain in it. 2 . That it is certain 
 we cannot remain here long, and uncertain if we shall remain 
 here an hour. This last supposition is the case with us. 
 
 Instability— It is horrible to feel all that we possess slipping 
 away from us. 
 
 By the law of probabilities you are bound to take pains to 
 seek the truth; for if you die without adoring the true source of 
 all things you are lost. “But,” say you, “had he willed that I 
 should adore him, he would have left me tokens of his will.” 
 He has done so, but you neglect them. Seek them then, it is 
 well worth your while. 
 
 Dungeon .—I admit that it is not necessary to fathom the 
 opinion of Copernicus, but this : 
 
 It is all our life is worth to know if the soul be mortal or 
 immortal. 
 
 Fascinatio nugacitatis .—In order that passion may do no 
 hurt, we should act as though we had but a week to live. 
 
 If we ought to give a week we ought to give our whole life. 
 
 In short, what is it you promise me if not ten years of self- 
 love spent in trying hard to please without success, besides the 
 troubles which are certain ? For ten years is the probability. 
 
 Let us imagine a number of men in chains, all condemned to 
 death, of whom some are strangled every day in the sight of 
 the others, while those who remain see their own condition in that 
 of their fellows, and wait their turn looking at each other sorrow¬ 
 fully and without hope. This is an image of the lot of man. 
 
 We must know ourselves, and if that does not serve to dis¬ 
 cover truth, it at least serves to regulate our lives, and there is 
 nothing more just. 
 
 There are but three classes of persons : those who having 
 
102 
 
 THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 found God, serve him; those who not having found him, dili¬ 
 gently seek him ; those who not having found him, live without 
 seeking him. The first are happy and wise, the last are unhappy 
 and fools, those between are unhappy, but they are wise. 
 
 It is certain that there is no good without the knowledge of 
 God, that only as we approach him are we happy, and that the 
 ultimate good is to know him certainly; that we are unhappy in 
 proportion as we are removed from him, and that the greatest 
 evil would be certainty of the opposite. 
 
 The ordinary world has the power of not thinking about what it 
 does not choose to think about. “ Do not reflect on those passages 
 about the Messiah,” said the Jew to his son. So our people often 
 act. Thus false religions are preserved, and the true also, 
 as regards many people. 
 
 But there are those who have not thus the power of pre¬ 
 venting thought, and who think the more the more we forbid 
 them. These get rid of false religions, and of the true also, if 
 they do not find solid reasons. 
 
 If we ought to do nothing save on a certainty, we ought to do 
 nothing for Religion, for this is not certain. But how much we do 
 on an uncertainty, as sea voyages, battles ! I say then if this be 
 the case we ought to do nothing at all, for nothing is certain, and 
 that there is more certainty in Religion than that we shall see 
 another day, for it is not certain that we shall see to-morrow, but 
 it is certainly possible that we shall not see it. We cannot say 
 so much about Religion. It is not certain that it is, but who will 
 dare to say that it is certainly possible that it is not ? But when 
 we work for to-morrow, therefore for the uncertain, we act 
 reasonably. 
 
 For we should work for the uncertain by the doctrine of 
 chances already laid down. 
 
 We know truth, not only by the reason, but also by the heart, 
 and it is from this last that we know first principles ; and reason, 
 which has nothing to do with it, tries in vain to combat them. 
 
THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 103 
 
 The sceptics who desire truth alone labour in vain. We know 
 that we do not dream, although it is impossible to prove it by- 
 reason, and this inability shows only the weakness of our reason, 
 and not, as they declare, the general uncertainty of our knowledge. 
 For our knowledge of first principles, as space, time , motion , num¬ 
 ber , is as distinct as any principle derived from reason. And 
 reason must lean necessarily on this instinctive knowledge of the 
 heart, and must found on it every process. We know instinctively 
 that there are three dimensions in space, and that numbers are 
 infinite, and reason then shows that there are no two square 
 numbers one of which is double of the other. We feel principles, 
 we infer propositions, both with certainty, though by different 
 ways. It is as useless and absurd for reason to demand from 
 the heart proofs of first principles before it will admit them, as 
 it would be for the heart to ask from reason a feeling of all the 
 propositions demonstrated before accepting them. 
 
 This inability should serve then only to humiliate reason, which 
 would fain judge of all things, but not to shake our certainty, as 
 if only reason were able to instruct us. Would to God, on the 
 contrary, that we never needed reason, and that we knew every 
 thing by instinct and feeling! But nature has denied us this 
 advantage, and has on the contrary given us but little knowledge 
 of this kind, all the rest can be acquired by reason only. 
 
 Therefore those to whom God has given Religion by an- 
 instinctive feeling, are very blessed, and justly convinced. But 
 to those who have it not we can give it only by reasoning, 
 waiting for the time when God shall impress it on their hearts, 
 without which faith is human only, and useless for salvation. 
 
 Those to whom God has given Religion by an instinctive 
 feeling are very blessed, and quite convinced. But as for 
 those who have it not, we can give it them only by reasoning, 
 waiting for the time when God himself shall impress it on their 
 heart, without which faith is useless for salvation. 
 
 Is then the soul too noble a subject for the feeble light 
 of man ? Let us then abase the soul to matter, and see if she 
 knows whereof is made the very body which she animates, and 
 
104 THE NEED OF SEEKING TRUTH. 
 
 those others which she contemplates and moves at her will. 
 On this subject what have those great dogmatists known who 
 are ignorant of nothing ? 
 
 Hcirum sententiamm. 
 
 This would no doubt suffice if reason were reasonable. She is 
 reasonable enough to admit that she has never found anything 
 stable, but she does not yet despair of reaching it; on the 
 contrary, she is as ardent as ever in. the search, and is sure that 
 she has in herself all the necessary powers foi this conquest. 
 
 We must therefore make an end, and aftei having examined 
 these powers in their effects, recognise what they are in them¬ 
 selves, and see if reason has power and grasp capable ot seizing 
 the truth. 
 
 The Preacher shows that man without God is wholly ignorant, 
 and subject to inevitable misery. For to will and to be powerless 
 is to be miserable. Now he wills to be happy, and to be assured 
 of some truth, yet he can neither know, nor not desire to know. 
 He cannot even doubt. 
 
 This is what I see and what troubles me. I look on all sides, 
 and see nothing but obscurity, nature offers me nothing but 
 matter for doubt and disquiet. Did I see nothing there which 
 marked a Divinity I should decide not to believe in him. Did 
 I see every where the marks of a Creator, I should lest peacefully 
 in faith. But seeing too much to deny, and too little to affirm, 
 my state is pitiful, and I have a hundred times wished that if 
 God upheld nature, he would mark the fact unequivocally,but that 
 if the signs which she gives of a God are fallacious, she would 
 wholly suppress them, that she would either say all or say nothing, 
 that I might see what part I should take. While in my present 
 state, ignorant of what I am, and of what I ought to do, I know 
 neither my condition nor my duty, my heart is wholly bent to 
 know where is the true good in order to follow it, nothing would 
 seem to me too costly for eternity. 
 
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 percep¬ 
 tion 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 maybe doubted whether 
 these principles within us are true or false or uncertain accoiding 
 to our origin. 
 
 And more than this : That no one has any certainty, apart 
 from faith, whether he wake or sleep, seeing that in sleep we 
 firmly believe we are awake, we believe that we see space, figure, 
 and motion, we are aware of the lapse and measure of time , in 
 a word we act as though we were awake. So that half of our life 
 being passed in sleep, we have by our own avowal, no idea of 
 truth, whatever we may suppose. Since then all our sentiments 
 are illusions, who can tell but that the other half of life wherein 
 we fancy ourselves awake be not another sleep somewhat different 
 from the former, from which we wake when we fancy ourselves 
 
 asleep ? 
 
 And who doubts that if we dreamt in company, and if by 
 chance men’s dreams agreed, which is common enough, and if 
 we were always alone when awake, we should believe that the 
 conditions were reversed ? In a word, as we often dream that we 
 dream, and heap vision upon vision, it may well be that this life 
 itself is but a dream, on which the others are grafted, from 
 which we wake at death ; having in our lifetime as few principles 
 of what is good and true, as during natural sleep, the different 
 thoughts which agitate us being perhaps only illusions like those 
 of the flight of time and the vain fantasies of our dreams . . . 
 
io6 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 These are the principal arguments on one side and the other, 
 setting aside those of less importance, such as the talk of the 
 sceptics against the impressions of custom, education, manners, 
 climate, and the like ; and these though they influence the 
 majority of ordinary men, who dogmatise only on vain founda¬ 
 tions, are upset by the least breath of the sceptics. We have 
 only to see their books if we are not convinced on this point, 
 and we shall soon become assured of it, perhaps only too much. 
 
 I pause at the only strong point of the dogmatists, namely, 
 that speaking sincerely and in good faith we cannot doubt of 
 natural principles. 
 
 Against this the sceptics set in one word the uncertainty of our 
 origin, -which includes that of our nature. Which the dogmatists 
 have been trying to answer ever since the world began. 
 
 So then war is opened among men, in which each must take a 
 side, ranging himself either for dogmatism or for scepticism, 
 since neutrality, which is the part of the wise, is the oldest 
 dogma of the sceptical sect. Whoever thinks to remain neutral 
 is before all things a sceptic. This neutrality is the essence of 
 the sect; who is not against them is pre-eminently for them. 
 They are not for themselves, they are neutral, indifferent, in 
 suspense as to all things, themselves included. 
 
 What then shall man do in such a state ? Shall he doubt of 
 all, doubt whether he wake, whether you pinch him, or burn him, 
 doubt whether he doubts, doubt whether he is ? We cannot go 
 so far as that, and I therefore state as a fact that there never has 
 been a perfect finished sceptic ; nature upholds the weakness of 
 reason, and prevents its wandering to such a point. 
 
 Shall he say on the contrary that he is in sure possession of 
 truth, when if we press him never so little, he can produce no 
 title, and is obliged to quit his hold ? 
 
 What a chimaera then is man ! how strange and monstrous ! 
 a chaos, a contradiction, a prodigy. Judge of all things, yet a 
 weak earth-worm ; depositary of truth, yet a cesspool of uncer¬ 
 tainty and error ; the glory and offscouring of the Universe. 
 
 Who will unravel such a tangle ? This is certainly beyond the 
 power of dogmatism and scepticism, and all human philosophy. 
 Man is incomprehensible by man. We grant to the sceptics 
 
the philosophers. 
 
 107 
 
 what they have so loudly asserted, that truth is not within our 
 reach nor to our taste, that her home is not on earth but in 
 heaven, that she dwells within the breast of God, and that we can 
 only know her so far as it pleases him to reveal her. Let us 
 then learn our true nature from truth uncreate and incarnate. 
 
 Nature confounds the sceptics, and reason the dogmatists. 
 What then will become of you, O men ! who by your natural 
 reason search out your true condition? You can neither avoid 
 both these sects nor live in either. 
 
 Know then, proud man, how great a paradox thou art to 
 thyself. Bow down thyself, weak reason ; be silent, thou foolish 
 nature ; learn that man is altogether incomprehensible by man, 
 and learn from your master your true condition which you 
 ignore. Hear God. 
 
 For in a word, had man never been corrupt he would inno¬ 
 cently and securely enjoy truth and happiness. And had man 
 never been other than corrupt he w’ould have no idea of virtue or 
 blessedness. But wretched as we are, and even more than if there 
 were no greatness in our condition, we have an idea of happiness 
 and cannot attain it, we feel an image of truth and possess a lie 
 only, alike incapable of absolute ignorance and of certain know¬ 
 ledge, so manifest is it that we once were in a degree of perfec¬ 
 tion from which we have unhappily fallen ! 
 
 Yet it is an astonishing thing that the mystery most removed 
 from our knowledge, that of the transmission of sin, should be a 
 thing without which we can have no knowledge of ourselves. 
 For it is certain that nothing more shocks our reason than to 
 say that the sin of the first man rendered those culpable, who, 
 being so distant from the source, seem incapable of participation 
 in it This transfusion does not only seem to us impossible, but 
 even most unjust, for there is nothing so repugnant to the rules 
 of our miserable justice as to damn eternally an infant incapable 
 of will, for a sin in which he seems to have so scanty a share, 
 that it was committed six thousand years before he was in being. 
 Certainly nothing shocks us more rudely than this doctrine, and 
 yet without this mystery, the most incomprehensible of all, we 
 are incomprehensible to ourselves. The tangle of our condition 
 takes its plies and folds in this abyss, so that man is more 
 
10S TIIE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 inconceivable without the mystery than the mystery is incon¬ 
 ceivable to man. 
 
 Whence it appears that God, willing to render the difficulty of 
 our being unintelligible to us, has concealed the knot so high, 
 or rather so low, that we cannot reach it; so that it is not by 
 the arrogant exertion of our reason, but by the simple submission 
 of reason, that we can truly know ourselves. 
 
 These foundations solidly established on the inviolable au¬ 
 thority of Religion make us understand that there are two truths 
 of faith equally constant—the one, that man in his state at 
 creation or in that of grace is elevated above the whole of nature* 
 made like unto God and sharer of his divinity—the other, that in 
 the-state of corruption and sin he has fallen from his former state 
 and is made like unto the brutes. These two propositions are 
 equally fixed and certain. The Scripture declares this plainly 
 to us when it says in some places : Delicice rnecc esse cum filiis 
 hominum. Effundam spiritum ineum super oilmen carmm. Dii 
 estis , etc. j and in other places, Oinnis caro foenum. Homo as- 
 similatus est jumentis insipientibus ct similis factus est illis. 
 Dixi in corde mco de Jiliis hominum . . . Eccles. iii. 
 
 By which it clearly appears that man by grace is made like 
 into God, and a sharer in his divinity, and that without grace 
 he is like the brute beasts, etc. 
 
 Scepticism .—I shall here write my thoughts without order, yet 
 not perhaps in undesigned confusion, that is true order, which 
 will always denote my object by its very disorder. 
 
 I should do too much honour to my subject if I treated it with 
 order, because I wish to show that it is incapable of it. 
 
 Scepticism— All things here are true in part, and false in 
 part. Essential truth is not thus, it is altogether pure and true. 
 This mixture dishonours and annihilates it. Nothing is purely 
 true, and therefore nothing is true, understanding by that pure 
 truth. You will say it is true that homicide is an evil, yes, for 
 we know well what is evil and false. But what can be named 
 as good? .Chastity? I say no, for then the world would come 
 to an end. Marriage? No, a celibate life is better. Not to 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 109 
 
 kill? No, for lawlessness would be horrible, and the wicked 
 would kill all the good. To kill then? No, for that destroys 
 nature. Goodness and truth are therefore only partial, and 
 mixed with what is evil and false. 
 
 Were we to dream the same thing every night, this would 
 affect us as much as the objects we see every day, and were an 
 artisan sure to dream every night, for twelve hours at a stretch, 
 that he was a king, I think he would be almost as happy as a 
 king who should dream every night for twelve hours at a stretch 
 that he was an artisan. 
 
 Should we dream every night that we were pursued by 
 enemies, and harassed by these painful phantoms, or that we were 
 passing all our days in various occupations, as in travelling, we 
 should suffer almost as much as if the dream were real, and 
 should fear to sleep, as now we fear to wake when we expect in 
 truth to enter on such misfortunes. And, in fact, it would bring 
 about nearly the same troubles as the reality. 
 
 But since dreams are all different, and each single dream is 
 diversified, what we see in them affects us much less than 
 what we see when awake, because that is continuous, not indeed 
 so continuous and level as never to change, but the change is 
 less abrupt, except occasionally, as when we travel, and then we 
 say, “ I think I am dreaming,” for life is but a little less incon¬ 
 stant dream. 
 
 Instinct , reason .—We have an incapacity of proof which no 
 dogmatism can overcome. We have an idea of truth, which no 
 scepticism can overcome. 
 
 Nothing more strengthens scepticism than that some are not 
 sceptics ; were all so, they would be in the wrong. 
 
 This sect draw their strength from their enemies more than 
 from their friends, for the weakness of man appears much more 
 in those who are not, than in those who are conscious of it. 
 
 Against scepticism .—We suppose that we all conceive of 
 
no 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 things in the same way, but it is a gratuitous supposition, of 
 which .we have no proof. I see indeed that the same words are 
 applied on the same occasions, and that every time two men see 
 a body change its place, they both express their view of the same 
 object by the same word, both saying that it has moved, and from 
 this sameness of application we have a strong conviction of a 
 sameness of idea ; but this, though it may be enough to justify 
 us in wagering the affirmative, is not finally or completely 
 convincing, since we know that we often draw the same con¬ 
 clusions from different premisses. 
 
 This is enough, at any rate, to confuse the matter, not that 
 it wholly extinguishes the natural light which assures us of these 
 things ; the academicians would have w r on, but this obscures it, 
 and troubles the dogmatists to the glory of the sceptical cabal, 
 which consists in this ambiguous ambiguity, and in a certain 
 doubtful haze, from which our doubts cannot take away all the 
 light, nor our natural light banish all the darkness. 
 
 Good sense. —They are obliged to say, “ You do not act in good 
 faith; we are not asleep,” etc. How I like to see this proud reason 
 humiliated and suppliant. For this is not the language of a 
 man whose right is disputed, and who defends it with the mailed 
 power of his hand. He does not trifle by saying that men are 
 not acting in good faith, but he punishes this bad faith with 
 might. 
 
 It may be that there are true demonstrations, but it is not 
 certain. Thus this proves nothing but that it is not certain that 
 all is uncertain, to the glory of scepticism. 
 
 Ex scnatus consultis ct plebiscitis scelera exercentur. 
 
 Nihil torn absurdc did potest quod non dicatur ab aliquo 
 philosophomnn. Ouibusdam dcstinatis sententiis co?isecrati qua: 
 non probant coguntur defendere. 
 
 Ut omnium rerum sic litterarum quoque intemperantia labor- 
 amus. 
 
 Id maxime quemque decet quod est cujusque suum maxims. 
 
 Hos nciturci modos primum dedit. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Paucis opus est lit ter is ad bonam inentem. 
 
 Si quando turpe non sit , tamen non est non turpe quum id a 
 multitudine laudetur. 
 
 Mihi sic usus est , tibi ut opus est facto , fac. 
 
 The falsity of those philosophers who do not discuss the immor¬ 
 tality of the soul. The falsity of their dilemma in Montaigne. 
 
 It is beyond doubt that the mortality or immortality of the 
 soul must make an entire difference in morals ; yet philosophers 
 have treated morality independently of the question. They 
 discuss, to pass the time. 
 
 Plato, to dispose towards Christianity. 
 
 The soul is immaterial. Philosophers have subdued their 
 passions. What matter could do that ? 
 
 Atheists should say things which are perfectly clear, but it 
 is not perfectly clear that the soul is material. 
 
 Atheism is a mark of strength of mind, but only to a certain 
 degree. 
 
 Against'those philosophers who believe in God without Jesus 
 Christ. —They believe that God alone is worthy to be loved and 
 admired, and they have desired to be loved and admired of men, 
 and know not their own corruption. If they feel themselves full 
 of feelings of love and adoration, and if they find therein their 
 chief joy, let them think themselves good, and welcome ! But if 
 they find themselves averse from him, if they have no inclination 
 but the wish to establish themselves in the esteem of men, and 
 if their whole perfection consists not in constraining, but yet in 
 causing men to find their happiness in loving them, I say that such 
 a perfection is horrible. What! they have known God, and have 
 not desired solely that men should love him, but that men should 
 stop short at loving them. They have wished to be the object 
 of the voluntary joy of n\en. 
 
 All the principles cX sceptics, stoics, atheists, etc. are true ; but 
 
112 
 
 THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 their conclusions are false, because the opposite principles are 
 also true. 
 
 But perhaps the subject goes beyond the reach of reason. We 
 will therefore examine what she has to say on questions within 
 her powers. If there be anything to which her own interest must 
 have made her apply herself most seriously, it is the search after 
 her sovereign good. Let us see then in what these strong and 
 clearsighted souls have placed it, and whether they agree. 
 
 One says that the sovereign good consists in virtue, another in 
 pleasure, another in the knowledge of nature, another in truth : 
 Felix quipotuit < 'rum cognoscere causas, another in total igno¬ 
 rance, another in jdolence, others in neglect of appearances, 
 another in the lack of wonder, nihil mirari fti'ope res una quce 
 possit facere et scrvare beatum , the true sceptics in their indiffer¬ 
 ence, doubt and perpetual suspense, and others, more wise, think 
 they can find a better way. And this is all we get from them ! 
 
 We must needs see if this fine philosophy have gained nothing 
 certain from a research so lengthy and so wide, at least perhaps 
 the soul has learned to know herself. We will hear the rulers 
 of the world on this matter. What have they thought of her 
 substance ? 
 
 Have they been more happy in fixing her seat? 
 
 What have they discovered about her origin, duration and 
 departure ? 
 
 Search for the true good .—Ordinary men place their good in 
 fortune and external goods, or at least in amusement. Philoso¬ 
 phers have shown the vanity of all this, and have placed it where 
 best they could. 
 
 Philosophers reckon two hundred and eighty-eight sovereign 
 goods. 
 
 The sovereign good. Dispute about the sovereign good.—Ut sis 
 contentus temetipso ct ex te nasceniibus bonis. There is a 
 contradiction, for finally they advise suicide. Ah ! happy life 
 indeed, from which we are to free ourselves as from the plague. 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 “3 
 
 It is well to be weary and harassed by the useless search after 
 the true good, that we may stretch our arms to the Redeemer. 
 
 Conversation .—Great words : Religion. I deny it. 
 
 Conversation .—Scepticism aids Religion. 
 
 Philosophers .—We are full of matters which take us out of 
 ourselves. 
 
 Our instinct suggests that we must seek our happiness out¬ 
 side ourselves ; our passions hurry us abroad, even when there 
 are no objects to excite them. The objects outside us tempt 
 and call us, even when we do not think of them. And thus it is 
 in vain for philosophers to say, “ Enter into yourselves, and you 
 will find your good there ; ” we believe them not, and those who 
 believe them are the most empty and the most foolish. 
 
 This civil war between reason and passion divides those who 
 desire peace into two sects, the one, of those who would re¬ 
 nounce their passions and become gods, the other, of those who 
 would renounce their reason and become brute beasts.—Des 
 Barreaux.—But neither has succeeded, and reason still exists, to 
 condemn the baseness and injustice of the passions, and to 
 trouble the repose of those who give themselves over to their 
 sway, and the passions are still vigorous in those who desire to 
 renounce them. 
 
 The Stoics .—They conclude that what has been done once 
 may be done always, and that because the desire of glory gives 
 some degree of power to those possessed by it, others can easily 
 do the same. 
 
 These are the movements of fever, which health cannot imitate. 
 
 Epictetus concludes that since there are consistent Christians 
 all men can easily be so. 
 
 The three kinds of lust have made three sects, and philo¬ 
 sophers have done no other thing than follow one of the three 
 lusts. 
 
 What the Stoics propose is so difficult and so idle. 
 
 I 
 
TIIE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 114 
 
 The Stoics lay down that all who are not at the highest degree 
 of wisdom are equally frivolous and vicious, as those who are in 
 two inches under water . . . 
 
 Philosophers — A fine thing to cry to a man who does not 
 know himself, that of himself he should come to God. And a 
 fine thing also to say to a man w 7 ho knows himself. 
 
THOUGHTS ON MAHOMET AND ON 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 The foundatio?i 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, foretold? What mark has he that every 
 other man has not who chooses to call himself prophet ? What 
 miracles does he himself tell us that he wrought ? What mystery 
 has he taught ? Even according to his own tradition, what 
 was the morality, what the happiness he offered ? 
 
 The Jewish religion must be differently regarded in the tradi¬ 
 tion of the sacred books and in the tradition of the people. Its 
 morality and happiness are ridiculous in the tradition of the 
 people, but admirable in that of their saints. The foundation is 
 admirable, it is the most ancient book in the world, and the 
 most authentic, and whereas Mahomet, in order to ensure the 
 lasting existence of his book forbade men to read it, Moses with 
 the same object commanded everyone to read his. And it is the 
 same with all religions, for the Christianity of the sacred books 
 is quite different to that of the casuists. 
 
ii6 THOUGHTS ON MAHOMET 
 
 Our religion is so divine that another divine religion is only 
 the foundation of it. 
 
 The difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet. —Mahomet 
 was not foretold ; Jesus Christ was foretold. 
 
 Mahomet that he slew ; Jesus Christ that he caused his own 
 to be slain. 
 
 Mahomet forbade reading ; the apostles ordered it. 
 
 In fact the two systems are so contrary that if Mahomet took 
 the way, humanly speaking, to succeed, Jesus Christ took, 
 humanly speaking, the way to perish. And instead of conclud¬ 
 ing from Mahomet’s success that Jesus Christ might well have 
 succeeded, we should rather say that since Mahomet succeeded, 
 Jesus Christ ought to have perished. 
 
 The Psalms are chanted throughout all the world. 
 
 Who renders testimony to Mahomet ? Himself. Jesus Christ 
 wills that his testimony to himself should be of no avail. 
 
 The quality of witnesses demands that they should exist 
 always and everywhere, and the wretch stands alone. 
 
 The falsity of other religions— Mahomet had no authority. 
 His reasons ought to be most cogent, having nothing but their 
 own force. 
 
 What does he say then in order to make us believe him ? 
 
 Any man can do what Mahomet did, for he wrought no 
 miracles, he was confirmed by no prophecies. No man can do 
 what Jesus Christ did. 
 
 Against Mahomet— The Koran is not more of Mahomet than 
 the Gospel is of Saint Matthew, for it is cited by many authors 
 from age to age. Even its very enemies, Celsus and Porphyry, 
 never disavowed it. 
 
 The Koran says that Saint Matthew was an honest man. 
 Therefore Mahomet was a false prophet for calling honest 
 
AND ON CHINA. 117 
 
 men wicked, or for not admitting what they have said of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 It is not by the obscurities in Mahomet which may be inter¬ 
 preted in a mysterious sense, that I would have him judged, 
 but in what he speaks clearly, as of his paradise, and the rest, 
 he is ridiculous. And because what is clear is so absurd, it is 
 not just to take his obscurities for mysteries. 
 
 It is not the same with the Scripture. It may be admitted 
 that in it are obscurities as strange as those of Mahomet, but 
 much is admirably clear, and prophecies are manifestly fulfilled. 
 The cases are not the same. We must not confound and com¬ 
 pare things which only resemble each other in their obscurity, 
 and not in that clearness, which should induce us to reverence 
 the obscurities. 
 
 Suppose two persons tell foolish stories, one whose words 
 have a two-fold sense, understood only by his own followers, the 
 other which has only the one sense, a stranger not being in the 
 secret, who hears them both speak in this manner, would pass 
 on them a like judgment. But if afterwards in the rest of their 
 conversation one speak with the tongue of angels, and the other 
 mere wearisome common-places, he will judge that the one 
 spoke in mysteries and not the other; the one having sufficiently 
 shown that he was incapable of absurdity, and capable of being 
 mysterious, the other that he is incapable of mystery, and capable 
 of absurdity. 
 
 The Old Testament is a cipher. 
 
 History of China .—I believe those histories only, whose wit¬ 
 nesses let themselves be slaughtered. 
 
 It is not a question of seeing this in bulk. I say there is in it 
 a something to blind and something to enlighten. 
 
 In this one word I destroy all ycur reasoning. “But China 
 obscures,” you say, and I answer, “ China obscures, but there is 
 light to be found ; seek it.” 
 
 Thus all that you say makes for one of these designs, and not at 
 all against the other. So this serves, and does no harm. 
 
ixS THOUGHTS ON MAHOMET AND ON CHINA. 
 
 We must then look at this in detail, the papers must be laid 
 on the table. 
 
 Against the history of China, the historians of Mexico. The 
 five suns, of which the last is but eight hundred years old. 
 
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 from all other peoples of the world, which is 
 called the Jewish people. 
 
 I see then a mass of religions in many countries, and in all 
 times, but they neither please me by their morality, nor convince 
 me by theirproofs. Thus I should equally have refused the religion 
 of Mahomet and of China, of the ancient Romans and of the 
 Egyptians, for the sole reason, that none having more marks of 
 truth than another, nor any thing which necessarily decides me, 
 reason cannot incline to one rather than the other. 
 
 But while I consider this vacillating and strange variety of 
 morals and beliefs at different times, I find in one corner of the 
 world a peculiar people, separated from all other nations upon 
 earth, the oldest of all, and whose histories are earlier by many 
 ages than the most ancient in our possession. 
 
 I find then this great and numerous people, sprung from a single 
 man, who adore one God, and guide themselves by a law, given 
 them as they say, by his own hand. They maintain that to them 
 alone in the world God has revealed his mysteries, that all men 
 are corrupt and under the w r rath of God, are all abandoned to 
 their senses and imagination, whence arise the strange errors 
 and continual changes among them, both of religions and of 
 manners, whereas this nation remains unshaken in its conduct : 
 
120 
 
 OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 but that God will not leave other nations in darkness for ever* 
 that there will come a Saviour for all, that they are in the world 
 to announce his coming, that they were expressly formed to be 
 the forerunners and heralds of this great advent, and to call on 
 all nations to join with them in the expectation of this Redeemer. 
 
 Advantages of the Jewish people .—In this search the Jewish 
 people at first attracts my attention by a number of wonderful 
 and singular things which appear among them. 
 
 I see first that they are a people wholly composed of brethren, 
 and whereas all others are formed by the assemblage of an 
 infinity of families, this, though so prodigiously fruitful, has 
 sprung from one man only, and being thus all one flesh, and 
 members one of another, they form a powerful state consisting of 
 one family, a fact without example. 
 
 This family or nation is the most ancient known to men, a fact 
 which seems to invest it with a peculiar veneration, especially in 
 regard to our present enquiry, because if God has during all time 
 revealed himself to men, these are they from whom we must learn 
 the tradition. 
 
 This people is not peculiar only by their antiquity, but also 
 remarkable by their duration, which has been unbroken from 
 their origin till now. For while the nations of Greece and Italy, 
 of Lacedaemon, Athens and Rome, and others who came after, 
 have long been extinct, these still remain, and in spite of the 
 endeavours of many powerful princes who have a hundred times 
 striven to destroy them, as their historians testify, and as we can 
 easily understand by the natural order of things during so long a 
 space of years, they have nevertheless been preserved, and 
 extending from the earliest times to the latest, their history 
 comprehends in its duration all our histories. 
 
 The Law by which this people is governed is at once the 
 most ancient law in the world, the most perfect, and the only 
 one which has been kept without interruption in a state. This 
 is what Josephus excellently shows, against Apion, as does Philo 
 the Jew in many places, where they point out that it is so ancient 
 that the very name of law was only known by the men of old 
 more than a thousand years afterwards, so that Homer, who has 
 
OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE . 
 
 121 
 
 treated the history of so many States, has not once used the word. 
 And it is easy to judge of the perfection of the Law by simply 
 reading it, for it plainly provides for all things with so great 
 wisdom, equity and judgment, that the most ancient legislators, 
 Greek and Roman, having had some glimpse of it, have borrowed 
 from it their principal laws, as appears by those called Of the 
 Twelve Tables, and by the other proofs given by Josephus. 
 
 Yet this law is at the same time severe and rigorous beyond 
 all others in respect to their religious worship, constraining the 
 people, in order to keep them in their duty, to a thousand peculiar 
 and painful observances, on pain of death. Whence it is a 
 most astonishing fact, that it has been constantly preserved 
 during many ages by a people so rebellious and impatient, while 
 all other states have changed their laws from time to time, 
 although they are far more lenient. 
 
 The book containing this law, the first of all laws, is itself the 
 most ancient book in the world, those of Homer, Hesiod and 
 others dating from six or seven hundred years later. 
 
 Falsity of other religions .—They have no witnesses; this people 
 has them. God challenges other religions to produce such 
 marks. Is. xliii. 9,—xliv. 8. 
 
 This is fact. While all philosophers separate into different 
 sects, there is found in one corner of the world, a people, 
 the most ancient in the world, declaring that all the world 
 is in error, that God has revealed to them the truth, that they 
 will abide always on the earth. In fact, all other sects come to an 
 end, this one still endures, and has done so for four thousand 
 years. They assert that they hold from their ancestors that man 
 has fallen from communion with God, is entirely separated from 
 God, but that he has promised to redeem them, that their doctrine 
 shall always exist on the earth ; 
 
 That their law has a twofold sense, that during sixteen hundred 
 years they have had people whom they believed prophets fore¬ 
 telling both the time and the manner ; 
 
 That four hundred years after they were scattered everywhere 
 
122 
 
 OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 in order that Jesus Christ should be everywhere announced, Jesus 
 Christ came in the manner and time foretold ; 
 
 That the Jews have since been scattered abroad under a curse, 
 yet nevertheless still exist. 
 
 The creation and the deluge being past, and God not 
 intending any more to destroy the world, nor to create it anew, 
 nor to give any such great proofs of himself, he began to 
 establish a people on the earth, formed of set purpose, which 
 should last until the coming of that people whom Messiah 
 should mould by his spirit. 
 
 The Jews who were called to subdue the nations and their 
 kings w&re slaves of sin, and the Christians whose calling has 
 been to be servants and subjects, are free children. 
 
 The devil troubled the zeal of the Jews before Jesus Christ, 
 because he would have been their salvation, but not since. 
 
 The Jewish people mocked of the Gentiles, the Christian 
 people persecuted. 
 
 Republic .—The Christian and even the Jewish Republic has 
 only had God for master, as Philo the Jew notices, On 
 
 Monarchy. 
 
 When they fought, they did so for God alone, their chief hope 
 was in God alone, they considered their towns as belonging to 
 God, and they kept them for God. i Chron. xix. 13. 
 
 The sceptre was not interrupted by the carrying away into 
 Babylon, because the return was promised and foretold. 
 
 A single phrase of David or of Moses, as for instance that 
 God will circumcise the heart, enables us to judge of their spirit. 
 If all the rest of their language were ambiguous, and left it 
 doubtful whether they were philosophers or Christians, one single 
 sentence of this kind would determine all the rest, as one 
 sentence of Epictetus determines the character of the rest to be 
 the contrary. So far we may be in doubt, but not afterwards. 
 
 While the prophets were for maintaining the law, the people 
 
OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 123 
 
 was negligent, but since there have been no more prophets, zeal 
 has taken their place. 
 
 The zeal of the Jewish people for the law, especially since there 
 have been no more prophets. 
 
 Maccabees after they had no more prophets. The Masorah 
 after Jesus Christ. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 obscure. 
 
 For truth is impaired only by the change of men. And yet 
 Moses places two things, the most memorable that can be 
 imagined, that is to say the creation and the deluge, so near tha< 
 we can reach from one to the other. 
 
 Another proof —The longevity of the patriarchs, instead of 
 causing the loss of past history, was the rather serviceable for 
 its preservation. For if we are not always well instructed in the 
 history of our ancestors, it is because we have never lived much 
 with them, and because they are often dead before we have 
 ourselves attained the age of reason. But when men lived so 
 long, children lived long with their parents, and long conversed 
 with them. Now, their conversation could only be of the 
 history of their ancestors, since to that all history was re¬ 
 duced, and men did not study science or art, which now 
 
126 
 
 THE AUTHENTICITY OF 
 
 take up so much of our daily discourse. We see also that 
 at that time men took special care to preserve their genealogies. 
 
 Shem, who saw Lamech, who saw Adam, saw also Jacob, who 
 saw those who saw Moses ; therefore the deluge and the 
 creation are true. This is conclusive among certain people who 
 clearly understand it. 
 
 Josephus conceals the shame of his nation. 
 
 Moses does not conceal his own shame nor . . . 
 
 (Inis mihi det ut omnes prophctenl ? 
 
 He was tired of the people. 
 
 When the creation of the people began to stand at a distance, 
 God provided a single contemporary historian, and appointed a 
 whole people as the guardians of this book, in order that the 
 history might be the most authentic in ail the world, that all 
 men might learn a thing so necessary to know, yet so impossible 
 to be known in any other way. 
 
 If the story in Esdras is credible, then it must be believed that 
 Scripture is Holy Scripture. For this story is founded only on 
 the authority of those who allege that of the Seventy, which 
 shows that the Scripture is holy. 
 
 Therefore if the tale be true, we find our proof therein, if not 
 we have it elsewhere. Thus those who would ruin the truth of 
 our Religion, founded on Moses, establish it by the same 
 authority by which they attack it. Thus by this providence it 
 still exists. 
 
 Oft Esdras. —The story that the books were burnt with the 
 
 temple shown to be false by The Book of Maccabees. Jeremiah 
 
 <rave them the law. 
 
 «_> 
 
 The story that he recited the whole by heart. Josephus and 
 Esdras note that he read the book. Baronius, Ann. 180. Nullus 
 penitus Hebrceorum antiquorum reperitur qui tradidcrit libros 
 periisse et per Esdratft esse restitutes , nisi in IV. Esdrce. 
 
 The story that he changed the letters. 
 
THE SACRED BOOKS. 127 
 
 Philo, in Vita Moysis: Ilia lingua ac charactere quo anti¬ 
 quities scripta est lex, sic permansit usque ad I.XX. 
 
 Josephus says the Law was in Hebrew when it was translated 
 by the Seventy. 
 
 Under Antiochus and Vespasian, when they wished to abolish 
 the books, and when there was no prophet, they could not do so. 
 And under the Babylonians when there had been no persecution, 
 and when there were so many prophets, would they have allowed 
 them to be burnt ? 
 
 Josephus derides the Greeks who would not allow . . . 
 
 Tertullian.— Perinde potuit abolefactam cam violentia cata- 
 clysmi in spiritu rursus reformare, quemadmodum et Hiero- 
 solymis Babylonia expugnatione deletis, omne instrumentum 
 Judaicce literatures per Esdram constat restauratum. Lib. I. De 
 Cultu feemin . cap. iii. 
 
 He says that Noah might as easily have restored by the spirit 
 the book of Enoch, destroyed by the deluge, as Esdras have 
 restored the Scriptures lost during the Captivity. 
 
 0eo£ tv ry txi 'SafiovKoSovixrop aixuaXitxj'iq tov Xaov CiacpOaptiauiv riov 
 ■ypatpiov, ivktrvtvot ’EcrCpq rip itptl tK ri]Q (pvXijg Atol rovg twv 7rpoytyovo- 
 twv 7r pofppriov Tvavrag avara^dorai Xoyovg, kci'i cnroKaracTrioai rip Xa<p 
 t>)v did Ma xjtujg vopoBijaiav. He alleges this to prove that it is not 
 incredible that the Seventy should have explained the holy 
 Scriptures with that uniformity which we admire in them. Euseb. 
 lib. v. Hist. cap. 8. And he took that from Saint Irenasus. 
 
 Saint Hilary in his preface to the Psalms says that Esdras 
 arranged the Psalms in order. 
 
 The origin of this tradition comes from the Book of Esdras. 
 
 Deus glorificatus est, et Scriptures verce divines crediies sunt, 
 omnibus eandem et eisdem verbis et eisdem nominibus reeitantibus 
 ab initio usque adfinem, uti etpressentes gentes cognoscerent quo- 
 niam per inspirationem Dei interpretates sunt Scriptures, et 
 non esset mirabile Deum hoc in eis operatum, quando in ea cap- 
 tivitate populi ques facta est a Nabuckoaonosor cori'uptis Scrip- 
 turis et post septuaginta annos Judcsis descendentibus in regionem 
 suam, et post deinde temporibus Artaxexis Persarum regis inspi- 
 ravit Hesdrcs sacerdoti tribus Levi presteritorum prophet drum 
 
128 
 
 THE AUTHENTICITY OF 
 
 omties rememorare scrmones et restituerc ftopulo earn legem qua: 
 data est per Moysen. 
 
 Against the Story in Esdras, II. Maccab. 2. Josephus, Anti¬ 
 quities, II. i.—Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy of Isaiah 
 to release the people. The Jews held property in peace under 
 Cyrus in Babylon, therefore they might well have the Law. 
 
 Josephus, in the whole history of Esdras, says not a single word 
 of this restoration.—II. Kings, xvii. 37. 
 
 Scripture has provided passages of consolation and warning 
 for every condition of life. 
 
 Nature seems to have done the same thing by her two infi¬ 
 nities, natural and moral, for we shall always have those who are 
 higher and lower, who are more and less able, who are noble and 
 in low estate, in order to abate our pride, and raise our lowliness. 
 
 Order , against the objection that the Scripture has no order .— 
 The heart has its own order; the mind too has its own, 
 which is by premisses and demonstrations, that of the heart is 
 wholly different. It were absurd to prove that we are worthy of 
 love by putting forth in order the causes of love. 
 
 Jesus Christ and Saint Paul use the order of charity, not of the 
 intellect, for they wish to warm, not to teach ; the same with Saint 
 Augustine. This order consists mainly in digressions on each 
 point which may illustrate the main end, and keep it ever in view. 
 
 God and the Apostles foreseeing that the seed of pride would 
 cause heresies to spring up, and not wishing to give them occa¬ 
 sion to arise by defining them, have placed in the Scripture and 
 the prayers of the Church contrary words and sentences to 
 produce their fruit in time. 
 
 So in morals he gives charity *0 produce fruits contrary to lust. 
 
 He who knows the will of his master will be beaten with more 
 stripes, because of the power he has by his knowledge. Qui 
 justus est justijicetur adhuc , because of the power which he has 
 by justice. From him who has received most will the greatest 
 account be demanded, because the aid received has given him 
 greater power. 
 
THE SACRED BOOKS. 
 
 129 
 
 There is an universal and essential difference between the 
 actions of the will and all other actions. 
 
 The will is one of the chief organs of belief, not that it forms 
 belief, but that things are true or false according to the side on 
 which we view them. The will which chooses one side rathei 
 than the other turns away the mind from considering the 
 qualities of all that it does not like to see, thus the mind, moving 
 in accord with the will, stays to look at the side it chooses, 
 and so judges by what it sees. 
 
 All things work together for good to the elect, even the obscu¬ 
 rities of Scripture, which they honour because of what is divinely 
 clear. And all things work together for evil to the reprobate, 
 even what is clear, which they blaspheme because of the 
 obscurities they do not understand. 
 
 How many stars have telescopes discovered for us which did 
 not exist tor the philosophers of old. Men have roundly taken 
 holy Scripture to task in regard to the great multitude of stars, 
 saying : “We know that there are only a thousand and twenty- 
 two.’’ 
 
 The meaning changes according to the words which express 
 it. The meaning receives its dignity from words instead of 
 giving it. We must seek examples of this. 
 
 Words differently arranged have different meanings, and 
 meanings differently arranged produce different effects. 
 
 K 
 
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 pro¬ 
 phets 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 from every man made it necessary not only that 
 there should be prophecies to inspire this belief, but that these 
 prophecies should be spread throughout the whole world, so 
 that the whole world should embrace it. 
 
 Prophecies .—If one man alone had made a book of predictions 
 concerning Jesus Christ, both as to the time and the manner of 
 his coming, and if Jesus Christ had come in agreement with 
 these prophecies, the fact would have had infinite force. 
 
 But in this case there is much more. Here is a succession of 
 men for the space of four thousand years, who without interrup¬ 
 tion or variation, follow one another in foretelling the same 
 event. Here is a whole people announcing it, existing for 
 four thousand years, to testify in a body their certainty, from 
 which they cannot be diverted by all the threatenings and perse¬ 
 cutions brought to bear against them ; this is in a far greater 
 degree important. 
 
 But it was not enough that the prophecies existed, they needed 
 also distribution through all places, and preservation through all 
 time. And in order that this agreement might not be taken as 
 an effect of chance, it was necessary it should be foretold. 
 
 It is much more glorious for the Messiah that they should be 
 
132 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 spectators and even instruments of his glory, beyond the fact 
 that God had preserved him. 
 
 Proof. —Prophecy with accomplishment. 
 
 That which preceded, and that which followed Jesus Christ. 
 
 The prophecies concerning the Messiah are mingled witn. 
 some concerning other matters, so that neither the prophecies 
 of the Messiah should be without proof, nor the special prophe¬ 
 cies without fruit. 
 
 Non habemus regem nisi Ccesarem. Therefore Jesus Christ 
 was the Messiah, because they had no longer any king but a 
 stranger, and because they would have no other. 
 
 The eternal kingdom of the race of David, II. Chron., by all 
 the prophecies, and with an oath. And it was not temporally 
 accomplished. Jer. xxxiii. 20. 
 
 Zeph. iii. 9.—“ I will give my words to the Gentiles, that all 
 may serve me with one consent.” 
 
 Ezekiel xxxvii. 25.—“ My servant David shall be their prince 
 for ever.” 
 
 Exodus iv. 22.—“ Israel is my first born.” 
 
 We might easily think that when the prophets foretold that 
 the sceptre would not depart from Judah until the advent of the 
 eternal king, they spoke to flatter the people, and that their 
 prophecy was proved false by Herod. But to show that this was 
 not their meaning, and that on the contrary they well knew that 
 the temporal kingdom should cease, they said they would be with¬ 
 out a king, and without a prince, and for a long time. Hosea iii. 4. 
 
 Prophecies— That Jesus Christ will sit on the right hand till 
 God has put his enemies under his feet. 
 
 Therefore he will not subject them himself. 
 
 The time of the first advent was foretold, the time of the 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 133 
 
 second is not so, because the first was to be secret, the second 
 must be glorious, and so manifest that even his enemies will re¬ 
 cognise it. But as his first coming was to be obscure, and to be 
 known only of those who searched the Scriptures . . . 
 
 The prophecies must be unintelligible to the wicked, Daniel 
 xii. 10, Hosea xiv. 9, but intelligible to those who are well 
 instructed. 
 
 The prophecies which represent him poor, represent him 
 master of the nations.—Is. lii. 16, etc. liii. Zech. ix. 9. 
 
 The prophecies which foretell the time foretell him only as 
 master of the Gentiles and suffering, and not as in the clouds 
 nor as judge. And those which represent him thus as judge 
 and in glory do not specify the time. 
 
 Do you think that the prophecies cited in the Gospel were 
 reported to make you believe? No, but to prevent your 
 believing. 
 
 Prophecies .—The time was foretold by the state of the Jewish 
 people, by the state of the heathen world, by the state of the 
 temple, by the number of years. 
 
 It is daring to predict the same affair in so many ways. 
 
 * It was necessary that the four idolatrous or pagan monarchies, 
 the end of the kingdom of Judah, and the seventy weeks should 
 coincide, and all this before the second temple was destroyed. 
 
 Prophecies— The seventy weeks of Daniel are equivocal in 
 the term of commencement, because of the terms of the prophecy, 
 and in the term of conclusion because of the differences in the 
 chronologists. But all this difference extends only to two 
 hundred years. 
 
 We understand the prophecies only when we see the events 
 occur, thus the proofs of retreat, discretion, silence, etc., aie 
 evidence only to those who know and believe them. 
 
 Joseph so interior in a law so exterior. 
 
134 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 Exterior penances dispose to interior, as humiliations to 
 humility. So the . . . 
 
 The more I examine them the more I find truths in them, 
 both in those which preceded and those which followed, both 
 the synagogue which was foretold, and the wretches who adhere 
 to it, and who, being our enemies, are admirable witnesses of the 
 truth of these prophecies, wherein their misery and even their 
 blindness is foretold. 
 
 I find this sequence, our Religion wholly divine in its authority, 
 in its duration, in its perpetuity, in its morality, in its conduct, its 
 doctrine, and its effects. 
 
 The frightful darkness of the Jews foretold. Eris palpans in 
 meridie . Dabitur liber scjenti literas , et dicet: Non possum 
 legere. 
 
 Hosea i. 9. “ Ye shall not be my people and I will not be your 
 God/’ when you are multiplied after the dispersion. “ In the places 
 where it was said : Ye are not my people, I will call them my 
 people.” 
 
 Predictions. —That under the fourth monarchy, before the 
 destruction of the second temple, before the dominion of the 
 Jews was taken away, and in the seventieth week of Daniel, 
 while the second temple was still standing, the Gentiles should 
 be instructed, and brought to the knowledge of the God wor¬ 
 shipped by the Jews, that those who loved him should be 
 delivered from their enemies, and filled with his fear and love. 
 
 And it came to pass that under the fourth monarchy, before 
 the destruction of the second temple, etc., the Gentiles in crowds 
 worshipped God and lived an angelic life. Maidens dedicated 
 their virginity and their life to God, men gave up their pleasures, 
 what Plato was only able to effect upon a few men, chosen and 
 instructed to that end, a secret force, by the power of a few 
 words, now wrought upon a hundred million ignorant men. 
 
 The rich left their wealth, children left the luxurious homes of 
 their parents to go into the austerity of the desert, etc., according 
 to Philo the Jew. All this was foretold long ages ago. For two 
 
TIIE PROPHECIES. 
 
 *35 
 
 thousand years no Gentile had worshipped the God of the Jews, 
 and at the time foretold, the crowd of Gentiles worshipped this 
 only God. The temples were destroyed, the very kings bowed 
 themselves under the cross. All this was of the Spirit of God 
 spread abroad upon the earth. 
 
 Holiness.—Effundam spiritum meum. —All nations had been 
 in unbelief and lust; the whole world was now ablaze with love. 
 Princes quitted their state, maidens suffered martyrdom. This 
 power sprang from the advent of Messiah, this was the effect and 
 these the tokens of his coming. 
 
 Predictions.— It was foretold that in the time of Messiah he 
 would come and establish a new covenant, such as should make 
 them forget the coming out from Egypt, Jer. xxiii. 5, Is. xliii. 
 16, that he would put his law not in externals, but in the heart, 
 that Jesus Christ would put his fear, which had been only from 
 without, in the midst of the heart. Who does not see the 
 Christian law in all this ? 
 
 Prophecies. —That the Jews would reject Jesus Christ, and 
 would themselves be rejected of God because the choice vine 
 brought forth only wild grapes ; that the chosen people should 
 be disloyal, ungrateful, incredulous, populum non credentem et 
 contradicentemj that God would strike them with blindness, 
 and that in full mid-day they would grope like blind men ; that 
 his messenger should go before him. 
 
 “ . . . Then shall a man no more teach his neighbour, saying, 
 There is the Lord, for God will make himself felt by all , your 
 sons shall prophesy. I will put my spirit and my fear in your 
 heartP 
 
 All that is the same thing. To prophesy is to speak of God, 
 not by outward proofs, but by a feeling interior and direct. 
 
 Prophecies.—Transfixerunt , Zech. xii. 10. 
 
136 
 
 THE PROPHECIES . 
 
 That there should come a deliverer to crush the demon’s head, 
 and to free his people from their sins, ex omnibus iniquiiatibns. 
 That there should be a new and eternal covenant, and a new 
 and eternal priesthood after the order of Melchisedek, that the 
 Christ should be glorious, powerful, mighty, and yet so miserable 
 that he would not be recognised, nor taken for what he is, but be 
 rejected and slain, that his people which denied him should be 
 no more his people, that the idolaters would receive him and trust 
 in him, that he would quit Zion to reign in the centre of idolatry, 
 that the Jews should exist for ever, that he would spring from 
 Judah, and at a time when there should be no longer a king. 
 
 That Jesus Christ would be small in his beginnings, and after¬ 
 wards would increase. The little stone of Daniel. 
 
 That he would teach men the perfect way, 
 
 And never has there come before him nor after him any man 
 who has taught anything divine approaching this. 
 
 That then idolatry would be overthrown, that the Messiah 
 would cast down all idols, and would bring men into the worship 
 of the true God. 
 
 That the idol temples would be overthrown, and that among all 
 nations and in all places of the world men would offer to God a 
 pure sacrifice, not of beasts. 
 
 That he would be king of the Jews and Gentiles. And we see 
 this king of Jews and Gentiles oppressed by both, both equally 
 conspiring his death, we see him bear rule over both, destroying 
 the worship established by Moses in Jerusalem its centre, where 
 he placed his earliest Church, as well as the worship of idols in 
 Rome its centre, where he placed his chief Church. 
 
 No Gentile from Moses to Jesus Christ according to the 
 Rabbis themselves. The crowd of the Gentiles after Jesus Christ 
 believed in the books of Moses and observed their essence and 
 spirit, casting away only what was useless. 
 
 % 
 
 Omnis Judd a rcgio, et Jerosolomitcc universi et baptisa- 
 
7 HE PROPHECIES. 
 
 »37 
 
 bantur .—Because of all the conditions of men who came 
 there. 
 
 These stones can become the children of Abraham. 
 
 Is. i. 21. Change of good into evil and the vengeance of God. 
 
 Is. x. 1. Vcs qui condunt leges iniquas. 
 
 Is. xxvi. 20. Vade populus incus, intra in cubicula tua , 
 claude ostia tua super te, absconderc modicum ad momentum , 
 donee pertranseat indignatio. 
 
 Is. xxviii. 1. Vce coronce superbice. 
 
 Miracles. —Is. xxxiii. 9. Luxit, et elanguit terra: confusus 
 est Libanus, et obsorduit, etc. 
 
 Nunc consurgam, dicit Dominus: nunc exaltabor, nunc sub - 
 levabor. 
 
 Is. xl. 17. 0 nines gentes quasi non sint. 
 
 Is. xli. 26. Quis annunciavit ab exordio ut sciamus: et a priii- 
 cipio ut dicamus: Justus es ? 
 
 Is. xliii. 13. Opcrabor, et quis avertet illud? 
 
 Jer. xi. 21. Nonprophetabisin nomine Domini, et non morieris 
 in manibus nostris. 
 
 Propterea hocc dicit Dominus. 
 
 Jer. xv. 2. Quod si dixerint ad te : Quo egrediemur ? dices ad 
 eos : Hcec dicit Dominus: Qui ad mortem, ad mortem : et qui ad 
 gladium, ad gladium : et. qui ad famem, ad famem : et qui ad 
 captivitatem, ad captivitatem. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 9. Pravum est cor omnium, et inscrutabile: quis 
 cognoscet illud? that is to say, who can know all its evil, for it 
 is already known to be wicked. Ego Dominus scrutans cor , et 
 probans renes. 
 
 Et dixerunt: Venite et cogitemus contra Jeremiam cogitationes , 
 non enim peribit lex a sacerdote, neque sermo a prophet a. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 17. Non sis tu mihi formidini, spes mea tu in die 
 afflictionis. 
 
 Trust in exterior sacrifices. 
 
 jer. vii. 14. Eaciam domui hide, in qua invocation: est nomen 
 
I3§ 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 mcum, et in qua vos habetis fiduciam: et loco , quern dedi vobis et 
 patribus vestris, sicut feci Silo. 
 
 Exterior sacrifice is not the essential point. 
 
 Tu ergo noli or are pro fopido hoc. 
 
 Jer. vii. 22. Quia non sum locutus cum patribus vestris, ct non 
 prcecepi eis in die, qua eduxi eos de Terra sEgypti, de verbo holo- 
 cautomatum, et victimarum. 
 
 Sed hoc verbum prcecepi eis, dicens: A udite vocem meant, et ero 
 vobis Deus, et vos eritis mihi populus: et ambulate in omni via, 
 quam mandavi vobis, ut bene sit vobis. Et non audierunt. 
 
 Exterior sacrifice is not the essential point. 
 
 Jer. xi. 13. Secundum numerum enim civitatum tuarum erant 
 dii tuijuda: ct secundum numerum viarum Jerusalem posuisti 
 aras confusionis. Tu ergo noli or are pro populo hoc. 
 
 A multitude of doctrines. 
 
 Is. xliv. 20. Neque dicet: Forte mendacium est in dexteramea. 
 
 Is. xliv. 21, etc. Memento horum Jacob, et Israel, quoniam 
 servus mens es tu. Formavi te, servus mens es tu Israel, ne 
 obliviscaris mei. 
 
 Delevi ut nubem iniquitates tuas, et quasi nebulam peccata 
 tua: revertere ad me, quoniam redemi te. 
 
 xliv. 23, 24. Laudate cceli, quoniam misericordiam fecit Domi- 
 nus :... , quoniam redemit Dominus Jacob, et Israel gloriabitur. 
 Hcec dicit Dominus redemptor tuus, et formator tuus ex utero: 
 Ego sum Dominus, facials omnia, extendens ccelos solus, stabi- 
 liens terrain, et nullus mecum. 
 
 Is. liv. 8. In momento indignationis abscondi faciem meam 
 parumper a te, et in misericordia sempiterna misertus sum tui: 
 dixit redemptor tuus Dominus. 
 
 Is. lxiii. 12. Qui eduxit ad dexteram Moysen brachio majes- 
 tatis suce, qui scidit aquas ante eos, ut faceret sibi nomen sempi- 
 ternum. 
 
 14. Sic adduxisti populum tuum ut facer es tibi nomen glories. 
 
 Is. lxiii. 16. Tu enim pater noster, et Abraham nescivit nos, et 
 Israel iguoravit nos. 
 
 Is. lxiii. 17. Quare . . . indurasti cor nostrum ne timeremus te? 
 
 Is. lxvi. 17. Qui sanctificabantur, et mundos se putabant . . . 
 simul consumentur, dicit Dominus. 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 139 
 
 Jer. ii. 35. Et dixisti: Absque peccato et innocens ego sum: et 
 propterea avertatur furor tuns a me. 
 
 Ecce ego judicio contendam tecum go quod dixeris: Non peccavi. 
 
 Jer. iv. 22. Sapientes sunt lit faciant mala, bene autem facere 
 nescierunt. 
 
 Jer. iv. 23, 24. Aspexi terrain, et ecce vacua erat, et nihili : et 
 ccelos, et non erat lux in eis. 
 
 Vidi monies, ctecce movebantur: et omnes colics conturbati sunt. 
 
 Intuitus sum, et non erat homo: et omne volatile coeli recessit. 
 Aspexi, et ecce Carmelus desertus: et omnes urbes ejus destructce 
 sunt a facie Domini, et a facie irce furoris ejus. 
 
 Hcec enim dicit Dominus : Deserta erit omnis terra, sed tamen 
 consummationem non faciam. 
 
 Jer. v. 4. Ego autem dixi: Forsitan pauperes sunt et stulti, 
 ignorantes viam Domini, judicium Dei sui. 
 
 Ibo ad optimates, et loquar eis : ipsi enim cognoverunt viam 
 Domini: et ecce magis hi simul confregerunt jugum, ruperunt 
 vincula. Idcirco percussit eos leo de silva, pardus vigilans super 
 civitates eorum. 
 
 Jer. v. 29. Numquid super his non visitabo, dicit Dominus? 
 aut super gentem hujuscemodi non ulciscetur anima mea ? 
 
 J er. v. 30. Stupor et mirabilia facta sunt in terra: 
 
 Jer. v. 31. Prophetcz prophetabant mendacium, et sacerdotes 
 applaudebant manibus suis: et populus mens dilexit talia: quid 
 igiturfiet in novissimo ejus ? 
 
 Jer. vi. 16. Hcec dicit Dominus: State super vias, et videte,et 
 interrogate de semitis antiquis, quce sit via bona, et ambulate in 
 ea: et invenietis refrigerium animabus vestris. Et dixerunt: 
 Non ambulabimus. 
 
 Et constituti super vos speculatores. A.udite vocem tubce. Et 
 dixerunt: Non audiemus. 
 
 Ideo audite Gentes, quanta ego faciam eis. Audi terra : Ecce 
 ego adducam mala, etc. 
 
 Jer. xxiii. 15. A prophetisenim Hierusalem egressa estpollutio 
 super omnem terram. 
 
 Jer. xxiii. 17. Dicunt his,qui blasphemant me: Locutus est 
 Dominus, Pax erit vobis, et omni qui ambulat in pravitate 
 cordis sui, dixerunt: Non veniet super vos malum. 
 
140 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 The Jews witnesses for God. Is. xliii. 9, xliv. 8. 
 
 Prophecies accomplished .—Malachi i. 11. The sacrifice of 
 the Jews rejected, and the sacrifice of the Gentiles, even out of 
 Jerusalem, and in all places. 
 
 — Moses before his death foretold the calling of the Gentiles, 
 Deut. xxxii. 21, and the reprobation of the Jews. 
 
 Moses foretold what would happen to each tribe. 
 
 Prophecy .—Amos and Zechariah. They sold the just one, and 
 therefore were not recalled. 
 
 — Jesus Christ betrayed. 
 
 They shall no more remember Egypt. See Is. xliii. 16-19, 
 Jerem. xxiii. 7. 
 
 The Jews shall be scattered abroad. Is. xxvii. 6. A new law. 
 Jer. xxxi. 31. 
 
 Malachi. Grotius.— The second temple glorious. Jesus Christ 
 will come to it. Haggai ii. 7-10 . . . The calling of the Gentiles. 
 Joel ii. 28. Hos. ii. 24. Deut. xxxii. 21. Mai. i. 11. 
 
 ‘ Moses first taught the Trinity, original sin, the Messiah. 
 
 David was a great witness. 
 
 A king, good, merciful, a fair soul, a fine mind, powerful. He 
 prophesied, and his wonders came to pass. This is infinite. 
 
 He had only to say that he was the Messiah, had he been 
 vain enough, for the prophecies are clearer about him than 
 about Jesus Christ. The same with Saint John. 
 
 Special predictions— They were strangers in Egypt without 
 any private possessions, in that country or in any other, when 
 Jacob dying and blessing his twelve children declared to them 
 that they should possess a great land, and foretold in particular 
 to the family of Judah that the kings who would one day 
 govern them should be of his race, and that all his brethren 
 should be subject to him. 
 
 This same Jacob disposing of the future land as though he 
 were its master, gave a portion to Joseph more than to the 
 others. “ I give thee,” said he, “ a portion more than to thy 
 brethren.” And blessing his two children, Ephraim and Ma- 
 
THE PROPHECIES . 
 
 141 
 
 nasseh, whom Joseph had presented to him, the elder, Manasseh, 
 on his right, and the young Ephraim on his left, he put his 
 arms cross-wise, and placing his right hand on the head of 
 Ephraim, and the left on Manasseh, he blessed them thus. And 
 when Joseph represented to him that he was preferring the 
 younger he answered him with admirable decision, “ I know 
 it well, my son, I know it, but Ephraim shall increase in a 
 way quite other than Manasseh.” This has been in fact so true 
 in the result that, being alone almost as abundant as the two 
 entire lines which compose a whole kingdom, they have been 
 usually called by the name of Ephraim alone. 
 
 This same Joseph when dying commanded his children to 
 bear his bones with them into that land to which they did not 
 come for two hundred years afterwards. 
 
 Moses, who wrote all these things so long before they hap¬ 
 pened, himself made for each family the partition of the land 
 before they entered it, as though he had been master of it. 
 
 He gave them judges to divide it, he prescribed the entire 
 political form of government which they should observe, the 
 cities of refuge which they should build, and . . . 
 
 Daniel ii. “All thy sooth-sayers and wise men cannot show 
 unto thee the secret which thou hast demanded. 
 
 “ But there is a God in heaven, who can do so, and he has 
 revealed in thy dream the things which shall be in the latter 
 days.” This dream must have caused him great uneasiness. 
 
 “And it is not by my own Avisdom that I have knowledge 
 of this secret, but by the revelation of this same God who has 
 discovered it to me, to make it manifest in thy presence. 
 
 “Thy dream was of this kind. Thou sawest a great image, 
 high and terrible, which stood before thee. His head was of 
 gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs 
 of brass. His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. 
 
 “ Thus thou sawest till a stone was cut out without hands, 
 which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay 
 and brake them to pieces. 
 
 “ Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, 
 broken to pieces together, and the wind carried them away, but 
 
142 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 this stone which smote the image became a great mountain, and 
 filled the whole earth. This is the dream, and now I will give 
 thee the interpretation. 
 
 “ Thou who art the greatest of kings, and to whom God has 
 given a power so extended that thou art renowned among all 
 people, art the golden head of the image which thou hast seen. 
 
 “But after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, 
 and another of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. 
 
 “ But the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, and even as 
 iron breaketh in pieces, and subdueth all things, so this empire 
 shall break in pieces and bruise. 
 
 “ And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of clay and 
 part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided ; and it shall be partly 
 strong and partly broken. , 
 
 “ But as iron cannot be firmly mixed with clay, so they who are 
 represented by the iron and by the clay, cannot cleave one to 
 another though united by marriage. 
 
 “ Now in the days of these kings will God raise up a Kingdom, 
 which shall never be destroyed, nor ever be delivered up to 
 another people. 
 
 “ It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and 
 it shall stand for ever, according as thou saw r est that the stone 
 was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it fell from 
 the mountain, and brake in pieces the iron, the clay, the silver 
 and the gold. This is what God has revealed to thee of the things 
 which must come in the fulness of time. This dream is true 
 and the interpretation thereof is faithful. Then Nebuchadnezzar 
 fell upon his face towards the earth, etc.” 
 
 Daniel viii. “ Daniel having seen the combat of the ram and 
 of the he-goat, who vanquished him and ruled over the earth, 
 whereof the principal horn being broken four others came up 
 towards the four winds of heaven, and out of one of them came 
 forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great toward the South 
 and toward the East, and toward the land of Israel, and it waxed 
 great, even to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the 
 stars, and stamped upon them, and at last overthrew the prince, 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 143 
 
 and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away and the place of 
 his sanctuary was cast down. 
 
 “This is what Daniel saw. He asked the explanation and a 
 voice cried in this manner, 4 Gabriel, make this man to under¬ 
 stand the vision.’ And Gabriel said, 
 
 44 The ram which thou sawest is the king of the Medes and 
 Persians, and the he-goat is.the king of Greece, and the great horn 
 that is between his eyes is the first king of this monarchy. 
 
 44 Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four 
 kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his 
 strength. 
 
 44 Now in the latter time of their kingdom when iniquities 
 shall be grown up, there shall arise a king insolent and strong, 
 but his power shall be not his own. To him all things shall 
 succeed after his will, and he shall destroy the holy people, and 
 through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his 
 hand, and he shall destroy many. He shall also stand up against 
 the Prince of Princes, but he shall perish miserably, and neverthe¬ 
 less by a violent hand.” 
 
 Daniel ix. 20. 
 
 44 As I was praying God with all my heart, and confessing 
 my sin and the sin of all my people, and prostrating myself 
 before God, even Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at 
 the beginning, came to me and touched me about the time ot 
 the evening oblation, and he informed me and said, O Daniel, I 
 am now come forth to teach thee that thou mightest understand. 
 Atthe beginning of thy prayer I came to show thee that which thou 
 didst desire, for thou art greatly beloved : therefore understand 
 the matter and consider the vision. Seventy weeks are deter¬ 
 mined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the 
 transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to abolish iniquity 
 and to bring in everlasting righteousness; to accomplish the 
 vision and the prophecies, and to anoint the Most Holy. 
 
 44 After which this people shall be no more thy people, nor this 
 city the holy city. The times of wrath are passed and the years 
 of grace shall come for ever. 
 
 44 Know therefore, and understand, that from the going forth 
 of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the 
 
THE PROPHECIES . 
 
 144 
 
 Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and three score and 
 two weeks : the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in 
 
 troublous times ” 
 
 The Hebrews were accustomed to divide numbers, and to 
 place the smaller first, so that seven and sixty-two make sixty- 
 nine. Of this seventy there will then rest the seventieth : that is 
 to say the seven last years of which he will speak next, and after 
 these sixty-two weeks which have followed the seven first, the 
 Christ should be killed, and a people would come with its 
 prince, who should destroy the city, and the sanctuary, and over¬ 
 whelm all, and the end of that war will accomplish the desola¬ 
 tion. Christ shall be killed after the sixty-nine weeks, that is to 
 say, in the last week. 
 
 u Now one week, whichjs the seventieth, which remains, shall 
 confirm the covenant with many, and in the midst of the week, 
 that is to say the last three years and a half, he shall cause the 
 sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of 
 abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the con¬ 
 summation, and that determined shall be poured upon the 
 desolate.” 
 
 Daniel xi. The angel said to Daniel : 
 
 “ There shall stand up yet,”—after Cyrus, under whom all this 
 still is,—“ three kings in Persia,”— Cambyses, Smyrdis, Darius ; 
 
 _“and the fourth,”—Nerxes, who shall then come, shall be far 
 
 richer than they all, and far stronger, and shall stir up all his 
 people against the Greeks, and a mighty king shall stand up,”— 
 Alexander,—“ that shall rule with great dominion, and do accord¬ 
 ing to his will. And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall 
 be broken, and shall be divided in four parts toward the four 
 winds of heaven,”—see also vii. 6 viii. 8 but not to his posterity, 
 and his successors shall not equal his power, for his kingdom 
 shall be plucked up, even for others beside these,”—his four 
 principal successors. 
 
 “And the king—Ptolemy son of Lagos,—of the south,”— 
 Egypt shall be strong,—but one of his princes shall be strong 
 above him,”—Seleucus king of Syria,—“ and his dominion shall be 
 a great dominion,”—Appian says that he was the most powerful 
 of Alexander’s successors. 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 H5 
 
 “ And in the end of years they shall join themselves together, 
 and the king’s daughter of the South,”—Berenice, daughter 
 of Ptolemy Philadelphus, son of the other Ptolemy— 44 shall come 
 to the king of the North to make peace between these princes ”— 
 to Antiochus Deus, king of Syria and of Asia, son of Seleucus 
 Lagidas. 
 
 “ But neither she nor her seed shall have a long authority, 
 for she and they that sent her and they that brought her, and 
 her children and her friends, shall be delivered to death.”— 
 Berenice and her son were killed by Seleucus Callinicus. 
 
 “ But out of a branch of her roots ”—Ptolemy Euergetes was 
 the son of the same father as Berenice— 4 shall one stand up in 
 his estate, who shall come with an army into the land of the king 
 of the north, and shall put all under subjection, and carry 
 captives into Egypt their gods, their princes, their gold, their 
 silver, and all their precious spoils, and shall continue many 
 years when the king of the North can do nought against him.”— 
 —If he had not been called into Egypt by domestic reasons, 
 says Justin, he would have entirely ruined Seleucus. 
 
 44 And thus he shall return into his kingdom, but his sons shall 
 be stirred up and shall prepare an exceeding great multitude ”— 
 Seleucus Ceraunus, Antiochus the Great. 
 
 _ 44 And their army shall come and overthrow all, whereat the 
 king of the South being moved with choler, shall come forth 
 and fight with him and conquer,”—Ptolemy Philopator against 
 Antiochus the Great at Raphia— 44 and his troops shall become 
 insolent, and his heart shall be lifted up,”—this Ptolemy dese¬ 
 crated the temple—Josephus— 44 and he shall cast down many ten 
 thousands, but he shall not be strengthened by it. 
 
 44 For the king of the North”—Antiochus the Great— 44 shall 
 return with a greater multitude than before,”—in the reign of 
 the young Ptolemy Epiphanes— 44 and then a great number of 
 enemies shall stand up against the king of the south, also the 
 apostates and robbers of thy people shall exalt themselves to 
 establish the vision ; but they shall perish”—those who abandon 
 their religion to please Euergetes, when he will send his troops 
 to Scopas. For Antiochus will again take Scopas and conquer 
 them. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 “ And the king of the North shall destroy the fenced cities and 
 the armies of the south shall not withstand, and all shall yield to 
 his will. He shall stand in the land of Israel and it shall yield 
 to him. 
 
 “ And thus he will think to render himself master of all the em¬ 
 pire of Egypt,”—despising the youth of Epiphanes, says Justin. 
 
 “ And for that he will make alliance with him and give his 
 daughter,”—Cleopatra, in order that she may betray her husband. 
 On which Appian says that doubtful of being able to make him¬ 
 self master of Egypt by force, because of the protection of the 
 Romans, he wished to attempt it by craft. “ He would fain cor¬ 
 rupt her, but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. 
 After this shall he turn his face unto the isles,”—that is to say, 
 the sea-ports,—“ and shall take many,”—as Appian relates. 
 
 “ But a prince shall oppose his conquests and cause the re¬ 
 proach offered by him to cease,”—Scipio Africanus, who stopped 
 the progress of Antiochus the Great because he offended the 
 Romans in the person of their allies.—“ He will return into his 
 kingdom and perish and be no more.”—He was killed by his 
 soldiers. 
 
 “ And he who stands in his place shall be a tyrant, a raiser of 
 taxes in the glory of the kingdom,” that is the people, Seleucus 
 Philopator or Soter, the son of Antiochus the Great—“ but within 
 a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger nor in battle; 
 
 “And in his place shall stand up a vile person, unworthy of the 
 honour of the kingdom, but he shall come in by skilful flatteries. 
 
 “ All armies shall bend before him, he will conquer them, 
 and even the prince with whom he has made a league. For 
 having renewed the league with him, he will deceive him, and 
 come in with a few tribes into his province, calm and without 
 fear. He will take the best places, and shall do that which his 
 fathers have not done, and ravage on all sides. He will forecast 
 devices, during his time.” 
 
 The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple. Josephus 
 and Philo the Jew ad Cainm. 
 
 What other people has so great a zeal, but for them it was a 
 necessity. 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 147 
 
 Jesus Christ foretold as to the time and the state of the world. 
 The leader taken from the thigh, and the fourth monarchy. 
 
 How fortunate we are to have such light amid such darkness. 
 How grand it is to see by the eye of faith, Darius and Cyrus, 
 Alexander, the Romans, Pompey and Herod working, though 
 unconsciously, for the glory of the Gospel! 
 
 How grand to see by the eye of faith the histories of Herod, 
 of Caesar . . . 
 
 The reprobation of the Jews and conversion of the Gentiles.— 
 Isaiah lxv. “ I am sought of them that asked not for me ; I am 
 found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold 
 me, unto a nation that did not call upon my name. 
 
 “ I have spread out my hands all the day unto an unbelieving 
 people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their 
 own thoughts ; a people that provoketh me to anger continually 
 to my face; that sacriliceth to idols, etc. 
 
 “ These shall be scattered like smoke in the day of my 
 wrath, etc. 
 
 “ Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers will I 
 gather, and will requite you according to your works. 
 
 “ Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, 
 and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it. 
 
 “So will I take a seed of Jacob and Judah to possess my 
 mountains, and mine elect and my servants shall inherit it, and 
 my fertile and abundant plains, but I will destroy all others, 
 because you have forgotten your God to follow strange gods. I 
 have called you and you have not answered, I have spoken and 
 you have not heard, and you have chosen the things which I 
 forbade. 
 
 “ Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, my servants shall eat, 
 but ye shall be hungry ; my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall 
 be ashamed ; my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall 
 cry and howl for vexation of spirit. 
 
 “ And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen : 
 for the Lord shall slay thee, and call his servants by another 
 
g THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 name, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless him¬ 
 self in God, etc. ; because the former troubles are for g° tte "' 
 
 “ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the 
 former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mm . 
 
 “ But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. for, 
 behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her peop e a joy 
 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people : and th„ 
 voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice o 
 
 Cr “ Before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speah- 
 i w pi hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed toget er, an 
 fhftoshall eat straw like the ox : and dust shall be the serpent’s 
 meat They shall not hurt nor kill in all my holy mountain 
 Is. lvi. “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do 
 justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness 
 
 to be revealed. _ n 
 
 « Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that 
 
 keepeth my salvation and holdeth his hand from doing any evil. 
 
 “Neither let the strangers, that have joined themselves to the 
 Lord, say, God will separate me from his people. For thus salt 
 the Lord • Whoso will keep my sabbaths, and choose the things 
 that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them 
 will /give in mine house a place and a name better than of sons 
 and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that 
 
 shall not be cut off . • • 
 
 “ Therefore is judgment far from us : we wait tor light, but 
 behold obscurity ; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. e 
 m ope for the wall like the blind: we stumble at noon day as in 
 The night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 
 
 “We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves : we look for 
 judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us. 
 
 Isaiah lxvi. 18 . “ But I know their works and their * ou S hts • 
 
 1 come that I may gather all nations and tongues, and they shall 
 
 Se “ And S i°wm set a sign among them, and I will send of them 
 that shall be saved unto the nation?, to Africa, to Lydia, to Ita y, 
 ro Greece, and to the people that have not heard my name, 
 neither have seen my glory. And they shall bring your brethren. 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 149 
 
 Jcr. vii. Reprobation of the Temple. 
 
 “ But go ye to Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see 
 what I did to it for the wickedness of my people. And now, 
 because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, I will do 
 unto this house, in which my name is called upon, wherein ye 
 trust, and unto the place which I gave to your priests, as I have 
 done to Shiloh.” For I have rejected it and made myself a 
 temple elsewhere. 
 
 “And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your 
 brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim.” Rejected absolutely. 
 
 “ Therefore pray not thou for this people. 
 
 Jer. vii. 21. What avails it you to add sacrifice to sacrifice? 
 For I spake not unto your fathers, when I brought them out of 
 the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices : But 
 this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will 
 be your God, and ye shall be my people.” For it was only after 
 they had sacrificed to golden calves that I gave myself sacrifices 
 to turn into good an evil custom. Jer. vii. 4. “ Trust not in 
 
 lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the 
 Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.” 
 
 Proofs by the Jews .—Captivity of the Jews without restoration. 
 Jeremiah xi. 11. “I will bring evil on Judah which they shall 
 not be able to escape.” 
 
 Types .—Isaiah v. “The Lord had a vineyard from which he 
 looked for grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. I will there¬ 
 fore uproot and destroy it, the earth shall produce nothing but 
 thorns, and I will forbid the heaven . . . 
 
 “ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the men 
 of Judah his pleasant plant. I looked that they should do 
 justice, and they bring forth only iniquities.” 
 
 Isaiah viii. “ Sanctify the Lord with fear and trembling, and 
 let him be your fear ; but he shall be for a stone of stumbling 
 and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin 
 and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many 
 among them shall stumble against that stone, and fall, and be 
 broken, and be snared, and be taken, and perish. Hide my 
 words and cover my law for my disciples. 
 
15° 
 
 7 HE PROPHECIES . 
 
 “ And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the 
 
 house of Jacob.” , 
 
 Isaiah xxix. “ Be astonished, and wonder, O people of Israel ; 
 
 waver and stagger: be drunken, but not with wine ; stagger, 
 but not with strong drink. For the Lord hath mingled for 
 you the spirit of deep sleep. He will shut up your eyes : he 
 will cover your prophets and princes that see visions.” Daniel xn. 
 
 “ The wicked shall not understand, but the wise shall under¬ 
 stand.” Hosea, the last chapter, the last verse, after many 
 temporal blessings says : “ Who is wise, and he shall under¬ 
 stand these things,” etc. 
 
 “ And the visions of all the prophets are become unto you as a 
 book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, 
 and who can read : and he saith, I cannot read it ; for it is seale : 
 And when the book is delivered to him that is not learned, he 
 
 saith, I am not learned. _ 
 
 “ Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people with their 
 
 lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me,”— 
 there is the reason and the cause, for they adore. God m their 
 heart, and understand the prophecies,—“ and their fear toward 
 
 me is taught by the precept of men. 
 
 “ Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do among this people 
 a marvellous work and a wonder : for the wisdom of their wise 
 men shall perish, and the understanding . . . 
 
 Prophecies. Proof of divinity. Isaiah xli. 
 
 “ Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know 
 that ye are gods : and we will incline our heart unto )our words. 
 Teach us the things that have been from the beginning and 
 
 prophecy those that are to come. 
 
 “By this we shall know that ye are gods. Tea, do good, or 
 do evil, if you can. Come now and let us reason together. 
 
 “ Behold, ye are of nothing, and an abomination, etc. Who 
 hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? and 
 beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? yes., t ere 
 is none that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth the 
 
 future.” T t . . n 
 
 Is. xlii. “ I am the Lord : and my glory will I not give to 
 
 another. I have foretold the former things which have come 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 151 
 
 to pass, and declare those which are to come. Sing a new song 
 to God in all the earth.” 
 
 “ Bring forth the blind people that have eyes and see not, and 
 the deaf that have ears and hear not. Let all the nations be 
 gathered together. Who among them and their Gods can de¬ 
 clare this, and shew us former things, and things to come? Let 
 them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified : or 
 let them hear, and say, It is truth. 
 
 “Ye are my witnesses, saith the Loid, and my servant whom 
 I have chosen : that ye may know and believe me, and under¬ 
 stand that I am he. 
 
 u I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed wonders 
 in your eyes : therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, 
 that I am God. 
 
 “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought 
 down all their nobles. I am the Lord, your sanctifier and 
 creator. 
 
 “ I have made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters ; 
 I am he that destroyed for ever the powerful enemies who 
 have resisted you. 
 
 “ Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the 
 things of old. 
 
 “ Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth ; 
 shall ye not know it ? I will even make a way in the wilderness, 
 and rivers in the desert. 
 
 “ This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth 
 my praise, etc. 
 
 “ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine 
 own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Put me in re¬ 
 membrance : let us plead together : declare thou, that thou 
 mayest be justified. Thy first father hath sinned, and thy 
 teachers have transgressed against me.” Is. xliv. “ I am the 
 first and the last, saith the Lord. Whoso will equal himself to 
 me, let him declare the order of things since I formed the 
 first peoples, and the things which are to come. Fear ye not, 
 have I not declared all these things, ye are my witnesses.” 
 
 Prophecy of Cyrus—“ Because of Jacob whom I have chosen 
 
152 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 I have called thee by thy name,” “ Come and let us reason 
 together. Who has declared this from ancient time, and fore¬ 
 told things to come? have not I, the Lord.” 
 
 Is. xlvi. “ Remember the former things of old, and know that 
 there is none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning, 
 and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, 
 My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure.” 
 
 Is. xlii. 9. “ Behold, the former things are come to pass, and 
 
 new things do I declare : before they spring forth I tell you 
 of them.” 
 
 Is. xlviii. 3. “ I have declared the former things from the 
 
 beginning ; and I shewed them ; and they came to pass. Be¬ 
 cause I knew that thou art obstinate, that thy spirit is rebel¬ 
 lious, and thy brow brassy I have even before it came to pass 
 shewed it thee : lest thou shouldst say, that it was the work of 
 thy Gods and the effect of their commands. 
 
 “ Thou hast seen all this ; and will not ye declare it ? I have 
 shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and 
 thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not 
 from the beginning ; even before the day when thou heardst 
 them not ; lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them. 
 
 Yea, thou heardest not ; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from 
 that time that thine ear was not opened : for I knew that 
 thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and wast called a 
 transgressor from the womb.” 
 
 —Prophecies. In Egypt— Pugio Fidei , 659. Talmud. 
 
 It is a tradition among us that w r hen the Messiah shall come, 
 the house of God, destined for the dispensation of his word, 
 shall be full of filth and impurity, that the wisdom of the scribes 
 shall be corrupt and rotten ; that those who fear to sin shall be 
 reproved by the people, and treated as fools and madmen. 
 
 Is. xlix. 
 
 “ Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken ye people from far : 
 The Lord hath called me by my name even from the womb 
 of my mother ; he hath hid me in the shadow of his hand, he 
 hath made my words like a sharp sword, and said : Thou art 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 153 
 
 my servant, in whom I will be glorified. And I said, Lord, have 
 I laboured in vain ? have I spent my strength for nought ? yet 
 is my judgment with thee, O Lord, and my work before thee. 
 When the Lord, who has formed me from the womb of my 
 mother to be wholly for himself, in order to bring Jacob and 
 Israel again to him, said unto me : Thou shalt be glorious in 
 my sight, and I will be thy strength. It is a light thing that 
 thou shouldst convert the tribes of Jacob ; I will also give thee 
 for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation 
 unto the ends of the earth. These are the things which the 
 Lord hath said to him that humbleth his soul to him whom the 
 nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers. Princes and kings shall 
 worship thee because the Lord is faithful that hath chosen thee. 
 
 “Again the Lord said unto me: I have heard thee in the 
 days of salvation and of mercy, and I have established thee for 
 a covenant of the people, and to cause thee to inherit the 
 desolate nations, that thou mayest say to those who are in 
 chains : Go forth, and to those that are in darkness : Come 
 into the light, and possess these abundant and fertile lands. 
 They shall no more labour, nor hunger, nor thirst, neither shall 
 the sun smite them ; for he that hath mercy on them shall lead 
 them, even by the springs of waters shall he guide them, and 
 make the mountains plain before them. Behold, the peoples 
 shall come from all parts, from the East and from the West, 
 from the North and from the South. Let the heaven give glory 
 to God, let the earth rejoice, for it hath pleased the Lord to 
 comfort his people, and he will have mercy on the poor who 
 hope in him. 
 
 “Yet Sion hath dared to say : The Lord hath forsaken and 
 hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, 
 that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb, 
 but if she forget, yet will I not forget thee, O Sion. I will bear 
 thee always between my hands, and thy walls shall be ever 
 before me. Thy builders are come, thy destroyers shall go 
 forth of thee. Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these 
 are gathered together, to come to thee : as I live, saith the 
 Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, 
 thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy de- 
 
154 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 struction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, 
 and the children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears : 
 the place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in. And 
 thou shalt say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these ? I was 
 barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive : and who 
 hath brought up these ? I was destitute and alone : and these, 
 where were they ? And the Lord shall say : Behold, I will 
 lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard 
 to the people. And they shall bring thy children in their arms, 
 and in their bosoms. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, 
 and queens thy nursing mothers : they shall worship thee with 
 their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of 
 thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall 
 not be confounded that wait for him. Shall the prey be taken 
 from the strong and mighty ? But even if the captivity be taken 
 away from the strong : nothing can hinder me to judge those 
 that have judged thee, and thy children I will save. And all 
 flesh shall know, that I am the Lord thy Saviour, and thy 
 Redeemer the mighty One of Jacob. 
 
 “ Thus saith the Lord : What is this divorcement, wherewith 
 I have put away the synagogue, and why have I delivered it 
 into the hands of your enemies ; is it not for your iniquities and 
 your transgressions that I have put it away ? 
 
 “ For I came, and no man would receive me, I called and 
 none would hear. Is my arm shortened that I cannot save ? 
 
 “ Therefore will I show the tokens of my anger, I will clothe 
 the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their 
 covering. 
 
 “ The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned that I 
 should know how to uphold by word him that is weary. He 
 hath wakened my ear, and I have heard him as a master. 
 
 “ The Lord hath revealed his will and I was not rebellious. 
 
 “ I gave my body to the smiters, and my cheeks to outrage, 
 I hid not my face from shame and spitting, but the Lord has 
 helped me, therefore I was not confounded. 
 
 “ He is near that justifieth me ; who will contend with me, and 
 accuse me of sin, since God himself is my protector? 
 
 “All men shall pass and be consumed by time, let those that 
 
THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 155 
 
 fear the Lord hearken to the words of his servant, let him that 
 languisheth in darkness put his trust in the Lord. But as for 
 you, you do but set alight upon you the wrath of God, you walk 
 upon the coals and among the flames you- have kindled. This 
 ye have of my hand, ye shall perish in sorrow. 
 
 “ Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that 
 seek the Lord : look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to 
 the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham 
 your father, and unto Sarah that bare you : for I called him 
 when he was alone, and childless, and increased him. For the 
 Lord has comforted Zion : and has heaped on her blessings 
 and consolations. 
 
 “ Hearken unto me, my people ; and give ear unto me, for a 
 law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to 
 rest for a light of the Gentiles.” 
 
 Amos viii. The prophet having enumerated the sins of 
 Israel, said that God had sworn to take vengeance on them. 
 
 He saith also : “ And it shall come to pass in that day, saith 
 the Lord, that the sun shall go down at mid-day, and I will 
 make the earth dark in the day of light : And I will turn your 
 feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. 
 
 “You shall have sorrow and suffering, and I will make the 
 sorrow as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof 
 as a bitter day. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I 
 will send forth a famine into the land : not a famine of bread, 
 nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. And 
 they shall move from sea to sea, and from the North to the East: 
 they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not 
 find it. 
 
 “ In that day their fair virgins, and their young men shall faint 
 for thirst. They that have followed the idols of Samaria, and 
 sworn by the god of Dan ; who have followed the worship of 
 Beersheba ; they shall fall, and shall rise no more.” 
 
 Amos iii. 2. “ Of all nations of the earth, I have chosen you 
 
 only to be my people.” 
 
 Daniel xii. 7. Daniel having described all the extent of 
 Messiah’s reign, says, “ All these things shall be done when the 
 dispersion of my people shall be accomplished.” 
 
156 
 
 THE PROPHECIES. 
 
 Haggai ii. 3. “ You who compare this second house with the glory 
 of the first and despise it. Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, 
 saith the Lord, and take courage O Jesus the high priest, and 
 take courage, all ye people of the land, and cease not to work. 
 The word that I covenanted with you when you came out of 
 the land of Egypt stands yet : and my spirit shall be in the 
 midst of you : Lose not hope. For thus saith the Lord of 
 hosts : Yet one little while, and I will move the heaven and the 
 earth, and the sea, and the dry land/’—a mode of speech to 
 denote a great and extraordinary change. “ And I will move 
 all nations : and the desired of all nations shall come : and I 
 will fill this house with glory : saith the Lord. 
 
 “ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord,”— 
 that is to say, it is not by that that I will be honoured, as it is 
 said in another place. All the beasts of the field are mine, 
 what good is it to me that they are offered me in sacrifice? 
 Greater shall be the glory of this latter house than of the 
 first, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place I will establish 
 my house, saith the Lord.” 
 
 “ According to all that you desired of the Lord God in Horeb 
 in the day of the assembly, saying, Let us not hear again the 
 voice of the Lord, neither let us see this fire any more, that we 
 die not. And the Lord said unto me, Their prayer is just. I 
 will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like 
 unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth ; and he shall 
 speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall 
 come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words 
 which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” 
 
 Genesis xlix. “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall 
 praise, and thou shalt vanquish thine enemies ; thy father’s 
 children shall bow down before thee. Judah, lion’s whelp, thou 
 art gone up to the prey, O my son, and art couched as a lion, 
 and as a lioness awakened. 
 
 “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver 
 from between his feet, until Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the 
 gathering of the people be.” 
 
OF TYPES IN GENERAL AND OF THEIR 
 
 LA WFULNESS. 
 
 Proof of the two Testaments at oiice .—To prove both the Testa¬ 
 ments 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 have given, the following are the proofs : 
 
 1. Proof by Scripture itself. 
 
 2. Proofs by the Rabbis. Moses Maimonides says that it has 
 two faces, and that the prophets have prophesied Jesus Christ 
 only. 
 
 3. Proofs by the Cabala. 
 
 4. Proofs by the mystical interpretation which the rabbis them¬ 
 selves have given to the Scripture. 
 
 5. Proofs by the principles laid down by the rabbis that there are 
 two senses, that there are two advents of the Messiah; one in glory, 
 and one in humiliation, according to their deserts ; that the pro¬ 
 phets have prophesied of Messiah only. The Law is not eternal, 
 but must change when Messiah comes; that then they shall 
 no more remember the Red Sea ; that the Jews and the Gen¬ 
 tiles shall be mingled. 
 
 It is as those among whom there is a certain secret language. 
 
158 OF TYPES IN GENE PAL 
 
 Those who do not understand it can see in it only a foolish 
 sense. 
 
 Typical. —The figures of a sword, a shield. 
 
 Potentissime. 
 
 To change the type, because of our weakness. 
 
 Types. —The prophets prophesied by figures of a girdle, a beard 
 and burnt hair, etc. 
 
 Two errors : i, to take all literally ; 2, to take all spiritually. 
 
 The veil which is upon these books for the Jews is there also 
 for bad Christians, and for all who do not hate themselves. 
 
 But those who truly hate themselves are in a disposition to 
 understand the Scriptures and to know Jesus Christ. 
 
 Types. —To show that the Old Testament is only figurative, 
 and that by temporal possessions the prophets understood 
 others, this is the proof: 1, that this were unworthy of God ; 
 2, that their discourses express very clearly the promise of 
 temporal possessions, and that they say nevertheless that their 
 discourses are obscure, and that their sense will not be under¬ 
 stood. Whence it appears that this secret sense is not that which 
 they openly expressed, and that consequently they meant to 
 speak of other sacrifices, of another deliverer, etc. They say that 
 they will be understood only in the fulness of time. Jer. xxxiii. 
 
 The third proof is that their discourses are contradictory and 
 destroy each other, so that if we think they did not mean by 
 the words law and sacrifice aught else than those of Moses, there 
 is a gross and obvious contradiction. Therefore they meant 
 something else, occasionally contradicting themselves in the 
 same chapter. 
 
 Now to understand the sense of an author . . . 
 
 A type brings with it absence and presence, pleasure and pain. 
 
AND OF THEIR LAWFULNESS. 159 
 
 A cipher with a double sense, one clear, and in which it is 
 said that the sense is hidden . . . 
 
 A portrait brings with it absence and presence, pleasure and 
 pain. The reality excludes absence and pain. 
 
 Types .—To know if the law and the sacrifices are real or 
 figurative, we must see if the prophets in speaking of these 
 things limited their view and their thoughts to them, so that 
 they saw only the old covenant; or if they saw in them somewhat 
 else of which they were the semblance, for in a portrait we see the 
 thing figured. For this we need only examine what they say. 
 
 When they speak of it as eternal, do they mean that same 
 covenant which they elsewhere say will be changed ; so of the 
 sacrifices, etc. ? 
 
 A cipher has two senses. If we intercept an important letter 
 in which we see an obvious meaning, wherein it is nevertheless 
 declared that the sense is veiled and obscure, that it is con¬ 
 cealed, so that the letter might be read without discovering it, 
 and understood without understanding, we can but think that 
 here is a cipher with a double sense, and all the more if we find 
 manifest contradictions in the literal sense. How greatly we 
 ought to value those who interpret the cipher, and explain to 
 us the hidden sense, especially if the principles they extract 
 are wholly natural and clear. This is what Jesus Christ did, 
 and the Apostles. They broke the seal, he rent the veil, and 
 revealed the spirit. They have thereto aught us that man’s 
 enemies are his passions ; that the _ .^ueerner is to be spiritual 
 and his reign spiritual; that there are to be two advents, one in 
 lowliness to abase the proud, the other in glory to exalt the 
 humble; that Jesus Christ is God and man. 
 
 The prophets said clearly that Israel would be always the 
 beloved of God, that the law would be eternal, they have said 
 also that their meaning would not be understood, and that it 
 was veiled. 
 
 Types .—When the word of God, which cannot lie, is false 
 literally, it is true spiritually. Sede a dextris meis, is false literally, 
 therefore it is true spiritually. 
 
l6o OF TYPES IN GENERAL 
 
 In these expressions God is spoken of after the manner of 
 men, and this means only that the intention which men have 
 in giving a seat at their right hand, God will also have. It is 
 then a mark of the intention of God, not of his mode of carrying 
 
 it out. , . 
 
 Thus when it is said “ God has received the odour of your in¬ 
 cense and will in return give you a fat land,” this means that the 
 same intention which a man will have, who, pleased with your 
 perfumes, will give you a fat land, God will have towards you, 
 because you have had towards him the same intention as a man 
 has for him to whom he offers a sweet savour. So iratus esi , a 
 jealous God, etc., for the things of God being inexpressible, t ey 
 cannot be said otherwise. And the Church uses them still: Quia 
 
 confortavit seras, etc. 
 
 Difference between dinner and supper. 
 
 In God the word differs not from the intention, for he is true, 
 nor the word from the effect, for he is powerful, nor the means 
 from the effect, for he is wise. Bern. ult. sermo tn Missam 
 Aug., de Civil, v. io. This rule is general. God can do all, 
 except those things which if he could do he would not be 
 almighty, as dying, being deceived, lying, etc. 
 
 Many evangelists for the confirmation of the truth. Their 
 
 differences are useful. , 
 
 The Eucharist after the Lord’s Supper. Truth after the 
 
 t} The ruin of Jerusalem, ^ type of the ruin of the world, forty 
 years after the death of Jesus. 
 
 “ I know not” as a man or as an ambassador. Matt. xxiv. 3b. 
 Jesus condemned by the Jews and the Gentiles. 
 
 The Jews and the Gentiles figured by the two sons. 
 
 Aug. de Civit. xx. 29. 
 
 The figures of the Gospel for the state of the sick soul are sick 
 bodies, but because one body cannot be sufficiently sick to 
 express it well, several are needed. Thus there are the deaf, the 
 dumb, the blind, the paralytic, the dead Lazarus, the possesse ; 
 all this together is in the sick soul. 
 
AND OF THEIR LAWFULNESS. 161 
 
 Isaiah, li. The Red Sea an image of the Redemption. 
 
 “ Ut sciatis quod Jilius hominis habet potestatem remittendi 
 peccata , tibi dico : Surged 
 
 God, willing to show that he was able to form a people holy 
 with an invisible holiness, and to fill them with an eternal glory, 
 made visible things. As nature is an image of grace, he 
 has done in the excellences of nature what he would accomplish 
 in those of grace, in order that men might judge that he could 
 make the invisible since he made the visible so well. 
 
 Thus he saved this people from the deluge, he has raised them 
 up from Abraham, redeemed them from their enemies, and 
 caused them to enter into rest. 
 
 The object of God was not to save them from the deluge, and 
 raise up a whole people to Abraham, only in order to bring them 
 into a fat land. 
 
 And so grace itself is but the figure of glory, for it is not the 
 ultimate end. It was symbolised by the law, and itself symbolises 
 grace, but it is the figure of it, and the origin or cause. 
 
 The ordinary life of man is like that of the saints. They all 
 seek their satisfaction, and differ only in the object wherein they 
 place it; they call those their enemies who hinder them, etc. 
 God then has shown the power which he has to give invisible 
 possessions, by the power which he has shown over things visible. 
 
 And yet this covenant, made to blind some and enlighten 
 others, marked in those very men whom it blinded the truth which 
 should be recognised by others. For the visible possessions 
 which they received from God were so great and so divine that 
 it certainly appeared he was able to give them those which are 
 invisible, as well as a Messiah. 
 
 For nature is an image of grace, and visible miracles are the 
 image of the invisible. Ut sciatis, tibi dico: Surge. 
 
 Isaiah, li., says that Redemption will be as the passage of the 
 Red Sea. 
 
 God then has shown by the deliverance from Egypt, and from 
 the sea, by the defeat of the kings, by the manna, by the whole 
 genealogy of Abraham, that he was able to save, to send down 
 
 M 
 
i 62 
 
 OF TYPES IN GENERAL 
 
 bread from heaven, etc., so that the people at enmity with him is 
 the type and the representation of the very Messiah whom they 
 know not, etc. 
 
 He has then shown us at last that all these things were only 
 types, and what is true freedom, a true Israelite, true circum¬ 
 cision, true bread from heaven, etc. 
 
 In these promises each man finds what he chiefly desires, 
 temporal possessions or spiritual, God or the creatures ; but with 
 this difference, that those who therein seek the creatures find them, 
 but attended by many contradictions, with a prohibition against 
 loving them, with the injunction to worship God only, and to 
 love him only, which is the same thing, and finally that the 
 Messiah came not for them ; whilst on the contrary those who 
 therein seek God find him, without any contradiction, with the 
 injunction to love him only, and that the Messiah came in the 
 time foretold, to give them the possessions which they ask. 
 
 Thus the Jews had miracles and prophecies, of which they saw 
 the accomplishment, and the teaching of their law was that they 
 should love and worship God alone ; it was also perpetual. Thus 
 it had all the marks of the true religion, as indeed it was, but we 
 must distinguish between the teaching of the Jews, and the 
 teaching of the Jewish law. Now the teaching of the Jews was 
 not true, although it had miracles and prophecy and perpetuity, 
 because it had not this further point, the worship and love of 
 God only. 
 
 The reason of types. 
 
 They had to deal with a carnal people, and to render them 
 the depositary of a spiritual covenant. 
 
 To give faith in the Messiah it was necessary there should 
 have been antecedent prophecies, in the charge of persons above 
 suspicion, diligent, faithful, singularly zealous, and known to all 
 the world. 
 
 That all this might be accomplished, God chose this carnal 
 people, to whom he entrusted the prophecies which foretell the 
 Messiah as a deliverer, and as a dispenser of those carnal posses¬ 
 sions which the people loved. And thus they have had an 
 extraordinary zeal for their prophets, and, in sight of the whole 
 
AND OF THEIR LAWFULNESS. 163 
 
 world, have had charge of these books which foretell their 
 Messiah, assuring all the nations that he should come, and in the 
 manner foretold in their books, which they held open to all the 
 world. But this people deceived by the poor and ignominious 
 advent of the Messiah have been his most cruel enemies. So that 
 they, who were of all nations in the world the least open to the 
 suspicion of favouring us, the most scrupulous and most zealous 
 that can be named for their law and their prophets, have kept the 
 records incorrupt. 
 
 Therefore the prophecies have a hidden and spiritual sense, 
 which this people hated, under the carnal sense which they loved. 
 Had the spiritual sense been disclosed, it being such as they 
 were unable to love, or even to bear, they would not have 
 been zealous to preserve their books and their ceremonies ; and 
 if they had loved these spiritual promises, and had preserved 
 them incorrupt till Messiah came, their witness would have had 
 no force, because they had been his friends. Therefore it was well 
 that the spiritual sense should be concealed ; but on the other 
 hand, had the sense been so hidden as not to be at all apparent, 
 it could not have served as a proof of the Messiah. What then 
 was done? In a crowd of passages the spiritual was concealed 
 under the temporal sense, and has been clearly revealed in a few ; 
 again, the time and the state of the world were so clearly fore¬ 
 told that the sun is not so evident. And in some passages this 
 spiritual sense is so clearly expressed that no less a blindness 
 than that which the flesh imposes on the spirit when enslaved, 
 can keep us from discerning it. 
 
 See then what God has done. This sense is concealed under 
 another in an infinite number of passages, in some, though rarely, 
 it is revealed, yet so that the passages in which it is concealed are 
 equivocal, and can suit both senses, while those in which it is 
 disclosed are unequivocal, and can agree with the spiritual sense 
 alone. 
 
 So that this cannot lead us into error, and could only be 
 misunderstood by so carnal a people. 
 
 For when possessions are promised in abundance, what could 
 hinder them from understanding the true possessions, save their 
 
164 
 
 OF TYPES IN GENERAL 
 
 covetousness, which limited the sense to the good things of this 
 world? But those whose only good was in God referred the sense 
 to him alone. For there are two qualities which divide the will 
 of man, covetousness and charity. Not that covetousness cannot 
 coexist with faith in God, nor charity with worldly possessions, 
 but covetousness uses God, and enjoys the world, while the 
 opposite is the case with charity. 
 
 Now the end we pursue gives names to things. All which 
 hinders the attainment of this end, is said to be at enmity with 
 us. Thus the creatures, however good, are the enemies of the 
 just, when they turn them aside from God, and God himself is 
 the enemy of those whose greed he opposes. 
 
 Hence the word enemy being interpreted according to the end 
 proposed, the just understood by it their passions, and the carnal 
 understood the Babylonians, so that the term is obscure only for 
 the unrighteous. And this is what Isaiah says : Signet legem iti 
 electis meis, and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling. 
 But , 11 Blessed are they who shall not be offended in him ! Hosea, 
 xiv/ 9, says excellently : “ Where is the wise, and he shall 
 understand these things. The just shall know them, for the 
 ways of God are right, but the transgressors shall fall therein.’ 5 
 
 So that those who rejected and crucified Jesus Christ, being 
 offended at him, are the same people who bear the books which 
 witness of him, and which say that he will be 1 ejected and a 
 stumbling stone, so that their refusal has given an additional 
 mark that it is he, and he has been proved both by the just Jews 
 who received him, and the unjust Jews who rejected him, both of 
 whom were foretold. 
 
 One of the main reasons why the prophets put a veil on the 
 spiritual possessions which they promised under the figure of 
 temporal possessions is, that they had to do with a carnal people 
 whom they must make the keepers of the spiritual covenant. 
 
 Jesus Christ, prefigured by Joseph, the beloved of his father, 
 sent by his father to visit his brethren, etc., innocent, sold by his 
 brethren for twenty pieces of silver, and thereby becoming their 
 lord, their saviour, the saviour of strangers, and the saviour of the 
 
AND OF THEIR LAWFULNESS. 165 
 
 world ; all which had not been brought about but for the plot for 
 his destruction, their sale and rejection of him. 
 
 In prison Joseph innocent between two criminals ; Jesus 
 Christ on the cross between two thieves. Joseph foretold deli¬ 
 verance to the one, and death to the other, from the same omens. 
 Jesus Christ saves the elect, and condemns the reprobate after 
 the same crimes. Joseph foretold only, Jesus Christ acts. 
 Joseph asked of him who is saved to be mindful of him when 
 he has come into his glory, and he whom Jesus Christ saved 
 asked that he would remember him when he came into his 
 Kingdom. 
 
 Types. —Saviour, father, sacrificer, sacrifice, food, king, wise, 
 lawgiver, afflicted, poor, having to create a people, which he 
 must lead and nourish, and bring into the land 
 
 Fascination.— Somnum suum. Figura hujus mundi. 
 
 The Eucharist.— Comedes pattern tuum. Pattern nostrum. 
 
 Inimici Dei terrain lingent. The sinners lick the dust, that is 
 to say, love earthly pleasures. 
 
 The Old Testament contained the types of future joy, and 
 the New contains the means of attaining it. 
 
 The types were of joy, the means of penitence, and never¬ 
 theless the Paschal Lamb was eaten with bitter herbs, cum 
 amaritudinibus. 
 
 Singularis sum ego donee transeam. Jesus Christ before his 
 death was almost the only martyr. 
 
 To speak against too greatly figurative expressions. 
 
 There are some types clear and demonstrative, but others 
 which seem far-fetched, and which bring proof only to those 
 already persuaded. These may seem like the sayings of the 
 Apocalyptics. But the difference is that these have none which 
 are not doubtful, so that nothing is so unjust as to pretend that 
 theirs are as well founded as some of ours, for they have none so 
 demonstrative as some of ours. There is no comparison possible. 
 We have no right to compare and confound things because they 
 
i66 
 
 OF TYPES IN GENERAL. 
 
 agree in one point, while they are so different in another. What 
 is clear in things divine forces us to revere what is obscure. 
 
 I do not say that the mem is a mystery. 
 
 We may not attribute to the Scripture the sense which it has 
 not revealed to us that it contains. 1 hus, to say that the closed 
 mem of Isaiah means six hundred, has not been revealed. It might 
 be said that the final tsade and the he deficientes signify mysteries. 
 But we are not allowed to say so, and still less to say this is the 
 way of the philosopher’s stone. But we say that the literal 
 sense is not the true sense, because the prophets said so 
 themselves. 
 
 Extravagances of the Apocalyptics, Preadamites, Millena- 
 rians , etc. —Whoever would found extravagant opinions on the 
 Scripture will for instance found them on the fact that : 
 
 It is said that “ This generation shall not pass away till all 
 these things be fulfilled.” On that I will say that after that 
 generation will come another generation, and so in constant 
 succession. 
 
 The Second Book of Chronicles speaks of Solomon and the 
 King as if they were two different persons. I say that they 
 were two. 
 
 Against those who misuse passages of Scripture , and who 
 are puffed up when they find one which seems to favour their 
 error. 
 
 The chapter for Vespers, on Passion Sunday, the prayer for 
 the King. 
 
 Explanation of these words : “He that is not with me is 
 against me.” And these others : “ He that is not against you is 
 with you.” A person who says : I am neither for nor against; we 
 ought to answer him . . . One of the Antiphons for Vespers at 
 Christmas : Exortum est in tenebris lumen rectis corde. 
 
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 one which reconciles even dissonant passages. 
 
 Every author has a sense in which all the contradictory 
 passages agree, or he has no meaning at all. The latter cannot 
 be said of Scripture and the prophets, which assuredly abound 
 in good sense. We must then seek for a meaning which 
 harmonises all contraries. 
 
 The true sense then is not that of the Jews, but in Jesus 
 Christ all dissonances are brought into harmony. 
 
 The Jews could not make the cessation of the royalty and 
 principality foretold by Hosea accord with the prophecy of 
 Jacob. 
 
 If we take the law, the sacrifices, the kingdom as realities, we 
 cannot reconcile all the passages. Of necessity then they are but 
 figures. We cannot even reconcile the passages of the same 
 author, nor of the same book, nor sometimes of the same 
 chapter, which abundantly denotes what was the meaning 
 of the author. As when Ezekiel, chap, xx., says that man will 
 live by the commandments of God and will not live by them. 
 
 It was not lawful to sacrifice elsewhere than at Jerusalem, the 
 
168 THAT THE JEWISH LAW 
 
 place which the Lord had chosen, nor even to eat the tithes in 
 any other place. Deut. xii. 5, etc.; Deut. xiv. 23, etc. ; xv. 20 ; 
 xvi. 2-15. 
 
 Hosea foretold that the Jews should be without king, without 
 prince, without sacrifice and without idols, which is accom¬ 
 plished at this day, since they are not able to make a lawful 
 sacrifice out of Jerusalem. 
 
 Types .—If the law and the sacrifices are the truth it must 
 be pleasing to God, and not displeasing to him. If they are 
 figures they must be both pleasing and displeasing. 
 
 Now through the whole of Scripture they are both pleasing 
 and displeasing. It is said that the law shall be changed, that 
 the sacrifice shall be changed, that they shall be without law, 
 without a prince and without sacrifices, that a new covenant shall 
 be made, that the law shall be renewed, that the precepts which 
 they have received are not good, that their sacrifices are 
 abominations, that God has required none of them. 
 
 It is said, on the contrary, that the law shall abide for ever, 
 that the covenant shall be eternal, that sacrifice shall be eternal, 
 that the sceptre shall never depart from among them, because 
 it shall not depart from them till the coming of the eternal 
 King. 
 
 Now are all these passages obviously literal? No. Are 
 they obviously typical? No, they are obviously either real or 
 typical. But the first set, which bar a literal interpretation, 
 prove that the whole are typical. 
 
 All these passages together cannot apply to the thing signified, 
 all can apply to the type, therefore they are not spoken of the 
 thing signified, but of the type. 
 
 Agnus occisus est ab origine mundi. A sacrificing judge. 
 
 Types .—God willing to form to himself an holy people, 
 whom he should separate from all other nations, whom he 
 should deliver from their enemies, and should establish in a place 
 of rest, has not only promised this, but has foretold by his 
 prophets the time and the manner of his coming. And yet, to 
 confirm the hope of his elect through all ages, he made them 
 to see it in a figure, but never left them without assurances of 
 
WAS FIGURATIVE. 
 
 169 
 
 his power and of his will to save them. For at the creation of 
 man, Adam was the witness, and the guardian of the promise made 
 concerning the Saviour who should be born of the woman, when 
 men were still so near the creation that they could not have foi- 
 gotten their creation and their fall. When those who had seen 
 Adam were no longer in the world, God sent Noah, whom he 
 saved, and drowned the whole earth by a miracle which marked 
 sufficiently both the power which he had to save the world, 
 and the will which he had to do so ; and to raise up of the seed 
 of the woman him whom he had promised. 
 
 This miracle was enough to confirm the hope of men. The 
 memory of the deluge being fresh among men while Noah was 
 still living, God made promises to Abraham, and while Shem 
 was still living God sent Moses, etc . . . 
 
 Types. —God, willing to deprive his own of perishable pos¬ 
 sessions, made the Jewish people in order to show that this arose 
 from no lack of power. 
 
 The Jews had grown old in these earthly thoughts, that God 
 loved their father Abraham, his flesh, and all that would spring 
 from it; that for this reason he had multiplied them, and set 
 them apart from all other peoples, without allowing them to 
 intermingle ; that when they were languishing in Egypt he 
 brought them out with many wonderful signs in their favour ; 
 that he fed them with manna in the wilderness, and brought 
 them out into a very fat land ; that he gave them kings and a 
 well-built temple, there to offer beasts before him, by the shedding 
 of whose blood they were purified ; that at last he would send 
 •Messiah to make them masters of the whole world, and foretold 
 the time of his coming. 
 
 The world having grown old in these carnal errors, Jesus 
 Christ came at the time foretold, but not with the expected glory, 
 and therefore men did not think it was he. After his death Saint 
 Paul came to teach that all these things had happened in figures, 
 that the Kingdom of God was not in the flesh, but in the spirit; 
 that the enemies of men were not the Babylonians, but the 
 passions ; that God delighted not in temples made with hands, 
 
170 
 
 THAT THE JEWISH LAW 
 
 but in a pure and contrite heart; that bodily circumcision was 
 unprofitable, but that of the heart was needed ; that Moses gave 
 them not that bread from heaven, etc. 
 
 But God, not willing to disclose these things to a people un¬ 
 worthy of them, yet nevertheless willing to foretell them, in order 
 that they might be believed, foretold the time clearly, and 
 expressed the things sometimes clearly, but generally in figures, 
 so that those who loved the emblems might rest in them, and 
 those who loved the things figured might see them therein. 
 
 All that tends not to charity is figurative. 
 
 The sole aim of the Scripture is charity. 
 
 All which tends not to that only end is figurative, for since 
 there is but one end, all which does not refer to it in express 
 terms is figurative. 
 
 God has so varied that sole' precept of charity to satisfy our 
 curiosity, which seeks for diversity, by that diversity which still 
 leads us to the one thing needful. For one only thing is needful, 
 yet we love diversity, and God satisfies both by these diversities, 
 which lead to the one thing needful. 
 
 The Jew's so loved the mere shadows, and waited for them 
 so entirely, that they misunderstood the substance, when it came 
 in the time and manner foretold. 
 
 The rabbis take the breasts of the Spouse for figures, as they 
 do every thing which does not express the only aim they had, 
 that of temporal good. 
 
 And Christians take even the Eucharist as a type of the glory 
 for which they strive. 
 
 Charity is no figurative precept. It is horrible to say that 
 Jesus Christ, who came to take away the figure and establish the 
 truth, came only to establish the type of charity and take away 
 the existing reality. 
 
 If the light be darkness, what must the darkness be ? 
 
 When David foretold that Messiah would deliver his people 
 from their enemies, we may believe that these according to the 
 flesh were the Egyptians, and then I know not how to show that 
 the prophecy was fulfilled. But we may well believe also that the 
 
WAS FIGURATIVE. 
 
 171 
 
 enemies were their sins, for in truth the Egyptians were not 
 their enemies, and their sins were. This word enemies is there¬ 
 fore equivocal. 
 
 But if he say, as in fact he does elsewhere, that he will save 
 his people from their sins, as do also Isaiah and others, the 
 ambiguity is removed, and the double sense of enemies is reduced 
 to the single sense of iniquities. For if he had sins in his mind 
 he might well denote them by the word enemies, but if he 
 thought of enemies, he could not designate them by the word 
 
 iniquities. 
 
 Now Moses, David, and Isaiah employ the same terms. Who 
 will say then that they have not all the same meaning, and that 
 the sense of David which is plainly that of iniquities when he 
 spoke of enemies, is not the same as that of Moses when 
 speaking of enemies. 
 
 Daniel prays that the people may be delivered from the cap¬ 
 tivity of their enemies, but he was thinking of sms, and to show 
 this, he says that Gabriel came to tell him that his prayer was 
 heard, and that there were only seventy weeks to wait, after 
 which the nation would be delivered from iniquity, that sin 
 would have an end, and the Redeemer, the Most Holy, should 
 bring in eternal righteousness, not legal, but eternal. 
 
 The Jews had a doctrine of God as we have one of Jesus 
 Christ, and confirmed by miracles ; they were forbidden to 
 believe every worker of miracles, and more, they were ordered 
 to have recourse to the chief priests, on whom only they should 
 
 rely. 
 
 Thus, in regard to their prophets, they had all those reasons 
 which we have for refusing to believe the workers of miracles. 
 
 And yet they were very blameworthy in refusing the prophets 
 because of their miracles, and had not been blameworthy had 
 they not seen the miracles. Nisifecissem , peccatum non haberent. 
 Therefore all belief rests on miracles. 
 
 Whoever estimates the Jewish religion by its coarser minds 
 will know it but ill. It is to be seen in the sacred books, and 
 in the tradition of the prophets, who have made it plain enough 
 
172 
 
 THAT THE JEWISH LAW 
 
 that they did not understand the law according to the letter. So 
 our Religion is divine in the Gospel, in the Apostles, and in 
 tradition, but ridiculous in those who corrupt it. 
 
 The Messiah, according to the carnal Jews, was to be a 
 mighty temporal prince. Jesus Christ, according to carnal 
 Christians, has come to dispense us from the love of God, and 
 to give us sacraments which shall operate without our con¬ 
 currence. This is no more the Christian religion than was the 
 other the Jewish. 
 
 True Jews and true Christians have always expected a 
 Messiah who should inspire them with the love of God, and 
 by that love should make them triumph over all their enemies. 
 
 The carnal Jews hold a midway place between Christians and 
 Pagans. The Pagans know not God, and love this world 
 only. The Jews know the true God, and love this world only. 
 Christians know the true God, and love not the world. Jews 
 and Pagans love the same good. Jews and Christians know 
 the same God. 
 
 The Jews were of two kinds, one having merely Pagan, the 
 other having Christian affections. 
 
 The carnal Jews understood neither the greatness nor the 
 humiliation of Messiah as foretold by their prophecies. They 
 misunderstood him in his foretold greatness, as when he said that 
 Messiah should be lord of David, though his son, and that he was 
 before Abraham who yet had seen him. They did not believe 
 him so great as to be eternal, and so too they misunderstood him 
 in his humiliation and in his death. Messiah, said they, abideth 
 for ever, and this man has said that he shall die. They believed 
 him then neither mortal nor eternal, and they only looked in 
 him for a carnal greatness. 
 
 Typical .—God availed himself of the lust of the Jews to make 
 them avail for Jesus Christ. 
 
 Typical .—Nothing is so like charity as covetousness, and 
 nothing is so contrary to it. Thus the Jews, full of possessions 
 
WAS FIGURATIVE. 
 
 173 
 
 which flattered their covetousness, were very like Christians and 
 very contrary. And by this means they had the two qualities 
 which were necessary to them, to be very like the Messiah in 
 order to be figures of him, and very contrary that they might 
 not be suspected witnesses. 
 
 Antiquity of the Jews .-What difference there is between 
 book and book. I am not surprised that the Greeks made the 
 Iliad, nor the Egyptians and the Chinese their histories. 
 
 We have only to see how this comes about. These fabulous 
 historians are not contemporaneous with the facts they narrate. 
 Homer writes a romance, which he puts forth as such, and which 
 is received as such, for no one supposed that Troy or Agamemnon 
 existed more than did the golden apple. So he thought not ot 
 making a history, but solely a book to amuse ; he is the only man 
 who wrote in his time, the beauty of his work has made it last, 
 every one learns it and talks of it, we are bound to know it, and 
 we each get it by heart. Four hundred years afterwards the 
 witnesses of these things are no more, no one knows of his own 
 knowledge if it be fable or history ; he has only learnt it from 
 his ancestors, and this may pass foi true. 
 
 The sincerity of the fews .—They preserve with faithfulness and 
 zeal the book in which Moses declares that they have been all 
 their life ungrateful to God, and that he knows they will be still 
 more so after his death ; that he therefore calls heaven and earth 
 to witness against them, and that he has taught them enough. 
 
 He declares that finally God, being angry with them, woulo 
 scatter them among all the nations of the earth, that as they 
 have angered him, in worshipping gods who were not their 
 God so he will provoke them by calling a people which is 
 not his people, and wills that all his words shall be eterna ly 
 preserved, and that his book shall be placed in the Ark of the 
 Covenant to serve for ever as a witness against them. 
 
 Isaiah says the same thing, xxx. 8. 
 
 However, they have kept at the cost of their life this very 
 book which dishonours them in so many ways. This is a 
 
174 THAT THE JEWISH LAW 
 
 sincerity which has no example in the world, and no root in 
 nature. 
 
 Every history which is not contemporaneous is open to sus¬ 
 picion, thus the books of the Sibyls and Trismegistus and so 
 many others which have been credited by the world are false, 
 and found to be false in course of time. It is not so with contem¬ 
 poraneous authors. 
 
 There is a great difference between a book written by a private 
 man, and dispersed among a whole people, and a book which 
 itself creates a people. We cannot doubt that the book is as old 
 as the people. 
 
 • 
 
 The sincerity of the Jews. 
 
 Defective and final letters. ' 
 
 Sincere against their honour, and dying in its defence; this 
 has no example in the world’s history, and no root in nature. 
 
 They are visibly a people expressly formed to serve as 
 witnesses to the Messiah, Isaiah xliii. 9 ; xliv. 8, they bear the 
 books, and love them while they understand them not. And all 
 this was foretold, that God’s judgments might be entrusted to 
 them, but as a sealed book. 
 
 Types .—When once the secret is disclosed it is impossible 
 not to see it. If the Old Testament be read in this light, we 
 shall see if the sacrifices were real; if the fatherhood of 
 Abraham was the true cause of the friendship of God; that the 
 promised land was not the true place of rest. These were then 
 but types. If in the same way we examine all those ordained 
 ceremonies, and all those commandments which are not of 
 charity, we shall see that they are types. 
 
 All these sacrifices and ceremonies were then either figures or 
 absurdities. But there are things which are clear, and yet too 
 lofty for us to think them absurdities. 
 
 Adam forma futuri. Six days to form the one, six ages 
 to form the other. The six days w'hich Moses represents for the 
 
WAS FIGURATIVE. 
 
 175 
 
 formation of Adam, are but the representation of the six ages to 
 form Jesus Christ and the Church. If Adam had not sinned, 
 and Jesus Christ had not come, there had been only one covenant, 
 only one age of men, and the creation would have been repre¬ 
 sented as done at one single time. 
 
 The six ages, the six Fathers of the six ages, the six miracles 
 at the opening of the six ages, the six mornings at the opening 
 of the six ages. 
 
 Types .—The Jewish and Egyptian peoples were visibly fore¬ 
 told by the two men whom Moses met, the Egyptian beating 
 the Jew, Moses avenging him and slaying the Egyptian while 
 the Jew was ungrateful. 
 
 The conversion of the Egyptians, Isaiah xix. 19. An altar in 
 Egypt to the true God. 
 
 The sabbath was only a sign, Exodus xxxi. 13, and in memory 
 of the deliverance from Egypt. Deut. v. 19. Therefore it is no 
 more necessary, for we ought to forget Egypt. 
 
 Circumcision was only a sign, Gen. xvii. 11, therefore it came 
 to pass that in the desert they were not circumcised, because they 
 could not be confounded with other peoples, and after Jesus 
 Christ came it was no longer needful. 
 
 Those who ordained these sacrifices knew their uselessness, 
 and those who have declared their uselessness, ceased not to 
 practise them. 
 
 Your name shall be accursed to my elect, and I will give 
 them another name. 
 
 Harden their heart. How ? By flattering their lust, and 
 making them hope to accomplish it. 
 
 Fac secundum exemplar quod tibi ostensum est in monte. 
 
 The Jewish religion then was formed on its likeness to the 
 
i7 6 THAT THE JEWISH LAW 
 
 truth of the Messiah, and the truth of the Messiah was recognised 
 by the religion of the Jews which was the figure of it. 
 
 Among the Jews the truth was only prefigured. In heaven it 
 
 is revealed. 
 
 In the Church it is hidden, yet recognised by its corre¬ 
 spondence with the type. 
 
 The type was made according to the truth, and the truth is 
 
 recognised according to the type. 
 
 Saint Paul says himself that people would forbid to marry, 
 and he himself speaks to the Corinthians, in a way which is a 
 trap. For if a prophet had said the one, and Saint Paul had 
 afterwards said the other, he would have been accused. 
 
 Typical .—Make all things like unto the pattern which was 
 showed thee in the mount. On which Saint Paul says that the 
 Jews shadowed forth heavenly things. 
 
 Typical. The key of the cipher. Veri adoratores. Ecce 
 agnus Dei qui tollit pcccata viundi. 
 
 That the law was typical. Types .—The letter kills. All 
 happened in a figure. This is the cipher which Saint Paul gives 
 us. Christ must suffer. An humiliated God. Circumcision of 
 the heart, a true fast, a true sacrifice, a true temple. The 
 prophets indicated that all these must be spiritual. 
 
 Not the meat which perishes, but that which perishes not. 
 
 You shall be free indeed. Then the former liberty was only a 
 
 type of liberty. 
 
 I am the true bread from heaven. 
 
 Particular types .—A double law, double tables of the law, a 
 double temple, a double captivity. 
 
 I'he Synagogue did not perish because it was a type, but 
 because it was no more than a type it fell into servitude. The 
 type subsisted till the reality came, in order that the Church 
 
WAS FIGURATIVE. 
 
 177 
 
 should be always visible, either in the representation which 
 promised it, or in the substance. 
 
 In the time of the Messiah the people were divided. Those 
 that were spiritual embraced the Messiah, the carnal remained 
 to serve as witnesses of him. 
 
 N 
 
OF THE TRUE RELIGION AND ITS 
 CHAR A CTERIS TICS. 
 
 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 be separated from him ; it must 
 recognise that we are full of darkness which hinders us from 
 knowing and loving him ; and that thus, as our duties oblige 
 us to love God, and our lusts turn us from him, we are full of 
 injustice. It must explain to us our opposition to God and to 
 our own good ; it must teach us the remedies for these infirmities, 
 and the means of obtaining them. We must therefore examine all 
 the religions of the world from this point of view, and see if there 
 be any other than the Christian which is sufficient for this end. 
 
 Shall it be that of the philosophers, who proposed as the only 
 good the good which is in ourselves ? Is this the true good ? 
 Have they found a remedy for our evils? Is the pride of man 
 cured by equalling him with God ? Have those who would level 
 us to the brutes, or the Mahomedans who present us with 
 pleasures of the world as the sole good, even in eternity, found 
 any remedy for our lusts ? What religion then will teach us to 
 cure our pride and our lust ? What religion will teach us our 
 good, our duty, the infirmity which turns us from it, the cause of 
 
iSo OF THE TRUE RELIGION AND 
 
 this infirmity, the remedies which can cure it, and the means of 
 obtaining those remedies ? All other religions have failed, let us 
 
 see what the wisdom of God can do. 
 
 “ Look neither for truth,” she says, “ nor consolation from men. 
 
 I am she who framed you, and who alone can teach you what 
 you are. But you are not now in the state in which I framed 
 you. I created man holy, innocent, perfect; I filled him with 
 light and intelligence ; I communicated to him my glory and my 
 wondrous acts. The eye of man beheld then the majesty ot 
 God ; he was not then in the darkness which blinds him, nor 
 subject to death and the miseries which afflict him. . But he 
 could not bear so great a glory without falling into pride. He 
 would make himself his own centre, and independent of my aid. 
 He withdrew himself from my rule ; and when he made himself 
 equal to me by the desire of finding his happiness m himself, I 
 gave him over to self. Then setting in revolt the creatures that 
 were subject to him, I made them his enemies ; so that man is 
 now become like the beasts, and removed from me until 
 there scarce remains to him a confused ray of his Creator, so 
 far has all his knowledge become extinguished or disturbed. 
 His senses, never the servants, and often the masters of reason, 
 have carried him astray in pursuit of pleasure. All creatures 
 either torment or tempt him ; and have dominion over him, 
 either as they subdue him by their strength, or as they melt him 
 by their charms, a tyranny more terrible and more imperious. 
 
 “ Such is the present state of man. There remains to him some 
 feeble instinct of the happiness of his primitive nature, and he is 
 plunged in the misery of his blindness and his lusts, which 
 
 have become his second nature. 
 
 “ From this principle which I have here laid open to you, 
 you may discern the cause of those contradictions which, while 
 they astonish all men, have divided them among such various 
 opinions. Now mark all the movements of greatness and 
 crlory which the trials of so many miseries are unable to 
 stifle, and see if the cause of them must not be in another 
 
 For Port Royal to-morrow . Prosopopcea—“ It is in vain, O 
 men, that you seek from yourselves the remedy for your miseries. 
 
ITS CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 181 
 
 All your light can only enable you to know that not in your¬ 
 selves will you find truth or good. The Philosophers promised 
 you these, but gave them not. They neither apprehend what is 
 your true good nor what is . . . 
 
 “ How could they then apply remedies to your diseases, since 
 they did not even know them? Your chief maladies are pride, 
 which alienates you from God, and lust, which binds you down 
 to earth ; and they do nought else but nourish one or the other 
 of these disorders. If they presented God as your end it was 
 only done to gratify your pride; by making you think that you 
 are by nature like him and conformed to him. Those who saw the 
 extravagance of such an assertion did but set you on an opposite 
 precipice, by tempting you to believe that your nature was of a 
 piece with that of the beasts, and by inclining you to seek your 
 good in the lusts which are shared by brutes. This is not the 
 way to cure you of your unrighteousness, which these sages never 
 knew. I alone can teach you who you are . . . 
 
 “ If you are united to God it is by grace, not by nature. 
 
 “ If you are abased it is by penitence, not by nature. So this 
 twofold capacity . . . 
 
 a You are not in the state wherein you were created. 
 
 “ These two states being presented to you, you cannot but 
 recognise them. 
 
 “ Follow your own movements, observe yourselves, and see if 
 you do not trace the lively characters of these two natures. 
 
 “ Could so many contradictions be found in a subject that was 
 simple ? ” 
 
 I do not mean that you should submit your belief to me with¬ 
 out reason, neither do I aim at your subjection by tyranny. I do 
 not aim at giving you a reason for everything. And to reconcile 
 these contradictions, I wish to make you see by convincing proofs, 
 those divine tokens in me, which will assure you who I am and 
 will verify my authority by wonders and proofs which you can¬ 
 not reject; so that you may then have a reasonable belief in 
 what I teach you, when you find no other ground for refusing it, 
 but that you cannot know of yourselves whether it is true or not. 
 
i 82 
 
 OF THE TRUE RELIGION,\ 
 
 The true nature of man, his true good, true virtue and true 
 religion are things of which the knowledge is inseparable. 
 
 After having understood the whole nature of inaji .—That a 
 religion may be true, it must show knowledge of our nature. It 
 must know its greatness and meanness, and the cause of both. 
 What religion but the Christian has shown this knowledge ? 
 
 The true religion teaches our duties ; our weaknesses, pride 
 and lust; and the remedies, humility and mortification. 
 
 The true religion must teach greatness and misery ; must lead 
 to the esteem and despising of self; to love and to hate. 
 
 The note of true religion must be that it obliges man to love 
 his God. This is very right? and yet no other religion than ours 
 has thus commanded ; ours has done so. It must also be cognizant 
 of man’s lust and weakness, ours is so. It must have applied 
 remedies for these defects ; one is prayer. No other religion 
 has asked of God the power to love and obey him. 
 
 If there be one only origin of all things, there must be one 
 only end of all things ; all by him, all for him. The true religion 
 then must teach us to adore him only, and to love him only. 
 But since we find ourselves unable to adore what we know not, 
 or to love aught but ourselves, the same religion which instructs 
 us in these duties must instruct us also of this inability, and 
 teach us also the remedies for it. It teaches us that by one man 
 all was lost, and the bond broken between God and us, and that 
 by one man the bond has been repaired. 
 
 We are born so contrary to this love of God, and it is so 
 necessary that we must be born sinful, or God would be unjust. 
 
 Every religion is false which as to its faith docs not adore one 
 God as origin of all things, and as to its morals does not 
 love one sole God as the object of all things. 
 
 In every religion we must be sincere, true heathens, true Jews, 
 true Christians. 
 
THE EXCELLENCE OF THE CHRLSTLAN 
 
 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; and thereupon I wonder how those in so miserable a 
 state do not fall into despair. I see other persons around me, 
 of like nature, I ask them if they are better informed than 
 I am, and they say they are not; and thereupon these mise¬ 
 rable wanderers, having looked around them, and seen some 
 objects pleasing to them, have given and attached themselves 
 to these. As for me, I cannot attach myself to them, and con¬ 
 sidering how strongly appearances show that there is something 
 else than what is visible to me, I have sought to discover whether 
 this God have not left some impress of himself. 
 
 I see many contrary religions, and consequently all false 
 but one. Each wishes to be believed on its own authority, 
 and menaces the unbeliever, but I do not therefore believe them. 
 Every one can say the same, and every one can call himself a 
 prophet. But I see the Christian religion fulfilling prophecy, 
 and that is what every one can not do. 
 
 Without this divine knowledge what could men do but either 
 uplift themselves by that inward conviction of their past greatness 
 still remaining to them, or be cast down in view of their present 
 infirmity? For, not seeing the whole truth, they could not attain 
 
184 
 
 THE EXCELLENCE OF 
 
 to perfect virtue. Some considering nature as incorrupt, others 
 as incurable, they could not escape either pride or idleness, the 
 two sources of all vice ; since they cannot but either abandon 
 themselves to it by cowardice, or escape it by pride. For if 
 they were aware of the excellency of man, they were ignorant of 
 his corruption, so that they very easily avoided idleness, but 
 only to fall into pride. And if they recognized the infirmity of 
 nature, they knew not its dignity, so that though they might 
 easily avoid presumption, it was only to plunge into despair. 
 
 Thence come the various sects of the Stoics and Epicureans, 
 the Dogmatists, Academicians, etc. The Christian religion 
 alone has been able to cure these two distempers, not so as to 
 drive out the one by the other according to the wisdom of the 
 world, but so as to expel them both by the simplicity of the 
 Gospel. For it teaches the righteous that it lifts them even to a 
 participation of the divine nature; that in this exalted state they 
 still bear within them the fountain of all corruption, which 
 renders them during their whole life subject to error and misery, 
 to death and sin ; and at the same time it proclaims to the most 
 wicked that they can receive the grace of their Redeemer. Thus 
 making those tremble whom it justifies, and consoling those 
 whom it condemns, religion so justly tempers fear with hope by 
 means of that double capacity of grace and of sin which is 
 common to all, that it abases infinitely more than reason alone, 
 yet without despair ; and exalts infinitely higher than natural 
 pride, yet -without puffing up : hereby proving that alone being 
 exempt from error and vice, it alone has the office of instructing 
 and of reforming men. 
 
 Who then can withhold credence and adoration to so divine 
 a light ? For it is clearer than day that we feel within ourselves 
 indelible characters of goodness ; and it is equally true that we 
 experience every hour the effects of our deplorable condition. 
 This chaos then, this monstrous confusion, does but proclaim the 
 •truth of these two states, with a voice so powerful that it cannot 
 be resisted. 
 
 The Philosophers never prescribed feelings proper to these two 
 states. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 185 
 
 They inspired motions of simple greatness, and that is not the 
 state of man. 
 
 They inspired motions of simple vileness, and that is not the 
 state of man. 
 
 There must be motions of abasement, yet not from nature, but 
 from penitence, not to rest in them, but to go onward to great¬ 
 ness. There must be motions of greatness, not from merit, but 
 from grace, and after having passed through abasement. 
 
 This double nature of man is so evident, that there are those 
 who have imagined us to have two souls. 
 
 One single subject seemed to them incapable of so great and 
 'sudden variations from unmeasured pride to an horrible dejec¬ 
 tion of spirit. 
 
 All these contradictions which seemed to have taken me 
 further from the knowledge of religion, are what most rapidly 
 led me into truth. 
 
 Did we not know ourselves full of pride, ambition, lust, weak¬ 
 ness, misery and injustice, we were indeed blind. And if 
 knowing this we did not desire deliverance, what could be said of 
 a man . . . What then can we feel but esteem for that Religion 
 which is so well acquainted with the defects of man, and desire 
 for the truth of a religion which promises remedies so precious. 
 
 The corruption of reason is shown by the number of differing 
 and extravagant customs ; it was necessary that truth should 
 come in order that man should no longer live in himself. 
 
 Incomprehensible .—Not all that is incomprehensible is there¬ 
 fore non existent. Infinite number. An infinite space equal to 
 a finite. 
 
 It is incredible that God should unite himself to us .—This 
 consideration is drawn only from the view of our vileness. But 
 if it be sincere, follow it as far as I have done, and recognise that 
 we are in fact so vile as to make us by ourselves incapable of 
 knowing whether his mercy may not render us capable of him. 
 
THE EXCELLENCE OF 
 
 186 
 
 For I would know how this animal, who is aware of his weakness, 
 has the right to measure the mercy of God and set to it bounds 
 suggested by his fancy. He knows so little what God is that he 
 does not even know what himself is, and troubled with the 
 view of his own state, boldly declares that God cannot render 
 man capable of communion with him. 
 
 But I would ask if God demands aught else from him than 
 to know him and to love him, and why, since man is by nature 
 capable of love and knowledge, he believes that God cannot make 
 himself known and loved by him. He certainly knows at least 
 that he is, and that he loves something. Therefore if he see 
 anything in his darkness, and if among the things of earth he 
 find any subject of his love, why, if God impart to him some ray 
 of his essence, should he not be capable of knowing and of loving 
 him in the manner in which it shall please him to communicate 
 himself to us ? There must be then an intolerable arrogance 
 in these sort of arguments, though they seem founded on apparent 
 humility, which is neither sincere nor reasonable, unless it makes 
 us confess that not knowing of ourselves what we are, we can 
 learn it from God alone. 
 
 For myself, I declare that so soon as the Christian religion 
 reveals the principle that human nature is corrupt and fallen 
 from God, my eyes are opened to see everywhere the characters 
 of this truth : for nature is such that she everywhere indicates, 
 both within man and without him, a God whom he has lost and 
 a corrupt nature.' 
 
 Whatever may be said, it must be conceded that the Christian 
 religion has something astonishing in it. Perhaps someone will 
 say : “This is because you were born in it.” It may be : then I 
 stiffen myself against it by this very reason, for fear this prejudice 
 should bias me; but although I am born in it I cannot but 
 find it so. 
 
 The whole course of things must have for its object the 
 establishment and the grandeur of Religion : that there should 
 be implanted in men sentiments conformable to its precepts, 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 
 
 1 87 
 
 and in a word, that it should be so completely the aim 
 and the centre to which all things tend, that whoever under¬ 
 stands its principles can give an explanation as of human 
 nature in particular, so in general of the whole order of the 
 world. 
 
 Our religion is wise and foolish. Wise, because it is the most 
 learned, and the most founded on miracles, prophecies, etc. 
 Foolish, because it is not all this which causes us to belong to 
 it; this makes us indeed condemn those who are not of it, but 
 is not the cause of belief in those who are. It is the cross that 
 makes them believe, ne evacuata sit crux. And thus Saint 
 Paul, who came with wisdom and signs, says that he came neither 
 with wisdom nor with signs, for he came to convert. But those 
 who come only to convince may say that they come with wisdom 
 and with signs. 
 
 That religion, great as she is in miracles, with holy and blame¬ 
 less Fathers, learned and great witnesses, with martyrs and 
 kings, as David, and Isaiah, a prince of the blood ; great as 
 she is in science, after having displayed all her miracles and all 
 her wisdom, rejects it all, and says she has neither wisdom nor 
 signs, but only the cross and foolishness. 
 
 For those, who by these signs and that wisdom have deserved 
 your belief, and who have proved to you their character, declare 
 to you that nothing of all this can change you, and render you 
 capable of knowing and loving God, but the power of the foolish¬ 
 ness of the cross without wisdom and signs, and not the signs 
 without this power. Thus our Religion is foolish when we con¬ 
 sider the effective cause, wise when we consider the wisdom 
 which has prepared it. 
 
 How strange is Christianity ! It enjoins man to acknowledge 
 himself vile, even abominable, and enjoins him to aspire to be 
 like God. Without such a counterpoise, this elevation would 
 make him horribly vain, or that vileness would make him terribly 
 abject. 
 
 Misery counsels despair, pride counsels presumption. 
 
THE EXCELLENCE OF 
 
 188 
 
 The incarnation shows man the greatness of his misery by the 
 greatness of the remedy of which he stood in need. 
 
 Not a vileness such as renders us incapable of good, nor a 
 holiness exempt from evil. 
 
 No doctrine is more suited to man than this ; for it teaches him 
 his double capacity of receiving and losing grace, because of the 
 double peril to which he is always exposed, of despair and of 
 pride. 
 
 No other religion has enjoined hate of self. No othei religion 
 then can be pleasing to those who hate themselves, and who 
 seek a Being wholly to be loved. And these, if they had nevei 
 heard of the religion of an humiliated God, would embrace it 
 
 at once. 
 
 No other has recognised that man is of all creatures the most 
 excellent. Some, having apprehended the reality of his excel¬ 
 lence, have blamed as mean and ungrateful the low opinion 
 which men naturally have of themselves, and others, well aware 
 how real is this vileness, have treated with haughty ridicule 
 those sentiments of greatness which are no less natural to 
 man. 
 
 “ Lift your eyes to God,” say these , <e see him in whose image 
 you are, who has made you to worship him. You can make your¬ 
 selves like unto him ; wisdom will equal you to him if you will 
 follow it.” But others say : “ Bend your eyes to the earth, poor 
 worm that you are, and look upon the brutes your comrades. 
 What then will man become? Will he equal God or the 
 brutes? What an awful gulf! What then shall we be? Who 
 does not see from all this that man has gone astray, that he has 
 fallen from his place, that he seeks it with disquiet, that he 
 cannot regain it ? And who shall direct him, since the greatest 
 men have not availed ? 
 
 What men could scarcely know by their greatest light, this 
 Religion has taught to babes. 
 
 Other religions, as those of heathendom, are more popular 
 
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 189 
 
 since they consist only in externals, but they have no effect on 
 the educated. A purely intellectual religion would be more 
 adapted to the educated, but it would be of no use to the people. 
 The Christian religion alone is fitted for all, being composed of 
 externals and internals. It elevates the people to inteiior acts, 
 it abases the proud to external rites, and it is not complete with¬ 
 out both, for the people must understand the spirit which is in 
 the letter, and the educated must submit their spirit to the 
 letter. 
 
 Philosophers have consecrated vices in attiibuting them to 
 God himself, Christians have consecrated virtues. 
 
. 
 
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 de¬ 
 clares it plainly, as when it says in certain places : Delicice mece , 
 esse cum filiis hominum . Effundam spiritual nieum super 
 omnem carnem. Dii estis, etc.; and when it says in others : 
 Omnis caro fcenum. Homo comparatus est jumentis insipien- 
 tibus , et similis factus est illis. Dixi in corde meo de filiis 
 hominum , ut probaret eos Deus et ostenderet similes esse 
 best ids, etc. 
 
 The wicked, who abandon themselves blindly to their passions, 
 without the knowledge of God, and without taking the trouble to 
 seek him, themselves confirm this foundation of the faith which 
 they attack, that the nature of man is corrupt. And the Jews, 
 who so obstinately assail the Christian religion, again confirm that 
 other foundation of the same faith which they assail, namely, 
 that Jesus Christ is the true Messiah, who has come to redeem 
 men, and deliver them from the corruption and misery in which 
 they were, as much by the condition in which we see them at 
 this day, and which was foretold by the prophets, as by these 
 same prophecies which they possess and keep so inviolably as 
 the tokens whereby the Messiah is to’be recognised. 
 
 I would ask them if it is not true that they themselves confirm 
 
OF ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 192 
 
 this foundation of the faith they assail, which is that the nature 
 of man is corrupt. 
 
 Marton secs indeed that nature is corrupt, and that men are 
 opposed to honourable conduct, but he knows not why they 
 cannot fly higher. 
 
 The meaning of the words good and evil. 
 
 Original sin is foolishness to men, but it is admitted to be so. 
 This doctrine must not then be reproached with want of reason, 
 since I admit that it has no reason. But this foolishness is wiser 
 than all the wisdom of men, sapienlius est hominibus. For 
 without this how can we say what man is ? His whole state 
 depends on this imperceptible point, and how should it be per¬ 
 ceived by his reason, since it is a thing against reason, and since 
 reason, far from finding it out by her own ways, revolts from 
 it when it is offered her ? 
 
 There is nothing on earth which does not show either human 
 misery or divine mercy ; either the weakness of man without God, 
 or the power of man with God. 
 
 Thus the whole universe teaches man, either that he is 
 corrupt, or that he is redeemed ; every thing teaches him his 
 greatness or his misery; the abandonment by God is shown in 
 the heathen, the protection of God is shown in the Jews. 
 
 Nature has her perfections to show that she is the image of 
 God, and her defects to show that she is no more than his 
 image. 
 
 Men being unaccustomed to form merit, but only to recom¬ 
 pense it 'when they find it formed, judge of God by themselves. 
 
 When we wish to think of God, there is a something which 
 turns us aside, and tempts us to think on other subjects ; all this 
 is evil and born with us. 
 
 Lust has become natural to us, and has made our second 
 
OF ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 193 
 
 nature. Thus there are two natures in us, one good, the other 
 evil.—Where is God? Where you are not, and the kingdom of 
 God is within you.— The Rabbis. 
 
 It is then true that everything instructs man concerning his 
 condition, but the statement must be clearly understood, for it is 
 not true that all reveals God, and it is not true that all hides 
 him. But it is true both that he hides himself from those who 
 tempt him, and that he reveals himself to those who seek him, 
 because men are both unworthy and capable of God ; unworthy 
 by their corruption, capable by their original nature. 
 
 ^ e cannot conceive the glorious state of Adam, nor the nature 
 of his sin, nor the transmission of it to us. These things took 
 place under the conditions of a nature quite different to our own, 
 transcending our present capacity. 
 
 The knowledge of all this would be of no use in helping us to 
 escape from it, and all we need know is that we are miserable, 
 corrupt, separate from God, but ransomed by Jesus Christ, and 
 of this we have on earth wonderful proofs. 
 
 Thus the two proofs of corruption and redemption, are drawn 
 from the wicked, who live indifferent to religion, and from the 
 Jews who are its irreconcilable enemies. 
 
 All faith consists in Jesus Christ and in Adam, and all morality 
 in lust and in grace. 
 
 Shall he only who knows his nature know it only to his 
 misery ? Shall he alone who knows it be alone miserable ? 
 
 He must not see nothing whatever, nor must he see so much 
 as to believe he possesses it, but he must see enough to know 
 that he has lost it; for to be aware of loss he must see and not 
 see, and that is precisely the state in which he is by nature. 
 
 We wish for truth, and find in ourselves only uncertainty. 
 
 We seek after happiness, and find only misery and death. 
 
 We cannot but wish for truth and happiness, and we are 
 incapable neither of certainty nor of happiness. This desire is 
 
 O 
 
I94 OF ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 left to us, as much to punish us as to make us feel whence we 
 are drawn. 
 
 Will it be asserted that because men have spoken of righteous¬ 
 ness as having fled from the earth, therefore they knew of 
 original sin ?— Nemo ante obituin beatus est. —That therefore 
 they knew death to be the beginning of eternal and essential 
 happiness ? 
 
 The dignity of man while innocent consisted in using and 
 having dominion over the creatures, but now in separating him¬ 
 self from them, and subjecting himself to them. 
 
 Source of contradictions. —A God humbled, even to the death 
 of the cross, a Messiah by his death triumphing over death. 
 Two natures in Jesus Christ, two advents, two states of human 
 nature. 
 
 Of original sin.—Ample tradition of original sin according to 
 the fews. 
 
 On the word in Genesis, viii. 21. The imagination of man’s 
 heart is evil from his youth. 
 
 R. Moses Haddarschan: This evil leaven is placed in man 
 from the time that he is formed. 
 
 Massechet Succa: This evil leaven has seven names in Scrip¬ 
 ture. It is called evil, an unclean prepuce, an enemy, a scandal, 
 a heart of stone, the north wind ; all this signifies the malignity 
 which is concealed and ingrained in the heart of man. 
 
 Midrasch Tillim says the same thing, and that God will free 
 the good nature of man from the evil. 
 
 This malignity is renewed every day against man, as it is 
 written, Psalm xxxvii. The wicked watcheth the just, and 
 striveth to kill him, but God will not abandon him. 
 
 This malignity tries the heart of man in this life, and will 
 accuse him in the other. 
 
 All this is found in the Talmud. 
 
 Midrasch Tillim on Ps. iv. : “ Stand in awe and sin not.” 
 Stand in awe and be afraid of your lust, and it will not lead you 
 
OF ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 195 
 
 into sin. And on Ps. xxxvi. “ The wicked has said in his heart: 
 Let not the fear of God be before me.” That is to say that the 
 malignity natural to man has said that to the wicked. 
 
 Misdrasch el Kohelet: “ Better is a poor and a wise child than 
 an old and foolish king who cannot foresee the future.” The 
 child is virtue, and the king is the malignity of man. It is 
 called king because all the members obey it, and old because it 
 is in the heart of man from infancy to old age, and foolish 
 because it leads man in the way of perdition which he does not 
 foresee. 
 
 The same thing is in Misdrasch Tillim. 
 
 Bereschist Rabba on Ps. xxxv. : “ Lord, all my bones shall 
 bless thee, who deliverest the poor from the tyrant.” And is 
 there a greater tyrant than the ’evil leaven ? And on Proverbs 
 xxv., “ If thine enemy be hungry, feed him.” That is to say, if 
 the evil leaven hunger, give him the bread of wisdom of which 
 speaks Prov. ix., and if he be thirsty, give him the water of which 
 speaks Isaiah lv. 
 
 Misdrasch Tillim says the same thing, and that the Scripture 
 in that passage speaking of our enemy, means the evil leaven, 
 and that in giving it that bread and that water, we heap coals 
 of fire on his head. 
 
 Misdtasch Rohclct on Ecclesiastes ix. 11 A great king besieged 
 a little city.” This great king is the evil leaven, the great 
 engines with which he surrounds it are temptations, and there 
 has been found a poor wise man who has delivered it, that is to 
 say virtue. 
 
 And on Ps. xli. “ Blessed is he that considered the poor.” 
 
 And on Ps. lxxviii. The spirit goethand returneth not again, 
 whereof some have taken occasion of error concerning the 
 immortality of the soul; but the sense is that this spirit is the 
 evil leaven, which accompanies man till death, and will not 
 return at the resurrection. 
 
 And on Ps. ciii. the same thing. 
 
 And on Ps. xvi. 
 
 Chronology of Rabbinism. 
 
 The citations of pages are from the book Pugio . 
 
OF ORIGINAL SIN. 
 
 196 
 
 Page 27, R. Hakadosch, anno 200, author of the Mischna or 
 
 vocal law, or second law. 
 
 Commentaries on the Mischna, anno 34° : 
 
 The one, Siphra. 
 
 Barajetot. 
 
 Talmud Hierosol. 
 
 Tosiphtot. 
 
 Bereschit Raba/i , by R. Osaiah Rabah, commentary on the 
 Mischna. 
 
 Bereschit Rabah, Bar Naconi, are subtle and agreeable dis¬ 
 courses, historical and theological. The same author wrote the 
 books called Rabot. 
 
 A hundred years after the Talmud Hierosol. anno 440, was 
 made the Babylonian Talmud, by R. Ase, by the universal con¬ 
 sent of all the Jews, who are necessarily obliged to observe all 
 that is contained therein. 
 
 The addition of R. Ase is called the Gemara, that is to say 
 
 the commentary on the Mischna. 
 
 And the Talmud as a whole comprises the Mischna and the 
 
 Gemara. 
 
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 
 cf 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 otheis, who awaited with patience the Christ pro¬ 
 mised from the beginning of the world. Noah saw the evil of men 
 at its height; and he was found worthy to save the world in his per¬ 
 son, by the hope of the Messiah of whom he was the type. Abra- 
 ham v as compassed lound about by idolaters, when God revealed 
 to him the mystery of the Messiah, whom he greeted from afar. 
 In the days of Isaac and Jacob abomination was spread over the 
 whole earth, but these holy men lived in faith, and Jacob dying 
 and blessing his childien, ciied in a transport which made him 
 break off his discourse, “ I await, O my God, the Saviour whom 
 thou hast promised. Salutare tuum expectabo , DomiueP The 
 Egyptians were infected both with idolatry and magic, even the 
 people of God were led astray by their example. Yet Moses and 
 others saw him whom they saw not, and adored him, looking 
 to the eternal gifts which he was preparing for them. The 
 Greeks and Latins then enthroned false deities, the poets made 
 a hundred divers theologies, the philosophers separated into a 
 thousand different sects, and yet in the heart of Judaea were 
 always chosen men who foretold the advent of this Messiah, 
 known to them alone. He came at length in the fulness of 
 
THE PERPETUITY OF THE 
 
 198 
 
 time, and since then, notwithstanding the birth of so many 
 schisms and heresies, so many revolutions in government, such 
 great changes in all things, this Church, adoring him who has 
 ever been adored, has subsisted without a break. It is a won¬ 
 derful, incomparable and wholly divine fact, that this Religion 
 which has ever endured, has ever been assailed. A thousand 
 times has it been on the eve of an universal ruin, and whenever 
 it has been in that state God has restored it by extraordinary 
 manifestations of his power. This is marvellous, so also that it 
 has survived without yielding to the will of tyrants. F01 it is not 
 strange that a State subsists when its laws sometimes give way 
 to necessity, but that . . . 
 
 States would perish if they did not often make their laws bend 
 to necessity, but Religion has never suffered this or practised it. 
 And indeed there must be either compromise or miracles. There 
 is nothing unusual in being saved by yielding, and stiictly 
 speaking this is not endurance, besides in the end they perish 
 utterly : there is none which has endured a thousand years. 
 But that this Religion, although inflexible, should always have 
 been maintained, shows that it is divine. 
 
 The'religion which alone is contrary to our nature, to common 
 sense, and to our pleasures, is that alone which has always 
 existed. 
 
 The science which alone is contrary to common sense and 
 human nature, is that alone which has always subsisted among 
 
 men. 
 
 To show that the true Jews and the true Christians have one 
 and the same Religion—The religion of the Jews seemed to 
 consist essentially in the fatherhood of Abraham, in ciicumcision, 
 sacrifices and ceremonies, in the ark, in the temple at Jerusalem, 
 and lastly, in the Law, and the Covenant with Moses. 
 
 I say that it consisted in none of these, but solely in the love 
 of God, and that all else was rejected by him ; 
 
 That God did not accept the posterity of Abraham ; 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 199 
 
 That the Jews if they transgressed were to be punished like 
 strangers. Deut. viii. 19. “If thou at all forget the Lord thy 
 God, and walk after other gods, I testify against you this day 
 that ye shall surely perish as the nations which God has 
 destroyed before you.” 
 
 That strangers if they loved God were to be received by him 
 as the Jews. Isaiah lvi. 3. “ Let not the stranger say, The Lord 
 will not receive me.—The strangers that join themselves unto 
 the Lord God to serve him and love him, will I bring unto my 
 holy mountain, and accept their sacrifices, for mine house is an 
 house of prayer.” 
 
 That the true Jews ascribed all their merit to God, and not to 
 Abraham. Isaiah lxiii. 16. “ Doubtless thou art our Father, 
 
 though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us 
 not. Thou art our Father and our Redeemer.” 
 
 Moses himself said that God would not accept the person of any. 
 
 Deut. x. 17. “ God,” said he, “accepteth neither persons nor 
 
 sacrifices.” 
 
 That the circumcision commanded was that of the heart. 
 Deut. x. 16 ; Jeremiah iv. 4. “ Be ye circumcised in heart. Cut off 
 the superfluities of your heart, harden not your hearts, for 
 your God is a great God, strong and terrible, who accepteth not 
 the person of any.” 
 
 That God said he would one day do it. Deut. xxx. 6. “ God 
 will circumcise thine heart, and thy children’s heart, that thou 
 mayest love him with all thine heart.” 
 
 That the uncircumcised in heart should be judged. 
 
 Jer. ix. 26. For God will judge the uncircumcised peoples, and 
 all the people of Israel, because he is uncircumcised in heart. 
 
 That the exterior is nothing in comparison of the interior. 
 Joel. ii. 13. Scmdite corda vestra , etc. Isaiah lviii. 3, 4, etc. 
 
 The love of God is commanded in the whole of Deuteronomy, 
 Deut. xxx. 19: “I call heaven and earth to witness that I have set 
 before you death and life, that you may choose life, and that you 
 may love God, and obey him, for God is your life.” 
 
 That the Jews, for lack of their love, should be rejected for 
 their crimes, and the Gentiles chosen in their stead. 
 
 Rosea i. 10. 
 
400 
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF THE 
 
 Deut. xxxii. 20. “ I will hide myself from them in view of their 
 latter sins, for they are a froward generation. They have 
 provoked me to anger by things which are no gods, and I will 
 provoke them to jealousy by a people which is not my people, 
 by an ignorant and foolish nation.” 
 
 Isaiah lxv. 1. That temporal goods are false, and that the 
 true good is to be united to God. 
 
 Psalm cxliii. 15. That their feasts were displeasing to God. 
 
 Amos v. 21. That the sacrifices of the Jews were displeasing 
 to God. 
 
 Isa. lxvi. 1-3 ; 1 . 11 ; Jerem. vi. 20. 
 
 David, Miserere. Even on the part of the good, Expectavi. 
 
 Psalm xlix. 8-14. That he has established them only for their 
 hardness. Micah, admirably, vi. 6-8. 
 
 I. Kings xv. 22 ; Hosea vi. 6. 
 
 That the sacrifices of the Gentiles should be accepted of God, 
 and that God would none of the sacrifices of the Jews. Malachi 
 i. 11. 
 
 That God would make a new covenant with the Messiah, and 
 that the Old should be disannulled. Jer. xxxi. 31. 
 
 Mandata non bona. Ezek. xx. 25. 
 
 That the old things should be forgotten. Isa. xliii. 18, 19 ; 
 lxv. 17, 18. 
 
 That the ark should come no more to mind. Jer. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 That the temple should be rejected. Jer. vii. 12—14. 
 
 That the sacrifices should be rejected, and purer sacrifices 
 established. Malachi i. n. 
 
 That the order of Aaron’s priesthood should be rejected 
 and that of Melchizedek introduced by the Messiah. Dixit 
 Do minus. 
 
 That this sacrifice should be eternal. Ib. 
 
 That Jerusalem should be rejected, and Rome admitted. 
 
 That the name of the Jews should be rejected and a new name 
 given. Isa. lxv. 15. 
 
 That this new name should be more excellent than that of 
 the Jews, and eternal. Isa. lvii. 5. 
 
 That the Jews should be without prophets, Amos, without 
 a king, without princes, without sacrifice, without an idol 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 201 
 
 That the Jews should nevertheless always remain a people. 
 Jer. xxxi. ,36. 
 
 Perpetuity .—Men have always believed in a Messiah. The 
 tradition from Adam was still fresh in Noah and in Moses. 
 After these the prophets bore witness, at the same time fore¬ 
 telling other things which being from time to time fulfilled in 
 the eyes of all, demonstrated the truth of their mission, and 
 consequently that of their promises touching the Messiah. 
 Jesus Christ worked miracles, and the Apostles also, who con¬ 
 verted all the Gentiles; and the prophecies being thus once 
 accomplished, the Messiah is for ever proved. 
 
 ... On that account I reject all other religions. 
 
 In that I find an answer to all objections. 
 
 It is just that a God so pure should only disclose himself to 
 those whose hearts are purified. 
 
 Therefore that religion is lovable to me, and I find it sufficiently 
 authorized by so divine a morality, but I find yet more . . . 
 
 I find it a convincing fact that since the memory of man has 
 lasted, it was constantly declared to men that they were uni¬ 
 versally corrupt, and that a Redeemer should come ; 
 
 That it was not one man who said it, but an infinity of men, 
 and a whole nation lasting for four thousand years, prophesying, 
 and created for that very purpose . . . So I stretch out my arms 
 to my Redeemer, who having been foretold for four thousand 
 years, has come to suffer and to die for me on earth at the time 
 and under all the circumstances which had been foretold, and 
 by his grace I await death in peace, in the hope of being ' 
 eternally united to him ; yet I live with joy, whether in the good 
 which it pleases him to bestow on me, or in the ill which he 
 sends for my good, and which he has taught me to bear by his 
 example. 
 
 The Synagogue preceded the Church, the Jews preceded the 
 Christians, the prophets foretold the Christians, Saint John 
 foretold Jesus Christ. 
 
 No religion but our own has taught that man is born in sin ; 
 
202 
 
 PERPETUITY OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 no sect of philosophers ever said this, therefore none has said 
 the truth. 
 
 No sect or religion has always existed on earth, except the 
 Christian religion. 
 
 The Christian religion is that alone which renders man lov¬ 
 able and happy at once. Living in the world he cannot be 
 lovable and happy at the same time. 
 
 In all times either men have spoken of the true God, or the 
 true God has spoken to men. 
 
 There are two foundations, one interior and the other exterior 
 crace and miracles, and both are supernatural. 
 
PROOFS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 
 
 Proofs of Religion, 
 
 Morals—Doctrine—Miracles—Prophecies—Figures. 
 
 Proof —i. 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 par¬ 
 ticular.—5. The apostles in particular.—6. Moses and the pro¬ 
 phets in particular.—7. The Jewish people.—8. The Prophecies. 
 —9. Perpetuity. No religion has perpetuity.—10. The Doctrine, 
 which explains all.—11. The sanctity of this law.—12. By the 
 course of the world. 
 
 It is beyond doubt that after considering what is life and 
 what is religion we cannot refuse to act on the inclination to 
 follow it, if it comes into our heart, and it is certain there is no 
 ground for jeering at those who follow it. 
 
 The ge 7 ieral conduct of the world towards the Church. —Goc 
 willing both to blind and enlighten.—The event having proved 
 that these prophecies were divine, the remainder ought to be 
 believed, and hence we see that the order of the world is on this 
 manner. 
 
 The miracles of the creation and the deluge being forgotten 
 God sent the law and the miracles of Moses, the prophets who 
 prophesied particular things, and to prepare an abiding miracle 
 he prepares prophecies and their fulfilment. But as the pro¬ 
 phecies might be suspected he wishes to make them beyond 
 suspicion, etc. 
 
 . . . But even those who seem most opposed to the glory of 
 religion are not in that respect useless for others. We draw 
 
204 
 
 PROOFS OF TIIE 
 
 fiom them the first argument, that here is something supet 
 natural, for a blindness of that kind is not natural, and if their 
 folly renders them so opposed to their own good, it will serve 
 to guarantee others against it, by the horror of an example so 
 deplorable, and a folly so worthy of compassion. 
 
 . . . Men revile what they do not understand. The Christian 
 religion consists in two points. It is of equal moment to men to 
 know them both, and equally dangerous to ignore either. And 
 it is equally of God’s mercy that he has given marks of both. 
 
 Yet they take occasion to conclude that one of these points 
 does not exist from that which is intended to make them certain 
 of the other. Those sages who have said there is a God have 
 been persecuted, the Jews were hated, and still more the 
 Christians. They saw by the light of nature, that if there 
 be a true religion on earth, the course of all things must 
 tend to it as to a centre. And on this ground they venture 
 to revile the Christian religion because they misunderstand it. 
 They imagine that it consists simply in the adoration of a God 
 conceived as great, powerful and eternal; which is in fact 
 deism, almost as far removed from the Christian religion as 
 atheism, its exact opposite. And hence they infer the false¬ 
 hood of our religion, because they do not see that all things 
 concur to the establishment of this point, that God does not 
 manifest himsell to man with all the evidence which is possible. 
 
 But let them conclude what they will against deism, they can 
 conclude nothing on that account against the Christian religion, 
 which properly consists in the mystery of the Redeemer, who, 
 uniting in himself the two natures human and divine, has with¬ 
 drawn men from the corruption of sin that he might in his divine 
 person reconcile them to God. 
 
 True religion then teaches these two truths to men, that there 
 is a God whom they are capable of knowing, and that there is 
 such corruption in their nature as to render them unworthy of 
 him. It is of equal importance to men that they should appre¬ 
 hend the one and the other of these points, and it is alike dan¬ 
 gerous for man to know God without the knowledge of his own 
 worthlessness, and to know his own worthlessness without the 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 205 
 
 knowledge of the Redeemer who may deliver him from it. To 
 apprehend the one without the other begets either the pride of 
 philosophers, who knew God, but not their own wretchedness ; 
 or the despair of atheists, who know their own w r retchedness, but 
 not the Redeemer. And as it is alike necessary for man to 
 know these two points, so it is alike of the mercy of God to 
 have given us the knowledge. The Christian religion does this ; 
 it is in this that it consists. Let us herein examine the order of 
 the world, and see if all things do not tend to establish these 
 two main points of our Religion. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that no canonical writer has ever 
 employed nature to prove God. All tend to make him be believed. 
 David, Solomon and others have never said : “ There is no 
 vacuum, therefore there is a God.” They must have been cleverer 
 than the cleverest in after days who have all used this argument. 
 
 This is w r ell worth considering. 
 
 If it be a mark of weakness to prove God by nature, despise 
 not the Scripture for not doing so : if it be a mark of power to 
 know these contradictions, value the Scriptures on that account. 
 
 What ! Do you not say yourself that the sky and the birds 
 prove God?—No.—And does not your religion say so?— 
 No. For however it may be true in a sense for some souls to 
 whom God has given this light, it is nevertheless false in regard 
 to the majority. 
 
 Think you it is impossible that God is infinite, without parts ? 
 —Yes.—I will then make you see something which is infinite 
 and indivisible. A point moving everywhere with infinite swift¬ 
 ness, for it is in all places, and is whole and entire in each 
 situation. 
 
 Perhaps this effect of nature, which seems to you impossible 
 beforehand, may teach you to know that there may be others 
 also which you know not as yet. Do not then draw this con¬ 
 clusion from your apprenticeship, that nothing remains for you 
 to know, but rather that an infinity remains for you to know. 
 
 It is incomprehensible that there should be a God, and income 
 
206 
 
 TROOFS OF THE 
 
 prehensible that there should not be; that there should be a soul 
 in the body, and that we should have no soul; that the world 
 should have been created, and that it should not, etc. ; that 
 original sin should be, and that it should not be. 
 
 If we choose to say that man is too little to merit communion 
 with God, we must be indeed great to form a judgment on the 
 \ subject. 
 
 The Eternal is for ever, if he is at all. 
 
 But it is impossible that God should ever be the end, if he is 
 not the beginning. We look above, but lean upon the sand, 
 and the earth will melt, and we shall fall whilst looking towards 
 heaven. 
 
 Objection. The Scripture is plainly full of matters which were 
 not dictated by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Answer. Then they do no harm to faith. 
 
 Objection. But the Church has decided that all is of the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Answer. I answer two things : i. That the Church has never 
 so decided : 2. That if she should so decide it might be main¬ 
 tained. 
 
 My God ! what trash is all this talk : “ Has God made the 
 world but to condemn it ? will he ask so much of creatures so 
 weak?” etc. Scepticism is the remedy for this evil, and will 
 lower this vanity. 
 
 God has willed to redeem mankind and to open salvation to 
 those who seek him. But men render themselves so unworthy 
 of it, that it is just that God should refuse to some because of 
 their hardness of heart what he grants to others out of a mercy 
 not their due. Had it been his will to overcome the stubborn¬ 
 ness of the most hardened, he could have rendered them unable 
 to doubt the truth of his essence, in revealing himself manifestly 
 to them as he will appear at the last day, amid thunderings and 
 lightnings, and so great a convulsion of nature, that the dead will 
 rise again, and the blindest shall see him. 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 207 
 
 Not thus willed he to appear in his gentle advent, because since 
 so many men make themselves unworthy of his mercy, he 
 willed to leave them deprived of the good which they refuse. It 
 had not then been just that he should appear in a manner plainly 
 divine, and wholly capable of convincing all men, but neither 
 had it been just that he should come in so hidden a manner as 
 not to be recognised of those who sincerely sought him. He 
 has willed to reveal himself wholly to these, and thus willing to 
 appear openly to those who seek him with their whole heart, and 
 to hide himself from those who fly him with all their heart, he 
 has so tempered the knowledge of himself as to give signs of 
 himself visible to those who seek him, and obscure to those who 
 seek him not. 
 
 / There is enough light for those who wish earnestly to see, and 
 i enough obscurity for those of a contrary mind. J 
 
 Therefore let men recognise the truth of religion in the very 
 obscurity of religion, in the little .light we have of it, and in our 
 indifference to the knowledge of it. 
 
 The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our Religion, 
 are not of such a nature that we can say they are absolutely 
 convincing. But they are also of such a kind, that none can say 
 that it is unreasonable to believe in them. Thus there is both 
 evidence and obscurity to enlighten some and blind others; 
 but the evidence is such that it surpasses or at least equals the 
 evidence to the contrary, so that it is not reason which can 
 determine us not to follow it, and therefore it can only be lust 
 and malice of heart. And by this means there is evidence 
 enough to condemn, and not enough to convince ; so it appears 
 in those who follow it, that it is grace and not reason which 
 causes them to follow it; and in those who fly it, it is lust, not 
 reason, which causes them to fly it. 
 
 Who can help admiring and embracing a religion which 
 thoroughly knows that which we recognise more and more in 
 proportion to our light ? 
 
 That God has willed to hide himself .—If there were only one 
 
20S 
 
 PROOFS OF THE 
 
 Religion God would certainly be manifest; so also if there were 
 no martyrs but in our own Religion. 
 
 God being thus hidden, every religion which does not say that 
 God is hidden is not the true religion, and every religion which 
 does not show the reason of it is unedifying. Our religion does 
 all this : Vere tu es Dens absconditus. 
 
 Religion is so great a thing, that it is right that those who will 
 not take the trouble to seek if it be obscure should be deprived 
 of it. Why then should any complain, if it be such as to be found 
 by seeking? 
 
 The obscurity would be too great, if truth had not visible 
 signs. This is a marvellous one, that it has always been pre¬ 
 served in a Church and a visible assembly. The clearness would 
 be too great if there were only one opinion in this Church, but 
 to recognise what is true is only to see what has always existed, 
 for it is certain that truth has always existed, and that nothing 
 false has been always in existence. 
 
 Recognise then the truth of religion even in the obscurity of 
 religion, in the little light we have of it, and in the indifference 
 we have to its knowledge. 
 
 God chooses rather to sway the will than the intellect. Perfect 
 clearness would be useful to the intellect but would harm the 
 will. To humble pride. 
 
 Were there no obscurity man would not be sensible of his 
 corruption; were there no light man would despair of remedy. 
 Thus it is not only just, but useful for us, that God should be 
 partly hidden and partly revealed, because it is equally dan¬ 
 gerous for man to know God without the knowledge of his 
 misery, and to know his misery without the knowledge of God. 
 
 If the mercy of God is so great that his teaching is salutary 
 even when he hides himself, what great light may we not 
 expect when he reveals himself? 
 
 We shall understand nothing of the works of God if we do not 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 209 
 
 take it as a principle that he has willed to blind some and 
 enlighten others. 
 
 What say the prophets of Jesus Christ? That he will be 
 manifestly God ? No : but that he is a God truly hidden, that he 
 , be misunderstood ; that none would think it was he ; that 
 he would be a stone of stumbling on which many would fall, etc. 
 Let us no longer then be reproached with want of clearness, 
 since we make profession of it. 
 
 But, it is said, there are obscurities.—And without that, no one 
 would have stumbled at Jesus Christ, which is one of the formal 
 announcements of the prophets : Exccrca . . . 
 
 Instead of complaining that God is hidden, you will give 
 him thanks for having revealed so much of himself ; and you 
 will give him thanks again for not having revealed himself to 
 the proudly wise, who are unworthy to know so holy a God. 
 
 Two sorts of persons know : those whose heart is humble, and 
 who love lowliness, whatever their order of intellect, whether 
 high or low, and those who have understanding enough to see 
 the truth, whatever opposition they may feel to it. 
 
 I may well love total darkness, but if God keep me in a state 
 of semi-obscurity, this partial darkness is unpleasant to me, and 
 because I do not see in it the advantages of total darkness it 
 pleases me not. This is a fault, and a proof that I am making 
 an idol of darkness apart from God’s order. Now his order 
 alone is to be worshipped. 
 
 Did the world exist to instruct man concerning God, his 
 divinity would shine out incontestably from every part of it, but 
 as it exists only by Jesus Christ, and for Jesus Christ, and to in¬ 
 struct men concerning their corruption and their redemption, 
 proofs of these two truths start up everywhere. 
 
 What is seen does not denote either the total exclusion or 
 the manifest presence of divinity, but the presence of a God who 
 hides himself. All bears this character. 
 
 Had nought of God ever appeared, this eternal deprivation 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 PROOFS OF THE 
 
 would have been equivocal, and might as well be interpreted 
 of the total absence of divinity, as of man’s unworthiness to 
 know him ; but by occasional and not continual appearances he 
 has taken away all ambiguity. If he have appeared once, he is 
 for ever, and thus it must be concluded both that there is a God, 
 and that men are unworthy of him. 
 
 God, that he may reserve to himself alone the right to instruct 
 us and that he may render the difficulty of our being unintel¬ 
 ligible to us, has hidden the knot so high, or rather so low, that 
 we cannot reach it. So that it is not by the efforts of our 
 reason, but by the simple submission of our reason, that we can 
 truly know ourselves. 
 
 Wisdom sends us to childhood: -nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli. 
 
 “A miracle,” says one, “would strengthen my faith.” He says 
 so when he does not see one. Reasons seen from afar seem to 
 limit our view, but as we reach them we begin to see beyond. 
 Nothing stops the activity of our spirit. There is no rule, we say, 
 which has not its exception, no truth so general but that there is 
 a side on which it is lacking. If it be not absolutely universal, 
 we have a pretext for applying the exception to the matter in 
 hand, and for saying : This is not always true , hence there are 
 cases in which it is not so. It only remains to show that this 
 is one of them. And we must be very awkward or unlucky if we 
 do not find one some day. 
 
 Contradictions. 
 
 Infinite wisdom and wisdom of Religion 
 
 Contradiction is a bad mark of truth. 
 
 Much that is certain is contradicted. 
 
 Much that is false passes without contradiction. 
 
 Contradiction is not a mark of falsehood, nor the want of con¬ 
 tradiction a mark of truth. 
 
 There is a pleasure in being in a vessel beaten about by a 
 
CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 211 
 
 storm, provided we are certain it will not founder. The perse¬ 
 cutions which try the Church are of this kind. 
 
 The history of the Church should rightly be called the history 
 of truth. 
 
 Those who find difficulties of belief seek an excuse in the 
 unbelief of the Jews. “ If it was so clear,” say they, “ why did 
 not the Jews believe?” And they almost wish the Jews had 
 believed, that they might not be deterred by the example of 
 their refusal. But their very unbelief is the foundation of our 
 faith. We should be much less disposed to believe if they were 
 on our side. We should then have a far more ample pretext. 
 This is the wonderful point, to have made the Jews great lovers 
 of the things foretold, and great enemies of their accomplish¬ 
 ment. 
 
 * 
 
 What could the Jews, his enemies, do? Receiving him they 
 give proof of him by that reception, for then the Messiah is 
 acknowledged by those to whom was committed the expectation 
 of his coming ; rejecting him they prove his truth by that 
 rejection. 
 
 On the fact that the Christian Religion does not stand alone — 
 This is so far from being a reason against believing it the true 
 one that, on the contrary, it proves it to be so. 
 
 Those who love not the truth take as a pretext that it is con¬ 
 tested, and that a multitude deny it ; and thus their error 
 comes from this alone, that they love neither truth nor charity. 
 So they are without excuse. 
 
 The wicked who profess to follow reason, ought to be extremely 
 strong in reason. 
 
 What then do they say ? 
 
 Do we not see, say they, beasts live and die like men, and 
 Turks like Christians? They have their ceremonies, their pro¬ 
 phets, their doctors, their saints, their religious, as well as we, 
 etc. But how is this contrary to the Scripture ? Does it not say 
 all this? 
 
212 PROOFS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 If you care but little to know the truth, here is enough for 
 your peace. But if you desire to know it with your whole heart, 
 this is not enough, look to the details. This would suffice for 
 a question in philosophy, but not here, where your all is con¬ 
 cerned. And yet, after a slight meditation of this kind, we 
 shall go off to amuse ourselves, etc. We should acquaint our¬ 
 selves with this religion ; even if it does not disclose the reason 
 for such obscurity, it will perhaps teach it to us. 
 
 If God had permitted one only Religion, it would have been 
 too easily recognised. But when we lock at it near we can easily 
 see the true through the confusion. 
 
 4 
 
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 sub¬ 
 sisted 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 prophets then came to declare the time and the 
 manner of his advent; that they said their law was only pro¬ 
 visional till that of the Messiah, that it should last till then 
 but the other should endure eternally ; that thus either their 
 law or that of the Messiah, of which it was the promise, 
 would be always upon earth; that in fact it has always endured ; 
 that at last Jesus Christ has come with all the circumstances 
 foretold. How wonderful is this ! 
 
 The two most ancient books in the world are those of Moses 
 and Job, the one a Jew, the other a Gentile, both of whom 
 regard Jesus Christ as their common centre and object : Moses 
 in reporting the promises of God to Abraham, Jacob, etc., and 
 his prophecies. And Job, Quis viihi det lit , etc. Scio enim quod 
 redemptor mens vivit , etc. 
 
 I believe that Joshua was the first of God’s people who had 
 this name, as Jesus Christ was the last of God’s people. 
 
 What man had ever so great renown ! The whole Jewish 
 people foretold him before his coming. The Gentile world 
 
214 
 
 PROOFS OF THE DIVINITi 
 
 worships him after his coming. The two worlds, Gentile and 
 Jewish, regard him as their centre. 
 
 Yet what man ever had less enjoyment of his renown ! Of thirty- 
 three years he spent thirty in retirement. For three years he 
 passed as an impostor, the priests and rulers rejected him, his 
 friends and kinsmen despised him. At the end he died, 
 betrayed by one of his own disciples, denied by another, 
 abandoned by all. 
 
 What part then had he in all this renown ? Never man had 
 more glory, never man more ignominy. All this renown was for 
 our sakes, to enable us to recognise him, he took none of it for 
 himself. 
 
 Office of Jesus Christ .—He alone was to produce a great people, 
 elect, holy, and chosen, to lead it, to nourish it, to bring it into a 
 place of rest and holiness, to make it holy to God, to make it the 
 temple of God, to reconcile it to God, to save it from the wrath 
 of God, to deliver it from the slavery of sin, which visibly reigns 
 in man, to give laws to this people, to engrave these laws on 
 their heart, to offer himself to God for them, to sacrifice himself 
 for them, to be a victim without spot, himself the priest, needing 
 to offer himself, his body and his blood, and yet to offer bread 
 and wine to God . . . 
 
 After many persons had come before, at last came Jesus 
 Christ, to say : “ Here am I and this is the hour, that which the 
 prophets had said was to come in the fulness of time. I tell you 
 what my apostles will do. The Jews shall be cast out, Jerusalem 
 shall be soon destroyed, and the Gentiles shall enter into the 
 knowledge of God. My apostles shall do this after you have 
 slain the heir of the vineyard.” 
 
 Then the Apostles said to the Jews, “You shall be accursed,” 
 and to the Gentiles, “You shall enter into the knowledge of 
 God ; ” and that came to pass. Celsus laughed at it. 
 
 Then Jesus Christ came to tell men that they had no enemies 
 but themselves, that their passions cut them off from God, that 
 he came to destroy these, and give them his grace to unite them 
 all in an holy Church,thathecameto call into this Church Gentiles 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 215 
 
 and jews, that he came to destroy the idols of the former and 
 the superstition of the latter. To this all men are opposed, not 
 only by the natural opposition of lust; but above all, the kings 
 of the earth, as had been foretold, gathered together to destroy 
 this religion in its infancy. Quare fremuerunt gentes. Reges 
 terra adversus Christum. 
 
 All that was great on earth was united together, the learned, 
 the wise, the kings. The first wrote, the second condemned, 
 the last slew. Yet notwithstanding all these oppositions, these 
 men, so simple and so weak, resisted all these forces, sub¬ 
 duing even the mighty, the learned and the wise, and removed 
 idolatry from all the earth. And all this was done by the power 
 which had foretold it. 
 
 And prediction crowns all this, so that none may say that 
 chance has done it all. 
 
 Whosoever having only a week to live, does not perceive 
 that belief is the right side to take, and that all this is not a 
 stroke of chance . . . 
 
 Now were we not slaves to passion, a week and a hundred 
 years would seem one and the same thing. 
 
 The prophets foretold, and were not foretold. The saints 
 were foretold, but were not foretellers. Jesus Christ was foretold 
 and foreteller. 
 
 If I had never heard anything of the Messiah, yet after the 
 admirable predictions of the course of the world which I see 
 accomplished, I see that it is divine. And if I knew that these 
 same books foretold a Messiah, I should be certain that he would 
 come. And seeing that they place his time before the destruction 
 of the second temple, I should say that he had come. 
 
 Ingrediens mundum. 
 
 Stone upon stone. 
 
 That which preceded, that which followed. All the Jews still 
 exist, and are wanderers. 
 
 Why did not Jesus Christ come in a visible manner, instead 
 of drawing proof from the prophecies which went before him? 
 
 
210 
 
 PROOFS OF TIIE DIVINITY 
 
 And why did he cause himself to be foretold in figures? 
 
 God, to enable the Messiah to be recognised by the good 
 and unrecognised by the wicked, caused him to be so fore¬ 
 told. If the manner of the Messiah had been clearly foretold 
 there had been no obscurity, even for the wicked If the time 
 had been obscurely foretold, there had been obscurity even for 
 the good, for their goodness of heart would not have made them 
 understand, for instance, that the closed mem means six hundred 
 years. But the time has been foretold clearly and the manner 
 in figures only. 
 
 By this means the wicked, mistaking the promised for material 
 blessings, have gone astray, in spite of clear indications of the 
 time, and the good have not gone astray ; for the interpretation 
 of the promised blessings depends on, the heart, wont to call that 
 good which it loves, but the interpretation of the promised time 
 does not depend on the heart. Thus the clear prediction of 
 tl -e time, and the obscure intimation of the blessings, deceives 
 only the wicked. 
 
 If Jesus Christ had come only for sanctification, the whole of 
 Scripture and all things would tend to this end, and it would be 
 easy to convince unbelievers. If Jesus Christ had come only 
 to blind, all his conduct would be confused, and we should 
 have no means of convincing unbelievers. But as he came in 
 sanctificationem ct in sc and alum ^ as says Isaiah, w r e cannot con¬ 
 vince unbelievers, and they cannot convince us ; but by that very 
 fact we overcome them because we say that there is nothing 
 in his conduct conclusive on one side or the other. 
 
 Jesus Christ has come to blind those who saw clearly, and to 
 give sight to the blind ; to heal the sick and let the sound perish ; 
 to call sinners to repentance and justification, and leave the just 
 in their sins ; to fill the hungry with good things and to send the 
 rich empty away. 
 
 We can have nothing but veneration for a man who clearly 
 foretells events which take place, and who declares his design both 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 217 
 
 to blind and to enlighten, and who mixes obscurities among the 
 clear things which happen. 
 
 During the life of the Messiah. — sEnigmatis. —Ezek. xvii.— 
 His forerunner. Malachi ii. 
 
 He will be born an infant. Is. ix. 6. 
 
 He will be born at Bethlehem. Micah v. He will appear 
 chiefly in Jerusalem, and will spring from the family of Judah 
 and of David. 
 
 He will blind the learned and the wise, Is. vi. 8, 29, and preach 
 the Gospel to the poor and the lowly, will open the eyes of the 
 blind, restore health to the sick, and bring light to those who 
 languish in darkness. Is. Ixi. 
 
 He must show the perfect way, and be the teacher of the 
 Gentiles. Is. lv. 
 
 The prophecies must be unintelligible to the wicked, Dan. xii., 
 Hos. xiv. 10, but intelligible to those who are well instructed. 
 
 He must be the precious corner stone. Is. xxviii. 16. 
 
 He must be the stone of stumbling and offence. Is. viii. 
 
 Jerusalem must dash against this stone. 
 
 The builders must reject this stone. Ps. cxvii. 22. 
 
 God will make of this stone the head of the corner. 
 
 And this stone will grow into a mountain, and fill the whole 
 earth. Dan. ii. 
 
 Thus he must be rejected, disowned, betrayed, sold, Zach. xi. 
 12, spit upon, buffeted, mocked, afflicted in a thousand ways, be 
 given gall to drink, Ps. lxviii., pierced, Zach. xii., his feet and 
 his hands pierced, killed, and lots cast upon his vesture. 
 
 He must rise again, Ps. xv., the third day. Hos. vi. 3. 
 
 He must ascend to heaven to sit on the right hand. Ps. cx. 
 
 The kings will arm themselves against him. Ps. ii. 
 
 Being on the right hand of the Father, he will have victory 
 over all his enemies. 
 
 The kings of the earth, and all nations shall worship him. 
 Is. lx. 
 
 The Jews will remain as a nation. Jer. 
 
 They will be dispersed, without kings, etc., Hos. iii.; without 
 prophets. Amos; 
 
218 
 
 PROOFS OF THE DIVINITY 
 
 Waiting for salvation and finding it not. Is. 
 
 The calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. Is. lii., Ps. lxxi. 
 
 The Jews in slaying him that they might not receive the 
 Messiah, stamped him with the final pi oof of his Messiahship. 
 
 And by continuance in denial, they made themselves unim¬ 
 peachable witnesses ; and in slaying him, and continuing to 
 reject him, they have fulfilled the prophecies. 
 
 The word Galilee, which the Jewish rabble pronounced as if 
 by chance, in their accusation of Jesus Christ before Pilate, gave 
 Pilate a reason for sending Jesus Christ to Herod, so that the 
 mystery was accomplished, that he should be judged by Jews and 
 Gentiles. Chance was apparently the cause that the mystery 
 was accomplished. 
 
 The conversion of the Gentiles was only reserved for the grace 
 of the Messiah. The Jews so long opposed them without success ; 
 all that Solomon and the prophets had said was useless. Wise 
 men like Plato and Socrates could not persuade them. 
 
 If this was so clearly foretold to the Jews, why did they not 
 believe it, or why were they not exterminated for resisting what 
 was so clear ? 
 
 I answer first : it was foretold both that they would not 
 believe what was so clear, and that they would not be exterminated. 
 And nothing is more glorious to the Messiah, for it is not enough 
 that there should be prophets, they must be kept above sus¬ 
 picion. Now, etc. 
 
 Had the Jews been all converted by Jesus Christ, we should 
 have none but doubtful witnesses, and had they been entirely 
 destroyed we should have had no witnesses at all. 
 
 The Jews rejected him, but not all. The saints receive him, but 
 not carnal men. Yet this is far from being against his glory, it 
 is the last stroke which perfects it. The argument on their side, 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 219 
 
 the only one which is found in the Talmud and the rabbinical 
 writings, is that Jesus Christ has not subdued the nations sword 
 in hand, gladium tuum , potcntissime. Is this all they can 
 allege ? Jesus Christ has been slain, they say, he was subdued, 
 he has not had dominion over the heathen by his power, he has 
 not distributed the spoil among us, he does not give riches. 
 Is this all they have to allege? This is the very point wherein 
 he seems to me so lovable. I would none of such an one as 
 they represent. It is plain that his life only hinders them from 
 receiving him, by their refusal they become irreproachable 
 witnesses, and what is more, they thereby fulfil the prophecies. 
 
 There are those who see clearly that man has no other enemy 
 than lust, which turns him from God, and not God, and that 
 there is no other good but God, not a fat land. Let those who 
 believe that the good of man is in the flesh, and evil that which 
 turns him away from sensual pleasures, besot themselves 
 with them and die in them. But those who seek God with their 
 whole heart, whose only ill is not to see him, whose only desire 
 is to possess him, whose only enemies are those who would 
 turn them from him, who are afflicted when they are surrounded 
 and overwhelmed by such enemies, may take comfort, for I de¬ 
 clare to them this joyful news : there is for them a Redeemer, 
 whom I will show them ; I will show them that there is for 
 them a God, and I will not show him to others. I will show 
 them that a Messiah has been promised, who will deliver them 
 from their enemies, and that one has come to deliver them from 
 their iniquities, not from their enemies. 
 
 It is a wonderful thing, and worthy of all attention, to see the 
 Jewish nation existing so many years in constant misery, it 
 being necessary as a proof of Jesus Christ, both that they should 
 exist to be his witnesses, and should be miserable because they 
 crucified him, and though to be miserable and to exist, are 
 contradictory, this nation still exists in spite of its misery. 
 
 When Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people, for fear they 
 
220 
 
 PA'OOFS OF THE DIVINITY 
 
 should believe that the sceptre had departed from Judah, they 
 were assured beforehand that they would be but a short time in 
 captivity, and would be restored. 
 
 They were never without the comfort of their prophets, or the 
 presence of their kings. But the second destruction is without 
 promise of restoration, without prophets, without kings, without 
 comfort, without hope, for the sceptre is taken away for ever. 
 
 Proofs of fesns Christ. —To have been captive with the 
 assurance of deliverance in seventy years was no true captivity. 
 But now they are captives without hope. 
 
 God has promised them that even though lie should disperse 
 them to the ends of the earth, nevertheless if they were faithful 
 to the law he would gather them together. They are now very 
 faithful to it, yet remain oppressed. ' 
 
 Blindness of Scripture. —The Scripture, say the Jews, says that 
 we know not whence Christ should come. 
 
 John vii. 27 and xii. 34. 
 
 The Scripture says that Christ abideth for ever, and he said 
 that he should die. Therefore, says Saint John, they believed him 
 not, though he had done so many miracles, that the word of 
 Isaiah might be fulfilled : He hath blinded them, etc. 
 
 Contradict ions. — The sceptre until Messiah come. Without 
 king or prince. 
 
 The eternal law, changed. 
 
 d he eternal covenant, a new covenant. 
 
 The good law, evil precepts, Ezekiel xx. 
 
 Apparent discord of the Evangelists. 
 
 Proofs of fesits Christ. 
 
 Why the book of Ruth was preserved. 
 
 Why the story of Tamar. 
 
 The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament is 
 intermixed with so many that are useless, that it cannot be 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 221 
 
 distinguished. If Moses had kept only the register of the ancestors 
 of Jesus Christ, that had been too plain. If he had not marked 
 that of Jesus Christ, it had not been plain enough. But after all, 
 whoso looks closely sees that of Jesus Christ distinctly traced 
 through Tamar, Ruth, etc. 
 
 Jesus Christ in an obscurity—as the world calls obscurity—so 
 great, that the historians who wrote only the important matters 
 of States hardly perceived him. 
 
 On the fact that neither Joseph us , nor Tacitus , nor other his¬ 
 torians , have spoken of Jesus Christ. —So far from this being 
 any argument against, it is rather one for us. For it is certain 
 that Jesus Christ has existed, that his religion has made a great 
 noise, and that these people were not ignorant of it ; thus 
 it is plain that they designedly concealed it, or perhaps that 
 they did speak of it, and what they said has been suppressed or 
 altered. 
 
 When Augustus learnt that Herod’s own son was among the 
 children under the age of two years whom he had commanded 
 to be slain, he said that it w'as better to be Herod’s pig than 
 his son. Macrob. Saturn. Lib. ii., c. 4. 
 
 Macrobius, on the Innocents slain by Herod. 
 
 Prophecies. —Great Pan is dead. 
 
 Herod believed to be the Messiah. He had taken away th*. 
 sceptre of Judah, but he was not of Judah. This was held by 
 a considerable sect. 
 
 Both Barcoseba and another received by the Jews. And the 
 rumour which was everywhere in those times. Suetonius, 
 Tacitus, Josephus. 
 
 In what sort should Messiah come, seeing that by him the 
 sceptre should be eternally in Judah, and at his coming the 
 sceptre should depart from Judah? 
 
 To the end that seeing they should not see, and under- 
 
222 
 
 PROOFS OF THE DIVINITY 
 
 standing they should not understand, nothing could be better 
 done. 
 
 Curse of the Greeks against those who count periods of time. 
 
 Proofs of Jesus Christ .—Jesus Christ said great things so 
 simply that he seems not to have considered them, and yet so 
 tersely that it is clear he had considered them. This clearness 
 joined with simplicity is wonderful. 
 
 Who taught the evangelists the qualities of an entirely heroic 
 soul, that they should paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? W T hy 
 did they describe him weak in his agony? Did they not know 
 how to paint a steadfast death ? No doubt they did, for the same 
 Saint Luke paints the death of Saint Stephen as braver than 
 that of Jesus Christ. 
 
 They describe him therefore as capable of fear before the need 
 of dying came, and then wholly strong. 
 
 But when they represent him as so afflicted, it is when he 
 afflicts himself, and when men afflict him, then is he wholly 
 strong. 
 
 The style of the Gospel is wonderful in many ways, and in this 
 among others, that it contains no invectives against the execu¬ 
 tioners and enemies of Jesus Christ. The historians do not rail 
 against Judas, Pilate, nor any of the Jews. 
 
 If this modesty of the evangelical writers had been simulated, 
 as well as many other traits of a beautiful character, and they 
 had only simulated it to attract observation, even if they had 
 not dared to draw attention to it themselves, they would not 
 have failed to procure friends, who would have remarked on 
 it to their advantage. But as they acted thus without dissimu¬ 
 lation, and from perfectly disinterested motives, they pointed it 
 out to no one, and I believe that many points of this kind have 
 never been noticed till now, which is an evidence of how 
 dispassionately all was done. 
 
 The apostles w T ere either deceived or deceivers. Both hypo- 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 223 
 
 theses are difficult; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised 
 from the dead . . . 
 
 While Jesus Christ was with them, his presence might sustain 
 them, but after that, what gave them force to act if he did not 
 appear to them ? 
 
 Proof of Jesus Christ .—The supposition that the apostles were 
 deceivers is thoroughly absurd. Suppose we follow it out, and 
 imagine these twelve men assembled after the death of Jesus 
 Christ, making a plot to say that he was risen again. By this they 
 attack all earthly powers. The heart of man is strangely inclined 
 to fickleness and change, swayed by promises and by wealth. 
 Had one of these men contradicted themselves under these 
 temptations, nay more, had they done so in prison, in torture and 
 in death, they were lost. Let that be followed out. 
 
 Hypothesis that the apostles were deceivers. 
 
 The time clearly. 
 
 The manner obscurely. 
 
 Five typical proofs. 
 
 1,600 prophets. 
 
 2,000 
 
 400 scattered. 
 
 Atheists .—What reason have they to say it is not possible to 
 rise again ? Which is the more difficult, to be born or to rise 
 again ; that that which has never been should be, or that what 
 has been should be again ? Is it more difficult to come into 
 being than to return to it ? Habit causes the one to seem easy 
 to us, the want of habit causes the other to seem impossible. 
 The popular way of judging. 
 
 Why should not a virgin bear a child? does not a hen lay 
 eggs without a cock ? What distinguishes these outwardly from 
 others ? and who has told us that the hen may not form the 
 germ as well as the cock ? 
 
 What have they to say against the resurrection, or against the 
 child-bearing of the Virgin ? which is the more difficult ; to pro- 
 
224 PROOFS OF THE DIVINITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 duce a man or an animal, or to reproduce it ? And if they had 
 never seen any species of animal, could they guess that they 
 were not produced without connection with each other? 
 
 How I hate these follies of not believing in the Eucharist, etc 
 . . . If the Gospel be true, if Jesus Christ be God, what diffi¬ 
 culty is there ? 
 
 It is impiety not to believe in the Eucharist on the ground 
 that we do not see it. 
 
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 ; apart from him, and without the Scripture, 
 without original sin, without a necessary mediator, foretold and 
 come, we could not absolutely prove God, nor teach sound 
 doctrine and sound morality. But by Jesus Christ, and in Jesus 
 Christ we prove God and teach morality and doctrine. Jesus 
 Christ is then the true God of men. 
 
 But we know at the same time our misery, for this God is 
 none other than he who repairs our misery. Thus we can only 
 know God well by knowing our sins. Therefore those who 
 have known God without knowing their misery, have not glori¬ 
 fied him, but have glorified themselves. Quia non cognovit per 
 sapientiam , piacuit Deo per siultitiam prcedicationis salvos 
 facere. 
 
 Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know 
 ourselves by Jesus Christ alone. We know life and death by 
 Jesus Christ alone. Apart from Jesus Christ we know not what 
 is our life, nor our death, nor God, nor ourselves. 
 
 Thus without the Scripture, which has Jesus Christ alone for 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 THE MISSION AND GREATNESS 
 
 its object, we know nothing, and see only obscurity and confusion 
 in the nature of God, and in our own nature. 
 
 Without Jesus Christ man must be plunged in vice and misery; 
 with Jesus Christ man is free from vice and misery, in him is 
 all our virtue and all our happiness. Apart from him is nought 
 but vice and misery, error and darkness, death and despair. 
 
 Without Jesus Christ the world would not exist, for it could 
 only be either destroyed, or a very hell. 
 
 It is not only impossible but useless to know God without Jesus 
 Christ. They have not withdrawn from him, but drawn near; 
 they have not abased themselves, but . . . 
 
 Quo quisque optimus est , pcssimjis , si hoc ip sum , quod sit 
 optimus , as crib at sibi. 
 
 The Gospel only speaks of the virginity of the Virgin up to 
 the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. All with reference to Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Jesus Christ, whom the two Testaments regard, the Old as its 
 end, the New as its model, both as their centre. 
 
 Scepticism is the truth. For, after all^Jnen before Jesus Christ 
 did not know either where they were or if they were great or 
 little. And those who said one or the other knew nothing about 
 it, and guessed without reason and by chance, yet they always 
 erred in excluding one or the other. 
 
 Quod c?go ignorantes queer it is, Religio annuntiat vobis. 
 
 If Epictetus had seen the way with certainty he would have 
 said to men: “You follow a false road”; he shows that there 
 is another, but he does not lead there ; it is the way of willing 
 what God wills ; Jesus Christ alone leads thither, via , veritas. 
 
 Jesus Christ did nothing but teach men that they were lovers 
 of themselves, that they were slaves, blind, sick, miserable, and 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 227 
 
 sinners, that he would deliver them, enlighten, bless, and 
 heal them, that this would be brought about by hatred of self, 
 and by following him through poverty and the death of the 
 cross. 
 
 An artizan who speaks of riches, a lawyer who speaks of war ? 
 or of kingship, etc., but the rich man rightly speaks of riches, a 
 king speaks slightingly of a great gift he has just made, and God 
 rightly speaks of God. 
 
 Hosea iii. 
 
 Isaiah xlii., xlviii., liv., lx., lxi. The last verse. I have foretold 
 it long since, that they might know that it is I. 
 
 Jaddus to Alexander. 
 
 Man is not worthy of God, but he is not incapable of being 
 rendered worthy. 
 
 It is unworthy of God to unite himself to miserable man, 
 but it is not unworthy of God to raise him from his misery. 
 
 The infinite distance between body and mind is a figure of y 
 the infinitely more infinite distance between mind and charity, \ 
 for this is supernatural. “ 
 
 All the splendour of greatness has no lustre for those who 
 seek understanding. 
 
 The greatness of men of understanding is invisible to kings, 
 to the rich, to conquerors, and to all the great according to the 
 flesh. 
 
 The greatness of wisdom, which has no existence save in 
 God, is invisible to the^carnal and to men of understanding. 
 These are three orders / differing in kind. 
 
 Men of great genius have their empire, their glory, their 
 grandeur, their victory, their lustre, and do not need worldly 
 greatness, with which they have nothing to do. They are seen, 
 not by the eye, but by the mind ; and that is enough. 
 
 The saints have their empire, their glory, their victory, their 
 lustre, and want no glory of the flesh or of the mind, with which 
 they have nothing to do, for these add nothing to them neither 
 
 / 
 
228 
 
 THE MISSION AND GREATNESS 
 
 do they take away. They are seen of God and the angels, and 
 not by the bodily eye, nor by the curious spirit; God suffices them. 
 
 Archimedes without worldly pomp would have had the same 
 reverence. He fought no battles for the eye to gaze on, but 
 he left his discoveries to all minds. O ! how brilliant was he to 
 the mind. 
 
 Jesus Christ, without riches, and without any exterior mani¬ 
 festation of science, is in his own order of holiness. He gave 
 forth no scientific inventions to the world, he never reigned ; 
 but he was humble, patient, holy ; holy before God, terrible to 
 devils, without spot of sin. O ! in what great pomp, and with 
 what transcendent magnificence did he come to the eyes of the 
 heart, which discern wisdom. 
 
 It would have been needless for Archimedes, though of princely 
 birth, to have played the prince in his books on geometry. 
 
 It would have been needless to our Lord Jesus Christ for the 
 purpose of shining in his kingdom of holiness, to come as kings 
 come ; but he did come in the glory proper to his order. 
 
 It is most unreasonable to be offended at the lowliness of Jesus 
 Christ, as if this lowliness were in the same order as was the 
 greatness which he came to display. Let us consider this great¬ 
 ness in his life, in his passion, in his obscurity, in his death, in 
 the choice of his disciples, in their desertion of him, in the 
 secrecy of his resurrection, and the rest, and it will seem so vast 
 as to give no room for offence at a lowliness in another order. 
 
 But there are those who can only admire carnal as though 
 there were no mental greatness, and others who only admire 
 mental greatness, as though there were not infinitely greater 
 heights in wisdom. 
 
 All bodies, the firmament, the stars, the earth and the king¬ 
 doms thereof, are not comparable to the lowest mind, for mind 
 knows all these, and itself; the body nothing. 
 
 All bodies together and all minds together, and all they can 
 effect, are not worth the least motion of charity. This is of an 
 order infinitely more exalted. 
 
 From all bodies together, we cannot extract one little thought: 
 this is impossible and in another order. From all bodies and 
 minds it is impossible to produce a single motion of true 
 
OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 charity, it is impossible, it is in another and a supernatural 
 
 Avrl ot* 
 
 The Jews, in testing if he were God, have shown that he was 
 man. 
 
 The Church has had as much difficulty in showing that Jesus 
 Christ was man, against those who denied it, as in showing that 
 he was God. And the evidences were equally great. 
 
 Jesus Christ is a God to whom we draw near without pride, 
 and before whom we abase ourselves without despair. 
 
 Jesus Christ for all, Moses for a people. 
 
 The Jews were blessed in Abraham. “ I will bless those that 
 bless thee.” But all nations are blessed in his seed. 
 
 Parum est ut. etc. Isaiah. 
 
 Lumen ad revelationem gentium. 
 
 Aon fecit taliter omni nationi , said David in speaking of the 
 Law. But in speaking of Jesus Christ it must be said : Fecit 
 taliter omni nationi. 
 
 So it is the property of Jesus Christ to be universal ; even the 
 Church offers the sacrifice only for the faithful. Jesus Christ 
 offered that of the cross for all. 
 
 The victory over death. What advantageth it a man that he 
 gain the whole world and lose his own soul ? He that will save 
 his soul shall lose it. 
 
 I am not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil. Lambs 
 took not away the sins of the world, but I am the lamb who take 
 away sins. Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. Moses 
 has not led you out of captivity, and made you truly free. 
 
 Types. —Jesus Christ opened their mind to understand the 
 Scriptures. 
 
 There are two great revelations. 
 
 i. All things happened to them in figures : vere Israelites , vere 
 liberi , true bread from heaven. 
 
230 MISSION AND GREATNESS OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 2. A God humbled to the cross. It was necessary that Christ 
 should suffer and enter into glory, that he should conquer death 
 by death. Two advents. 
 
 The types of the completeness of redemption, as that the 
 sun gives light to all, denote only completeness, but they figu¬ 
 ratively imply exclusions, as the Jews elected to the exclusion of 
 the Gentiles denote exclusion. 
 
 Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all.—Yes, for he has offered, 
 like a man who has ransomed all who willed to come to him. It 
 is the misfortune of those who die on the way, but as far as he is 
 concerned, he offers them redemption.—That holds good in the 
 example, where he who ransoms and he who hinders from dying 
 are two, but not in Jesus Christ, who'does both one and the other. 
 —No, for Jesus Christ in his quality of Redeemer, is not perhaps 
 master of all, and thus so far as in him lies, he is the Redeemer 
 of all. 
 
 Jesus Christ would not be slain without the forms of justice, 
 for it is much more ignominious to die by justice than by an un¬ 
 just sedition. 
 
 The elect will be ignorant of their virtues and the reprobate of 
 the greatness of their crimes. “ Lord, when saw we thee an 
 hungered or athirst ? ” etc. 
 
 Jesus Christ would none of the testimony of devils, nor of those 
 who were not called, but of God and John the Baptist. 
 
 Jesus Christ says not that he is not of Nazareth, to leave the 
 wicked in their blindness ; nor that he is not the son of Joseph. 
 
 The calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. 
 
 The ruin of the Jews and heathen by Jesus Christ. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 
 
 JESUS suffered in his passion the torments which men inflicted 
 on him, but in his agony he suffered torments which lie inflicted 
 on himself: tin'ba7'e 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 even for 
 a moment. And thus Jesus was left alone to the wrath of God. 
 
 Jesus was without one on the earth not merely to feel and 
 share his suffering, but even to know of it; he and heaven were 
 alone in that knowledge. 
 
 Jesus was in a garden, not of delight as the first Adam, in 
 which he destroyed himself and the whole human race ; but in 
 one of agony, in which he saved himself and the whole human 
 race. 
 
 He suffered this sorrow and this desertion in the horror of 
 night. 
 
 I believe that Jesus never complained but on this single occa¬ 
 sion, but then he complained as if he could no longer restrain 
 his extreme sorrow. “ My soul is sorrowful, even unto death.” 
 
 Jesus sought companionship and consolation from men. This 
 was the only time in his life, as it seems to me ; but he received 
 it not, for his disciples were asleep. 
 
 Jesus will be in agony even to the end of the world. We must 
 not sleep during that time. 
 
 Jesus in the midst of this universal desertion, even that of his 
 own friends chosen to watch with him, finding them asleep, was 
 vexed because of the danger to which they exposed, not him, but 
 
232 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 
 
 themselves ; he warned them of their own safety and of their 
 good, with a heartfelt tenderness for them during their ingratitude, 
 and warned them that the spirit is willing and the flesh weak. 
 
 Jesus, finding them still sleeping, unrestrained by any con¬ 
 sideration for themselves or for him, had the tenderness not to 
 wake them but to let them sleep on. 
 
 Jesus prayed, uncertain of the will of his Father, and feared 
 death ; but so soon as he knew it he went forward to offer him¬ 
 self to death : Eainiis. Processit. John. 
 
 Jesus asked of men, and was not heard. 
 
 Jesus, while his disciples slept, wrought their salvation. He 
 has wrought that of each of the just while they slept both in 
 their nothingness before their birth, and in their sins after their 
 birth. 
 
 He prayed only once that the cup should pass away, and then 
 with submission; but twice that it should come if need were. 
 
 Jesus was weary. 
 
 Jesus, seeing all his friends asleep and all his enemies wakeful, 
 gave himself over entirely to his Father. 
 
 Jesus did not regard in Judas his enmity, but God’s order, 
 which he loves and admits, since he calls him friend. 
 
 Jesus tore himself away from his disciples to enter into his 
 agony; we must tear ourselves from our nearest and dearest to 
 imitate him. 
 
 Jesus being in agony and in the greatest sorrow, let us pray 
 longer . . . 
 
 Console thyself, thou wouldest not seek me hadst thou not 
 found me. 
 
 I thought of thee in mine agony, such drops of blood I shed 
 for thee. 
 
 It is tempting me rather than proving thyself, to think if thou 
 wouldest act well in a case which has not occurred, I will act 
 in thee if it occur. 
 
 • 
 
 Let my rules guide thy conduct; see how I have led the Virgin 
 and the saints who have let me act in them. 
 
 The Father loves all that I do. 
 
 Must I ever shed the blood of my humanity and thou give 
 no tears ? 
 
THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 233 
 
 Thy conversion is my affair ; fear not and pray with confi¬ 
 dence as for me. 
 
 I am present with thee by my word in the Scriptures, by my 
 Spirit in the Church and by inspiration, by my power in the 
 priest, by my prayer in the faithful. 
 
 Physicians will not heal thee, for thou wilt die at last. But it 
 is I who heal thee and make the body immortal. 
 
 Suffer chains and bodily servitude, I deliver thee now only 
 from what is spiritual. 
 
 1 am to thee more a friend than such or such an one, for I have 
 done for thee more than they ; they have not borne what I have 
 borne from thee, they have not died for thee as I have done in 
 the time of thine infidelities and thy cruelties, and as I am ready 
 to do and do in my elect and at the Holy Sacrament. 
 
 If thou knewest thy sins thou wouldest lose heart.—I shall lose 
 it then O Lord, for on thy word I believe their malice.—No, 
 for I by whom thou learnest it can heal thee of them, and what 
 I tell thee is a sign that I will heal thee. As thou dost expiate 
 them, thou wilt know them, and it will be said to thee : “ Behold, 
 thy sins are forgiven thee ! ” 
 
 Repent then for thy secret sins, and for the hidden malice of 
 those which thou knowest. 
 
 Lord, I give thee all.— 
 
 I love thee more ardently than thou hast loved thine unclean¬ 
 nesses, ut immundus pro Into. 
 
 To me be the glory, not to thee, thou worm of earth. 
 
 Ask thy director, when my own words are to thee occasion of 
 evil, or vanity, or curiosity. 
 
 I see the depths which are in me of pride, curiosity and lust. 
 There is no relation between me and God, nor Jesus Christ the 
 Just One. But he has been made sin for me, all thy scourges 
 are fallen upon him. He is more abominable than I, and far 
 from abhorring me he holds himself honoured that I go to him 
 and succour him. 
 
 But he has healed himself, and still more will he heal me. 
 
 I must add my wounds to his, and join me to him, and he will 
 save me in saving himself. 
 
 But this must not be put off to a future day. 
 
234 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 
 
 Do little things as though they were great, because of the 
 majesty of Jesus Christ who does them in us, and who lives our 
 life ; do great things as though they were small and easy, be¬ 
 cause of his omnipotence. 
 
 The Sepulchre of Jesus Christ .—Jesus Christ was dead, but 
 seen on the Cross. He was dead, and hidden in the sepulchre. 
 
 Jesus Christ was buried by the saints alone. 
 
 Jesus Christ worked no miracles at the sepulchre. 
 
 Only the saints entered it. 
 
 There, not on the Cross, Jesus Christ took a new life. 
 
 It is the last mystery of the passion and the redemption. 
 
 Jesus Christ had no where to rest on earth but in the 
 sepulchre. 
 
 His enemies only ceased to persecute him at the sepulchre. 
 
 I consider Jesus Christ in all persons and in ourselves. Jesus 
 Christ as a father in his father, Jesus Christ as a brother in his 
 brethren, Jesus Christ as poor in the poor, Jesus Christ as rich 
 in the rich, Jesus Christ as doctor and priest in priests, Jesus 
 Christ as sovereign in princes, etc. For by his glory he is all that 
 is great, since he is God ; and he is by his mortal life all that is 
 miserable and abject. Therefore he has taken this wretched 
 state, to enable him to be in all persons, and the model of 
 all conditions. 
 
 The false justice of Pilate only caused the suffering of Jesus 
 Christ; for he caused him to be scourged by his false justice, 
 and then slew him. It would have been better that he had slain 
 him at first. Thus is it with those who are falsely just. They do 
 good works or evil to please the world, and show that they are 
 not altogether of Jesus Christ, for they are ashamed of him. 
 Then at last in great temptations and on great occasions, they 
 slay him. 
 
 It seems to me that Jesus Christ after his resurrection allowed 
 his wounds only to be touched : Noli me tangere. We must 
 unite ourselves to his sufferings only. 
 
 At the Last Supper he gave himself in communion as one 
 
THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 235 
 
 about to die; to the disciples at Emmaus as one risen from 
 the dead; to the whole Church as one ascended into heaven. 
 
 Compare not thyself with others, but with me. If thou 
 findest me not in those with whom thou comparest thyself, thou 
 comparest thyself with him that is abominable. If thou findest 
 me there compare thyself to me. But who is it that thou dost 
 compare? Thyself, or me in thee? If it be thyself it is one 
 that is abominable ; if it be me thou comparest me to myself. 
 Now I am God in all. 
 
 I speak and often counsel thee because thy Guardian can not 
 speak to thee, for I will not that thou shouldest lack a guide. 
 
 And perhaps I do so at his prayers, and thus he leads thee 
 without thy seeing it. 
 
 Thou wouldest not seek me unless thou didst possess me. 
 
 Therefore be not troubled. 
 
 Be comforted; it is not from yourself that you must expect it; 
 but on the contrary, expecting nothing from yourself, you must 
 await it. 
 
 Pray that ye enter not into temptation. It is dangerous to be 
 tempted, and those alone are tempted who do not pray. 
 
 Et tic conversus conjirma fratres tuos. But before, conversus 
 Jesus respexit Pet ruin. 
 
 Saint Peter asked permission to strike Malchus, and struck 
 before having the answer ; Jesus Christ answered afterwards. 
 
 I love poverty because he loved it. I love wealth because it 
 gives the power of helping the miserable. I keep my troth to 
 everyone ; rendering not evil to those who do me wrong ; but 
 I wish them a lot like mine, in which I receive neither good 
 nor evil from men. I try to be just, true, sincere, and faithful 
 to all men ; I have a tender heart for those to whom God has 
 more closely bound me ; and whether I am alone or seen of 
 men I place all my actions in the sight of God, who shall judge 
 them, and to whom I have consecrated them all. 
 
 Such are my opinions, and each day of my life I bless my 
 
2^6 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 
 
 Redeemer who lias implanted them in me, who has transformed 
 me, a man full of weakness, misery, and lust, of pride and 
 ambition, into a man exempt from all these evils, by the power 
 of his grace, to which all the glory is due; since of myself I have 
 only misery and sin. 
 
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 mem¬ 
 bers, 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. 
 
 Morality .—God having made the heavens and the earth, which 
 cannot feel the happiness of their being, he has been pleased to 
 make beings who should know it, and who should compose a 
 body of thinking members. For our members do not feel the 
 happiness of their union, of their admirable intelligence, of the 
 care which nature has taken to infuse into them a mind, and to 
 make them grow and endure. How happy would they be if they 
 could see and feel it. But in order to this they must needs have 
 intelligence to know it, and good will to consent to that of the 
 universal soul. For if, having received intelligence, they used it 
 to retain nourishment for themselves without allowing it to pass 
 to the other members, they would be not only unjust but also 
 miserable, and would hate rather than love themselves, their 
 blessedness as well as their duty consisting in their consent to 
 the guidance of the general soul to which they belong, who loves 
 them better than they love themselves. 
 
 To be a member, is to have neither life, being, nor movement 
 
OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN 
 
 save by the spirit of the body, and for the body; the separate 
 member, seeing no longer the body to which it belongs, has 
 only a waning and dying existence. Yet it believes it is a whole, 
 and seeing not the body on which it depends, it believes it 
 depends only on self and wills to constitute itself both centre and 
 body. But not having in itself a principle of life, it only goes 
 astray, and is astonished in the uncertainty of its being; fully 
 aware that it is not a body, yet not seeing that it is a member 
 of a body. Then when at last it arrives at the knowledge of 
 self, it has ictuined as it were to its own home, and loves itself 
 
 only for the body’s sake, bewailing that in the past it has gone 
 astray. 
 
 It cannot by its nature love aught else, if not for itself and to 
 subject it to self, since each thing loves itself above all. But in 
 loving the body it loves itself, because it has no being but in it, 
 by it, and for it. (Qui adhcerct Deo wius spiritus est. 
 
 The body loves the hand, and the hand, if it had a will, should 
 love itself in the same proportion as that in which it is loved by 
 the soul. All love beyond this is unjust. 
 
 Adh<z 7 'ens Deo unus spirituscst. We love ourselves because 
 we are members of Jesus Christ. We love Jesus Christ because 
 he is the body of which we are members. All is one, one is in 
 the other, like the Three Persons. 
 
 The examples of the noble deaths of the Lacedaemonians and 
 others scarce touch us, for what good do they to us ? But the 
 example of the death of the martyrs touches us, for they are our 
 members. W T e have a common tie with them, their resolution 
 can form ours, not only by example, but because it has perhaps 
 merited ours. There is nothing of this in the examples of the 
 heathen ; there is no bond between us. As we do not become 
 rich by seeing a rich stranger, but by seeing a father or a hus¬ 
 band who is so. 
 
 We must love God only, and hate self only. 
 
 If the foot had always been ignorant that it belonged to the 
 body, and that there was a body on which it depended, if it had 
 only had the knowledge and the love of self, and if it came to 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 239 
 
 know that it belonged to a body on which it depended, what re¬ 
 gret, what confusion for the past life, for having been useless to 
 the body from which its whole life was derived, which would have 
 reduced it to nothing if it had rejected it and separated it from 
 itself, as it held itself apart from the body. What prayers for its 
 preservation in the body, with what submission would it allow 
 itself to be governed according to the will which rules the body, 
 even to consent, if need be, that it should be cut off, or it would 
 lose its character of member. For each member must be 
 content to perish for the body, for which alone the whole exists. 
 
 To ensure the happiness of the members, they must have one 
 will, and submit it to the body. 
 
 It is false that we are worthy of the love of others, it is unjust 
 that we should desire it. If we were born reasonable and im¬ 
 partial, knowing ourselves and others, we should not give this 
 bias to our will. But we are born with it; we are therefore 
 born unjust, for all tends to self. This is contrary to all order. 
 We should look to the general advantage, and the inclination to 
 self is the beginning of all disorder, in war, in politics, in 
 economy, and in man’s own body. 
 
 The will therefore is depraved. I f the members of natural and 
 civil communities tend towards the well-being of the body, the 
 communities themselves should tend to the welfare of another 
 more general body of which they are members. We should 
 therefore look to the whole. We are therefore born unjust and 
 depraved. 
 
 He who hates not in himself his self-love, and that instinct 
 which leads him to make himself a God, is indeed blinded. All 
 must see that nothing is so opposed to justice and truth. For 
 it is false that we deserve this, and it is unjust and impossible 
 to attain it, since all demand the same. Manifestly then injus¬ 
 tice is innate in us, from which we cannot free ourselves, yet 
 from which we ought to free ourselves. 
 
 But no religion has pointed out that this is a sin, or that 
 we are born in it, or that we are bound to resist it, or has thought 
 of offering us a cure. 
 
240 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN 
 
 It is unjust that any should attach themselves to me, even 
 though they do it with pleasure, and voluntarily. I should 
 deceive those in whom I aroused this desire, for I am not the 
 final end of any, nor have I that which can satisfy them. Am I 
 not about to die? And thus the object of their attachment will 
 die. Thus as it would be blameworthy in me to cause a false¬ 
 hood to be believed, though I should gently insinuate it, though 
 it should be believed with pleasure, and though it should give me 
 pleasure; in like manner it is blameworthy in me if I make 
 myself beloved, and if I draw persons to attach themselves to 
 me. I ought to warn those who are ready to consent to a lie, that 
 they should not believe it, whatever advantage accrues to me 
 from it; and in the same way that they should not attach them¬ 
 selves to me ; for they ought to spend their life and their pains 
 in pleasing God, or in seeking him. 
 
 Self-will never will be satisfied, though it should have power 
 for all it would; but we are satisfied from the moment we 
 renounce it. Without it we cannot be discontented, with it 
 we cannot be content. 
 
 To hate self, and to seek a truly lovable being to love, is there¬ 
 fore the true and only virtue, for we are hateful because of lust. 
 But as we cannot love what is outside us, we must love a bein<r 
 which is in us, yet not ourselves, and that is true of each and all 
 men. Now the universal Being is alone such. The Kingdom of 
 God is within us; the universal good is within us, is our very 
 selves, yet not ourselves. 
 
 If there be a God we ought to love him alone, and not the 
 creatures of a day. The reasoning of the wicked in the Book of 
 Wisdom is only founded on the non-existence of God. “ Given 
 that there is no God,” say they, “ let us take delight in the 
 creature. It is because there is nothing better.” But were there 
 a God to love they would not have come to this conclusion, but 
 to the contrary. And this is the conclusion of the wise : “There 
 is a God, therefore we ought not to take delight in the creature.” 
 
 Therefore all that leads us to attach ourselves to the creature 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 241 
 
 is evil, because it hinders us from serving God if we know him, 
 and from seeking him if we know him not. Now we are full of 
 lust. Therefore we are full of evil, therefore we should hate our¬ 
 selves and all which urges us to attach ourselves to aught but 
 God only. 
 
 That we must love one God only is a thing so plain, that no 
 miracles are needed to prove it. 
 
 That is a good state of the Church in which it is upheld by 
 God alone. 
 
 Two laws suffice to regulate the whole Christian republic better 
 than all political laws. 
 
 Against those who trusting in the mercy of God live carelessly , 
 without doing good works. —As the two sources of our sins are 
 pride and indolence, God has revealed to us two of his attri¬ 
 butes for their cure, mercy and justice. The property of justice 
 is to abase our pride, however holy may be our works, et non 
 intres in judicium , etc. ; and the property of mercy is to 
 combat indolence by exciting to good works, according to that 
 passage: “The goodness of God leads to repentance,” and 
 that other of the Ninevites : “Let us do penance to see if per- 
 adventure he will pity us.” Thus mercy is so far from autho¬ 
 rising slackness, that it is on the contrary the quality which 
 formally assails it, so that instead of saying : “ Were there not 
 mercy in God, we must make every effort after virtue,” we should 
 say, on the contrary, that because there is mercy in God we must 
 make every effort. 
 
 The world exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, not 
 as if men were in it as they came from the hands of God, but 
 as the enemies of God, to whom he gives by grace light enough to 
 return, if they will seek him and follow him, and to punish them, 
 if they refuse to seek him and follow him. 
 
 We implore the mercy of God, not that he may leave us in 
 peace in our vices, but that he may free us from them. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN 
 
 There are but two kinds of men, the righteous, who believe 
 themselves sinners, and sinners, who believe themselves righteous. 
 
 There are two kinds of men in each religion .—Among the 
 heathen, worshippers of beasts, and the worshippers of the one 
 God revealed by natural religion. 
 
 Among the Jews, the carnal and the spiritual, who were the 
 Christians of the old law. 
 
 Among the Christians, those coarser ones, who are the Jews of 
 the new law. 
 
 The carnal Jews looked for a carnal Messiah, and the coarser 
 Christians believe that the Messiah has dispensed them from the 
 love of God. True Jews and true Christians adore a Messiah 
 who makes them love God. 
 
 Carnal Jews and the heathen have their miseries, and Chris¬ 
 tians also. There is no Redeemer for the heathen, for they do 
 not even hope for one. There is no Redeemer for the Jews, 
 who hope for him in vain. There is a Redeemer only for the 
 Christians. 
 
 The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, pride, etc. 
 
 There are three orders of things : the flesh, the spirit, and the 
 will. 
 
 The carnal are the rich and kings, who have the body as their 
 object. 
 
 Enquirers and men of science, who have mind for their object. 
 
 The wise, who have right for their object. 
 
 God must reign over all, and all must be referred to him. In 
 things of the flesh lust reigns especially, in men of intellect 
 curiosity especially, in wisdom pride especially. 
 
 Not that a man may not boast of wealth or knowledge, but 
 there is no room for pride, for in granting that a man is learned 
 there will be no difficulty in proving to him that he is wrong to 
 be proud. Pride finds its proper place in wisdom, for it cannot 
 be granted to a man that he has made himself wise and that he 
 
243 
 
 AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 is wrong to be proud of it. For that is just. Now God alone 
 gives wisdom, and therefore' quigloriatur in Domino, glorietur 
 
 All that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
 eyes, or the pride of life ; libido sentiendi, libido sciendi, libido 
 dominandi. Woe to the accursed land which these three rivers 
 of flame enkindle rather than moisten. Happy they who are 
 on these rivers, not overwhelmed nor carried away, but immo¬ 
 vably fixed upon the floods, not standing, but seated, and on a 
 firm and sure base, whence they rise not before the dawn; but 
 where, having rested in peace, they stretch forth their hands 
 to him who will lift them up, and cause them to stand firm and 
 upright in the porches of the heavenly Jerusalem, where pride 
 may no more assail nor cast them down ; and who yet weep, not 
 to see all those perishable things crumble which the torrents 
 sweep away, but at the remembrance of their dear country, that 
 heavenly Jerusalem, which they remember without ceasing while 
 the days of their exile are prolonged. 
 
 The rivers of Babylon rush and fall and sweep away. 
 
 O holy Sion, where all is firm and nothing falls. 
 
 We must sit upon the floods, not under them or in them, but 
 on them ; not standing but seated, being seated to be humble, 
 and above them in security. But in the porches of Jerusalem 
 we shall stand. 
 
 Let us see if our pleasure is stable or transitory, if it pass away, 
 it is a river of Babylon. 
 
 There are few true Christians, I say this even in regard to faith. 
 There are many who believe, but from superstition. There are 
 many who believe not, out of reckless living; few are between 
 the two. 
 
 I do not include here those whose morality is true holiness, 
 nor those whose belief springs from the heart. 
 
 It is not a rare thing to have to blame the world for too much 
 docility, it is a vice as natural as unbelief, and as pernicious. 
 Superstition. 
 
244 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN 
 
 Abraham took nothing for himself, but only for his seivants ; 
 so the just man takes for himself nothing of the world, nor of the 
 applause of the world, but only for his passions, which he uses as 
 their master, saying to the one, ‘ Go/ and to another, 1 Come. 
 Sub te erit appetitus tuns. The passions thus subdued are virtues. 
 God himself attributes to himself avarice, jealousy, anger; and 
 these are virtues as well as kindness, pity, constancy, which are 
 also passions. We must treat them as slaves, and leaving to 
 them their food hinder the soul from taking any of it. For 
 when the passions gain the mastery they are vices, then they 
 furnish nutriment to the soul, and the soul feeds on it and is 
 poisoned. 
 
 The just man acts by faith in the smallest things ; when he 
 blames his servants, he wishes for their conversion by the spirit 
 of God, and prays God to correct them ; for he expects as much 
 from God as from his own blame, and he prays God to bless his 
 corrections. And so with all his other actions. 
 
 Of all that is in the world he takes part only in what is un¬ 
 pleasant, not in what is pleasant. He loves his neighbours, but 
 his charity does not restrict itself within these bounds, but 
 flows out to his enemies, and then to those of God. 
 
 This is common to ordinary life and that of the saints, that 
 all endeavour after happiness, and differ only in the object in 
 which they place it. Both call those their enemies who hinder 
 them from attaining it. 
 
 We should judge of what is good or bad by the will of God, 
 who cannot be either unjust or blind ; and not by our own will, 
 which is always full of malice and error. 
 
 Joh. viii. Multi crediderunt in eum, Dicebat ergo Jesus : “ Si 
 manseritis . . ., vere mihi discipuli eritis, et veritas liberabit 
 vosI Respondents: Semen Abrahae suntus et nemini servimus 
 unquam. 
 
 There is a great difference between disciples and true disciples. 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 245 
 
 They are recognised by saying to them that the truth will 
 make them free ; for if they answer that they are free, and that 
 it is in their power to come out of slavery to the devil, they 
 are indeed disciples, but not true disciples. 
 
 “ Might I but see a miracle,” men say, “ I would become a 
 Christian.” How can they be sure they would do that of which 
 they are ignorant ? Men imagine that conversion consists in 
 making of the worship of God such a transaction and way of 
 life as they picture to themselves. True conversion consists in 
 the annihilation of self before that universal Being whom we have 
 so often provoked, and who might with justice destroy us at any 
 moment ; in recognising that we can do nought without him, 
 'and have merited nothing from him but his wrath. It consists 
 in knowing that there is unconquerable opposition between us 
 and God, and that without a mediator there could be no com¬ 
 munion with him. 
 
 Comminutum cor. Saint Paul. There is the Christian cha¬ 
 racter. Albe vous a nomine ,, je ne volts connais plus. Corneille. 
 That is the inhuman character. The human character is the 
 contrary. 
 
 With how little pride a Christian believes himself united to 
 God, with how little abasement does he rank himself with the 
 worms of earth. What a way is this to receive life and death, 
 good and evil. 
 
 It is true there is difficulty in entering into a devout life, but this 
 difficulty does not arise from the religion which begins in us, but 
 from the irreligion which is still there. If our senses were not 
 opposed to penitence, and if our corruption w r ere not opposed to 
 the purity of God, there would be nothing in this painful to us. 
 We suffer only in proportion as the vice which is natural to 
 us resists supernatural grace; our heart feels torn asunder by 
 these conflicting efforts, but it would be most unjust to impute 
 this violence to God, who draws us, instead of attributing it to 
 the world, which holds us back. As a child which a mother 
 tears from the robbers’ arms, in the anguish it suffers should 
 
246 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN 
 
 love the loving and legitimate violence of her who procures its 
 liberty, and detest only the imperious and tyrannical violence of 
 those who retain it unjustly. The most cruel war which God can 
 make against men in this life is to leave them without that war 
 which he came to bring. “ I came to bring war,” he says, and 
 to inform them of this war, “ I came to bring fire and the sword.” 
 Before him the world lived in a false peace. 
 
 The exterior must be joined to the interior to obtain aught 
 from God, that is to say, we must kneel, pray with the lips, etc., 
 in order that proud man, who would not submit himself to God, 
 should now be subject to the creature. To expect succour from 
 these externals is superstition, to refuse to join them to interior 
 acts is pride. 
 
 4 
 
 External works .—There is nothing so perilous as that which 
 is pleasing to God and to man ; for those conditions which are 
 pleasing to God and man, have one side which is pleasing to 
 God, and another which is pleasing to man ; as the greatness 
 of Saint Theresa. That which was pleasing to God was her 
 profound humility under her revelations, what was pleasing to 
 men was her light. And thus we torment ourselves to imitate 
 her discourses, thus thinking to imitate her condition, and thereby 
 to love what God loves, and to place ourselves in a state which 
 God loves. 
 
 It is better not to fast, and be thereby humbled, than to fast 
 and be puffed up therewith. 
 
 The pharisee and the publican. 
 
 What will memory avail me if be alike hurtful and helpful, 
 since all depends upon the blessing of God, who gives only to 
 things done for him according to his rules and in his ways, the 
 manner being thus as important as the thing, and perhaps more; 
 since God can bring good out of evil, and because without God 
 we bring evil out of good. 
 
 The hope which Christians have of possessing an infinite 
 good is mingled with actual enjoyment as well as with fear; for 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 247 
 
 it is not as with those who should hope for a kingdom, of which 
 they being subjects would have nothing; but they hope for 
 holiness, and freedom from injustice, of which they possess 
 somewhat. 
 
 None is so happy as a true Christian, none so reasonable, 
 none so virtuous, none so amiable. 
 
 We remove ourselves from God only by removing ourselves 
 from love. 
 
 Our prayers and our virtues arc abomination before God if they 
 are not the prayers and the virtues of Jesus Christ. And our 
 sins will never be the object of the mercy, but of the justice of 
 God, if they are not those of Jesus Christ. 
 
 He has adopted our sins, and has admitted us into covenant 
 with him, for virtues are his own, and sins are strange to him ; 
 while virtues are strange to us, and sins are our own. 
 
 Let us change the rule which we have hitherto adopted for 
 judging what is good. We have had our own will as our rule 
 in this respect, let us now take the will of God, all that he wills 
 is good and right to us, all that he wills not is evil. 
 
 All that God allows not is forbidden ; sins are forbidden by the 
 general declaration that God has made, that he allows them not. 
 Other things which he has left without general prohibition, and 
 which for that reason are said to be permitted, are nevertheless 
 not always permitted ; for when God removes any one of them 
 from us, and when, by the event, which is a manifestation of the 
 will of God, it appears that God allows not that we should have 
 a thing, that is then forbidden to us as sin, since the will of God 
 is that we should not have one more than the other. There is 
 this sole difference between these two things, that it is certain God 
 will never allow sin, while it is not certain that he will never 
 allow the other, but so long as God allows it not, we must look 
 upon it as sin, so long as the absence of God’s will, which alone 
 is all goodness and all justice, renders it unjust and evil. 
 
 True Christians nevertheless submit to folly, not because they 
 respect folly, but the commandment of God, who for the pun¬ 
 ishment of men has put them in subjection to their follies. 
 
- 4 ^> OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAH 
 
 Omuis creator a subjecta est z'anitati. Liberabitur. Thus Saint 
 Thomas explains the passage in Saint James on giving place to 
 the rich, that if they do it not in the sight of Gcd the com¬ 
 mandment of religion is set at naught. 
 
 All great amusements are dangerous to the Christian life, but 
 among all those which the world has invented none is so much 
 to be feared as the theatre. It is so natural and so delicate a 
 representation of the passions that it moves them, and makes 
 them spring up in our heart, above all that of love, princi¬ 
 pally when it is represented as very chaste and very honourable. 
 For the more innocent it seems to innocent souls, the more are 
 they capable of being touched by it; its violence pleases our 
 self-love, which at once forms the desire of causing the same 
 effects which we see so well represented, and at the same time 
 we make for ourselves a conscience founded on the honour of 
 the feelings which we see there. And this extinguishes the fear 
 of pure souls which imagine there is no harm to purity in loving 
 with a love which seems to them so moderate. 
 
 Thus we leave the theatre with our heart so full of all the 
 beauty and tenderness of love, the soul and the mind so per¬ 
 suaded of its innocence, that we are fully prepared to receive its 
 first impressions, or rather to seek occasion to let them be born 
 in the heart of some one, in order that we may receive the same 
 pleasures and the same sacrifices which we have seen so well 
 depicted in the theatre. 
 
 The circumstances in which it is easiest to live according to 
 the world are those in which it is most difficult to live according 
 to God, and vice versa. Nothing is so difficult according to the 
 world as the religious life ; nothing is more easy according to 
 God. Nothing is easier than to live in great office and great 
 wealth according to the world; nothing is more difficult than 
 to live in them according to God, and not to take part in them 
 and love them. 
 
 Those who believe without having read the Old and New 
 Testaments, do so because they have a saintly frame of mind, 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 249 
 
 with which all that they hear of our Religion agrees. They 
 feel that a God has made them ; their will is to love God only, 
 their will is to hate themselves only. They feel that they have 
 no power of themselves, that they are unable to come to God, 
 and if God come not to them, they can have no communion with 
 him. And they hear our Religion declare that men must love 
 God only, and hate self only, but that all being corrupt, and 
 unfit for God, God made himself man to unite himself to us. 
 No more is needed to convince men who have such a disposition 
 and have a knowledge of their duty and of their incompetence. 
 
 Those whom we see to be Christians without the knowledge 
 of the prophecies and evidences, are able to judge of their religion 
 as well as those who have that knowledge. They judge of 
 it by the heart, as others by the understanding. God him¬ 
 self inclines them to believe, and thus they are effectually per¬ 
 suaded. 
 
 I admit that one of those Christians who believe without 
 proof is not perhaps qualified to convince an infidel who will 
 say the same of himself; but those who know the proofs of 
 religion can prove without difficulty that such a believer is truly 
 inspired by God, though he cannot prove it himself. 
 
 For God having said by his prophets, who are beyond a doubt 
 prophets, that in the reign of Jesus Christ he will spread his 
 spirit abroad among all nations, that the young men and 
 maidens and the children of the Church will prophesy, there 
 is no doubt that the spirit of God is upon these, and not upon 
 the others. 
 
 Wonder not to see simple souls believe without reasoning. 
 God gives to them the love of him, and the hate of self, he 
 inclines their heart to belief. No man will ever believe with 
 true and saving faith if God incline not the heart, but each will 
 believe as soon as he inclines it. And this is what David knew 
 well: Inclina cor meuin , Deus , in testimonia tua. 
 
 Romans iii. 27 : Boasting is excluded, by what law ? Of 
 works ? no, but by that of faith. Therefore faith is not in our 
 
250 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAH 
 
 power, like the works of the law. and it is given us in another 
 way. 
 
 Faith is a gift of God, do not suppose us to say it is a gift of 
 reason. Other religions do not say this of their faith, they prof¬ 
 fered only reason as a means of attaining to it, which after all 
 does not lead to it. 
 
 Faith, it is true, says what the senses do not say, but not the 
 contrary of what they perceive. It is above them, not contrary 
 to them. 
 
 I am envious of those whom I see professing the true faith, 
 but living and abusing a gift of which it seems to me I should 
 make a very different use. 
 
 The law imposed what it did not bestow ; grace bestows that 
 which it imposes. 
 
 The law has not destroyed Nature, but has instructed it; grace 
 has not destroyed the law, but has called it into action. 
 
 Faith received at baptism is the source of the whole life of the 
 Christian and of the converted. 
 
 We make an idol of truth itself, for truth apart from charity is 
 not God, it is his image and idol, which we must neither love 
 nor adore ; still less must we love and adore its opposite, which 
 is falsehood. 
 
 Submission and use of reason, in which consists true Chris¬ 
 tianity 
 
 The last process of reason is to recognise that there is an 
 infinity of things which transcend it ; it is but weak if it does 
 not go so far as to know that. 
 
 And if natural things transcend it, what shall we say of the 
 supernatural? 
 
 Submission .—We must know when to doubt, when to feel 
 
AND OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN. 
 
 251 
 
 certain, when to submit. Who fails in this understands not the 
 force of reason. There are those who offend against these three 
 rules, either by accepting everything as evidence, for want of 
 knowing what evidence is ; or by doubting everything, for want 
 of knowing when to submit ; or by yielding 'in everything, 
 for want of knowing when to use their judgment. 
 
 There are three means of belief; reason, habit, inspiration. 
 The Christian religion, which only has reason, does not admit 
 as her true children those who believe without inspiration ; not 
 that she excludes reason or habit, rather the contrary, but it is 
 necessary to open the mind to proofs, to confirm ourselves by 
 habit, and then to offer ourselves humbly to inspiration, which 
 alone can produce a true and salutary effect. Ne evacuetur crux 
 Christi. 
 
 There are two ways of urging the truths of our religion ; 
 one by the force of reason, the other by the authority of the 
 speaker. 
 
 We use not the last, but the first. We do not say : “You must 
 believe this, for the Scripture which says so is divine,” but we 
 say : You must believe for such and such a reason, which are 
 weak arguments, since reason bends itself to all. 
 
 If we submit all to reason our religion will have nothing in it 
 mysterious or supernatural. If we violate the principles of reason, 
 our religion will be absurd and ridiculous. 
 
 Saint Augustine. Reason would never submit if it did not 
 judge that on some occasions submission is a duty. 
 
 It is then right that it should submit, when it judges that it 
 ought to submit. 
 
 Piety is different from superstition. 
 
 To carry piety as far as superstition is to destroy it. 
 
 Heretics reproach us with this superstitious submission. This 
 is to do that with which they reproach us. 
 
252 
 
 OF THE TRUE RIGHTEOUS MAN, ETC . 
 
 
 There is nothing so conformable to reason as the disavowal of 
 reason. 
 
 Two excesses : to exclude reason, and to admit reason only. 
 
 Superstition and lust. Scruples, evil desires, evil fear. 
 
 Fear, not such as arises from a belief in God, but that which 
 spiings from doubt whether he is or is not. True fear conies 
 from faith, false fear from doubt. True fear is allied to hope, 
 because it is born of faith, and because men hope in the God in 
 whom they believe ; false fear is allied to despair, because they 
 fear the God in whom they do not believe. The one class fears 
 to lose him, the other fears to find him. 
 
 A person said to me one day that when he came from con¬ 
 fession he felt gi eat joy and confidence. Another said to me that 
 he was still fearful, whereupon I thought that these two together 
 would make one good man, and that each was so far wanting in 
 that he had not the feelings of the other. The same is often 
 true in other matters. 
 
 The knowledge of God is very far from the love of him. 
 
 We are not wearied of eating and sleeping every day, because 
 hunger and drowsiness are renewed ; without that we should be 
 weary of them. Thus without the hunger of spiritual things we 
 grow weary of them. Hunger after righteousness, the eighth 
 beatitude. 
 
 The conduct of God, who disposes all things gently, is to put 
 religion into the mind by reason, and into the heart by grace. 
 Lut to will to put it into the mind and heart by force and menace 
 is not to put religion there, but terror, terrorem potius quam 
 religionem . 
 
THE ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 First part: Misery of man without God. 
 
 Second part: The happiness of man with God. 
 
 Or. First part: That Nature is naturally corrupt. 
 
 Second part: That the Scripture shows a Redeemer. 
 
 The arrangement by dialogues— What ought I to do ? I see 
 only obscurity everywhere. Shall I believe that I am nothing, 
 shall I believe that I am God ? 
 
 All things change and succeed each other.—You are mistaken ; 
 there is . . . 
 
 A letter to lead to the search after God. 
 
 And then to causehim to be sought for among the philosophers, 
 sceptics and dogmatists, who trouble all who seek them. 
 
 To pity those atheists who seek, for are they not unhappy 
 enough ?—To rail against those who make a boast of it. 
 
 To begin by pitying unbelievers, they are miserable enough 
 by their condition. We ought not to revile them except where 
 it may be serviceable, but it does them hann. 
 
 The arrangement. A letter of advice to a friend to lead him to 
 seek, and he will answer: What is the good of seeking, since 
 nothing comes to light.—Then to answer him : “ Do not despair.” 
 
 _And he will answer that he would be glad to find some light, 
 
 but that according to this very Religion, thus to believe, will 
 be of no use to him : and that therefore he would as soon not 
 seek. And to answer to that : The machine. 
 
 The arrangement. After the letter that we ought to seek God , 
 
254 
 
 the arrangement. 
 
 to write the letter on the removal of obstacles; which is the dis¬ 
 course on the machine, on preparing the machine, on seeking 
 
 ron crr-vt-i ' & 
 
 The letter which shows the use of proofs by the machine. 
 aith is different from proof; the one is human, the other the 
 gift of God. Justus ex fide vivit. It is this faith that God him¬ 
 self puts into the heart, of which the proof is often the instrument 
 
 fides ex audita; but this faith is in the heart, and makes us say 
 not scio, but credo. J 
 
 In the letter on Injustice may come the absurdity of the rule 
 that the elder takes all. My friend, you were born on this side 
 the mountain, it is therefore just that your elder brother should 
 
 The arrangement. Why should I take on myself to divide my 
 moral qualities into four rather than into six ? Why should I 
 lather establish virtue in four, in two, in one ? Why into Abstine 
 etsustme rather than into Follow nature, or, Conduct your private 
 affairs without injustice , as Plato, or anything else ? 
 
 But there, you will say, is everything contained in one word 
 ^ es but that is useless, if not explained, and when we begin to 
 explain it, as soon as the precept is opened which contains all 
 the others, they issue in that first confusion which you wished to 
 avoid. Thus when they are all enclosed in one they are concealed 
 and useless, as in a box, and never appear but in their natural 
 confusion. Nature has established them all without enclosing 
 
 flflP in fnP Afknv ^ 
 
 The arrangement. Men despise Religion, they hate it, and 
 fear it may be true. To cure this we must begin by showing 
 that Religion is not contrary to reason ; then that it is venerable 
 to give respect for it; then to make it lovable, to make good men 
 hope that it is true ; then to show that it is true. 
 
 Venerable because it knows man well, lovable because it pro- 
 mises the true good. ^ 
 
 The arrangement.—I should be far more afraid of making a 
 
THE ARRANGEMENT. 255 
 
 mistake myself, and of finding that the Christian religion was 
 true, than of not deceiving myself in believing it true. 
 
 The arrangement.—After corruption, to say: “It is right that 
 those who are in that state should know it, both those who are 
 contented with it, and those who are discontented ; but it is not 
 right that all should see Redemption.” 
 
 The arrangement.— To see what is clear and indisputable in 
 the whole state of the Jews. 
 
 To the chapter on Fundamentals must be added that on 
 Things figurative touching the reason of types. Why Jesus 
 Christ was foretold at his first coming, why foretold obscurely 
 as to the manner. 
 
 A letter, on the folly of human knowledge and philosophy. 
 
 This letter before Diversion. 
 
 The arrangement .—I might well have taken this discourse in 
 some such order as the following : To show the vanity of 
 every state of life, to show the vanity of ordinary lives, and 
 then the vanity of philosophic lives, sceptics, stoics ; but the 
 order would not have been kept. I know a little what it is, 
 and how few people know it. No human science can keep it. 
 Saint Thomas did not keep it. Mathematics keep it, but these 
 are useless by reason of their depth. 
 
 Without examining each particular occupation it will be 
 enough to class them under Diversion. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 THE MIRACLE OF THE HOLY THORN. 
 
 The beginning .—Miracles are the test of doctrine, and doctrine 
 is the test of miracles. 
 
 Of these there are false and true. There must be a mark 
 whereby to know them, or they would be useless. 
 
 Now they are not useless, and are on the contrary funda¬ 
 mental. Now it must be that the rule which he gives us be such 
 as shall not impair the proof afforded by true miracles to the 
 truth, which is the principal end of miracles. 
 
 Moses has given two ; that the prediction does not come to 
 pass, Deut. xviii., and that they do not lead to idolatry, Deut. 
 xiii. ; and Jesus Christ one. 
 
 If doctrine regulate miracles, miracles are useless for doc¬ 
 trine. 
 
 If miracles regulate . . . 
 
 Objection to the rule. 
 
 Discrimination between times. One rule in Moses’s day, 
 another at present. 
 
 Miracle. An effect which exceeds the natural force of the 
 means employed, and non-miracle an effect not exceeding the 
 natural force of the means employed. Thus those who heal by 
 invocation of the devil work no miracle, for that does not 
 exceed the natural power of the devil. But . . . 
 
 The combinations of miracles. 
 
 A second miracle may suppose a first, but a first cannot sup¬ 
 pose a second. 
 
 No one has ever suffered martyrdom for the miracles he says 
 
 s 
 
25S OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 he has seen ; the folly of men would perhaps go as far as 
 martyrdom, for those which the Turks believe by tradition, but 
 not for those they have seen. 
 
 Were there no false miracles there would be certainty. 
 
 Were there no rule to test them, miracles would be useless, 
 and there would be no reason for belief. 
 
 Now, humanly speaking, there is no human certainty, but 
 reason. 
 
 It is said : Believe the Church , but it is not said : Believe in 
 Miracles , because the last is natural and not the first. The one 
 had need of a precept, not the other. 
 
 Miracles. How I hate those who make men doubt of miracles. 
 Montaigne speaks of them as he should in the two passages. In 
 one we see how careful he is, yet in the other he believes, and 
 laughs at unbelievers. 
 
 However it may be, the Church has no proofs if they are right. 
 
 Montaigne against miracles. 
 
 Montaigne for miracles. 
 
 The reason why men do not believe. 
 
 Joh. xii. 37. Cum autem tanta signa fecissef, non credebant in 
 eum, ut sermo Isaye irnpleretur. Excecavit, etc. 
 
 Hcec dix it Isaias , quando vidit glonam ejus , et locutus est de co. 
 
 Judaei signa petunt , et Grceci sapientiam qucerunt. 
 
 Nos autem Jesum crucijixum. 
 
 Sedplenum signis , scdplenum sapientia. 
 
 Vos autem Christum non crucifixistis , et religionem sine 
 miraculis et sine sapientia. 
 
 The ground of disbelief in true miracles is want of charity. 
 Joh. Sed vos non creditis quia non estis ex ovibus. The ground 
 of belief in false miracles is want of charity. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 
 
 The foundation of religion. This is miracle. Does God then 
 speak against miracles, against the foundations of the faith 
 which we have in him ? 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 259 
 
 If there be a God, faith in God must exist on earth. Now 
 the miracles of Jesus Christ are not foretold by Antichrist, but 
 the miracles of Antichrist are foretold by Jesus Christ. Thus if 
 Jesus Christ were not the Messiah he would have certainly led 
 into error, but Antichrist could not certainly lead into error. 
 
 When Jesus Christ foretold the miracles of Antichrist, did he 
 think of destroying faith in his own miracles ? 
 
 Moses foretold Jesus Christ, and commanded to follow him ; 
 Jesus Christ foretold Antichrist, and forbade to follow him. 
 
 It was impossible that in the time of Moses any should assert 
 their faith in Antichrist, who was unknown to them, but it is easy 
 in the time of Antichrist to believe in Jesus Christ, already 
 known. 
 
 There is no reason to believe in Antichrist which there is not 
 to believe in Jesus Christ, but there are reasons for believing in 
 Jesus Christ,, which do not exist for the other. 
 
 Title: How it happens that men believe so many liars , who 
 say they have seen miracles , and do 7 iot believe any of those who 
 say they have secrets to make men immortal or render them young 
 again. —Having considered how it happens that men have believed 
 so many impostors, who pretend they have remedies, often to the 
 length of putting their lives into their hands, it appears to me that 
 the true cause is that there are true remedies. For it would not 
 be possible there should be so many false, to which so much 
 credence is given, were there none true. Were there no remedy 
 for any evil, and were all diseases incurable, it is impossible that 
 men should ever have imagined that they could give remedies, 
 and still more impossible that so many others should have believed 
 those who boasted that they had them. Just as if a man boasted 
 that he could prevent death, no one would believe him because 
 there is no example of this. But as there are a number of reme¬ 
 dies which are approved as true, even by the knowledge of the 
 greatest men, the belief of men is thereby inclined ; and since the 
 thing was known to be possible, it has been therefore concluded 
 that it was. For the public as a rule reasons thus : A thing is 
 possible, therefore it is ; because the thing cannot be denied 
 generally, since there are particular effects which are true, the 
 
26 o 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL . 
 
 people, who cannot discriminate which among particular effects 
 are true, believe them all. This is the reason that so many 
 false effects are attributed to the moon, because there are some 
 true, such as the tide. 
 
 It is the same with prophecies, miracles, divination by 
 dreams, casting lots, etc. For if in all these matters nothing 
 true had ever taken place, nothing of them had ever been 
 believed ; and so instead of concluding that there are no true 
 miracles, because so many are false, we must on the contrary 
 say that there are certainly true miracles because there are 
 false, and that the false only exist because some are true. We 
 must reason in the same way about Religion, for it would not be 
 possible that men should have imagined so many false religions 
 had there not been one that is true. The objection to this is that 
 savages have a religion, but we answer that they have heard 
 speak of the true, as appears by the deluge, circumcision, Saint 
 Andrew’s cross, etc. 
 
 Having considered how it comes that there are so many false 
 miracles, false revelations, castings of lots, etc., it has appeared 
 to me that the real cause is that there are true ones, for it would 
 not be possible that there should be so many false miracles un¬ 
 less there were true, nor so many false revelations unless there 
 were true, nor so many false religions unless there were one that 
 is true. For if all this had never been, it is impossible that men 
 should have imagined it, and still more impossible that so many 
 others should have believed it. But as there have been very 
 great things which are true and as they have been believed by 
 great men ; this impression has been produced, that almost every¬ 
 body has been made capable of believing the false also ; and 
 thus instead of concluding that there are no true miracles since 
 there are so many false, we must on the contrary say that there 
 are true miracles since there are so many false, and that false 
 miracles only exist for the reason that there are true ; so also 
 that there are false religions only because there is one that is 
 true.—The objection to this is that savages have a religion. 
 But this is because they have heard speak of the true, as appears 
 by Saint Andrew’s cross, the deluge, the circumcision, etc.—This 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 261 
 
 comes from the fact that the spirit of man, finding itself inclined 
 to that side by truth, becomes therefore susceptible of all the 
 falsehoods of that . . . 
 
 I should not be a Christian were it not for the miracles, said 
 Saint Augustine. 
 
 But for the miracles there would have been no sin in not 
 believing in Jesus Christ. 
 
 It is not possible to believe reasonably against miracles. 
 
 Miracles have so great a force that it was needful that God 
 should warn us not to credit them against him, clear as it 
 may be that there is a God ; without this they would have been 
 able to disturb. 
 
 And thus so far from these passages, Deut. xiii., making 
 against the authority of miracles, nothing more marks their force. 
 The same with Antichrist; “ to seduce if it were possible even 
 the very elect.’' 
 
 Abraham and Gideon are above revelation 
 
 The Jews blinded themselves in judging of miracles by the 
 Scripture. God has never left his true worshippers. 
 
 I prefer to follow Jesus Christ than any other, because he 
 has miracle, prophecy, doctrine, perpetuity, etc. 
 
 The Donatists. No miracle which obliged them to say it was 
 the devil. 
 
 The more we specialise God, Jesus Christ and the Church. 
 
 Jesus Christ worked miracles, then the apostles, and the early 
 saints in great number, because the prophecies not being yet 
 fulfilled, but only in the way of fulfilment by them, miracles 
 were their only witness. It was foretold that the Messiah should 
 convert the nations, and this prophecy could not be fulfilled 
 without the conversion of the nations. Nor could the nations 
 be converted to Messiah unless they saw the final effect of the 
 prophecies concerning him. Till therefore he died and rose 
 
262 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 again, and had converted the nations, all was not fulfilled, where¬ 
 fore miracles were needed during that time. We now need no 
 more miracles against the Jews, for the fulfilment of prophecy 
 is an enduring miracle. 
 
 Prophecy is not called miracle , as Saint John speaks of the 
 first miracle in Cana, then of what Jesus Christ said to the 
 woman of Samaria, revealing to her all her hidden life. Then 
 he healed the centurion’s son, and Saint John calls this the 
 second sign. 
 
 Jesus Christ has verified that he was the Messiah, never in 
 verifying his doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but 
 always by his miracles. 
 
 He proves by a miracle that he remits sins. 
 
 Rejoice not that you work miracles, said Jesus Christ, but 
 rather that your names are written in heaven. 
 
 If they believe not Moses, neither will they believe one risen 
 from the dead. 
 
 Nicodemus recognised by his miracles, that his doctrine was 
 of God. Scimus quia venisti a Deo , inagister ., nemo enim potest 
 facere qicce tu facis , nisi Dens fuerit cum eo. He judged not of the 
 miracles by the doctrine, but of the doctrine by the miracles. 
 
 Here is no country for truth, she wanders unknown among 
 men. God has covered her with a veil which leaves her un¬ 
 recognised by those who hear not her voice ; the way is open 
 for blasphemy even against those truths which are at the least 
 very apparent. If the truths of the Gospel are published, the 
 contrary is also published, and questions are obscured, so that 
 the people cannot discern, and they ask us, “What have you to 
 make you believed rather than others ? what sign do you give ? 
 you have words only, so have we, if you have miracles, good.” 
 That doctrine must be supported by miracle is a truth of which 
 they make a pretext to blaspheme against doctrine. And if 
 miracles happen, it is said that miracles are not enough without 
 doctrine, and that is another way of blaspheming against miracles. 
 
 Jesus Christ healed the man born blind, and worked many 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 263 
 
 miracles on the sabbath day, and thus he blinded the Pharisees 
 who said that miracles must be tested by doctrine. 
 
 “ We have Moses, but as for this man, we know, not whence 
 he is.” It is wonderful that you know not whence he is, and yet 
 he works such miracles. 
 
 Jesus Christ spoke neither against God, nor against Moses. 
 
 Antichrist and the false prophets foretold by both Testaments, 
 will speak openly against God, and against Jesus Christ, who is 
 not hidden. Whoever will be a secret enemy, God will not per¬ 
 mit that he work miracles openly. 
 
 In a public dispute where the two parties declare themselves 
 on the side of God, of Jesus Christ, or the Church, there have 
 never been miracles on the side of the false Christians, while 
 the other party has remained without miracle. 
 
 “ He hath a devil,” John x. 21. “ And others said, Can a devil 
 open the eyes of the blind ?” 
 
 The proofs which Jesus Christ and the Apostles draw from 
 Scripture are not decisive, for they say only that Moses fore¬ 
 told that a prophet would come; but they do not thereby prove 
 that Jesus Christ was that prophet, which is the whole question. 
 These passages, then, serve only to show that we are not con¬ 
 trary to Scripture, and that there is no contradiction, not that 
 there is accord. Now this is enough, there is no contradic¬ 
 tion ; and there are miracles. 
 
 It follows, then, that he judged miracles to be certain proofs of 
 what he taught, and that the Jews were bound to believe him. 
 And as a fact, it was the miracles especially which made the 
 unbelief of the Jews so blameworthy. 
 
 There is a reciprocal duty between God and men. We must 
 forgive him this saying : Quid debui. “ Accuse me,” said God in 
 Isaiah. 
 
 God must accomplish his promises, etc. 
 
 Men owe it to God to receive the Religion which he sends 
 them. God owes it to men not to lead them into error. Now 
 they would be led into error, if the workers of miracles should 
 announce a doctrine which did not appear visibly false to the 
 light of common sense, and if a greater worker of miracles had 
 not already given warning not to believe in them. 
 
264 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Thus if there were division in the Church, and the Arians, fot 
 example, w r ho no less than Catholics said they were founded 
 on Scripture, had worked miracles, and the Catholics had 
 worked none, men had been led into error. 
 
 For, as a man, who announces to us the secret things of God 
 is not worthy to be believed on his private testimony, and on 
 that very ground the wicked doubt him ; so when a man as a sign 
 of the communion which he has with God raises the dead, fore¬ 
 tells the future, moves the seas, heals the sick, there is none so 
 wicked as not to yield, and the incredulity of Pharaoh and the 
 Pharisees is the effect of a supernatural hardening. 
 
 When, therefore, we see miracles and doctrine not open to 
 suspicion both on one side, there is no difficulty. But when we 
 see miracles and suspicious doctrine on the same side we must 
 see which is the clearest. Jesus Christ was suspected. 
 
 Barjesus was blinded. The power of God is above that of his 
 enemies. 
 
 The Jewish exorcists were beaten by devils, who said, “ Jesus 
 we know, and Paul we know, but who are ye?” 
 
 Miracles are for doctrine, and not doctrine for miracles. 
 
 But if miracles are true we cannot persuade men of all doc¬ 
 trine, for that will not come to pass : Si angelus . . . 
 
 Rule. We must judge of doctrine by miracles, we must judge 
 of miracles by doctrine. All this is true, but there is no con¬ 
 tradiction. 
 
 For we must distinguish the times. 
 
 You are glad to know general rules, thinking by that to intro¬ 
 duce difficulties, and render all useless. We shall stop you, my 
 good father ; truth is one, and strong. 
 
 It is impossible from the duty God owes us, that a man, con¬ 
 cealing his evil doctrine, and only allowing the good to appear, 
 pretending that he is in conformity with God and the Church, 
 should work miracles to insinuate insensibly a false and subtle 
 doctrine. This cannot be. 
 
 Still less, that God who knows the heart, should work miracles 
 in favour of such an one. 
 
 There is much difference between temptation and leading 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 265 
 
 into error. God tempts, but he leads not into error. To tempt 
 is to present occasions which impose no necessity ; if we love 
 not God we shall do a certain thing. To lead into error, is to 
 place a man in a necessity of forming and following false con¬ 
 clusion. 
 
 This is what God cannot do, which nevertheless he would do, 
 if in an obscure question he wrought miracles on the side of 
 falsehood. 
 
 In the Old Testament, when they would turn you from God, 
 in the New when they would turn you from Jesus Christ. 
 
 Such are the occasions on which we exclude certain miracles 
 from credence. There need be no other exclusions. 
 
 But it does not therefore follow that they had the right to exclude 
 all the prophets who came to them. They would have sinned in 
 not excluding those who denied God, and would also have 
 sinned in excluding those who denied him not. 
 
 50 soon, then, as we see a miracle we should at once either 
 acquiesce or have signal marks against it. We must see if 
 it denies either a God, or Jesus Christ, or the Church. 
 
 Miracles avail not for conversion, but for condemnation. 
 I P. ix. 113, a. 10, ad. 2. 
 
 51 tit es Christus , die nobis. 
 
 Opera quee ego facto in nomine patris mei , hcec testimonium 
 perhibent de me. 
 
 Sed non vos creditis quia non estis ex ovibus meis. Ones mei 
 vocem meant audiunt. 
 
 Joh. vi. 30. Quod ergo tu facis signum ut videamus , et creda- 
 mus tibi ? Non dicunt : Quam doctrinam prcedicas ? 
 
 Nemo potest facere signa quee tu facis , nisi Deus fuerit 
 cum illo. 
 
 2 Mach. xiv. 15. Deus qtti sigttis evidentibus suam portionem 
 protegit. 
 
 Volumus signum videre de coelo tentanies eum. Luc. xi. 16. 
 
 Generatio prava signum qinzrit j sed non dabitur. 
 
266 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Et ingemiscens ait; Quid, generatio ista signum queer it. Marc, 
 viii. 12. Thev asked a sign with a bad intent. Et non poterat 
 facere. And nevertheless he promises them the sign of Jonah, 
 the great and incomparable evidence of his resurrection. 
 
 Nisi videritis signa non credit is. He does not blame them 
 for not believing without there having been miracles, but 
 without their having been themselves witnesses of them. 
 
 Antichrist in signis mendacibus , says St. Paul. 2 Thess. ii. 
 
 Secundum operationem Satancc. In seductione ii qui pereunt 
 eo quod charitatem veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent. Idco 
 mittet illis Dcus operationem erroris ut credant me?idacia. 
 
 As in the passage of Moses : Tentat cnim vos Deus , utruin 
 diligatis cum. 
 
 Ecce proedixi vobis , vos ergo videte. 
 
 The Church has three kinds of enemies, the Jews, who have 
 never been of her body ; the heretics, who have withdrawn from 
 it; and bad Christians, who rend her from within. 
 
 These three different kinds of enemies generally assail her in 
 different ways, but here they assail her in the same fashion. As 
 they are all without miracles, and as the Church has always had 
 miracles against them, they have all had the same interest in 
 eluding them ; and all avail themselves of this pretext, that we 
 must not judge of doctrine by miracles, but of miracles by 
 doctrine. There were two parties among those who heard Jesus 
 Christ, those who followed his doctrine by reason of his miracles ; 
 others who said . . . There were two parties in the time of 
 Calvin. There are now the Jesuits, etc. 
 
 Miracles are the test in doubtful matters, between Jew and 
 Gentile, Jew and Christian, catholic and heretic, slanderer and 
 slandered, between the two crosses. 
 
 But miracles would be useless to heretics, for the Church, 
 authorised by miracles which have already obtained credence, 
 tells us that they have not the true faith. There is no doubt 
 that they are not in it, because the first miracles of the Church 
 exclude belief in theirs. Thus there is miracle against miracle, 
 and the first and greatest are on the side of the Church. 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 267 
 
 Controversy. Abel, CainMoses, the Magicians Elijah, 
 the false prophets Jeremiah, Hananiah Micaiah, the false 
 prophets ; Jesus Christ, the Pharisees ;—Saint Paul, Barjesus ; 
 —the Apostles, the Exorcists the Christians and the infidels ; 
 —Catholics, heretics ;—Elijah, Enoch, Antichrist. 
 
 In the trial by miracles truth always prevails. The two 
 crosses. 
 
 Miracles are no longer needful, because they have already been. 
 But when we listen no more to tradition, when the pope alone is 
 proposed to us, when he has been taken by surprise, and when 
 the tiue source of truth, which is tradition, is thus excluded, 
 the pope, who is its guardian, is thus prejudiced, truth is no 
 longer allowed to appear ; then, since men speak no longer of 
 truth, truth herself must speak to men. This is what happened 
 in the time of Arius. 
 
 Religion is adapted to every kind of intellect. Some consider 
 only its establishment, and this Religion is such that its very 
 establishment is enough to prove its truth. Some trace it as far 
 as the apostles ; the more learned go back to the beginning of 
 the world ; the angels see it better still, and from earlier time. 
 
 1. Objection. An angel front heaven. 
 
 We must not judge of truth by miracles, but of miracles by 
 truth. 
 
 Therefore miracles are useless. 
 
 Now they serve, and cannot be against the truth. 
 
 Therefore what Father Lingende says, that God will not allow 
 a miracle to lead into error . . . 
 
 When there shall be a dispute in the same Church, miracle 
 will decide. 
 
 2. Objection. 
 
 But A ntichrist will work miracles. 
 
 The Magicians of Pharaoh did not lead into error. Thus on 
 Antichrist we cannot say to Jesus Christ : You have led me into 
 error. For Antichrist will work them against Jesus Christ, and 
 
268 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 thus they cannot lead into error. Either God will not permit 
 false miracles, or he will procure greater. 
 
 If in the same Church a miracle should occur on the side of 
 those in error, men would be led into error. 
 
 A schism is visible, a miracle is visible. But a schism is more 
 a mark of error than a miracle is a mark of truth, therefore a 
 miracle cannot lead into error. 
 
 But apart from schism the error is not so visible as the miracle 
 is visible. 
 
 Therefore miracle may lead into error. 
 
 Ubi est Deus tuns ?—Miracles show him and are a light to him. 
 
 Joh. vi. 26. Non quia vidisti signum, sed quia saturati estis. 
 
 Those who follow Jesus Christ because of his miracles honour 
 his power in all the miracles which it produces. But those who, 
 making profession to follow him because of his miracles, only 
 follow him indeed because he consoles them and satisfies them 
 with worldly goods, disparage his miracles when they are con¬ 
 trary to their own convenience. 
 
 J oh. ix : Non est hie homo a Deo , quia sabbatum non cusiodit. 
 A lii: Quomodo potest homo peccator luxe signa facere ? 
 
 Which is the most clear ? 
 
 This house is not of God, for they do not there believe that 
 tne five propositions are in Jansenius. 
 
 Others : This house is of God, for in it strange miracles are 
 done. 
 
 Which is the most clear ? 
 
 Tu quid dicis f Dico quia propheta est.—Nisi esset hie a Deo, 
 non poterat facere quidquam. 
 
 There is much difference between not being for Jesus Christ, 
 and saying it, and not being for Jesus Christ, yet feigning to be 
 so. The one party can work miracles, not the others, for it is 
 clear that the one party are against the truth, but not that the 
 others are ; and thus miracles are the more clear. 
 
 “ If you believe not in me, believe at least in the miracles.” 
 He puts them forward as the strongest. 
 
 He had said to the Jews as well as to the Christians, that they 
 
OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 269 
 
 should not always believe the prophets ; but nevertheless the 
 pharisees and scribes made much of his miracles, and tried to 
 show that they were false or worked by the devil, since they 
 were bound to be convinced, if they admitted that these were of 
 God. 
 
 We are not in these days obliged so to discriminate. Yet it 
 is very easy to do so; those who deny neither God nor Jesus 
 Christ work no miracles which are not quite certain. 
 
 Nemo facit virtutem in nomine meo , et cito ftossit de me male 
 loqui. 
 
 But we have not to use this discrimination. Here is a sacred 
 relic, here is a thorn from the crown of the Saviour of the 
 world, on whom the prince of this world has no power, which 
 works miracles by the immediate power of the blood that was 
 shed for us. Thus God has himself chosen this house wherein 
 openly to show forth his power. 
 
 Here are not men who work miracles by an unknown and 
 doubtful virtue, obliging us to a difficult discrimination ; it is 
 God himself, it is the instrument of the passion of his only Son, 
 who being in many places chose this, and made men come from 
 all sides, there to receive miraculous succour in their weaknesses. 
 
 If the devil were to favour the doctrine which destroys him, 
 he would be divided against himself, as Jesus Christ said. If 
 God favoured the doctrine which destroys the Church, he would 
 be divided against himself. Omne regnitm divisum. 
 
 For Jesus Christ acted against the devil, and destroyed his 
 empire over the heart, of which exorcism is the figure, to esta¬ 
 blish the kingdom of God. And so he adds : Si in digito Dei , 
 regnum Dei ad vos. 
 
 Either God has confounded the false miracles or he has fore¬ 
 told them, and both by the one and the other he has raised 
 himself above the supernatural in regard to us, and has raised 
 us also. 
 
 Jer. xxiii. 32. The miracles of the false prophets. In the Hebrew 
 and Vatable they are called trifles. 
 
270 
 
 QF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Miracle does not always mean miracle. I Kings xiv. 15. 
 Miracle signifies fear , and is the same in Hebrew. 
 
 The same plainly in Job xxxiii. 7. 
 
 So in Isaiah xxi. 4. Jeremiah xliv. 12. 
 
 Porte 7 itum means images, Jer. 1. 38, and it is the same in 
 Hebrew and Vatable. Isaiah viii. 18. Jesus Christ says that 
 he and his will be in miracles. 
 
 Jesus Christ said that the Scriptures bear witness of him, but 
 he did not show in what respect. 
 
 Even the prophecies could not prove Jesus Christ during his 
 life, and thus if miracles had not sufficed without doctrine, men 
 would not have been blameworthy who did not believe in him 
 before his death. Now those who did not believe in him during 
 his life were sinners, as he says himself, and without excuse. 
 Therefore they must have resisted a conclusive proof. Now 
 they had not our proof, but only miracles, therefore miracles 
 are enough when doctrine is not contrary, and they ought to 
 be believed. 
 
 J ohn vii. 40. Controversy among the Jews as a 77 i 07 ig Christia 7 is 
 of our day. The one party believed in Jesus Christ, the other 
 believed not, because of the prophecies which said he should be 
 born in Bethlehem. They should have enquired more diligently 
 whether he was not. For his miracles being convincing, they 
 ought to have been quite certain of these alleged contradictions 
 of his doctrine to the Scripture, and this obscurity did not 
 excuse, but blinded them. Thus those who refuse to believe 
 miracles in our day on account of an alleged but unreal contra¬ 
 diction, are not excused. 
 
 When the people believed on him because of his miracles, the 
 pharisees said : “This people, which doeth not the law, is 
 accursed, but there is none of the princes or the pharisees who 
 has believed on him, for we know that out of Galilee ariseth no 
 prophet. Nicodemus answered, Doth our law judge any man 
 before it heareth him ?” 
 
 Judges xiii. 23. “If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would 
 not have shewed us all these things.” 
 
271 
 
 OF MIRACLES IN GENERAL. 
 
 Hezekiah, Sennacherib. 
 
 Jeremiah, Hananiah, the false prophet, died in seven months. 
 
 2 Macc. iii. The temple, ready for pillage, miraculously suc¬ 
 coured.—2 Macc. xv. 
 
 1 Kings xvii. The widow to Elijah, who had restored her son. 
 “ By this I know that thy words are true.” 
 
 1 Kings xviii. Elijah, with the prophets of Baal. 
 
 Never in a contention concerning the true God or of the truth 
 
 of Religion has any miracle happened on the side of error and 
 not of truth. 
 
 Miracle. The people believe this of themselves, but if the 
 reason must be given you . . . 
 
 It is troublesome to be an exception to the rule. We ought 
 strictly to hold the rule and oppose the exception, yet as it is 
 certain there are exceptions to every rule, we ought with this 
 strictness to be just. 
 
 ^ Is it not enough that miracles are done in one place, and that 
 God’s providence is shown on one people ? 
 
 Good breeding goes so far as to have no politeness, and true 
 piety to have politeness for others. 
 
 This is not well bred. 
 
 The incredulous are the most credulous. They believe the 
 miracles of Vespasian in order that they may not believe those 
 of Moses. 
 
 On the Miracle. As God has made no family more happy, 
 he should also find none more grateful. 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 
 
 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 de¬ 
 ceived ; they must be disabused. 
 
 Faith embraces many truths which seem contradictory. There 
 
 is a time to laugh ,, and a time to weep, etc. Respoude, ne respondeas 
 etc. 
 
 The source of this is the union of the two natures in Jesus Christ. 
 And also the two worlds. The creation of a new heaven and 
 a new earth, a new life, a new death, all things double, and the 
 same names remaining. 
 
 And finally, the two natures which are in the righteous man, for 
 they are the two worlds, and a member and image of Jesus Christ. 
 And thus all the names suit them, righteous, sinners ; dead 
 though living, living though dead, elect, reprobate, etc. 
 
 There are then a great number of truths in faith and in morals, 
 which seem contrary to each other, which yet all subsist to¬ 
 gether in a wonderful order. 
 
 The source of all heresies is the exclusion of some of these 
 truths. 
 
 And the souice of all the objections made by heretics against 
 us is the ignorance of some of these truths. 
 
 And for the most part it happens that, unable to conceive the 
 relation of two opposite truths, and believing that admission of 
 one involves the exclusion of the other, they embrace the one 
 and exclude the other, thinking that we on'the other hand 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENTSTS 
 
 Now exclusion is the cause of their heresy, and ignorance that we 
 hold the other truth causes their objections. 
 
 ist example : Jesus Christ is God and man. The Arians, 
 unable to reconcile these things which they believe incompatible, 
 say that he is man, and so far they are Catholics. But they deny 
 that he is God, and so far they are heretics. They assert that 
 we deny his humanity, and so far they are ignorant. 
 
 2nd example, on the subject of the Holy Sacrament. We 
 believe that the substance of bread being changed, and con- 
 substantially that of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ is 
 therein really present. That is one truth. Another is that this 
 sacrament is also a figure of that of the cross and of glory, and 
 a commemoration of the two. T. hat is the Catholic faith, which 
 comprehends these two truths which seem opposed. 
 
 The heresy of our day, not conceiving that this sacrament 
 contains at one and the same time both the presence of Jesus 
 Christ and a figure of his presence, that it is a sacrifice and a 
 commemoration of a sacrifice, believes that neither of these 
 truths can be admitted without, by this very reason, the exclusion 
 of the other. 
 
 They adhere to this only point, that this sacrament is figura¬ 
 tive, and so far they are not heretics. They think that we exclude 
 this truth, hence it comes that they found so many objections 
 on those passages of the Fathers which assert it. Lastly they 
 deny the presence, and so far they are heretics. 
 
 3rd example. Indulgences. 
 
 Therefore the shortest way to hinder heresies is to teach all 
 truths, and the surest means of refuting them is to declare them 
 all. For what will the heretics say ? 
 
 If the ancient Church was in error, the Church is fallen ; if she 
 is so now it is not the same thing, for she has always the superior 
 maxim of tradition from the hand of the ancient Church; and thus 
 this submission and conformity to the ancient Church prevails 
 and corrects all. But the ancient Church did not postulate the 
 future Church, and did not regard her, as we postulate and 
 regard the ancient. 
 
 All err the more dangerously because they follow each a truth, 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 275 
 
 their fault is not that they follow an error, but that they do not 
 follow another truth. 
 
 That which hinders us in comparing what formerly took 
 place in the Church with what we now see, is that we are 
 wont to regard Saint Athanasius or Saint Theresa and others as 
 crowned with glory, and acting in regard to us as gods. Now 
 that time has cleared our vision we see that they are so. But when 
 this great saint was persecuted he was a man called Athanasius, 
 and Saint Theresa was a nun. “ Elias was a man like ourselves 
 and subject to the same passions as ourselves,” says Saint Peter, to 
 disabuse Christians of that false notion that we must reject the 
 examples of the saints as disproportioned to our state. They were 
 saints, say we, they are not like us. What was the case then ? 
 Saint Athanasius was a man called Athanasius, accused of many 
 crimes, condemned by such and such a council for such and such 
 a crime. All the bishops assented to it, and at last the pope. 
 What did they say to those who resisted his condemnation? 
 That they were disturbing the peace, that they were creating a 
 schism, etc. 
 
 Four kinds of persons : zeal without knowledge, knowledge 
 without zeal, neither knowledge nor zeal, zeal and knowledge. 
 The first three condemned him, the last absolved him, were 
 excommunicated by the Church and yet saved the Church. 
 
 The three notes of Religion : perpetuity, a good life, miracles. 
 They destroy perpetuity by probability, good life by their 
 morality, miracles in destroying either their truth or their conse¬ 
 quence. 
 
 If we believe them, the Church has nothing to do with per¬ 
 petuity, a holy life, or miracles. 
 
 Heretics deny them or deny the consequences ; they do the 
 same. But those must be devoid of sincerity who deny them, 
 or again have lost their senses if they deny the consequences. 
 
 Perpetuity. Is your character founded on Escobar? 
 
 Perhaps you have reasons for not condemning them; it is 
 enough that you approve of those I address to you on the subject. 
 
276 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 Would tlie pope be dishonoured by gaining his light from God 
 and tradition; and does it not dishonour him to separate him 
 from this sacred union and . . . 
 
 Tertullian : Nunquam Ecclesia reformabitur. 
 
 Perpetuity. 
 
 Molina. 
 
 N ovelty. 
 
 Heretics have always assailed these three notes which they 
 have not. 
 
 Those wretches, who have obliged me to speak on the foun¬ 
 dations of Religion. 
 
 Sinners purified without penitence, just men sanctified without 
 charity, all Christians without the grace of Jesus Christ, God 
 without power over the will of men, a predestination without 
 mystery, a redemption without certainty. 
 
 Sinners without penitence, just men without charity, a God 
 without power over the wills of men, a predestination without 
 mystery. 
 
 Those who love the Church complain that they see morals 
 corrupted, but laws at least exist. But these corrupt the laws. 
 The model is spoiled. 
 
 There is a contradiction ; for on the one side they say tradition 
 must be followed, and would not dare disavow it, and on the 
 other they will say whatever pleases them. The former will 
 always be believed in, and indeed it would be going against 
 them not to believe it. 
 
 Politics— We have found two obstacles to the design of com¬ 
 forting men. The one the interior laws of the Gospel, the 
 other the exterior laws of the State and of Religion. 
 
 We are masters of the one set of laws, the others we have dealt 
 with in this wise : Amplienda , restringenda , a majori ad minus. 
 
 Junior. 
 
 Generals. —It is not enough for them to introduce such morals 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN 1 STS. 277 
 
 into our churches, templis inducere mores. Not only do they wish 
 to be tolerated in the Church, but as though they had become 
 the stronger, they would expel those who are not of them 
 Mohatra. He who is astonished at this is no theologian. 
 Who would have told your generals that the time was so near 
 when they would give laws to the Church universal, and 
 
 would call the refusal of such disorders war, tot et tanta mala 
 pacem. 
 
 They cannot have perpetuity, and they seek universality; 
 therefore they make the whole Church corrupt, that they may be 
 saints. 
 
 You abuse the credence which the people has in the Church, 
 and make them believe untruth. 
 
 I suppose that men believe the miracles : 
 
 You corrupt Religion either in favour of your friends, or 
 against your enemies. You dispose of all at your will. 
 
 So that if it be true on the one hand that some lax religious, 
 and some corrupt casuists, who are not members of the hierarchy, 
 are steeped in these corruptions, it is on the other hand certain 
 that the true pastors of the Church, who are the true depositories 
 of the divine word, have preserved it unchangeably against the 
 efforts of those who have striven to ruin it. 
 
 And thus the faithful have no pretext to follow that laxity 
 which is only offered them by the stranger hands of these 
 casuists, instead of the .sound doctrine which is presented to 
 them by the fatherly hands of their own pastors. And the 
 wicked and heretics have no reason to put forward these 
 abuses as marks of the defective providence of God over his 
 Church, since the Church having her true existence in the body 
 of the hierarchy, it is so far from the present condition of 
 things being a proof that God has abandoned her to corruption, 
 that it has never so plainly appeared as at the present day that 
 God visibly defends her from corruption. 
 
 For if some of these men, who by an extraordinary vocation 
 
278 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 have made profession of retirement from the world, and have 
 adopted the religious dress, that they might live in a more per¬ 
 fect state than ordinary Christians, have fallen into disorders 
 which horrify ordinary Christians, and have become among us 
 what the false prophets were among the Jews ; this is a private 
 and personal matter, which we must indeed deplore, but from 
 which we can conclude nothing against the care which God takes 
 for his Church; since all these things are so clearly foretold, and 
 it has been long since announced that temptations would arise 
 on account of such persons, so that when we are well instructed 
 we see therein rather the notes of the guidance of God than 
 his forgetfulness in regard to us. 
 
 You are ignorant of the prophecies if you do not know that 
 all this must needs happen, princes, prophets, pope, and even 
 the priests. And yet the Church must abide. By the grace 
 of God we are not so far gone. Woe to these priests. But we 
 hope that God will of his mercy grant us that we be not among 
 them. 
 
 2 Saint Peter ii. False prophets in the past the image of the 
 future. 
 
 Is Est and non est received in faith as well as in miracles, and 
 is it inseparable in the others ? . . . 
 
 When Saint Xavier works miracles . . . 
 
 Saint Hilary.—These wretches who have obliged us to speak 
 of miracles. 
 
 Vcc qui conditis leges iniquas. 
 
 Unjust judges, make not your laws on the moment, judge by 
 those which are established, and by yourselves. 
 
 To weaken your adversaries you disarm the whole Church. 
 
 If they say that our safety depends on God, they are heretics. 
 
 If they say they are under obedience to the pope, that is 
 hypocrisy. 
 
 If they are ready to assent to all the articles, that is not 
 enough. 
 
 If they say that no man should be killed for an apple, they 
 assail the morality of Catholics. 
 
JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 279 
 
 If miracles are wrought among them, it is no mark of holiness, 
 but rather a suspicion of heresy. 
 
 The hardness of the Jesuits therefore surpasses that of the Jews, 
 since those refused to believe Jesus Christ innocent only because 
 they doubted if his miracles were of God. But on the contrary, 
 though the Jesuits cannot doubt that the Port Royal miracles 
 were of God, they still continue to doubt the innocency of that 
 house. 
 
 Men never commit evil so fully and so gaily as when they do 
 so for conscience sake. 
 
 Experience shows us a vast difference between devoutness 
 and goodness. 
 
 The two contrary reasons. We must begin with that ; without 
 that we understand nothing and all is heretical; in the same 
 way we must even add at the close of each truth that the oppo¬ 
 site truth is to be remembered. 
 
 If there was ever a time in which it were necessary to make 
 profession of two contraries, it is when we are reproached for 
 omitting one. Therefore the Jesuits and the Jansenistsare wrong 
 in concealing them, but the Jansenists most, for the Jesuits have 
 better made profession of the two. 
 
 M. de Condran. There is, he says, no comparison between the 
 union of the saints and that of the Holy Trinity. Jesus Christ 
 says the opposite. 
 
 That we have treated them as kindly as is possible while 
 keeping ourselves in the mean, between the love of truth and the 
 duty of charity. 
 
 That piety does not consist in never opposing our brethren, 
 it would be very easy, etc. 
 
 It is false piety to keep peace to the prejudice of the truth. 
 It is also false zeal to keep truth and wound charity. 
 
 Neither have they complained. 
 
 Their maxims have their time and place. 
 
28 o 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 Ke will be condemned indeed who is so by Escobar. 
 
 Their vanity tends to grow out of their errors. 
 
 Conformed to the fathers by their faults, and to the martyrs 
 by their sufferings. 
 
 Moreover they do not disavow any of . . . 
 
 They had only to take the passage, and disavow it. 
 
 Sanctijicavi prcelium. 
 
 M. Bourseys. At least they cannot disavow that they are 
 opposed to the condemnation. 
 
 I have re-read them since, for I had not known them . . . 
 
 The world must be blind indeed if it believe you. 
 
 * 
 
 If men knew themselves, God would heal and pardon. Ne 
 convertantur , et sauem eos, et dimittantur eispeccata. Isaiah. 
 Matt. xiii. 
 
 Truth is so obscure in these days, and falsehood so established, 
 that unless we love the truth we shall be unable to know it. 
 
 As Jesus Christ remained unknown among men, so his truth 
 remains among ordinary opinions without external difference. 
 Thus the Eucharist among ordinary bread. All faith consists 
 in Jesus Christ and in Adam, and all morals in lust and in grace. 
 
 “ I have reserved me seven thousand.” I love the worship¬ 
 pers unknown to the world and even to the prophets. 
 
 To trust in forms is superstition, but to refuse to submit to 
 forms is pride. 
 
 As peace in States has for its sole object the safe preservation 
 of the property of the people, so the peace of the Church has for 
 its sole object the safe preservation of truth, her property and 
 the treasure where her heart is. And as to allow the enemy to 
 enter into a State, and pillage without opposition, for fear of 
 troubling repose, would be to work against the good of peace, be- 
 
28 i 
 
 JESUITS AMD JA NSENISTS. 
 
 cause peace, being only just and useful for the security of property, 
 it becomes unjust and harmful when it suffers property to be de¬ 
 stroyed, while war in the defence of property becomes just and 
 necessary. So in the Church, when truth is assailed by the 
 enemies of faith, when men would tear it from the heart of the 
 faithful, and cause error to reign there, to remain in peace is 
 rather to betray than to serve the Church, to ruin rather than 
 defend. And as it is plainly a crime to trouble peace where 
 truth reigns, so is it also a crime to rest in peace when truth is 
 destroyed. There is then a time when peace is just, and another 
 when it is unjust. And it is written that there is a time for peace 
 and a time for war, and it is the interest of truth to discern them. 
 But there is not a time for truth and a time for error, and it is 
 written, on the contrary, that the truth of God abideth for ever; 
 and this is why Jesus Christ, who said that he came to bring 
 peace, said also that he came to bring u r ar. But he did not 
 say that he came to bring both truth and falsehood. Truth is 
 then the first rule and the ultimate end of things. 
 
 As the two principal interests of the Church are the preservation 
 of the piety of the faithful and the conversion of heretics, we are 
 overwhelmed with grief at the sight of factions now arising, to 
 introduce those errors which more than any others may close 
 for ever against heretics the entrance into our communion, 
 and fatally corrupt those pious and catholic persons who remain 
 to us. This enterprise, made at the present day so openly against 
 those truths of Religion most important for salvation, fills us 
 not only with displeasure, but also with fear and even terror, 
 because, besides the feeling which every Christian must have 
 of these disorders, we have further an obligation to remedy 
 them, and to employ the authority which God has given, to 
 cause that the peoples which he has committed to us, etc. 
 
 We must let heretics know, who gain advantage from the doc¬ 
 trine of the Jesuits, that it is not that of the Church ... the 
 
 doctrine of the Church, and that our divisions separate us not 
 from the altar. 
 
282 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 They hide themselves in the crowd, and call numbers to 
 their aid. 
 
 Tumult. 
 
 In corrupting the bishops and the Sorbonne, if they have not 
 had the advantage of making their judgment just, they have had 
 that of making their judges unjust. And thus, when in future 
 they are condemned, they will say ad hoimnern that they aie 
 unjust, and thus will refute their judgment. But that does no 
 good. For as they cannot conclude that the Jansenists are 
 rightly condemned because they are condemned, so they cannot 
 conclude then that they themselves will be wrongly condemned 
 because they will be' so by corruptible judges. For their 
 condemnation will be just, not because it will be given by judges 
 always just, but by judges just in that particular, which will be 
 
 shown by other proofs. 
 
 These are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the 
 Jesuits, great men have wished to be flattered, the Jesuits have 
 wished to be loved by the great. They have all been worthy 
 to be given up to the spirit of lying, the one party to deceive, 
 the others to be deceived. They have been greedy, ambitious, 
 pleasure loving : Coacervabunt tibi magistros. 
 
 The Jesuits. 
 
 The Jesuits have wished to unite God and the world, and have 
 gained only the scorn of God and the world. For, on the side 
 of conscience this is plain, and on the side of the world they are 
 not good partisans. They have power, as I have often said, but 
 that is in regard to other religious. They will have interest 
 enough to get a chapel built, and to have a jubilee station, not 
 to make appointments to bishoprics and government offices. 
 The position of a monk in the world is a most foolish one, 
 and that they hold by their own declaration.—Father Brisacier, 
 the Benedictines—Yet . . . you yield to those more powerful 
 than yourselves, and oppress with all your little credit those 
 who have less power for intrigue in the world than you. 
 
JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 283 
 
 Venice .—What advantage will you draw from it, except the 
 princes’ need of it, and the horror the nations have had of it. 
 If these had asked you and, in order to obtain it, had implored 
 the assistance of all Christian princes, you might have boasted 
 of this importunity. But not that during fifty years all the 
 princes have exerted themselves for it in vain, and that it 
 required such a pressing need to obtain it. 
 
 If by differing we condemned, you would be right. Uniformity 
 without diversity is useless to others, diversity without uniformity 
 is ruinous for us. The one injures us without; the other within. 
 
 We ought to near both parties, and on this point I have been 
 careful. 
 
 When we have heard only one party we are always on that 
 side, but the adverse party makes us change, whereas in this 
 case the Jesuit confirms us. 
 
 Not what they do, but what they say. 
 
 They cry out against me only. I am content. I know whom 
 to blame for it. 
 
 Jesus Christ was a stone of stumbling. 
 
 Condemnable, condemned. 
 
 Jesus Christ never condemned without a hearing. To Tudas : 
 Amice , ad quid venisti? To him who had not on the wedding 
 garment, the same. 
 
 Unless they give up 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 stock on which they are 
 graffed. 
 
 If what I say serves not to enlighten you, it will aid the people. 
 — If these hold their peace, the stones will cry out. 
 
 Silence is the greatest persecution ; the saints never held then- 
 peace. It is true that a vocation is needed, it is not from the 
 decrees of the Council that we must learn whether we are called, 
 but from the compulsion to speak. Now after Rome has spoken, 
 
284 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 and we think that she has condemned the truth, and they have 
 written it, and the books which have said the contrary are 
 censured; we must cry so much the louder the more unjustly 
 we are censured, and the more violently they try to stifle 
 speech, until there come a pope who listens to both sides, and 
 who consults antiquity to do justice. 
 
 So good popes will find the Church still in an uproar. 
 
 The Inquisition and the Society are the two scourges of the 
 truth. 
 
 Why do you not accuse them of Arianism? For if they have 
 said that Jesus Christ is God, perhaps it is not with a natural 
 meaning, but as it is said : Dii estis. 
 
 If my Letters are condemned at Rome, what I condemn in 
 them is condemned in heaven. 
 
 Ad tuum , Domine Jesu , tribunal appello. 
 
 You are yourselves corruptible. 
 
 I feared.that I had written ill when I saw myself condemned, 
 but the example of so many pious writings makes me believe the 
 contrary. Good writing is no longer permitted, so corrupt or 
 ignorant is the Inquisition. 
 
 It is better to obey God than men. 
 
 I have neither fear nor hope. Not so the bishops. Port Royal 
 fears, and it is a bad policy to dissolve the community, for they 
 will fear no longer and will inspire greater fear. 
 
 I fear not even your censures, ... if they be not founded on 
 those of tradition. 
 
 Do you censure all? What, even my respect?—No.—Say 
 then, what it is, or you will do nothing, since you do not point out 
 the evil, and why it is evil. And this is what they will have 
 some trouble to do. 
 
 Unjust persecutors of those whom God visibly protects. 
 
 If they reproach you with your excesses they speak as do the 
 heretics. 
 
 If they say that the grace of Jesus Christ separates us, they are 
 heretics. 
 
 If miracles are wrought, it is vhe mark of their heresy. 
 
 Ezekiel, 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 
 
 285 
 
 They say, these are the people of God who thus speak. 
 
 Hezekiah, 
 
 My reverend father, all this was done in figures. Other reli¬ 
 gions perish, this one perishes not. 
 
 Miracles are more important than you think, they have served 
 for the foundation, and will serve for the continuance of the 
 Church till the coming of Antichrist, till the end. 
 
 The two witnesses. 
 
 In the Old Testament and the New, miracles are wrought 
 in connection with types. Salvation or an useless thing, if not 
 to show that we must submit to the creature.—Figure of the 
 sacraments. 
 
 The synagogue was a figure and so it perished not, and it was 
 only the figure and so it has perished. It was a figure which 
 contained the truth, and so it subsisted till it contained the truth 
 no longer. 
 
 The exaggerated notion which you have of the importance of 
 your society has made you establish these horrible ways. It is 
 very plain that it has made you follow the way of slander, since 
 you blame in me as horrible the same impostures which you 
 excuse in yourselves, because you regard me as a private person, 
 and yourselves as imago. 
 
 It plainly appears that your praises are follies, by those which 
 are crazy, as the privilege of the uncondemned. 
 
 Is this giving courage to your children to condemn them when 
 they serve the Church ? 
 
 It is an artifice of the devil to turn in another direction the 
 arms with which these, people used to combat heresies. 
 
 You are bad politicians. 
 
 The history of the man born blind. 
 
 What says Saint Paul? Does he constantly speak of the 
 bearing of prophecies ? No, but of his miracles. 
 
 What says Jesus Christ? Does he expound the bearing of 
 the prophecies ? No, his death had not fulfilled them ; but he 
 says, si non fecissem : believe the works. 
 
 Si non fecissem qnce alius non fecit. 
 
 These wretches who have obliged us to speak of miracles ! 
 
286 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 
 
 Abraham and Gideon confirmed faith by miracles. 
 
 There are two supernatural foundations of our wholly super¬ 
 natural Religion, the one visible, the other invisible. 
 
 Miracles with grace, miracles without grace. 
 
 The synagogue, which has been treated with love as a figure of 
 the Church, and with hatred because it was only the figure, has 
 been restored, being about to fall when it was well with God, and 
 thus a figure. 
 
 The miracles prove the power which God has over hearts by 
 that which he exercises over the body. 
 
 The Church has never approved a miracle among heretics. 
 
 Miracles are a support of religion. They have been the 
 test of Jews, of Christians, of saints, of innocents, and of true 
 believers. 
 
 A miracle among schismatics is not much to be feared, for 
 schism which is more evident than miracle, evidently marks their 
 error ; but when there is no schism, and error is in question, 
 miracle is the test. 
 
 Judith. God speaks at length in their extreme oppression. 
 
 If because charity has grown cold the Church is left almost 
 without true worshippers, miracles will raise them up. 
 
 This is one of the last effects of grace. 
 
 If only a miracle were wrought among the Jesuits ! 
 
 When a miracle deceives the expectation of those in whose 
 presence it occurs, and when there is a disproportion between 
 the state of their faith and the instrument of the miracle it must 
 lead them to change ; but with you it is the opposite. There 
 would be as much reason in saying that if the Eucharist raised 
 a dead man one ought to turn Calvinist rather than remain 
 a Catholic. But when he crowns the expectation, and those ,who 
 have hoped that God would bless the remedies see themselves 
 cured without remedies . . . 
 
 Ihe wicked .—No sign was ever given on the part of the devil 
 without a stronger sign on the part of God, at least unless it 
 were foretold that this would be so. 
 
 These nuns, amazed at what is said, that they are in the 
 
287 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 
 
 way of perdition, that their confessors are leading them to 
 Geneva, and teach them Jesus Christ is not in the Eucharist, 
 nor on the right hand of the Father, know all this to be 
 false, and offer then themselves to God in that state. Vide 
 si via imquitatis in me est. What happens thereupon ? 
 1 he place, which is said to be the temple of the devil, God 
 makes his own temple. It is said that, the children must 
 be taken away, God heals them there. It is said to be hell’s 
 arsenal, God makes of it the sanctuary of his graces. Lastly, 
 they are threatened with all the furies and all the vengeance of 
 heaven, and God loads them with favours. Those must 
 have lost their senses, who therefore believe them in the 
 way of perdition. IVe have, without doubt , the same tokens as 
 Saint Athanasius .— 
 
 The five propositions were equivocal ; they are so no 
 longer. 
 
 With so many other signs of piety they have that of persecu¬ 
 tion also, which is the best mark of piety. 
 
 By showing the truth we gain belief for it, but by showing 
 the injustice of ministers, we do not correct it. Conscience is 
 made secure by a demonstration of falsehood ; our purse is not 
 made secure by the demonstration of injustice. 
 
 Miracles and truth are both needful, as we have to convince 
 the whole man, body and soul alike. 
 
 It is good that their deeds should be unjust, for fear it should 
 not appear that the Molinists have acted justly. Thus there 
 is no need to spare them, they are worthy to commit them. 
 
 The Church, the Pope. Unity, plurality. Considering the 
 Church as unity, the pope its head, is as the whole; considered 
 as plurality, the pope is only a part of it. The Fathers have 
 considered the Church now in this way, now in that, and thus 
 they have spoken in divers ways of the pope. 
 
 Saint Cyprian, sacerdos Dei. 
 
288 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 But in establishing one of these two truths, they have not ex¬ 
 cluded the other. 
 
 Plurality which cannot be reduced to unity is confusion. Unity 
 which depends not on plurality is tyranny. 
 
 There is scarce any where left but France in which it is 
 allowable to say that a council is below the pope. 
 
 We may not judge of what the pope is by some words of the 
 Fathers—as the Greeks said in a council, important rules—but 
 by the acts of the Church and the Fathers, and by the canons. 
 
 Unity and plurality : Duo aut ires in unum. It is an error 
 to exclude one of the two, as the papists do who exclude plurality, 
 or the Hu r mots who exclude unity. 
 
 The pope is chief, who else is known of all, who else is 
 recognised by all? Having power to insinuate himself into all 
 the body, because he holds the leading shoot, which extends 
 itself everywhere. 
 
 How easy to cause this to degenerate into tyranny. This is 
 why Jesus Christ has laid down for them this precept : Vos 
 autern non sic. 
 
 God works not miracles in the ordinary conduct of his Church. 
 It would be a strange miracle, did infallibility reside in one, but 
 that it should dwell in a multitude appears so natural that the 
 ways of God are concealed under nature, as all his other works. 
 
 Men desire certainty, they like the pope to be infallible in 
 faith, grave doctors to be infallible in morals, in order to have 
 certainty. 
 
 The pope hates and fears men of science, who are not at once 
 submissive to him. 
 
 Kings are masters of their own power, not so the popes. 
 
 Whenever the Jesuits take the pope unawares, they will make 
 all Christendom perjured. 
 
 It is very easy to take the pope unawares, because of his 
 occupations, and the trust which he has in the Jesuits, and 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN1STS. 
 
 289 
 
 If calumny are *** ° f taki " S Wm UnaWareS by means 
 
 The five propositions condemned, yet no miracle, for truth was 
 not attacked, but the Sorbonne and the bull. 
 
 It is impossible that those who love God with all their heart 
 should misunderstand the Church, which is so evident 
 
 It is impossible that those who love not God should be con¬ 
 vinced of the Church. 
 
 Let us look to the discourses on the and, 4 th, and 5 th of the 
 Jansemst. They are lofty and grave. 
 
 We would not make a friend of either. 
 
 The ear only is consulted because the heart is wanting. 
 
 Beauty of omission, of judgment. 
 
 The rule is that of honourable conduct. 
 
 Poet and not honourable man. 
 
 These men want heart. 
 
 We would not make a friend of him. 
 
 For this name of honourable man. 
 
 Canonical.- The heretical books in the early age of the Church 
 serve to prove the canonical. 
 
 .N‘ ni ‘h'7f-7 k u l AU the heathens s P ake evil of Israel, and 
 the Prophet did the same, yet the Israelites were so far from 
 
 . aV ‘" g a r ' ght 1° Say ‘° h ‘ m ’ “ You s P eak as the heathen," 
 that he made it his strongest point that the heathens said the 
 same as he. 
 
 Those are feeble souls who know the truth, and uphold it only 
 so far as their interest is concerned, but beyond that abandon it. 
 
 Annat. He makes the disciple without ignorance, and the 
 master without presumption. 
 
 There is such great disproportion between the merit which he 
 
 u 
 
29 o JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 thinks he has and his stupidity., that it is hard to believe he 
 mistakes himself so completely. 
 
 And will this one scorn the other ? 
 
 Who should scorn? Yet he scorns not the other, but pities 
 him. 
 
 Port Royal is surely as good as Voltigerod. 
 
 So far as your proceeding is just according to this bias, so 
 
 far is it unjust on the side of Christian piety. 
 
 Montalte.— Lax opinions are so pleasing to men, that it is 
 strange that theirs displease. It is because they have exceeded 
 all bounds ; and more, there are many persons who see the 
 truth, yet cannot attain to it; but there are few who do not know 
 that the purity of religion is contrary to our corruptions. It is 
 absurd to say that eternal reward is offered to the morals of 
 
 Escobar. 
 
 But is it ■probable that probability gives certainty ? Difference 
 between rest and security of conscience. Nothing but truth gives 
 certainty. Nothing gives rest but a sincere search after truth. 
 
 Probability. They have oddly explained certainty, for after 
 having established that all their ways are sure, they no longer 
 call that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not 
 arriving thereby, but that which leads there without danger of 
 going out of the road. 
 
 Now probability is necessary for the other maxims, as for that 
 
 of the friend and the slanderer. 
 
 A fnictibiis eorwn , judge of their faith by their morals. 
 Probability is little without corrupt means, and means are 
 nothing without probability. 
 
 There is pleasure in being able to do good, and in knowing 
 how to do good, scire et posse. Grace and probability give this 
 pleasure, for we can render our account to God in reliance 
 
 upon their authors. 
 
JESUITS AND /A NSENTS TS. 
 
 291 
 
 Probability. 
 
 Everyone can impose it, none can take it away. 
 
 -If as bad reasons as these are probable, all would 
 
 Prob able.■ 
 be so. 
 
 1. Reason. Do minus act man conjugalium. Molina. 
 
 2. Reason. Non potest compensari. Lessius. 
 
 To oppose not with holy, but with abominable maxims. 
 
 They reason as those who prove that it is night at middav 
 liauny, the burner of barns. 
 
 ... The Council of Trent for priests in mortal sin : quam 
 pnmum ... y 
 
 com- 
 
 Probable. Let us see if we seek God sincerely, by the 
 panson of things we love. J 
 
 It is probable that this meat will not poison me. 
 
 It is probable that I shall not lose my law suit if I do not 
 bring it. 
 
 If it were true that grave authors and reasons would suffice I 
 say that they are neither grave nor reasonable. What! a hus- 
 and may make profit of his wife according to Molina Is 
 the reason he gives reasonable, and the contrary one of Lessius 
 reasonable also ? 
 
 Would you dare thus to trifle with the edicts of the Kin- as 
 
 by saying that to go for a walk in a field and wait for a ma°n is 
 not to fight a duel; 
 
 That the Church has indeed forbidden duelling, but not 
 taking a walk ? 
 
 And usury too, but not . . . 
 
 And simony, but not . . . 
 
 And vengeance, but not . . . 
 
 And unnatural crime, but not 
 
 And quam primum , but not 
 
 Take away probability , and 
 world, give probability , and you 
 
 you can no longer please the 
 can no longer displease it. 
 
292 
 
 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 Universal- Morals and language are special but universal 
 sciences. 
 
 Probability—The zeal of the saints to seek the truth, was 
 
 useless if the probable is certain. 
 
 The fear of the saints who have always followed the surest way. 
 Saint Theresa having always followed her confessor. 
 
 Probability. —They have some true principles, but they abuse 
 them. Now the abuse of truth should be as much punished as 
 the introduction of falsehood. 
 
 As if there were two hells, one for sins against charity, the 
 other for sins.against justice. 
 
 Men who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour, 
 without truth, double hearted, double tongued, like the reproach 
 once flung at that amphibious creature in the fable, who kept 
 itself in a doubtful position between the fish and the biids. 
 
 It is of importance to kings and princes to be supposed 
 pious, and therefore they must take you for their confessors. 
 
 State super vias et interrogate de senutis antiquis, et ambulate 
 in eis. Et dixerunt: Non ambulabimus , scd post cogitationem 
 nostrum ibimus. They have said to the nations : Come to us, 
 we will follow the opinions of the new authors, reason shall be 
 our guide, we will be as the other nations who follow each their 
 
 natural light. Philosophers have . . . 
 
 All religions and sects in the world have had natural reason 
 for a guide. Christians alone have been obliged to take their rules 
 from without themselves, and to acquaint themselves with those 
 which Jesus Christ left to men of old time to be transmitted to the 
 faithful. This constraint is wearisome to these good fathers. 
 They desire like the rest of the world to have liberty to follow 
 their imaginations. In vain we cry to them, as the prophets to 
 the Jews of old : “Enter into the Church, enquire of the ways 
 which men of old have left to her, and follow those paths.” They 
 have answered, as did the Jews, “ We will not walk in them, but 
 
JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 293 
 
 «wT»-n h°' V th ? th0U?htS ° f our hearts ;” and they have said, 
 We will be as the nations round about us.” 
 
 Can it be any thing but the desire to please the world which 
 makes you find things probable? Will you make us believe 
 
 a ,.; t ' 5 , trUth ’ and that if duel,in = were not the fashion, you 
 would find tt probable they might fight, looking at the matter in 
 
 The whole society of their casuists cannot give assurance to a 
 "/el “ “ d the, ' ef ° re 11 “ * choose 
 
 wh I“ y "I!' 1 m d ° Ubly gU ' lty ’ b ° th ' n havin S fo «owed ways 
 which they should not follow, and in having hearkened to 
 
 teachers to whom they should not hearken. 
 
 Casuists submit the decision to corrupt reason, and the choice 
 of decisions to corrupt will, so that all that is corrupt in the 
 nature of man may help to rule his conduct. 
 
 T hey al!ow lust free play, and restrict scruples, whereas they 
 should do the exact contrary. J 
 
 Must we slay in order that the wicked may cease to be ? 
 
 is is to make two wicked instead of one. Vince in bono 
 malum. Saint Augustine. 
 
 The servant does not know what the master does, for the 
 master tells him only the act and not the purpose ; this is why 
 he is so often slavishly obedient and often sins against the 
 purpose. But Jesus Christ tells us the purpose. 
 
 And you destroy this purpose. 
 
 th °“ leSS a slave because th >- ma «er loves and caresses 
 hee Thou art indeed well off, slave. Thy master caresses 
 thee, he will presently beat thee. 
 
 Those who wrote thus in Latin speak in French. 
 
 1 he ^ Vl1 having been done of putting these things in French 
 we ought to do the good of condemning them. 
 
294 JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 There is one only heresy, which is differently explained in the 
 schools and in the world. 
 
 Oh confessions and absolutions without signs of regret. God 
 looks at the heart alone, the Church looks at outward actions , 
 God absolves as soon as he sees penitence in the heart, the Church 
 when she sees it in works. God will make a Church puie 
 within, which puts to confusion by its interior and perfect spiritual 
 holiness the interior impiety of proud philosophers and Phari¬ 
 sees, and the Church will make an assembly of men whose external 
 morals are so pure that they put to confusion heathen morals. 
 If some are hypocrites, but so well disguised that she does not 
 recognise their venom, she bears with them, for though they are 
 not accepted of God, whom they cannot deceive, they are of men, 
 whom they deceive. And thus she is not dishonoured by their 
 conduct which. appears holy. But you will have it that the 
 Church should judge neither of the heart, for that belongs to 
 God alone, nor of works, because God looks at the heart alone ; 
 and so taking away from her all choice of men, you retain 
 in the Church the most debauched and those who so greatly dis¬ 
 honour her, that the synagogues of the Jews and the sects of 
 the philosophers would have cast them out as unworthy, and 
 have abhorred them as impious. 
 
 God has not willed to absolve without the Church. As she 
 has part in the offence he wills that she should have part in the 
 pardon. He associates her with this power as kings their 
 parliaments ; but if she binds or looses without God, she is 
 no more the Church, as in the case of parliament. For even 
 if the king have pardoned a man, it is necessary that it should 
 be ratified ; but if the parliament ratifies without the king, or 
 refuses to ratify on the order of the king, it is no more the 
 parliament of the king, but a revolutionary body. 
 
 The Church teaches and God inspires, both infallibly. The 
 operation of the Church serves only to prepare for grace or 
 for condemnation. What it does suffices for condemnation, 
 not for inspiration. 
 
JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 
 
 295 
 
 The Church has in vain established these words, anathema, 
 heresies. They are used against herself. 
 
 It is not absolution only which remits sins by the Sacrament 
 of Penance, but contrition, which is not a true contrition if it 
 does not frequent the sacrament. 
 
 Thus, again, it is not the nuptial benediction which hinders 
 sin in generation, but the desire of begetting children for God, 
 which is no true desire except in marriage. 
 
 And as a contrite man without the sacrament is more disposed 
 for absolution than an impenitent man with the sacrament, so 
 the daughters of Lot, for instance, who had only the desire for 
 children, were more pure without marriage than married persons 
 without desire for children. 
 
 Casuists .—Much almsgiving, reasonable penance; even 
 when we cannot assign what is just, we see plainly what is 
 not. It is strange that casuists believe they can interpret this as 
 they do. 
 
 People who accustom themselves to speak ill and to think ill. 
 
 Their great number, far from marking their perfection, marks 
 the contrary. 
 
 The humility of one makes the pride of many. 
 
 They make a rule of the exception. I f the ancient fathers gave 
 absolution before penance ; do this only as an exception. 
 But of the exception you make a rule without exception, so that 
 you will not even have it.that the rule is exceptional. 
 
 Priest still who will, as under Jeroboam. 
 
 It is a horrible thing that they submit to us the discipline of the 
 Church in our days as so excellent that it is made a crime to wish 
 to change it. Formerly it was infallibly good, and it was found 
 it might be changed without sin, and now, such as it is, we ought 
 not to wish it changed ! 
 
 It has indeed been allowed to change the custom of not making 
 priests save with such great circumspection, that there were 
 
296 
 
 JESUITS AND JA NSEN IS TS. 
 
 scarcely any who were worthy, yet we are not allowed to com¬ 
 plain of the custom which makes so many who are unworthy. 
 
 Two sorts of people place things on the same level, as feasts 
 and working days, Christians and priests, all sins among them¬ 
 selves, etc. Therefore the one set conclude that what is bad 
 for priests is so for Christians, and the other that what is not 
 bad for Christians is permissible for priests. 
 
 The Jansenists are like the heretics in the reformation of their 
 morals, but you are like them in evil. 
 
 Superstition to believe propositions, etc. 
 
 Faith, etc. 
 
 If Saint Augustine came at this day, and was as little authorised 
 as his defenders, he would do nothing. God governs his Church 
 well, in that he sent him before with authority. 
 
 Grace is needed to make a man into a saint, and if any 
 man doubt this he knows not what is a saint, nor what is a 
 man. 
 
 The motions of grace, hardness of heart, external circum¬ 
 stances. 
 
 Grace will ever be in the world, and nature also, so that grace 
 is in some sort natural. Thus there will be always Pelagians, 
 always Catholics, always strife. 
 
 Because the first birth constitutes the one, and the grace of 
 regeneration the other. 
 
 It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see themselves 
 condemned by their own reason, by which they have thought to 
 condemn the Christian religion. 
 
 When it is said that Jesus Christ died not for all, you take 
 advantage of a defect inherent in men who immediately apply 
 
JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 297 
 
 th.s exc ep ti° n to themselves, which is to favour despair instead 
 of turnmg men f rom lt t0 favour hope. For so we accustom 
 ourselves to interior virtues by exterior customs. 
 
 There is heresy m always explaining otunes by ‘all’ and 
 leresy in not explaining it sometimes by ‘all.’ Bibite ex- hoc 
 omnes, the Huguenots are heretics in explaining it by ‘all ’ 
 In quo omnes fieccaverunt, the Huguenots are heretics in except- 
 ing the children of the faithful. We must then follow the 
 at ers and tradition to know when to do so, since there is heresy 
 to be feared on one side or the other. 
 
 n httT 0f £ 0r ’ n '~™ tn Saint Peter and the apostles consulted 
 about the abolition of circumcision, when it was a question of 
 
 acting in contradiction to the law of God, they did not consult 
 
 the prophets, but considered simply the reception of the Holy 
 
 Spirit in the persons uncircumcised. They judged it more 
 
 certain that God approved those whom he filled whh his s^dt 
 
 than it was that the law must be observed ’ 
 
 They knew that the end of the Law was none other than the 
 Holy Spirit, and thus as men certainly had this without circum- 
 cision, circumcision was not needful. 
 
 But to preserve pre-eminence to himself he gives prayer to 
 whom he pleases. * prayer to 
 
 Why God has established prayer. 
 
 1. To communicate to his creatures the dignity of causality. 
 
 2. i o teach us from whom our virtue comes. 
 
 3 - To make us deserve other virtues by work. 
 
 ?J eC ‘ Wn : But ' ve beIieve tbat P ra y er “mes from ourselves 
 rhis is absurd, for since before we have faith, we cannot have 
 
 'idues, how should we have faith ? Is there a greater distance 
 
 et ,7 e " ln “ ellty and falth than between faith and virtue ? 
 Merit. This word is ambiguous. 
 
 Meruit habere Redemptorem. 
 
 Meruit tain sacra membra tangere. 
 
 Digna tarn sacra membra tangere. 
 
298 JESUITS AND JANSEN/STS. 
 
 Non stun digitus, qui manducat indignus. 
 
 Digitus est accipcre. 
 
 Dignare me. 
 
 God is only bound according to his promises. 
 
 He has promised to do justice to prayer, he has never pro¬ 
 mised prayer only to the children of promise. 
 
 Si does not mark indifference. Malachi, Isaiah. 
 
 Isaiah. Si volumus, etc. 
 
 In quacumque die . 
 
 Ne tiineas, pusillus grex. Timoreet tremore .— Quid ergo? Ne 
 time as, mo do, tiineas. 
 
 Fear not, provided you fear, but if you fear not, then fear. 
 
 Qui me recipit , non me recipit , sed cum qui me inisit. 
 
 Nemo scit neque Filius. 
 
 Nubes lucida obumbravit. 
 
 Saint John was to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, 
 and Jesus Christ was to sow division. In this there is no 
 contradiction. 
 
 The effects in communi and in particulari. The semi-Pela- 
 gians err in saying of in communi what is true only in particularly 
 and the Calvinists in saying in particulari what is true in 
 communi. So it seems to me. 
 
 Saint Augustine has said expressly that power would be taken 
 away from the righteous. But it is by chance that he said it, for it 
 might have been that the chance of saying it did not occur. 
 But his principles make us see that when the occasion for it 
 presented itself, it was impossible he should not say so, or that he 
 should say anything to the contrary. It is then rather that he was 
 forced to say it, when the occasion offered itself, than that he 
 said it, the occasion having offered itself, the one being of neces¬ 
 sity, the other of chance. But the two are all that we could ask. 
 
 The end. Are we certain ? Is this principle certain ? Let us 
 
 examine. 
 
JESUITS AND JANSENISTS. 299 
 
 The testimony of a man’s self is naught. Saint Thomas. 
 
 The image alone of all these mysteries has been openly 
 showed to the Jews and by Saint John the forerunner, and then 
 the other mysteries, to mark that in each man as in the world at 
 large this order must be observed. 
 
 It is, in technical language, wholly the body of Jesus Christ, 
 but it cannot be said to be the whole body of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The union of two things without change cannot enable us to 
 say that one becomes the other. 
 
 Thus the soul is united to the body, the fire to the fuel, with¬ 
 out change. 
 
 But change is necessary to make the form of the one become 
 the form of the other. 
 
 Thus the union of the Word to man. 
 
 Because my body without my soul would not make the body 
 of a man, then my soul united to any matter whatsoever would 
 make my body. 
 
 It distinguishes for me the necessary condition with a sufficient 
 condition, the union is necessary, but not sufficient. 
 
 The left arm is not the right. 
 
 Impenetrability is a property of matter. 
 
 Identity of number in regard to the same time requires the 
 identity of matter. 
 
 Thus if God united my soul to a body in China, the same body, 
 idem numero would be in China. 
 
 The same river which runs there is idem numero as that 
 which runs at the same time in China. 
 
THOUGHTS ON STYLE. 
 
 Eloquence is an art of saying things in such a manner, i, 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 
 studied the heart of man so as to know all its springs, and to find 
 at last the true proportions of the discourse we wish to suit to it. 
 We should put ourselves in the place of those who are to listen 
 to us, and make experiment on our own heart of the turn we 
 give to our discourse, to see whether one is made for the other, 
 and whether we can be sure that our auditor will be as it were 
 forced to yield. So far as possible we must confine ourselves 
 to what is natural and simple, not aggrandise that which is 
 little, or belittle that which is great. It is not enough that a 
 phrase be beautiful, it must be fitted to the subject, and not 
 have in it excess or defect. 
 
 Eloquence is painted thought, and thus those who, after 
 having painted it, add somewhat more, make a picture, not a 
 portrait. 
 
 Eloquence— We need both what is pleasing and what is real, 
 but that which pleases must itself be drawn from the true. 
 
 Eloquence, which persuades by gentleness, not by empire, as 
 a tyrant, not as a king. 
 
 There is a certain pattern of charm and beauty which con- 
 
302 
 
 THOUGHTS ON STYLE. 
 
 sists in a certain relation between our nature, such as it is, 
 whether weak or strong, and the thing which pleases us. 
 
 Whatever is formed on this pattern delights us, whether 
 house, song, discourse, verse, prose, woman, birds, rivers, trees, 
 rooms, dresses, etc. 
 
 Whatever is not made on this pattern displeases those who 
 have good taste. 
 
 And as there is a perfect relation between a song and a house 
 which are made on a good pattern, because they are like this 
 unique pattern, though each after its kind, there is also a perfect 
 relation between things made on a bad pattern. Not that the 
 bad is unique, for there are many ; but every bad sonnet, for 
 instance, on whatever false pattern it is constructed, is exactly 
 like a woman dressed on that pattern. 
 
 Nothing makes us understand better the absurdity of a false 
 sonnet than to consider nature and the pattern, and then to 
 imagine a woman or a house constructed on that pattern. 
 
 When a natural discourse paints a passion or an effect, we 
 feel in our mind the truth of what we read, which was there be¬ 
 fore, though we did not know it, and we are inclined to love him 
 who makes us feel it. For he has not made a display of his 
 own riches, but of ours, and thus this benefit renders him 
 pleasant to us, besides that such a community of intellect 
 necessarily inclines the heart to love. 
 
 All the false beauties which we blame in Cicero have their 
 admirers and in great number. 
 
 The last thing we decide on in writing a book is what shall 
 be the first we put in it. 
 
 Language .—We ought not to turn the mind from one thing to 
 another save for relaxation, at suitable times, and no other, for 
 he that diverts out of season wearies, and he who wearies us out 
 of season repels us, and w'e simply turn away. So much it pleases 
 our wayward lust to do the exact contrary of what those seek to 
 
THOUGHTS ON STYLE. 
 
 303 
 
 obtain from us who give us no pleasure, the coin for which we 
 will do whatever we are asked. 
 
 When we meet with a natural style, we are charmed and asto¬ 
 nished, for we looked for an author, and we found a man. But 
 those who have good taste, and who seeing a book expect to 
 find a man, are altogether surprised to find an author: plus 
 poetice quant humane loculus cs. Those pay great honour to 
 nature, who show her that she is able to discourse on all things, 
 even on theology. 
 
 Languages are ciphers, where letters are not changed into 
 letters, but words into words, so that an unknown language can 
 be deciphered. 
 
 When in a discourse we find words repeated, and in trying to 
 correct them find we cannot change them for others without 
 manifest disadvantage, we must let them stand, for this is 
 the true test; our criticism came of envy which is blind, and 
 does not see that repetition is not in this place a fault, for there 
 is no general rule. 
 
 Miscellaneous. Language. —Those who force words for the 
 sake of antitheses are like those who make false windows for 
 symmetry. 
 
 Their rule is not to speak accurately, but in accurate form. 
 
 To put a mask on nature and disguise her. No more King, 
 pope, bishop, but sacred majesty , no more Paris, but the capital 
 of the Kingdom. 
 
 There are places in which we should call Paris, Paris, and 
 others in which we ought to call it the capital of the Kingdom. 
 
 There are those who speak well and write ill. Because the 
 place and the audience warm them, and draw from their minds 
 more than would have been produced without that warmth. 
 
 Miscellaneous. —A figure of speech, “ I should have wished to 
 apply myself to that.” 
 
3 ° 4 
 
 THOUGHTS ON STYLE . 
 
 The aperitive virtue of a key, the attractive virtue of a crook. 
 
 To guess. The part that I take in your sorrow. The 
 Cardinal did not choose to be guessed. 
 
 My mind is disquieted within me. I am disquieted is better. 
 
 To extinguish the torch of sedition , too luxuriant. 
 
 The restlessness of his genius. Two striking words too much. 
 
 A coach upset or overturned , according to the meaning. 
 
 Spread abroad , or upset , according to the meaning. 
 
 The argument by force of M. le M. over the friar. 
 
 Symmetry. 
 
 Is what we see at one glance. 
 
 Founded on the fact that there is no reason for any difference. 
 
 And founded also on the face of man. 
 
 Whence it comes that symmetry is only wanted in breadth, 
 not in height or depth. 
 
 Sceptic, for obstinate. 
 
 Descartes useless and uncertain. 
 
 No one calls another a courtier but he who is not one him¬ 
 self, a pedant save a pedant, a provincial but a provincial, and I 
 would wager it was the printer who put it on the title of Letters 
 to a Provincial. 
 
 The chief talent, that which rules all others. 
 
 If the lightning were to strike low-lying places, etc., poets, and 
 those whose only reasonings are on things of that nature would 
 lack proofs. 
 
 Poetical beauty.— As we talk of poetical beauty, so ought we to 
 talk of mathematical beauty and medical beauty ; yet we do not 
 use those terms, because we know perfectly the object of mathe- 
 
thoughts ox STYLE. 3c , 5 
 
 mattes, that it consists in proofs, and the object of medicine that 
 
 t le natural model to be imitated, and for want of that know. 
 
 //; A* WemVent a set of extravagant terms, “the <r 0 lden are 
 t/ie wonder of our tiines i .. * 
 
 beauty. ’ 7 ’ etC ” and caI1 this jargon poetic 
 
 saying UtTe Ihf™ * ' V ° man ™ ‘ hat P attern ’ whi< * consists in 
 J, g , * th ngs 111 S reat words, we shall see a pretty <drl be 
 decked wtth mirrors and chains absurd to our taste because we 
 know better wherein consists the charm of womln Than the 
 aim o verse. But those who do not know, would admire her 
 n such trimmings, and in many villages she would be taken for 
 
 "s made on a —- 
 
 aslhose wh^^ 86 ° f 2 W ° rk With ° Ut rule are in regard to others 
 says “it was P ° S . SeSS a Watch are m regard to others. One 
 
 of an “ f 7 S ag °” an ° ther > “ il is onl y three-quarters 
 1 h ° ur - 1 look at my watch and say to the one “ vo„ m e 
 ueary o ns,” and to the other, “time flies fast with’you for it 
 only an hour and a half.” And I laugh at .hose who sa’v that 
 t me goes slowly with me, and that I judge by fancy Th' i 
 not know that I judge by my watch. * 7 ’' ’ hejr d ° 
 
 y 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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. 
 
 1 o 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 is an universal and essential difference between the 
 actions of the will and all others. 
 
 The will is one of the principal organs of belief, not that it 
 forms belief, but because things are true or false according to 
 the side from which we regard them. Thejwill, pleased with 
 one rather than the other, turns the mind from the considera¬ 
 tion of that which has the qualities it cares not to see, and thus 
 the intellect, moving with tfie will, stays to regard the side it 
 loves, and thus judges by what it sees. 
 
 . The heart has its rea sons, which reason knows not, as we feel 
 in a thousand instances. I say that the heart loves the uni¬ 
 versal Being naturally, and itself naturally, according as it gives 
 itself to each, and it hardens itself against one or the other at its 
 
 own will. You have rejected one and kept the other, does 
 reason cause your love? 
 
 It is the heart which is conscious of God, not the reason. 
 This then is faith ; God sensible to the heart, not to the reason. 
 
 Reason acts slowly and with 
 
 so many views, on so manv 
 
VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 30S 
 
 principles, which it ought always to keep before it, that it con¬ 
 stantly slumbers and goes astray, from not having its principles 
 at hand. The heart does not act thus, it acts in a moment, and 
 is always ready to act. We must then place our faith in the 
 heart, or it will be always vacillating. 
 
 Men often mistake their imagination for their heart, and they 
 believe they are converted as soon as they think of being converted. 
 
 Those who are accustomed to judge by the heart do not under¬ 
 stand the process of reasoning, for they wish to understand at a 
 glance, and are not accustomed to seek for principles. And others 
 on the contrary, who are accustomed to reason by principles, 
 do not a all understand the things of the heart, seeking prin¬ 
 ciples and not being able to see at a glance. 
 
 If we wished to prove those examples by which we prove 
 other things, we should have to take those other things to be 
 examples. For as we always believe the difficulty is in the 
 matter we wish to prove, we find the examples clearer and aids 
 to demonstration. 
 
 Thus when we wish to demonstrate a general proposition, we 
 must give the rule special to a case, but if we wish to demonstrate 
 a particular case, we must begin with the particular rule. For 
 we always find the thing obscure which we wish to prove, and 
 that clear which we employ as proof; for when a matter is pro¬ 
 posed for proof we first fill ourselves with the imagination that 
 it is therefore obscure, and on the contrary that what is to prove 
 it is clear, and so we understand with ease. 
 
 Far from believing a thing because you have heard it, 
 you ought to believe nothing without having put yourself in the 
 same position as if you had never heard it. 
 
 What should make you believe is your own assent to yourself, 
 and the constant voice of your reason, not that of others. 
 
 Belief is so important! 
 
 A hundred contradictions might be true. 
 
VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 309 
 
 If antiquity were the rule of faith then the men of old time had 
 no rule. If general consent, if men had perished . . . 
 
 False humility is pride. 
 
 Lift the curtain. 
 
 You may try as you please. You must either believe, or deny 
 or doubt. ’ 
 
 Have we then no rule? 
 
 We judge that animals do well what they do. Is there no 
 rule whereby to judge men? 
 
 To deny, to believe, and to doubt well are to a man what 
 paces are to a horse. 
 
 Memory is necessary for every operation of the reason. 
 
 Memory and joy are feelings, and even mathematical pro¬ 
 positions become so, for reason makes what is felt natural, and 
 natural feelings are effaced by reason. 
 
 All our reasoning is reduced to yielding to feeling. 
 
 But fancy is like yet contrary to feeling, so that we cannot 
 distinguish between these contraries. One man says that my 
 feeling is fancy, another that his fancy is feeling. We must 
 have a rule. Reason offers herself, but she is pliable in all 
 directions, and so there is no rule. 
 
 Reason commands us much more imperiously than a master, 
 for in disobeying the one we are unhappy, and in disobeying 
 the other we are fools. 
 
 When we are accustomed to use bad reasons for proving 
 natural effects, we do not wish to receive good reasons even 
 when they are discovered. An example may be taken from the 
 circulation of the blood, to give a reason why the vein swells 
 below the ligature. 
 
 We are usually better persuaded by reasons which we have 
 ourselves discovered, than by those which have come into the 
 mind of others. 
 
 M. de Roannez said : “ Reasons come afterwards, but at first a 
 
VARIOUS THOUGHTS . 
 
 310 
 
 thing pleases or shocks me, without my knowing the reason, and 
 yet it displeased me for the reason which I only discover later.” 
 But I believe, not that he was displeased for those reasons which 
 he afterwards discovered, but that those reasons were only 
 discovered because the thing was displeasing. 
 
 The difference between the mathematical mind and the prac¬ 
 tical mind .—In the one the premisses are palpable, but removed 
 from ordinary use, so that from want of habit it is difficult to 
 look in that direction, but if we take the trouble to look, the 
 premisses are fully visible, and we must have a totally incorrect 
 mind if we draw wrong inferences from premisses so plain 
 that it is scarce possible they should escape our notice. 
 
 But in the practical mind the premisses are taken from use 
 and wont, and are before the eyes of every body. We have 
 only to look that way, there is no difficulty in seeing them ; it 
 is only a question of good eyesight, but it must be good, for the 
 premisses are so numerous and so subtle, that it is scarce 
 possible but that some escape us. Now the omission of one 
 premiss leads to error, thus we must have very clear sight to 
 see all the premisses, and then an accurate mind not to draw 
 false conclusions from known premisses. 
 
 All mathematicians v/ould then be practical if they were 
 clear-sighted, for they do not reason incorrectly on premisses 
 known to them. And practical men would be mathematicians 
 if they could turn their eyes to the premisses of mathematics 
 to which they are unaccustomed. 
 
 The reason therefore that some practical men are not mathe¬ 
 matical is that they cannot at all turn their attention to 
 mathematical premisses. But the reason that mathematicians 
 are not practical is that they do not see what is before them, and 
 that, accustomed to the precise and distinct statements of mathe¬ 
 matics and not reasoning till they have well examined and 
 arranged their premisses, they are lost in practical life wherein 
 the premisses do not admit of such arrangement, being scarcely 
 seen, indeed they are felt rather than seen, and there is great 
 difficulty in causing them to be felt by those who do not of them¬ 
 selves perceive them. They are so nice and so numerous, 
 
VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 3 ii 
 
 that a verv delicate and very clear sense is needed to apprehend 
 them, and to judge rightly and justly when they are apprehended, 
 without as a rule being able to demonstrate them in an orderly 
 way as in mathematics ; because the premisses are not before 
 us in the same way, and because it would be an infinite matter 
 to undertake. We must see them at once, at one glance, and 
 not by process of reasoning, at least up to a certain degree. And 
 thus it is rare that mathematicians are practical, or that practical 
 men are mathematicians, because mathematicians wish to 
 treat practical life mathematically; and they make themselves 
 ridiculous, wishing to begin by definitions and premisses, a pro¬ 
 ceeding which this way of reasoning will not bear. The mind does 
 indeed the same thing, but tacitly, naturally and without art, in 
 a way which none can express, and only a few can feel. 
 
 Practical minds on the contrary, being thus accustomed to 
 judge at a glance, are amazed when propositions are presented 
 to them of which they understand nothing and the way to which 
 is through sterile definitions and premisses, which they are not 
 accustomed to see thus in detail, and therefore are repelled and 
 disheartened. 
 
 But inaccurate minds are never either practical or mathemati¬ 
 cal. Mathematicians who are only mathematicians have exact 
 minds, provided all things are clearly set before them in defini¬ 
 tions and premisses, otherwise they are inaccurate and intole¬ 
 rable, for they are only accurate when the premisses are perfectly 
 clear. 
 
 And practical men, who are only practical, cannot have the 
 patience to condescend to first principles of things speculative 
 and abstract, which they have never seen in the world, and to 
 which they are wholly unaccustomed. 
 
 There are various kinds of good sense, there are some who 
 judge correctly in a certain order of things, and are lost in others. 
 
 Some are able to draw conclusions well from a few premisses, 
 and this shows a penetrative intellect. 
 
 Others draw conclusions well where there are many pre¬ 
 misses. 
 
 For instance, the first easily understand the law^s of hydro- 
 
312 
 
 VA RIO US 7 I/O UGI1TS. 
 
 statics, where the premisses are few, but the conclusions so nice, 
 that only the greatest penetration can reach them. And these 
 persons would perhaps not necessarily be great mathematicians, 
 because mathematics embrace a great number of premisses, and 
 perhaps a mind may be so formed that it searches with ease a 
 few premisses to the bottom, yet cannot at all comprehend those 
 matters in which there are many premisses. 
 
 There are then two kinds of mind, the one able to penetrate 
 vigorously and deeply into the conclusions of certain pre¬ 
 misses, and these are minds true and just. The other able to 
 comprehend a great number of premisses without confusion, 
 and these are the minds for mathematics. The one kind has 
 force and exactness, the other capacity. Now the one quality 
 can exist without the other, a mind may be vigorous and narrow, 
 or it may have great range and no strength. 
 
 When we do not know the truth of a thing, it is not amiss that 
 there should be a common error to fix the mind of men, as for 
 instance the moon, to which is attributed the change of seasons, 
 the progress of diseases, etc. For the principal malady 
 of man is that restless curiosity about matters which he can not 
 understand, and it is not so bad for him to be mistaken, as to be 
 so idly curious. 
 
 The way in which Epictetus, Montaigne, and Salomon de 
 Tultie wrote, is the most usual, the most insinuating, the most 
 easily remembered, and the most often quoted ; because it is 
 wholly composed of thoughts which arise out of the ordinary 
 conversations of life. As when a man speaks of the vulgar 
 error that the moon is the cause of all, we never fail to say 
 that Salomon de Tultie says, that when we know not the truth 
 of a matter, it is well there should be a common error, etc. ; 
 which is the thought above. 
 
 To write against those who plunged too deep into science. 
 Descartes. 
 
 Descartes. 
 
 We must say in general : “ This is made by figure and motion 
 for it is true.” But to say what these are, and to compose the 
 
VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 3 i 3 
 
 machine, is ridiculous. For it is useless, uncertain, and painful. 
 And if it were true we do not think that all philosophy is w orth 
 one hour of pain. 
 
 I cannot forgive Descartes. 
 
 If an animal did by mind what it does by instinct, and if it 
 spoke by mind what it speaks by instinct, in hunting, and warn¬ 
 ing its companions that the quarry is found or lost, it would 
 certainly also speak in regard to those things which affect it 
 more strongly, as for instance, “ Gnaw me this cord which 
 hurts me, and which I cannot reach.” 
 
 The story of the pike and frog of Liancourt. They do it 
 always and never otherwise, nor any other thing of mind. 
 
 The calculating machine works results which approach nearer 
 to thought than any thing done by animals, but it does nothing 
 which enables us to say it has any will, as animalsTravev 
 
 When it is said that heat is only the motion of certain 
 molecules, and light the conatus recedendi which we feel, we are 
 surprised. And shall we think that pleasure is but the buoyancy 
 of our spirits? We have conceived so different an idea of it, and 
 these sensations seem so removed from those others which we 
 say are the same as those with which we compare them. The 
 feeling of fire, the warmth which affects us in a manner wholly 
 different from touch, the reception of sound and light, all this 
 seems to us mysterious, and yet it is as material as the blow of 
 a stone. It is true that the minuteness of the spirits which enter 
 into the pores touch different nerves, yet nerves are always 
 touched. 
 
 What is more absurd than to say that inanimate bodies have 
 passion, fear, horror, that insensible bodies, without life, and 
 even incapable of life, have passions, which presuppose at least 
 a sensitive soul to feel them, nay more, that the object of their 
 terror is a vacuum ? What is there in a vacuum which should 
 
3 r 4 
 
 VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 make them afraid ? What can be more base and more ridiculous ? 
 Nor is this all; it is said they have in themselves a principle of 
 motion to avoid a vacuum. Have they arms, legs, muscles, 
 nerves ? 
 
 How foolish is painting, which draws admiration by the re¬ 
 semblance of things of which we do not admire the originals. 
 
 In the same way that we injure the understanding we injure 
 the feelings also. 
 
 The feelings and the understanding are formed by society, 
 and are perverted by society. Thus good or bad society forms 
 or perverts them. It is then of the first importance to know 
 how to choose in order to form and not to pervert them, and we 
 cannot make this choice if they be not already formed and not 
 perverted. Thus a circle is formed, and happy are those who 
 escape it. 
 
 Have you never seen persons, who, in order to complain of the 
 little you make of them, bring before you the example of people in 
 high position who esteem them ? To such I answer, “ Show me 
 the merit by which you have charmed these persons, and I will 
 esteem you too.” 
 
 The world is full of good maxims. All that is needed is their 
 right application. For instance, no one doubts that we ought to 
 risk our lives for the common weal, and many do so. But for 
 Religion, none. 
 
 Nature diversifies and imitates, art imitates and diversifies. 
 
 The more intellectwe have ourselves, the more originality do we 
 discover in others. Ordinary people find no difference between 
 men. 
 
 Since we cannot be universal, and know all that is to be 
 known of everything, we should know a little of everything. 
 For it is far better to know something of all than to know the 
 whole of one thing, this universality is the best. If we can have 
 
VA RIO US THO UGIITS. 
 
 315 
 
 both, still better, but if we must choose, let us choose the first. 
 The world feels and acts on this, and the world is often a good 
 judge. 
 
 Certain authors speaking of their works, say : “ My book, my 
 commentary, my history, etc.” They are like the middle-class 
 people who have a small house of their own, and have “my 
 house ” always on the tongue. They would do better to say: 
 “Our book, our commentary, our history, etc.”; because there 
 is in them generally more of other peopled than their own. 
 
 A true friend is so great an advantage, even for the greatest 
 lords, in order that he may speak well of them, and uphold them 
 n their absence, that they ought to do all that is possible to have 
 one. But they should choose well, for spite of all they may do 
 for fools, whatever good these say of them would be useless, 
 and they would not even speak well of them if they found them¬ 
 selves in the minority, for they are without authority. And thus 
 they would abuse them in company. 
 
 “ You are ungraceful, excuse me, I beg.” Without that excuse I 
 had not known there was aught amiss. “ With reverence be it 
 spoken ...” The only evil is the excuse. 
 
 I always dislike such compliments as these: I have given you 
 a great deal of trouble. I fear / am tiring you. I fear this is 
 too long. For we either have our audience with us, or we pro¬ 
 voke them. 
 
 Rivers are roads which move and carry us whither we wish 
 to go. 
 
 In every action we must look beyond the action at our pasO 
 present and future state, and at others whom it affects, and see 
 the relations of all these things. And then we shall be 
 careful. 
 
 4 
 
 In every dialogue and discourse we ought to be able to say to 
 those who are offended, “ Of what do you complain ?” 
 
316 
 
 VARIOUS THOUGHTS. 
 
 There are many people who listen to the sermon as they listen 
 to vespers. 
 
 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are 
 in peace. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 .9 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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, ponrpoint. 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. 2, 1 . 22. Dereliquerunt me. Jer. ii. 13. 
 
 P. 3. General Introduction. In this are apparently two drafts of the 
 same preface, the second beginning with the paragraph “Before entering,” 
 p. 9, 1 . 6. M. Faugere was the first to recognize the true character of 
 this sketch, which has borne various titles. The Port Royal edition 
 called it: “ Against the Indifference of Atheists ; ” Condorcet headed it: 
 “ On the Need of Concern for the Proofs of a Future Life ; ” Bossut : 
 “ On the Need of a Study of Religion.” See note on p. 60. 
 
 P. 3, 1 . 8. Dens absconditus. Is. xlv. 15. Vcre tu es Deus abscon- 
 ditus, Deus Israel salvator. 
 
 P. 12, 1 . 23. Miton was a man of fashion at Paris, a friend of 
 Pascal’s friend, the Chevalier de Mere. 
 
 P. II. Notes for the General Introduction. The fragments following 
 are thus arranged by Molinier as having been in his judgment intended 
 for and many of them expanded in the preceding Preface. 
 
 P. 17. Preface to the First Part. This is Pascal’s own title to the 
 section. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 2. Chari-on, Pierre, was born at Paris in 1541. He was 
 a friend of Montaigne, whose philosophy he adopted. His Traite de la 
 Sagesse, Bordeaux, 1601, is the work of whose elaborate divisions Pascal 
 complains. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 12. Montaigne's defects. Mademoiselle de Gournay, 
 Montaigne’s adopted daughter, defends the Essayist in regard to this 
 matter, in the preface to her edition of the Essays, Paris, 1595. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 14. people without eyes. Montaigne, Essais, 1. ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 15. squaring the circle. Ib., 1 . ii. ch. xiv. 
 
320 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 F. 17, 1 . 15. a greater world. Montaigne, Essals, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 16. on suicide and on death. Ib., 1 . i. ch. iii. 
 
 P. 17, 1 . 17. without fear and without repentance. Ib., 1 . iii. ch. ii. 
 
 P. 19. Man's Disproportion. Pascal’s own title. 
 
 1 ** * 9 > 34 - th e centre of which is every where, the circumference no 
 
 where. Voltaire attributed this famous saying to the pseudo-Timoeus of 
 Lccris, an abridgement of Plato’s Timceus, but in neither work is the 
 whole sentence to be found. The saying, however, is not originally 
 Pascal’s. It is probably borrowed from Mile, de Gournay’s preface 
 to her edition of Montaigne, Paris, 1635, and was taken by her from 
 Rabelais, bk. iii. ch. 13, where it is attributed to Hermes Tris- 
 megistus. M. Havet, who gives these, and many more details, finally 
 traces it, on the authority of Vincent de Beauvais, 1200-1264, to Empe¬ 
 docles. 
 
 P. 21, 1 . 36. I will discourse of the all. This saying of Democritus 
 is taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 22, 1 . 4. De omni scibili. The title given to nine hundred pro¬ 
 positions, put forth at Rome by Pico della Mirandola, then aged twenty- 
 three, in i486. 
 
 P. 22, 1. 8. The Principles of Philosophy. Descartes wrote a work 
 with this title, Prmcipia Philosophies. 
 
 P. 22, 1. 38. Benef cia co usque lecta sunt. Tacitus, Ann. lib. iv. 
 c. xviii. Taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais , 1 . iii. ch. viii. 
 
 P. 24, 1. 27. And what completes our inability. Compare for the 
 whole of the passage on matter and spirit, Descartes, Discours de la 
 Methode. 
 
 E. 25, 1 . 34. Modus quo corporibus adheeret spirit us. S. Aug. De 
 Civitate Dei, xxi. 10. Taken by Pascal from Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. 
 ch. xii. 
 
 P. 26, 1 . 31. Lustravit lampade terras. The full couplet is 
 Tales sunt hominum mentes, quali pater ipse 
 Jupiter auctiferas lustravit lampade terras. 
 
 S. Aug. De Civitate Dei, v. 8, a translation by Cicero of two lines in the 
 Odyssey, x\ iii. 136. The quotation is borrowed from Montaigne, 
 Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 27, 1. 20. a fly is buzzing. Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, 
 1. iii. ch. xiii. 
 
 P. 27, 1. 26. flies which win battles. Montaigne relates that the 
 I ortuguese besieging the town of Tandy wove obliged to raise the 
 siege on account of the clouds of flies. Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 28, 1. 12. Memoria hospitis unius diei preetereuntis. Lib. Sap. 
 v. 14. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 321 
 
 P. 30, 1 . 4. Plerumque grata, altered from Hor. Carm. Hi. 20 v n 
 pierumque grates divitibus vices. 
 
 p . 30, I. 13. Epaminondas. The example is taken from Mon¬ 
 taigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xxxvi. 
 
 P. 31, I- 22. Sneezing absorbs all the faculties. A paraphrase of a 
 passage in Montaigne, Essais, 1. iii. ch. v. 
 
 P. 31, 1 . 28. Scaramouch. One of the traditional parts in Italian 
 Comedy, at that time played by the well-known actor Tiberio Fiorelli 
 whom I ascal had probably seen. 
 
 at 1 /-' 31 ’ 29 \ Tke d ° Ct0r ' aIs ° a common character in Italian farces. 
 
 Moliere has borrowed from the Italian stage his doctor, so often a 
 
 pedant and a fool, of whom le docteur Pancrace, in Le Mariam Force 
 is perhaps the most notable example, though that comedy was produced 
 after the death of Pascal. 
 
 P. 32, 1 . 11. the Condrieu, the Desargues. Gerard Desargues was 
 a mathematician at Condrieu on the Rhone, who had been Pascal’s 
 teacher. Among the Muscat grapes grown at Condrieu, Pascal dis- 
 mguishes a special variety of Desargues, and among these a particular 
 
 P. 32, 1. 28. the Passion of Cleobuline. In Artamhie, on le Grand 
 Cyrus, the celebrated romance of Mademoiselle de Scudery, Cleobuline 
 princess, afterwards queen of Corinth, is one of the principal characters! 
 bhe is represented as in love with Myrinthe, one of her subjects, but 
 she loved him without thinking of love ; and remained so long in her 
 
 error, that when she became aware of it, her affection was no longer in 
 a condition to be overcome. ” 
 
 P. 33. Diversion. Under this heading Pascal comprises not only 
 trivial occupations, and the distractions of idle society, but all which 
 save truth alone, can form the study or the research of man The main 
 idea of the chapter is borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, 1. iii. chap. x. 
 
 P- 35 > P 17. The counsel given to Pyrrhus. Ib., 1 . i. c h. xliii. 
 
 P. 36, 1. n. as children are frightened at a face. Borrowed from 
 
 A ontaigne, Essais, 1. 11. ch. xii., and Montaigne in his turn borrowed it 
 from Seneca, Ep. 24. 
 
 P. 36, 1 . 28. superintendent. Of finances. The last who held this 
 office was Fouquet, still in office when this was written. He was dis¬ 
 missed in disgrace in 1661. 
 
 P. 36, 29. first president. Of the Parliament of Paris. 
 
 P- 3 6 , 1 . 32. dismissed to their country houses. At that date and 
 for a long time afterwards, a Minister of State rarely fell from Office 
 without receiving a Lettre de cachet which banished him to the seclu¬ 
 sion of his country estate. 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 p. 39, 1. 17. In omnibus requiem quccsivi. Ecclus. xxiv. 7. 
 
 P. 40, 1 . 9. will arise weariness. Compare Montaigne, Essais, 1 . iii. 
 
 P. 41, 1 . 7. Cccsar was too old. See Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. 
 xxxiv. 
 
 P. 43. The Greatness and Littleness of Man. The title suggested 
 by Pascal, in many passages of the autograph MS. 
 
 P. 43, 1 . 11. For Tort Royal. The letters A. P. R. occur in several 
 places in Pascal’s MS. It is generally thought that they mean a Port- 
 Royal, and are intended to indicate subjects to be developed later in 
 conferences or lectures at that house. 
 
 P.45,1. 1. Man is neither angel nor brute. This is closely borrowed 
 from Montaigne, Essais, 1 . iii. ch. xiii. 
 
 P. 46, 1 . 15. Corrwnpunt mores bonos colloquia prava. I ad Cor. 
 xv. 33, but the Vulgate reading has mala. 
 
 P. 47, 1 . 18. Paul us Emilius. The example is taken from Mon¬ 
 taigne, Essais, 1 . i. ch. xix. See also Cic. Tuscul. v. 40* 
 
 P. 47, 1 . 31. Ego virvidens. Lament, iii. I. Ego vir videns pauper- 
 tatem meam in virga indignationis cjus. 
 
 P. 51. Of the deceptive powers, etc. This is Pascal’s own title for 
 
 this section. 
 
 P. 51, 1 . 14. Imagination. Pascal uses this word in an extended 
 sense already given to it by Montaigne, and means that faculty bj 
 which we attribute a value to those things which in fact have none. 
 
 P. 53, 1 . 11. furred cats. Rabelais, bk. v. ch. II. 
 
 P. 54, 1 . 2. Della Opinione. No work is known under this name. 
 Pascal possibly means a work of Carlo Flosi, L Opinione in anna, 
 moralmente considerata ne gli apfari del mondo, Mondovi, 1690. Lut it 
 is not certain that this edition is the reprint of a work extant before 
 Pascal wrote. 
 
 P. 54, 1 . 27. Diseases are another source of error. Taken from 
 Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 P. 56, 1 . 20. in Switzerland that of the burgesses. This may be com¬ 
 pared with p. 66, 1 . 6. In the majority of Swiss towns every candidate for 
 municipal office must needs possess the freedom of the town, but the 
 intention was not to set aside those of noble birth, as Pascal supposes, 
 but foreigners, and those of other towns, each of which was considered 
 as a separate state. 
 
 P. 57,1.27. would care nothing for Provence. Compare Montaigne, 
 Essais, 1 . i. ch. xxii. “ C'est par Ventremise de la coustume que chacun 
 est contant du lieu oil nature Va plante: et les sauvages d’Escosse n out 
 que faire dc la Touraine, ny les Scythes de la Thessalie. 
 
 P. 57, 1 . 28. Ferox gens. Livy, 1 . xxxiv. c. 17. 
 
notes. 
 
 323 
 
 ch P ;f L 20 ‘ Bmve deeds - Borrowed from Montaigne, Essais, 1. i. 
 
 , P ' 6l ' °f Justice, etc. These fragments, now among the best 
 known of:Pascal’s Thoughts, but for the most part brought to notice in 
 
 from Holder. ^ ^ ^ preSent arran gement and title 
 
 M P \ 6l ’ 1 3 °' Nlhl J am P Iius - These sentences, borrowed from 
 taigne, are quoted, the first of them wrongly, from Cicero De 
 
 V ' 21 ’ the Second from Seneca, Ad Lucilium, Ep. 95 • the 
 
 Mont^ 111 T r US ’ f nUa/eS ’ 2 5 ‘ Compare with the whole passage 
 Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. and 1 . hi. ch. xiii. S 
 
 P. 62, 1. 29. Quum veritatem . S. Aug., De Civit. Dei, iv. 21 
 From Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 3 * 
 
 pL P ‘ o 62 ’ 1 27 ‘ ihe wisest <f ^givers. Socrates, in the Republic ot 
 
 J‘ DJ ; I \ 9 ‘ Archesiias. Born at Pitane in Aiolis of a Scythian 
 thereabout 300 b.c. He was founder of the School known as the 
 Second Academy. See Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii. 
 
 eIPx ch.' jr a11 that is here saM ° n cust ° m ’ see 
 
 tl P * 65 ’ 1 ; 7 ' Pasc * ™es meas. Joh. xxi. 17. The words are those 
 taken as the foundation of papal authority. You owe me pasturage i e 
 you owe me justice. ** ’ 
 
 , f;. 6 ?\ h 3 °- the soldiers °f Mahomet, thieves, heretics. Pascal 
 boldly joins heretics and thieves, for those who did not hold his 
 creed appeared to him as men sans foi ni loi, faithless and lawless, 
 n ns eyes a Turk was scarce a man. See the Provincial Letters, 
 let. xiv. Sont-ce des religieux et des pritres qui parlent de ceite sorte 1 
 Sont.ce des Chretiens l Sont-ce des Turcs f Sont-ce des de'mons?” 
 
 And Thoughts, p. 211, 1 . 30. “Do we not see beasts live and die like 
 men, and Turks like Christians.” 
 
 P. 66, 1 . 6. The Swiss. See note on p. 56, 1 . 20. 
 
 P. 66, 1 . 10. condemning so many Spaniards to death. Possiblv 
 an allusion to the battle of the Dunes, 1659, which led to the Peace 
 of the Pyrenees, so long desired by all but Spain, then obliged to consent. 
 
 1. 07, J. 13 Summum jus, summa injuria. Charron, Trade de la 
 Sagesse, etc. ch. xxvii. art. 8. 
 
 P. 67, 1 . 26. The end of the Twelfth Provincial. The following is the 
 passage to which Pascal alludes. “ Cest une etrange et longue guerre 
 que cede on la violence essaye dPppnmer la virite. Lous les efforts de la 
 violence ne peuvent affaiblir la verite, et ne sei-vent qiia la relever 
 davantage. Toutes les lumieres de la virile ne peuvent rien pour arreter 
 
3 2 4 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 la violence et ne font que Pirriter encore plus ... la violence el la 
 verite ne peuvent rien Pune sur Vautre. ” 
 
 P. 67, 1 . 27. The Fronde. This was the name given to the party 
 which rose against Mazarin and the Court during the minority of 
 Louis XIV., and plunged France into civil war. 
 
 p. 69, 1 . 10. give me the strap. This is no exaggeration, since 
 fifty years after Pascal wrote, Voltaire was beaten by the servants of the 
 Due de Rohan. 
 
 P. 69, 1 . 12. It is odd that Montaigne. Essais, 1 . i. ch. xlii. 
 
 P. 69, 1 . 16. When power attacks craft. Satyre Menippee, Harangue 
 du Sire de Rieux : “ il n'y a ny bonnet quarrl , nyboarlet , que je ne face 
 voter f 
 
 P. 69, 1 . 30. figmentum malum. Ps. ciii. 13* Quomodo misere - 
 tur pater filiorum, misertus est Dominus timentibus sc: Quoniam ipse 
 cognovit figmentum nostrum. 
 
 P. 70, 1 . 14. Savages laugh at an infant king. Pascal is alluding to 
 the story in Montaigne, Essais, 1 . i. ch. xxx., of the savages presented 
 to Charles IX. at Rouen, who were astonished to see bearded men 
 obey a child. 
 
 P. 72, 1 . 16. Epictetus. See p. 45, 1 . 30, in order to understand 
 this somewhat enigmatic fragment. In the next paragraph is an 
 allusion to the passage in which Epictetus says, 1 . iv. ch. 7, that the 
 philosopher may well be constant and detached from life by wisdom, as 
 were the Galiloeans by their fanaticism. 
 
 P. 73. Weakness, unrest, and defects of man. The arrangements 
 of these fragments under this title is Molinier’s. 
 
 P. 73,1. 1. We anticipate the future. Compare Montaigne, Essais, 
 1. i. ch. iii. 
 
 P. 74, 1 . 28. Alexander's chastity. To attribute this virtue to 
 Alexander is strange, but no doubt the circumstance in Pascal’s thought 
 was his generous conduct to the family of Darius, after the battle of Issus. 
 
 P. 75, 1 . 12. the King of England. Probably Charles II., then 
 living in exile, rather than Charles I. The Ring of Poland was Jean 
 Casimir, driven from his throne by Charles X. of Sweden, after the 
 battle of Warsaw in 1656. The Queen of Sweden was Christina, 
 daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, who abdicated in favour of her cousin, 
 Charles X., in 1654* 
 
 P. 75, 1 . 29. we shall die alone, “on mourra seul.” It is a curious 
 instance of the fact how little Pascal is known in England, that Keble 
 having quoted this sentence wrongly, probably from memory, in the 
 first edition of the Christian Year, as “Je mourrai seul,” it has 
 remained uncorrected and apparently unnoticed to this day. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 3 2 5 
 
 P. 76, 1 . 12. Cromwell. As Charles II. was restored in 1660, 
 this fragment was written about that date, two years before Pascal’s 
 death. Cromwell s death did not arise from the cause stated in the text. 
 
 P. 77, 1 . 8. the automaton. The expression of Descartes and his 
 school for the animal body. 
 
 P. 77, 1 . 25. Inclina cor meum , Dens. Ps. cxix. 36. “ Tnclina 
 
 cor meum in testimonia tua, et non in avaridam . ” 
 
 P* 77 > b 3°- Eritis shut dii. Gen. iii. 5. 
 
 1 . 79, 1 . 30. men laugh and weep at the same thing. The thought 
 is from Charron, Traile de la Sagesse, 1. i. ch. xxxviii. 
 
 1 . 80, 1 . 35. the grand Sultan. None of Pascal’s editors have 
 discovered whence he drew this purely fictitious description of the 
 Sultan. 
 
 P. 81, 1 . 9. That epigram about the duo one-eyed people. This is not 
 Martial’s. It is found in Epigrammatum Delectus, published by Port 
 Royal in 1659. 
 
 Lumine Aeon dextro, capta est Leonilla sinistro, 
 
 Et pods est Jorma vincere uterque Deos. 
 
 Blande puer, lumen quod habes concede par end ; 
 
 Situ ccecus Amor , sic erit ilia Venus. 
 
 P. Si, 1 . 12. Ambitiosa recidet ornamenta. Horace, De Arte Poedca, 
 v. 447. 
 
 P. 83, 1 . 22. Spongia sods. The spots on the sun. Du Cange 
 explains spongia by macula. Pascal seems to mean that the spots on 
 the sun prepare us for its total extinction ; that the sun will eventually 
 expire, so that, contrary as it seems to the course of nature, there will 
 come a day when there will be no sun. 
 
 P. 89. The title given to this second part is furnished by Pascal. 
 In the first part he has wished to prove the fallen state of man, and his 
 weakness ; he now maintains that man may be restored by faith in 
 Jesus Christ, and the practice of religion. 
 
 P. 91, 1 . 26. Nemo novit. Matt. xi. 27. El nemo novit Filium 
 nisi Pater: neque Patrem quis novit, nisi Filius, et an voluerit Filins 
 revelare. 
 
 P. 92, 1 . 3. Vere tu es. Is. xlv. 15, see p. 3, 1 . 8. 
 
 P. 92, 1 . 10. Quod curiositate cognovcrint. Probably cited from recol¬ 
 lection of Saint Augustine, but the passage is not verbally to be found. 
 
 P. 96, 1 . 6. neither the stars. 
 
 Porrum et ccepe nefas violare et frangere morsu 
 0 sanctas gentes, quibus luxe nascuntur in hortis 
 Numina! Juvenal, Sal. xv. 9. 
 
 See also Montaigne, Essais, I. i. ch. xlii. 
 
326 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 97, 1 . 28. stultitiam. I Cor. i. 19. 
 
 P. 101, 1 . 12. the opinion of Copernicus. Pascal no doubt refers to 
 a passage in Montaigne, Essais, 1 . ii. ch. xii., in which he abstains from 
 deciding between the rival systems of astronomy. Pascal, however, had 
 no doubt on the matter himself, as is plain from the passage on Galileo 
 in the Eighteenth Provincial. 
 
 P. 101, 1 . 16. Fascinatio nugacitatis. Lib. Sap. iv*. 12. Fascinatio 
 enim nugacitatis obscurat bona. See note on p. 165. 
 
 P. 102, 1 . 12. So our people often act. Fenelon, Lettre a PEveque 
 d' Arras, says, “ Tonies les difficultes s'evanouissent sans peine des qu'on 
 a Vesprit gueri de la presomption. Alors suivant le regie de Saint 
 Augustin , Epist. ad Hier., on passe sur tout ce que Von n'entendpas , ct 
 on s'edifie de tout ce qu'on attend. " 
 
 See also De Imitatione Christi, 1 . i. ch. v. 
 
 P. 104, 1 . 4. Harum sententiarum. Harum sententiarum qucc vera 
 
 sit Deus aliquis viderit. Cic. Tuscul.i. 11. 
 
 P. 104, 1 . 14. The Preacher shows. The precise thought as 
 Pascal has it here is not easy to find in Ecclesiastes. It is probably a 
 reminiscence of Eccles. viii. 17* 
 
 P. 105. The Philosophers. The title of this chapter is that given 
 by Molinier to the collection of fragments contained in it. A few 
 expressions and thoughts are from Montaigne, many more from 
 Descartes, Discours de la Methode. 
 
 P. 108, 1 . 16. Deli cue mece. Prov. viii. 31. 
 
 Ejfundam spiritum. Joel ii. 28. 
 
 DU estis, Ps. Ixxxii. 6. 
 
 Omnis caro fcenum. Is. xl. 6. 
 
 Homo assimilatus est. Ps. xlix. 20. 
 
 Dixi in corde meo. Eccl. iii. 18. 
 
 Ex senatus consultis. Seneca, Ep. xcv., sec. 3°* 
 Nihil tarn abs-urde. Cic. De Divia. ii. 58. 
 
 Ut omnium rerum. Seneca, Ep. cvi. But the real 
 reading is Quemadmodum—omnium rerum. 
 
 P. no, 1 . 34. Id maxime. Cic. De Off. i. 31. 
 
 P. no, 1 . 35. Hos natura modos. Virg. Georg, ii. 20. 
 
 P. in, 1 . 4. Mi hi sic usus est. Ter. Hea. i. 1, 28. 
 
 P. in, 1 . 6. falsity of their dilemma in Montaigne. Essais, 1 . ii. 
 ch. xii. “ Si I'dme est mortclle , il est absurde de craindre la mart, si clle 
 est immortelle clle ne pent aller qu'en s' amclior ant." 
 
 P. 112, 1 . II. Felix quipotuit. Virg. Georg, ii. 1 . 489. 
 
 P. 112, 1 . 13. nihil inirari. Hor. Epist. 1, vi. 1 . 1. The whole 
 
 P. 108, 1 . 17. 
 P. 108, 1 . 17. 
 P. 108, 1 . 18. 
 P. 108, 1 . 18. 
 P. 108, 1 . 20. 
 P. no, 1 . 28. 
 P. no, 1 . 29. 
 P. no, 1 . 32. 
 
 passage is, 
 
NOTES. 
 
 327 
 
 Nil admirariprope res est una, Numici, 
 
 Solaque, qiue possit facere ct servare beatum 
 
 P. II3, I. 15. two sects. Epicureans and Stoics. 
 
 P. 113, 1. 17. Des Barreaux. Jacques Desbarreaux was an Epicu¬ 
 rean poet born at Paris in 1602, died in 1673, who in his poems 
 paraded his unbelief. Curiously enough, his only extant verses were 
 written when he lay ill, and are addressed to God. 
 
 P. 113, 1. 28. Epictetus concludes. Encheiridion, iv. 7. 
 
 P. 113, 1 . 30. three sects. Pascal no doubt refers the libido sentiendi 
 t°. the . Epicureans, the libido dominandi to the Stoics, and the libido 
 sciendi to the dogmatic schools of Plato and Aristotle, of which Cicero 
 always speaks as though they taught one and the same philosophy. 
 
 P. 114, 1 . 3. two inches under water , are equally drowned with 
 those who are at the bottom. 
 
 P. 115. The fragments collected in this chapter are here placed 
 by Molmier according to the plan which Pascal had traced out for his 
 work, m which after he had laid the various philosophical systems 
 before his supposed unbeliever, he brought forward for examination the 
 other religions. 
 
 P. 115,1. 20. forbade men to read it. It is not known whence Pascal 
 obtained this statement, which is a complete mistake. 
 
 P. 116,1.15. Jesus Christ wills that his testimony to himself should 
 >e of no avail. John v. 31. “ If I bear witness of myself, my witness 
 
 is not true.” 
 
 P. 116, 1 . 30. . The Koran says that Saint Matthew. The Koran 
 does not name Saint Matthew, but says in general terms that Mahomet 
 regarded the apostles of Jesus as holy. 
 
 P. 117, 1 . 27. whose witnesses let themselves be slaughtered. After 
 this Pascal had written, but erased the words “ which of the two’ is most 
 to be blamed, Moses or China? ” and these aid us in the explanation of 
 this enigmatic passage. The Jesuits had established themselves in 
 China at the end of the sixteenth century, and when Pascal wrote their 
 missions were in a flourishing state. They had studied the language, 
 history, and literature of China. But the difficulty presented itself of 
 reconciling the cosmogony and chronology of the Bible with those of the 
 Chinese sages. It is probable that this passage was inspired by a 
 private conversation with some one who had read letters from a mis¬ 
 sionary, for no book on the subject appears to have existed in Pascal’s 
 day. 
 
 P. 118, 1 . 4. The five suns, etc. Montaigne, from whom this is 
 taken, Essais, 1 . iii. ch. iv., probably borrowed it from some Spanish 
 book now forgotten. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 328 
 
 P. 119. Of the Jewish People. This position in his intended 
 treatise, before the sections on the Sacred Books and on Prophecy, is 
 that which Pascal himself designed for his remarks on the Jew's. 
 
 P. 123, 1 . 5. The Masorah. The unwritten tradition of the Jew's. 
 
 P. 126, 1 . 9. Quis mi hi det. Num. xi. 29. The true reading is, 
 
 Quis tribuat lit omnis populus prophetet. 
 
 P. 126,1. 17. If the story in Esdras is credible. In the 14th Chapter 
 of the Second Book of Esdras God appears to Esdras in a bush, and 
 orders him to assemble the people and deliver the message. Esdras 
 replies, “ I w ill go as thou hast commanded me, and reprove the people 
 which are present, but they that shall be born afterward who shall 
 admonish them ? . . . For thy law is burnt, therefore no man knoweth the 
 things that are done of thee, or the w'orks that shall begin. But if I ha\e 
 found grace before thee, send the Holy Ghost into me, and I shall write 
 all that hath been done in the w'orld since the beginning.” . . .. Then 
 God ordered him to take five scribes, to whom for forty days he dictated 
 the ancient law. 
 
 The authenticity of this story, coming into conflict as it does with many 
 passages of the prophets, and specially with Jeremiah, appeared open to 
 such grave doubts, that at the Council of Trent the last book of Esdras, 
 called in the Catholic Church, Esdras IV., by Protestants Esdras II., w'as 
 then rejected from the Canon. 
 
 P. 126, 1 . 27. Jeremiah gave them the law. See 2 Maccabees, 
 ch. xi. 
 
 P. 128, 1 . 31. Qui Justus cst justificetur ad hue. Apocal. xvii. 4. 
 
 P. 129, 1 . 18. a thousand and twenty-two. This was the number of 
 
 stars comprised in the Catalogue of Ptolemy, according to the system of 
 Hipparchus. 
 
 P. 132, 1 . 9. Non habemus regem nisi Cicsarem. Joh. xx. 15. 
 
 P. 134, 1 . 12. Erie pal pans in meridie. Incorrectly quoted from 
 Deut. xxviii. 29. 
 
 P. 134,1. 13. Dabitur liber. Incorrectly quoted from Is. xxix. 12. 
 P. 135, 1 . 6. EJfundam spiritual meum. Is. xliv. 3. 
 
 p. 135, 1. 21. populum non credentem. Is. lxv. 2. 
 
 P. 136, 1 . 2. ex omnibus iniquilatibus. Probably a remembrance 
 of Is. xliv. 22. Delevi ut nubem iniquitates tuas 
 P. 136, 1 . 13. The little stone. Dan. ii. 34. 
 
 P. 136, 1 . 33. Omnis Judaea regio. Incorrectly quoted from Matt. iii. 5. 
 P. 137, 1 . 3. These stones can become. Matt. iii. 9 * 
 
 P. 140, 1 . 15. Grotius. The allusion is no doubt to his work, De 
 Veritate Rcligionis Christiana-, which appeared in 1662. 
 p. 143, l. 6. the king of the Medes and Persians is Darius Codo- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 3 2 9 
 
 manus; the King of the Greeks, Alexander. The four kings are, 
 Seleueus, King of Syria; Ptolemy, King of Egypt; Lysimachus, King 
 
 ot Ihrace, and Cassander, King of Macedonia, after the battle of Ipsus 
 301 b.c. 1 ’ 
 
 P. 143, 1 - 12. This paragraph refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, King 
 
 of Syria, who died 164 b.c. See the account of his death, 
 I Macc. c. 6. 
 
 p* * 45 » P !• And in the end of years. The marriage of Antiochus 
 Theos with Berenice took place about 247 b.c. Berenice was assassinated 
 by Seleueus Ceraunos soon afterwards, and the war between Ptolemy 
 Euergetes and the King of Syria lasted during almost all the reign of the 
 latter. Syria regained the ascendancy only after the death of Ptolemy 
 Euergetes in 222 B.c. 
 
 I. 145,1.26. Raphia. The Battle of Raphia was gained by Ptolemy 
 Philopator over Antiochus the Great, 217 B.c. 
 
 P- r 45 > 1 - 36. Euergetes , a mistake for Epiphanes. 
 
 P. I 47 > P 2. The leader taken from the thigh. A literal translation 
 
 of Gen. xlix. 10. Non auferetur sceptrum de Juda , et dux de femore 
 opus. 
 
 P. 152, 1 . 26. Pugio Fidei. The work so called, which Pascal first 
 specifies in this place, is one of which he made great use in all 
 his speculations on the fulfilment of Prophecy, and on the meaning of 
 the Hebrew letters, etc. The book, of which the full title is Pugio 
 Tula' adversus Mauros et f udeeos, was written in 1278 by Raymond 
 Martin, a Catalonian monk. It remained almost unknown for four 
 hundred years, and was first printed in 1651. It was, therefore, as it 
 were, a new book when Pascal became acquainted with it. Under the 
 name Mauri the author assails not the Koran nor Mahomet, but Arabic 
 philosophy. 
 
 P. -61, 1 . 2. Ut sciatis quod films Jionnnis. Marc. ii. 10-11. The 
 words of Jesus to the paralytic. 
 
 P. 164, 1 . 16. Signa legem in electis meis. Is. viii. 16, where the 
 Vulgate has discipulis. 
 
 1 . 165, 1 . 15. Fascination. i.e., Fascinatio nugacitatis , see p. 101, 
 
 1 . 16. The blindness produced by the love of temporal possessions, or 
 as the A. V. translates it, “ the bewitching of naughtiness.” 
 
 P. 165, 1 . 15. Sotnnum suum. Ps. lxxvi. 5. Turbati sunt omnes 
 insipientes corde. Dormierunt somnum suum: et nihil invenerunt 
 omnes vin divitiarum in manilms suis. 
 
 P. 165, 1. 15. Figura hujus inundi. 1 ad Cor. vii. 31. Et qui 
 utunt ur hoc vuindo, tanquam non utantur: prater it enim figura hujus 
 mundi. 
 
33 ° 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 165, 1 . 16. Comedes panem tuuni. Deut. viii. 9. Pattern 
 nostrum. Luc. xi. 3. 
 
 P. 165, 1 . 17. Inimici Dei terrain lingent. Ps. lxxii. 8. The 
 Psalm is of Solomon, Inimici ejus terrain lingent. 
 
 P. 165, 1 . 22. cum amaritudinibus. Ex. xii. 8, where the Vulgate 
 
 has cum lactucis agrestibus. 
 
 P. 165, 1. 24. Singularis sum ego. Ps. cxli. 10, where the true 
 reading is “ singulariter." 
 
 P* 165, 1 . 34- have no right. The following is the explana¬ 
 
 tion of this and the next two paragraphs : In Is. ix. 6, a prophecy 
 which the Rabbis apply to Messiah, and Christian interpreters to Jesus, 
 are the words : Parvulus emm natus est nobis . . . midtiplicabatur 
 cjus imperium. In the Hebrew words representing this latter clause, 
 the closed mem, a letter ordinarily employed only at the end of a 
 word, occurs where an open mem should be used. From this ortho¬ 
 graphic mistake the Rabbis have concluded that Messiah would be 
 born of a virgin, ex virgine clausa. Moreover, as the closed mem in 
 Hebrew writing means six hundred, the Rabbis supposed that Messiah 
 was to come six hundred years after Isaiah. The final tsade has the 
 same value as the closed mem. 
 
 P. 166, 1 . 8. the way of the philosopher's stone, no doubt the way of 
 finding the philosopher’s stone. The dreams of the alchemists on this 
 subject were early mingled with those of the Rabbis on the Messiah. 
 Nor had the Cabbala lost all credit in Pascal’s days. In 1629 Robert 
 Fludd, in Latin De Fluctibus, an Englishman, educated at Oxford, and 
 a Fellow of the College of Physicians, published at Frankfort his 
 Medicina Catholica. In this, sect. 1. pt. ii. b. 1. ch. i. he speaks 
 of sicknesses and healing as both sent from God by angelic inter¬ 
 mediaries, and that all angelic natures are summed up in the great angel 
 Mittatron, whom the Scriptures call Wisdom. In a further passage he 
 says that in him whom the Cabalists call Mittatron others recognise 
 Messiah, and quotes the passage of Isaiah in which occurs the closed 
 mem. 
 
 In Reuchlin’s book De Arte Cabalislica the open mem is said to repre¬ 
 sent the sphere of Jupiter, and the closed mem the sphere of Mars. 
 
 P. 166, 1. 12. Apocalyptics. Interpreters of the Apocalypse. 
 
 P. 166, 1 . 13. Preada miles. Those who hold that Adam was the 
 progenitor of the Jews only, and not of the whole human race. 
 
 P. 166, 1 . 13. Millenarians. The believers in the reign of Christ 
 on earth for a thousand years. 
 
 P. 166, 1 . 19. The allusion is probably to 2 Paralip. i. 14. Et fecit 
 cos esse in urbibtis quadrtgarum, et cum rege in Jerusalem. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 331 
 
 Ps. cxii. 4. But the word cordc 
 
 P. 166, 1 . 31. Exortum est lumen. 
 does not appear in the Vulgate. 
 
 P. 168, 1 . 30. Agnus occisus est. Apoc. xiii. 8 . 
 
 P. 170, 1 . 23. the breasts of the Spouse. Song of Songs, iv. 5. 
 
 P. 171, 1 . 32. Nisi fccissem. A partial citation of Joh. xv. 24. 
 
 P. I 74 > 3 2 * Adam forma fit tun, ad Rom. v. 14. 
 
 p. 175 > 1 * 7 - the six mornings. This passage is taken from S. 
 Aug. De Genesi contra Manichczos, i. 23. Pascal probably intending 
 to write les six orients, dawns or mornings, his amanuensis has written 
 les six arians, a source of much misunderstanding. The six mornings 
 are, the creation ; the deliverance from the Ark ; the call of Abraham ; 
 the carrying away into Babylon ; the preaching of Jesus. 
 
 P. 175, 1 . 29. Fac secundum exemplar. Exod. xxv. 40 but the 
 Vulgate has monstratum. ’ 
 
 P. 176, 1. 9. Saint Paul says. 1 Cor. vii. ; 1 Tim. iv. 3. 
 
 P. 176, 1 . 14. On which Saint Paul says. Heb. viii. 5. 
 
 P. 176, 1. 16. Veri adoratores. Joh. iv. 23. Ecce agnus Dei. 
 
 Joh. i. 29. 
 
 P. 187, 1 . 11. ne evacuata sit crux. 1 ad Cor. i. 17. ut non 
 evacuetur crux Christi. 
 
 P. 187, 1 . 12. says that he came neither with wisdom nor with signs 
 See however 2 Con xii. 12. “Truly the signs of an apostle were 
 
 wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty 
 deeds.” 
 
 P. 191, l 7 - Deli cite meat. Prov. viii. 31. Efundam. Joel, ii. 28. 
 Dnestis. Ps. Ixxxii. 6. Omnis carofcenum. Is. xl. 6. Homo comparatus 
 est. Ps. xlix. 20. Dixi in corde. Eccles. iii. 18. 
 
 P. 192, I. 3. Marton. Probably a mistake of the amanuensis for 
 Miton. See p. 12, 1. 22. 
 
 P. 192, 1. 10. Sapientius est hominibus. 1 ad Cor. i. 25. 
 
 P. 194, 1. 5 
 
 passage runs : 
 
 Nemo ante obitum beatusest. Ovid, Met. iii. 136. The 
 
 Dicique beat us 
 
 Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet. 
 
 The citations from the Rabbis are taken from the 
 
 P. 194, 1. 19. 
 
 Pugio Eide i. 
 
 P* x 95 > 36- Chronology of Rabblnism. The chronology here 
 
 given is in many points at variance with modern scholarship. 
 
 P. 197, 1 . 19. Salutare tuum expectabo. Gen. xlix. 18. 
 
 P. 200, 1 . 12. Miserere. The first word of Ps. li., “ Miserere mei 
 Dens.” Expectavi. The first word of Ps. xl., “ Expectans cxpectavi 
 DominumP 
 
NOTES. 
 
 'l o 
 
 P. 200, 1. 29. Dixit Dominus. The first words of Ps. cx. 
 
 P. 209, 1. 11. Excceca. Is. vi. 10. 
 
 P. 210, 1. 13. nisi efficiamini. Matt, xviii. 3. 
 
 P. 213, 1. 21. Quis viihi det nt. Job, xix. 23-25. 
 
 P. 215, 1. 5. Quare fremuerunt gentes. Ps. ii. 1, 2. 
 
 P. 215, 1. 30. Ingrediens mundum. Probably a recollection of the 
 meaning, but not the words, of Heb. i. 6. 
 
 P. 215, 1. 31. Stone upon stone. Mark, xiii. 2. 
 
 P. 216, 1. 23. in sanctificationem et in scandalum, a partial quotation 
 of Isaiah, viii. 14. 
 
 P. 217, 1. 3. yEnigmatis. The word nowhere appears, but the 
 allusion is no doubt to 1 ad Cor. xiii. 12. Videmus nunc per speculum 
 in cenigmate , tunc autem facie adfaciem. 
 
 P. 219, 1. 3. gladium tuum. Ps. xlv. 3. Accingere gladio tuo 
 super femur tuum, potcntissimc. 
 
 P. 220, 1. 21. He hath blinded them. Is. vi. 10. 
 
 P. 221, 1. 22. Great Pan is dead. Plutarch De Oraculis. 
 
 P. 221, 1. 26. Barcoseba, or Barcochebas, a Jewish impostor who 
 claimed to be the Messiah, a.d. 135. 
 
 P. 222, 1. 3. Curse of the Greeks , no doubt against those Pleretics 
 who tried to discover the exact date of the end of the world. 
 
 P. 225, 1. 19. Quia non cognovit. The quotation is modified from 
 1 ad Cor. i. 21, and with the important omission of the final word 
 “ credenies. ” 
 
 P. 226, 1. 24. Quod ergo ignorantes queeritis. Adapted from Act. 
 Ap. xvii. 23. Quod ergo ignorantes colitis ego annuncio voids. 
 
 P. 226, 1. 28. via, veritas. Joh. xiv. 6. 
 
 P. 227, 1. 12. faddus to Alexander. Jaddus was the Jewish High 
 Priest, who on Alexander’s invasion of Syria refused to aid him. There¬ 
 upon Alexander marched on Jerusalem. Jaddus came out to meet him in 
 processional pomp, when the conqueror prostrated himself at his feet, 
 saying he had seen such a man in a dream, who had promised him the 
 Empire of Asia. 
 
 P. 228, 1. 14. Archimedes, though of princely birth. Plutarch says 
 that Archimedes was of a family allied to that of Hiero, King of Syra¬ 
 cuse. 
 
 P. 229, 1. 11. I will bless those that bless thee. Gen. xii. 3. Bene- 
 dicam benedicentibus tibi. 
 
 P. 229, 1. 13. Parum est ut. Is. xlix. 6. Parum est ut sis mihi 
 servus ad susci/andas tribus Jacob et faeces Israel convertcndas. Ecce dedi 
 te in lucem gentium. 
 
 P. 229, 1. 15. Non fecit tali.'cr. Ps. cxlvii. 20. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 333 
 
 P. 230, 1 . 8. Jesus Christ the Redeemer of all. “Jesu Redemptor 
 omnium ” is the first verse of the Christmas Vesper Hymn. 
 
 P. 230, 1 . 21. Lord, when saw we thee an hungered? Matt. xxv. 34. 
 
 P. 231. The Mystery of Jesus. This fragment has only been 
 included by more recent editors. But it exists in the autograph MS., 
 and unquestionably forms a part of the intended work. 
 
 P. 231, 1 . 3. turbare semetipsum. Joh. xi. 33. In the text 
 turbavit seif sum. 
 
 P. 232, 1 . 9. Eamus. Process it. A recollection of Joh. xviii. 4, 
 but the word eamus does not occur in the verse, being borrowed from 
 the account in Matt. xxvi. 46. 
 
 P. 233, 1 . 25. ut immundus pro Into. Possibly a reminiscence and 
 misquotation of 2 Pet. ii. 22. Sits lota in volutabro luti. 
 
 P. 234, 1 . 33. Noli me tangere. Joh. xx. 17. 
 
 P. 235, I. 21. Et tu conversus. Luc. xxii. 32. Conversus Jesus, ib. 
 61. before should be “ after.” 
 
 P. 238, 1 . 16. Qiri adheeret Deo. 1 ad Cor. v. 17. Qui autem ad • 
 heeret Domino units spirit us est. 
 
 P. 238, 1 . 28. because it has perhaps merited ours. See Bossuet’s 
 Catechism. QiC entendez vous par la Communion des Saints ? J'attends 
 principalment la participation quont tons les fideles an fruit des bonnes 
 ceuvres les uns des autres. 
 
 P. 240, 1 . 28. Book of Wisdom. Ch. ii. 6. But the sense only, and 
 not the words, is given. 
 
 P. 241, 1 . 16. et non intres in judicium. Ps. cxliii. 2. 
 
 P. 241, 1 . 19. The goodness of God. Rom. ii. 4. 
 
 P. 241, 1 . 20. Let us do penance. Jonah, iii. 9. But the sense 
 only, not the words, is quoted. 
 
 P. 243, 1 . 2. quigloriatur, in Domino glorietur. 1 ad Cor. i. 31. 
 
 P. 243, 1 . 4. libido sentiendi. From Jansenius, De statu natures 
 lapses, ii. 8. 
 
 P. 243, 1 . 5. Woe to the accursed land. This and the following 
 paragraphs are taken from Saint Augustine’s commentary on Ps. cxxxvii., 
 Super Jlumina Babylonis. 
 
 P. 244, I. I. Abraham took nothing for himself. Gen. xiv. 24. 
 
 P. 244, 1 . 5. Sub te erit appetitus tuns. Gen. iv. 7. 
 
 P. 244, 1 . 29. Multi ere diderunt. Joh. viii. 30-33. 
 
 P. 245, 1 . 17. Comminutum cor. No doubt a misquotation of Ps. Ii. 
 cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non despicies. 
 
 P. 245, 1 . 18. Albe vous a nomme. Corneille, Horace, act ii. sc. 3. 
 
 P. 248, 1 . I. Omnis creatura subjecta est vanitati. Eccles. iii. 19, 
 but the true reading is “ cuncta subjacent vanitati .” 
 
33 4 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 249, 1 . 33. Inclina cor victim. Ps. cxix. 36. 
 
 P. 251, 1. 13. Ne evacuetur crux Christi. 1 ad Cor. i. 17 
 
 P- 253. The Arrangement. Scattered here and there in Pascal’s 
 MS. were a number of notes concerning the plan, form, and matter of 
 his intended treatise, many of them marked with the word “ Ordre .” 
 These are gathered together by recent editors, and some others which 
 seem to cohere with them added, but Molinier’s arrangement, as well as 
 that of Faugere, is necessarily somewhat arbitrary. 
 
 P. 254, 1 . 6. Justus ex fide vivit. Habac. ii. 4. Ad Rom. i. 17. 
 
 P. 254, 1 . 8. fides ex auediu. Ad Rom. x. 17. 
 
 P. 254, 1. 14. divide my moral qualities into four. The classical 
 division of ancient philosophy was into four : prudence, temperance, 
 justice, magnanimity. 
 
 P.254,1.16. Abstine et sustine. The Stoic formula. 
 
 P. 257. The J\hracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite Perier, 
 Pascal’s niece, aged ten, was cured of lachrymal fistula on March 24, 
 1656, after touching the diseased part with a reliquary containing a 
 thorn from the Saviour’s crown. This was at the time that Port Royal 
 was suffering deeply from persecution, and was considered by many a 
 signal mark of the favour of heaven. The Jesuits did not deny the 
 miracle, but the conclusions drawn from it. 
 
 P. 257, 1 . 20. those who heal by invocation of the devil. Pascal, when 
 a child, was supposed both to have been made ill and restored to health 
 by a witch. Pie desires to show that this was no miracle. 
 
 P. 258, 1 . 9. Believe the Church. Matt, xviii. 17. 
 
 P. 258, 1 . 13. Montaigne. Cf. Essais, i. 26. 
 
 P. 258, 1 . 23. Judcei sign a petunt. 1 ad Cor. i. 22. 
 
 P. 258, 1 . 25. Sed plenum signis. This and the following one are 
 not to be found. Pascal is probably citing Saint Paul from memory. 
 
 P. 258, 1 . 29. Sed vos non credit is. Joh. x. 26. 
 
 P. 261, 1 . 5. Saint Augustine. Pascal does not appear to refer to 
 any single passage, but to the general teaching of Saint Augustine. But 
 see especially De Civil. Dei , xxii. 9. 
 
 P. 262, 1 . 19. Scimus quia venisti a Deo. Joh. iii. 2. 
 
 P. 263, 1 . 3. We have Moses. John ix. 21. 
 
 P. 263, 1 . 30. Quid debui. Is. v. 4. Quid cst quod debui facere 
 vinece mecc ct non feci ei. 
 
 P. 264, 1 . 16. Barjesus was blinded. Acts xiii. 6-11. 
 
 P. 264, 1 . 22. Si angelus. A reference to ad Gal. i. 8. 
 
 P. 264, 1. 28. my good father. Probably Father Annat. See 
 p. 289, 1. 28. 
 
 P. 265, 1 . 21. 1 P. ix. 113, a. 10, ad. 2. These signs refer to the 
 
NOTES. 
 
 335 
 
 Summa of Saint Thomas Aquinas here quoted, and mean Parte i, 
 qucestione 113, articulo 10, ad objectionevi 2. 
 
 P. 265, 1 . 22. Si tu es Christus. Luc. xxii. 66. 
 
 P. 265, 1 . 23. Opera qua; ego facio. Joh. v. 36. 
 
 P. 265, 1 . 25. Sed non vos creditis. Joh. x. 26. 
 
 P. 265, 1 . 29. Nemopotest facere signa. Joh. iii. 2. 
 
 P* 2 65 > h 34- Generatioprava. Matt. xii. 39. 
 
 P. 266, 1 . 5. Nisi videritis signa non creditis. Joh. iv. 48. 
 
 P. 266, I. 9. Secundum operationem Satance. 2 ad Thess. ii. 9. 
 
 P. 266, 1. 12. Tentat enim vos Deus. Deut. xiii. 3. 
 
 P. 266, 1. 14. Ecce prcedixi vobis. Matt. xxiv. 25. 
 
 P. 267, 1 . 26. Father Lingende. Claude de Lingendes, 1591-1660, 
 was a Jesuit preacher. His sermons were published in 1666. 
 
 P. 268, 1 . 11. Ubi est Deus tuus. Ps. xlii. 3. 
 
 P. 268, 1 . 22. do not believe that the five propositions are in fatisenius. 
 To explain this fully would need a far longer note than can here be 
 given. It may be said shortly that the allusion is'to the “Augustinus” 
 of Cornelius Jansen, Bishop of Ypres. Two questions arose : first, 
 whether the propositions condemned were heretical, and second, 
 whether if heretical they were in Jansen’s book. The second assertion 
 was that which the nuns of Port Royal refused to make. They had not 
 read the book, and could not affirm that of which they were ignorant. 
 The five propositions were on the Doctrines of Grace and Free Will. 
 
 P. 268, 1 . 27* Tu quid dicis. These are partial quotations from 
 Joh. iv. 19, etc. 
 
 P. 269, 1. 9. Nemo facit virtutem. Marc. ix. 38, but incorrectly. 
 The true reading is Nemo est enim quifaciat. 
 
 P. 269, 1 . 25. Omne regnum divisum. Matt. xii. 25. 
 
 P. 269, 1 . 28. Si in digito Dei. Luc. xi. 20. 
 
 P. 269, 1 . 35. Vatable, who died in 1517, was professor of Hebrew at 
 the College Royal established by Francis I. In 1539 Robert. Etienne 
 published an edition of the Latin Bible of Leo of Modena—Rabbi 
 Jehuda—to which he added under Vatable’s name, notes which were 
 not really Vatable’s, but borrowed from various writers of the Reforma¬ 
 tion. These notes were condemned by the Sorbonne. The Bible 
 known as that of Vatable contains the Hebrew, the Vulgate Version, 
 and that of Rabbi Jehuda. 
 
 P. 271, 1 . 23. miracles of Vespasian. Tacitus, Hist. iv. 81. 
 
 P. 273. Jesuits andJansenists. A collection of fragments on these 
 subjects, which perhaps might be considered rather as an appendix to, 
 or notes for the Provincial Letters , than a part of the Thoughts , properly 
 so called. But they form part of the autograph MS. 
 
33 ^ 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 273, 1 . 9. There is a time to laugh. Eccles. iii. 4. Responde, ne 
 respondeas. Prov. xxvi. 4. 
 
 P. 275, 1 . 9. Elias was a man like ourselves. Quoted by memory 
 as from Saint Peter, but really from Saint James, v. 17. 
 
 P. 275, 1 . 14. accused of many crinies. Athanasius was accused of 
 rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by the Councils 
 of Tyre, A.D. 335, of Arles, A.D. 353, and of Milan A.D. 355. Pope 
 Liberius, after having long refused to ratify the condemnation, was 
 said to have finally done so A.D. 357. But this is disputed by recent 
 authorities. For Athanasius we are of course here to read Jansenius and 
 Arnauld ; for Saint Theresa, la mere Angelique or la mere Agnes; for 
 Liberius, Clement IX. 
 
 P. 275, 1 . 33. Antonio Escobary Mendoza. The Spanish Jesuit whose 
 system of morals was so severely handled by Pascal in the Provincial 
 Letters. He is among those whose names have given rise to a word: 
 “ escobardene ” is a synonym for equivocation. 
 
 P. 276, 1 . 6. ALolina, Louis, a Spanish Jesuit, born 1535, died 1601. 
 The Jansenists accused his Commentary on the Summaof Saint Thomas 
 Aquinas of favouring a lax morality. 
 
 P. 277, 1 . 4. Mohatra. “The contract Mohatra, by which a man 
 buys cloth at a dear rate and on credit, to re-sell it at once to the same 
 person cheaply for ready money.” Eighth Provincial. 
 
 P. 278, 1 . 21. Est and non est. “ Distinguo ” applied in matters 
 of faith. 
 
 P. 278, 1 . 26. Vce qui conditis leges iniquas. Is. x. 1. But the Vul¬ 
 gate reads Vce qui condunt. 
 
 P. 279, 1 . 22. M. de Condran. No doubt Charles de Condren, 
 1588-1641, doctor of the Sorbonne, and second General of the French 
 Oratory, a society of priests founded by Cardinal de Berulle at Paris 
 in 1611. 
 
 P. 280, 1 . 7. Sanctificavi prcdium. Mic. iii. 5. 
 
 P. 280, 1 . 12. Ne convertantur. Is. vi. 10. 
 
 P. 282, 1 . 21. Coacervabunt tibi magistros. 2 ad Tim. iv. 3, where 
 the Vulgate has “ sibi. ” 
 
 P. 282, 1 . 28. not to make appointments to bishoprics. But a few years 
 after this Fathers La Chaise and Le Tellier, as Confessors to the King, 
 had this power in their hands. 
 
 P. 282, 1 . 31. Father Brisacier , born 1603, a Jesuit, and a warm 
 opponent of Jansenism. He wrote Le Jansenisme confondu, and several 
 minor works. He is constantly quoted in the Provincial Letters. 
 
 P. 283, 1 . 1. Venice. The Jesuits had just returned to Venice in 
 1657, having been expelled thence in 1606. 
 
 P. 283, 1 . 22. Amice, ad qiiid venisti. Matt. xxvi. 50. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 337 
 
 P. 283, 1. 24. probability , or, technically, probabilism. Probabilistic 
 teaches that it is permissible to act on an opinion which is less probable 
 than the opinion opposed to it so long as there is a solid ground for 
 regarding it as probable in itself. Thus, if out of three moral theologians 
 of recognised authority, two give it as their opinion that a certain course 
 of conduct is unlawful, while the third asserts it to be lawful, probabilism 
 permits the adoption in practice of the third opinion in opposition to the 
 
 other two. A confessor would therefore have no right to forbid it under 
 pain of sin. 
 
 P. 284, 1. 12. Dii estis. Ps. Ixxxii. 6. 
 
 P. 284, 1 . 13. If my Letters are condemned at Rome. The Provincial 
 Letters were condemned at Rome, Sept. 6, 1657. 
 
 P* 2 ^ 5 > P 22 * imago. An allusion to the famous panegyric on the 
 Jesuits called, “ Imagoprimi scvculi.” See Fifth Provincial. 
 
 P. 285, 1 . 36. Si non fecissem quce alius non fecit. Joh. xv. 24. 
 
 P. 286, 1 . 31. These nuns. The nuns of Tort Royal were called 
 upon to sign the Formula which declared that the Five Propositions 
 were in Jansenius. 
 
 P. 287, I. 4. Vide si via iniquitatis in me cst. Ps. cxxxix. 24. 
 
 P. 287, 1. 15. they are so no longer, i.e. since the miracle. 
 
 P. 288, 1 . 18. Vos autcm non sic. Luc. xxii. 26. 
 
 P. 289, 1. 28. Annat, 1590-1670, a Jesuit priest. Provincial of the 
 Order, and Confessor to Louis XIV., 1654-1670. He wrote the well- 
 known book, Le Rabat-joie des Jansenistes, 1666, and to him were 
 addressed Pascal’s Seventeenth and Eighteenth Provincials. 
 
 P. 290, 1. 9. Montalte. Louis de Montalte was the pseudonym 
 adopted by Pascal as the writer of the Provincial Letters. 
 
 P. 290, 1. 26. A fructibus eorum. Matt. vii. 16. 
 
 P. 291, 1. 6. Lessius, Leonard, a Jesuit born at Brecht, near Antwerp, 
 1554, died 1623, a pupil of Suarez. He was censured by the Faculty 
 of Louvain in 1584. He wrote, among others, a treatise, De licito usu 
 (cquivocationum et mentalium restrictionum. 
 
 P. 2 9 i, 1 9 * Bonny. Pascal in his Eighth Provincial quotes an opinion 
 of Father Bauny on the question of restitution to be made by one who 
 has caused the burning of his neighbour’s barn. 
 
 P. 291, 1. 10. quam primum. A reference to the rule that if a 
 priest personally disqualified from saying Mass on account of any mortal 
 sin is yet obliged to do so for the sake of his parishioners, it is sufficient 
 that he make an act of contrition, and as soon as possible “quamprimum ” 
 seek the Sacrament of Penance. 
 
 P. 292, 1 . 18. State super vias. A partial quotation from Jer. vi. 16. 
 
 P* 2 93 > k 20. Vince in bono malum. Ad Rom. xii. 21. 
 
 Z 
 
338 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 P. 297, 1 . 5. Bibite cx hoc omnes. Matt. xxvi. 27. 
 
 P. 297, 1 . 7. In quo omnes peccaverunt. Ad Rom. v. 12. 
 
 P. 298, 1 . 10. Ne timeas, pusillits grex. Luc. xii. 32. 
 
 P. 298, 1 . 13. Qui me recipii. Matt. x. 40. 
 
 P. 298, 1 . 14. Nemo scit neqite Filins. Luc. x. 22. 
 
 P. 298, 1 . 15. Nubes Incida obumbravit. Matt. xvii. v 
 
 P. 303, 1 . 6. pluspoetice quam humane locutus es. Petronius, c. 90, 
 where the words have not the turn that Pascal here gives them. 
 
 P. 304, 1 . 2. The part that I take in your sorrow. The Chevalier 
 
 de Mere, in his Discours de la Conversation, says, that he had been 
 
 vfitness to a bet, that on opening a letter of condolence the set phrase 
 condemned above would occur, and that the lady to whom the 
 letter was addressed could not help laughing in spite of her distress. 
 Pascal’s note is against writing mere formal phrases which can thus be 
 easily guessed. The Cardinal is Mazarin. 
 
 P. 304, 1 . 9. M. le M. Le Maistre, Antoine, 1608-1658. The 
 allusion is to Lcs Plaidoyers ct Harangues de M. le Maistre, Paris, 
 1657. On the first page of Plaidoyer VI., Pour un fils mis cn religion 
 par force , we find “ Dieu qui repand des aveuglements ct des tenebres 
 stir les passions illegitimes, ” and Pascal probably refers to this passage as 
 one in which the word repandre could not be replaced by verser. 
 
 P. 305, 1 . 23. I judge by my watch. Mile. Perier says, that Pascal 
 always wore a watch attached to his left wrist-band. 
 
 P. 309, 1 . 27. An example may be taken from the circulation of the 
 blood. Apparently taken from Descartes, Discours sur la Methode, pt. 
 v., in which Descartes speaks of Harvey’s discovery. 
 
 P. 309, 1 . 33. M. de Roannez. Gouffier, Due de Roannez, was a 
 friend of Pascal, some seven or eight years younger than he. He was 
 a devoted adherent of Port Royal, and died unmarried. 
 
 P. 312, 1 . 23. Salomon de Tullic. An anagram for Louis de Montalte, 
 see p. 290, 1. 9. 
 
 P. 313, 1 . 11. The story of the pike and frog. This story has 
 hitherto escaped research. 
 
 P 313, 1 . 17. conatus recedendi. Centrifugal force. 
 
 P. 316, 1 . 3. When a strong man armed. Luke xi. 21. 
 
INDEX. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abel and Cain . . . 
 
 Abraham. 
 
 --- stones can become 
 
 children of. 
 
 — promises made to 
 
 — foretold the coining 
 
 the Messiah 
 
 above revelation 
 
 the 
 
 Page 
 
 267 
 
 197 
 
 of 
 
 137 
 
 169 
 
 21 
 
 Absolutions without signs of 
 
 o 
 
 261 
 
 294, 295 
 no, 184 
 
 15 
 
 regret . . . 
 
 Academicians 
 
 Action, we must look beyond 
 the, at our past .... 
 Actions, virtuous, all crimes 
 have found place among 
 Acuteness, loss of . . . . 
 
 Adam.126 
 
 - witness of the Messiah 169,174 
 
 61 
 
 100 
 
 his glorious state 
 tradition from . . , 
 
 the first and the second 
 
 Admiration spoils everything 
 Advent of Jesus Christ. . . 
 
 Advents, the two, characters 
 of each of them .... 
 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 Age, its influence on judgment 
 Agitation, in seeking repose 
 we are only seeking . . . 
 
 Agony of Jesus Christ . . . 
 
 lasts even to the end 
 
 193 
 
 201 
 
 231 
 
 58 
 
 J 33 
 
 132 
 
 1 73 
 
 27 
 
 34 
 
 231 
 
 of the world 
 Alexander, compared to Caesar 
 
 - his chastity .... 
 
 and his successors, fore- 
 
 231 
 
 4 i 
 
 74 
 
 told by Daniel 
 
 working unconsciously 
 
 144 
 
 for the Gospel 
 
 147 
 
 Alexander, Jaddus and 
 Amos, translation of a passage 
 
 in. 
 
 Ananias. 
 
 Animals, mind and instinct of 
 
 Annat, Father. 
 
 Antichrist, his miracles fore¬ 
 told by Jesus Christ. . . 
 
 -he will speak openly 
 
 against God. 
 
 - conclusions we may draw 
 
 from his miracles .... 
 Apocalyptics, the .... 
 Apostles, their miracles . . 
 
 - foresaw heresies . . . 
 
 -gave us the key to inter¬ 
 pretation of the Old Testa¬ 
 ment . 
 
 - hypotheses that they 
 
 were deceived or deceivers . 
 
 - and Exorcists .... 
 
 Apple, 'the golden .... 
 Archesilas, the sceptic . . . 
 
 Archimedes, his greatness . . 
 
 Arians, their doctrine . . . 
 
 Aristotle. 
 
 Arius, the miracles of his time 
 Artisan, an, who dreams . . 
 
 Astrology, folly of ... . 
 
 Atheism, often produced by 
 a false knowledge of the 
 world’s judgment 
 
 -mark of force of mind 
 
 only to a certain degree 
 Atheists, carelessness of, mon¬ 
 strous . 
 
 -two kinds of ... . 
 
 -their reasoning . . . 
 
 Page 
 
 227 
 
 155 
 
 271 
 
 313 
 
 289 
 
 259 
 
 263 
 
 267 
 166 
 
 119 
 
 128 
 
 159 
 
 223 
 
 267 
 
 173 
 
 63 
 
 228 
 
 274 
 
 78 
 
 267 
 
 109 
 
 75 
 
 7 
 
 hi 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
342 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Atheists arc despicable . . 8 
 
 -feelings they should in¬ 
 spire in true Christians . 8, 12 
 -ought to say things per¬ 
 fectly clear.ill 
 
 - their objections against 
 
 the Resurrection .... 223 
 
 -to pity and revile . . 253 
 
 Athens.120 
 
 Atom, man is but an . 5 
 
 Augustin, Saint, quoted . So, 160 
 
 -what he says of miracles 261 
 
 -authority of his opinion 296 
 
 Augustus compared to Julius 
 
 'Caesar.41 
 
 -- what he said on hearing 
 
 of the Massacre of the 
 
 Innocents.221 
 
 Authors, their vanity mis¬ 
 placed .3 j 5 
 
 ■-how to understand the 
 
 meaning of.167 
 
 Babylon, carrying away into . 122 
 
 •-the livers of ... . 243 
 
 Babylonians, the . . . • 127 
 
 Barcoseba.221 
 
 Barjesus.264 
 
 Barreaux, Des.113 
 
 Bauny, Father, quoted. . . 291 
 
 Beatitude, the eighth . . . 252 
 
 Beauty, to love on account of, 
 
 is not love.So 
 
 - certain kind of, which 
 
 suits our nature . . . . 301 
 
 -poetical, what is meant 
 
 by this.3°4 
 
 Belief, three means of . . . 251 
 
 -labour to come to . . 99 
 
 -what should be the rule of 308 
 
 Benedictines, the .... 282 
 
 Bible, the most ancient book . 120 
 
 Birth an advantage ... 7 1 
 
 Blame and praise .... 58 
 
 Blood, circulation of the, taken 
 as an example .... 309 
 
 Bodily functions.31 
 
 Body, relation of, to its mem¬ 
 bers .237 
 
 Bourseys, M.280 
 
 Page 
 
 Brave deeds, which aie the 
 most estimable .... 5^ 
 
 Brisacier, Father .... 282 
 
 Brutes, no admiration for each 
 other.5$ 
 
 Cabala, proofs of Jesus Christ 
 
 by the.1 57 
 
 Caesar, Julius. 147 
 
 -compared to Augustus 
 
 and Alexander .... 41 
 
 Calvin.266 
 
 Calvinists, their errors . . 298 
 
 Canonical books, proved by 
 
 the heretical.289 
 
 Carnal, those who are . . . 242 
 
 Carthusian compared to a 
 
 soldier.74 
 
 Casuists, the faithful cannot 
 reasonably follow their 
 
 maxims.277 
 
 —— cannot assure an erring 
 
 conscience.293 
 
 -with reference to the 
 
 reason and the will . . . 293 
 
 -allow free action to lust. 293 
 
 -their doctrines . . . 295 
 
 Catholics and heretics . . . 267 
 
 Celsus.116,214 
 
 Champaign, taken as a com¬ 
 parison .32 
 
 Chancellor, taken as an ex¬ 
 ample .55 
 
 Chances, doctrine of . 80 
 
 -doctrine of . ,. . . . 98 
 
 Characters, Christian and 
 
 human.245 
 
 Charity and lust .... 128 
 
 -sole aim of the Scripture 170 
 
 -is not a figurative precept 170 
 
 -supernatural distance of 
 
 mind from.227 
 
 -its superiority to minds 
 
 and bodies.228 
 
 -truth without, is but the 
 
 image of God.250 
 
 Charron, estimate of his work 17 
 Children frightened at the face 
 they have daubed ... 57 
 
 China.299 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 China, thoughts on. . . . 115 
 
 -history of.117 
 
 -religion of .... 119 
 
 Chinese, their histories . . 173 
 
 Choice, that we must make a, 
 between belief and unbelief, 
 reasons for each alternative 9S 
 Christ, contradictory predic¬ 
 tions concerning . . . 136 
 
 — promised and awaited 
 from the beginning of the 
 
 world -.197 
 
 -came in the fulness of time 197 
 
 Christianity, in what it con¬ 
 sists .250 
 
 -changes wrought at its 
 
 coming .134 
 
 •-elevates and abases man 187 
 
 Christians astonish .philoso¬ 
 
 phers .43 
 
 — true.,71 
 
 — are the free children of 
 
 God .122 
 
 -should look on them¬ 
 selves as members of a body 237 
 
 -how the example of the 
 
 martyrs touches a true . . 238 
 
 -two kinds of ... . 242 
 
 -there are few true . . 243 
 
 -their hopes are mingled 
 
 with enjoyment and fear . 246 
 
 -- happiness and virtues of 
 
 true .247 
 
 -should unite themselves 
 
 to Jesus Christ in order not 
 '•to be hateful to God . . 247 
 
 -true, submit to folly . 247 
 
 -why they believe with¬ 
 out having read the Gospels 248 
 
 -who believe without proofs 
 
 cannot persuade an infidel, 
 though persuaded themselves 249 
 Church, true justice found in 
 
 the.67 
 
 — prefigured by the Syna¬ 
 gogue .176 
 
 — dangers it has run . . 198 
 
 — the, when persecuted is 
 like a vessel beaten about 
 
 by a storm.211 
 
 343 
 
 Page 
 
 Church, that is a good state of 
 the, in which it is upheld by 
 
 God alone.241 
 
 -her miracles against her 
 
 enemies.266 
 
 -ancient and modern, in¬ 
 fluence of tradition . . . 274 
 
 -comparison of what took 
 
 place in ancient, and now . 275 
 
 -defended by God against 
 
 corruption .277 
 
 •-unity and plurality of the, 
 
 power of the Pope . . . 287 
 
 -judges of men by out¬ 
 ward actions.294 
 
 -powei of the, in con¬ 
 fession, compared to that 
 
 of parliament.294 
 
 -teaches, but God inspires 294 
 
 -discipline of the, needs 
 
 reform.295 
 
 Cicero, false beauties we ad¬ 
 mire in .302 
 
 -quoted .no 
 
 Circumcision only a sign . . 175 
 
 Clearness, why religion does 
 
 not possess it. 3 
 
 Cleobuline, a character in a 
 
 romance.32 
 
 Cleopatra, the nose of . . 60 
 
 Communing, secret, of man 
 
 with himself.46 
 
 Compliments, dislike of . . 315 
 
 Composition of a work . . 302 
 
 Concupiscence, source of all 
 our movements .... 81 
 
 Condition, our desires paint for 
 
 us a happy.74 
 
 Condran, M. de, his opinions 279 
 Condrieu, the grapes of . . 32 
 
 Confession, auricular, defence 
 
 of.85 
 
 -joy and confidence felt 
 
 after.252 
 
 Confessors of the great . . 29 
 
 Conscience, evil done some¬ 
 times by.279 
 
 Contradiction in man 44, 60, 181 
 - does not prove that a 
 
 thing is false.210 
 
344 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Contradiction, apparent, in 
 Scripture, examples . . . 168 
 
 - between different pas¬ 
 sages of Scripture . . . 220 
 
 Contrition is necessary in peni¬ 
 tence, absolution not enough 295 
 Conversion, in what it consists 245 
 
 Copernicus.101 
 
 Corneille, quoted .... 245 
 
 Corruption of nature, one of 
 the establishments of the 
 Christian religion.... 6 
 
 •- of man, proyed by the 
 
 wicked and the Jews . . 191 
 
 - those in, should know it 255 
 
 Covenant, foretold by Daniel 144 
 
 - announced by Scripture 168 
 
 Craft, when power attacks it . 69 
 
 Creatures, we should not at¬ 
 tach ourselves to them . . 240 
 
 Cripples do not irritate us. . 45 
 
 Cromwell, reflections on his 
 
 death ..76 
 
 Cross, by it alone can we be 
 
 saved.187 
 
 Curiosity is mere frivolity . . 60 
 
 Custom, a power .... 69 
 
 - belief arising from . . 77 
 
 - how established, may be 
 
 upset.62 
 
 - the creator of ... 62 
 
 - a second nature which 
 
 destroys the former ... 64 
 
 - must be followed ... 64 
 
 - is our nature .... 65 
 
 - sways the automaton, 
 
 which draws the intellect 
 
 after.77 
 
 - how useful to accustom 
 
 us to truth.77 
 
 - leads to a choice of occu¬ 
 pation .78 
 
 Cypher, types are a, with a 
 
 double sense.158 
 
 --of the Scripture as given 
 
 us by Saint Paul . . . 176 
 
 Cyrus.128,147,151 
 
 Damned, the, condemned by 
 their own reason .... 296 
 
 Page 
 
 Dancing, why pursued ... 35 
 
 Daniel, the seventy weeks of, 
 their calculation . . 133, 143 
 
 — - the little stone of . . 136 
 
 - explanation of the dream 
 
 of Nebuchadnezzar in . . 141 
 
 - vision of the ram and he- 
 
 goat in.142 
 
 - his prophecy . . . . 171 
 
 Darius, King of the Persians . 144 
 
 David, a single phrase of . . 122 
 
 - the kingdom of his race 
 
 foretold by all the prophets 132 
 
 -witness of Christ . . . 140 
 
 - foretold the Messiah . . 170 
 
 Death, to be dreaded by those 
 who are careless of religion 5 
 
 - Montaigne’s opinions on 17 
 
 - fear of.29 
 
 - the thought of, is harder 
 
 to bear than death itself . 38 
 
 - feared Death .... 232 
 
 Degrees, why there are diffe¬ 
 rent, among men .... 56 
 
 Deism, almost as far removed 
 from Christianity as atheism 204 
 Deluge is a miracle . . . . 169 
 
 Democritus, quoted. ... 21 
 
 Demonstration, not the only 
 means of persuasion ... 79 
 
 Demonstrations, not certain 
 that there are true . . . no 
 
 De omni scibili , title of a thesis 
 of Pico della Mirandola . 22 
 
 Desargues, the grapes of . . 32 
 
 Descartes useless and uncertain 304 
 
 - criticism of his opinions 
 
 on the machine . . . . 312 
 
 Despair, knowledge of our 
 wretchedness without that of 
 
 God creates.93 
 
 Devoutness, different to good¬ 
 ness .279 
 
 Devil, the, foubled the zeal 
 
 of the Jews.122 
 
 -what is done by invoca¬ 
 tion of, no miracle . . . 257 
 
 -Jesus Christ destroyed 
 
 the empire of the, over the 
 heart.269 
 
INDEX. 
 
 345 
 
 Page 
 
 Dialogues, the arrangement by 253 
 Disciples and true disciples, 
 difference between . . . 244 
 
 Discourse, natural, inclined to 
 love him who makes a . . 302 
 Discourses on humility . . 76 
 
 Disease, source of error in 
 
 man.54 
 
 Disesteem, the fear we have of, 
 
 of others.44 
 
 Disproportion of man ... 19 
 
 Disputes, ended by miracles . 267 
 
 Diversion.33 
 
 - is all that men can do for 
 
 happiness.34 
 
 - why men seek it . . . 34 
 
 - is the greatest of our 
 
 miseries.38 
 
 - the search for, proves 
 
 that men are not happy. . 38 
 
 - what is meant by . . 255 
 
 Diversity, root of ... . 67 
 
 - and uniformity . . . 283 
 
 Divinity, proof of, by works of 
 
 nature.91 
 
 Docility, too much, is a vice as 
 natural as unbelief . . . 243 
 
 Doctor, the, a character in the 
 
 drama.31 
 
 Doctrine, a test of miracles . 257 
 
 - a false, cannot be proved 
 
 by miracles.264 
 
 Doctrines, a multitude of . . 138 
 
 Dogmatists, their opinion on 
 natural principles.... 106 
 
 Donatists, have no miracles . 261 
 
 Doubt in religion is agreat evil 5 
 Drama, life treated as a . . 75 
 
 Dream, life compared to a . 109 
 
 Duties, divers, owed to divers 
 merits.68 
 
 Eclipses, why it is said they 
 presage misfortune ... 75 
 
 Egyptians, their religion . . 119 
 
 - mean iniquities in the 
 
 Bible.171 
 
 - their histories . . . . 173 
 
 - their conversion foretold 
 
 by Isaiah.175 
 
 Elect, all things work together 
 for good to the .... 
 Elijah and the false prophets 
 Eloquence, continuous, wearies 
 - definition of, to be elo¬ 
 quent we must study the 
 
 heart of man. 
 
 - is painted thought . . 
 
 - there are those who speak 
 
 well and write ill. 
 
 Enemies, what must be under¬ 
 stood by this word in the 
 
 ^ prophecies.164, 
 
 England, King of ... . 
 
 Enquirers and the wise . . 
 
 Epaminondas as an example of 
 valour and humanity 
 
 Epictetus.72, 
 
 - his method of writing . 
 
 Epicureans. 
 
 Epigrams, a maker of . . . 
 
 Equality of goods is just . 
 Error, common, sometimes 
 useful to calm the curiosity 
 
 of man. 
 
 Escobar.275, 
 
 Esdras, the story in 
 
 - discussionon the book of 
 
 Establishment, greatness of . 
 
 Eucharist, the. 
 
 - a type of glory 
 
 - folly of not believing in 
 
 the, reason. 
 
 wholly the body of Jesus 
 
 Page 
 
 129 
 
 267 
 
 39 
 
 301 
 
 301 
 
 O 1 G 
 
 170 
 
 75 
 
 242 
 
 226 
 
 312 
 
 92 
 
 81 
 
 67 
 
 Christ 
 
 Eusebius, quoted on Esdras . 
 Evangelists painted in Jesus 
 Christ an heroic soul 
 Evidence for God, not 
 
 in 
 
 nature 
 
 Evil is easy. 
 
 Examples, those which are 
 taken as proof are often 
 more difficult than what 
 they are meant to prove 
 Exception, troublesome to be 
 an, to the rule .... 
 Excuses sometimes bad . . 
 
 Exorcists, Jewish, beaten by 
 devils. 
 
 312 
 
 280 
 
 126 
 
 126 
 
 79 
 
 165 
 
 170 
 
 224 
 
 299 
 
 127 
 
 222 
 
 92 
 
 59 
 
 308 
 
 271 
 
 315 
 
 264 
 
346 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Experience.26 
 
 Expressions, false and tyranni¬ 
 cal, examples of . . . j . 68 
 
 Ezekiel, spoke evil of Israel, 
 like the heathens .... 289 
 
 Faith, habit of.65 
 
 -- man without, cannot 
 
 know the true good or jus¬ 
 
 tice . . . . 95 
 
 — that we must give up 
 
 pleasure in order to gain . 100 
 
 — wherein it consists 193, 280 
 
 — is not in our power . . 249 
 
 — is a gift of God . . . 250 
 
 -above the senses, but not 
 
 contrary to them .... 250 
 
 •- received at baptism 
 
 source of the whole life of 
 
 the Christian.250 
 
 - embraces contradictory 
 
 truths, why.273 
 
 -Pascal’s 
 
 profession of . 235 
 
 Falsehood, 
 
 man 
 
 is only, 
 
 duplicity, 
 
 and 
 
 contradic- 
 
 tion 
 
 . 
 
 . . . . 76 
 
 Fancy, called feeling by some 309 
 
 Fascination.101,165 
 
 Faults, we should recognise 
 
 them.85 
 
 Fear, to, and not to fear . . 298 
 
 -a true, is born of faith . 252 
 
 -false, comes from doubt. 252 
 
 Feeble souls.289 
 
 Figurative, that the Jewish 
 
 law was.167 
 
 Finite, the, annihilated in 
 
 presence of the infinite . 96 
 
 Flattery, consequent on our 
 desire not to know the truth 86 
 Fly, enough to render man in¬ 
 capable of sound judgment 27 
 Fool, a man believes he is a, 
 by dint of telling him so . 46 
 
 Forms, their value ...» 280 
 
 Foundation, supernatural of our 286 
 
 -of our faith . . . . 115 
 
 France.56 
 
 Francis Xavier, Saint . . . 27S 
 
 Frenchman, the.80 
 
 Page 
 
 Friend, important to have a 
 true, and to choose him well 315 
 Friendship only exists by con¬ 
 cealment of truth .... 86 
 
 Frivolity of the world, little 
 
 known.41 
 
 Fronde, injustice of the . . 07 
 
 Fundamentals, chapter on . 255 
 
 Future, our thoughts occupied 
 with the.73 
 
 Galilee, the word, pronounced 
 by chance, caused the ac¬ 
 complishment of a mystery 218 
 Genealogies, the two, of Jesus 
 
 Christ.125 
 
 Genealogy of Jesus Christ in 
 Old Testament designedly 
 mixed with others . . . 220 
 
 Gentiles, their conversion fore¬ 
 told by Jesus Christ . 136, 214 
 
 -prophecy of Isaiah on 
 
 conversion of ... 147, 148 
 —— conversion of the, reserved 
 for the grace of the Messiah . 218 
 
 Gentlemen, we never teach 
 
 men to be.78 
 
 ——■ universal quality to be . 79 
 
 Germans, the.61 
 
 Glory, the search after, is a 
 mark of the vileness and ex¬ 
 cellence of man .... 44 
 
 -sweetness of ... . 59 
 
 God, a, who hideth himself . 3 
 
 -the greatest sensible mark 
 
 of the power of ... . 19 
 
 -unites in himself two in¬ 
 finites .22 
 
 -in, alone is our happi¬ 
 ness .39 
 
 --the, of the Christians, 
 
 who he is.92 
 
 -dangers which those run 
 
 who seek, apart from Jesus 
 
 Christ.93 
 
 -of Christians the only 
 
 good, the only rest of the 
 soul is in him .... 93 
 
 -we may well know', with¬ 
 out knowing what he. is. . 97 
 
INDEX . 347 
 
 Page 
 
 God, that there is less risk in 
 wagering that there is a, 
 than that there is not . . 98 
 
 -man without, is in igno¬ 
 rance and misery . . . . 104 
 
 -of the philosophers . . ill 
 
 -man of himself cannot 
 
 come to.114 
 
 -alone is master of the 
 
 Jews.122 
 
 -foresaw heresies . . . 12S 
 
 -sometimes spoke by 
 
 figures.160 
 
 -the power of, shown by 
 
 his conduct to Jewish people 161 
 -idea of, that the true re¬ 
 ligion should present . . 179 
 
 - the Christian religion 
 
 commands that we should 
 love and follow . . . . 182 
 
 --that in spite of our vile¬ 
 ness it is not incredible that, 
 should unite himself to us . 185 
 
 -- reveals himself to, and 
 
 hides himself from man . 193 
 
 --infinite, without parrs . 205 
 
 -if, is the end he is the 
 
 beginning.206 
 
 -why, was hidden in his 
 
 first advent.207 
 
 -that, willed to hide him¬ 
 self, and that the religion 
 which says so is true . . 208 
 
 -chooses rather to sway 
 
 the will than the intellect . 208 
 
 -why, has permitted many 
 
 religions to exist . . . . 212 
 
 - impossible and useless 
 
 to know, without Jesus 
 
 Christ.226 
 
 -speaks rightly of God . 227 
 
 -we must love, only . . 238 
 
 -we should spend our life 
 
 either in pleasing or in seek¬ 
 ing .240 
 
 •- exercises at once his 
 
 mercy and his judgment to 
 
 the world.241 
 
 -has come to bring war 
 
 among men.246 
 
 Page 
 
 God, what is pleasing to, is 
 usually displeasing to man . 246 
 
 -forbids some things im¬ 
 plicitly, and not explicitly . 247 
 
 -can alone give faith to 
 
 Christians.249 
 
 -knowledge and love of . 252 
 
 -cannot lead men into 
 
 error by miracles . . . 263 
 
 -cannot favour a doctrine 
 
 which destroys the Church . 269 
 
 - foretold the disorders 
 
 which the Church would. 
 
 undergo.278 
 
 -heals those who know 
 
 him.280 
 
 -no sign ever given by 
 
 Devil without a stronger 
 sign on the part of . . . 286 
 
 -the heart is conscious of, 
 
 not the reason .... 307 
 
 Good, almost unique ... 59 
 
 -philosopher's do not know 
 
 what is the true . . . . 181 
 
 -and evil, meaning of the 
 
 words.192 
 
 Good birth, its advantages . 68 
 
 Good breeding.271 
 
 Good sense, argument against 
 
 scepticism.no 
 
 Gospel, prophecies cited in the, 
 
 their use.133 
 
 -the kings of old worked 
 
 unconsciously for the glory 
 
 of the.147 
 
 — figures of the, their appli¬ 
 cation .160 
 
 • -all the, has reference to 
 
 Jesus Christ.226 
 
 Grace, its action on man . . 108 
 
 -the figure of glory . . 161 
 
 -law, and nature . . . 250 
 
 -needed to make a man a 
 
 saint.296 
 
 • -opposed to nature . . 296 
 
 Grandeur to be felt must be 
 
 abandoned.40 
 
 Great men and little have the 
 same accidents .... 75 
 
 -are allied to the people 74 
 
34§ 
 
 INDEX . 
 
 Page 
 
 Greatness, infinity of, most 
 obvious to the senses . 21 
 
 --and littleness of man . 43 
 
 -of man consists in know¬ 
 ing he is miserable ... 47 
 
 -of man even in sensuality 69 
 
 -of the human soul consists 
 
 in knowing how to keep the 
 mean ••••••• 
 
 —■ has no lustre for those 
 
 76 
 
 Page 
 
 Herod .... 147, 218, 221 
 
 Hesiod, the book of . . . 121 
 Hilary, Saint . . . . 127, 278 
 History, all that is not con¬ 
 temporaneous is open to 
 
 suspicion.174 
 
 Holy Sacrament, Catholic and 
 heretical doctrines on . . 274 
 
 HolyThorn, the miracle of the 257 
 -conclusion to be drawn 
 
 who seek understanding 
 
 . 227 
 
 from the miracle of the . 
 
 269 
 
 Greece. 
 
 
 Homer, quoted. 
 
 120 
 
 Greek legislators 
 
 . 121 
 
 Homer’s writings romances . 
 
 173 
 
 C 3 reeks . 
 
 197, 222 
 
 Huguenots, their errors con- 
 
 
 Grotius. 
 
 . 140 
 
 cerning the Pope . . . 
 
 Hunting, sought for the diver- 
 
 288 
 
 Haggai, his prophecy . 
 
 . 156 
 
 sion . 
 
 34 
 
 Happiness of man, in what 
 
 it 
 
 - is a royal sport . . . 
 
 35 
 
 consists 
 
 — all men seek 
 
 49 
 95 
 
 — there was once in man 
 
 a true.95 
 
 —■ of man with God ... 89 
 
 common aim of ordinary 
 
 men and of saints, but their 
 ideals are different . . . 244 
 
 Happy, why man cannot be . 74 
 
 Hatred of self necessary . . . 238 
 
 -thetrueand only virtue 240 
 
 Heart and reason, comparison 
 between actions of . 307 
 
 -those who judge by the, 
 
 do not understand the pro¬ 
 cess of reasoning .... 308 
 
 -the, we know truth by, 
 
 as well as by reason . . . 102 
 
 -believes for its own reasons 307 
 
 Heat, what it is . . . . 313 
 
 Hebrews, the, their manner of 
 
 counting.144 
 
 Heel of a slipper .... 58 
 
 Hell, fear of.100 
 
 Heresies, the source of all . 273 
 
 -tha way to hinder . . 274 
 
 -various.297 
 
 -foreseen by God . . .128 
 
 Heresy, exclusion of a truth a 
 
 source of.274 
 
 Heretics, the Jesuits hinder 
 their conversion .... 281 
 
 “ I,” the, consists in my 
 
 thought.76 
 
 -where does it reside . 80 
 
 -- each, the enemy of all 
 
 others.84 
 
 Identity of number and matter 299 
 Ignorance, natural, is the 
 best wisdom of man 
 -of man. 
 
 Iliad, the. 
 
 Illusion, all men under an 
 Imaginary life, the 
 Imagination, deceptive power 
 
 of the. 
 
 - faculty of ... 
 
 - described .... 
 
 - great complacency of the 
 
 active 
 
 enlarges 
 
 little objects 
 
 and belittles the great 
 cords of 
 
 Immortality of the soul, im 
 portance to be sure of this 
 Impiety, ill-bred people only 
 incapable of ... 
 Impressions, old, man de 
 
 ceived by. 
 
 Inability of man to attain good 
 Incapacity to prove truth . 
 Incarnation, the, shows man 
 the greatness of his misery 
 
 83 
 
 104 
 
 173 
 
 71 
 
 58 
 
 51 
 
 51 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 56 
 
 56 
 
 101 
 
 8 
 
 54 
 
 95 
 
 109 
 
 1S8 
 
INDEX . 
 
 349 
 
 Page 
 
 Incomprehensible, things which 
 
 appear such.205 
 
 Inconstancy of man .... 26 
 
 -its causes.31 
 
 -examples of ... . 79 
 
 Indifference, unfairness of men 
 who live in, as to the truth 9 
 Indifferent, the, in religion 
 not to be despised ... 8 
 
 Indulgences.274 
 
 Inequality is necessary among 
 men, but opens the door to 
 
 tyranny.68 
 
 Infallibility would be a strange 
 
 miracle ..288 
 
 Infinite, nothing.96 
 
 - ignorant of the nature 
 
 of the, and why .... 96 
 
 Injustice of self-love . . . 239 
 
 - that others should attach 
 
 themselves to us . . . . 240 
 
 - letter on.254 
 
 Innocents, Massacre of the . 221 
 
 Inquisition, the, and the So¬ 
 ciety .284 
 
 Insensibility of man ... 12 
 
 Instability.101 
 
 Instinct and experience . . 26 
 
 -we have an, which raises us 44 
 
 - and reason, marks of 
 
 two natures. 44 
 
 Intellect, the, believes naturally 7 7 
 
 Intelligence, place of human, 
 in the order of intelligible 
 
 things.22 
 
 Interest, our own, is a source 
 
 of error. 54 
 
 Irenseus, Saint.127 
 
 Isaac. 197 
 
 Isaiah, translation of a pas¬ 
 sage of. 147 
 
 - translation of several 
 
 prophecies of.15° 
 
 - foretold the Messiah . 154 
 
 - foretold that miracles 
 
 would not be believed . . 258 
 
 Italy.120, 148 
 
 Jacob. I2 6 
 
 - his death-bed prophecy 140 
 
 Pagf: 
 
 Jacob foretold the coming of 
 
 Jesus Christ.197 
 
 Jaddus.227 
 
 Jansenists, and the ancient 
 saints ....... 275 
 
 - heretics, and Jesuits . 296 
 
 Jansenius.268 
 
 Jeremiah, his prophecy con¬ 
 
 cerning the reprobation of 
 the Temple and the sacrifices 149 
 
 - and Hananiah . . . 267 
 
 - explanation of a word in 270 
 
 Jesuits and Jansenists . . . 273 
 
 - destroy the three notes 
 
 of religion.275 
 
 - are like heretics . . . 275 
 
 - corrupt the laws of the 
 
 Church.276 
 
 - corrupt religion . . . 277 
 
 - compared to false pro¬ 
 phets .27S 
 
 - their injustice and hypo¬ 
 crisy .278 
 
 - their hardness greater 
 
 than that of the Jews . . 279 
 
 - vanity of the .... 280 
 
 - in corrupting their judges 
 
 they make them unjust . . 282 
 
 - given up to the spirit of 
 
 lying.282 
 
 - ; exaggerated notion they 
 
 have of their importance . 285 
 
 - it is good that their 
 
 deeds should be unjust . . 287 
 
 - their lax opinions dis¬ 
 pleasing because they have 
 exceeded all bounds . . . 290 
 
 - duplicity of the . . . 292 
 
 - have abandoned the old 
 
 rules and follow reason, 
 compared to the unbelieving 
 
 Jews.292 
 
 Jesus Christ, redemption by, 
 one of the fundamentals of 
 
 religion. 6 
 
 - apart from, man has no 
 
 communion with God . . 91 
 
 - the goal of all, and the 
 
 centre to which all tends . 9 2 
 
 - knowledge of ... . 93 
 
35° 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Jesus Christ, difference be¬ 
 tween, and Mahomet . . 116 
 
 -- no man can do what, did 116 
 
 -- foretold by the Jewish 
 
 people.122 
 
 -- used the order of charity, 
 
 not of the intellect . . . 12S 
 
 -- foretold and announced 
 
 by prophecies.131 
 
 - small in his beginnings . 136 
 
 - betrayed.140 
 
 •- foretold as to the time 
 
 and the state of the world . 147 
 
 - has given us the inter¬ 
 pretation of the Old Testa¬ 
 ment cipher.159 
 
 - prefigured by Joseph . 164 
 
 - in, all dissonances of 
 
 Scripture are brought to 
 
 harmony.167 
 
 - according to carnal 
 
 Christians.172 
 
 - announced by Adam . 174 
 
 - proofs of the divinity of 213 
 
 - came with all the cir¬ 
 cumstances foretold . . . 213 
 
 - no man has had so great 
 
 renown, none enjoyed it less 214 
 
 - all the glory of, for our 
 
 sakes, to enable us to re¬ 
 cognise him .214 
 
 - the office of .... 214 
 
 - foretold and foreteller . 215 
 
 - why, did not come in a 
 
 visible manner, why in figures 216 
 
 — has come to sanctify and 
 
 to blind.216 
 
 — we can have nothing but 
 
 veneration for.216 
 
 —■ special prophecies re¬ 
 garding .217 
 
 — is the more to be loved 
 
 in not having done as the 
 rabbis said . . . , . . 219 
 
 — not known by contem¬ 
 porary writers.221 
 
 — clearness and simplicity 
 
 of the language of 222 
 
 — why, was weak in his 
 
 agony.222 
 
 Jesus Christ, centre of the two 
 
 Testaments. 
 
 -has made known to men 
 
 their misery, and given the 
 remedy. 
 
 • - greatness and lowliness of 
 
 - for all . . * . . . 
 
 -- compared to Moses . . 
 
 - the redeemer of all . 
 
 - would not have the testi¬ 
 mony of devils .... 
 
 - why he would be put to 
 
 death with the forms of justice 
 
 - leaves the wicked in their 
 
 blindness. 
 
 - alone in his agony . 
 
 —— only once complained . 
 
 ■- considered in all persons 
 
 and in ourselves .... 
 
 - how, gives himself in 
 
 communion. 
 
 - words of, to man 
 
 - has adopted our sins, and 
 
 admitted us into covenant 
 with him. 
 
 * - worked miracles as wit¬ 
 
 nesses of the prophecies 
 - has verified by his mira¬ 
 cles that he was the Messiah 
 
 - without the miracles not 
 
 blameworthy not to believe 
 
 in.. . 
 
 - the two natures of, source 
 
 of contradictions .... 
 —-— all faith consists in, and 
 
 in Adam. 
 
 - came to bring war . 
 
 - a stone of stumbling 
 
 - never condemned with¬ 
 out a hearing. 
 
 - appeal to his tribunal 
 
 from that of the Pope . . 
 
 - did not die for all, heresy 
 
 of. 
 
 Jews, their situation in the 
 midst of the world . . . 
 
 - their expectation of a 
 
 Redeemer. 
 
 - the most ancient nation 
 
 known to men .... 
 
 Page 
 
 226 
 
 226 
 
 228 
 
 229 
 
 229 
 
 230 
 
 230 
 
 230 
 
 230 
 
 231 
 231 
 
 234 
 
 234 
 
 235 
 
 247 
 
 261 
 
 262 
 
 270 
 
 273 
 
 280 
 
 281 
 283 
 
 283 
 
 284 
 296 
 
 119 
 
 120 
 120 
 
INDEX. 
 
 351 
 
 Page 
 
 Jews, sprung from one manonly 120 
 
 -declared that all the world 
 
 is in error.121 
 
 - were slaves of sin . . 122 
 
 - their dispersion, bore the 
 
 prophecies into all regions 
 
 of the world.131 
 
 - were a carnal people . 162 
 
 - their religion the true . 162 
 
 - the prophecies interpre¬ 
 ted by the, according to their 
 carnal instincts . . . . 163 
 
 - their refusal of Christ 
 
 has given an additional mark 
 
 of him.164 
 
 - theirexplanationofScrip- 
 
 ture defective.167 
 
 - type of the chosen people 169 
 
 - loved the shadow and 
 
 misunderstood the substance 170 
 -hold a midway place be¬ 
 tween Christians and pagans 172 
 
 - two kinds of . . . . 172 
 
 - antiquity of the . . . 173 
 
 - sincerity of the, proved 
 
 by the care with which they 
 preserved the Bible . . . 173 
 
 -formed to serve as wit¬ 
 nesses of the Messiah . . 174 
 
 - prove Christianity by 
 
 their present condition . . 191 
 
 - the religion of the true, is 
 
 the same as that of Christians 198 
 - in slaying Messiah af¬ 
 forded a final proof of him . 218 
 
 -their perpetuity and miser¬ 
 able state prove Jesus Christ 219 
 
 -their second destruction 
 
 will never end .... 220 
 
 -bound to believe the 
 
 miracles of Jesus Christ . 263 
 
 - the hardness of the 
 
 Jesuits surpasses that of the 279 
 Job knew the misery of man . 45 
 
 - the book of, regards 
 
 Jesus Christ as centre and 
 
 object.213 
 
 John Baptist, Saint . 140, 230 
 
 - and Jesus Christ . . . 201 
 
 Jonah, a sign of the resurrection 2 66 
 
 Joseph, son of Jacob, ordered 
 that he should not be buried 
 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Josephus on the Jewish law . 
 Joshua, the first of God’s 
 people who had this name . 
 Judas, Jesus did not regard in, 
 
 his enmity. 
 
 Judge, authority of the 
 Judgment, instability of the . 
 - confusion of the judg¬ 
 ment of man. 
 
 -and the intellect . 
 
 Justice, what is the essence of 
 
 - what is. 
 
 - of God. 
 
 - influenced by imagina¬ 
 tion and the passions 
 
 - and truth, man cannot 
 
 attain them. 
 
 - man is ignorant of . 
 
 - changes with the climate 
 
 - human is not the true 
 
 justice. 
 
 - is what is established . 
 
 - the false, of Pilate . . 
 
 - of God, which abases the 
 
 pride of man. 
 
 Just man, takes for himself 
 nothing of the world . . 
 
 -compared to Abraham . 
 
 - acts by tfaith in the 
 
 smallest things .... 
 - takes part only in un¬ 
 pleasant things .... 
 
 King without diversion is full 
 
 of miseries. 
 
 - man a discrowned . 
 
 - whence comes the respect 
 
 paid a. 
 
 - on what the power of a, 
 
 is based. 
 
 -and tyrant. 
 
 - what is the happiness of a 
 
 Kingships, duchies, and magis¬ 
 tracies real and necessary . 
 Knowledge of God our only 
 
 good.. 
 
 - intuitive, where it leads us 
 
 Page 
 
 141 
 
 120 
 
 213 
 
 232 
 
 65 
 
 27 
 
 O- 
 
 307 
 
 62 
 
 67 
 
 96 
 
 53 
 
 54 
 
 61 
 
 61 
 
 62 
 64 
 
 234 
 
 241 
 
 244 
 
 244 
 
 2-14 
 
 244 
 
 40 
 
 47 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 72 
 
 34 
 
 76 
 
 96 
 
 19 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Knowledge, we should have of 
 
 ourselves.ioi 
 
 Koran, foundation of the 
 
 Mahomedan religion . . 11 5 
 
 - and St. Matthew . . 116 
 
 Lacedtemon.120 
 
 Lacedemonians.238 
 
 Lamech.126, 197 
 
 Language, examples of too 
 
 careful.304 
 
 Latins.197 
 
 Latitude, three degrees of. . 61 
 
 Law, instance in which the, 
 was justly violated . . . 297 
 
 - of the Jews, served as 
 
 model for the best laws of 
 
 antiquity.121 
 
 -severe and rigorous 
 
 as to religious worship . . 121 
 
 -is figurative . . 167 
 
 •- Christian, foretold by 
 
 the prophets.135 
 
 - and grace.250 
 
 - and nature.250 
 
 Laws, natural, there is not a 
 isngle universal .... 61 
 
 - why we follow ancient . 67 
 
 Lessius.291 
 
 Letters, arrangement by . . 253 
 
 Liancourt, the frog and the 
 pike of . . . . . . . 313 
 
 Liars, some are, simply for 
 
 lying’s sake.77 
 
 Life, the frailest thing in the 
 
 world.12 
 
 - its short duration . . 28 
 
 - the last act of. . . . 75 
 
 - a perpetual illusion . . 86 
 
 - compared to a dream . 105 
 
 - religious, both easy and 
 
 difficult.248 
 
 Lingende, Father .... 267 
 
 Littleness of man, what we call 
 nature in animals is . . 47 
 
 Logicians.65 
 
 Love, why it changes its object 32 
 
 - shows the frivolity of man 60 
 
 - representation of, at the 
 
 theatre ....... 248 
 
 Page 
 
 Love, source of faith . . . 289 
 Lust, threefold division of. . 243 
 
 - the three kinds of, have 
 
 made three sects . . . . 113 
 I.lists, compared to three rivers 243 
 Lute, to be skilled in playing 
 
 the.72 
 
 Machine, letter which shows 
 the use of proofs by the . 254 
 
 - of Descartes ; defects of 
 
 this hypothesis . . . . 312 
 
 - the calculating, com¬ 
 pared to animals . . . . 313 
 
 Macrobius.221 
 
 Mad, men are of necessity . 78 
 
 Magistrate, taken as an ex¬ 
 ample of influence of im¬ 
 agination .5 2 
 
 - the pomp with which 
 
 they are surrounded ... 53 
 
 Mahomet, the soldiers of . . 65 
 
 - thoughts on . . . . 115 
 
 - foundation of his religion 115 
 
 - difference between J esus 
 
 Christ and.116 
 
 •- forbade reading . . . 116 
 
 - renders testimony to 
 
 himself.116 
 
 - his doctrine is ridiculous 117 
 
 - religion of.119 
 
 Maimonides, Moses . . . 157 
 
 Malchus.235 
 
 Man, his ignorance .... 5 
 
 —— his destiny. 6 
 
 - unfairness of, in living 
 
 indifferent to Religion . . 9 
 
 - blindness of ... 12 
 
 - worthlessness of . . . 13 
 
 ■- comparison between, and 
 
 nature . .... 19 
 
 - presumption of, in wish¬ 
 ing to know nature ... 21 
 
 - thinks he is able to com¬ 
 prehend the infinitely little . 22 
 
 - must not look for cer¬ 
 tainty or stability ... 23 
 
 - in order to know himself 
 
 should know all that is in 
 relation to him .... 24 
 
INDEX 
 
 353 
 
 Page 
 
 Man, the two natures of, bodily 
 and spiritual, excludes us 
 from the knowledge of nature 24 
 
 - stamps with his complex 
 
 being all simple things . . 25 
 
 - twofold manner of con¬ 
 sidering the nature of . . 26 
 
 - nature has placed, in the 
 
 centre of things .... 26 
 
 - all is fatal to, even those 
 
 things made to serve him . 31 
 
 - whence comes his happi¬ 
 
 ness .33 
 
 — is surrounded with all 
 that may divert him ... 37 
 
 — cannot think of two 
 
 things at once.38 
 
 — seeks diversion as a re¬ 
 
 medy for his evils ... 39 
 
 - knows not in what rank 
 
 to place himself .... 43 
 
 - cannot bear to be de- 
 
 pised.42 
 
 -vileness of, in that he 
 
 submits himself to the brates 44 
 
 - neither angel nor brute . 45 
 
 - should know his great¬ 
 ness and his vileness, but 
 not one without the other . 45 
 
 - is only happy in God, 
 
 yet is contrary to God . . 45 
 
 - is only a reed, but a reed 
 
 which thinks.46 
 
 - has fallen from a better 
 
 nature.47 
 
 — whole dignity of, lies in 
 
 thought.48 
 
 — what he should desire . 48 
 
 — is ignorant of true justice 61 
 
 -is incapable of truth and 
 
 of goodness.66 
 
 - is full of wants, and cares 
 
 only for those who can 
 
 satisfy them.75 
 
 - the honourable ... 75 
 
 - is not a necessary being 76 
 
 - automatic as well as 
 
 intellectual.77 
 
 - only disguise, falsehood, 
 
 and hypocrisy.87 
 
 Page 
 
 Man, his defects and his in¬ 
 capacity.106 
 
 -that he has fallen from his 
 
 former state.108 
 
 - is full of matters which 
 
 take him out of self . . . 113 
 
 - ordinary life of, like that 
 
 of the saints . . . . . 561 
 
 - can be happy only in 
 
 loving God and in union 
 
 with him.179 
 
 - moral diseases of. . . 181 
 
 - isolation, blindness, and 
 
 misery of.183 
 
 - double nature of . . . 185 
 
 - should know his defects, 
 
 and esteem that religion 
 which promises precious 
 
 remedies.. 185 
 
 - should conform his senti¬ 
 ments to religion .... 186 
 
 - his two states of grace 
 
 and corruption proved from 
 
 Scripture.191 
 
 - his dignity while inno¬ 
 cent and now.194 
 
 - without Jesus Christ is 
 
 in vice and misery . . . 226 
 
 - before Jesus Christ knew 
 
 nothing of himself . . . 22-6 
 
 -is not worthy of God, 
 
 but not incapable of being 
 rendered worthy .... 227 
 
 -often mistakes his imagi¬ 
 nation for his heart . . . 308 
 
 -cannot understand certain 
 
 effects of nature . . . . 313 
 
 Martial.81 
 
 Marton.192 
 
 Martyrs, why the example of 
 their deaths touches us . . 238 
 
 Masorah, the. ... . . 123 
 
 Mathematics and the practical 
 
 mind.310 
 
 Matter cannot know itself. . 24 
 
 Mediator, God cannot be 
 known without a. . . . 92 
 
 -without a, there can be 
 
 no communion between God 
 and man.245 
 
 A A 
 
354 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Mediocrity, nothing good but 76 
 Mem, discussion on the subject 166 
 Members, relation of the, to 
 
 the body ...... 237 
 
 -the body formed of think¬ 
 ing . 2 37 
 
 -must have the same will 
 
 as the body.239 
 
 Memory is necessary for every 
 operation of the reason . . 309 
 
 Men, naturally hate each other 7 ° 
 
 -epigram upon one-eyed. 81 
 
 Mercy of God, its greatness . 208 
 
 -calls to repentance . . 241 
 
 -why we implore . . . 241 
 
 Merit, man’s judgment of . . 192 
 
 -an ambiguous word . . 297 
 
 Messiah, that the, should 
 mould a new people by his 
 
 spirit. 122 
 
 -effect and tokens of the 
 
 coming of the. 135 
 
 -that the, would convert 
 
 the Gentiles and cast down 
 
 all idols. 
 
 -what the rabbis expected 
 
 ofhim.. 1 57 
 
 -that, would deliver his 
 
 people from their enemies, 
 what this means .... 17° 
 
 -the carnal Jews’ under¬ 
 standing as to the . . • I 7 2 
 
 -actual state of the Jews 
 
 proves Jesus Christ the true 191 
 Mexico, the historians of . . 118 
 
 Millenarians, their extrava¬ 
 gances .!66 
 
 Mind and body, union of, a 
 mystery to man .... 25 
 
 Mind, infinite distance between 
 
 body and.227 
 
 Mine, thine.68 
 
 Miracles, in general . . . 257 
 
 -all belief rests on . . . 17 1 
 
 -strengthen faith . . . 210 
 
 -not needed to prove that 
 
 we must love God . . . 241 
 
 -the importance of, rules 
 
 to recognise them . . . 257 
 
 -are the test of doctrine . 257 
 
 Page 
 
 Miracles, unbelief in, foretold 258 
 
 -that the existence of falser 
 
 proves that there are true . 259 
 
 - Jesus Christ verified that 
 
 he was the Messiah by his . 262 
 
 -of Jesus Christ and the 
 
 apostles prove that the 
 prophecies are accomplished 262 
 
 -never wrought in favour 
 
 of error._ • 263 
 
 -when we are justified in 
 
 excluding certain .... 265 
 
 -are the test in doubtful 
 
 matters.266 
 
 •-against miracle . . . 266 
 
 --of Port Royal prove the 
 
 innocency of that house . . 279 
 
 -not much to be feared 
 
 among schismatics . . . 286 
 
 Misery of man without God . 15 
 
 -man is only happy in not 
 
 thinking of his .... 38 
 
 -diversion is our greatest. 38 
 
 Mites, taken as an example . 20 
 
 Miton.12, 84 
 
 Molina.276, 291 
 
 Monks, their position in the 
 world foolish.282 
 
 Monster, man is an incompre¬ 
 hensible .46 
 
 Montaigne, his defects and 
 
 qualities.17 
 
 -his opinion on custom . 64 
 
 -for and against miracles 258 
 
 Morality, in what it consists . 193 
 
 -of the judgment and of 
 
 the intellect.307 
 
 Morals, science of ... . 82 
 
 -Jesuits judge of their faith 
 
 by their.290 
 
 -a special but universal 
 
 science.292 
 
 Moses commanded every one 
 to read his books . . . . 115 
 
 -a man of genius . . . 125 
 
 -the proof of the truth of. 125 
 
 -foretold the calling of the 
 
 Gentiles and the reproba¬ 
 tion of the Jews .... 140 
 
 -his teaching .... 140 
 
INDEX. 
 
 355 
 
 Moses, his declarations against 
 
 the Jews. 
 
 -his mystical sense of the 
 
 Creation. 
 
 - compared with Jesus 
 
 Christ. 
 
 - his rules for judging 
 
 miracles. 
 
 Motion, our nature exists by . 
 
 Page 
 
 173 
 
 174 
 229 
 
 257 
 
 73 
 
 Natural principles are but 
 principles of custom . . . 
 
 Nature offers nothing but mat¬ 
 ter for doubt and disquiet . 
 
 - comparison between 
 
 Scriptures and .... 
 
 - is an image of grace. . 
 
 -- perfections and defects of 
 
 -canonical writers have 
 
 never employed, to prove 
 
 God. 
 
 -- law, and grace . . . 
 
 —— use of bad reasons for 
 proving effects of. . . . 
 
 - the feelings and language 
 
 of atheists contrary to . . 
 
 - man should consider, 
 
 seriously and at leisure . . 
 
 - majesty and greatness of 
 
 -greatness in the infinitely 
 
 little. 
 
 - has her double infinity 
 
 from author of .... 
 
 - immobility of, compared 
 
 to us. . . . . . . . 
 
 - reasons why man cannot 
 
 know. 
 
 - of man a continual change 
 
 - is not always subject to 
 
 her own rules. 
 
 - imitates herself . . . 
 
 Nebuchadnezzar, dream of . 
 Nicodemus recognised Jesus 
 Christ by his miracles . 
 
 - the answer of, to the 
 
 Pharisees. 
 
 Ninevites, repentance of . . 
 
 Noah, witness of the Messiah 
 
 64 
 
 104 
 
 128 
 
 161 
 
 192 
 
 2015 
 
 250 
 
 309 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 19 
 
 20 
 
 21 
 
 24 
 
 25 
 63 
 
 83 
 
 83 
 
 141 
 
 262 
 
 270 
 
 241 
 
 169 
 
 Office of Jesus Christ . . . 214 
 Offices, why men seek them 33, 34 
 
 Old Testament, a cipher . . 
 
 Opinion, queen of the world . 
 Opinions of the people sound . 
 Organs, men compared to. . 
 
 Order, against the objection 
 that the Scripture has no . 
 
 - ofcharityandtheintellect 
 
 Outward marks, men distin¬ 
 guished by them .... 
 
 Pain, not shameful to man to 
 
 yield to. 
 
 Painting, foolishness of . . 
 
 Parrot, as an example . . . 
 
 Parties, we should hear both . 
 Passions, their influence on 
 man .... 
 
 - the pleasure of, in seeing 
 
 the shock of two contraries 
 
 - of the soul trouble the 
 
 senses . 
 
 •- internecine war between 
 
 reason and the .... 
 
 - the enemies of man . . 
 
 - how they become vices . 
 
 Pattern, good and bad . . . 
 
 Paul, Saint, used the order of 
 charity, not of the intellect 
 
 - taught that all things had 
 
 happened in figures . . . 
 
 -explanation of Old Testa¬ 
 ment. types by. 
 
 - his opinions on marriage 
 
 Paulus Emilius, an example . 
 Peace, the sovereign good, 
 result of coalescence of jus¬ 
 tice and power .... 
 
 - should not be observed 
 
 to the prejudice of truth 
 -- in the Church, when per¬ 
 nicious and unjust . . . 
 
 Pelagians and Catholics will 
 
 always exist. 
 
 Penances, exterior and interior 
 - exterior, dispose to in¬ 
 terior . 
 
 People, most, follow custom 
 because they think it just . 
 
 - dangerous to. say to, that 
 
 laws are not just .... 
 
 Page 
 
 11 7 
 
 54 
 
 70 
 
 26 
 
 128 
 
 128 
 
 70 
 
 30 
 3 H 
 
 3 1 
 283 
 
 3 i 
 
 39 
 
 5 i 
 
 55 
 
 169 
 
 244 
 
 302 
 
 128 
 
 169 
 
 176 
 
 176 
 
 47 
 
 67 
 
 279 
 
 281 
 
 296 
 
 134 
 
 134 
 
 64 
 
 65 
 
3.0 
 
 INDEX . 
 
 Page 
 
 People have very sound opin¬ 
 ions . • 7 ° 
 
 Perpetuity of the worship of 
 
 the Messiah. 21 3 
 
 - of the Jewish law pre¬ 
 served by Jesus Christ . • 213 
 
 Perseus, King of Macedon . 47 
 
 Persians, the . . • • • / ^ 1 
 
 Persons, three kinds of, in 
 
 religion. I ° I 
 
 Pharaoh, magicians of. . • 2 °7 
 
 Philosophers, they speak of 
 material things in spiritual 
 phrase-and vice versd . • 25 
 
 - do not know our nature 
 
 when they blame the search 
 
 after diversion. 34 
 
 - falsity of those, who do 
 
 not discuss the immortality 
 
 of the soul. 111 
 
 -- against those, who be¬ 
 lieve in God without Jesus 
 
 Christ.*** 
 
 -- their weakness . .179,100 
 
 -- have consecrated vices . 189 
 
 Philosophy, human, incapable 
 
 of explaining man . . • 106 
 
 Pictures, rules for perspective 27 
 Piety, differs from superstition 251 
 
 Plato. 2 54 
 
 Play, why sought after . . 33 
 
 •-remarks on • 35 
 
 Pleasure, shameful to man to 
 
 yield to. 
 
 Poet, the trade of a ... 
 Poland, the king of ... 
 Portentum , meaning of the 
 
 word. 
 
 Pompey .••••;• 
 Pope, whence he has his light 
 
 -his power in the Church 
 
 to be considered in two ways 
 -may easily be taken un¬ 
 awares by the Jesuits . . 
 
 Porphyry. 
 
 Port Royal, children of . . 
 
 -bad policy to dissolve the 
 
 community of .... 
 Power, tyrant of the world . 
 -creates opinion . » 
 
 30 
 
 79 
 
 75 
 
 270 
 
 147 
 
 276 
 
 288 
 
 28S 
 
 116 
 
 58 
 
 284 
 
 55 
 
 56 
 
 Page 
 
 Power, without justice is tyran¬ 
 nical . . • • • • • ’ 
 
 -why above justice . . 67 
 
 -result of ..... 69 
 
 Practical and mathematical 
 mind, difference between . 310 
 
 Prayer, why God has esta¬ 
 blished . 2 9 7 
 
 Preacher, the . • • • • I0 4 
 
 Preadamites, their extrava¬ 
 gances ...•••• 
 Present, we care nothing for the 73 
 
 President, first.69 
 
 Presumption of man ... 59 
 
 -joined to insignificance . 67 
 
 Pride, a counterpoise to all 
 
 miseries. 
 
 -makes us wish to be es¬ 
 teemed . 0 
 
 -knowledge of God with¬ 
 out that of our wretchedness 
 
 creates. # • 9 2 
 
 -finds its proper place in 
 
 wisdom . 2 4 2 
 
 Primogeniture.63 
 
 -absurdity of ... • 2 54 
 
 Principles, all, may pass for 
 false impressions .... 54 
 
 -our natural, are but prin¬ 
 ciples of custom . . . • • 64 
 
 -first, are known by the heart 102 
 
 -arguments of the sceptics 
 
 in truth of some . • • I0 5 
 
 -all the, of sceptics, stoics, 
 
 atheists, are true, but their 
 conclusions are false . . 111 
 
 Prison, why so horrible a 
 punishment ...._• 34 
 
 Probability of the Jesuits, in¬ 
 fluence of the doctrine of . 2S3 
 
 -incapable of assuring the 
 
 conscience. 2 9 ° 
 
 -corruptness of thedoctrine 290 
 
 Progress, all that is brought to 
 perfection by, perishes also 
 
 by it. 57 
 
 -nature works by . . . 04 
 
 Promises of God in the Old 
 Testament, each finds in 
 them what he most desires . 102 
 
INDEX. 
 
 357 
 
 Page 
 
 Proofs, metaphysical, of God 92 
 
 - of our religion not 
 
 absolutely convincing, but 
 reasonable enough for those 
 who wish to believe . . . 20S 
 
 Prophecies, the strongest proof 
 of Jesus Christ .... 131 
 
 - dispersed with the Jews 
 
 throughout the world . . 131 
 
 - their preservation and 
 
 agreement.131 
 
 - concerning Messiah . . 132 
 
 -unintelligible to the wicked 133 
 
 -understood only when 
 
 the events occur .... 133 
 
 -accomplished . . . 140 
 
 -a proof of divinity . . 150 
 
 --two senses of . . . . 157 
 
 -confirmed by miracles . 171 
 
 -special, of Jesus Christ . 217 
 
 Prophecy is not called miracle 262 
 Prophets, their part among the 
 
 Jews.123 
 
 -their words had a double 
 
 sense.132 
 
 -prophesied by figures . 158 
 
 -their discourses were con¬ 
 tradictory .158 
 
 -foretold the Cln'istians . 201 
 
 -what they say of Jesus 
 
 Christ.209 
 
 -declared the advent of 
 
 Messiah.213 
 
 -foretold, and were not 
 
 foretold.215 
 
 Propositions, the five . . . 268 
 
 Provence. 57 
 
 Provincial Letters, censures of 
 the, not founded on tradition 284 
 
 Pyrenees.61 
 
 Pyrrhus. 35 
 
 Rabbinism, chronology of, 
 cited from the Pugio Fidei. 195 
 
 Rabbis, proofs given to the 
 Scriptures as to Jesus Christ 
 
 by the.1 57 
 
 -figures they employ . . 170 
 
 -their doctrines on original 
 
 sin. 194 
 
 Page 
 
 Rabbis, their objections against 
 
 Jesus Christ.219 
 
 Reason, is the essence of man 43 
 
 -the senses deceive the . 51 
 
 -yields to imagination . 53 
 
 - internecine war between 
 
 the passions and .... 55 
 
 - not a guide to first 
 
 principles.i.C2 
 
 -is weak, but would judge 
 
 of all things.I/03 
 
 -civil war between passion 
 
 and.113 
 
 -its corruption . . . 185 
 
 -can truly know ourselves 
 
 by submission of our . . 210 
 
 -acts slowly .... 307 
 
 -its power over us . . 309 
 
 Reasoning, all our, reduced to 
 yielding to feeling . . . 309 
 
 Redeemer, a, onlyfor Christians 242 
 
 -Christian religion consists 
 
 in the mystery of the . . 204 
 
 Redemption, proofs of the, 
 drawn from the wicked and 
 
 the Jews.193 
 
 -not right that all should see 255 
 
 Red Sea, an image of the Re¬ 
 demption .161 
 
 Reed, a thinking .... 46 
 
 Religion, the true, and its 
 characteristics . . . . 179 
 
 -explains the contradic¬ 
 tions in man.179 
 
 -must show knowledge of 
 
 our nature.182 
 
 — the note of true . . . 182 
 
 — false proves that there is 
 
 a true.260 
 
 — need to learn the Chris¬ 
 tian, before assailing it . . 3 
 
 —makes us know deeply the 
 greatness and the baseness 
 
 of man.43 
 
 — what it is.97 
 
 —■ is not certain . . . . 102 
 —- more enforced by feel¬ 
 ing than by reason . . . 103 
 
 — founded on the Jewish 
 religion 
 
 119 
 
358 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Religion, divine or ridiculous . 172 
 
 ■- excellence of the Chris¬ 
 tian .183 
 
 -others but the Christian, 
 
 false . • • • » •. • 183 
 
 -wise and foolish . . . 187 
 
 .-other than Christian, 
 
 equal man sometimes to 
 God and sometimes to the 
 
 brutes.188 
 
 --perpetuity of the Christian 197 
 
 --which has always existed 
 
 is that which is contrary to 
 
 nature.198 
 
 --we should look to the 
 
 details of.212 
 
 -two ways of urging the 
 
 truth of our.251 
 
 -at once venerable and 
 
 lovable .254 
 
 - miracle the foundation of 258 
 
 -the three notes of . . 275 
 
 - Jewish, to be diffe¬ 
 rently regarded in tradition 
 of its sacred books and in 
 the tradition of the people . 115 
 
 - is the figure of the Mes¬ 
 siah .176 
 
 - Mahomedan, its founda¬ 
 tion .11 5 
 
 - heathen, no foundation. 115 
 
 Religions, pagan, have no 
 marks of truth . . . . 119 
 
 Religious, that there are some 
 lax, this proves nothing 
 against religion .... 277 
 
 Repose, men think they seek, 
 but only seek agitation . . 34 
 
 Reprobate, all things work for 
 
 evil for the.129 
 
 Republic, Christian and Jew¬ 
 ish, have only had God for 
 
 master.122 
 
 --its laws .... 241 
 
 Respect of men for each other 55 
 
 •-what it is for .... 72 
 
 Rest, secret instinct which 
 leads men to seek ... 35 
 
 .- complete, is insupport¬ 
 able, why.40 
 
 Page 
 
 Righteous man, the two natures 
 
 in the.273 
 
 Rivers are moving roads . . 315 
 
 Roannez, M. de.309 
 
 Roman legislators . . . . 121 
 
 Romans, religion of the . . 119 
 
 Rome began to fear Cromwell j 6 
 
 - chief church of Christ . 136 
 
 -- must not stifle speech . 284 
 
 Royalty, without diversion, 
 
 is unhappy.33 
 
 Rule, to judge aworkweneed a 305 
 
 - special and particular . 308 
 
 - man must have a, of faith 309 
 
 Ruth, book of.220 
 
 Sabbath, only a sign . . . 175 
 
 Sacrifices, exterior, not essen¬ 
 tial .138 
 
 -- of the Jews and Gentiles 140 
 
 - uselessness of the . . 175 
 
 Saints, foretold, but not fore¬ 
 tellers .215 
 
 - their greatness and their 
 
 empire.227 
 
 - their union .... 279 
 
 Salomon de Tultie, pseudonym 
 of Pascal, utility of his man¬ 
 ner of writing.312 
 
 Salvation, Jesus Christ has 
 wrought the, of the just, 
 while they slept .... 232 
 
 Savages. 7 ° 
 
 Scaramouch, as an example . 31 
 
 Sceptic, never has been a per¬ 
 fect finished.106 
 
 Sceptical cabal.Ill 
 
 Scepticism, its reasonings . . 108 
 
 - aids religion . . . . 113 
 
 - remedy for vanity . . 206 
 
 - is true, for men before 
 
 Jesus Christ knew nothing. 226 
 
 Sceptics, indifference of the . 112 
 
 - labour in vain . . . 103 
 
 - principal arguments of 
 
 the, drawn from the uncer¬ 
 tainty of our natural prin¬ 
 ciples ..105 
 
 - lesser arguments of the . 106 
 
 Schism, a mark of error . . 268 
 
INDEX . 
 
 359 
 
 Science, infinite in its research 
 and its premisses .... 21 
 
 -abstract, not fit for man 82 
 
 Scripture, knows God better 
 
 than we.91 
 
 - compared to the Koran, 
 
 difference between the books 116 
 
 -has provided passages for 
 
 all conditions of life . . . 128 
 
 - why contrary sentences 
 
 are found in.128 
 
 - obscure and clear . . 129 
 
 -- has two senses . . . 157 
 
 - against those who misuse 
 
 passages of.166 
 
 ■- manner of understanding 
 
 that contradictory passages 
 of, must agree.167 
 
 —• superiority of, over the 
 most ancient books of other 
 
 peoples.173 
 
 — preserved by the Jews, 
 and is a witness of their 
 sincerity.173 
 
 - full of matters not dicta¬ 
 ted by the Holy Spirit . . 206 
 
 - without the, we know 
 
 nothing of the nature of God 
 nor our own nature . . . 226 
 
 Self, hatred of, necessary . . 238 
 
 - is hateful.84 
 
 Self-love, its nature ... 84 
 
 •-- how it should be regu¬ 
 
 lated .237 
 
 •- source of all confusion . 239 
 
 Seneca, quotations from . . no 
 
 Sensation, no misery apart 
 
 from.47 
 
 Sense of the prophecies always 
 
 the same.171 
 
 - there are various kinds 
 
 of good.311 
 
 Senses deceive the reason . . 51 
 
 Sensuality, men have drawn 
 
 rules from.69 
 
 -manner in which it is used 70 
 
 Sepulchre of Jesus Christ . . 234 
 
 Sermon, how some people 
 
 listen to the.316 
 
 Servant, relation to his master 293 
 
 Page 
 
 Shem.126, 169 
 
 Ship, as an example ... 63 
 
 Sibyls, books of the . . . 174 
 
 Sickness, resignation of man 
 
 in time of.74 
 
 Silence is the greatest perse- 
 
 ^ cution.283 
 
 Simplicity of things compared 
 to our double and complex 
 
 nature.25 
 
 Sin, all is, that is repugnant to 
 the will of God .... 247 
 
 - original.192 
 
 -mystery of the transmis¬ 
 sion of.107 
 
 - foolishness of original, 
 
 to man.192 
 
 - tradition of original, ac¬ 
 cording to the Jews . . . 194 
 
 Sincerity, a necessary quality 
 of every religion . . . . 182 
 
 Sinners, enemies of God . . 165 
 
 Sins, called enemies by 
 
 David.171 
 
 - the two sources of . . 241 
 
 Six days and the six ages of 
 
 ^ the world.174 
 
 Sleep, life compared to . . 105 
 
 Sneezing absorbs all the facul¬ 
 ties of the soul .... 31 
 
 Society, a beginning of 56 
 
 Socrates.218 
 
 Solitude, the pleasure of, in¬ 
 comprehensible .... 34 
 
 Sonnet, a bad, comparison 
 
 of.302 
 
 Sorbonne, corrupted by the 
 
 Jesuits.282 
 
 Soul, immortality of the . 4, 111 
 
 - is immaterial . . . . 111 
 
 - how little she knows 
 
 herself.. 
 
 Sovereign good, philosophers 
 do not agree as to the . . 112 
 
 - ordinary men’s idea of . 112 
 
 Space, numbers imitate . . 84 
 
 Spaniards.66 
 
 Sphere, infinite.19 
 
 Spirit, of men easily disturbed 27 
 Spongia solis .83 
 
360 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 State of man, his weakness and 
 uncertainty; nothing so im- 
 portantto man as his condition 5> 6 
 Stoics ..!••••• 49 
 
 - what they propose is 
 
 difficult and idle . . . . 11 3 
 
 Stream may decide justice or 
 
 injustice.66 
 
 Strife alone pleases, not the 
 
 victory. 39 
 
 Study of man, why so few 
 
 undertake it.82 
 
 Style, thoughts on . . . . 3 01 
 
 -effect a natural, produces, 
 
 we find a man instead of an 
 
 author. 3°3 
 
 - examples of bad . . . 3°4 
 
 Submission of the reason, only 
 by this can we truly know 
 
 ourselves.108, 250 
 
 Suetonius. < • 221 
 
 Suicide, advised by certain 
 
 philosophers. 112 
 
 Sun, course of the .... 84 
 
 Suns, the five, of Mexico . . 118 
 
 Superstition, piety compared 
 
 with. 2 S X 
 
 Sweden, queen of ... . 75 
 
 Sword, the right of the . . 67 
 
 Symmetry, definition of . . 3°4 
 
 Synagogues, a type of the 
 Church. l 7 & 
 
 Tacitus. 221 
 
 Talmud, its predictions of the 
 Messiah. . . . . • • I 5 2 
 
 - date of composition of . 196 
 
 Temple, its reprobation pro¬ 
 phesied by Jeremiah . . 149 
 
 Tennis. 37 
 
 Tertullian. I2 7 
 
 Testaments, proof of the two, 
 
 at once.. 1 57 
 
 - proof that the Old, is 
 
 figurative. 1 5 $ 
 
 - Old and New, their re¬ 
 lations . x 65 
 
 - sacrifices and ceremonies 
 
 of Old, either figures or ab¬ 
 surdities . *74 
 
 Page 
 
 Thamar, story of ... . 220 
 
 Theatre, dangers of the, for 
 the Christian soul . . . 248 
 
 Theology, taken as an example 
 
 of diversity.3 2 
 
 Theresa, Saint, her double 
 
 greatness. 246 
 
 - what she was when alive 
 
 and now.275 
 
 Thought, greatness of man 
 consists in ..... . 46 
 
 - makes man’s being . . 47 
 
 - the whole dignity of 
 
 man lies in.. • 48 
 
 - great in essence, vile in 
 
 defects. 48 
 
 Thoughts, spring up by chance 29 
 
 --escape us in writing . . 29 
 
 Tide of the sea.84 
 
 Time, our imagination enlarges 
 
 the present.56 
 
 Towns through which we 
 
 pass. 59 
 
 Trades, choice of ... . 78 
 
 Transmission of sin, without 
 this mystery we could not 
 know ourselves .... 107 
 
 Trent, Council of . . . . 291 
 
 Truth, there is no, in man . 19 
 
 -we hate, and those who 
 
 tell it us.85 
 
 -necessity of seeking . 95 
 
 -we know, by the heart as 
 
 well as by reason . . . 102 
 
 -is not within our reach, 
 
 nor to our taste . . . . 107 
 
 - we have ah idea of, 
 
 which scepticism cannot 
 
 overcome.i °9 
 
 -has visible signs . . . 208 
 
 -makes us free . . . 245 
 
 -opposite truth to be re¬ 
 membered with a ... 279 
 
 --- unable to know, unless 
 
 we love truth.280 
 
 -the first rule and ultimate 
 
 end of things.281 
 
 Truths of religion, necessity of 
 
 seeking. 3 
 
 Turk, the Grand .... 53 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 Turks, their example alleged 
 by the wicked . . . . 211 
 
 -miracles of the . . . 258 
 
 -grand sultan of the . 80 
 
 Twelve tables, law of the . 121 
 
 Types in general, their law¬ 
 fulness .157 
 
 - unintelligible to the Jews 
 
 and bad Christians . . . 158 
 
 -understood only in the 
 
 fulness of time . . . . 158 
 
 -compared to a portrait . 159 
 
 -the word of God false 
 
 literally, true spiritually . 159 
 
 -of Old Testament only 
 
 figures.162 
 
 -the reason of . . . . 162 
 
 -of Christ.165 
 
 --- different kinds of, some 
 
 seem far-fetched .... 165 
 
 -reason for the use of .170 
 
 -of Old Testament either 
 
 figures or absurdities . . 174 
 
 -made according to the truth 176 
 
 -particular.176 
 
 -the utility of . . . . 216 
 
 Tyranny, in what it consists . 68 
 
 Unbelievers, we should pity 
 
 them.253 
 
 -useful for the glory of 
 
 religion.203 
 
 -revile that which they do 
 
 not understand .... 204 
 
 Uncertainty, what we do for an 102 
 
 -of condition of man . . 23 
 
 Understanding, greatness of 
 men of, invisible to the great 227 
 
 Unhappiness natural to man’s 
 condition, makes him seek 
 
 diversion. 33 
 
 -proof of man’s ... 73 
 
 Union of mind and body a 
 mystery to man .... 28 
 
 -of the Word to man . . 299 
 
 Universe, how inferior and 
 superior to man .... 46 
 
 - the whole, teaches man, 
 
 either of his corruptness or 
 redemption. x 9 2 
 
 361 
 
 Page 
 
 Usurpation of the whole earth, 
 beginning and image of. 68 
 
 Vacuum, an example taken 
 from our notion of . . . 54 
 
 -absurdity of the saying 
 
 that nature abhors a . . 313 
 
 Vanity of pleasure .... 5 
 
 Vatable.269, 270 
 
 Venice, the Jesuits and . . 283 
 
 Vespasian, persecution of . . 127 
 
 -miracles of . . . . 271 
 
 Vices, why we are indulgent 
 to the, of the great ... 74 
 
 -certain, have hold on us 
 
 only by means of others . 77 
 
 Victory pleases less than strife, 
 why. 39 
 
 Virgin birth, weakness of the 
 argument against the . . 223 
 
 Virtue may be excessive . . 30 
 
 -is the result of two oppo¬ 
 site vices in counterpoise . 30 
 
 Vocations. 59 
 
 War, why men seek ... 34 
 
 -internecine, in man, be¬ 
 tween the reason and his 
 
 passions.55 
 
 -civil, is the worst of evils 63, 70 
 
 -decided by an interested 
 
 party.66 
 
 Weakness of man . . . 28, 66 
 
 - - cause of so many 
 
 esteemed beauties ... 7 2 
 
 - unrest, and defects of 
 
 man.73 
 
 Weariness of Jesus .... 232 
 
 -inevitable in all con¬ 
 ditions .35 
 
 -is man’s most sensible 
 
 evil and his greatest good . 39 
 
 -arises from loss of occupa¬ 
 tion .4° 
 
 Well dressed, not altogether 
 
 foolish to be.7° 
 
 Wicked, the, reasoning of, in 
 the Book of Wisdom . . 240 
 
 -prove the corruption of 
 
 human nature by their con¬ 
 duct .19 1 
 
362 
 
 Wicked who profess to follow 
 
 reason . 
 
 Will, difference between the 
 actions of the, and other 
 
 actions.. ■ 
 
 --is depraved in wishing 
 
 for the love of others 
 
 -- self, we must renounce 
 
 it in order to be happy . . 
 
 --of God, we should judge 
 
 of what is good or bad ac¬ 
 cording to the .... 
 
 - one of the principal 
 
 organs of belief .... 
 Wine, too much and too little 
 Wisdom, greatness of, invisible 
 
 to the carnal. 
 
 .-God alone gives . . . 
 
 Words, meaning changes ac¬ 
 cording to the .... 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 
 
 Page 
 
 World, vanity of the . . . 
 
 48 
 
 211 
 
 - judges things rightly . 
 
 83 
 
 129 
 
 avoids thinking of what 
 it does not choose to think 
 about . 
 
 102 
 
 239 
 
 indicates the presence of 
 a God who hides himself . 
 
 209 
 
 24O 
 
 would not exist without 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 226 
 
 -difference in living ac- 
 
 cording to the, and to God. 
 
 248 
 
 244 
 
 is full of good maxims, 
 
 
 307 
 
 we only need their right 
 application. 
 
 3 H 
 
 29 
 
 Worshippers, unknown 
 
 280 
 
 Worthlessness of man . . . 
 
 13 
 
 227 
 
 243 
 
 Xerxes. 
 
 144 
 
 129 
 
 Zeal of the fewish people 
 
 122 
 
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