t -It 
 
OF THE 
 UNIVLR.SITY 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 O p ^ pe 
 I 850 
 
 I 
 
The person charging this material is re- 
 sponsible for its return on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books 
 are reasons for disciplinary action and may 
 result in dismissal from the University. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 L161— O-1096 
 
Digitized by 
 
 the Internet Archive 
 
 
 
 in 2015 
 
 
 
 https://archive.org/details/thoughtsonreligiOOpasc_0 
 
THE 
 
 THOUGHTS ON RELIGION, 
 
 AND 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY, 
 
 OF 
 
 PASCAL; 
 
 (newly translated and arranged, with large additions from 
 original mss;) 
 
 FROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF 
 
 M. P. FAUGERE. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, ETC., 
 
 BY GEORGE PEARCE, ESQ., 
 
 KDITOR AND TRANSLATOR OF " THE PROVINCIAL LKTTEKS, WITH VILLEMAIN'S ESSAY, 
 MliXOUi, ETC. ;" AND OF " THE MISCEI,LANJCOUS AVltlTINGS OF PASCAL." 
 
 Un monument qui n'est qu'une oeuvre de restauration, mais qui diirera, puisqu'il 
 enforme les reliques d'un des plus beaux genies qui aient honore la France, ct 
 1' humanite . ' ' — Fauge he. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS ; 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 MDCCCL, 
 
LONDON : 
 
 NEEDIIAJ.I, FIllNTER, PATERNOSTER-ROW 
 
Of 
 
 TABLE OP CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction vii 
 
 FRAGMENTS OF AN APOLOGY FOR CHRIS- 
 TIANITY : OR, THOUGHTS ON RELIGION. 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 Editorial Notice 4 
 
 General Preface 5 
 
 Variation of the General Preface 15 
 
 Notes to the Preceding General Preface 17 
 
 FIRST PART. 
 
 MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD: OR, 
 NATURE CORRUPTED EVEN BY ITSELF. 
 
 Preface to the First Part 25 
 
 CHAPTER I.— AMUSEMENT. 
 
 Editorial Notice 28 
 
 Amusement 29 
 
iv 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER II.— ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 (des puissances trompeuses.) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Editorial Notice 44 
 
 On Deceptive Influences. — Imagination — Self- 
 
 Love .45 
 
 CHAPTER II [.—DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 Editorial Notice 62 
 
 Disproportions, or, Inequalities in Man . . . 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV.— THE GREATNESS AND THE 
 MISERY OF MAN; SYSTEMS OF THE PHILO- 
 SOPHERS, &c. 
 
 Editorial Notice 78 
 
 Greatness and Misery of Man 79 
 
 Systems of the Philosophers. — Stoics, Atheists, 
 
 Pyrrhonists, &c 91 
 
 SECOND PAKT. 
 
 HAPPINESS OF MAN WITH GOD; OR, A 
 REMEDY FURNISHED BY REVELATION. 
 
 Preface to the Second Part 113 
 
 CHAPTER I.— THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN 
 KNOW NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR 
 RECTITUDE. 
 
 Editorial Notice 120 
 
 That Man, without Faith, can know neither True 
 
 Happiness nor Rectitude 121 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 V 
 
 CHAPTER II.— CHARACTERISTICS OF TRUE 
 RELIGION. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Editorial Notice 140 
 
 Characteristics of True Religion 141 
 
 CHAPTER III.— MEANS OF ATTAINING TO FAITH : 
 REASON, HABIT, INSPIRATION. 
 
 Editorial Notice 162 
 
 Means of Attaining to Faith : Reason, Habit, 
 
 Inspiration 163 
 
 CHAPTER IV.~OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 Editorial Notice 186 
 
 Of the Jewish People 187 
 
 CHAPTER v.— ON MIRACLES. 
 
 Editorial Notice 214 
 
 On Miracles 215 
 
 CHAPTER VI.— ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE 
 TERMS. 
 
 Editorial Notice 238 
 
 On Figures 239 
 
 CHAPTER VII.— ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Editorial Notice 266 
 
 On Prophecy 267 
 
vi 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII.— ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Editorial Notice 300 
 
 On Jesus Christ 301 
 
 Difference between Christ and Mahomet 321 
 
 The Mystery of Jesus 325 
 
 CHAPTER IX.— ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Editorial Notice 332 
 
 On the Christian Religion 333 
 
 CHAPTER X.— ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 (ORDRE,) 
 
 Editorial Notice 370 
 
 Arrangement 371 
 
 Supplementary Passages — Respecting the Jewish 
 
 People — On the Chapter on Prophecies . . . 377 
 
 TREATISE ON THE CONVERSION OF THE 
 
 SINNER. 
 
 Editorial Notice 380 
 
 Treatise on the Conversion of the Sinner . . . 381 
 
 PRAYER FOR THE DIVINE IMPROVEMENT OF 
 SICKNESS. 
 
 Editorial Notice 390 
 
 Prayer for the Divine Improvement of Sickness . 391 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In the volume immediately preceding this, and forming 
 the second of the present series, a Narrative was fur- 
 nished, drawn up by parties present at the scene, of the 
 memorable discourse delivered by Pascal to his assembled 
 friends, in which he detailed the plan and outline of his 
 projected work on the Evidences and Nature of the 
 Christian Religion. The circumstances under which 
 that conversation took place, the parties to whom it 
 was addressed, and those various features from which it 
 derives an interest, were referred to in the biographical 
 sketch prefixed to a previous volume. The materials 
 collected in the prosecution of this undertaking are 
 now presented to the reader ; and it will perhaps con- 
 duce to his convenience, to be furnished with a brief 
 summary of the leading topics embraced in this copious, 
 yet still imperfect, collection. 
 
 The peculiar circumstances under which the greater 
 number of those fragmentary writings were composed ; 
 the haste with which, through the writer's bodily sufier- 
 ings, they were, for the most part, thrown off ; the care- 
 lessness of their subsequent disposal ; and the difiiculties 
 attending their recovery ; have been already described. 
 The reader is, however, once more reminded, that, by the 
 
 h 
 
Vlll 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 labours of the French Editor, whose work is here 
 followed, very large additions to the existing materials 
 have been collected from hitherto unexplored manu- 
 scripts, and an entirely new and improved arrangement 
 of the whole has been made. With a kind of kaleidoscope 
 art, or as if by the touch of an enchanter, the most 
 incongruous materials have been brought into symmetry 
 and order. Criticism, moral axioms, and theological 
 discussions, which heretofore lay side by side in singular 
 confusion, are now marshalled under their proper 
 heads. Regular sequences of argument and illustration 
 have been formed ; the series of topics discussed, while 
 retaining for the most part the author's own titles, have 
 been thrown into a cumulative form ; and the result is, 
 to leave far less cause than heretofore for regret that 
 this great writer was not enabled to follow out, in a 
 more perfect manner than he has done, his com- 
 prehensive scheme. 
 
 In the discourse referred to, it will be remembered, 
 the case was supposed of a person who, ^' having passed 
 his life in ignorance of, and indifference to everything, — 
 and especially himself, — is brought, at length, to contem- 
 plate himself," by the portraiture which had previously 
 been drawn of man, " even to the most secret recesses 
 and movements of his heart." Such a supposition 
 enabled the speaker with the more advantage to com- 
 mence with the elementary truths of religion, and 
 gradually to advance from them to its deepest mysteries. 
 It will contribute to the interest of the reader to carry 
 with him a suppository personage of this description, 
 in the sketch now about to be given ; — (and it is not, 
 
INTRODUCTIOxNT. 
 
 ix 
 
 indeed, necessary to explore pagan antiquity or heathen 
 darkness to find such a one !) — and still more will it be 
 an advantage to him to do so, when he enters upon the 
 perusal of the work itself. 
 
 The paper originally composed by Pascal for a Preface 
 or Introduction to his Treatise, but which, in the several 
 editions heretofore published, has appeared, with many 
 variations, and under different titles, in the form of a 
 detached Essay, is now restored (with the addition of 
 much original matter) to its first integrity of text, and 
 appears in its proper place at the head of the work. In 
 this paper, the doctrines of the existence of a God, and 
 of an unending existence to come, are broadly laid down, 
 as the foundations of all religion ; and the ignorance, folly, 
 and presumption of those by whom they are neglected, 
 rather than impugned, are exposed by the most popular 
 representations. The arguments employed are level to 
 every capacity. They are adapted to work upon the feelings 
 of the ingenuous, and to arrest the attention of the man 
 of the world. " They who set themselves up as oppo- 
 nents to religion," with lofty rebuke he begins, should 
 at least know what it is they oppose." " What does it 
 avail such persons to allege," he continues, " that while 
 thus avowedly neglecting the means of discovering truth, 
 they can find nothing that reveals their Maker to them?" 
 " Negligence such as this, in a matter which concerns 
 themselves, their eternal interests, their all, excites my 
 indignation rather than my pity ; it astonishes and shocks 
 me; it is unnatural and monstrous!" Who would 
 desire for his friend," he asks, the man that thus acted; 
 who select him as his confidant; who resort to him for 
 
 b 2 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 solace in his affliction ? What advantage is it to hear 
 another say, he has thrown off the yoke of conscience ; 
 he has no belief in a God ; he considers the soul to be a 
 mere breath or vapour V . . . " Nothing shows more 
 ahjectness of spirit," is his indignant exclamation, than 
 to be ignorant of man's unhappiness without God ; 
 nothing proves more malignancy of heart, than not to 
 desire the truth of eternal rewards ; no cowardice is 
 greater than to affect hardihood against God!" — There 
 was, perhaps, when Pascal wrote, more avowed disregard 
 of religion, and more explicit denial of revelation, than 
 is to be found in the more guarded habits of the present 
 day ; but the scope of the reasoning in this discourse is 
 no less fitted now, than at that period of undisguised 
 hardihood, to rouse to reflection the multitudes who pass 
 their lives in neglect of religion, and indifference to their 
 eternal interests. 
 
 The critical reader will be interested in an unpublished 
 variation of a part of this paper, and a collection of Notes, 
 illustrative of the original text, and which furnish various 
 topics supplementary to the main subject. 
 
 But to enforce conviction of the existence of a First 
 Cause, and to impress the mind with its own eternal 
 destiny, are but the rudimentary steps in religious in- 
 struction ; and leave the awakened conscience far short 
 of true peace and solid hope. Heathen philosophy, even, 
 had made large advances in the discovery of these 
 elementary principles. Pascal well knew that much 
 remained to be done, before the spirit should be prepared 
 for a hearty reception of a divine revelation. Many truths 
 were to be addressed to the understanding, and many 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xi 
 
 convictions impressed upon the heart ; and he begins 
 with showing, under the title of Amusement^'" the 
 obstacles which religion encounters, in the multifarious 
 labours and importunate dissipations of human existence. 
 
 " We burden men from infancy," he says, with the 
 care of their honour, their property, their friends ; and 
 even with that of their friends' property and honour 
 also." ..." They are brimful of occupation, and 
 impelled to incessant labour from morning to night." 
 . . . " What more," he supposes it to be asked, 
 " what more could possibly be done to render men 
 unhappy ? " " You have but to take from them all these 
 cares," is the reply ; " for then they would have to con- 
 sider, what they are, whence they came, whither they 
 are going ; and therefore it is that they cannot have too 
 much occupation and distraction of mind." . . . " In 
 this way it is," he proceeds, " that the whole of life is 
 spent. Repose is sought by the mastery of obstacles ; 
 and when these are mastered, the repose becomes oppres- 
 sive. The mind then falls back upon the ills which we 
 actually feel, or those which are threatened. And if 
 immunity from all these were really experienced. Ennui 
 would force its secret entrances into the spirit, and 
 pervade and envenom its every part." 
 
 Throughout this chapter, the argument pursued is, 
 that the absorbing occupations and amusements to which 
 mankind are addicted, are at once the effect and the 
 cause of their insensibility to religion. Resorted to, at 
 first, for relief under the uneasiness of fruitless conjec- 
 tures respecting the past, the present, and the future, of 
 our transitory existence, — we end by renouncing all con- 
 
xii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cern respecting our mysterious original, and all hope of 
 the great Hereafter ; and abandon ourselves, with reck- 
 less indifference, to the fleeting cares and pleasures of the 
 present moment. The pictures drawn in support of 
 these views, may be deemed, perhaps, somewhat over- 
 coloured. The most engrossing labours, and even very 
 exciting amusements, (if innocent in their nature,) are 
 often seen to be not incompatible with deep convictions 
 of duty to our fellow-men, and fervent piety towards 
 God. Who does not feel, also, that labour, — whether 
 mental or bodily, whether self-imposed or involuntary, — 
 is the beneficent law of human existence, and the highest 
 charm of life ? But the descriptions of Pascal apply to 
 the worldly-minded, the frivolous, the sensual, and the 
 profane ; and it is to such as these that a very moderate 
 knowledge of human nature shows the excitement of new 
 pursuits and ever-varied pleasure to be indispensable : 
 solitude is a weariness, and reflection insupportable. 
 
 In the succeeding chapter we are led to a consideration 
 of the " Deceptive Influences" to which man is subjected, 
 in all the stages of his existence, and in the varying 
 circumstances in which he is placed. This might 
 have seemed an inquiry, more fitted to the schools 
 of metaphysics and psychology, than to the great theme 
 which Pascal proposed. His very opening proposition, 
 however, explicitly lays down the connexion of this topic 
 with Theology. " Man," he says, " is, by the constitu- 
 tion of his nature, a being full of error ; and this is 
 ineffaceable, excepting by grace.'' His aim is conse- 
 quently, throughout this section, to show how, by the 
 prevailing influences of the imagination, we are led into 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xiii 
 
 every species of delusion, both in regard to the things of 
 time and sense, and, yet more, those of the soul and 
 eternity. 
 
 The opening description of Imagination ; " the mighty 
 power, — the perpetual antagonist of reason, — which de- 
 lights to show its ascendency by bringing her under its 
 control and dominion," shows the hand of a master. It 
 has its joys and its sorrows, its health, its sicknesses, its 
 wealth, its poverty ; it compels reason, in spite of herself, 
 to believe, to doubt, to deny ; it suspends the exercise 
 of the senses, and imparts to them again an artificial 
 acuteness : it has its follies and its wisdom : and the 
 most perverse thing of all is, that it fills its votaries with 
 a complacency more full and complete even than reason 
 can supply." We are then presented with sketches, 
 whose fidelity the student of human nature at once 
 recognizes. The magistrate, the philosopher, the sick 
 and hypochondriacal, the well-fee'd advocate, the robed 
 and ermined Judge, the solemn physician, the Sovereign 
 surrounded with his guards and state, pass in succession 
 before us; — all puppets themselves of this ambitious 
 power, or instruments by which its mastery over man- 
 kind is exercised. Under its sway, judgment totters on 
 her throne ; and the most exemplary dispositions yield 
 to her delusions. 
 
 In this way it is clearly established, that imagination 
 is little more than an instrument of deception and mis- 
 chief, except when brought under the renovating influ- 
 ence of Christian principle. Then, indeed, this mysterious 
 quality of the mind becomes the fruitful source of all that 
 is valuable in human conduct, and graceful in intellectual 
 
XIV 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 achievement. Then the mournful, or the sordid reahties 
 of life, are refined and elevated into beneficence, elo- 
 quence, and beauty. The sense of man's sufferings or 
 wrongs is deepened to intensity : every object of mental 
 contemplation is clothed with superhuman charms. The 
 commoner instinct of humanity is heightened to enthu- 
 siasm ; plunges, with Howard, into the loathsome dun- 
 geon ; arrests, with Wilberforce and Buxton, a trade of 
 blood ; kneels, with Fry, — the gentle messenger of peace 
 and hope, — amidst hardened bands of profligacy and 
 despair ; or, with 07ie, — the pride of our own times, and 
 whom a grateful posterity will associate with any or all 
 of the preceding, — forsakes the circles of aristocracy and 
 fashion ; gathers, with genial patronage, the friendless, 
 the homeless, the half-clad ; traverses, in pilgrimages of 
 benevolence, the revolting regions of uncared-for suffer- 
 ing ; and transforms the haunts of squalor and vice into 
 abodes of comfort, purity, and health.* Then, also, 
 Fancy weaves her sweetest, because hallowed creations ; 
 strews the rugged paths of toil-worn existence with 
 flowers and verdure ; subdues the sensual or the 
 frivolous in our nature, to intellectual power and 
 grace ; or quits, with a Dante, or a Milton, the bounds 
 of time and space, explores unknown worlds, and soars 
 to the regions of Eternity, to the abodes of angels, and 
 to the presence of God ! 
 
 A distinct section, formed out of axioms, heretofore 
 scattered promiscuously throughout Pascal's writings, is 
 next assigned to a portraiture of Self-Love. This baleful 
 passion is anatomized with a sad fidelity, and a keen, 
 
 « May I be permitted to inscribe here the name of Ashley. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XV 
 
 though chastened, satire. Yet may the writer himself be 
 considered as furnishing an instance of the universality 
 of this misguiding propensity. Enamoured of the picture 
 he had drawn of a mind indisposed to reproof, reluctant 
 to the acknowledgment of error, and fortified in its own 
 sense of right and virtue, he extends his censure to the 
 case of those who had, in his own time, and in neigh- 
 bouring nations, revolted from the tyranny and corrup- 
 tions of the Romish Confessional, and determined to 
 commit their errors and their sins alone to the indulgent 
 bosom of Omniscience. With a sophistry, which fills us 
 with wonder in one so acute, he exclaims, — ^' How un- 
 just and unreasonable is the human heart, that it should 
 take amiss to be obliged to do that in regard to one 
 individual, which would, in a certain sense, be proper 
 were it done in regard to all men ! For can it ever be 
 right that we should deceive But, after making this 
 reservation, all must feel the pungency and force of such 
 a description of self-love as the following: — It desires 
 to be great, and it sees itself to be little ; it desires to be 
 happy, it sees itself to be miserable ; it desires to be per- 
 fect, it sees itself full of imperfection ; it desires to be the 
 object of universal love and esteem, and it sees that its 
 faults draw down only aversion and contempt." 
 
 The next chapter, which bears the title of Dispropor- 
 tions^ or Inequalities in Man,"" is still preliminary, and in- 
 cidental to the great subjects of enquiry. It treats, among 
 other topics, of the two infinitudes of magnitude and 
 minuteness in creation ; and is one of the compositions in 
 which Pascal has tasked his highest powers. Its object is 
 to show how the Crea tor's works transcend the researches of 
 
 h 5 
 
XVI 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 unassisted reason ; to deter from exorbitant curiosity and 
 fruitless search ; and to lead man, under a humbling sense 
 of the limitation of his powers, to receive with deference 
 and gratitude the revelations of Infinite Wisdom. These 
 counsels are given in no spirit of disparagement of human 
 science : for by whom was all science pursued and ex- 
 hausted with more untiring avidity, than by the writer? 
 But their intention was to administer deserved reproof to 
 that presumptuous philosophy, which aimed to make itself 
 independent of God ; and to enforce the great truth, that 
 all learning and all knowledge are valueless, without that 
 highest of all, — the knowledge of ourselves, of God, and 
 of a Redeemer. See the consequences of mere natural 
 knowledge !" is the exclamation which, at the very outset, 
 furnishes the key to the whole discussion. For, in fact, 
 while Pascal was all doubt in matters of mere human 
 learning and knowledge, till the rigid demands of reason 
 and judgment were satisfied, his mind never wavered upon 
 questions on which Divinity had shed his illumination ; 
 but his own prepossessions yielded with infantile sim- 
 plicity at the voice of God. 
 
 " Let man, then," he proceeds, " raise his views above 
 the petty objects which surround him, and contemplate 
 the entire expanse of nature, in all its majestic perfec- 
 tions ; let him gaze upon that dazzling orb, suspended, 
 from the commencement of time, in mid-heaven, like the 
 gorgeous lamp of the universe ; let him consider this our 
 earth as but a minute point in comparison with the 
 mighty circle which that luminary describes ; and then 
 let him remember with astonishment, that this prodigious 
 orbit itself is again nothing more than the minutest 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xvii 
 
 speck, in comparison with that which the circHng firma- 
 ment of the constellations embraces ! 
 
 " But if the evidence of the sight is here arrested, let 
 imagination pass beyond its limits ; she will grow weary 
 in conceiving, sooner than nature in furnishing, matter 
 for her apprehension. The whole visible world is but as 
 an imperceptible atom in the ample bosom of Nature. 
 Thought is here baffled. We may swell, as we will, our 
 conception beyond all imaginable space ; we produce 
 only atoms, instead of the mighty realities, around us. 
 We find a shore of infinite extent, whose centre is in 
 every part, — its circumference in none ! 
 
 " Behold, then, herein, the plainest proof of the omni- 
 potence of Jehovah, — that our imagination is lost and 
 overwhelmed in the contemplation of these His stupen- 
 dous works !" 
 
 " What is Man in the scale of infinitude ?" is the 
 great question then deduced. And, after a description 
 equally elaborate of the infinite in the minuteness of 
 Creation, the enquiry is resumed. " Again, T ask, what 
 is man in the midst of nature ? He is nothing in com- 
 parison with infinitude ; he is everything in comparison 
 with nullity : he is a central point between nothing and 
 everything. Their extremes being infinitely beyond 
 his comprehension, the finality and the first principle of 
 things are concealed from his view under an impenetrable 
 mystery ; and he is equally incapable of searching into 
 the nonentity from which he was derived, and the infini- 
 tude into which he is absorbed." 
 
 It is to these momentous problems that the subse- 
 quent portion of his treatise was designed by Pascal, 
 
XV in 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 under Scriptural guidance, to furnish a yet more ample 
 solution. 
 
 The foundations of sound faith and true consolation 
 for man were, however, previously to be yet deeper laid. 
 For this purpose, in the ensuing section, his " Greatness"" 
 and his ''Misery'' are unfolded; — the one to show the lofty 
 purposes of his creation ; the other, to urge him to seek 
 the only true remedy for his sorrows. The vanity of 
 worldly pursuits ; our eager desire of the praise of our 
 fellows ; the transitoriness of all that we most greedily 
 covet, and fondly cherish ; — these are depicted with 
 touching eloquence, and a philosophic reach of concep- 
 tion. " Thought'' is declared, — and who knew it better 
 than Pascal ? — to be " the distinctive endowment and 
 the high prerogative of Man." "Letusaim to think well," 
 is his injunction ; " for that is the source of all true mo- 
 rality." The great axiom is then laid down, that '^Happi- 
 ness . . is to be found, not in ourselves, not in any 
 created objects, but in God alone." " If man is not 
 formed for God," it is enquired, why is he only happy 
 when united to God ?" And it is thus that he sums up 
 the whole matter: — Let Man hold himself at his true 
 w^orth. Let him regard himself with complacency, in 
 possessing a nature capable of good ; with aversion, on 
 account of the unworthiness mingled with it. Let him 
 despise himself for the abortiveness of his powers ; but 
 moderate his contempt in consideration of their original 
 greatness . . . He is capable of knowing truth, and 
 attaining to happiness; but he possesses neither truth, 
 constancy, nor peace." 
 
 Under the same general division of topics in which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XIX 
 
 the preceding sections are embraced, a review is next 
 taken of the various systems of philosophy ; and the 
 doctrines of the Stoics, Atheists, Pyrrhonists, of ancient 
 times, (and of modern days also, although bearing different 
 names,) are successively challenged and scrutinized. 
 
 He takes a comprehensive view of the schemes by 
 which mankind have been in all times deluded with the 
 belief, that they could attain to wisdom, virtue, or enjoy- 
 ment, by their unassisted efforts. All are shown to 
 be vain and abortive ; and both teachers and disciples 
 to be alike wandering in a mist of self- sufficiency and 
 error ; intoxicated with the fumes of intellectual pride, or 
 wallowing in the sloughs of hopeless sensuality ; " having 
 no hope," and living " without God in the world." 
 
 " See then," is at length his thrilling exclamation ; 
 " see, then, the mystery of man ! What a being of 
 crudities ! — what a monster, a chaos ! — what a com- 
 pound of contradictions, — a prodigy ! The master of 
 all knowledge, — an abject worm of the earth ; the depo- 
 sitary of truth, — the sink of uncertainty and doubt : 
 behold him, at once the glory and the opprobrium of 
 the universe ! How is this entanglement to be un- 
 ravelled ? Nature confounds the sceptic ; and reason, 
 the dogmatist. Where, O man, shall end all your vain 
 researches into your real condition by the force of natural 
 reason only ? . . . . Learn then, O proud being, 
 the paradox which you constitute ! Humble yourself, 
 vain reason ! Be silent, weak nature ! Know how man 
 infinitely surpasses man ; receive from your Great 
 Master that secret of your true condition of which you 
 are so ignorant ! — Listen to the words of God !" 
 
XX 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 It is by this, and a train of similar reasoning, 
 that we are prepared for the second division of our 
 author's topics, comprised under the title, " Happiness 
 of man with God, or a remedy furnished hy Revela- 
 tion."" This is opened, like the former, by some 
 prefatory remarks. 
 
 With the logical precision which was one of Pascal's 
 especial characteristics, he clears the way for the recep- 
 tion of revealed religion, by showing the weakness and 
 inadequacy of that which is designated as natural. He 
 thus explicitly lays down his position at the outset : — " I 
 marvel at the boldness with which these persons presume 
 to express themselves respecting the Deity, in their 
 addresses to the unbelieving. Their first and great 
 point is, to prove a God by th^ works of nature." .... 
 " As to those," he proceeds, " in whom this (the divine) 
 illumination is extinguished, and in whom yet it is 
 wished to revive its guiding fires, — persons destitute both 
 of faith and grace, — who, making every effort to explore 
 amidst the works of nature something which may direct 
 them to the knowledge of a God, find therein, neverthe- 
 less, nothing but clouds and darkness ; — to tell such 
 persons that they have but to contemplate the simplest 
 of the objects around them, and they will plainly dis- 
 cover in them a Divine hand ; to refer them, for proofs 
 on this grand and momentous theme, to the revolutions 
 of the moon or the planets ; and then to fancy that the 
 sum of the evidences on which their belief is to rest is 
 completed ; — all this is only calculated, as reason and 
 experience have both taught me, to awaken a suspicion 
 that the proofs by which our religion is supported are 
 
INTRODUCTION^. 
 
 XXI 
 
 miserably weak ; and, instead of impressing reverence 
 for her high revelations, tends rather to bring them into 
 contempt." 
 
 He then contrasts with this unsatisfying system the 
 sacred instructions which the Scriptures of truth furnish 
 to man ; and lays down the principle upon which he 
 means to proceed in urging their claims upon the under- 
 standing and the conscience. Therefore it is," he 
 declares, that I undertake not here to prove, from 
 natural causes, the existence of God, or the doctrine of 
 the Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or any other 
 matters of the like kind : not only because I should not 
 think it practicable to find in the works of nature proofs 
 sufficient to convince the hardened Atheist ; but because, 
 if I were so capable, the knowledge thus furnished, 
 without a knowledge of Christ, would be barren and 
 useless." 
 
 By the chain of reasoning which is here endeavoured 
 to be traced, we find ourselves prepared for the Master- 
 proposition that now claims our attention. Infidelity 
 and indifference to religion had been attacked in their 
 strong-holds. The deadening effects of excessive occu- 
 pation, and dissipating amusements, had been illustrated : 
 the deceptive influences which beset reason and judg- 
 ment on every side, exposed ; self-love dissected ; the 
 regions of imagination surveyed and mapped out. The 
 greatness of the human powers had been displayed, by 
 one well able to form the estimate of them ; and man's 
 hopeless misery, without tiid and illumination from 
 above, mournfully enforced. The systems of heathen 
 and atheistic philosophy had been examined, and their 
 
xxii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 futility proclaimed. Then the great truth is laid down, 
 " That man without faith can know neither happiness 
 nor rectitude." Quotation would here be endless ; but 
 the opening and concluding passages, — the one which, 
 after describing the vain search in which man is unceas- 
 ingly engaged for happiness, concludes with the axiom, 
 that " God alo7ie is man's true good ;" and the other, 
 which proclaims the " Christian religion to be the remedy 
 
 for all the ills under which man suffers;" 
 
 " elevating the just to a participation of the divine nature 
 itself;" .... and announcing **to the most 
 debased of the human race that it is yet in their power 
 to become partakers of their Redeemer's grace ;" — these, 
 with many others, in this striking section, are of a 
 nature to commend themselves to every mind possessed 
 of taste and feeling. 
 
 In the next chapter are described the Characteristics 
 of True Religion.'' Such a religion is hypothetically 
 portrayed as " teaching our duties ; revealing our im- 
 potency, pride, and sensuality ; and enforcing the 
 remedies — humility and mortification." " What religion, 
 but Christianity," it is asked, '^exhibits such a know- 
 ledge as this ?" " A true religion," we are again told, 
 
 ought to be one that adores and loves no other being 
 than God. Yet, seeing we are incapable of wor- 
 shipping a being with whom we are not acquainted, and 
 of loving any but ourselves, a religion which instructs 
 us in our duties, should also inform us of our inability 
 to perform them, and provide us with a remedy for such 
 inability. Our religion does, in fact, reveal to us, that 
 by man we have lost everything ; that the union 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 between God and ourselves has been broken ; and that 
 by MAN also this union has been renewed." " Christi- 
 anity enjoins upon man to acknowledge himself vile — 
 yea, abominable ; yet commands him to aspire to a like- 
 ness to God!" ^'Without such a counterpoise, his 
 elevation would render him fearfully vain, or his abase- 
 ment hopelessly abject." The Incarnation shows man 
 the greatness of his misery in the greatness of the 
 remedy that is demanded." These are some of the 
 impressive passages in which our religion is described, 
 and its principles honoured ; and, in conclusion, the 
 listening disciple is apostrophized, in a personification 
 of the august Wisdom of God, in the following solemn 
 terms : — " Expect not either truth or consolation from 
 man. It is I who formed you ; and I alone can instruct 
 you what and whence you are. You are not now in the 
 state in which you were first created. I made man 
 holy, innocent, perfect ; filled him with light and intel- 
 ligence ; communicated to him of the glories of my 
 nature, and the wonders of my works. His eye then 
 gazed on the unveiled majesty of God. The shades and 
 darkness in which he is now enveloped had not gathered 
 round him ; suffering was unknown ; and the solemn 
 sentence of mortality had not gone forth. But the 
 excess of his glory hurled him into presumption. He 
 aimed to be the centre to himself, and to be independent 
 of ME. He revolted from my sway, and sought to rival 
 me in becoming the source of his own felicity. Then I 
 abandoned him to himself; and, rousing all the creatures 
 heretofore submitted to his authority into revolt against 
 him, from his willing subjects they became his enemies !" 
 
xxiv 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The " Means of Attaining to Faith,'' form the next 
 division. The leading feature in this chapter is that 
 species of wager — interlocution, v^hich has been else- 
 where already made the subject of remark ; and it is 
 now for the first time published in perfect conformity 
 with the original MS. The personal reference with 
 which this supposed dialogue concludes, forms one of 
 the most touching passages in Pascal's writings. " If 
 this discourse pleases and convinces you," he says, 
 ^' know that it proceeds from a man who did, before its 
 commencement, and will, after its close, bend his knees 
 before the Infinite and Unseen, to whom he is wont to 
 submit all his desires, that He may incline your will in 
 such way as will most conduce to your good and to his 
 glory ; and that thus his power may harmonize with 
 your abasement." 
 
 The limits of this introductory paper almost preclude 
 more than an enumeration of the remaining topics of 
 this volume. The chapters on the Jewish Nation," 
 
 Miracles," ^' The Figurative Parts of Scripture," and 
 on " Prophecy," all show the writer's deep study of the 
 book of inspiration, and his fondness for wandering amidst 
 the confines of revealed truth, while they harmonize 
 in the one great object of informing and convincing 
 the enquirer after divine instruction. In the subsequent 
 chapter, devoted to reflections upon the person and 
 oflices of the Saviour, his hearty recognition is recorded 
 of the Divinity of His nature, and of that great work 
 which he descended upon earth to fulfil, — the salvation 
 of man, by his expiatory sufferings ; and the immortality 
 of glory, procured for him through the resurrection. In 
 
I INTRODUCTION. xxv 
 
 the beautiful meditations, also, which are appended to 
 this section, the holiness, purity, compassion, and 
 sorrows of the Redeemer, are delineated with a richness 
 and pathos which scarcely find a parallel even in the 
 productions of his own pen. 
 
 The completion of the argument, and its practical 
 application, will be found in the concluding chapter. 
 
 On the Christian Religion^ Having shown how 
 deeply the necessity for this divine system is laid in the 
 nature and the wants of man ; in the abjectness of his 
 fall, and the yet unextinguished aspirations of his spirit ; 
 having proved its unspeakable superiority over all human 
 religions ; and established its truth from type, prophecy, 
 and miracle ; he proceeds to unfold its internal excellencies, 
 and its claims upon the grateful reception of mankind. 
 In Pascal's delineation — and the colouring may be 
 heightened from innumerable kindred pencils — Christi- 
 anity is shown to be the origin of all that is refined, 
 beneficent, and elevated in humanity ; of whatever is 
 gracious in motive, pure in spirit, generous in sentiment, 
 lofty in enthusiasm, and bold in enterprise. From it, 
 as from a copious fountain, flow the finest courtesies, the 
 gentlest charities, and the most expansive philanthropy 
 of life. It is the spring, yet the regulator, of true free- 
 dom ; the inspirer of the highest intellectual efforts ; 
 and the foundation of all social and national good. Its 
 poetry is nobler, and its philosophy deeper, than any 
 that went before ; — for both are conversant with greater 
 subjects, and touch far higher interests. Christian 
 principle it is which sends its votaries, without distinc- 
 tion of age, sex, or station, upon its errands of mercy. 
 
xxvi 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and enlists all classes, from the highest to the lowest, 
 in its services of love. It alone sustains the martyr in his 
 flames, and sends forth the lonely Missionary to his labours 
 armed with more than a martyr's fortitude. It alleviates 
 every evil that afilicts society, and aims to heal all the 
 sorrows under which humanity groans. Hospitals (un- 
 known in heathen times) are, by its energies, erected 
 with a stateliness which rivals the habitations of princes ; 
 asylums are provided for destitution and old age ; colleges, 
 schools, churches, are sown thickover every land. Through 
 its genial cares the blind receive their sight, the deaf 
 hear, the lame walk ; the orphan finds a parentage more 
 provident often than that of which death has deprived 
 him ; idiotcy is taught the smile of grateful intelligence ; 
 and the raving maniac is soothed into reason and peace. 
 — "The Christian," says Pascal, "loves his neighbour; 
 yet his charity does not limit itself to him, but extends 
 to his enemies, and even to the enemies of God." — 
 Christianity also lightens every grief of the individual 
 bosom, and enhances every lawful earthly satisfaction ; 
 while it opens to the view prospects of ineffable joy in 
 a boundless eternity. Where would end the enumeration 
 of the benefits of this heaven-bestowed and heaven- 
 implanted scheme ? Well might our author exclaim, 
 " Christianity is a system of wonders !" " There is no 
 happiness, no rationality, no virtue, no gracefulness, like 
 the true Christian's ! With how little elation of spirit 
 does he believe himself to be in a state of union with 
 God ! With how little of abjectness does he level himself 
 with a worm of the dust ! How beautifully do we see 
 him welcome life and death, happiness and suffering !" 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 XXVll 
 
 I have considered that this series would be not inap- 
 propriately closed by the two papers which follow, and 
 complete the volume ; — the one, the essay " On the Con- 
 version of the Sinner ;" the other, the Prayer, (or 
 Meditation,) for the Improvement of Sickness." These 
 compositions are well known to the readers of Pascal ; 
 but they are now, like most of the other pieces, published 
 in a more authentic form than heretofore. Though 
 written at a comparatively early age, and, as is believed, 
 not long after his mind had been first awakened to 
 religion, they show that his piety, like all his endow- 
 ments, had rapidly attained to a maturity which is rarely 
 found in the most advanced stages of Christian expe- 
 rience. In the former treatise we find portrayed, with 
 a fidelity which nothing but the secrets of his own 
 bosom could have supplied, the commencement and 
 development of the divine life ; its remorse for the 
 unimproved past, its astonishment at surrounding insen- 
 sibility to religion, and its solemn vows and pious 
 devotedness for the time to come. In the other, we 
 have the touching records of the convert's communion 
 with his God and Saviour. In the bloom of early man- 
 hood, we see him prostrated at the foot of the Eternal, 
 absorbed in holy contemplation of the divine character, 
 and labouring to express his own humiliation in the 
 view of Infinite perfection. While life, with no common 
 attractiveness, was opening before his view, we hear him 
 exulting in that mighty change which had roused his 
 conscience against former pursuits and indulgences ; and 
 welcoming those sufferings which were thenceforth to 
 shut him out from much even of innocent enjoyment. 
 
xxviii 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The chosen son of philosophy and learning, he tramples 
 the rewards of ambition and fame beneath his feet ; and, 
 while courted by the eminent and the noble, he desires 
 no distinctions but those of holiness and philanthropy. 
 He asks to have no will but that of Heaven ; sees nothing 
 worthy of desire but eternity ; and aims for the time to 
 come, only to devote his high powers and brilliant en- 
 dovmients to the service of his God, and the welfare of 
 his fellow-men. 
 
 It is now time that the reader should be released from 
 these preliminary remarks. The office I have under- 
 taken is completed : yet I might, perhaps, acknowledge 
 a feeling not wholly unmixed with regret, at concluding 
 the retrospect of pages so largely fraught with beauty 
 and wisdom, as those which I have ventured to bring 
 before the public eye. In times of much unsettled 
 opinion, and many conflicting systems, it is indeed 
 refreshing to place ourselves under the teaching of a 
 writer, whose theology is alike pure, elevated, and 
 scriptural. Pascal's inspirations were drawn fresh from 
 the fountains of immutable truth ; and its unerring reve- 
 lations formed the impregnable barriers of his faith. 
 Nothing in his mind was uncertain, undefined, or evasive. 
 His religion was the product of clear, though profound, 
 thought. His polemics were as logical as his philosophy 
 was sound. He gave no qualified or grudging assent to 
 the testimony of inspiration : he entered into no com- 
 promises with the plausibilities of mere human reason, or 
 the sophistries of covert infidelity. His delight was to 
 humble his large intellect before the infinite wisdom of 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 xxix 
 
 God ; and while his powers of reasoning placed him 
 among the foremost proficients in the exact sciences, he 
 welcomed the unexplained dictates of Heaven with the 
 simple trust of a child. This it is which forms the 
 crowning virtue of his intellectual eminence ; and this 
 will insure immortality to his writings, when the glitter- 
 ing but shallow efi'usions of unchastised genius, and 
 reasoning pride, will have fallen into deserved oblivion. 
 
 On these grounds, among others, it is, that I am espe- 
 cially desirous that these volumes should prove acceptable 
 to the younger class of readers. Amply, indeed, would 
 the pains bestowed upon the preparation of this Work be 
 compensated if, in those less advanced members of our 
 faith, it should, in any measure, contribute to strengthen 
 pure religious principle, while increasing the taste for 
 graceful composition, and robust and elevated thought. 
 
 It needs only to be added, that, while in the trans- 
 lation of the present volume — impressed with the 
 weight and importance of the subjects — I have taken, 
 if possible, more pains than before, to represent, with 
 all the fidelity in my power, the exact sentiments 
 of the original, the critical reader may possibly dis- 
 cover a considerable measure of amplification in the 
 rendering of some portion of the text. This has partly 
 arisen from the large number of passages collected from 
 original MSS., which, though valuable in themselves, 
 bear often an abrupt and unfinished character ; and 
 these peculiarities have demanded, in order to render 
 them inoffensive to a native ear, almost a paraphrase 
 rather than a translation. My aim has been, as has 
 been remarked elsewhere, throughout this work, as far 
 
XXX 
 
 INTRODUCTrON. 
 
 as my ability enabled me, to give to a classic of a high 
 order in French literature, the place to which he is 
 entitled among our own standard writings. And in 
 doing so, I have hoped in some measure to show that 
 there are few delicacies of phrase, and few heights of 
 oratory, in this master of language, which cannot find 
 some answer and equivalent in our own rich and beauti- 
 ful tongue. 
 
 *»* It will be remembered that in this, as in the preceding volumes, the 
 passages marked thus + are from original Manuscripts; and, also, that all 
 the Notes, not otherwise designated, are those of the French Editor, or his 
 predecessors. 
 
 Title-pages to the present and two preceding volumes, comprising the 
 Works of Pascal, with the exception of Scientific Treatises, will be found at 
 the end of this volume. 
 
FRAGMENTS 
 
 OF AN 
 
 APOLOGY FOR CHRISTIANITY: 
 
 OR, 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 ON RELIGION. 
 
 I 
 
 . A 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 a2 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 These preliminary reflections, wliicli bear the evident 
 character of a general preface, were, in the edition of 1670, 
 entitled, " Upon the indifference of Atheists :" they retained 
 that title in the subsequent editions, up to that of Condorcet, 
 in which they were headed, " On the necessity of investi- 
 gating the proofs of the existence of a future state." Jn the 
 edition of Bossut, and those that followed it, they were en- 
 titled, " On the necessity of studying religion." 
 
 Pascal himself affixed no title to these reflections, which 
 were evidently left by him in a less complete state than he 
 had intended.* 
 
 It should be further stated that the fragment is not to be 
 found in the Autograph MS. ; but it has been preserved in 
 the two copies of the same MS. It is from the text of both 
 these MSS. that we now reproduce this fragment, which has 
 undergone very essential alterations in the preceding editions. 
 
 There will be found at the close a very important variation, 
 never before fully furnished, and of which, indeed, a few lines 
 only, and those out of their proper place, have appeared in 
 former copies. Lastly, we have affixed various notes, which 
 have been discovered, partly in the Autograph MS., partly in 
 the copy, and which Pascal had evidently written to accom- 
 pany this general preface. 
 
 The mark as has been before remarked in reference to 
 the " Miscellaneous Writings," indicates the paragraphs, sen- 
 tences, or parts of sentences, and titles, which are published now 
 for the first time. 
 
 This remark applies to the whole of this volume. 
 
 As to the corrections of the text, which in this, as well as 
 the preceding volume, are innumerable, we leave them to the 
 curiosity of such readers as may feel an interest in tracing 
 them. (French Editor,) 
 
 * See Note at page 14. 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 Those who set themselves up as opponents to religion 
 should at least know what it is that they oppose. If 
 this religion boasted of having attained to a perfect dis- 
 covery of God, — of knowing him plainly, and piercing 
 ■ thoroughly the veil of his perfections, — it might be an 
 answer to say, that we see nothing in this world which 
 reveals Him with so much distinctness. But since the 
 religion in question, on the contrary, declares that man 
 is surrounded by darkness, and estranged from God ; 
 that the Infinite is shrouded from their search ; that the 
 very name he gives himself, in his own word, is Deus 
 abscondifus, "a God who hideth himself;" and, lastly, 
 since it aims equally to establish these two things, — that 
 God has, in his Church, laid down certain marks by which 
 he can be known of all who seek him sincerely ; and yet 
 that he so conceals himself, as to be undiscoverable to all 
 but those who thus seekhim with sincerity of heart; — what 
 does it avail these persons to allege, while thus avowedly 
 neglecting the means of discovering truth, that they can 
 find nothing that reveals their Maker to them ; since the 
 very obscurity in which they are involved, and which they 
 charge as a fault upon the Church, has only the effect of 
 establishing the one of these positions which she herself 
 has laid down, without affecting the other ; and confirms, 
 instead of invalidating, her evidences ? 
 
6 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 To maintain their cavils successfully, they ought to be 
 able to show, that they have used every means in their 
 power, especially such as the Church herself provides 
 for them, to discover God aright, but without success. 
 Were this the fact, they might indeed succeed in 
 shaking the Truth in her very strongest positions. 
 But I hope to be able to demonstrate, that there are 
 none who can justifiably hold this language ; and I 
 venture to affirm, that there is not the man living, nor 
 ever was such, who has acted in the manner I have 
 described. Who does not know in what way the persons 
 we are referring to proceed ? They think they have made 
 great efforts to inform themselves aright, in giving a few 
 hours to the reading of some portions of Holy S crip ture, and 
 perhaps interrogating an ecclesiastic upon the doctrines 
 of the Faith. After that, they announce that they have 
 explored the truth without success, in books, and among 
 men. But, in truth, I cannot help telling them — and T have 
 often said the same thing before — that such negligence 
 is utterly inexcusable. The question at issue is nothing 
 trifling in itself, or interesting only to others, that it should 
 be dealt with in this manner : it is one which concerns 
 ourselves, and all that is dear — all that is vital to us ! 
 
 The immortality of the soul is a matter so important 
 and so interesting to man, that he must be lost to all 
 feeling who can be unconcerned whether it be a truth or 
 not. All our sentiments, and all our actions, must take such 
 different directions, according as they are founded in the 
 hope of eternal happiness or not, that it is impossible to 
 pursue any course of conduct with sense and judgment, 
 except as it is regulated by this as an ultimate object. 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 7 
 
 Thus, then, our first interest, as well as our chief duty, 
 is to obtain clear views upon this great point, upon which 
 all our procedure is dependent. And therefore it is, that 
 among those who are unconvinced of the truth, I make 
 a wide distinction between such as use every endeavour 
 to attain 'to conviction, and others, who pass their lives 
 in indolence and unconcern upon the subject. 
 
 I cannot but feel compassion for those who mourn in 
 sincerity under their doubts ; who look upon them as 
 their sorest calamity ; and who, sparing no labour to 
 remove them, make the effort to do so their chief and 
 most serious occupation. 
 
 But as to those who trifle away their existence, without 
 bestowing any thought upon this great question of its 
 mode of termination ; and who, merely because they find 
 no light v/ithin their own minds to guide them, neglect 
 to search for instruction beyond themselves ; who care 
 not to investigate whether the opinions in question are 
 such as are imbibed by the commonalty with a credulous 
 simplicity, or such as, although difficult in themselves, yet 
 rest upon a solid and impregnable foundation ; — of such 
 persons as these, I entertain a very different opinion. 
 
 Negligence such as this, in a matter which concerns 
 themselves, — their eternal interests, their all, — excites 
 my indignation rather than my pity ; it astonishes and 
 shocks me ; it is unnatural and monstrous ! In saying 
 this, I am not carried away by pious zeal, or devout ex- 
 citement. My opinion is formed upon the mere principle 
 of worldly interest and self-love : to confirm it, we have 
 only to observe what is plain and obvious to the least 
 enlightened among men. It requires not an understand- 
 
8 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 ing of unwonted elevation to perceive, that here v^e enjoy 
 no true and substantial satisfaction ; that all our earthly 
 pleasures are but vanity ; that the troubles of life are 
 innumerable ; and that death, with whose invasion we 
 are momentarily threatened, must in a few years inevi- 
 tably bring to us the dreadful alternative of eternal 
 annihilation or misery !* 
 
 There is nothing more absolutely true than this, — 
 nothing more terrible ! Put as brave a face upon it as 
 you will, this is the end of the fairest life on earth ! f 
 Let us pause, then, at this point, and ask, if it be not 
 unquestionable, that there is no real good in this life but 
 what arises from the hope of another ; that we are happy 
 only in proportion as we approach near to that other ; and 
 that, as there remain no actual evils to those who have a 
 full assurance of eternity, so there is no happiness for such 
 as are destitute of its hopes ? It is then, assuredly, a 
 great evil to labour under these doubts ; but it is at least 
 our duty to seek the solution of them. He, therefore, 
 who doubts, and yet investigates not, is both unhappy 
 and perverse. If, in such a state, he can be contented 
 and tranquil, as he pretends ; if he yields himself up to 
 ignorance, and derives from that ignorance enjoyment; — 
 
 * It will not escape notice, that when Pascal speaks of an alternative of 
 annihilation or misery, he evidently refers to the sentiments of the worldly 
 mind, which he had before described, — that of the least enlightened of men, 
 " the understanding of no unwonted elevation." None knew better than 
 himself that vo such alternative actually existed. (Transl.) 
 
 f Pascal has expressed in another place, and apparently under the form 
 of a personal and isolated reflection, the considerations which he here puts 
 in the mouth of the opponents of religion. See among the " Miscella- 
 neous Thoughts," that commencing, '* When I consider the brief term 
 of my earthly existence," and the other, " Why is my knowledge thus 
 limited ?" &c. Nos. 152 and 153, pp. 237, 238. 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 9 
 
 then I want terms to designate so infatuated a being! 
 Where learned he such sentiments? Whence does he 
 derive his satisfaction, in thus witnessing misery without a 
 remedy ? What matter for vanity is this, to feel himself 
 surrounded on all sides with impenetrable darkness ? Do 
 such reflections as these befit a man pretending to reason? 
 " I know not," will such an one say, " who placed me in 
 the world, or what is the world, or what I am myself! I am 
 fearfully ignorant of all things : I know not what is my 
 body, — what my senses, — what my soul : and that very part 
 of me which thinks that which T am now uttering, and which 
 reflects upon everything, and upon itself also, is as ignorant 
 of itself as of every thing besides ! I perceive myself sur- 
 rounded with the awful infinitudes of the universe, and 
 placed upon a single point in its vast surface, unknowing 
 why I am there rather than elsewhere, or why the petty 
 period assigned for my existence has been fixed at this 
 moment rather than any other, amidst the entire Eternity 
 that has preceded, and that which is to follow ! 
 
 " I see infinitudes on every side of me, which enclose 
 me in their recesses as a mere atom, — as a shadow, which 
 appears but for a moment, and returns no more. 
 
 " All that I know is, that I am shortly to die ; yet 
 what T am most ignorant of, is that very death which I 
 am unable to avoid. 
 
 " As I know not whence I came, so I know not where 
 I am going ; and I only know that, on quitting this world, 
 I shall fall for ever, either into annihilation, or into the 
 hands of an angry God, without knowing of which of 
 these states I am to be an eternal partaker. 
 
 " This is my condition: — full of misery, of weakness, 
 A 5 
 
10 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 of ignorance ! And the conclusion I arrive at from these 
 things is, that I ought to pass all the days of such a life 
 without reflecting or inquiring what is to befall me after 
 it! I might, indeed, discover some satisfaction for my 
 doubts ; but I will not give myself the trouble to do so, 
 nor even take any steps for the purpose : and, despising 
 those who give themselves up to such labours, T shall, 
 without precaution or solicitude, take my chance of the 
 great event, and quietly await the approach of death, in 
 utter uncertainty of my lot in the never-ending ages of 
 eternity." 
 
 Who would desire for his friend the man that thus 
 acted? Who would select him as the confidant of his 
 affairs ? Who resort to him for solace in his afliictions ? 
 
 + And what, again, is the end and object which such a 
 person proposes to himself in his earthly existence ? 
 
 It is, in truth, the triumph of Religion, that she en- 
 counters such irrational opponents ; and so little danger 
 is there in their hostility, that it tends rather to the con- 
 firmation of her great realities. For the Christian faith 
 goes mainly to the establishment of these two things, 
 — the corruption of man's nature, and his redemption by 
 Jesus Christ. If these persons, then, cannot be said to 
 exhibit the truth of redemption by the sincerity of their 
 conduct, they serve admirably to prove the corruption of 
 nature, by the profligacy of their sentiments. 
 
 Nothing is so important to man as his spiritual state ; 
 no interest is to him so tremendous as Eternity. Thus, 
 to see men unconcerned about their salvation, and the 
 peri! of everlasting misery, is something wholly unnatu- 
 ral. It is otherwise with them as to all other things : 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 11 
 
 their fears, their precautions, their sensibility, are excited 
 by the merest trifles of earth ; and the man who will pass 
 days and nights in excitement and desperation for the loss 
 of a place, or under some imaginary offence to his honour, 
 is he who, in the knowledge that death must put an end 
 to all these things, awaits its approach without uneasi- 
 ness or emotion ! Is it not monstrous to see in the same 
 heart, and at the same instant, sensibility so acute to 
 the merest trifles, and an utter indifference to the most 
 momentous interests ? 
 
 It is surely a delusion beyond comparison, it is a 
 supineness utterly out of nature ; ^ and indicates the 
 hidden force of some mysterious and all-powerful agent! 
 
 Must there not be some strange revulsion in the nature 
 of man, that he should thus glory in a condition in which 
 it might seem incredible that a human being could be 
 found to exist ? 
 
 Yet does experience show me the number of such to 
 be so great, that this again would excite astonishment, 
 did we not know that the larger part of such persons do 
 but counterfeit their belief, and are not, in reality, what 
 they pretend to be. They are, in fact, people who fancy 
 that good taste, according to the notions of the world, 
 consists in such profane sallies. It is what they call 
 throwing off* old-fashioned prejudices, and weak scruples. 
 Yet it would not be difficult to show how they deceive 
 themselves in seeking reputation in this manner. It is 
 not the best way to recommend themselves — I would 
 even say — with the persons of the world ; who are apt 
 to judge shrewdly of things, and who feel that the only 
 means for their fellow-men to gain their good opinion is, 
 
12 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 to show themselves upright, faithful, judicious, — capable 
 of friendship, and apt to good offices ; because we 
 naturally like such as can be useful to ourselves. Now 
 what advantage is it to us to hear another say, he has 
 thrown off the yoke of conscience ; he has no belief in a 
 God who takes cognizance of his conduct ; he is the 
 only master of his own actions, and expects to render 
 account of them to none but himself? Does such a 
 man think to induce us, by these avowals, to place the 
 more confidence in him ; or to seek at his hand the con- 
 solations, the counsel, or the aid, which we need in the 
 varying events of life ? Does he think it can be any 
 satisfaction to us to be told, he considers the soul to be 
 a mere breath or vapour; and this too with an air of 
 dogmatism and self-satisfaction ? Is such a tenet as 
 this, then, one to be pronounced with hilarity and joy ; 
 and not rather with the deepest sorrow, as an article of 
 belief of all others the most affecting and mournful ? 
 
 If such persons were to reflect sincerely, they would 
 see that their conduct is so injudicious, so contrary to 
 good sense, so opposed to sound principle, and in every 
 way so little conducive to that good opinion on the part 
 of others which they desire to cultivate ; that it is rather 
 calculated to repel from them, than to corrupt those who 
 might be under any temptation to become their fol- 
 lowers. And, in realit}^, set them but to give some 
 account of their reasons for denying the evidence of re- 
 ligion, you will find them so weak and poor, that they 
 will bring you to the very opposite of their conclusions. 
 This was what was once happily said to one of these 
 persons, — If you continue such discourse as this much 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 13 
 
 longer, you will entirely convert me to piety." And he 
 was right: for who would not dread to have for his 
 companions persons holding sentiments so flagitious ? 
 
 Thus, such as make a mere pretence of these opinions 
 are doubly unhappy, in masking their real views, in 
 order to render themselves the most contemptible of 
 men. If they are in their inmost feelings concerned at 
 not being better informed, let them not disguise it ; the 
 confession will entail upon them no disgrace. The only 
 shame is to be without shame. Nothing shows more an 
 utter abjectness of spirit, than to be ignorant of man's 
 unhappiness without a God ; nothing proves more 
 malignancy of heart, than not to desire the truth of 
 eternal rewards ; no cowardice is greater, than to affect 
 hardihood against God ! Let such impieties as these be 
 left to those who are so unhappily constituted as to be 
 really capable of harbouring them. Be at least honest, 
 if you cannot be Christians ; and confess that there are 
 but two classes of persons who can properly be called 
 rational, — those who serve God from the heart, because 
 they know him; and those who seek him with all their 
 heart, yet cannot find him. 
 
 But for those who live without knowing and without 
 seeking him, they show themselves so indifferent to their 
 own welfare, that they are little deserving of the soli- 
 citude of others ; and it requires all the charity which is 
 inspired by the religion they despise, not so far to 
 despise their folly as to abandon them to its conse- 
 quences. But, as that religion compels us ever to 
 regard such persons, during their earthly existence, as 
 capable of receiving its illuminating grace ; and to 
 
14 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 believe it to be possible that such as these even may, by 
 its omnipotent influences, become stronger in the faith 
 than ourselves ; while we, on the other hand, might be 
 left to fall into the same lamentable darkness as them- 
 selves ; we ought to do for them what we should desire 
 them to do for us in their place ; and entreat them to 
 have pity upon themselves, and at least use some en- 
 deavours to attain to a better state of mind. Let them 
 give to this treatise a few of those hours which they 
 employ so unprofitably upon other objects : repugnant 
 as it may be to them, it may chance that they may find 
 in it some things for which they will not deem their 
 labour thrown away. But as to such others as will 
 bring to its perusal sincerity of purpose, and a real 
 desire to discover truth, I trust they will find in it the 
 satisfaction they seek, and be convinced of the divinity 
 of our religion, by the evidences which they will find 
 here brought together ; and in which I have in a general 
 way adopted the following arrangement.* 
 
 * Pascal did not revise the latter part of this introductory paper ; at 
 least the MSS. furnish only some isolated and imperfect notes of that 
 portion. We have collected these at the end of the present volume, under 
 the title of " Order," which he himself has given to it in several places. 
 
 After the above, there occurs in the copy another fragment which is 
 not a sequel, but evidently intended as a variation of the former. Pascal 
 appears to have revised the first portion of the preface as far as the 
 paragraph beginning " I know not." These words, which end the revised 
 part, show that he would have retained in its present state the close of the 
 preface. 
 
 We furnish here the second revision, leaving it to the reader's own 
 conjecture, which of the two is the one which this great writer would have 
 finally adopted : his choice seems to have remained undetermined, inas- 
 much as he has not struck out either of the fragments. 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 15 
 
 VARIATION OF THE GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 Before entering upon the proofs of the Christian 
 religion, I think it necessary to show the unreasonable- 
 ness of those persons, who pass their lives in indifference 
 to the truth of a matter, so important in itself, and 
 which interests them so deeply. 
 
 Of all the extravagancies of these men, this is indis- 
 putably the one which is most conclusive of their folly 
 and blindness, and the most easy to expose on the 
 simplest principles of common sense and sentiment of 
 nature. It is not to be questioned, that the duration of 
 our present life is but as an instant ; that death — come 
 how or when it will — brings it to an eternal close ; and 
 that thus, all our sentiments and our actions ought to 
 pursue a course so different, according to our views of 
 the eternal state, that it is impossible to take a single 
 step in life with sense or judgment, excepting as it 
 is regulated by our expectations upon this one great and 
 final question. 
 
 Nothing can be more evident than this ; and there- 
 fore, upon the mere principle of reason, any other line 
 of conduct in men is utterly unreasonable. Let those 
 then be judged by this rule, who live on without 
 bestowing a thought upon the termination of life, who 
 give the loose to their inclinations and passions, without 
 reflection and solicitude ; and, as if they had it in their 
 
16 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 power to annihilate the eternity in prospect, by turning 
 away from it their thoughts, propose to themselves no 
 aim or object but the fleeting pleasure of a moment. 
 
 Yet is this eternity real and substantive ; and death, 
 which opens the door to it, and which impends over 
 them during every instant of existence, must infallibly 
 place these men in the dreadful alternative of falling 
 into either everlasting annihilation, or suffering ; while 
 they remain in utter ignorance as to which of these awful 
 states shall await them. 
 
 This, then, is an uncertainty of tremendous moment. 
 ■'' They stand exposed to the danger of an eternity of 
 misery ; and, yet, as if the matter were undeserving the 
 slightest pains or trouble, they neglect to examine 
 whether the opinion in question be one of those which 
 are received with a facile credulity, or one which, though 
 wrapt in mystery, rests on a solid, if an obscure, founda- 
 tion. Thus are they contented to be uninformed upon a 
 point like this, whether it be true or false, whether there 
 be strength or weakness in its evidences. These evi- 
 dences are before their eyes, yet they refuse to look at 
 them ; and, in this state of ignorance, they take the de- 
 termination to do all in their power to entail upon them- 
 selves these horrors, if they have any existence, till 
 death shall solve for them the problem ; yet to abide 
 contented and in peace in such a state, and to turn the 
 whole matter into complacency and boast ! Is it possible 
 to contemplate such conduct without amazement and 
 dismay ? 
 
 This tranquillity in the midst of such ignorance, is a 
 thing utterly out of nature ; and the extravagance and 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 17 
 
 infatuation of those that can pass a life in such a state, 
 must be held up to them, till they feel confounded at 
 their folly. For this is the sort of reasoning of these 
 men, when they form this resolution to remain in igno- 
 rance of what they are, and yet renounce all effort 
 to obtain information : " I know not," they say . . . 
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO THE PRECEDING GENERAL PREFACE. f 
 
 If man knows not himself to be full of pride, ambition, 
 concupiscence, weakness, misery, and injustice, he is 
 wretchedly blind. And if, knowing all this, he doeS 
 not desire deliverance, what is to be said of such a 
 man? . . 
 
 Who but must admire a religion which comprehends 
 so well man's defects ; and who would not desire a 
 religion to be true which offers such effectual remedies ? 
 
 Suppose an heir who has just discovered the title-deeds 
 of his property. Will he say, " Perhaps they are forged ?" 
 and will he take no pains to examine them ? 
 
 * See continuation, page 9. 
 
 t Several of these notes are struck through in the MS., probably because 
 Pascal erased them as fast as the substance of them became incorporated 
 in the text or revision. (French Editor.) They are retained here, with 
 many other similar memoranda, as curious instances of the mental processes 
 by which the writer elaborated his most finished productions. (Transl.) 
 
 X The Editors add the words, " so destitute of rationality," which are not 
 in the MS. 
 
18 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 Between us and hell or heaven, there is nothing but 
 life, the most fragile thing in existence. 
 
 A man is in prison, not knowing whether sentence is 
 passed ; having but one hour to ascertain the fact : — that 
 hour, notwithstanding, being sufficient, if the sentence 
 have been passed, to procure its revocation. — Is it in nature 
 that he should employ that hour, not in ascertaining whe- 
 ther the sentence is passed, but in playing at picquet ? 
 
 So it is unnatural that man, &c. 
 
 It is an infliction from the hand of God. 
 Thus, not only does their zeal, who seek him, prove the 
 existence of God, but the blindness also of those who 
 seek him not. 
 
 + Prison. 
 
 — I can excuse their not investigating the system 
 of Copernicus, but this 
 
 — It is vital to the whole of existence, to ascertain 
 whether the soul is mortal or immortal. 
 
 We rush without apprehension upon a precipice, when 
 we have placed something before it to hide it from our 
 eyes. 
 
 See the weakness of reposing upon creatures such as 
 ourselves ! Miserable and impotent like us, they can 
 afford us no support ! V/ e must die alone : we ought to live 
 then as if we were alone : and should we, in that case, build 
 stately mansions, &c. ? We ought to seek truth without 
 reserve ; and if we refuse to do so, we show that we value 
 the esteem of men more than the discovery of truth. 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 19 
 
 The sensibility of man respecting trifles, and his 
 insensibility to things of importance, show a strange 
 convulsion in his nature. 
 
 Religion is so important a thing, that it is right that 
 those who will not take the trouble to investigate it, 
 difficult as it is, should lose its advantages. What have 
 they to complain of, if it really be what they could 
 discover by searching for it ? 
 
 I blame, in an equal measure, those who set themselves 
 to flatter man, those who habitually censure him, and 
 those whose aim is merely to amuse him. I can approve 
 only such as search, though with sorrow, into his nature. 
 
 Should we complain of Atheists who investigate, for 
 are they not sufficiently unhappy ? Denounce rather 
 those who turn their conduct into vanity. 
 
 We ought to pity both : but our pity for the one, 
 should be that of tenderness ; for the other, that of con- 
 tempt. (Erased,) 
 
 — We ought to be much imbued with the religion 
 they despise, not to despise them. (Erased.) 
 
 — That is not in good taste. (Erased.) 
 
 — ■'" That proves that there is nothing more to be said 
 to them ; not out of contempt, but because they are 
 destitute of common sense. It is God above who must 
 teach them. (Erased.) 
 
 — ■'■ Persons of this description consist of academicians 
 
20 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 and scholars ; and they are the most perverse class of men 
 that I am acquainted with. (Erased.) 
 
 — ■'' You will convert me . . . (Erased.) 
 
 — I do not take that for extravagance, but for a 
 proof of the way in which the human heart is consti- 
 tuted. (Erased) 
 
 — ■''It is, then, not to be doubted, that there is no real 
 goodness without a knowledge of God ; that, in propor- 
 tion as we advance in that knowledge, we are happy ; and 
 that the highest happiness is, to know him with certainty. 
 On the other hand, in proportion as we are alienated from 
 God, we are unhappy ; and the greatest unhappiness is, 
 the certainty of that alienation. (Erased.) 
 
 — It is, then, a misfortune to doubt ; but it is an in- 
 dispensable duty, when we are in doubt, to investigate. 
 He, therefore, who doubts and investigates not, is at 
 once unhappy and culpable. If, in addition, he is gay 
 and conceited, I want terms to designate so extravagant 
 a being ! (Erased.) 
 
 — ^ Nevertheless, it is certain that man is so perverted, 
 as to have in his inmost heart a feeling of satisfaction at 
 this. 
 
 — ■''Is this, then, a thing to be spoken of with compla- 
 cency ? It should only inspire our sorrow. (Erased.) 
 
 — ■'■ Is it not enough, that he should work miracles on 
 the very spot ; and that Providence should manifest his 
 interference on behalf of a people ? 
 
 — ■*■ O worthy subject of exultation and boast, and to 
 carry our head high in this fashion ! Let us give our- 
 selves up, then, to joy ; let us live without fear or dis- 
 
GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 21 
 
 quiet, and wait the event with all its uncertainties, and 
 we shall, at last, see what is to befall us : I cannot look 
 into the results. (Erased.) 
 
 — Is it bravery in a man, to rush from life in his 
 feebleness and sorrows, to confront a God omnipotent 
 and eternal ? (Erased.) 
 
 — ■'■ Happy should I be, were such a case mine, that 
 my folly should excite pity, and benevolence be exerted 
 to save me in spite of myself ! 
 
 — + Fitting subject of joy, truly, to look forward to 
 nothing but misery without remedy ! O rich consolation, 
 to despise every consoler ! (Erased.) 
 
 — But those, even, who seem the most opposed to the 
 glory of religion, will not altogether fail of doing her 
 service on account of others. 
 
 We shall draw from it our first argument, that it has 
 something of a superhuman character ; for blindness of 
 this description is not a natural thing : and if their folly 
 puts them so in opposition to their real welfare, it will 
 seem to fortify others by the horror of so deplorable an 
 example, a.nd a madness so deserving of compassion. 
 
 — Are they so firm and insensible in regard to all 
 other things ? Try them with the loss of property or 
 honours. Why, it is a delusion . . . 
 
 — ^ Good taste, then, consists in the absence of — true 
 piety, in the possession of — benevolence towards others. 
 
 — .... Not through mere devout zeal or religious 
 abstraction, but on mere human principles, and through 
 motives of interest and self-love. (Erased.) 
 
22 
 
 GENERAL PREFACE. 
 
 The Notes which follow are only found in the copy. In the margin of 
 the first paragraph is the following memorandum : — " This is in the roll 
 commencing with the words, * Let them know.' " 
 
 Self-love ; and because it is a thing which can- 
 not but interest and affect us, to be assured that after all 
 the ills of life, an inevitable death, which impends over 
 us every instant, must in a few years .... in the 
 dreadful necessity .... (Erased.) 
 
 — + The three conditions. 
 
 — ■''It must not be asserted that this is rational. 
 
 — This is all that could be done by a man who was 
 convinced of the falsehood of these statements ; even then 
 it should be a cause of dejection, rather than of joy. 
 
 — ^ Nothing is of importance but this ; and this is 
 neglected. 
 
 — Our imagination, by having present things inces- 
 santly before the mind, so magnifies their importance, 
 and, in the same way, so diminishes the power of Eter- 
 nity, by the want of reflection upon its realities, that we 
 make Eternity a nothing, and nothings Eternity; and 
 this propensity is so rooted in us, that all the force of 
 reason avails not against it . . . 
 
 — +1 would ask them whether they do not, themselves, 
 establish the fundamental tenet of the faith they oppose, 
 which is, the corruption of human nature. 
 
 — Imagine a number of men in chains, all under 
 sentence of death, and a certain part of them each day 
 executed before the eyes of the others. The survivors all 
 see their own condition in that of their fellows, and look 
 upon each other with sorrow and despair. Behold, 
 herein, an image of the state of man ! 
 
FIRST PART. 
 
 MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD : 
 
 OR, 
 
 NATURE CORRUPTED EVEN BY ITSELF. 
 
The preceding title, which denotes one of the divisions 
 which Pascal proposed to introduce into his work, is found in 
 the autograph MS., page 23. See end of the volume, article 
 " Order." (French Editor.) 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE FIRST PART.* 
 
 To enumerate the writers who have treated of self- 
 knowledge ; the minute and wearisome divisions of 
 Charron ; the confusedness of Montaigne, — that he was 
 very sensible of his defect of method, f that he violated 
 it by his habit of jauntily passing from one subject to 
 another, that he aimed at an air of taste. 
 
 How silly his propensity to portray himself! and 
 this not merely incidentally, and contrary to his in- 
 tention, as may sometimes happen to every one, but 
 systematically, prominently, and by design. To say 
 
 * This is the title given to the following paper by Pascal himself. It 
 is plain, however, that the fragment is a mere note, indicating the manner 
 in which he meant to fill up the sketch. 
 
 t " Droit de methode.'" The word " droit'' is written legibly in the MS. 
 The paper, however, is one of those dictated by Pascal to an inexperienced 
 writer, and it cannot be certain that the expression is his. By " Droit de 
 methode,'' does he mean that straight and regular line which method pursues, 
 and which may thus produce monotony and weariness, like Charron? Or 
 is it not, rather, defect of a " droite methode" which Pascal intended? 
 (French Editor.) 
 
 If these and a few other notes of the indefatigable French Editor 
 should appear to the reader somewhat more curious than important, they 
 will be easily excused as instances of that enthusiasm for his Author, of 
 which the original volumes afford such abundant proof, and which has 
 led him to preserve and investigate v/ith microscopic exactness every 
 sentence and word that fell from Pascal's pen. (Transl.) 
 
 B 
 
26 
 
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 foolish things through accident and infirmity is a 
 common evil ; but to put out such things with settled 
 purpose, is intolerable, and that they should be such 
 as 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 B a 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 We have collected in one chapter, under the title of 
 "Amusement," various fragments dispersed throughout the 
 autograph MS., and all of them having the same title prefixed. 
 The larger number have been published in the successive 
 editions of the Pensees'' under the title, " Misery of Man;" 
 but with considerable alterations and interpolations, which 
 are now rectified. An instance of this is furnished in the 
 three first paragraphs which commenced the chapter on the 
 Misery of Man," in these editions, which are not to be found 
 at all in the MS., or copies ; besides that they are wholly unlike 
 the style of Pascal. 
 
 The fragments on " Amusement," and some others con- 
 nected with them, although they bear titles in the MS. 
 somewhat different, were evidently intended to form portions 
 of the first part of the Apology for Christianity, which pro- 
 posed to treat of the Knowledge of Man. "What, in fact, 
 could better instruct us in the misery of his condition by 
 nature, than this exhibition — so profoundly true, notwith- 
 standing some exaggeration of colouring — of the need which 
 all men experience of some species of diversion, in order to 
 prevent their thoughts from settling too much upon them- 
 selves ? 
 
 We have placed this chapter first, because it refers to the 
 condition of humanity under its most general aspect. In 
 those which follow, the subject is no longer man in a state of 
 misery m.erely, as regards his humanity ; but man's reason, 
 considered in its relations, on the one side with the sources of 
 error with which he has to contend, and, on the other, with 
 those necessary limits which bound his capacity of compre- 
 hension and knowledge. (French Editor.) 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 Amusement. 
 
 I. We burden men from infancy with the care of their 
 honour, their property, their friends ; and even with that 
 of their friends' property and honour also. They are 
 oppressed with business, and forced to drudge in languages 
 and science ; and are taught to believe that they can enjoy 
 no happiness, unless their health, their honour, their 
 fortune, — and that of their friends also, — are in a pros- 
 perous condition ; and that the failure of any one of 
 these things will impair their comfort. Thus they are 
 brimful of occupation, and impelled to incessant labour, 
 from morning to night. This is a strange way, you will 
 say, of securing their happiness ! What more could be 
 done to render men unhappy ? What could be done ? say 
 you. You have but to take from them all these cares ; 
 for then they would be obliged to look into themselves : 
 then they would have to consider what they are, whence 
 they came, whither they are going; and therefore it is, that 
 they cannot have too much occupation and distraction of 
 mind. And it is for this reason also, that, after providing 
 these multifarious engagements, if any leisure is yet left 
 for relaxation, men are recommended to employ it in 
 
^0 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 games and amusements ; and thus to have their whole 
 time completely filled up and absorbed.* 
 
 Amusement. 
 
 II. "When I have set myself sometimes to ruminate 
 upon the various agitations in which men pass their lives, 
 and the perils and toils to which they expose themselves, 
 in courts or in war ; whence arise so many conflicts, such 
 clash of passions, such daring and often criminal enter- 
 prises ; I have said to myself that all the misery of man 
 springs from one source alone, which is, that he cannot 
 endure to sit tranquilly at home, and be at rest. A man, 
 having a sufficiency for his maintenance, if he could thus 
 remain in quiet, would not go abroad, for adventures upon 
 the ocean or the beleaguered field. "'" One person would 
 not pay so high a price for a post in the army, were it not 
 that he finds it insupportable to abide in his native town ; 
 and others would not seek the excitement of conversation, 
 or play, but that they cannot remain without weariness 
 in their own homes. 
 
 But when I pondered more deeply upon the matter, 
 and, after observing the more obvious causes, endeavoured 
 to discover the deeper reasons of these disquietudes among 
 men, I found one paramount over all, — namely, the evil 
 inseparable from our natural and mortal condition; which, 
 when maturely considered, it will be found that nothing 
 can effectually remedy. 
 
 Let us imagine to ourselves whatever state of life we 
 may : collect around it all the advantages that can attach 
 
 * In the margin, ** Que le cceur de Vhomme est creux et plein ordure." 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 31 
 
 to it, — be it even royalty itself, which is the highest condi- 
 tion that the world can offer. Suppose a Sovereign,* 
 surrounded with all the satisfactions which his state can 
 furnish : if he be unsupplied with amusements, and 
 allowed time for reflection, and left to consider what he 
 actually is, his felicity will languish and decay ; and he 
 will infallibly become a prey to anxious forebodings of 
 the vicissitudes that may befall him, of the infirmities 
 to which he is liable ; and, yet more, of that death, which 
 must sooner or later be encountered. Thus, if he be 
 without what are called amusements, he will be un- 
 happy, — even more unhappy than the lowest of his 
 subjects, who are able to dissipate time and thought by 
 diversions. 
 
 Thence it arises that gaming, amusing conversation, 
 (especially that of the female sex,) war, and high ofiices, 
 are so universally sought after. It is not that happiness 
 is really to be found in these things, — that any one sup- 
 poses there is any actual felicity conferred by the money 
 he wins by gambling, or the hare that he courses in the 
 field. Men would refuse these things if ofifered them as 
 a simple gift. It is no such quiet and sluggish emotions 
 as these that are sought, — leaving us still leisure to reflect 
 upon our natural infelicity ; nor is it the danger incident 
 to war, nor the labours of office ; but it is the excitement 
 that these things occasion, which tends to divert the 
 miud, and turn it from disquieting reflections.f 
 
 This is the reason why men are so enamoured of bustle 
 
 * These words, " U7i Roi," are not in the MS. 
 
 I In the margin of this place is written, " Reasons why persons are 
 fonder of the chase than of the game." 
 
32 
 
 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 and movement: hence it is, that the prison presents to the 
 mind such terrors: hence, that the pleasures of solitude are 
 so incomprehensible. And it is, in fact, the main source 
 of felicity in the condition of princes, that those about 
 them are incessantly employed for their amusement, and 
 busied to procure them variety in their pleasures. 
 
 ^ Kings are surrounded with persons whose occupa- 
 tion it is to divert them, and to dissipate thought. There 
 is not a Sovereign living w^ho can be otherwise than 
 unhappy, if he think,* 
 
 This, then, is the sum of all that man has been able 
 to devise for his own happiness. And those who philo- 
 sophize upon the matter, and declaim upon the irration- 
 ality of people passing a whole day in chasing a hare, 
 which they would not have deemed worth buying in the 
 market, know nothing of human nature. The hare 
 furnishes us with no refuge from thoughts of misery and 
 death, but the chase of it does so. And thus, when 
 persons are reproached for seeking with so much ardour 
 what can yield no satisfaction, if they were to reply, as 
 they might do did they consider the point aright, — that 
 they seek only in it a violent and impetuous occupation 
 which may divert their thoughts from themselves, and 
 that they find in this an amusement irresistibly attractive 
 and exciting, — they would leave their objectors without 
 reply. f But they do not allege such reasons as these, 
 because they are unconscious of their force themselves : 
 they are not aware of the secret, that it is the chase, and 
 
 * This consideration is resumed and further developed subsequently. 
 
 f In the margin stands, " Dancing We must consider where we 
 
 step," 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 33 
 
 not the possession of the game, by which they are 
 attracted.* 
 
 One person imagines that if he could gain such a post, 
 he should settle down in content ; and does not suspect 
 the insatiableness of worldly desires. Men fancy they 
 axe seeking repose, and, in reality, are seeking only 
 agitation. 
 
 They have a secret instinct, urging them to occupation 
 and amusement in external objects, which is the eifect 
 of a perpetual feeling of unhappiness ; and they have 
 another secret instinct, — the remains of our primitive 
 greatness by nature, — which tells them that happiness 
 is the fruit of repose, rather than of excitement. From 
 these two opposing impulses results a confusion of pur- 
 pose, which is concealed in the deep recesses of the spirit ; 
 prompting men to seek repose by means of agitation ; and 
 suggesting, that the hitherto unfound satisfaction will 
 yet be discovered, if, after a few intervening diihculties 
 shall have been surmounted, they can but succeed in 
 reaching through them the haven of repose. 
 
 In this way it is that the whole of life is spent. Repose 
 is sought by the mastery of obstacles ; and when these 
 are mastered, the repose becomes oppressive. The mind 
 then falls back upon the ills which are actually felt, or 
 those which are threatened. And if immunity from 
 all these were really experienced, Ennui would force 
 its secret entrances-j- into the spirit, and pervade and 
 envenom it in every part. 
 
 * In the margin : — "The aristocrat really helieves that the chase is a high 
 and royal amusement; but his prompter does not think so." 
 
 t '* Et de son authorite privee, a ceste heure le chagrin predomine en moy ; 
 a ceste heu7-e Vallegresse." — Montaigne's Essays, Book ii., chap. 12. 
 
 B 5 
 
34 
 
 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 The counsel given to Pyrrhus, to take at once that 
 rest which he was about to seek through so many labours, 
 would, in general, meet with little attention. 
 
 + So unhappily, therefore, is man constituted, that, 
 by the very nature of his mind, he falls into weariness 
 without any assignable cause ; and such is his frivolity, 
 that, with a thousand real causes of weariness, the merest 
 trifle — a billiard-table or a ball — suffices to divert him. 
 
 But you will ask, What object does he propose to 
 himself? Simply to be able to boast to-morrow among 
 his friends, that he played better than his antagonist. In 
 like manner, others toil in their closets to exhibit to the 
 scientific the solution of some algebraical problem, never 
 before discovered ; and others again expose themselves 
 to extremities of peril, — and, I think, with as little 
 rationality, — in order to boast of a battle gained, or a 
 fortification taken. And, further, there are some who 
 destroy their lives in acquiring the knowledge of all these 
 things, — not in order to become really more wise, but 
 only to show to others that they know them. And these 
 are the most foolish of the whole ; because they have 
 intelligence enough to avoid such follies, while the others 
 fall into them through mere want of understanding. 
 
 One man passes his time without weariness, by playing 
 for small stakes. Give the person every morning the sum 
 which he might gain in the day, on condition that he 
 does not play ; you render him unhappy. It may be said, 
 perhaps, that it is amusement he seeks from his play, and 
 not gain. Let him then play for nothing: his interest 
 will be lost, and ennui will ensue. It is not, therefore, 
 amusement only that he aims at : a simple, unexciting 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 35 
 
 game will weary him. He must kindle in his sport, till 
 he forces himself to believe that he shall derive pleasure 
 from acquiring that, which would afford him none were 
 it made a condition that he discontinued his play. Thus 
 passion is excited ; and the trifle pursued becomes the 
 object of desire, of anger, of fear ; as children become 
 frightened at the figures that they themselves have daubed.* 
 How is it that that man, who lost his only son a few 
 months since, or who only this morning was so oppressed 
 with cares and controversies, now seems to have lost all 
 remembrance of his troubles ? f Cease your surprise : 
 he is engrossed with watching the course of yonder boar, 
 which the dogs have been so fiercely chasing for six 
 
 * This is a comparison borrowed also from Montaigne. 
 
 f At page 110 of the MS. there is a kind of rough sketch of the above 
 passage, which seems to have been thrown off hastily by Pascal, and is in 
 many parts erased with his own pen. It is as follows: — 
 
 "See that man so oppressed with grief, at the death of his wife, or an 
 only son, or harassed with some vexatious law- suit ! — How is it that now 
 his sorrow is gone, and he is relieved from his painful reflections? You 
 need not be surprised : he is engaged in throwing [Jeter. — The copy 
 has servir. This and other words in the margin of the page have 
 been cut oflT, and are wanting in the MS. aut.] a ball, and receiving it 
 back from his comrade; or he is watching a foot-race: how can you 
 suppose he can think of any thing else, with such important matters to 
 occupy him ? O worthy objects to fill a great mind, and concentrate all 
 its thoughts ! See yonder eminent person, born to acquire universal 
 knowledge ; to form a mature judgment of all things ; to direct, perhaps, an 
 empire : — see such a man engrossed and absorbed in the capture of a hare ! 
 
 " And if he strives not thus to descend, but to keep his powers ever on 
 the stretch, he is not the less foolish ; for he aims to elevate himself above 
 ordinary mortality, and yet is but a man after all ! — He is capable of little 
 and of great things, of every thing and of nothing ! He is, in short, neither 
 angel nor beast, but man ! 
 
 " — One train of thought only occupies us at once : we cannot think of 
 two things at once. Then, according to the world, but not according to 
 God " 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 hours. He wants nothing more. Full of griefs as he 
 was, get him to throw his whole mind into the sport, 
 and for that period he is happy ! 
 
 ^ On the other hand, let a man be as prosperous as he 
 may, if not occupied and diverted by some object of 
 passion or amusement, which may ward off the invasions 
 of weariness, he will soon become disturbed and unhappy. 
 Without diversion, there will be no pleasure ; with it, no 
 disquiet. And thus it is, that persons of high station 
 are furnished with a perpetual circle of dissipation by 
 the means of the crowd around them, whose business and 
 interest it is to invent an incessant change of amusements. 
 
 Mark then my words : — What is there in being a 
 governor, a chancellor, a president, more than this, — 
 that such dignitaries have round them, from morning to 
 night, a crowd of people from all quarters, who leave 
 them not an hour in the day in which their thoughts 
 can turn upon themselves ? But if they fall into disgrace, 
 and are sent to retirement in their own residences, though 
 they may be surrounded with everything to contribute 
 to their comfort and luxury, we find them sink into 
 weariness and misery, merely because they have none 
 about them to dissipate the pains of self-reflection. 
 
 Amusement. 
 
 III. Is there not in royalty, then, sufficient to con- 
 stitute the happiness of its possessor, by the mere 
 contemplation of itself? Must his thoughts be turned 
 away from himself, like those of ordinary mortals? I 
 can understand that a common man may be made happy, 
 and his reflections effectually diverted from his sordid 
 
AMUSEMENT. 37 
 
 troubles, by some dignified accomplishment, — such, for 
 instance, as dancing. But is it so with a King ? and can 
 he find more felicity in such petty amusements, than in 
 the contemplation of his royal grandeur ? Where can any 
 other object be found commensurate with the largeness 
 of his mind ? Is it not to wrong his self-complacency 
 to attempt to fill his thoughts with the adjustment of his 
 steps to an air, or with throwing a ball with exactness, 
 instead of leaving him undisturbed in his reflections 
 upon the glory and dignity which surround him ? Try the 
 experiment, then. Leave your Sovereign to himself, — 
 without satisfaction to his tastes, without solace to his 
 mind, without society, — his thoughts left to revolve upon 
 themselves ; and you will see that a King without 
 amusements is a miserable man. Therefore it is, that 
 all this is sedulously avoided; and, as was before remarked, 
 you never fail to see around these great personages 
 numbers of people, on the watch to intermix diversion 
 with their occupations, and to fill up every interval of 
 leisure with a round of pleasures which may prevent a 
 feeling of listlessness and vacuity ; which shall keep 
 them, in short, from themselves, and avert reflection ; 
 well knowing that a King, even, will be miserable, if he 
 thinks. 
 
 + Be it observed, once for all, that I make no 
 reference here to Christian Kings as Christians, but 
 simply as Kings. 
 
 ^ Amusement, 
 IV. Men, therefore, being unable to escape from 
 death, misery and ignorance have conspired together. 
 
38 
 
 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 in order to secure their happiness, to banish the subject 
 from their thoughts. 
 
 — Notwithstanding this his miser}^, man desires 
 happiness, — he desires nothing but happiness, — he cannot 
 do otherwise than desire happiness. But how is he to 
 attain it ? To do so effectually, he ought to be able to 
 make himself immortal ; but this not being possible, his 
 aim is to forget his mortality. 
 
 ^Amusement. 
 
 V. Death is more easily endured without thought, 
 than the thought of death without danger. 
 
 ^Amusement. 
 
 VI. Were man happy, his joy would increase in 
 proportion as his amusement lessened, as is the case with 
 the saints, and with God. 
 
 True : but is there no happiness in pleasure and 
 amusement ? No : for these things are external and 
 adventitious, and are thus dependent on accident, and 
 liable to be disturbed by a hundred circumstances which 
 may turn them into inevitable sufferings. 
 
 Misery. 
 
 VII. The only thing that dissipates our misery is 
 amusement ; yet this is the main source of our misery. 
 
 For this it is which principally prevents self-reflection, 
 and leads us on insensibly to ruin. But for this, we 
 should be left to our feelings of weariness ; and this 
 
AMUSEMENT. 
 
 89 
 
 weariness would impel us to seek more effectual means 
 of relief. Diversion dissipates thought, and lulls us 
 unconsciously into the arms of death. 
 
 The evils of life have caused this. Contemplating 
 those evils, man has thrown himself upon dissipation as 
 a refuge. 
 
 yill. See the condition of man ! it is one of unvarying 
 inconstancy, weariness, disquietude ! 
 
 IX. Whoever does not perceive the vanity of the world, 
 is himself full of vanity. Who is there, in fact, (excepting 
 the very young, who are involved in its vortex,) that 
 does not perceive its vanity, both in the nature of its 
 diversions, and in the perpetual intrusion of the thoughts 
 of futurity? Take, then, from men their amusements, 
 and you will see them consumed with weariness : they 
 feel their nothingness, without possessing a real know- 
 ledge of it. What unhappiness is equal to the sensation 
 of oppressive languor, the instant that diversion is inter- 
 mitted, and the mind is suffered to reflect ? 
 
 X. That man should feel an interest in the throwing 
 of a ball, or chasing a hare ! And that these should also 
 be the pastimes of Kings ! 
 
 ^ Pensees. 
 
 XI. ^ " In omnibus requiem qucesivi."" 
 
 Surely, if our state w^ere one of true happiness, we 
 
40 
 
 AMUSEMENT. 
 
 should need nothing more than the contemplation of it, 
 to make us happy. 
 
 "'' Ennui, 
 
 XIT. ^ Nothing is so insupportable to a man as a state 
 of perfect calm, — without passion, without business, 
 without amusement, without habits of application. Then 
 it is that he feels his nothingness, his destitution, his 
 deficiencies ; his dependence, his impotence; his empti- 
 ness of self-comfort. At once he finds arise from the 
 secret recesses of his spirit, weariness, melancholy, sorrow, 
 spleen, despondency, despair ! 
 
 "Weariness ensues on quitting any occupation to 
 which we have been devoted. A man lives happily in 
 the midst of his calling : he sees, perhaps, a female who 
 pleases him ; he amuses himself for five or six days 
 agreeably; then he is miserable on returning to his former 
 employment. This is a common case. 
 
 ^ Agitation. 
 
 XIII. ^ When a soldier or a labourer complains of his 
 toils, let him be set to do nothing ! 
 
 XIV. Prone, by nature, in every condition, to unhap- 
 piness, our desires are ever picturing some state of fancied 
 happiness, while they super-add to our actual condition 
 the pleasures of the imaginary one ; but if we were to 
 attain to that state we should not be happy, because we 
 should be subject to fresh desires incident to that new 
 condition. 
 
AMUSEMENT. 41 
 
 ^ Let us proceed to particularize this general propo- 
 sition 
 
 Xy. We never confine ourselves to the present time. 
 We deem the hours too slow in their progress, and eagerly 
 anticipate futurity ; or we linger in the past, as if we would 
 seek to arrest the flight of time. Such is our improvi- 
 dence, — to expatiate in a future not our own, while we 
 neglect the present, which is all that belongs to us ! Such 
 is our vanity, to look back upon that which is past and 
 is nothing, yet allow the present (which alone is real and 
 substantial) to glide away without care or reflection ! The 
 cause of this is, that the present is usually productive of 
 pain. We seek to shut our eyes to it when it grieves us ; 
 when agreeable, we regret to see it pass away. We 
 endeavour to draw comfort from hopes of futurity ; flatter 
 ourselves to regulate things which are not in our control ; 
 and speculate upon times that may never arrive. 
 
 Let every one examine his thoughts, and he will find 
 them occupied and filled with the time past and to come. 
 The present engages little of our attention ; and the chief 
 use we make of it is, to prepare and light up the way for 
 futurity. The present is to the future but as means to 
 an end. We never actually live, but hope to live ;* and 
 thus, ever forming prospects of future happiness, it 
 invariably follows, that the happiness is never attained. 
 
 * Orig. *' Nous ne vivons jamais, mais nous esperons de vivre." 
 t The identity of Pope's sentiment with the above is striking : — 
 " Hope springs eternal in the human breast ; 
 Man never is, but always to be blest." (Transl.) 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 (DES PUISSANCES TROMPEUSES.) 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The title and the heading of this chapter are given by 
 Pascal himself in a note found at page 370 of the MS., as 
 appears by one transcribed at the foot of the following page. 
 
 By " Puissances trompeuses,'' we may understand all those 
 causes of error or deception, internal or external, which bias 
 the reason, and disturb — in a greater or less degree — the 
 judgment. 
 
 We consider it most conformable to Pascal's intention to 
 include in this chapter, not only his remarks upon the imagi- 
 nation, and upon personal peculiarities and diseases, but also 
 upon those prejudices which grow out of our habits, or result 
 from the manner in which objects are presented to us, and 
 upon self-love. 
 
 The paper upon Self-love is not found either in the auto- 
 graph MS., or in the two copies. We give it as collected 
 from the little MS. in 8vo., where it appears with the in- 
 scription, " Written by Mons. Pascal." It is found also in 
 the Literary History of Port Royal, by Dom Clemencet. 
 M. St. Beuve has been so obliging as to furnish us with a 
 copy of this MS., which has never before been published. 
 
 It is probable that Pascal might have made a different 
 arrangement of these various fragments, besides giving them 
 a fuller development ; but it is not presumptuous to suppose 
 that he would have comprised them all under this general 
 division. {French Editor.) 
 
*0N DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 * Man is, by the constitution of his nature, a being- 
 full of error ; and this is ineffaceable, excepting by Grace. 
 Nothing is available to keep him in the paths of truth : 
 all things deceive him. The two main sources by vs^hich 
 truth is conveyed to him, — reason, and sense, — besides 
 that they are both deficient in integrity, reciprocally 
 deceive each other. The senses abuse reason by false 
 appearances ; and the very same deceptions w^hich they 
 practise upon reason, are, in her turn, practised upon 
 them again b}^ reason. She thus takes her revenge : — 
 the passions of the mind disturb the senses, and make 
 false impressions upon them ; they emulate each other 
 in falsehood and deception, f 
 
 But besides these errors which result from accident 
 and from w^ant of intelligence, with these heterogeneous 
 powers J 
 
 I. 
 
 + IMAGINATION. 
 
 I. This is the deceptive province of man's mind, the 
 fruitful source of error and falsehood; and it is the 
 more treacherous, inasmuch as it is not uniformly and 
 
 * In the margin is written, " Here will begin the chapter on Deceptive 
 Influences." 
 
 f Montaigne says, " Ceste mesme piperie que les sons apportent a nostie 
 entendement, Us la reqoivent aleur tour; nostre dme par fois s'en revanche 
 .de mesme: Us mentent et se trompent a Venvy." — Essays, Bookii., chap. 42. 
 X This sentence is imperfect, and almost illegible. 
 
46 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 consistently so ; imagination would serve as an infallible 
 rule of truth if it were infallibly false. * But being for 
 the most part (although not always) fallacious, it gives 
 no indication of its proper quality, but throws the same 
 colouring over truth and falsehood. 
 
 + I am not referring here to the weak and foolish ; I 
 speak of the wisest of men ; and it is among them that 
 imagination exercises its most powerful influences over 
 the mind. Reason may well complain that she knows not 
 how to put a just estimate on the objects presented to 
 her consideration. 
 
 This mighty power — the perpetual antagonist of 
 reason — which delights to show its ascendency by 
 bringing her under its control and dominion, has created 
 a second nature in man. It has its joys and its sorrows, 
 its health, its sicknesses, its wealth, its poverty; it 
 compels reason, in spite of herself, to believe, to doubt, 
 to deny ; it suspends the exercise of the senses, and 
 imparts to them again an artificial acuteness ; it has its 
 follies and its wisdom ; and the most perverse thing of 
 all is, that it fills its votaries f with a complacency more 
 full and complete even than that which reason can 
 supply. The imaginative have pleasures peculiar to 
 themselves, and into which those of more phlegmatic 
 dispositions cannot enter. They aspire to mastery 
 over the minds of others ; they argue with confidence 
 
 * In the St. Germain's copy the commencement of this passage is thus 
 altered by Nicole, in his own writing : — " This source of error and falsehood, 
 which is called fancy and opinion." This alteration has been retained in 
 subsequent editions. 
 
 f Orig. holes. This word stood at first in the MS. " Scclateurs" which 
 I have more nearly followed in the above rendering. (Transl.) 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 47 
 
 and hardihood, while others are cautious and timid ; 
 their self-complacent temperament gives them often an 
 advantage over their hearers ; and their imaginary wisdom 
 finds ready favour with judges as visionary as themselves. 
 It is not in their power, indeed, to impart wisdom to 
 fools ; but they can make them happy* in spite of reason, 
 who is only able to make her followers dissatisfied with 
 themselves. The one, in short, covers men with glory; 
 the other lays them low in humiliation. 
 
 What is it that is the dispenser of reputation ? What 
 enforces reverence for persons, for performances, for the 
 laws, for the great men of the world, but this imagina- 
 tive faculty ? f All the riches in the universe can avail 
 nothing without its acquiescence. 
 
 Would you not say that yonder magistrate, whose 
 venerable aspect carries universal deference and authority, 
 is guided in his opinions by the purest and most elevated 
 intelligence ; and judges every thing upon its intrinsic 
 merits, uninfluenced by any of those adventitious 
 trivialities which are wont to sway the judgment of the 
 weak-minded ? See him repair to Church, full of devout 
 zeal, — the solidity of his reasoning powers aided by the 
 warmth of holy love. He prepares to listen to the 
 sermon with exemplary reverence. The preacher 
 appears. Let, now, nature have inflicted upon the man 
 a discordant voice, or an ill-favoured aspect ; let his 
 barber have shaved him badly, or his exterior have been 
 in any other way disfigured ; — be the truths he announces 
 
 * Arnauld has written in the copy contents instead of heureux. 
 t " Cette faculte imaginante altered in the hand-writing of Nicole to 
 " V opinion des hommes.'^ 
 
48 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 as weighty as they may, 1 will lay a wager the gravity 
 of our venerable senator is gone ! 
 
 Let the profoundest philosopher in the world be 
 placed upon a plank, overhanging a precipice ; although 
 his reason assures him that it is much wider than is 
 required for safety, * his imaginary fears will assuredly 
 overcome him. Most persons would not even be able 
 to bear the thought of such a thing without tremor and 
 alarm, f 
 
 Who does not know that the sight of a cat, or a rat, 
 the treading upon a coal, and a hundred other things, 
 will carry some persons beyond all bounds of mode- 
 ration ! The mere tone of the voice imposes upon the 
 wisest, and will change the entire impression of a speech 
 or a poem. J 
 
 Affection or hatred will utterly bias the course of 
 justice ; and a well-fee'd advocate is strongly prepossessed 
 in favour of the merits of his case. § How well does his 
 confident bearing impose upon the credulity of the 
 judges ! O hapless reason, which a mere breath can 
 thus sway to its will and purpose ! 
 
 I will not, however, attempt to enumerate all its 
 effects : II it would be to give a catalogue of almost every 
 
 * This stood at first, " larger than the space he usually occupies ia 
 walking." 
 
 I Montaigne: — " Qu'onjette U7ie poultre entre ces deux tours, . . il n'y a 
 sagesse philosophique de si grande fermete qui puisse vous donner courage 
 d'lj marcher." — Essays, Book ii., chap. 12. 
 
 X Montaigne: — " Tant la prononciafion a de credit a donner prix etfaqon 
 aux ouvrages qui passent d sa merci.^' — Book ii., chap. 12. 
 
 § Montaigne, Book ii., chap. 12: — .. . " Uavez-vous bien paye poitr y 
 mordre ? . . . Sa raiscn et sa science s'y ecliauffent" 
 
 II The effects of the imagination. 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 49 
 
 description of human action, which is more or less dis- 
 turbed by its irregularities. Reason has been forced 
 from her seat ; and the wisest men are obliged to adopt 
 as their principles those which imagination has every- 
 where arbitrarily superinduced.* 
 
 II. Well, indeed, are our magistrates aware of this 
 secret. Their scarlet robes, their ample folds of ermine, 
 muffling them up like antiquated tabbies, f the stateliness 
 of the courts of justice, the Jleurs de lis, — all this 
 imposing array, has its importance ; and, but for our 
 doctors' cassocks and slippers, and our professors' capa- 
 cious caps and robes, which are irresistible with the 
 multitude, they would never have duped the world as 
 they have done. The soldier does not affect these kind 
 of disguises, because his function is a more necessary 
 one ; he makes his way by force, the others by grimace. J 
 
 In the same way Sovereigns do not resort to these 
 species of masquerades. They rely not upon the splendour 
 of habiliments to impress their subjects ; but they 
 surround themselves with guards and halberds. Those 
 fierce and fiery aspects, which lend to them an artificial 
 force ; those clanging trumpets and roaring drums, which 
 
 * There occurs here in the MS., but erased, the following sentence: — 
 " We are obliged ... to labour all day for advantages felt to be imaginary ; and 
 when sleep has recruited our faculties, we rise again eagerly to pursue the 
 same phantoms, and submit ourselves again to the yoke of this mistress 
 of the world." 
 
 f "S'emmaillottent en chats fourres." This in the MS. stands, "chafourres." 
 
 '* Robes and furred gowns hide all." — Shakspeare. (K. Lear.) 
 
 X At page 283 of the MS., there is this detached note, which seems a 
 kind of rough sketch of the above passage: — "The Chancellor carries a 
 grave aspect, and is covered with insignia ; for his office is one of imaginary 
 dignity. Not so the King 5 he has real power, and needs not to rely on 
 imagination. Judges, physicians, &c., have artificial dignity." 
 
 C 
 
50 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 precede their steps ; the armed legionaries that surround 
 them ; — these are things which impress the firmest 
 minds. They carry not merely external, but intrinsic 
 weight. It requires a very unimpassioned state of 
 reason to regard, as a mere ordinar}^ mortal, a mighty 
 Potentate in his palace, surrounded with forty thousand 
 janizaries. 
 
 If our magistrates dispensed pure justice, if physicians 
 possessed really the power of curing disease, they would 
 need no formality of square caps ; the dignity of their 
 professions would, of itself, ensure respect. But, 
 dealing often in imaginary learning, they are obliged to 
 resort to these poor artifices, which impress the imagi- 
 nation of those with whom they are conversant ; and it 
 is by such unworthy means as these that they gain the 
 reverence of the multitude.* 
 
 It is diflicult to see an advocate in his gown and cap 
 without being favourably impressed with his ability. 
 
 Imagination f sways everything. It creates beauty, 
 justice, happiness,' — which are everything to the world. I 
 should like extremely to see that Italian work, which I 
 know only by its title, (and that is itself worth more than 
 many books,) " Delia opinionef regina del mondo." I 
 subscribe to its truth, without knowing anything more 
 of it, always excepting any mixture of evil it may contain, 
 if such there be. 
 
 ^ These, then, are the workings of this subtle faculty, 
 which seems to be given us expressly to lead us into error. 
 It possesses, however, many other properties. 
 
 * This paragraph is written in the margin of the MS., without an 
 indication of the precise place it was intended to occupy. 
 
 t Nicole, in the copy, has written, opinion" in place of "T imagination." 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 51 
 
 III. It is not alone old impressions which have the 
 power of misleading us ; the charms of novelty possess 
 the same faculty also. Thence arise those multitudinous 
 disputes, wherein the partisans on one side are reproached 
 for adhering to the false prejudices of their early days, and 
 those on the other, for following crude and untried novel- 
 ties. Who is there that is able to hold a middle course 
 between the two extremes Let him come forward, and 
 make the attempt. There is no impression, however 
 natural, received from early infancy, whether of education 
 or of the senses, which may not be made to appear false. 
 Because, says one, you have from childhood believed that 
 a chest is empty, inasmuch as you see nothing in it, you 
 have believed a vacuum to be possible : it is an illusion of 
 the senses, strengthened by habit, which science must 
 correct. Others say. Because they tell you in the schools, 
 there is no such thing as vacuum, your common sense 
 has been imposed upon, and you have received the dogma 
 literally: this must be set right, and you must rely on the 
 evidence of nature. Which is then the deceiver ? — sense, 
 or education? 
 
 IV. We have another element of error, — our sicknesses! 
 These impose upon the judgment and the senses. And 
 if the graver kind of maladies produce more obvious 
 delusions, I doubt not that the minor ailments make their 
 impressions also in proportion.f 
 
 * " Qui tient le juste milieu." This happy jjhrase seems to admit only of 
 such a rendering as the above, although somewhat paraphrastical. (Transl.) 
 
 t Montaigne: — " W^ho can doubt .... that if a continued fever 
 overpowers the mental force, an intermitting one produces its effect in its 
 degree." — Book ii., ch. xii. 
 
 c 2 
 
 DNIVERSITY OF LLiKgy 
 LIBRARY 
 
52 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 y. Our interest, again, is wonderfully instrumental in 
 warping our views to our inclinations. The most equitably 
 disposed man in the world ought not to be judge in his 
 own cause. I have known some, who, in order not to fall 
 into this temptation of self-love, have committed acts of 
 the greatest injustice in a contrary direction. The surest 
 way with them to ruin a cause, however just, has been to 
 give it the recommendation of some near relative. Justice 
 and truth are so subtle in their nature, that our instru- 
 ments are too blunt exactly to touch them. If they 
 succeed in reaching the points, they crush them ; 
 and find their resting place rather on falsehood than 
 reality. 
 
 VI. This universal despot* has in herself little indepen- 
 dence of action, but is liable to be troubled by the slightest 
 external disturbance around her. It does not need the 
 report of a cannon to distract the thoughts ; the creaking 
 of the weather-cock, or a pulley, will be sufficient. Do 
 not be surprised tbat yonder pleader is just now reasoning 
 badly : a fly is tickling his ears ; — there is the secret of 
 his vicious arguments.f If you would have him estab- 
 lish his point, drive away the insect which is keeping his 
 reason in check, and disturbing that powerful under- 
 standing capable of influencing the destiny of cities and 
 
 * ** U esprit de ce souverain jtige du monde.^'' This stood at first, " La 
 souveraine intelligence de ce monarque de Vunivers." 
 
 f Montaigne, Book ii., chap. 12: — Un songe, tine voix, un signe, une 
 brouee matiniere siiffisent a le renverser et porter par terre." — And Book iii., 
 last chap. : — " Qvand mon esprit est empeche a part soi, le moindre hoiir- 
 donnement de mouche rassnssine." 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 53 
 
 kingdoms. A pretty kind of divinity is this ! " 0 
 ridicolosissimo eroe ! " 
 
 VII. How difficult is it to propose anything to the 
 judgment of another, without biasing his opinion by the 
 method of propounding it ! If we say, I find such a 
 thing agreeable, or such a thing obscure, we incline the 
 imagination of the other party to our judgment, or repel 
 it from us. It is better to say nothing ; and then the 
 party forms his judgment according to the naked facts, 
 and the actual circumstaijces of the case. But, at all 
 events, we shall have added nothing to them, except, 
 indeed, that silence itself may not be without its influ- 
 ence, according to the interpretation that may be put 
 upon it; as well, even, as our gestures, tones of voice, and 
 expression of countenance, if the person addressed be a 
 physiognomist. So hard is it to avoid warping the judg- 
 ment from its equipoise, or rather so small a measure does 
 it possess, by nature, of firmness and stability. 
 
 ^Prejudice leading to error. 
 ^ VIII. It is lamentable to see how all mankind are 
 accustomed to regard means only, and not the end : every 
 one considers how they should fulfil their condition ; but 
 as to the choice of that condition, and of all the circum- 
 stances of our life, that is left to chance. 
 
 It is pitiable to see such multitudes of Mahomedans, 
 heretics, infidels, following in the way of their forefathers, 
 solely from the prejudice of each that it is the best way. 
 This also is what determines the generality of men to their 
 calling in life, — smiths, soldiers, &c. 
 
54 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 Thoughts, 
 
 We are all one, and yet many beings. What various 
 natures are there in every individual man ! How^ various 
 are our callings ! And by what mere accident does every 
 one take to that which he has been led to adopt ! * 
 
 Talent well cultivated. 
 
 Professional talent. 
 O, such a thing is well done ! Such a one is an able 
 workman ! That soldier is brave ! — This is the source of 
 our inclinations, and of our choice in life. Such a one 
 drinks hard ! Such another drinks little ! — These are the 
 things that make men sober, or drunkards, soldiers, 
 cowards, &c. 
 
 The most important thing in life is the choice of a 
 calling : yet chance has the chief disposal of it. Accident 
 makes men masons, soldiers, slaters. " Such a one is an 
 excellent slater," it is said : and then, speaking of soldiers. 
 
 They are great fools," it will be said. Others, on the 
 contrary, will cry, There is nothing so noble as the 
 profession of arms ; all other people are mere knaves," 
 It is from hearing these respective professions extolled 
 from infancy, that our choice is determined ; for we 
 naturally love what is estimable, and dislike folly. Such 
 expressions as these exercise a beneficial influence over 
 us ; we err only in their application. So great is the force 
 of custom, that where nature has formed only men, we 
 
 * " Ce quHl a out estimer." Instead of this the copies have, " Ce quUl 
 a le moins etudie ;" w hich is unmeaning. 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 55 
 
 form the various conditions of men ; some districts 
 producing none but masons, others only soldiers, &c. 
 Nature, doubtless, is not thus uniform. It is habit, which, 
 constraining the bent of nature, achieves this ; yet, occa- 
 sionally, nature obtains the victory, and retains men in 
 the sway of their natural instincts, in spite of all the power 
 of habit, good or bad. 
 
 Men, whatever their callings, are disguisers by nature, 
 except in their inmost retirement.* 
 
 II. 
 
 SELF-LOVE. 
 
 The nature of self-love, of this egotism natural to man, 
 is to love and to regard self only. Yet what does it really 
 do? It cannot prevent this object of its idolatry from 
 being full of defects and misery. It desires to be great, 
 and it sees itself to be little ; it desires to be happy, 
 it sees itself to be miserable ; it desires to be perfect, it 
 sees itself full of imperfection ; it desires to be the object 
 of universal love and esteem, and it sees that its faults 
 draw down only aversion and contempt. This conflict to 
 which self exposes itself produces the most perverted and 
 criminal dispositions ; for it conceives a rooted aversion 
 
 * " Hommes naturellement couvreurs, et de toutes vocations, hormis en 
 chambre." I am not satisfied that the above rendering of this passage is 
 correct, but I am incapable of a better. (Transl.) 
 
56 
 
 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 to truth, by which its defects are exposed and reproved. 
 Self-love would desire, in fact, to annihilate truth ; but, 
 not being able effectually to do this, it aims to impair her, 
 as much as lies in its power, in its own apprehension, and 
 in that of others : that is to say, it takes every pains to 
 conceal its defects both from others and from itself. It 
 will not see them itself, nor suffer them to be seen by 
 others. 
 
 It is certainly an evil to be full of faults ; but it is a 
 still greater evil, having such faults, to be determined not 
 to perceive them ; for it is to add to their number that of 
 a voluntary self-deception. We resent the attempt of 
 others to deceive us ; we resist their endeavours to exact 
 from us a higher measure of esteem than they deserve : 
 is it not right also that we should not deceive them, nor 
 aim to obtain from them greater respect than we merit ? 
 
 Then, as they do no more than discern in us those 
 imperfections and faults which we actually possess, it is 
 obvious that they do us no wrong. It is not they that 
 are the cause of this ; and they render us a service in 
 helping to deliver us from a great evil, — that of being 
 ignorant of our own errors. We ought not surely to be 
 displeased at their knowing, and disesteeming us : it is 
 but right that others should know us to be what we really 
 are, and to disesteem us for those things wherein our 
 conduct is blameworthy. 
 
 These are sentiments which should be natural to a spirit 
 true to the dictates of equity and justice. What are we 
 to say then to our own, in which we find dispositions so 
 opposite ? Is it not the fact that we hate the truth, and 
 those who tell us the truth? that we love those who deceive 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 57 
 
 us agreeably ? and that we desire to be esteemed by others 
 for good qualities of which we are destitute ? 
 
 Take a fearful instance of this evil : — The Roman 
 Catholic system does not compel men to reveal their 
 offences to the world indiscriminately: it allows us, in 
 fact, to conceal them from other men, with the exception 
 of one individual, to whom we are commanded to open 
 the hidden evils of our heart, and to discover ourselves in 
 our secret characters. There is but one person in the 
 world to whom we are ordered thus to unbosom ourselves ; 
 and that person is enjoined to the most inviolable secrecy, 
 the effect of which is, that the revelations thus made to 
 him are as if they existed not. Can anything be more 
 gracious and considerate than this ? And yet, such is the 
 corruption of men, that they find a hardship in this rule ; 
 and this is one of the principal causes of the defection of 
 a large portion of Europe from the church. 
 
 How unjust and unreasonable is the human heart, that 
 it should take amiss to be obliged to do that, in regard to 
 one individual, which would, in a certain sense, be proper 
 were it done in regard to all men ! For can it ever be 
 right that we should deceive ?* 
 
 There are different degrees in this aversion to truth ; 
 but it may be affirmed that it exists, in a measure, in all 
 men, for it is inseparable from self-love. This is the cause 
 
 * In the above passage, in eulogy of the Confessional of the Romish 
 church, independently of the obvious want of Scriptural authority for the 
 practice, which is almost avowed in the language used by the author, — " we 
 are commanded," "it is enjoined," &c., and which leads us naturally to 
 ask, by whom are we commanded and enjoined ? the praise conveys, in a 
 cui-ious manner, its own antidote, in the admission that this mischievous 
 practice had occasioned to the church the defection of a large portion of 
 Europe. (Transl.) 
 
 c 5 
 
58 ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 of that false delicacy which compels those who have occa- 
 sion to reprove, to resort to so many shifts and allevia- 
 tions, to avoid wounding the feelings. They are obliged 
 to extenuate, to excuse, to mingle with their reprehension 
 expressions of praise, and professions of affection and 
 esteem. And, after all, the medicine thus presented is 
 distasteful to our self-love. It will receive as little of it 
 as possible, and there is often left behind a secret ill-will 
 against those by whom it is administered. 
 
 Hence it is found, that those who have a motive for 
 cultivating our favour, evade an office which they know 
 to be disagreeable to us : they treat us as they wish them- 
 selves to be treated. We hate the truth ; they conceal 
 it from us : we love to be flattered ; they ply us witli 
 adulation : we love to be deceived ; they deceive us. 
 
 This is the reason why every successive step which 
 elevates us in worldly prosperity, removes us farther and 
 farther from truth ; because we fear giving offence to 
 those whose good opinion may be useful, and their enmity 
 dangerous to us. A prince may be the jest of all Europe, 
 and he alone be utterly unconscious of his absurdities. I 
 am not surprised at this. Truth is useful to him to whom 
 it is told, but prejudicial (because the source of dislike) to 
 those who tell it. Those, therefore, who surround the 
 great, love their own interest better than the prince whom 
 they serve ; and thus they care not to render him a benefit, 
 when, in doing so, they injure themselves. 
 
 This evil is, doubtless, the greater, and more common, 
 in the case of persons of eminence ; but those of the 
 humblest station are not exempt from it, inasmuch as all 
 have some interest in the good opinion of their fellow-men. 
 
ON DECEPTIVE INFLUENCES. 
 
 59 
 
 Thus is human life one incessant scene of illusion ; a per- 
 petual interchange of deception and flattery. No one 
 talks of another in his presence as he would if he were 
 absent. The union between men is founded alone upon 
 this mutual deceit ; and few friendships would be perma- 
 nent, if each knew what his friend said of him when he 
 was not by, although he might express himself with 
 sincerity, and without prejudice.* 
 
 Man, therefore, is a being made up of disguise, false- 
 hood, hypocrisy, both in regard to himself and to his 
 fellows. He suffers not truth to be told to himself, and 
 he withholds it from others ; and all these propensities, 
 so opposed to justice and reason, have their root in the 
 natural evil of his heart.f 
 
 * Pascal has this sentiment in another place. See " Miscellaneous 
 Writings," p. 224. 
 
 t It is, perhaps, needless to remind the reader that in this, as in other 
 similar passages, the state of man, by nature, is referred to, uncontrolled 
 by religious principle. (Transl.) 
 
f 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 DISPROPORTIONS, 
 
 OR, 
 
 INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The fragments upon the two infinitudes, which are here 
 collected into one chapter under the preceding title, bear the 
 same name also in the autograph MS. But in the first and 
 subsequent editions, this expressive title disappears, and is 
 replaced by that of General knowledge of man." 
 
 There are few passages in Pascal of more beauty, or which 
 have suffered more injury at the hands of his editors, than 
 these. We find in the text furnished by them every species 
 of alteration. They have added passages never composed by 
 him ; such, for instance, as the paragraph, which in these 
 editions commences the chapter, " La premiere chose qui s'offre 
 a VTiomme quand il se regarde, c'est son corps,'' Sj-c, 8^c. 
 
 This paragraph is not to be found at all in the MS. ; 
 besides which, its style and diction are altogether awkward 
 and obscure, — clear proofs that it is not from Pascal's pen : 
 in short, it does not at all harmonize with the subject under 
 discussion. 
 
 Several passages in these fragments are found, in the 
 editions referred to, removed from their proper place, and 
 dispersed among other chapters : a glance at the figures placed 
 in the margin, as references to the pages in the old edition, 
 will suffice to give an idea of these strange transpositions. 
 
 {French Editor.) 
 
DISPROPORTIONS, 
 
 OR, 
 
 INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 Disproportions,'^ or. Inequalities in Man, 
 
 I. See the consequences of mere natural knowledge. 
 If these things are not true, then is there no truth in man : 
 if they are, there results from them deep cause of humilia- 
 tion : and, in one way or another, we are compelled to 
 self-abasement. But since we cannot exist without the 
 belief of such things, I should wish, before entering upon 
 researches into the greatest mysteries of nature, that we 
 should look calmly and deliberately into it ; then contem- 
 plate ourselves; and judge, by the comparison which is 
 thus made of the two, whether there is any proportion 
 between them.f (Erased.) 
 
 Let man, then, raise his views above the petty objects 
 which surround him, and contemplate the entire expanse 
 of nature, in all its majestic perfections ; let him gaze 
 upon that dazzling orb, suspended, from the commence- 
 ment of time, in mid-heaven, like the gorgeous lamp of 
 the universe ; let him consider this our earth as but a 
 minute point, in comparison with the mighty circle which 
 
 * " Disproportion" This expression stood at first, " Incapacite." 
 
 f This passage is entirely struck through in the MS. ; furthermore, the 
 two last lines after " ourselves " are obliterated ; and above them is written 
 by Pascal this beginning of a sentence, " et connuissnnt quelle proportion il 
 y a . . . " which again is broken off, and the whole paragraph erased. 
 
64 
 
 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 that luminary describes ;* and then let him remember 
 with astonishment, that this prodigious orbit itself is again 
 nothing more than the minutest speck, in comparison with 
 that which the circling firmament of the constellations 
 embraces ! 
 
 But if the evidence of the sight is here arrested, let 
 imagination pass beyond its limits ; she will grow weary 
 in conceiving — sooner than nature in furnishing — matter 
 for her apprehension. f The whole visible world J is but as 
 an imperceptible atom in the ample bosom of Nature.§ 
 Thought is here baffled. We may swell, as we will, our 
 conceptions beyond all imaginable space ; we produce only 
 atoms, instead of the mighty realities around us. We 
 find a shore of infinite extent, whose centre is in every 
 part, — its circumference in none ! || Behold, then, herein 
 
 * " Que la terre lui paraisse comme un point, au prix du vaste tour que cet 
 astre decrit." This stood at first : — " Que le vaste tour qu'elle decrii, luifasse 
 regarder la terre comme un point." Did Pascal, it may be asked, in altering 
 this passage, show that he wished not to express an opinion on the com- 
 parative systems of Copernicus and Galileo ? It is certain that " cet astre " 
 refers to the sun, and not to the earth. And it is remarkable that Pascal 
 always declined to commit himself to an opinion upon the question ; not 
 that he had any fear of the Inquisition, as Condorcet has sneeringly asserted, 
 but because his conviction was not settled upon the point. (French Editor.) 
 
 I have inserted the foregoing note of the ingenious French Editor, 
 because, like all his remarks, it is entitled to attention ; but there is a 
 passage in the ''Provincial Letters," (Letter 18, p. 395,) which seems to 
 me to carry strong evidence that Pascal had little doubt of the truth of 
 Galileo's theory. (Transl.) 
 
 f This was at first, '* In conceiving the immensities of space, sooner than 
 nature in furnishing them." 
 
 J This stood, " But an atom in immensity ;" then again, " in amplitude," 
 dans V amplitude." 
 
 § There are here, in the first and subsequent Editions, the following 
 words: — ^' Tout ce que nous voyons du monde'^ This correction is in 
 Arnauld's handwriting in the St. Germain's copy, p. 91. 
 
 II This striking comparison, which Voltaire attributes to Timee de 
 Locres, is found also in Gerson. 
 
INEaUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 65 
 
 the plainest proof of the omnipotence of Jehovah, — that 
 our imagination is lost and overwhelmed in the contem- 
 plation of these His stupendous works ! 
 
 Now, let man look into himself, and consider what he 
 is, in comparison with universal being : let him regard 
 himself as cast forth upon this obscure province of nature ; 
 and then, from the petty nook on which he is placed, — 
 for so I call this visible world,* — let him learn to form a 
 just estimate of the earth, of its kingdoms, of its cities, 
 of himself ! 
 
 What is Man in the scale of infinitude ? 
 
 Now, to show him another prodigy not less astonish- 
 ing, let him consider the extent to which his knowledge 
 can penetrate in objects the most minute. Take the 
 smallest of worms : see in its petty body a multitude of 
 parts infinitely smaller, — the limbs with their joints, the 
 veins in the midst of those limbs, the blood in those veins, 
 the various humours in the blood, the globules composing 
 the humours, the vapours in the globules. Subdividing 
 these again, let him strain the force of his conceptions, 
 and make the lowest particle that he can imagine the 
 subject of investigation : he will suppose, perhaps, that 
 he has arrived at the extreme of minuteness in nature. 
 I will discover to him here a further abyss of wonders. 
 He will see delineated, not only the visible universe, but 
 all that he can conceive of the immensity of nature, in 
 the compass of this concentration of an atom.f There 
 
 * ** U Univers." In the St. Germain copy, Arnauld has here substituted, 
 in his own hand, " ce monde visible." 
 
 t " Raccourci d'atome." The reading, in all the preceding editions, is, 
 "atome imperceptible;" and, in reference to this, M. Cousin says in his 
 Rapport, p. 126 : — " Combien de fois n'a-t-on pas cite avec admiration cetie 
 
66 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 will be found in it an infinity of systems, each with its 
 firmament, its planets, its earth, all bearing the same 
 proportion to each other as in the visible world : in this 
 earth, the infinite variety of animal existences ; and, last 
 of all, the very worms we have been describing ; in which 
 will be discovered all that was furnished by the first which 
 we made the subject of examination ; and in them, again, 
 will be found continually the things that have been 
 already enumerated, without cessation, and without end. 
 Thus will the spectator be lost in mysteries, as astonishing 
 by their minuteness, as the former were by their magni- 
 tude. For who will withhold his admiration, to find this 
 body of ours, which before seemed an imperceptible speck 
 in the midst of the universe, and that universe again im- 
 perceptible in the bosom of infinitude, — to see it now 
 become a Colossus, a world, an infinitude itself, in 
 comparison of the nullity to which we have been striving 
 in vain to descend ! 
 
 Whoever pursues such contemplations as these will 
 tremble as he considers himself thus suspended, by the 
 appointment of nature, between these two abysses — of 
 infinite magnitude, and of nothingness ; curiosity will 
 yield to admiration ; and he will end by a silent contem- 
 
 expression deja si belle : 'dans I 'enceinte de cet atome imperceptible /" " What, 
 then, shall be said of the real expression of Pascal, " Dans V enceinte de ce 
 raccourci d'abtme ?" 
 
 This latter reading is only found in two copies. In the MS. the phrase 
 has yet more energy, and, what is more important, more of propriety, 
 viz., " raccourci d' atome." The word " atome," which, by an error of the 
 copyist, has been turned into " abime" is visibly that of the MS. (French 
 Editor.) 
 
 The term in question, here translated "concentration," is more literally, 
 ■'abridgment, abbreviation, or epitome." (Transl.) 
 
INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 67 
 
 plation of these profound mysteries, rather than by 
 wearying himself in presumptuous investigation. 
 
 For, again, I ask, What is man in the midst of nature ? 
 He is a nothing in comparison with infinitude ; he is every- 
 thing in comparison with nullity : he is a central point 
 between nothing and everything. Their extremes being 
 infinitely beyond his comprehension, the finality and the 
 first principle of things are concealed from his view under 
 an impenetrable mystery ; and he is equally incapable of 
 searching into the nonentity from which he was derived, 
 and the infinitude into which he is absorbed. 
 
 What remains for him, then, to do, but to acquire some 
 superficial knowledge of the objects around him, hopeless 
 of investigating their origin or their end ?* All things that 
 are, spring from nothingness, and hasten towards the 
 infinite. Who, with unequal footsteps, shall attempt to 
 track these marvels ? Their great Author alone compre- 
 hends them ; to all others they are hidden and unknown ! 
 
 Through want of due consideration of these things, 
 men have set themselves to the investigation of nature, as 
 if their apprehensions could bear any proportion to her 
 ineffable mysteries. 
 
 Is it not, indeed, strange, that they should have 
 attempted, with a presumption boundless as the object 
 of their research, to investigate the first principles of these 
 things ; and, thence, to aspire to their entire comprehen- 
 sion ? Assuredly, we repeat, such a design could never 
 have been conceived, without a presumption, or an actual 
 capacity, as unlimited as nature herself. 
 
 * Montaigne says, Book ii., ch. xii. : — " Les exiremith de notre perqui- 
 sition tombent toutes en ehlouissement" Sfc. 
 
68 
 
 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 The well -instructed mind perceives that nature, having 
 stamped her own image, and that of her divine Author, 
 upon all created objects, they almost all partake of one 
 or other of these two infinitudes. Thus we find that all 
 the sciences are infinite in the extent of their researches. 
 Who doubts, for example, that geometry is capable of 
 exhibiting an infinitude of propositions ? They are also 
 infinite* in the multitude and the delicacy of their prin- 
 ciples; for every one must see, that those which come last 
 in order of proposition are not self-supported, but rest 
 upon others ; and those again upon others also ; so that 
 none of them possess finality. 
 
 ■'■ But we are accustomed to deal with the principles 
 which appear final to our limited understanding, in the 
 same manner as in regard to material objects ; where a 
 certain point is called indivisible, because it is that 
 beyond which our senses can perceive nothing, although 
 it is by its nature infinitely divisible. 
 
 ■'' Of these two infinitudes in science, that of magnitude 
 is by far the most obvious to the senses ; and therefore it 
 is, that it has happened to so few to possess universal 
 knowledge on these subjects. " I am about to treat of 
 all things," said Democritus.f 
 
 * *' Elles sont aussi tnjinies.'' The preceding Editors and both copies 
 have, ** EUe sera aussi infinie." The two words " elles" and " infinies," are 
 plainly plural in the MS., and consequently must refer to sciences; the 
 MS. also has *' sont," and not sera." 
 
 t This quotation is adopted from Montaigne, Bookii., chap. 12. — " Be 
 meme imprudence est cette promesse du livre de Democritus : Je m'en vay 
 parler de toutes choses." 
 
 After this paragraph, there was the following in the MS., afterwards 
 erased : — " But besides that it is doing little simply to speak of these 
 things, without thorough knowledge and demonstration, it is actually 
 
INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 69 
 
 Disproportions^ in Man, — H — 2. 
 
 IL We perceive at a glance, that arithmetic alone 
 furnishes propertiesf without number, and every science 
 does the same. (Erased.) 
 
 But infinitude in smallness is a far less obvious thing. 
 Philosophers have pretended to arrive at it too soon ; and 
 this is where they have all stumbled. It is an error of 
 this kind which has given rise to those titles so customary 
 with them, " Of the principles of things," — Of the prin- 
 ciples of philosophy,"^ and others of equal pretension in 
 reality, although not in appearance so offensive to the 
 eye§ as that, de omni scibiU.'"\\ 
 
 We naturally believe ourselves much more capable of 
 reaching the centre, than of embracing the circumference 
 of things. The visible world, in all its magnitude and 
 extent, obviously surpasses our powers : but as we, in our 
 turn, surpass the minuter class of objects, we think our- 
 selves more capable of comprehending them : and yet it 
 demands no less capacity to attain to the apprehension 
 
 impossible to do so ; the infinite multitude of things being so concealed 
 from us, that all that we can express by words, or conceive in thought, is 
 but an insignificant fraction of the whole : whence it is evident, how foolish, 
 vain, and ignorant, is the title of certain works, De omni scibili." This 
 latter part of the sentence, from " whence it is evident," had been erased by 
 the writer previous to expunging the whole paragraph ; for, in reality, the 
 title above referred to implies only all that is known, not all that can be 
 known. 
 
 * " Disproportion." This stood at first, " Incapacife." 
 
 f The copy has in error, "principes," instead o( " proprietes." 
 
 X A direct allusion to Descartes' work, entitled, Principia philosophic," 
 previously referred to. 
 
 § " Qui creve les yeux ;" at first, " qiii blesse la vue." 
 
 II This is the title of the Theses which Jean Pic de la Mirandole 
 sustained with high reputation at Rome, at the age of twenty-four. (Notes 
 in Bossut's Edition.) 
 
70 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 of nullity, than to that of universality. Infinitude of mind 
 is required for the one, not less than for the other ; and 
 it appears to me that he who should have descended to 
 the final principles of things, vs^ould also be able to stretch 
 his conceptions to the heights of infinity also. The two 
 mighty extremities seem to meet and re-unite, by the 
 very force of their remoteness : they are both found in 
 God, and in Him alone. 
 
 Let us then endeavour to know our proper sphere : we 
 are something, but we are not everything. The nature 
 of our existence hides from us the knowledge of the first 
 principles which grow out of nullity, and the narrow 
 limits of our being conceal infinitude from our view. 
 
 ■'' The intellect of man holds the same rank in the 
 order of intelligences as his body holds in the system of 
 nature. 
 
 Limited on every side, all our powers hold a middle 
 station between two extremes. Our senses shrink from 
 all excess. Too much noise deafens us ; too much 
 light dazzles ; too great distance, or contiguity, impedes 
 the sight ; prolixity, and excessive brevity in discourse, 
 equally produce obscurity ; the very nakedness of truth 
 confuses. I have known those who could not understand 
 that to take four from zero there remains zero. ^ First 
 principles carry with them too palpable proofs. ^ Too 
 much pleasure wearies. ''' In music too much concord 
 displeases. Too many benefits oppress ;* we are restless 
 till we can cancelf the obligation : J "Beneficia eo usque 
 
 * At first, " render us ungrateful." 
 
 f ^'Surpayer," not "siirpasser," as in the copies. 
 
 X Here in the MS. are these words cancelled : — '* Si elk nous passe, elle 
 blesse." 
 
INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 71 
 
 Iceta sunt dum videntur exsolvi posse ; ubi multum 
 antevenerej pro gratia odium redditur.'^ * 
 
 We lose all feeling under the extremes of heat or cold. 
 Qualities in excess injure, but are not felt by us; we 
 suffer from them, but do not perceive them. The rawness 
 of youth, and the dulness of age, impair the powers of 
 the mind : our impressions are at one time too vivid, and 
 afterwards become too dull.f In fact, things that are 
 excessive are to us as if they were not, and we are nothing 
 in respect of them ; either they elude us, or we elude them. 
 
 This is our true state. It is from these causes that man 
 is incapable both of perfect knowledge, and of absolute 
 ignorance. We hover perpetually over a mighty expanse 
 of uncertainty, ever fluctuating and doubtful, impelled 
 continually from side to side, from one extreme to 
 another. We think we have reached a point where we 
 can fix and settle down ; it wavers and slides from 
 us : we follow it, and it escapes our reach, — glitters in the 
 distance, and beckons us on in everlasting and fruitless 
 pursuit. Nothing around us is stationary. It is the 
 condition that is most natural to us, yet the most opposed 
 to our inclinations. We burn with desire to find a firm 
 site and a solid base, whereon to build a fabric which may 
 scale infinitude ; and, lo ! our whole foundation suddenly 
 gives way, and a dark and fathomless abyss yawns and 
 shakes beneath us ! 
 
 Let us then no longer look for assurance and certainty. 
 Reason is ever subjected to delusion by the inconstancy 
 
 • This quotation, which is taken from Tacitus, Ann. Book iv., § 18, is 
 found in Montaigne, chap. " De Vart de conferer." 
 
 f Montaigne, Book ii., chap. 12 : — ''La fin et le commencement de science 
 se tiennent en pareille betise." 
 
72 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 of the objects presented to her view ; nothing can give 
 stability to a finite being, in the midst of two opposite 
 kinds of infinitude, which surround, yet ever fly from him. 
 
 Were this truth well apprehended, we should, I doubt 
 not, remain in tranquillity, — each in that condition in 
 which nature has placed us. This middle state which 
 has been allotted to us, being equally distant from ex- 
 tremes on either side, what matters it to man, whether he 
 gains a little more or less of insight into the things around 
 him ? Say, if he succeeds, that he makes some small 
 I advance in the scale of intelligence : is he not still at 
 an infinite distance from the mighty goal? If life be 
 lengthened some ten years more, is it not infinitely 
 remote from an eternity of duration ? 
 
 In the view of these infinitudes, every thing finite is 
 equal ; and I can see no place for the imagination to rest 
 upon, in one more than in another. Any comparison which 
 we make between ourselves and that which is finite, can 
 cause only pain. 
 
 Let man study well himself, and he will see there are 
 limits set to his understanding which he cannot overpass. 
 How should that which is but a part acquire a knowledge 
 of a whole ? But he would at least, perhaps, aim to know 
 those parts to which he himself bears some relation. Yet 
 have all the parts of the universe such relation and such 
 implication one with another, that I consider it impos- 
 sible thoroughly to know the one without the other, and 
 without the whole. 
 
 Man, for example, bears a relation to all things that 
 he is acquainted with. He needs space for his inhabita- 
 tion, time for his duration, movement for his existence ; 
 
INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 73 
 
 the elements compose his body, heat and food subserve 
 his nourishment, the air his respiration. Light is the 
 medium of his vision, bodies of his sensation ; in short, 
 there is nothing but what stands in some connexion and 
 relation to him.* 
 
 In order, then, properly to know^ what man is, we 
 should know why he requires air for his existence ; and 
 to understand the properties of air, we must understand 
 what is its relation to the life of man. 
 
 Fire cannot subsist without air : then, to understand 
 the one, we should understand the other also. 
 
 All things, therefore, being to each other either causes 
 or effects, subservient or subserved, mediate or direct ;- — 
 and all being related by a natural and yet insensible tie, 
 which binds together things the most distant and the most 
 opposed ; — I hold it to be impossible perfectly to know the 
 parts without the whole, any more than to know the whole 
 without a particular knowledge of all the several parts. f 
 
 And that which completes our incapability to acquire 
 this knowledge is, that the things in question are homo- 
 geneous in their nature, while we are compounded of two 
 natures, opposed to each other, and different in quality, — 
 the soul and the body. It is impossible that the faculty 
 by which we reason should be otherwise than spiritual : 
 and when it is pretended that man may be solely corporeal 
 
 * " Sous son alliance." This at first stood, '* sous ses recherches," and 
 afterwards, " sous sa dependance." 
 
 f Pascal here wrote at first : — ** I hold it impossible to know any one of 
 these alone, and without all the rest: that is to say, impossible purely and 
 absolutely." At the end of this paragraph are the following words, erased 
 in the MS. : — " The idea of eternity, in itself, or in God, must ever confound 
 our finite thought. The fixed and constant immoveableness of nature, 
 compared with the perpetual change around us, produces the same eflfect." 
 
 D 
 
DISPROPORTIONS, OR, 
 
 in his nature, that would go far more than anything 
 else to limit our knowledge; because nothing is so 
 inconceivable as the assertion that matter can know itself. 
 It is not possible for us to know how it could acquire 
 such a knowledge.* 
 
 Thus, then, if we are simply material, we cannot by 
 possibility know any thing at all ; and if we are composed 
 both of spirit and matter, we cannot perfectly understand 
 things purely spiritual and purely corporeal, f 
 
 Hence it arises that almost all sects of philosophers 
 are wont to exhibit confusion in their ideas, and speak 
 indiscriminately of spiritual and corporeal things. They 
 boldly assert, that bodies have a tendency to fall ; that 
 they gravitate towards the centre ; that they shrink from 
 destruction, fear a vacuum, and possess inclinations, 
 sympathies, antipathies, — all which things are proper to 
 spirit only. And when they refer to spirit, we find 
 them treating of it as possessing locality, and attributing 
 to it movement from place to place, — which are the pro- 
 perties of bodies only. 
 
 * This at first stood, — "And that which completes our incapabilit}', is 
 tlie simplicity of these things, compared with our two-fold and complex 
 state. There are invincible absurdities to be overcome upon this point; 
 for it is as absurd as it is impious to deny, that man is composed of two 
 parts, differing in their nature, — soul and body. This renders us incapable 
 of understanding anything. If this proposition be denied, and if it is 
 contended that we are corporeal only, I leave it to be judged how incapable 
 matter must be of understanding the properties of matter. Nothing is more 
 incompi'ehensible than that. 
 
 "Only conceive how this compound of spirit and of dust 7}ous dispropor- 
 tiome . . . ."' 
 
 f At first: — . . . simple things: for how should we distinctly 
 understand matter, since the instrument of this knowledge is partly 
 spiritual? and how should we clearly understand spiritual things, with 
 a body gross in its nature, and ever bowing us towards the earth ?" 
 
INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 75 
 
 Instead of imbibing pure ideas of these things, we 
 tinge them with our own qualities, and impress all the 
 objects of our contemplation with the characters of our 
 complex being. 
 
 Who would not suppose, seeing how we mingle the 
 ideas of spirit and matter in all things, that this. com- 
 bination would be to us easy of comprehension ? Yet is 
 it the thing of all others that we understaiid the least. 
 Man is to himself the greatest marvel in nature. He is 
 incapable of conceiving what is body, and, still less, what 
 is spirit; and, less than either the one or the other, can 
 he comprehend the nature of the union between the 
 body and the spirit. Here is the climax of his difficul- 
 ties ; and yet this is his own state of being ! " Modus 
 quo corporihus adhcEret spiritus comprehendi ah homini- 
 hus non potest ; et hoc tamen homo estT^ 
 
 ^ Lastly, to complete the proof of our impotency, 1 
 shall conclude with these two considerations . . . .f 
 
 III. Two Infinitudes. Centre. 
 ^ If we read either too fast or too slowly, we under- 
 stand nothing.:]: 
 
 * " Z)e Spiritu et Artima." St. Augustin. 
 
 f Here followed this paragraph in the MS., but which was afterwards 
 erased : — " These are part of the causes which render man so incompetent 
 to acquire a knowledge of nature. She is infinite in various ways ; he is 
 finite and limited. She is everlasting, and knows no decay; he is mortal, 
 and passes away. Sensible objects, in particular, are every instant under- 
 going change and corruption ; man's observation of them is but a transient 
 one : they have their commencement and their end ; he understands 
 neither the one nor the other. They are simple in their nature, and he com- 
 posed of two natures that differ; and, to complete the proof of our impo- 
 tency, I shall finish by this remark upon the condition of man's nature." 
 The remainder of this passage is wanting in the MS. 
 
 I This remark, less the title, occurs again at p. 23 of the MS. 
 D 2 
 
76 DISPROPORTIONS, OR, INEQUALITIES IN MAN. 
 
 Either too mucli or too little wine : give him none, 
 and he will not be able to understand the subject ; give 
 him too much, and the eftcct will be the same. 
 
 ^ " Nature ne p " 
 
 Nature has so well adjusted our position, that if we 
 change one side of the equilibrium, we affect the other 
 also. This leads me to believe that there are certain 
 springs of thought and understanding so nicely disposed, 
 that whoso touches the one, touches the other also. 
 (Erased.) 
 
 Too early youth is unfavourable to the powers of 
 judgment ; and age too advanced the same. 
 
 By too little, and by too much thought, we equally 
 become prejudiced and bewildered.* 
 
 If we revise a performance too early after its com- 
 pletion, we cannot free ourselves from prepossessions in 
 its favour; if too late, we lose the continuity of our 
 thoughts. 
 
 So it is with pictures seen from too great or too short 
 a distance. There is but one point of view that is the 
 exact one ; all others are too near or too remote, too high 
 or too low. The art of perspective fixes that point in 
 
 I regard of the painting : but who shall assign it in ques- 
 
 ' tion of truth and morals ? 
 
 * *< S'en coiffe.'^ The copy reads, ''s'encoiffe," from improperly joining 
 the words s'era and coiffe, although they are carefully separated in the MS. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GREATNESS AND THE MISERY 
 OF MAN; 
 
 SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS, ETC. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 These Fragments upon " Greatness and Misery," which 
 finish, and, in a manner, sum up the portraiture of man's 
 condition, bore in the author's mind an intimate relation to 
 those remarks which he had penned upon the opinions of the 
 philosophers. Both were intended to serve as introductory 
 to his development of the Christian religion ; and on that 
 account we combine them in the same chapter, as an appro- 
 priate conclusion to the first part of the apologetical treatise 
 of the writer. 
 
 Upon the plan laid down by Pascal, in fact, it is by means 
 of a deep study of ourselves only that we arrive at a know- 
 ledge of true religion. Having presented to his reader every- 
 thing that man is capable of knowing of himself, he proceeded 
 to challenge the systems of philosophy, in order to learn 
 whether there was anything in them which could satisfy the 
 cravings of the human heart, appease its innate desires after 
 truth and happiness, and, above all, solve the mystery of that 
 complex character of greatness and misery which is inherent 
 in his present state of existence. Then, after apostrophizing 
 in vain these philosophers, he applies himself to the investi- 
 gation of the Christian system : there he sees the reality of that 
 good, of which, elsewhere, he had been only deceived by the 
 shadows ; and finds the solution of man's inconsistencies of 
 nature in the doctrine of his original sin. 
 
 After this exposure of the philosophical doctrines, Pascal 
 proposed also * to investigate the variety of religious sys- 
 tems extant in the world ; but this part of his plan was, 
 unfortunately, never completed. He has left behind only 
 some fragments upon Mahomet ; and as these passages have 
 for their object to exhibit the disparity between the prophet 
 of the Mussulmans and the divine Founder of Christianity, we 
 have introduced them at the close of the chapter, entitled, 
 " Of Jesus Christ." {French Editor.) 
 
 * Miscellaneous Writings, p. 395. 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 I. Description of Man. 
 Dependence, love of independence, necessitousness. 
 
 II. ^ The Corruption of his Nature. 
 + Man, in no part of his conduct, follows that reason 
 which constitutes his true existence. 
 
 Intestine war carried on in man between his reason 
 and his passions. 
 
 If he possessed only reason without passions . . 
 
 If he possessed only passions without reason 
 
 But possessing actually both, he cannot be without 
 conflicts, — being unable to preserve peace with the one 
 without encountering hostility from the other. Thus is 
 he divided and at variance in himself. 
 
 III. ^ Misery. 
 Job and Solomon. 
 
 Misery. 
 
 Solomon and Job, of all men that ever lived, have best 
 described the misery of man : — the one the most prosper- 
 
80 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 ous, the other the most afflicted of beings ; the one 
 knowing, by experience, the vanity of pleasure, — the 
 other, the reality of sorrows. 
 
 Transitoriness, 
 It is a fearful thing to see all our possessions dis- 
 appearing. 
 
 IV. Wrong. When presumption unites with misery, 
 it is a sore wrong. 
 
 V. Greatness of Man. 
 So exalted is our idea of the mind of man, that we 
 cannot endure to be the object of its contempt, and not 
 rather to stand well in its esteem ; and all the happiness 
 of men consists in this mutual good opinion. 
 
 That characteristic of man, which is, at once, the most 
 unworthy and the most exalted, is his desire of glory. 
 Whatever be his worldly possessions, whatever his 
 personal advantages and enjoyments, he is restless and 
 unsatisfied without the esteem of his fellow-men. So 
 great is his value for the human mind, that, if he stand 
 not well in its estimation, — whatever be his other satis- 
 factions, — he is a stranger to content. That is his 
 highest ambition ; nothing can turn away his longing for 
 this ; it is the last passion that becomes extinct in the 
 heart of man.* 
 
 And those who most despise mankind, and would fain 
 degrade their race to the level of the beast, even they 
 
 * "The last infinrsity of noble minds." — Shakspeare. (Transl.) 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 81 
 
 desire credit and admiration among tliem, and contradict 
 by their conduct their professed principles. Nature, 
 which is stronger than all, impresses them with a deeper 
 conviction of the greatness of man, than their own shallow 
 reasonings of his degradation.* 
 
 VI. This inconsistency in man is so palpable, that 
 there are some who fancy we have two souls ; a simple 
 emotion appearing to them incapable of so great and 
 sudden vicissitudes, from unmeasured presumption to a 
 fearful depression of the spirit. 
 
 VII. Notwithstanding the contemplation of all the 
 miseries with which we are surrounded, touching us so 
 intimately,'!' there is in us an irrepressible instinct, which 
 seems to raise us above them. 
 
 VIII. The greatness of man. 
 
 ^ The greatness of man is so evident, that it is dedu- 
 cible even from his misery. For that which is the 
 natural state of animals we call misery in man ; by which 
 we acknowledge that, our nature being now similar to 
 that of animals, we have fallen from a better nature which 
 he once possessed. 
 
 Who is unhappy at not being a King, except one who 
 has been deposed? Was Paulus Emilius unhappy at 
 being no longer consul ? On the contrary, every one saw 
 
 * This passage is not to be found in the MS. 
 
 t Orig. " Qui nous tiennent a la gorge ;" an expression borroweJ from 
 M ontaigne. 
 
 D 5 
 
S2 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 lie was happy in having held the office, because the con- 
 dition of holding it was that it should not be perpetual. 
 Perseus, on the other hand, was so unhappy at ceasing 
 to be a King, because the office was a permanent one, 
 that it was thought strange that he could endure 
 existence.* Who is discontented to have only one 
 mouth ? yet who would not be unhappy at having but 
 one eye ? No one would be concerned at not possessing 
 three eyes ; but we should be inconsolable to be without 
 any. 
 
 IX. It is feeling only that makes us unhappy. A 
 liouse in ruins is not so. Man alone is conscious of 
 misery. JEgo vir vide7is/'f 
 
 The greatness of man is seen the more plainly, in that 
 he knows himself to be miserable. A tree knows nothing 
 of the kind. 
 
 It is a misery to feel our misery, but it is also a mark 
 of greatness to know it. 
 
 C All his miseries prove his greatness. There are the 
 sorrows peculiar to the aristocrat ; others peculiar to a 
 deposed Sovereign. 
 
 X. ^ A. P. R.% Greatness and misery. 
 As misery results from greatness, and yet greatness is 
 
 * At page 83, MS., is the following note : — " Perseus, king ofMacedon. 
 Paulus Etiiilius reproached him that he did not kill himself." 
 
 t This is found only in the copies. (Lament. J eremiah, Ch. iii. v. 1 .) 
 X See note, page 152. 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 83 
 
 shown in that very misery, some have inferred the exist- 
 ence of the misery still more strongly from regarding the 
 greatness to be the proof of it ; and others inferring yet 
 more forcibly the greatness, inasmuch as they have 
 deemed it proved by the misery, all that the one class 
 has advanced in support of the greatness has but fur- 
 nished arguments to the other in proof of the misery, 
 since a descent seems the greater in proportion to the 
 previous elevation. Thus they argue conversely, and 
 oppose each other's views in a perpetual circle ; each 
 feeling, that in proportion as men are enlightened, they 
 see in themselves both greatness and misery. In a word, 
 man knows that he is miserable. He is miserable in 
 being so ; but he is great in knowing it. 
 
 XI. ■'■ Thought constitutes the Greatness of Man, 
 
 I can conceive a man without hands, or feet, or head ; 
 for it is only from experience we learn that the head is 
 more necessary than the feet : but I cannot conceive of 
 man without thought ; he would then be a stone, or a 
 brute. 
 
 It is thought, then, which constitutes man's being, and 
 without which no conception can be formed of it. What 
 is that in us by means of which we experience pleasure ? 
 Is it the hand ? Is it the arm ? The flesh ? The blood ? 
 It is plain that it must be something immaterial,* 
 
 * This paragraph, which appears in the edition of 1670, is not in 
 either the MS. or the copy, and appears to us to be an addition by the 
 first Editors. 
 
84< 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 XII. A Reed possessing thought, 
 ^ It is not in any material space which I occupy, that 
 I must seek my true dignity, hut in the regulation of 
 my thoughts. The possession of the earth would not 
 herein add to my greatness. As to space, the universe 
 encloses and absorbs me as a mere point ; by thought, 
 I can embrace it ! 
 
 H. S, 
 
 Man is but a reed, — the feeblest of created things, — 
 but one possessing thought. It needs not that the 
 universe should arm itself to crush him. A breath, a 
 drop of water suffices for his destruction. But were 
 the whole universe thus to rise against him, man is 
 greater than it, because he knows that he dies ; and 
 though the universe should thus be his destroyer, it is 
 unconscious of its power. 
 
 All our dignity then consists in thought. Thence is 
 our real elevation : not in space, which we cannot fill ; 
 nor in duration, which is nothing. Let us aim to think 
 well : that is the source of all true morality. * 
 
 XIII. Man is obviously formed for thought ; it con- 
 stitutes all his dignity, and all his value ; and his great 
 duty is to order his thought aright. Now that order 
 is, to begin with himself, then to proceed to his Author, 
 and, last, to remember his end. 
 
 j Yet what is it which, with the world, forms the 
 / subject of thought ? Nothing of all this ; but to dance, 
 
 * This passage, which appears in most of the editions, in nearly the 
 same terms, is not found in the autograph MS., but in the copies only. 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 85 
 
 to play, to sing, to make verses, to run a round of gay 
 amusement ; or to build houses, to gain elevated rank ; 
 while nothing is thought of the duties of station, or the 
 destinies of man ! 
 
 XIV. + Thought, 
 ^ Man's whole dignity consists in thought. * 
 Thought, then, is in its nature an admirable thing ; 
 nothing is to be compared with it. It must be mingled 
 with great faults in order to become contemptible. But 
 such it too often is ; and then it is justly a subject of 
 ridicule. 
 
 How great is it in its primitive state ! How debased 
 through its defects ! 
 
 XV. It is a dangerous thing to demonstrate to man 
 how he resembles the brutes, without at the same time 
 showing him his superiority over them. It is also 
 dangerous to inculcate too strongly upon him his dignity, 
 without letting him see his degradation. It is still more 
 dangerous to keep him in ignorance of the one and the 
 other. And it is equally advantageous to him to get a 
 correct knowledge of both. 
 
 — Man ought not to think himself on a level with 
 the brutes, nor equal to the angels ; neither ought he 
 to be ignorant of the nature of either : but he should 
 know in what respects his condition resembles both, f 
 
 * Here Pascal has added in the MS., (but erased,) as a kind of after- 
 thought and comment, — " But what is this thought? O, how absurd !" 
 t This paragraph is not in the autograph, but the copies. 
 
86 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 XVI. ■'■ Greatness. Misery.* 
 
 ^ In proportion as man is enlightened, he sees more 
 
 of the greatness and the misery of his condition. 
 
 ^ The generality of men 
 
 Those who are most elevated 
 
 ^ Philosophers .... 
 
 They astonish the generality of men. 
 
 ^ Christians. — They are the astonishment of philo- 
 sophers. 
 
 ^ Who can be surprised, then, to find that religion 
 does no more than thoroughly convince of truths, v^hich 
 become the more evident in proportion as the mind 
 is enlightened ? 
 
 XVIT. Pride outweighs and absorbs all the evils 
 that afflict us. It is a mystery, an extravagance, a 
 delusion ! It puts a man wholly out of his proper 
 place, and fills him with restlessness to find it again. 
 This is a universal case. Where is an exception to be 
 found ? 
 
 ■'■ Without examining every particular occupation, it is 
 sufficient to class them all under the head of amusements. 
 For philosophers, S80 kinds of sovereign good! j- 
 
 XVIII. This is all that they have been able to 
 devise as a remedy for so many evils. It is, at best, a 
 miserable consolation, since it does not aim to cure 
 the disease, but merely to conceal it for a time ; and, 
 
 * The following seem to be inere rough inemoranda found in the MS. 
 (Transl.) 
 
 f In the copy only. 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 87 
 
 in so doing, the radical cure is altogether lost sight of. 
 Thus, by a strange anomaly in man's nature, it is found 
 that weariness, {ennuis) which is his greatest affliction, 
 becomes, in a certain sense, his truest blessing ; because 
 it tends more than anything else to send him to the only 
 effectual means of cure : while amusement, which he 
 regards as his greatest comfort, is in reality his enemy ; 
 inasmuch as it utterly disinclines him to seek the true 
 remedy for his trouble. Both these things furnish 
 proof of the misery and degeneracy of man, while they 
 exhibit his greatness also ; inasmuch as we should not 
 experience this weariness, and be driven into all this 
 variety of occupations, were it not that there is an 
 innate idea in the mind of man of that happiness which , 
 he has lost; and which, seeking in vain in himself, he 
 hopes to derive from external objects, without ever 1 
 attaining to true satisfaction. That is to be found, not 1 
 in ourselves, nor in any created object, but in God( 
 alone. * 
 
 XIX. Man knows not to what rank in creation to 
 assign himself He sees himself to have wandered and 
 fallen from his proper place, without the power to 
 return. He anxiously gropes in every direction to 
 regain it, but is baffled by impenetrable darkness. 
 
 XX. We are desirous of truth, but find only un- 
 certainty. We are ever seeking happiness, and find 
 nothing but misery and death. 
 
 * This passage is not found in any MSS. that we have examined. It 
 was published, however, in the earliest edition ; and it bears marks of the 
 style of Pascal, which cannot be mistaken. 
 
88 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 We are unceasingly pursuing truth and happiness, yet 
 are incapable of the real enjoyment of either. 
 
 These desires have been left within us, not less as a 
 punishment of sin, than to make us ever conscious from 
 whence we have fallen ! 
 
 XXI. Feebleness, 
 All men's labours are directed to the acquisition of 
 property. Yet would they be unable to show any just 
 title to their possessions; for they hold them only by 
 the caprice of men, and have no power effectually to 
 defend them. 
 
 It is the same with knowledge ; for disease can deprive 
 us of it. 
 
 — We are incapable of discovering truth, or 
 possessing real good. 
 
 All men's labours are directed to the acquisition of 
 property ; yet have they no title to possess it with 
 justice, nor power to hold it with security. So is it 
 with knowledge and pleasure. We possess neither truth 
 nor good. * 
 
 XXII. When children become scared at the sight of 
 some hideous figure they have dressed up, f we see it to 
 
 * This last paragraph seems to be the rudiiiiental thought which is 
 developed in the one immediately preceding; and, like many other of the 
 imperfect passages which the diligence of the Editor has discovered and 
 preserved in this volume, is chiefly valuable as exhibiting the species 
 of mental elaboration by which Pascal arrived at his more finished and 
 digested axioms. (Transl.) 
 
 f Montaigne says : — "C'est pitie que nous nous pipons de nospropres singeries 
 et inventions, — ' quod finxere timent,' — comme les en/ants qui s^effraijent de 
 ce mesme visage qu'ils ont barbouille et noircy a leur compagnon." — Book ii., 
 chap. 12. 
 
GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 89 
 
 be a child's trick ; but the same follies are played off, 
 only on a larger scale, in advanced age. It is the 
 method and fancy only that are changed. 
 
 — Whatever advances by degrees to maturity, 
 decays also progressively. That which has been origi- 
 nally weak can never become absolutely strong. We 
 say, such a thing has grown, has changed ; yet it remains, 
 in reality, the same. 
 
 XXITI. Sensuality has become so natural to us, as 
 to be a second nature. Thus are there in us two 
 natures ; — the one good, the other evil. . . Where 
 then is God ? There, where you are not ; and the 
 kingdom of God is within you. — Rabins. 
 
 XXIV. Contrarieties. 
 Man is by nature credulous and incredulous ; timid 
 and rash. 
 
 See our contradictoriness : we despise our exist- 
 ence ; we hate our being ; we throw away life for 
 nothing ! 
 
 Contradiction, 
 Pride is the counterpoise to our miseries. Either it 
 casts a veil over them ; or, if it reveal them, boasts in 
 having them known. 
 
 ^ O the degradation of man ! To place himself 
 below — yea, to adore the very beasts that perish ! 
 
90 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 XXV. If he boast, I will abase him ; if he abase him- 
 self, I will exalt him : thus will I meet him with 
 perpetual contradiction, till he shall see that he is an • 
 incomprehensible being, — a monster in creation ! 
 
 XXVI. ■'' Contrarieties ; after showing the degradation 
 and the greatness of man. 
 
 Let man now hold himself at his true worth. Let him 
 regard himself with complacency, in possessing a nature 
 capable of good ; with aversion, on account of the unwor- 
 thiness mingled with it. Let him despise himself 
 for the abortiveness of his powers ; but moderate his 
 contempt in consideration of their original greatness. 
 How can it be otherwise than that disesteem and 
 admiration should thus alternate in him ? He is capable 
 of knowing truth, and attaining to happiness ; but he 
 possesses neither truth, constancy, nor peace. 
 
 My desire is, in order to engage him in the search after 
 truth, that he should disenthral himself from prejudices, 
 follow truth where she leads the way, and abhor those 
 lusts which shut her out from his view, blind him to his 
 real welfare, and impede every good purpose and deter- 
 mination.* 
 
 XXVII. If man is not formed for God, why is he 
 only happy when united to God ? 
 
 If man is formed for God, why is he so opposed to 
 God? 
 
 * In the copies, but not in the autograph MS. 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 STOICS, ATHEISTS, PYRRHONISTS, ETC. 
 
 I. The philosophers propounded no sentiments adapted 
 to the two-fold condition of man. 
 
 They sought to inspire emotions of pure greatness ; 
 and this is not man's condition. 
 
 They inspired emotions of pure degradation ; this also 
 is not man's condition. 
 
 Man needs abasement ; and that, not excited merely 
 by natural emotions, but by a sense of penitence ; not 
 that he should remain perpetually in his low estate, but 
 that he should rise from it to greatness. He needs to be 
 made to feel his greatness, not of merit but of grace, and 
 after duly passing through the probation of abasement. 
 
 II. This intestine war between reason and passion has 
 led to the formation, in the way of compromise, of two 
 sects. The one has aimed to teach men to extinguish 
 passion, and become gods ; the other, to renounce the 
 rule of reason, and become brute-beasts : — these latter 
 are Barreauxs.* But neither of them has been success- 
 
 * It is well known that Barreaux, the real or supposed author of the 
 famous sonnet, " Grand Dieu, tea jugements sont rempUs d'equife ;" S^-c, 
 was a great lover of play, conviviality, and pleasure, and, according to 
 TuUement, inculcated Atheism. (See Note at Thought No. LVIIL, 
 Miscellaneous Writings, pp. 210, 211.) Pascal had very prohably met 
 him in society in the same circle where he had become acquainted with 
 Miton and the Chevalier de Mere. 
 
92 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 ful ; and reason ever exists, in the one class to challenge 
 the baseness and culpability of the passions, and disturb 
 their tranquillity in the indulgence of them ; while the 
 passions are as constantly reviving in those who ineifec-" 
 tually aim to subdue them. 
 
 III. The three kinds of concupiscence have formed 
 three sects ; the philosophers have done nothing more 
 than follow some one or other of them. 
 
 IV. ^ All their principles are true, — pyrrhonists, 
 stoics, atheists, &c. But their conclusions are false, 
 because the opposite principles are true also. 
 
 V. Human nature is to be regarded under two 
 aspects : the one, its ultimate purpose and destination, 
 which are incomparably great ; the other, its actual 
 state in the case of multitudes ; as we judge of the 
 tendencies—" et animum arcendi" — of horses and dogs : 
 here we behold man abject and vile. From these two 
 different views arise the variety of our judgments, and 
 the endless controversies of philosophers. 
 
 The one in fact denies the assumption of the other. 
 The one says, Man is not born to this end and aim ; the 
 other says. He diverges from it when he follows courses 
 so ignoble. 
 
 VI. + Stoics, 
 
 They maintain, that a thing can be at all times done 
 which can sometimes be done ; and that since the desire 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 93 
 
 of glory, though partial in its degree, is capable of 
 inciting its possessor to good deeds, it must necessarily 
 do the same with all persons. 
 
 These, however, are mere feverish movements, which 
 health is incapable of imitating. 
 
 The conclusion which Epictetus comes to is, that, 
 as we see some instances of great religious constancy, ail 
 must be alike constant. 
 
 VII. How difficult and how futile are the tenets of 
 the stoics ! 
 
 — These people fancy that all who have not attained 
 to the highest degree of wisdom, are in the same degree 
 foolish and vicious ; as those who are two inches below 
 the surface .... 
 
 VIII. The stoics say. Enter into your own selves; 
 there you will find peace. This is not true. 
 
 Others say, Get out of yourselves ; seek happiness in 
 amusement. This again is not true. Can sickness be 
 banished ? 
 
 Happiness is neither without nor within ourselves : it j 
 is in God ; and, in him, both without and within 
 ourselves. 
 
 IX. + Philosophers have consecrated vices in attri- 
 buting them to God himself. Christians consecrate 
 virtues. 
 
 X. The fallacy of philosophers, who have not ques- 
 
94 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 tioned the immortality of the soul ! The fallacy of their 
 dilemma in Montagne.* 
 
 This is indubitable : the question whether the soul is 
 mortal or immortal, is, of all others, the most momentous 
 of all in respect of morals ; yet have the philosophers 
 treated of morals altogether independently of this. 
 
 — Their discussions are the mere frivolities of the 
 hour .... 
 
 — Plato to incline to Christianity 
 
 Immateriality of the soul : — philosophers have suc- 
 ceeded in subduing the passions ; what mere matter 
 could have done it?f 
 
 XI. PJiilosojphers. 
 
 ^ We abound in influences which urge us beyond 
 ourselves. 
 
 Natural instinct makes us feel that happiness is not 
 to be found within ourselves. Our passions drive us 
 abroad, and external objects present themselves for their 
 gratification : they lure and invite us, when even our 
 thoughts do not tend towards them. In the face of all 
 this, philosophy has cried, " Enter within yourselves, 
 
 * The following is the passage to which Pascal here alludes : — " lis out 
 ce dilevime tousjours en la bouche, pour consoler noire mortelle condition : ou 
 Vdme est mortelle, ou immortelle ; si mortelle, elle sera sans peine; si 
 immortelle, elle ira en amendant. lis r.e touchent jamais V autre branche : 
 quoy, si elle va en empirant ? Et laissent aux poetes les menaces des peines 
 futures. Mais par la ils se donnent un beaujeu. . ." Essay, Book ii., ch. xii. 
 
 t The original of this passage is imperfect in construction. (Transl.) 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 95 
 
 there is your happiness." She is disbelieved; and those 
 who believe her, are only the empty and the foolish. 
 
 XII. Philosophers. 
 ^ I know not which is the most extravagant, — to tell a 
 man who knows not, or one who knows himself, that he 
 should, of his own choice, go to God ! 
 
 XIII. ^ Philosophers. 
 They hold that God is alone worthy to be loved and 
 admired, while they desire to be loved and admired of 
 men ; and yet they are ignorant of their own corruption. 
 If they are indeed conscious of a supreme desire to love 
 and admire Him, and find in this their chief satisfaction, 
 let them think well of themselves. But if they are 
 averse to such things, if their * only aim is to stand well 
 in the esteem of man, and without exercising constraint 
 over their inclination, endeavour notwithstanding to 
 make them seek their happiness in loving themselves, — 
 then, I say, their fancied perfection is guilt. They 
 profess to know God ; yet it is not only their endeavour 
 that men should make them the object of attachment, 
 butf that they should rest in them, and make them their 
 final aim for enjoyment and happiness ! 
 
 XIV. Search after true happiness. 
 ^ Most men hold that worldly good consists in 
 fortune, and external advantages ; or, at best, in amuse- 
 
 * " S'ih n'ont." MSS, " S'il n^a." 
 f '^Mais" wanting in the MS. 
 
96 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 ments. Philosophers have set themselves to show the 
 vanity of this, and have placed it — wherever they could ! 
 
 ^ Disputes respecting the Supreme good. 
 " Ut sis contentus temetipso et ex te nascentibus bonis'' 
 See the inconsistency of this ; for these very men will 
 afterwards advise us to kill ourselves. O happy 
 existence, from which we are to seek escape like a 
 pestilence ! * 
 
 XV. ■'■ It is well to feel worn and fatigued with the 
 fruitless search after true happiness, that we may 
 welcome our deliverer. 
 
 I would not suffer a man to rest in this or the other 
 of his fellow-men, that thus finding himself without 
 support or repose f 
 
 XVI. ■'' Pyrrhonism {or Scepticism). 
 
 I propose here to note down my thoughts without 
 regular sequence, and yet not perhaps confusedly or 
 without method : it is, in fact, the true method which I 
 adopt, and that which will assist my design by its 
 apparent disorder. 
 
 I should confer too much honour upon my subject, 
 were I to treat it with regularity, because I mean to 
 
 * In the copies only. For the development of this thought, see 
 Montaigne, Book ii., chap. 2. 
 
 f This sentence is incomplete, and is immediately followed in the MS. 
 by this line, the meaning of which is not discoverable : — " Les enfantS 
 etonnes voient leurs camarades respectes." 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 97 
 
 show that it is a thing of which it is, in itself, 
 incapable. 
 
 XVII. It has been customary to imagine Plato and 
 Aristotle only as certain dignified Professors, clothed in 
 robes of office. Now, they were, in reality, nothing more 
 than good sort of people, like the generality of men, living 
 sociably with their friends, and making themselves happy 
 among them. When they laid down their rules and their 
 system of policy, they did it for their atnusement. It 
 was the least philosophical and serious part of their lives. 
 The highest effi^rt of their philosophy was to live simply, 
 and in tranquillity. 
 
 When they touched upon politics, it was as if they 
 were setting about to regulate an asylum for lunatics. 
 And if they affected to descant upon them as matters of 
 importance, it was because they knew the madmen they 
 addressed dreamed that they were themselves Kings and 
 Emperors. They entered into their principles, in order 
 to moderate their folly with as little injury as possible.* 
 
 XVIII. Pyrrhonism,. 
 Everything here is in part true, and in part false. It 
 is not so with essential truth ; — that is wholly pure, and 
 without any mixture of falsehood. It is this alloy which 
 dishonours and destroys truth. Nothing is perfectly 
 true, and therefore nothing is true at all, measured by 
 the standard of perfect truth. It will be said, for 
 instance, homicide is wrong: true, for we know what is 
 wrong and false. But who will say, what is right? Is 
 
 * The outline of this passage seems to be adopted from Montaigne, 
 
 E 
 
98 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 chastity ? * I say no ; for then the world would come to 
 an end. Is marriage, then ? No : continence is better. 
 Is it, not to kill? No : for then outrages would multiply, 
 and the wicked would destroy the good. To kill then ? 
 No : nature revolts from this. We possess truth and 
 good only partially, and both mingled with evil and 
 falsehood.-! 
 
 XIX. What surprises me most is, to observe how 
 unconscious all are of their own incapacity. We adopt 
 our various proceedings with great seriousness ; and every 
 one takes his course, not because it is in itself good, or 
 as under the influence of custom and fashion, but as if 
 he clearly discerned its reasonableness and justice. We 
 continually find ourselves deceived ; and, with amusing 
 humility, fancy it is through some mistake of our own, and 
 not from any deficiency of our instruments, which we 
 fondly boast are adequate. Yet it is as well that there are 
 so many of this kind of persons in the world, who are 
 not sceptics through the mere vanity of professing scep- 
 tical tenets; because by this means it is demonstrated, that 
 men are capable of holding the most extravagant opinions ; 
 and may be found to indulge the fancy, that instead of 
 labouring under a natural and irremediable impotency, 
 they are endued by nature with discernment and wisdom ! 
 
 Nothing fortifies scepticism more than this,^ — that 
 there are sceptics in profession, who are not so in reality. 
 If all were really such, all would be seen to be wrong. 
 
 * " Oiastete.'" In the sense of continence, as it immediately al'tevwards 
 occurs. (Transl.) 
 
 f This passage is found in the MS., among the notes upon the Jesuits 
 and Miracles. 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 99 
 
 This sect is stronger by means of its enemies 
 than of its friends ; for man's weakness appears much 
 more plainly in those who are unconscious, than in those 
 who are conscious of it. 
 
 XX. It is possible that there may be some true 
 demonstrations ; but it is not certain. This, therefore, 
 proves nothing, unless it be, that it is not certain that 
 everything is uncertain ; and this is to the advantage of 
 Pyrrhonism. (Erased.) 
 
 XXI. + P?/rr.* 
 
 An extreme measure of intelligence is apt to be 
 branded with folly, as well as an extreme deficiency. 
 Nothing passes thoroughly well but mediocrity. This 
 is the rule laid down by the generality, who carp at all 
 who deviate from it into either of the extremes. For 
 myself, I dispute not the point; I consent to be thus 
 circumscribed ; and refuse only to be assigned the lowest 
 place of all, — not because it is low, but because it is the 
 lowest : I should equally refuse the highest. It is to 
 cease to be man, to quit this middle state. Instead of 
 aiming to soar above it, true greatness of soul consists 
 in knowing how to remain in it. 
 
 XXII. Instinct, Reason. 
 We labour under an impotency of furnishing con- 
 clusive proofs of things, which is invincible to all 
 dogmatism. 
 
 * Doubtless " Pyrrlionism." 
 E 2 
 
100 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 We have an innate idea of truth, which is invincible 
 to all Pyrrhonism. 
 
 XXIII. ^ Heavens !* what absurd reasoning. Would 
 God have created the world to damn it? Can he require 
 such things of beings so feeble ? &c. Pyrrhonism is the 
 remedy for this evil, and will rebuke this vanity. 
 
 Conversation. 
 Great words for religion. I deny it. 
 
 Conversation. 
 Pyrrhonism subserves religion. 
 
 XXIV. Scepticism is truth : for, after all, before 
 Jesus Christ, men knew not whence they came, nor 
 wliat rank — whether great or little — they held in 
 creation. And those who dogmatised as to the one or 
 the other, knew nothing in reality of the matter, and 
 threw out mere chance and random guesses. Besides 
 this, they all erred in their mutual excommunication of 
 the one or the otlier. 
 
 " Quod ergo ignorafites qn^^ritis, Religio annuntiat 
 vohis.'' 
 
 XXV. Nothing is more strange in the nature of man, 
 than the contrarieties he exhibits in all things. He is 
 formed to discover truth ; he ardently desires and 
 
 * " Mori Dieu /" This is the only instance that I remember of Pascal's 
 using this kind of apostrophe in his writitigs; and it is here put into the 
 mouth of a supposed caviller. (Transl.) 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 101 
 
 diligently seeks it ; yet, when he tries to grasp it, so 
 dazzled is he and confounded, that you at once believe 
 him to be in error. This has given rise to the two sects 
 of Pyrrhonists and Dogmatists, — the one of which would 
 take from man all knowledge of truth, and the other 
 aims to assure him of it; but both of them deal in such 
 inconclusive reasonings, that they increase his confusion 
 and embarrassment, while all the time he possesses no 
 other light to guide him than that of unassisted nature.* 
 The strongest positions of the sceptics (I pass over 
 the less important) are, that we have (apart from faith 
 and revelation) no certainty of the truth of these prin- 
 ciples, except in so far as we have a natural perception 
 of them within ourselves. Now this natural sentiment 
 is not a convincing proof of their truth ; because, having 
 no certainty, except through the light of faith, whether 
 mankind was created by a beneficent Deity, by a 
 malignant demon, or by mere chance, we are doubtful 
 whether the principles we are thus endowed with be 
 true, or false, or uncertain, — according as the view of 
 our origin is thus variously held. Besides this, no one, 
 (except by faith,) has any positive assurance whether he 
 wakes or sleeps ; for, during sleep, we are capable of 
 the strongest conviction that we are awake. We fancy 
 we see space, figure, motion; we imagine time and 
 dimension ; in fact, we seem to act exactly as if we 
 were awake. So that — as the half of our life is passed 
 in sleep, actual or apparent — we have no real idea 
 of truth ; but all our sentiments are delusive. Who 
 shall say, that the other moiety of our existence, wherein 
 
 * This paragraph is not either in the MS. or the copy. 
 
102 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 we think we are awake, is not another kind of sleep, 
 slightly different only from the former, from which we 
 awake when we think we are falling asleep ? 
 
 And who can doubt, that if we were to dream in 
 company with others, and — as might often occur — if our 
 dreams were to bear a resemblance to each other, while 
 we found ourselves alone when awake, that we might 
 not then fancy the two things reversed ? In fact, as we 
 often dream that we dream, heaping one dream upon 
 another, it is very probable that this life itself may be no 
 more than a dream, upon which others are engrafted, 
 from which we awake only at death ; and during which 
 we are conscious of as little of the principles of truth 
 and happiness as during natural sleep ; those various 
 cogitations by which we are agitated being perhaps only 
 illusions, similar to our notion of the lapse of time, and 
 other vain fancies which we experience in our dreams.* 
 (Erased.) 
 
 * At p. 381 of the MS. there are also the following reflections : — " If we 
 were every night to dream the same things, they would affect us as much 
 as objects that we had seen in the day ; and were an artizan certain of 
 dreaming every night, during twelve hours together, that he was a King, I 
 believe he would be as happy as a King, who should during every night for 
 twelve hours dream he was an artizan. 
 
 " If we were every night to dream that we were pursued by enemies, 
 and agitated by disquieting fancies, at the same time that our days were 
 passed in various occupations, — travelling or otherwise, — we should suffer 
 almost as much as if those dreams were realities, and should be as fearful 
 of falling into sleep as we are of awaking, when we are really anticipating 
 the entering upon such calamities. In fact, the illusion would be well- 
 nigh as painful as the reality. But as dreams are so various and diversified, 
 our impressions from them are not as strong as those of our waking hours, on 
 account of the greater continuity of the latter — which, however, is not an 
 entire and unbroken one ; but the transition is less abrupt, and sometimes 
 less frequent also, than in travelling. On those occasions we exclaim, ' I 
 seem to dream.' Thus life is a dream, only a little less mutable." 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 103 
 
 + These are the principal points on both sides. 
 
 I leave untouched the lesser ones, such as the declama- 
 tion of the Pyrrhonists* against the impressions of custom, 
 education, manners, country, and other similar matters ; 
 which, although they weigh with the majority of men, 
 who reason upon false premises, are overthrown by the 
 lightest breath of Pyrrhonism. ^ We have but to inspect 
 their books, if we cannot otherwise be convinced : our 
 doubts will then be soon resolved, — perhaps only too 
 effectually. 
 
 I place my finger upon one position only of the 
 dogmatists, which is, that, speaking with truth and sin- 
 cerity, it is impossible to have any doubt of natural 
 principles. -^^^^-^^J 
 
 + To which the Pyrrhonists simply oppose the uncer- '^4^.^ 
 tainty of our origin, which includes that of our nature. W ^« 
 To this the dogmatists have yet to make an effectual ^a^-^*-^ / 
 reply, and will have, while the world lasts. 
 
 This is the contest which is interminably going on^^tfil:^*^^ 
 among men ; a contest in which all must take a part, 
 and range themselves on the side of dogmatism or 
 Pyrrhonism ; for f any one remaining neuter, mast be 
 pre-eminently a Pyrrhonist. Such neutrality is the very 
 essence of factiousness : whoever is not against them, is 
 incontestably for them. They are not for themselves ; 
 they are no party ; — indifferent, oscillating between all, 
 not even excepting themselves. 
 
 What then is man to do in such a case? Is he to 
 
 * The text is here adhered to, but the sense of the passage seems to 
 require " dogmaiists." (Transl.) 
 
 t Pascal at first wrote,—" For that neutrality which is affected by the 
 wise, is the most ancient dogma of the Pyrrhonist cabal." 
 
104 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 doubt of everything? — Doubt whether he is awake, 
 whether he is pricked with a pin, or burnt with an iron ? 
 Shall he doubt that he doubts ? doubt that he exists ? 
 We cannot go so far as this : and then I assert there has 
 never been such a thing as real, perfect scepticism. 
 Nature comes to the aid of reason in her w^eak- 
 ness, and suffers her not to fall into extravagancies 
 so palpable. 
 
 Shall it, on the other hand, be said, that man pos- 
 sesses the certainty of truth ? — man, who, hov^ever slightly 
 pressed, can show no foundation for the boast, and must 
 at once surrender his pretension ? 
 
 See then the mystery of man ! What a being of 
 crudities, — w^hat a monster, — a chaos! — what a compound 
 of contradictions, — a prodigy ! The master of all know- 
 ledge, — an abject worm of the earth ; the depositary of 
 truth, — the sink* of uncertainty and doubt: behold 
 him, at once, the glory and the opprobrium of the 
 universe 1 f 
 
 How is this entanglement to be unravelled ? Nature 
 confounds the sceptic, and reason the dogmatist.J 
 Where, O man, shall end all your vain researches into 
 
 * " Cloaque ;" this word is effaced in the St. Geraiain des Pres copy, and 
 replaced in Arnauld's writing, by the word " amas,'* which has been 
 continued in the subsequent editions. 
 
 f This fine passage will recall to mind Shakspeare's apostrophe on the 
 same subject; although the poet, instead of placing in contrast the con- 
 flicting features in man, gives only the flattering side of the picture, — 
 " What a piece of work is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in 
 faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable ! in action, how 
 like an angel ! in apprehension, how like a God! the beauty of the world ; 
 the paragon of animals ! " (Transl.) 
 
 ;|: This stood at first, — " We cannot be Pyrrhonists without violating 
 nature ; we cannot be dogmatists without renouncing nature." 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 105 
 
 your real condition, by the force of natural reason only ? 
 Yon cannot but fall into one or other of these sects ; yo:i 
 cannot remain permanently in either. 
 
 Learn, then, O proud being, the paradox which you 
 constitute ! Humble yourself, vain reason ! be silent, 
 weak nature ! Know how man infinitely surpasses 
 man ; receive from your great Master that secret of 
 your true condition of which you are so ignorant. 
 Listen to the words of God ! * 
 
 For, truly, if man had never fallen, he would, in his 
 innocence, have enjoyed all the certainty that happiness 
 and truth could confer. On the other hand, had he never 
 been otherwise than fallen, he could have had no con- 
 ception at all of truth or happiness. But such is our 
 misfortune, — and it is so much the greater on account of 
 the original dignity of our condition, — we have an idea 
 of happiness, yet are unable to realize it; we form 
 conceptions of truth, but possess only falsehood: inca- 
 pable alike of absolute ignorance or of certain know- 
 ledge, we exhibit evidence of the perfection we once 
 possessed, in the very depth of our unhappy fall ! 
 
 Yet how astonishing is the fact, that the mystery, of 
 all others the most profound in the whole circle of our 
 experience, namely, the transmission of original sin, is 
 
 * In the place of these two paragraphs, Pascal at first wrote the following 
 passage, which is subsequently erased in the MS. :— " Who shall unravel 
 this entanglement? Unquestionably this exceeds the power of dogmatism 
 or Pyrrhonism, or all worldly philosophy. Man surpasses man. Grant to 
 the Pyrrhonists their favourite position, — that truth is not our business 
 or within our power ; that she is not to be found on earth ; that her seat 
 is in heaven ; that she dwells in the bosom of God ; and that she can only 
 be kn own, in so far as He pleases to reveal her. Learn we then from 
 Truth, uncreated and incarnate, our real nature." 
 
106 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 that of which, from ourselves, we can gain no knowledge. 
 It is not to be doubted, that there is nothing more 
 revolting to our reason than to maintain, that the first 
 man's sin should have entailed guilt upon those whose 
 remoteness from the original source had seemed to render 
 them incapable of its participation. Such transmission 
 appears to us not only impossible, but even unjust. For 
 what can be more opposed to the laws of man's poor 
 justice, than eternally to condemn an infant incapable of 
 free-will, for a sin in which he had so little share, that it 
 was committed six thousand years before he came into 
 existence ? * Nothing, assuredly, is more repugnant to 
 us than this doctrine ; yet, without this mystery, of all 
 others the most incomprehensible, we are incompre- 
 hensible to ourselves. Through this abyss it is, that the 
 whole tangled thread of our condition takes its mazy and 
 devious way ; and man is actually more inconceivable, 
 apart from this mystery, than the mystery itself is 
 inconceivable by man. f 
 
 * It may admit of doubt whether, by the expression " condemn eter- 
 nally an infant incapable of free-will," &c., "damner eternellement un enfant 
 incapable de volonie," the writer may have meant an infant not having 
 passed the age of infancy, or infancy as the first stage of all existence, but 
 subsequently developed into adult and rational age, which, through original 
 sin, is thus liable to condemnation. If the former must be understood, the 
 opinion, although not held by Pascal alone, can be resolved only into very 
 mistaken views of the divine attributes; and, as far as I am able to read 
 the language of Scripture, finds no countenance from its gracious and 
 benevolent revelations. (Transl.) 
 
 f At the end of this paragraph, Pascal had written what follows, but 
 afterwards erased : — " Whence it appears, that God designing to render 
 the difficulty of our existence unintelligible to ourselves, has placed the 
 mystery so high, or more properly, so low, as to render it impossible fur us 
 to solve it ; so that it is not by the proud efforts of our reason, but by her 
 unhesitating submission, that we can truly know ourselves. 
 
 " These conclusions, firmly grounded on the inviolable authority of 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 107 
 
 XXVI. The doctrine of original sin is folly in the 
 eyes of men ; but it is as such only that it is propounded. 
 Reproach rae not with its opposition to reason, for it is 
 as being opposed to reason that I hold it. Yet is tliis 
 folly wiser than all the wisdom of men : sapientius est 
 hominihus.^ For, without this, who will say what man 
 is ? His whole condition depends upon this point, so 
 imperceptible to mere haman view. And how could it 
 ever have been discerned by reason, seeing it is a thing 
 utterly beyond her apprehension ; and reason, so far from 
 being able to devise such a doctrine, shrinks from it con- 
 founded, when brought into contact with it ?f 
 
 XXVII. ^ Shall it be said that justice has forsaken 
 the earth, because man has known original sin? Nemo 
 ante obitum heatus est that is, real and essential hap- 
 piness commences not until death. J 
 
 religion, lead us to see that there are two great articles of belief equally 
 certain : — the one, that man in his primitive state of being, or in that of 
 grace, is exalted above the natural creation, endued with a resemblance to 
 God, and made a partaker of his divine nature ; the other, that in his state 
 of corruption and sin, he is fallen from that state, and become like the 
 brute. These two propositions are equally certain and true. Scripture 
 plainly declares them in saying, " Delicice mece esse cum filiis hominmu. 
 Effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem. Dii esiis," &c- And 
 again, " Omnis caro foenum. Homo assimilatus est jumentis insipientihus et 
 similis factus est illis. Diai in corde meo de filiis hominum \_ut probaret eos 
 Deus et ostenderet similes esse bestiis.y — Eccles. iii. , 
 
 " From all which it plainly appears that man is rendered by grace like 
 to Deity, and made a partaker of his divinity, and, without grace, is like 
 the brute." 
 
 * " Quod stultum est Dei sapientius est hominibus." — 1 Cor. i. 25. 
 t In the copy only. 
 
 t This passage is obscure, and apparently imperfect in the original. 
 (Transl.) 
 
108 
 
 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN. 
 
 XXVIII. ^ Against Pyrrhonism.* 
 We fancyf that all persons apprehend these thingsj in 
 the same manner, but it is a gratuitous supposition, and 
 one resting on no proof. I see, indeed, that certain 
 terms are applied on like occasions, and that whenever 
 two men see a body change its place, they both express 
 their perception of the object by the same word ; each 
 stating of the object that it has moved; and from this con- 
 formity of application a strong conjecture is raised of a 
 conformity in idea. But this is not absolutely conclu- 
 sive as to the latter point, although there is much to be 
 said in its favour ; for it is well known that the same 
 conclusions are often drawn from different premises. 
 
 ^ This is sufficient, at least, to perplex the matter ; 
 not that it absolutely extinguishes the natural light, 
 which assures us of those things that the academicians 
 have mastered. But it tarnishes their achievements, and 
 disturbs the dogmatists, to the triumph of the sceptical 
 pabal, which deals much in this ambiguous ambiguity, § 
 and a sort of doubtful obscurity, which our scepticism can- 
 not deprive of all its clearness, nor our natural illumination 
 wholly clear from the darkness in which it is enveloped. || 
 
 * A mark of reference here on the top of the page in MS. at the left, 
 and the figure 2 on the right, show that this passage is a sequel to another. 
 I'his conjecture is confirmed by the following lines which commenced at 
 first the passage, but were afterwards erased : — " It is, then, strange that 
 we cannot define these things without rendering them obscure." 
 
 f " Qwe tons les conqoivent de meme :" the copies have, Que tons les 
 linmmes conqoivent de meme;'' which is inaccurate. 
 
 X Orig. "Les," that is, doubtless, the things referred to in the preceding, 
 but lost paragraph. 
 
 § Orig. " Cette amhiguite aynbigu'e." 
 
 II On the reverse of this page of the MS. stands " La raison.^' And the 
 copy adds, in the margin, " It is strange then that we cannot define 
 without obscuring." 
 
SYSTEMS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 109 
 
 XXIX. "We acquire a knowledge of truth, not only 
 by the force of reason, but by our feelings: it is of the 
 latter sort that we have the first principles in ourselves ; h-^sPs^i 
 and it is these which reason vainly attempts to combat, 
 seeing she has, in fact, nothing to do with them. The 
 sceptics, who make this their only object, spend their 
 labours uselessly in it. We know that here we are not 
 deceived, however incapable we may be of establishing 
 our positions by reason : this inability proves nothing 
 more than the weakness of reason, — not, as our oppo- 
 nents pretend, the uncertainty of our convictions. Our 
 knowledge of first principles, such as that there is space, 
 time, movement, numbers, is as strong as any of those 
 revelations which we derive from reason. It is upon these 
 attestations of feeling and instinct that reason must rest, 
 and by them all her deductions must be supported. Our 
 senses tell us that there are three dimensions in space, and 
 that numbers are infinite ; and reason afterwards demon- 
 strates, that there are no two square numbers the one of 
 which is double the other. Principles are felt; propositions 
 are believed ; and in both we arrive at certainty, although 
 by different paths. And it is equally absurd for reason 
 to require the senses to furnish proofs of their first prin- 
 ciples, before they can be admitted, as for the senses to 
 require of reason a feeling of all her propositions, before 
 they should be received. 
 
 This kind of imperfection ought then only to have the 
 effect of inculcating humility upon the reasoning powers, 
 in their pretensions to apprehend all things ; but not to 
 invalidate our certainty of conviction, as if reason alone 
 could be our instructress. Would to God that we could, 
 
110 GREATNESS AND MISERY OF MAN, ETC. 
 
 on the contrary, dispense with her aid altogether, and 
 attain to a universal knowledge by instinct and feeling 
 alone ! But nature has denied us this boon, and, indeed, 
 furnished us with very little intelligence of this descrip- 
 tion : every other kind of knowledge is to be acquired by 
 reasoning only. 
 
 And it is on this account, that those to whom God has 
 . dispensed sentiments of religion, by means of the feelings 
 ! and the heart, are greatly blessed, and possess in them 
 1 the most legitimate sources of conviction. But there are 
 1 others not so favoured, whom we can only convince of the 
 truth by the means of the understanding ; while we must 
 patiently await the power of the Almighty to touch the 
 heart. Without this, belief is a mere human endow- 
 ment, and inefficacious for the salvation of the soul. 
 
^SECOND PART. 
 
 ^HAPPINESS OE MAN WPrH GOD, 
 
 OR, 
 
 A REMEDY FURNISHED BY REVELATION. 
 
The foregoing title, which indicates one of the two great 
 divisions that Pascal intended to introduce into his Apology 
 for Christianity," is found written by his own hand, p. 25 of 
 the MS. See article "Order," at the end of the volume. 
 
 (^French Editor.) 
 
'PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND PART.* 
 
 I. We will first speak of those who have heretofore 
 treated of this subject. 
 
 I marvel at the boldness with which these persons 
 presume to express themselves respecting the Deity, in 
 their addresses to the unbelieving. Their first and great 
 point is, to prove a God by the works of nature. 
 
 Now, I should feel no surprise at this mode of pro- 
 ceeding, if their arguments were addressed to believers ; 
 for it is certain, that those whose hearts are influenced by a 
 lively faith plainly perceive, that all things around them 
 are the work of that God whom they adore. As to 
 those, however, in whom this illumination is extinguished, 
 and in whom, yet, it is wished to revive its guiding fires, 
 — persons destitute both of faith and grace ; who, making 
 every effort to explore, amidst the works of nature, some- 
 thing which may direct them to the knowledge of a God, 
 find therein, nevertheless, nothing but clouds and darkness, 
 — to tell such persons, that they have but to contemplate 
 the simplest of the objects around them, and they will 
 plainly discover in them a Divine hand ; to refer them for 
 proof, on this grand and momentous theme, to the revolu- 
 tions of the moon or the planets ; and then to fancy, that 
 the bum of the evidences on which their belief is to rest is 
 
 * The fragments which are here collected under the title of " Preface," 
 are all evidently with the same object : but it is only the first two which 
 bear the title in the MS. 
 
114 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 
 
 completed ; — all this is only calculated, as reason and expe- 
 rience have both taught me, to awaken a suspicion that the 
 proofs by which our religion is supported are miserably 
 weak ; and, instead of inspiring reverence for her high 
 revelations, tends rather to bring them into contempt. 
 
 It is not after this manner thai the scriptures teach. 
 They better know the things which are of God. They 
 tell us, that our God is a God who hides himself ; that, 
 since his nature became corrupted, man has been left in 
 a state of blindness, from which he can only be extricated 
 by Christ; and that, excepting through his mediation, 
 all communication with Deity is interdicted : ^^Nemo novit 
 Pair em nisi Filim, et cui voluerit Filius revelare.""^ 
 
 This is what the Scripture indicates, where it is so 
 often said that those who seek after God shall find him ; 
 
 this is not to be understood as of that light which pre- 
 vails in full mid-day ; we do not say that those who-seek 
 the day at high-noon, or water in the ocean depths, shall 
 find it ; so, also, are not the evidences of a Deity such as 
 mere nature furnishes. And thus it is, that it is said, 
 ^^Vere tu es Deus ahsconditus.''f 
 
 II. Preface. — The metaphysical evidences of God 
 are so subtle, and so remote from men's apprehension, 
 that they carry little weight : and even if some persons 
 are convinced by them, it is only temporarily; an hour 
 after, they will be afraid they are under delusion. 
 
 * Matt. ii. 27. 
 
 f The whole of this passage, evidently dictated to an uninstructed person, 
 shows in several parts, inaccuracies which arose from the inexperience of 
 the amanuensis. For instance, instead of " comme h jour en pkiJi midi," 
 it stood, " co7nme dujour," Sfc. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 
 
 115 
 
 — Quod curiositate cognoverint superhia amisermit.'' 
 
 — ^ This is the result of a knowledge of Gocl, not 
 acquired through Jesus Christ. We first acquire a 
 knowledge of God, and then communicate with him 
 without a Mediator. 
 
 Those, on the other hand, who have known God 
 through a Mediator, entertain a just sense of their own 
 helplessness. 
 
 III. Christ is the great object and centre of all things. 
 Whoso knows him knows everything aright.* 
 
 Those who err, err only for want of perceiving the one 
 of these two things : — -we may know God, and be ignorant 
 of our own misery ; we may know our misery, and be igno- 
 rant of God : but we cannot know Jesus Christ, without 
 being acquainted both with God, and with our misery. 
 
 Therefore it is, that I undertake not here to prove, from 
 natural causes, the existence of God, or the doctrine of 
 the Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or any other 
 matters of the like kind ; not only because I should not 
 think it practicable to find in the works of nature proofs 
 sufficient to convince the hardened Atheist ; but because, 
 if I were so capable, the knowledge thus furnished, 
 without a knowledge of Christ, would be barren and 
 useless. Suppose a man to be convinced that the propor- 
 tions of numbers constitute truths, immaterial, eternal, 
 and dependent upon one primary truth, in which they 
 have their origin, and which we call God ; — such a man 
 would, in my apprehension, be little advanced in the way 
 of his soul's salvation. 
 
 * This paragraph and the two that follow are in the copy only. 
 
116 PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 
 
 IV. It is a striking fact that no Canonical author has 
 ever made use of the phenomena of nature for proofs of 
 the Deity : they all lay down, as a doctrine, that He is to 
 he believed in. David, Solomon, and others, never said, 
 " There is no vacuum ; therefore there is a God." They 
 showed, herein, more skill than the ablest of their suc- 
 cessors, who have made use of all these arguments. 
 
 This is very important.* 
 
 V. If it be a mark of inaptitude to prove the exis- 
 tence of God from nature, acquit the Scripture of the 
 error ; if it be a mark of strength to have used a contrary 
 method, prize Scripture the more for it. 
 
 VI. We shall never understand God aright, if we do 
 not lay it down as a principle, that he has seen fit that 
 some should be blind, and some should see. 
 
 VII. The God of Christians is not simply the source 
 of geometrical truths, and of elementary order: such a 
 Deity as this, is that of the Heathens and Epicureans. 
 He is not merely a Being, who exercises his providential 
 sway over the lives and destinies of men, to dispense 
 happiness and prosperity to his worshippers : such was 
 the object of Jewish adoration. But the God of Abraham, 
 of Isaac, of Jacob, — the God of the Christian,^ — is a God 
 of love, and of comfort. He is a God, who fills with 
 his sacred influences those hearts of which he takes 
 possession ; one who inspires them with deep convictions, 
 both of their own misery, and of his infinite compassion ; 
 
 * This paragraph is only in the copy. , 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 117 
 
 who enters into close and intimate union with the con- 
 trite soul ; fills it with humility, joy, confidence, love ; 
 and renders it incapable of any other end or aim than 
 Himself.* 
 
 VIII. Those who seek for God out of Christ, and 
 rest in the evidences which nature furnishes, either 
 find no solution of their enquiries, or settle down in a 
 knowledge and service of God apart from a Mediator : 
 thence they fall into either Atheism or Deism, — two 
 things which the Christian religion almost equally abhors. 
 
 Without Jesus Christ the world could not subsist ; for 
 it would infallibly either be destroyed, or become like a 
 Helllf * 
 
 If the world subsisted only to instruct man in the 
 knowledge of God, his divinity would be reflected on all 
 sides with incontestable evidence. But seeing it subsists 
 only by, and for the sake of Jesus Christ, and for the 
 purpose of instructing men in their ruined condition and 
 the means of their salvation, all things furnish proofs of 
 these two great truths. They show neither an entire 
 absence, nor a manifest presence of Deity ; but the 
 presence of a God who hides himself : this character 
 prevails throughout all creation. 
 
 IX. Ask him who knows nature only, whether he 
 knows her not only to his unliappiness ? 
 
 Alas ! that he who alone knows her, should alone be 
 unhappy f 
 
 It is not necessary that he should see nothing ; it is 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f Idem. 
 
118 
 
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND PART. 
 
 not necessary that he should see enough to believe that 
 he possesses her ; but that he should see enough to knov/ 
 that he has lost her : for, to know that we have lost, we 
 must see and not see ; and this is precisely the very 
 state of nature.* 
 
 X. Let me state what it is that I observe, and that 
 disturbs me. 
 
 I look around me on all sides, and I see nothing but 
 obscurity. Nature presents to me only matter of doubt 
 and disquiet. If I could see in her nothing that fur- 
 nished proof of a God, T should resolve to believe 
 nothing. If I saw everywhere the traces of the Creator, 
 I should settle down into a tranquil faith. As, however, 
 I find in her evidence too great for denial, and too little 
 for assurance, I feel myself embarrassed and distressed. 
 I have wished a hundred times that, if nature be sustained 
 by God, the marks of his hand might be more unequivo- 
 cally exhibited ; and that if such traces be deceitful, they 
 might be altogether suppressed; — in short, that every- 
 thing might be visible, or nothing ; and thus I might 
 know, which of these conflicting opinions ought to be 
 embraced. In my present state, however, unknowing 
 what I am, or what I ought to do, I can discern neither 
 my condition nor m,y duty. My heart impels me ear- 
 nestly to seek and to pursue the true good. Nothing 
 would be to me too costly for Eternity.f 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f This is evidently only intended to represent tlie perplexities of a mind 
 in a state of nature, and unenlightened by Revelation ; and it is one of 
 those passages which have exposed Pascal to the shallow imputation of 
 sceptical tendencies. (Transl.J 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 ' THAT MAN, WITHOUT MITH, CAN 
 KNOW NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS 
 NOR RECTITUDE. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The title we have given to this cliapter is found in Pascal's 
 own handwriting, at the head of a fragment which was 
 evidently intended to form the opening of the Second Part of 
 his great work. 
 
 At the end of this fragment, with which the first chapter 
 commences, we have collected several pages, partly unpub- 
 lished, which are dispersed promiscuously throughout the 
 MS. ; but which have an obvious connexion with this one 
 fundamental idea, — that religion alone can give us a perfect 
 knowledge of real happiness and true justice. 
 
 A considerable part of the reflections in this chapter are 
 borrowed from the " Apologie de Raymond de Sehonde,'' of 
 Montaigne. According to our usual habit, we have marked 
 in notes, at the foot of the page, the passages so adopted by 
 Pascal from the Author of the Essays. These appropriations, 
 which have much interest in a literary point of view, show 
 especially that Montaigne's writings served Pascal as a repo- 
 sitory of worldly maxims, and a kind of history of the ancient 
 philosophy. {French Editor.) 
 
^THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN 
 KNOW NEITHEK TRUE HAPPINESS 
 NOR RECTITUDE. 
 
 I. All men are seeking happiness : to this there is no 
 exception. Different as may be the means employed, 
 they all pursue the same end. That which urges one 
 man to the battle-field, and leads another to remain at 
 home in peace, is the same desire in both, acting by 
 different tendencies.* The will of man takes not a 
 single step in any direction, but for this purpose. It is 
 the motive of every action, of every man in the world, — 
 not excepting even him whose fancy it is to hang himself. 
 
 Notwithstanding all this, however, there has never 
 existed a being since the world was created, who, without 
 religious belief, has attained this object, to which all are 
 perpetually aspiring. All are unhappy : — princes, sub- 
 jects ; nobles, commoners ; young, and old ; powerful, 
 and weak ; the wise, and the ignorant ; the healthy, and 
 the sick ; the inhabitants of all countries, and men of all 
 times, all ages, and all conditions. 
 
 An experience so long, so constant, and so uniform, 
 might well convince us of our inability to attain to 
 happiness by any efforts of our own : but example 
 teaches in vain. It never runs so entirely parallel with 
 
 * Here follow these words in the MS., but erased: — "I write these 
 lines, and another reads them, only because we have each a satisfaction in 
 doing so." 
 
 F 
 
122 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 our own case as to preclude some slight and subtle 
 differences : and thence it is that we ever indulge the 
 hope, that our own efforts will not be equally abortive 
 with those of others.* Thus, while the present never 
 satisfies, experience f is constantly deceiving us ; and we 
 are led on from one sorrow to another, till death fills up 
 the eternal measure of our evils. 
 
 What is it, then, that this ceaseless round of desires, 
 and their frustration, proclaims to us, but this : — that 
 man once possessed true happiness, of which now nothing 
 remains but the vain and empty traces ; and that he fruit- 
 lessly endeavours to supply its place with the fugitive 
 objects around him ; — seeking from the future that com- 
 fort which he finds not in the present; and missing it 
 in all things, because the infinite void can only be filled 
 up by an infinite and unchangeable object, even by the 
 Deity himself! 
 
 God alone is man's true good ; and the instant He is 
 forsaken, it is marvellous to see that there is nothing in 
 the whole circle of natural things which is not thought 
 to be capable of filling his place: — the starry heaven, the 
 earth, the elements, plants, a cabbage, a leek ; animals, 
 insects, calves, serpents ; fever, pestilence, war, famine, 
 vice, adultery, incest ! When once we have lost the real 
 good, all things bear the appearance of good alike ; even 
 not excepting our own destruction, although so opposed 
 to God, to reason, and to nature. 
 
 * " Comme en I'autre." This stood " Comme elle Va eti dans 1' autre." 
 
 f In the St. Germain copy, the word experience" here is replaced, in 
 Nicole's writing, by that of esperance,'" which has been retained in the 
 subsequent editions. 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 12S 
 
 Some seek happiness in high station ; * others, in the 
 gratification of curiosity and science ; others, in volup- 
 tuousness. 
 
 Others, again, — and they were nearer to their aim, — 
 have believed that this universal good, the pursuit of every 
 one, should not consist in any of those particular objects 
 which can only be possessed by an individual ; and which, 
 when participated in by others, occasion to their owner 
 more disturbance from the want of that part which he 
 does not possess, than satisfaction from what is allotted 
 to him. They have perceived that true happiness ought 
 to consist in that which all may possess at once, without 
 liability to decay, and exempt from mutual envy ; and 
 which none should be capable of losing, if desirous to 
 retain it. 
 
 ■'■ And the reason for this is, that this desire being 
 natural to man, being necessary to all, and that which 
 they cannot dispense with, they conclude . . . . f 
 
 II. X But this question, perhaps, surpasses the limit 
 of reason : let us then examine its attainments in matters 
 within its capacity. If there be anything of which a 
 feeling of self-interest should have prompted the most 
 determined pursuit, it is the universal good. Let us see 
 then wherein these resolute and far-sighted spirits have 
 
 * " L'auforiie:" at first " la grandeur." 
 
 t Unfinished sentence : the conclusion not to be found either in the 
 MS. or copies, 
 
 I This fragment is evidently only the sequel of a passage : the beginning 
 is not found in the MS. or copy. In reality, however, this and the following 
 seem only the substance of some passages from the chapter in Montaigne, 
 entitled, " Apologie de Raymond de Sebonde." The numerals are doubtless 
 those of the pages in the Essays. 
 
 F 2 
 
124 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 placed this blessing, and how far they are agreed among 
 themselves in their conclusions respecting it. (Erased.) 
 
 One says, the sovereign good lies in virtue, another 
 in pleasure ; one assigns it to science, and the study of 
 nature, another to truth ; " Felix qui potuit rerum 
 cognoscere causas ;" this man places it in total ignorance, 
 that, in indolence ; some in resisting external appearances, 
 others in wondering at nothing : " nihil mirari ^prope 
 res una qucE possit facere et servare heaiumT* The 
 Pyrrhonists assign it to their perpetual hesitation and 
 doubt ; and others, somewhat wiser, think they can find 
 out something better than that. Truly we have a goodly 
 choice ! (Erased.) 
 
 / Tf it must be evident that this specious 
 philosophy has gained nothing of certainty 
 after such long and laborious efforts, the 
 mind will, perhaps, at length learn to know 
 itself. Let us listen to the master spirits 
 of the world upon this subject. What do 
 I they substantially think of it ? (Erased.) 
 S95. 
 
 What have they discovered of its origin, 
 its duration, and its departure ? (Erased.) 
 . 399. 
 
 To bring in the 
 following article 
 after " the laws." 
 
 III. "'■ Does the soul still form too elevated a subject 
 
 * Montaigne, Book ii., ch. 12: — " Les uns disent nostre hien estre lager 
 en la vertu ; d'autres en la volupte ; d'autres au consentir a nature ; qui en 
 la science ; qui a n' avoir point de douleur ; qui a ne se laisser emporter 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 125 
 
 for man's feeble intelligence ? Degrade it then to mere 
 matter ; see whether it knows what it is that forms that 
 body which it animates, and those others which it 
 counterbalances and removes at its will. What is the 
 knowledge of such things as those, that is possessed by 
 these illustrious dogmatists, these men who profess to be 
 ignorant of nothing ? (Erased.) 
 393. 
 
 Harum sententiarum.* (Erased.) 
 
 ■'' That would doubtless suffice if reason were reason- 
 able. She is so to this point, that she will acknowledge 
 she has hitherto discovered nothing with certainty ; but 
 she will not despair of doing this at some future period. 
 On the contrary, she is as ardent as ever in her researches ; 
 and constantly believes she has in herself force sufficient 
 for the achievement. We must then proceed with the 
 investigation ; and, after ascertaining the amount of her 
 powers in their greatest effects, contemplate them in 
 themselves, and see what are her means and resources for 
 the discovery of truth. (Erased.) 
 
 IV. Upon what would you found the economy of 
 
 aux apparences ; et a cette fantaisie semble retirer cette autre cJe I'ancien 
 Pythagoras : 
 
 " Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici, 
 Holaque, queB possitfacere et servare beatum.'" — Horace, Book i., Ep. (>. 
 
 * This is the beginnint^ of a quotation in the following passage of 
 Montaigne: — " II (Aristotle) ne parte ni de V essence, ni de Vorigine, ni de. 
 la nattire de Vdme ; mais en remarqtie seulement I'effet. Lactance, Seneque 
 et la meilleure part entre les dogmatistes, ont confesse que c'estoit chose qu'ils 
 n'entendoient pas. Et apres tout ce denomhrement d' opinions: ' Harum 
 sententiarum quce vera sit Deus aliquis viderit,' dit Cicero." 
 
126 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 the world, which you propose to govern ? Upon the 
 caprices of individuals ? — See the confusion you would 
 introduce ! Upon justice? — You know nothing of it. 
 
 Who can doubt, that if justice had been properly 
 understood, no such maxim would ever have obtained, 
 (although it is one the most universally prevalent,) as 
 that every one should follow the customs of his own 
 country ? The omnipotence of true equity would have 
 subjected all nations to its sway ; and legislators would 
 not have taken for their models, instead of the immut- 
 able principles of justice, the fancies and caprices of 
 Persians and barbarians. We should have seen these 
 principles established in every country, and throughout 
 all times, instead of rules of justice or injustice, which 
 change their aspect with every variety of climate. Three 
 degrees of latitude shall reverse a whole system of juris- 
 prudence. A difference of one meridian decides the 
 question of truth or falsehood. After the lapse of a few 
 years, fundamental laws are overthrown. Right has its 
 epochs : the entry of Saturn into Leo marks the com- 
 mencement of a crime. O happy code, which is bounded 
 by the course of a river ! * Truth on one side of the 
 Pyrenees, error on the other ! 
 
 They acknowledge that justice herself does not 
 reside in these national peculiarities, but in the principles 
 of natural law common to all countries. Truly they 
 
 * Instead of as above, " qu'une rioiere borne !" this was at first, " que le 
 trajet d'une riviere rend crime!" These were Montaigne's expressions, 
 Book ii., ch. 12: — " Quelle bonte est-ce, que je voyais hier en credit et 
 demain ne Ventre plus, et que le traject d'une riviere fait crime ? Quelle 
 verite est-ce que ces montagnes borneut, mensonge au monde qui se tient an 
 dela?" 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 127 
 
 would have maintained this point resolutely, if the 
 accidents and chances which have given rise to human 
 laws, had encountered any one which might be deemed 
 universal ; but so various is human caprice, that not one 
 such is to be found. 
 
 Larceny, incest, infanticide, parricide, — all have been 
 ranked among virtuous actions. Can anything be more 
 absurd, than that a man shall be justified in killing me, 
 because he resides on the other side of a river, and his 
 prince is at enmity with mine, while I have no quarrel 
 against him ? 
 
 There are, undoubtedly, natural laws ; but this specious, 
 yet corrupt reason, has corrupted all : " Nihil ampliu.s 
 nostrum est ; quod nostrum dicimus, artis est ; ex senatus- 
 consultis et plebiscitis crimina exercentur ; ui olim vitiis, 
 sic 7iunc legihus lahoramus.'"'^ 
 
 From this state of confusion it arises, that one main- 
 tains the essence of justice to lie in the authority of the 
 legislator ; another, in the will of the Sovereign ; another, 
 in present customs, — and this is the safest opinion : nothing 
 founded on reason alone, is held to be just in itself ; all 
 yields, and bends, to time. Custom it is that constitutes 
 the whole of equity, for this sole reason, that it is 
 universal : that is the mystical foundation of her 
 authority. Nothing is so faulty as those very laws 
 which redress faults : he who obeys them, because they 
 are just, obeys in them an imaginary justice, not the 
 
 * Montaigne, Book ii., chap. 12: — " // est croyable qu'il y a des lois 
 iiaturelles, comme il se voit es autres creatures : mais en nous elles sont 
 perdues, cette belle raison humaine sHngerant partout de maistriser et com- 
 mander, hrouillant et confondant le visage des choses, selon sa vanite et 
 inconstance. ' Nihil iiaque amplius nostrum est : quod nostrum dico artis est.' " 
 
128 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 very essence of law : this is wholly concentrated in 
 itself; it is law, and nothing more. Whoever would 
 seek to examine their secret springs and motives, would 
 find them so feeble and capricious, that, if accustomed to 
 explore the eccentricities of the human imagination, he 
 would wonder that any one age should have acquired to 
 itself so much dignity and reverence. The art of shaking 
 and overthrowing states is to invalidate established 
 customs, by probing them to their centre, and displaying 
 their deficiency of justice.* We must, it is said, go 
 back to the fundamental and primitive laws of the realm, 
 which have been abolished by the injustice of custom : 
 this is a sure procedure for destroying everything : 
 tested by this standard, there will soon be no such thing 
 as justice left. The common people, nevertheless, lend a 
 ready ear to such discourses. Once made sensible of 
 the burden, they proceed to rid themselves of it ; and 
 the ambitious build their own fortunes upon their 
 ruin, and that of these nice investigators of established 
 customs, f Yet, by a contrary defect, men sometimes 
 fancy they may justly do everything which is shown not 
 to be without precedent. For this reason, the wisest of 
 legislators has said, that mankind must often be cajoled 
 for their own good ; and another able politician affirms, — 
 Cum veritatem qua liberetur ignoret, expedit quod 
 fallatur.''X must not be allowed to feel the reality 
 
 * At first, " deficiency of authority and justice." 
 
 f Examinaietirs des conlumes regues." At first, Examinateurs du 
 fonds des coutumes reques et des lois fondamentales d' autrefois." 
 
 X This quotation (which is apparently much mutilated at the hand of 
 an amanuensis) is taken from the following passage in jNIontaigne, 
 Book ii., chap. 12: — " Uhomme forge mille plaisantes societes enlre Diea et 
 
NEITHER TiiUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 129 
 
 of usurpation: it obtained, heretofore, without right; 
 it has acquired the character of right; it must now be 
 regarded as authentic and immutable ; the origin must 
 be veiled, if we would not have it soon come to an end.* 
 
 V. " Feri juris.'' We now possess it not: if we did, 
 we should not make the rules of our jurisprudence 
 conform to the manners of the country. 
 
 + It is that we make our laws not those of justice 
 but of power. 
 
 VI. I have passed a large part of my life under 
 the belief that justice exists ; and therein I did not 
 deceive myself ; for there is a certain measure of it 
 which God has been pleased to reveal. But this was 
 not the view that I took of the matter; and there was 
 my mistake ;— for I believed that human justice was 
 essentially just, and that I possessed the power to under- 
 stand and to estimate it. (Erased.) 
 
 ■'' But I have so often found myself at fault in my 
 
 lui. . . . Void V excuse que 7ious donnent sur la consideration de ce sujet, 
 Scevola grand pontife et Varron grand theologien en leur temps : Quit est 
 besoin que le peuple ignore beaucoup de choses vraies et en croije beaucoiip de 
 fausses. ' Quum veritatem, qua liberetur, iuquirat, credatur ei expedire quod 
 fallitur: It is in Augustin {De civitate Dei, Lib. iv., c. 31) that will be 
 found the following passage from Varro, to which Montaigne refers: 'Multa 
 esse vera quce non 7nodo Vnlgo scire non sit utile, sed etiam, tametsi falsa, 
 aliter existimare Populum expediat.' " — ^Terentius Varro, De cultu Deorum. 
 
 * The reader will be struck with the applicability of this passage 
 (which might be almost deemed prophetic) to the existing dynasty of the 
 great author's own country. 
 
 *#* The above remark was written when the present work was com- 
 menced in 1847. Valueless as it is, it is retained; although many 
 months have now elapsed since that illustrious dynasty referred to ha^ 
 been scattered, like the leaves in autumn, to the winds ! (Transl.) 
 
 F 5 
 
130 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 judgment, that at length I have learned to distrust 
 myself and others also. I have seen all countries and all 
 individuals in a state of change ; and thus, after many 
 fluctuations of opinion respecting true justice, I have 
 discovered that man is but a creature of mutation. 
 Since then, my opinions have remained unaltered ; and 
 if I were to change again, I should but be confirmed in 
 my opinion. (Erased.) 
 
 — The Pyrrhonist Arcesilas, who changed to Dog- 
 matist. (Erased.) 
 
 VII. ^ Injustice, 
 ^ They have found no other way of satisfying their 
 cupidity than by injuring others. 
 
 VITI. ^ Injustice. 
 It is dangerous to tell people that the laws are unjust ; 
 for obedience is secured only through a conviction of 
 their justice. For this reason it ought to be laid down, 
 at the same time, that they should be obeyed, because 
 they are laws ; in the same way as deference should be 
 paid to our superiors, not because their conduct is 
 governed by equity, but because they are our superiors. 
 Let this be once understood, and all insubordination 
 will be prevented : this is the only proper definition of 
 justice. 
 
 IX. Montague is wrong : custom should be followed, 
 only because it is custom, not because it is reasonable or 
 just. But the commonalty will conform to it, only because 
 they believe it to be just; not as to mere custom; — 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 131 
 
 for they will only be in subjection to reason or justice. 
 Without this, custom would be held to be tyranny ; yet 
 the sway of reason and justice is not more tyrannical 
 than that of their own pleasure. ^ These are principles 
 natural to man. 
 
 It would be well, then, that laws and custom 
 should be obeyed, because they are law ; that they * 
 should believe that they are perfect truth and justice ; 
 that we know nothing of these things ourselves, and 
 therefore ought to obey what authority and custom 
 prescribe : by these means we shall never be drawn 
 aside into error. 
 
 ^ The common people, however, cannot receive these 
 doctrines ; and therefore, as they suppose that truth is 
 really discoverable, and is inherent in laws and custom, 
 they place confidence in them, and take their antiquity 
 for a proof of their truth, and not merely of their 
 authority independent of truth. Thus they obey : but 
 their obedience ceases if they are brought to see any 
 defectiveness in the laws; which maybe demonstrated 
 of everything in the world when only viewed under 
 one aspect. 
 
 X. ^ The nature of man is nothing but nature : 
 " omne animal.''-f 
 
 There is nothing which may not be rendered natural ; 
 there is nothing natural which may not be lost. 
 
 * Doubtless, " the people." 
 
 t In the copy is found the following line : — " L'homme est proprement, 
 ' omne animal.' " 
 
132 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 ^ The truth of nature being lost, everything may 
 become natural. 
 
 In the same way, the true happiness being lost, 
 everything becomes man's true happiness.* 
 
 What are our natural principles, but those of custom ? 
 So, in children, they are those handed down from their 
 parents, — such as the chase in animals. 
 
 A difference of habit will give rise to other natural 
 principles. This is seen by experience ; and if there are 
 any that are ineffaceable by habit, there are also some, 
 contrary to nature, vv^hich are ineffaceable by nature and 
 custom : this is the result of disposition. 
 
 Fathers are apprehensive lest the natural love of their 
 children should be extinguished. What, then, is this 
 natural impulse, thus subject to decay? Habit is a 
 second nature, which destroys the first. Why is habit 
 not natural ? I am much afraid that this natural affec- 
 tion may be a kind of first habit, as habit is a second 
 nature. 
 
 XL Justice is that which is established; therefore all 
 our established laws should be necessarily deemed just, 
 without scrutiny, because they are established. 
 
 XII. ^ Injustice. 
 Jurisprudence is not an institution for the benefit of 
 
 * In the copy. 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 133 
 
 those who judge, but of those who are judged.* It is 
 dangerous to tell the people this. Yet the people have 
 too much confidence in you : well, this will not injure 
 them, and may serve you. You ought then to proclaim 
 this : "pasce oves measy non tuasJ" You owe me pasture. 
 
 XIII. + Justice. 
 As fashion decides comeliness, so it does justice.f 
 
 Why do we follow the multitude ? Is it because they 
 are most frequently in the right ? No : but they have 
 most power. 
 
 Why do we adhere to ancient laws and opinions? 
 Are they the wisest and best? No: but they lead to 
 uniformity, and cut away the roots of strife. 
 
 XIV. The sway of opinion and imagination endures 
 for a time, and is mild and uncompulsory ; that of force 
 lasts perpetually. Thus, opinion is the lenient ruler of 
 the world, but force is the tyrant. 
 
 XV. ^^Summumjus, summa injuria.'' The way of the 
 majority is the best, because it is the obvious one, and is 
 capable of enforcing obedience ; nevertheless it is usually 
 the opinion of the least instructed. 
 
 Had it been practicable, force should have been always 
 made subservient to justice ; but, seeing that force can- 
 
 * Orig. "Lajuridiction ne se donne pas pour (le) juridiciant, viais pour le 
 juridicie." 
 
 t In another place Pascal says, — " In one age the fair, in another the 
 brunette is the favourite. Fashion and country often regulate what is called 
 beauty." — Miscellaneous Writings, {Passiofis de 1' amour,) p. 133. 
 
134 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 not be directed as we would wish, being a material 
 quality, while, on the other hand, justice is a spiritual 
 one, which can be wielded at pleasure, justice has come 
 to be subordinated to force ; and thus we call that just 
 which we are compelled to observe. 
 
 — Thence comes the right of the sword ; for the 
 sword gives a real right. 
 
 ■'■ But for this, we should see violence on one side, and 
 justice on the other. (Conclusion of the 12tli Provincial.) 
 
 ^ Thence arises the injustice of the Fronde, which 
 arrays pretended justice against power. 
 
 — It is not so in the church ; for in her there is real 
 justice, and no violence. 
 
 XVI. " When the strong man armed keeps the 
 city, it is in peace." 
 
 XVII. ^ Justice. Force. 
 
 It is right that what is just should be obeyed. It 
 is necessary that the will of the strongest should be obeyed. 
 
 Justice, without power, is impotent; power, without 
 justice, is tyranny. 
 
 Justice, without power, is questioned, because there 
 will always be anarchists ; power, without justice, will be 
 challenged. It is necessary, therefore, that justice and 
 power should be united ; and, by that means, what is 
 just becomes strong, and what is strong just. 
 
 Justice is obnoxious to cavil ; power is beyond ques- 
 tion or dispute. Therefore power could not be always 
 entrusted to justice, because power contradicts justice, 
 and maintains that in itself alone is true justice ; and 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 135 
 
 thus, as justice could not always be powerful, it has been 
 contrived that power should be just. 
 
 XVIII. The only universal rules are the laws of the 
 country in ordinary matters, and the voice of the 
 majority in other things. Whence is this ? From the 
 power residing in them. 
 
 Thence it is, that Kings, who have other sources of 
 strength, do not follow the opinions of their ministers. 
 
 Equality of benefits is doubtless just : but, as it is not 
 possible that force should obey justice, it has come to 
 pass that justice has become obedient to force: as justice 
 could not be invested with power, power has been 
 rendered just : and thus justice and force form a coali- 
 tion ; and peace, the supreme good, is preserved between 
 them. 
 
 ■''Wisdom refers us to the state of infancy: ^' nisi 
 efficiamini sicut parvuli.'' 
 
 XIX. Good sense. 
 ^ People under constraint say. You do not act sin- 
 cerely ; we ought not, &c. How I love to see this 
 pride of reason humiliated and brought down ! Why, 
 this is not the language of one whose rights are contested, 
 and who defends them by force and arms. He does 
 not trifle by talking about violations of good faith ; he 
 punishes bad faith by force. 
 
 XX. As magistracies, and duchies, and royalties 
 are real and necessary, (insomuch as force regulates all 
 
136 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, CAN KNOW 
 
 things,) these are found everywhere, and at all times. 
 Yet, as they are only the creatures of fancy, there is no 
 stability in them, but they are constantly liable to 
 vicissitude, &c.* 
 
 XXI. The Ecclesiastes shows us that man without 
 God is in ignorance of all things, and hopelessly un- 
 happy. Unhappiness consists in the possession of desires, 
 without the power to fulfil them. Now man wishes for 
 happiness and truth ; yet can he neither know wherein 
 they consist, nor be without the desire for such know- 
 ledge. He is not able even to doubt. 
 
 XXII. We can walk safely in the light of these 
 
 heavenly luminaries, and after having 
 
 (Erased.) 
 
 Without this divine knowledge, what has man been 
 able to achieve, except either to plume himself upon 
 the consciousness of his original greatness, or to be 
 humbled in the contemplation of his present degra- 
 dation ?f Absolute truth being unknown to men, they 
 have been unable to attain to perfect virtue. One class 
 regarding nature as uncorrupted, another as incurable, 
 they have been alternately the victims of pride or 
 sensuality, the sources of all vice ; and into which the 
 
 * The imperfect way in which this passage is jotted down in the MS., 
 shows that it was intended to be no more than a mere rough note. 
 
 f Here we find the following passage erased: — " In this powerlessness 
 to ascertain perfect truth, if they perceive the dignity of our condition, 
 they are ignorant of its corruption ; or if they know its weakness, they are 
 imacquainted with its excellencies : and, according as they follow the one 
 or the other of these views, which exhibit human nature as either un fallen 
 or incurable, they bolster themselves up in pride, or plunge into despair." 
 
NEITHER TRUE HAPPINESS NOR RECTITUDE. 137 
 
 latter inevitably tends to plunge them, while the former 
 is powerless for their extrication. If, on the one hand, 
 they possessed some knowledge of man's excellencies, they 
 were ignorant of his corruption ; they might be raised 
 above voluptuousness, but it was only to fall into vain- 
 glory.* On the other hand, if they acknowledged the 
 infirmity of human nature, they had no consciousness of 
 its dignity ; and while they escaped the seductions of 
 vanity, they plunged into despair. 
 
 Hence arose the various sects of Stoics and Epicureans, 
 of Dogmatists and Academicians, &c. The Christian 
 religion alone discovered the remedy for those evils ; not 
 in setting the one against the other by the wisdom of 
 this world, but in overthrowing them all through the 
 simplicity of the Gospel. It is this which, while 
 elevating the just to a participation of the Divine nature 
 itself, reveals to them that, in this exalted state, they bear 
 yet within them the seeds of that corruption, which, 
 throughout the whole of their earthly existence, renders 
 them the subjects of error, misery, sin, and death ; and 
 this also proclaims to the most debased of the human 
 race, that it is yet in their power to become partakers of 
 their Redeemer's grace. Inspiring the holy with salu- 
 tary fears, and extending its hopes to the most sinful, the 
 Gospel so mildly tempers fears with encouragement, and 
 holds the scales so evenly between grace and sin, that 
 the soul is far more effectually abased — yet without 
 abandoning herself to despair — than she could have been 
 by any efforts of mere human reason ; while she is infi- 
 
 * Orig. " superbe." This, in the St. Germain copy, is displaced, in 
 Arnauld's handwriting, by the word " orgueil." 
 
138 THAT MAN, WITHOUT FAITH, ETC. 
 
 nitely more elevated, although without unwholesome 
 inflation, than she could have been by the pride of 
 nature : — plainly showing that, unalloyed by error and 
 corruption, these sacred principles alone can correct and 
 purify the evils of the fallen nature of man. 
 
 Who then can withhold his belief in this celestial 
 revelation, and his adoration of its ineffable mysteries ? 
 Can we not perceive in ourselves, as traced by the bright 
 beams of the noon-day sun, the ineffaceable characters 
 of our pristine excellence ? And do we not equally feel, 
 with bitter force, the effects of our fall and ruin ? What 
 is it, then, that from amidst this fearful confusion and 
 chaos, we hear proclaimed to us with a voice of irresist- 
 ible conviction, but the irrefragable truth of these two 
 co-existent states of humanity ? * 
 
 * The partiality of an Editor may, perhaps, be forgiven, for pausing for 
 a moment to remark the exquisite beauty and force of these concluding 
 pariigraphs. (Transl.) 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 OF 
 
 TRUE RELIGION. 
 
EDITORIAL jN^OTICE. 
 
 We consider that we are making as near an approach as 
 possible to Pascal's plan, — which, however, especially in its 
 details, is difficult to trace, — in collecting here, under a distinct 
 chapter, the various fragments in which the author unfolds 
 what he deems to be the Characteristics of a true religion. 
 
 Pascal made his profound knowledge of man, by means of 
 which he had so thoroughly analysed the system of philosophy, 
 equally subservient to his investigation of revealed religion. 
 He had demonstrated that the schemes of the philosophers 
 were unsatisfactory and fallacious, possessing nothing with 
 which to fill the wants of man's spirit, or answer the just 
 demands of human reason. He now proceeds to show, on 
 the one hand, that a true religion ought to be in perfect agree- 
 ment with our nature ; should be able perfectly to search into 
 and explain its mysteries ; and, further, ought to teach man, 
 not only the knowledge, but the love of the Deity ; — and, on 
 the other, that the Christian religion is the only system which 
 fulfils this two-fold vocation : that is to say, that it accom- 
 plishes everything to which the philosophical systems, and all 
 other schemes of religion, have proved themselves to be 
 incompetent. {French Editor.) 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 I. The true nature of man, his real happiness, true 
 virtue, and religion, are things the knowledge of which 
 is inseparable. 
 
 II. True rehgion teaches our duties ; it reveals our 
 impotence, pride, and sensuality ; and enforces the 
 remedies, — humility and mortification. 
 
 III. Any one understanding the real nature of man, 
 must perceive that a true religion ought to be versed in 
 our nature; ought to know its greatness and its degrada- 
 tion; and the causes of both the one and the other. 
 
 What religion but Christianity exhibits such a know- 
 ledge as this ? 
 
 No other than this has shown man to be the most 
 excellent creature in existence. Some persons who 
 have discovered the greatness of his excellencies, have 
 mistaken for a sordid and unthankful spirit the unworthy 
 sentiments which men entertain of themselves ; and 
 others, who well knew how real his degradation is, have 
 treated with ridicule and disdain those exalted aspira- 
 tions which are likewise natural to man. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 " Raise your view to your Maker," said the one ; " con- 
 template him in whose likeness you are formed, and who 
 has created you for his worship : you have the power to 
 acquire a resemblance to him ; wisdom will place you, 
 if its dictates be followed, on a level with his greatness."* 
 Others said, Cast your eyes down to the earth, vile 
 worm of the dust, and contemplate only the beasts, your 
 fellows !" 
 
 What then is man to do? Is he to aspire to an 
 equality with God, or descend to the level of the brute ? 
 O fearful disparity ! What, what is he to do ? Who does 
 not perceive from this, that man is fallen, — has lost his 
 original station ; that he seeks impatiently to regain it, 
 — but seeks in vain ? And who is to be his guide, when 
 the great and the wise have deceived him, and failed ? f 
 
 IV. A true religion, then, ought to instruct man 
 both in his greatness and his misery ; should apply itself 
 to his esteem and to his contempt of himself, to his love 
 and his hatred. J 
 
 V. No other religion ever taught man to hate himself. 
 No other, then, can please those who hate themselves, 
 and seek in another being a proper object for their love. 
 And such as these, had they never before heard of the 
 religion of a God who ^'humbled himself," would at 
 once and with eagerness embrace it. 
 
 * In the margin of the MS. stands, " Haussez la t^te, hommes litres, dit 
 Epiciefe." 
 
 f St. Germain copy. 
 X Idem. 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 143 
 
 VI. Whoever does not abhor his own self-love, and 
 his propensity to make self his idol, is blind and ignorant. 
 Nothing can be so opposed to justice and truth as these 
 dispositions. It is untrue that v^e are deserving of any- 
 such exorbitant self-homage ; it is unjust, for all desire 
 the same thing. It is a manifest obliquity of disposition 
 w^hich we received at our birth : we are unable ourselves 
 to subdue it, and yet it must be subdued. 
 
 No other religious system has ever discovered that 
 such propensities are sinful, that they are the taint 
 of our birth, and that we ought to resist them ; no other 
 has attempted to furnish us with remedies against them. 
 
 VII. If there be a God, we ought to love him only, 
 and not the ephemeral beings of his creation. The 
 reasoning of the sensual in the Book of Wisdom, is 
 founded only on the belief that there is no God. Assuming 
 this, " Let us," say they, " enjoy ourselves in created 
 good : it is our only resource." But had they believed 
 there was a God to be loved, their conclusion would 
 have been different. It is the admonition of the wise, — 
 
 There is a God : let us, then, not seek enjoyment in 
 the creatures." 
 
 — Everything, therefore, that inclines us to attach 
 ourselves to creatures, is evil ; because the doing so 
 prevents us from either serving God, if we know him, or 
 seeking him if we know him not. Now w^e are full of 
 sensuality, and of every moral evil ; therefore we ought 
 to abhor ourselves, and everything which tends to excite 
 us to any other attachments than to God alone. 
 
14i CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 VIII. If there be an}^ one great principle, any final 
 aim, it is God, and God only. A true religion, then, 
 ought to be one that adores and loves no other being 
 than Him. Yet, seeing we are incapable of worshipping 
 a Being with whom we are not acquainted, and of loving 
 any one but ourselves, a religion w^hich instructs us in 
 our duties should also inform us of our inability to 
 perform them, and provide us with a remedy for such 
 inability. Our religion does in fact reveal to us that, 
 b}^ man, we have lost everything ; that the union 
 between God and ourselves has been broken ; and that 
 by man also this union has been renewed. 
 
 We are, by the original evil of our nature, so opposed 
 to this love of our Maker, and it is yet so indispensable 
 to us, that it is evident we are guilty from our birth, or 
 God would be unjust. 
 
 A mark of true religion, and one founded in the 
 highest principle of justice, is, that love to God should 
 be necessary to us. Ours, and no other than ours, has 
 enjoined this. It should lay down, also, as a principle, 
 man's sensuality and weakness: this also is done by 
 Christianity. 
 
 It should further prescribe the remedies for these evils, 
 one of which is prayer. By no other religion is man 
 taught to ask of God that he may love and obey him. 
 
 IX. There is no doctrine so adapted to man as that 
 which instructs him in his capability both of receiving and 
 lapsing from grace, through the two-fold danger to which 
 he is ever exposed, — of despair, and of pride. 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 145 
 
 X. Christianity is a system of wonders. It enjoins upon 
 man to acknowledge himself vile, — yea, abominable; yet 
 commands him to aspire to a likeness to God ! Without 
 such a counterpoise, his elevation would render him fear- 
 fully vain, or his abasement hopelessly abject. 
 
 His abasement is not of such a nature as to render 
 man incapable of good; nor yet does his sanctity exempt 
 him from evil. 
 
 XI. Misery urges to despair. 
 Pride incites to presumption. 
 
 The Incarnation shows man the greatness of his misery 
 in the greatness of the remedy that it demanded. 
 
 XII. ^ Holy Scripture has provided passages for 
 consolation in all conditions, and for warning under all 
 circumstances. 
 
 Nature seems to have done the same by means of 
 her two infinitudes, — natural and moral: for we always 
 find degrees, from the lowest to the highest, of inferior 
 or eminent ability, — of elevation or degradation, — for the 
 purpose both of abasing our pride, and encouraging us 
 under our despondency. 
 
 XIII. Contrarieties. 
 ^ Infinite wisdom, and wisdom of religion.* 
 
 + Source of Contrarieties. 
 A God "humbling himself" even to the death of the 
 cross. — A Messiah triumphing over death by his own death . 
 * In the copy only, 
 G 
 
146 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 Two natures in Jesus Christ. — Two Advents. Two 
 conditions in man's nature. 
 
 All these contrarieties, which seemed the most to repel 
 me from the knowledge of religion, are the very things 
 that most effectually led me to that religion which alone 
 is the true one. 
 
 XIV. God hiding himself. 
 
 — ■'"If there had been but one religious system, God 
 would have been manifested therein. 
 
 It would have been the same had there been martyrs 
 only in the cause of our religion. 
 
 — God having thus concealed himself, any religion 
 which does not exhibit the Deity in this character of 
 concealment, is not a true one; and that which does not 
 unfold the reason for such a mystery, is not an instructive 
 one. Ours does both the one and the other: '^vere tu 
 es Deus ahsconditus.'" 
 
 XV. The unbeliever, who professes to follow only his 
 reason, ought to have a very powerful reason. 
 What, then, does he say? 
 
 "Do we not see," he says, **the brutes exist and die 
 like human beings, and Turks like Christians? They 
 (Infidels) have their ceremonies, their prophets, their 
 teachers, their saints, their devotees, like ourselves." 
 How, then, is this contrary to Scripture? Does not 
 Scripture itself affirm all this ? 
 
 If you have no anxiety to ascertain truth, this may be 
 indeed sufficient to leave you in peace. But, if you 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 147 
 
 do heartily desire to ascertain it, then it is not sufficient: 
 look at the matter closely. All this might avail upon a 
 mere question of philosophy ; but here, where everything 
 is at stake .... 
 
 And yet, after these shallov^ reflections, they will go 
 on trifling, &;c 
 
 Let them set themselves to enquire whether revelation 
 does not assign the reasons of this obscurity upon which 
 they comment: then, perhaps, they will learn the fact.* 
 
 A P. B,.^ Pour dejnain. 
 + Prosopopee. 
 In vain, O mortals, do you seek in yourselves the 
 remedy of your miseries! All your intelligence can 
 serve only to prove, that in you is found neither 
 truth nor happiness. Philosophy promised you both, 
 but has deceived you. Its professors know neither 
 wherein consists your real good, nor what is your actual 
 condition. How should they have furnished remedies 
 for the evils which afflict you, when they understand 
 nothing of them ? % Your principal disorders are 
 
 * In this, and the paragraphs immediately preceding, we are tantalized 
 by their abrupt and fragmentary character; a most pregnant topic beino- 
 opened up, but a mere rudiment only of the discussion executed. (Transl) 
 
 f See note, page 152. 
 
 X Here the following lines are erased (apparently meant to be an appeal 
 of Divine Wisdom to man): — "I alone can instruct you in these things. 
 I teach them to those who are willing to learn. The volume which I have 
 given to man reveals them. But I intended not that this knowledge 
 should be too easily acquired. I teach men the way of happiness. Why 
 will ye not listen? . . . Seek not satisfaction on earth. Hope nothing 
 from man. Your true happiness is alone in God; in knowing him, and in 
 being united to him to all eternity. Your duty is to love him with your 
 whole heart. He created you ... " 
 
 G 2 
 
148 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 pride, which alienates you from God; and sensuality, 
 which attaches you to earth: and they have been perpe- 
 tually engaged in fostering either the one or the other 
 of these evils. If they have presented to you God, as 
 your first object, it has been only to excite your pride. 
 They have led you to suppose you resemble your Maker, 
 and that your degraded nature bears a conformity to his. 
 And those who discerned the folly of these pretensions 
 proceeded to impel you into a contrary extreme, — made 
 you believe your nature to be like that of the brute, and 
 urged you to seek your chief good in sordid lusts, which 
 are shared with the lowest animal natures. 
 
 These are not the means to cure the disorders of your 
 nature, of which these boasted sages understood nothing. 
 
 All I can do is to make you perceive that you are 
 both . . . .* 
 
 — ■''I ask not of you a blind credulity. (Erased.) 
 
 — + Adam. J.C. 
 
 — ■'"If they would make you one with God, it should 
 be by grace, not by nature. 
 
 — ■'"If they would humble you, it should be in peni- 
 tence, not in nature. 
 
 — Thus, this double capacity . . . 
 
 — ■'■ You are not in the state in which you were by 
 creation. 
 
 — This twofold state being so palpable, it is impossible 
 that you should not acknowledge it. 
 
 Observe your internal emotions; study yourselves, and 
 
 * Pascal here seems to have broken off the further development of his 
 reasoning, to throw out the half- finished notes which follow. The chain of 
 argument seems, however, to be resumed in the noble passage at p. 153, 
 beginning, " What is that religion, then, ..." (Transl.) 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 149 
 
 see whether you do not perceive the living characters of 
 these two natures. 
 
 — Would such manifold contradictions be found in a 
 being of an unconipounded nature ? 
 
 — Incomi^rehensihle,^ 
 ^ A thing maybe incomprehensible, and yet be trueif 
 an infinite number, for instance; an infinite space equal 
 to final. 
 
 — Inc7'edihle that God should unite himself to us.X — 
 This objection originates only in our own view of man's 
 degradation. But if you entertain it sincerely, follow 
 out the consideration with me, and you will acknowledge 
 our degradation to be such that we are, of ourselves, 
 unable to know whether the divine love can make us 
 capable of such union, or not. For, let me ask, how is it 
 that man, the feeble being which he confesses himself to 
 be, can have a right to measure the compassion of Deity, 
 and set to it such bounds as his mere fancy shall suggest i 
 So little does he know what God is, that he knows not 
 what he is himself; and, full of perplexity in the contem- 
 plation of his own condition, he presumes to assert that 
 the Omnipotent cannot render him capable of his august 
 communications! Now, I would desire to know, what 
 more does God demand of man, than, after haviag acquired 
 a knowledge of him, to love him ; and why should he 
 then suppose that God cannot render him capable of 
 
 * Incomprehensible' ' here evidently denotes an objection. 
 
 f " Tout ce qui est incomprehensible ne laisse pas d'etre." This proposi- 
 tion is only found in the MS. Autograph. 
 
 X The same remark applies to this expression ''Incroyuble" as to the 
 word '^Incomprehensible," in the preceding paragraph. 
 
150 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 such knowledge and such love, since he is by nature 
 endowed with a capacity both of love and knowledge? 
 He knows this, at least, that he exists, and that he feels 
 affection towards certain objects. If, then, amidst the 
 darkness in which he is enveloped, he attains to some 
 measure of knowledge ; and if, among the earthly objects 
 which surround him, there are some which excite his 
 love; why, if the Deity imparts to him some portion of 
 his illumination, should he not be capable of knowing 
 and loving Him, in that way in which it shall please him 
 to reveal himself to us? There is, therefore, in such 
 reasonings as these an intolerable presumption, although 
 it wears the semblance of humility; — a humility, neither 
 sincere nor rational, if it leads us not to acknowledge that, 
 knowing nothing of ourselves, of our own nature, we can 
 acquire no knowledge of it but from God. 
 
 — Understand me not to intend that you should, unrea- 
 soning, submit your belief to mine: far be such tyrannical 
 presumption from me. Neither do I pretend to make all 
 things level to your apprehension. But, in order to 
 reconcile these contradictions, I propose to show you, by 
 convincing proofs, those marks of a divine origin in 
 me,* which may show you who I am, and establish the 
 authority of my assertions by evidences which you will 
 not be able to resist. Thus shall you admit my instruc- 
 tions with confidence, when you find no other ground of 
 objection than that you cannot comprehend them by your 
 unassisted understanding. 
 
 God has been desirous to restore man from his lost 
 
 * This, like a former passage, seems to be a kind of personification of 
 Wisdom, or the Divine Word, apostrophizing man. (Transl.) 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 151 
 
 estate, and open a way of salvation for those who wish to 
 find it. But men have rendered themselves so unworthy 
 of this boon, that it is just in God to refuse to certain 
 among them, on account of their obduracy, that which, 
 in the exercise of a compassion to which they can have 
 laid no claim, he has granted to others. Had he seen lit 
 to overcome the obdurate, he could have done it by a 
 revelation of his Divine power so manifest as to admit no 
 doubt of its truth; — in the same way as he will appear, at 
 the last day, when the thunders shall sound, the earth 
 shall pass away, the dead shall arise, and the unbeliever 
 shall at length be convinced ! 
 
 It is not in this wa}', however, that Jehovah has thought 
 proper to reveal himself in this, his more benignant dis- 
 pensation. Many having rejected his offered clemency, 
 he has determined to leave them in the privation of 
 blessings which they were unwilling to accept.* It was 
 not consistent with his justice to manifest himself to 
 them with evidences so clear as not to be resisted; but 
 neither was it just to descend to men in a way so obscure, 
 as that he should not be recognized by all who seek him 
 in sincerity. To such as these, his intention was to b^ 
 easily discoverable; and thus, willing to be found of all 
 who seek him sincerely, and yet concealing himself from 
 those who harden their hearts against him, he has so 
 modified f the revelation of himself, that the proofs of 
 his presence may be manifest to all who seek him, but 
 are hidden to such as seek him not. 
 
 * " Qu'ils jie veulent pas," at first, ^'qu ils ne veulent pas rechercher." 
 
 t The close of this paragraph, after "modified," (tempere) is found in 
 a small paper, numbered p. Z)?, in the front of which stands "a P. R. pour 
 demain. 2." 
 
152 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 Thus is there light sufficient for such as desire to see, and 
 obscurity for all who "love darkness better than light." 
 
 XYII. ^ A P. R, * Commencement, after having 
 explained " the incomprehensibility/.'' 
 
 The greatness and the misery of man are so evident, 
 that a true revelation becomes necessary, to instruct us 
 that there is some leading principle of greatness in man, 
 as well as some leading source of his misery. 
 
 It is requisite, also, that such a revelation should 
 furnish us with the reasons of contrarieties so astonishing. 
 
 In order that man should be happy, he should be 
 instructed that there is a God; that love to Him is 
 man's duty; that our true felicity consists in union with 
 — our only real calamity in separation from — Him : we 
 should be made to feel that we are surrounded with 
 darkness, which prevents us from knowing and loving- 
 God; and thus, that while our duty impels us to such 
 love, and our sensual propensities draw us aside from it, 
 we are beings of mere disorder and contradiction. Re- 
 velation ought to supply us with the solution of these 
 opposing impulses, which urge us alternately to obey 
 God, and to indulge our own wills; it should teach us 
 
 * A P.E. means, doubtless, Port Royal.'" Tliis niaik, which is 
 attached to several other fragments, leads to the supposition that the 
 Recluses were accustomed to hold certain conferences, in which each 
 prepared discourses upon given subjects of religion or moral philosophy, 
 and that Pascal had composed these pages in pursuance of such conferences. 
 Might they not have been parts of that discourse which he once delivered to 
 his friends, — the plan of his projected great work? Stephen Perier and 
 Dubois de Lacour, who preserved the analysis of that discourse, inform us, 
 that he spoke on the occasion for three hours continuously, and with 
 incomparable eloquence. 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 153 
 
 what are the remedies for our own weakness, and show 
 us the way to obtain them. Examine, then, with this 
 view, all the religious systems in the world, and say, if 
 there be any other than the Christian which fulfils this 
 high vocation. 
 
 Is it that of the philosophers, which proposes to us 
 the good that is in ourselves, as our only good? Is 
 this, indeed, the true good? Has man, then, found the 
 remedy for the ills of man ? Is the cure for his pre- 
 sumption to be found in exalting him to an equality with 
 his God ? And those, again, who would bring him down 
 to a level with the brutes, — and the Mohammedans, who 
 assign to him, even through the ages of eternity, the 
 sordid pleasures of earth, — have they furnished the true 
 remedy for man's sensuality ? 
 
 What is that religion, then, which shall teach us the 
 cure both of our pride and of our sensuality? What, in 
 short, shall show us our real good? — what instruct us in 
 our duties, prove to us the cause of our failures, discover 
 the remedies,* and help us to obtain them? Every other 
 has failed. Mark we then what the Wisdom of God has 
 achieved. 
 
 Expect not, she proclaims, either truth or consolation 
 from man. It is I who formed you; and I alone can 
 instruct you what and whence you are. You are not 
 now in the state in which you were first created. I 
 made man holy, innocent, perfect; filled him with light 
 and intelligence ; communicated to him of the glories of 
 my nature, and the wonders of my works. His eye then 
 gazed on the unveiled majesty of God. The shades and 
 
 * In the MS. "ce temedt.'" 
 G 5 
 
154 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 darkness in which he is now enveloped had not gathered 
 round him : suffering was unknown, and the solemn 
 decree of mortality had not gone forth. But the excess 
 of his glory hurled him into presumption. He aimed to 
 be the centre to himself, and to be independent of me. 
 He revolted from my sway, and sought to rival me in 
 becoming the source of his own felicity. Then I aban- 
 doned him to himself; and, rousing all the creatures, 
 heretofore submitted to his authority, into revolt against 
 him, from his willing subjects they became his enemies. 
 Thus has man now become like the very brutes them- 
 selves: his intelligence is clouded and extinct : an alien 
 from my favour, he scarcely retains a glimmering 
 perception of his Author. His senses, loosed from the 
 control of reason, and often become her rulers, trans- 
 port him into a pursuit of pleasures. All created 
 good is to him a source of suffering or temptation; and 
 either subdues him, resistless, to its sway, or, with a 
 yet more deadly and imperious rule, fascinates him by 
 its illusions ! 
 
 This then is the present condition of man. He retains 
 some feeble and imperfect instincts of his primitive glory 
 and happiness ; but he is imperviously wrapped in the 
 misery and darkness of sensuality, which has become to 
 him a second nature. 
 
 From the principles which I have thus opened to you, 
 may be perceived the cause of all the contrarieties by 
 which men have ever been perplexed, and which have 
 given rise to such an endless diversity of sentiments. 
 Mark but those impulses of greatness and glory, which 
 the experience of all their suffering and misery has not 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 155 
 
 been able to extinguish ; and then say if the cause be 
 not in a changed and corrupted nature ? 
 
 XVIII. It is true, then, that everything tends to 
 instruct man in his true condition ; and this ought indeed 
 to be well understood, for it is not true that everything 
 either discovers or conceals God. But it is true that he 
 alike conceals himself from those who shun him, and 
 discovers himself to those who seek him ; inasmuch as 
 men are at the same time unworthy of God, and fitting 
 recipients of his sacred presence, — unworthy through 
 their present corruption, fitting in virtue of their original 
 innocence.* 
 
 What then are we to conclude from all our dark- 
 ness, but our unworthiness ? f 
 
 XIX. ''■ Objections of Atheists: — But we have no 
 light. 
 
 XX. If there were no obscurity, man would not 
 perceive his corruption ; if he had no light, he would 
 not hope for a remedy. Therefore it is not only right, but 
 useful for us, that God should be partly concealed, and 
 partly discovered to his creatures ; — since it is equally 
 dangerous to man, to know his Maker without a percep- 
 tion of his own misery, and to perceive his misery with- 
 out a knowledge of God. J 
 
 If there had never been any manifestation of God 
 
 * In the copy only. f Idem. X Idem. 
 
156 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 to man, that entire privation would have been of 
 equivocal import, and might have been indifferently 
 resolved into the total absence of Deity, or to man's 
 unworthiness of his revelations. But by the fact that 
 his appearances are occasiqnal and not constant, the 
 difficulty is solved. If he had only, in a single instance, 
 revealed himself, his perpetual existence would have 
 been palpable ; and no other conclusion can be come to, 
 than that there is a God, and that men are unworthy of 
 his prentice.* 
 
 XXL If it be objected that man is too insignificant 
 to enjoy communication with God, I answer, he 
 must possess great capacity to be a judge of the fact. 
 (Erased.) 
 
 Man is not worthy of God ; but he is not incapable 
 of becoming worthy. 
 
 It is unworthy of God to unite himself to man in his 
 state of degradation ; but it is not unworthy of God to 
 deliver him from that degradation. 
 
 XXII. If the compassion of God is so great that he 
 instructs us even when he conceals himself, what measure 
 of illumination may we not expect when he reveals him- 
 self to man ? f 
 
 XXIII. Confess then the truth of religion, even in 
 its very obscurity, — in the small degree of our illumi- 
 nation, — in our indifference to be better instructed. J 
 
 In the copy only. f Idem. J Idem. 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 157 
 
 XXIV. ■'" The Eternal must ever be, if once proved 
 to be* 
 
 XXV. ■'' The various classes of cavillers injure only 
 each other, — not religion. All that the infidel says . 
 
 . . -t 
 
 XXVI. Thus does all creation teach man either 
 that he is fallen, or that he is restored : everything 
 proclaims his greatness, or his misery. God's abandon- 
 ment of man appears in the heathen ; his favour, in the 
 Jews.J 
 
 XXVII. There is nothing in the whole earth that 
 does not prove either the misery of man, or the compas- 
 sion of God ; either his powerlessness without — or his 
 power with — God.§ 
 
 — God has made the blindness of this people subserve 
 the good of the elect. 
 
 XXVIII. The world subsists for the exercise of 
 Divine compassion, and of judgment ; not as if men were 
 in the state in which they came from the hand of their 
 Creator, but, as they actually are, — the enemies of God, 
 to whom, in the exercise of his grace, he imparts light 
 sufficient for their return to him, if disposed to do ; 
 
 * In the copy only. f Idem. X Idem. 
 
 § This may he regarded as in some measure an epitome of Pascal's 
 entire Essay, and comprises the two great divisions, which are elsewhere 
 more completely developed. (French Editor.) 
 
158 CHARACTERISTICS 
 
 and to justify his punishments, if they refuse to seek 
 and obey him.* 
 
 XXIX. God desires to influence rather the will than 
 the understanding. Perfect knowledge would benefit 
 the mind, but impair the affections. 
 
 ■'' To humble pride. f 
 
 XXX. The corruption of reason appears in different 
 and extravagant ways. It is necessary that Truth 
 herself should be revealed, in order that man should 
 no longer live to himself. J 
 
 XXXI. Who can do otherwise than admire and em- 
 brace a religion which so thoroughly displays all the 
 requisites that are most appreciated in proportion to our 
 growing intelligence ? § 
 
 XXXII. For my part, I confess, that as soon as I 
 found the Christian religion laying down this principle, 
 — that the nature of man is corrupt, and fallen away 
 from his Maker, — my eyes were opened to the truth of 
 the entire system. Nature everywhere bears the marks 
 of a God lost and forsaken, both as regards man, and 
 everything else besides man. 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f Super he. " In the St. Germain copy, the word " superbe" is erased 
 by Arnauld, and replaced by " orgueil." 
 X In the copy only. 
 § Neither in the MS. nor copy. 
 
OF TRUE RELIGION. 
 
 159 
 
 XXXIII. There are two great and abiding articles 
 of faith : — the one, that man, whether in his state 
 of nature or of grace, is elevated above everything in 
 nature, endowed with likeness to God, and made a par- 
 taker of Divinity ; the other, that, in his state of 
 corruption and sin, he is fallen from his first condition, 
 and is reduced to a likeness of the brute. These two 
 propositions are clear and certain. Scripture declares 
 the truth plainly, where it states, — " Delicice mece, esse 
 cum Jiliis liominum."^ Effundam spiritum meum super 
 omnem carnemJ' ^ Dii estis,'' And again else- 
 
 where: — ^' Omnis caro foenum.''''^ Homo comparatus 
 est jumentis insipientihus , et similis f actus est illis.'"\\ 
 ' ' Dixi in corde meo de jiliis hominum, ut probaret eos 
 Deus et ostenderet similes esse hestiis^' \ 8^c, 
 
 XXXIV. Every religion is false, which has not for 
 its leading tenet, to adore one God as the first principle 
 of all things ; and its moral system, to love one God 
 only, and supremely in all things. 
 
 * Prov. viii. 21. 
 § Is. xl. 6. 
 
 t Joel ii. 28. 
 11 Psalm xlix. 20. 
 
 X Psalm Ixxxii. 6. 
 ^ Ecc. iii. 18. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 MEANS OP ATTAINING TO FAITH: 
 
 REASON, HABIT, INSPIRATION. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 There is nothing in Pascal's notes which indicates the 
 proper place to be assigned to this Chapter. But it may be 
 surmised that, after designating the characteristics of the 
 Christian religion, and exciting the desire to enter upon the 
 benefits which that system confers, the writer might properly 
 investigate, and point out the methods of attaining to, that 
 Faith. This is, evidently, the leading object of these fragments, 
 which are here collected, and formed into a separate chapter, 
 particularly those entitled "Infinitude, Nullity." 
 
 This latter fragment, in which Pascal, after applying the 
 calculation of probabilities to the question of God and the soul, 
 and applying himself to demonstrate mathematically that the 
 chances should be taken for the existence of God, and the 
 immortality of the soul, proceeds to appeal to the deepest 
 sentiments of the heart: this fragment, so justly celebrated, 
 is now for the first time published in perfect conformity with 
 the original MS. 
 
 It is entirely in Pascal's own hand, and written in his most 
 abbreviated manner. We deem it important to remark, even 
 at the risk of appearing too minute, that the MS. of this 
 fragment bears the appearance of the rudest sketch: it is 
 nothing more than a series of imperfect notes, thrown out as 
 mere rudiments of thought, and wholly destitute of arrange- 
 ment. Of this, some idea may be formed, from the figures and 
 marks of reference inserted in the margin ;* but better still by 
 the inspection of the MS. itself. One of the sheets has evi- 
 dently been folded up four-square, and bears marks of being 
 long carried in the pocket. 
 
 On one of the notes is the following title : — " Conclusion of 
 this discourse;" which induces the conjecture, that they had 
 been written by Pascal preparatory to a conversation with 
 some of his worldly-minded acquaintances ; such, for instance, 
 as the Chevalier de Mere. However this may be, it is certain 
 that the fragment ^'Infini, Rien,'' can only be considered as 
 a kind of canvass, on which the writer had drawn the outline 
 of his subject, for the purpose of further elucidation and 
 development. (French Editor.) 
 
 * Of the French Edition. 
 
MEANS OF ATTAINING TO FAITH : 
 
 REASON, HABIT, INSPIRATION. 
 
 I. 
 
 Infinitude. Nullity. 
 
 Our soul is placed in a body, in which it meets with 
 number, time, space. It reasons thereupon, calls these 
 things nature and necessity, and can* form no other idea 
 of them. 
 
 — Units joined to infinity cannot increase it, any more 
 than a single foot in length can add to an infinite measure. 
 The finite is annihilated in the presence of the infinite, 
 and becomes pure nullity. Such is the soul of man in 
 the presence of God ; such our righteousness by the side 
 of the Divine. 
 
 There is not so great a disproportion between our 
 righteousness and that of God, as between the unit and 
 infinity, f 
 
 — The justice of God must be immense, as well as 
 his compassion ; yet is the justice of God towards the 
 condemned less immense, and less overwhelming to the 
 thought, than his grace towards the elect. 
 
 * ^^Ne peut,'' ai first, "ne veut croire." 
 
 t It is possible that Pascal here intended the reverse of the expression 
 he has used; namely, that the disproportion is not so great between unit 
 and infinity, as between our righteousness and that of God ; and the old 
 editions have adopted this change. It is not, however, for us to alter the 
 original language. 
 
164 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 — We know there is an infinite, and yet understand not 
 its nature; as we also know it to be not true that numbers 
 are finite: it is certain, then, there is an infinite in 
 numbers, but we do not know in what it consists. It is 
 not true that it consists in equal numbers; it is not true 
 that it consists in inequality : for, by adding a unit to 
 them, their nature is not changed; they are still numbers, 
 and all numbers are either equal or unequal; this also is 
 the case with all finite numbers.* 
 
 — Therefore we may easily be certain there is a God, 
 without knowing what he is. 
 
 We know, then, the existence and the nature of the 
 finite, because we are, like it, finite, and difiiisive 
 f etendmj. 
 
 We know the existence of the infinite, and are 
 ignorant of its nature; because it has diffusion or exten- 
 sion, ( etendue,) but not limitation, like ourselves, f 
 
 But of God we know not either the existence or the 
 nature, because he has neither extension nor limit. 
 
 — By faith, however, we know his existence ; in glory 
 we shall learn his nature. Now, I have already shown 
 that we may fully know the existence of an object 
 without knowing its nature. 
 
 — We will now reason upon natural considerations. 
 If there be a God, he is infinitely incomprehensible; 
 because, being without parts or limitation, he bears no 
 relation to ourselves: we are therefore incapable of 
 
 * In the margin of the preceding paragraph is the following:— " Is there 
 not any substantial truth, seeing there are so many things that are true, 
 and yet not truth itself?" 
 
 f This stood at first, "Because we have a relation to him by the exten- 
 sion, and disproportion by the limitation." 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 165 
 
 knowing either what he is, or whether he exists. Who, 
 then, shall dare to resolve this great question? Not 
 beings like ourselves, who have nothing in common, or 
 in relation with him! 
 
 Shall any one, then, take upon himself to blame the 
 Christian for not being able to assign grounds of his 
 faith? — he who professes his religion as one not amenable 
 to human reason. Christians, in announcing their scheme 
 to the world, proclaim it to be "foolishness," stultitiam, 
 and yet you reproach them for not proving it ! Did they 
 affect to prove it, they would contradict themselves : the 
 absence of proofs implies no deficiency in its reason- 
 ableness. 
 
 True : but, although this may excuse such as propound 
 the creed, and may exempt from blame the producing it 
 without reasons, it does not satisfy those who have to 
 receive it. 
 
 Let us examine this matter, and put it thus : Either 
 there is a God, or there is not. Which side of the 
 question shall we take? Reason cannot decide. A gulf, 
 unbounded as chaos, separates us. At the extremity of 
 this immeasurable space, a game of chance is playing, — 
 call it "Head or tail."* Which way will you wager? 
 By mere reason you cannot affirm — by mere reason you 
 cannot deny — either the one or the other of these two 
 propositions. Charge not, then, with error those who 
 
 * '^11 se joue unjeu a Vexiremite de cette distance ivfinie oil il arrivera croix 
 ou pile." It is to be regretted that our language does not furnish any better 
 than the chuck-farihing rendering for this expression which is given above. 
 The phrase in the original by no means presents the same incongruity with 
 its sublime antecedents, the "chaos injinie,^' and the " extremite de cette 
 distance infinie" at which the ''croix ou pile" is placed. (Transl.) 
 
166 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 have made their choice; for you know nothing of the 
 matter in question. 
 
 True: but I blame them for having made not this 
 choice, but a choice; for if he who wins the wager, and 
 he who loses it, be equally at fault, why then it only 
 follows that they are both at fault : the right course is 
 not to wager at all. 
 
 Good : but we must wager ; it is no question of the 
 will: we are committed to one side or the other. Which 
 will you take, then ? Since you must make a choice, 
 notice on which side your interest the least ponderates. 
 You have two things to lose, — truth, and well-being; and 
 two things to wager, — your reason, and your will, — your 
 knowledge, and your happiness. Your nature, also, has 
 two things to avoid, — error, and misery. Reason cannot 
 be offended, since a choice must be made, in making your 
 election for the one any more than for the other. This is 
 one point gained. But then, as regards your happiness? 
 Let us weigh the gain and the loss, in wagering for the 
 existence of a God. Look at the alternatives. If you 
 win, you win everything ; if you lose, you lose nothing. 
 Wager, then, without hesitation, that He exists ! 
 
 Admirable ! It is true I must wager ; but I risk, 
 perhaps, too much. 
 
 Let us consider. Since there is an equal risk of gain 
 and loss, had you only to win two lives for one, you might 
 still wager. But, if there were three lives to win, you 
 ought to play, since you must take a side ; and it 
 would be short-sighted, being thus obliged to play, not 
 to risk your own life to gain three, in a game in which 
 there is an equal risk of losing and winning. But iii 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 167 
 
 reality there is here an eternity of life and glory to 
 win. 
 
 And that being the case, if the chances were infinite, 
 and one only on your side, you would still do right to 
 wager one for the chance of gaining two; and you would 
 be very irrational, being compelled to play, to refuse to 
 wager one life against three, — in a game in which, out of 
 an infinitude of chances, there was one on your side, 
 — seeing there might be gained an eternity of life, an 
 infinitude of happiness. 
 
 Now, here there is an eternity of life, — of infinite 
 blessedness, to be gained; one chance of gain against a 
 finite number of chances of loss;* and what you stake is 
 finite. This one thing is clear in every case where 
 infinitude is concerned; and where there is not an infinite 
 number of chances of loss against the one of gain, there can 
 be no hesitation: all must be risked. And thus, being 
 compelled to wager, it is a violation of reason, to preserve 
 life, rather than risk it, for that infinite gain which is as 
 likely to ensue as the contrary loss of annihilation. 
 
 It avails nothing to allege that there is an uncertainty 
 of gain, and a certainty of risk; and that the infinite 
 distance which there is between the certainty of that we 
 expose to hazard, and the uncertainty of what we may 
 gain, equalizes the finite good, which we certainly expose, 
 with the infinite, which is uncertain. That is not the 
 right position : every gamester hazards a certainty to gain 
 an uncertainty ; notwithstanding which, he hazards with 
 confidence the finite, for the uncertain chance of gaining 
 
 * At first, "and equal chance of gain and loss." The two copies have 
 also, "infinite number of chances," which is wrong ; it is "finite'' in the MS. 
 
168 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 the infinite, without any violation of reason. It is wholly 
 a mistake to maintain that there is an infinite distance 
 between that certainty which is exposed to loss, and the 
 uncertainty of gain. There is, indeed, infinitude between 
 the certainty of gaining, and the certainty of loss. But 
 the uncertainty of gain is proportioned to the certainty 
 of that which is risked, according to the proportion of 
 the chances of gain and loss ; and thence, if there are as 
 many chances on the one side as on the other, the game is 
 equal : and so far from being infinitely distant, the certainty 
 of what is exposed is equal to the uncertainty of gain. 
 
 Thus, our proposition is established with irrefragable 
 force, — that the finite is to be risked in a wager, in 
 which there is an equal chance of gain and loss — and infi- 
 nitude to gain. Here is demonstration; and if men are 
 capable of receiving truths at all, this is one. 
 
 I admit it. I am convinced. But yet, is there no way 
 of getting below the surface, and unravelling the mystery 
 of the game ? 
 
 There is Scripture, and other things 
 
 Yes: but my hands are tied; my mouth is closed; I 
 am forced into this wager, and left no liberty of choice. 
 I can find no escape; and am so constituted, that I 
 cannot believe. What am I to do ? 
 
 True. But learn, at least, your own inability to 
 believe,* while you find reason uniting you to it, and you 
 yet remain powerless. Labour not to attain to convic- 
 tion by augmenting the proofs of a God, but by 
 weakening the force of your passions. You desire to 
 
 * This was at first, " that your inability to believe arises only fx'om 
 your evil passions." 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 169 
 
 arrive at a true faith, and yet cannot find the way : you 
 wish for the cure of your unbelief, and are diligent in 
 seeking remedies. Put yourself under the teaching of 
 those who have been, like yourself, under bondage,* and 
 who are now venturing all their happiness on this cast : 
 they have found the way which you desire to find, and 
 have been healed of the malady under which you are 
 groaning. Follow, then, in their paths ; beginning, as 
 they did, by external religious observances. f These 
 will, at first, humble your will, J and succeed in bringing 
 you into a state of real faith. 
 
 Now that is what I am afraid of. 
 
 Wherefore ? What have you to lose ? 
 Then again, to prove to you that this will be the 
 result, it is in this way that your passions will be allayed, 
 which are the great obstacles. 
 
 O ! your discourse charms and delights me. 
 
 * ""Lies comme voiis." The copy has " tels comme vous ;" which is an 
 error. 
 
 f Pascal appears further to develop this consideration in a subsequent 
 passage, in which he says, " nous sommes automate autant qu' esprit and 
 that it is well that " la coutume incline I'automate qui entraine Vesprit sans 
 quHl y pense." 
 
 X The original here is, "Naturellement meme cela iwus fera croire, et vous 
 aMtira;" to which the French Editor subjoins the following note: — 
 "Montaigne had before said, ' // nous fatit abestir pour nous assagir.' 
 And St. Paul : ' Nemo se seducat : si quia videtur inter vos sapiens esse in 
 hoc saculo, stultus fiat ut sit sapiens ; sapientia enim hujm mundi, stultitia est 
 apud Deum.^ — Cor. iii. 19. 
 
 " In Pascal, as in St. Paul, ' aMtir' ought not to be understood literally, 
 but in the depth of Christian meaning. It is one of those expressions 
 which true philosophy accepts and defends against the declamation of a 
 superficial philosophy, and against the excesses of a fanatical devotion. 
 
 " There is extant an interesting letter of Arnauld to the Princess de 
 Guemene, who was fearful lest her son should be ' abetit " rendered 
 " degraded." See Provincial Letters, Appendix, p. 443. 
 
 H 
 
170 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 If this discourse pleases and convinces you, know that 
 it proceeds from a man, who did, before its commence- 
 ment, and will, after its close, bend his knees before the 
 Infinite and Unseen, to whom he is wont to submit all 
 his desires, that he may incline your will in such way as 
 will most conduce to your good, and to his glory ; and 
 that thus his power may harmonize with your abase- 
 ment. 
 
 — Habit is man's nature : whoso acquires the habit 
 of faith believes, and cannot but act under the fear of 
 Divine punishment. Entertain no doubt of this. 
 
 Whoever acquires the habit of believing in the 
 terrors of a Sovereign, &c. 
 
 Can it then be doubted, that the soul, being accus- 
 tomed to the contemplation of numbers, space, motion, 
 believes in these things and in nothing else ? 
 
 — Think you it impossible that God should be a 
 being infinite, and without parts ? I will show you then 
 a thing infinite and indivisible : it is a point, moving 
 everywhere with an infinite swiftness ; for it is every- 
 where, and in all places entire.* 
 
 Let this phenomenon of nature, which beforehand 
 seemed an impossibility, instruct you that there may yet 
 be others with which you are unacquainted. In this 
 your state of pupilage, settle not down in the conclusion 
 that there is nothing more for you to learn, but that the 
 provinces of unexplored knowledge are boundless. 
 
 * At page 123 of the MS., there is this isolated note:—" The infinite 
 movement, the point which fills all things ; the motion in rest. Infinite, 
 without quantity, — indivisible and infinite." 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 171 
 
 Conclusion of the Discourse. 
 
 Now, let me ask, what harm can result to you from 
 taking this course ? You will become faithful, honest, 
 humble, grateful, beneficent, — a sincere friend, a man of 
 truth. It is true, you will no longer be immersed in 
 tumultuous pleasures, in vain-glorious fancies, in volup- 
 tuous enjoyments. But will you have no other satisfac- 
 tions in their place ? 
 
 I affirm that you will be a gainer, even in the present 
 life ; and that, in every step which you take in this path, 
 you will find so much reahty in the gain, such insignifi- 
 cance in the risk, that you will discover, in the end, your 
 wager to have been laid for a good, certain of realization, 
 and infinite in value; and that you have given in 
 exchange for it — nothing.* 
 
 * The reader has here before him, in its original integrity, the celebrated 
 Wager-Essay, which has exposed its writer to such plentiful sneers and 
 cavils on the part of his modern annotator, M. Cousin, and which has not 
 even escaped the measured animadversions of his admiring editor, 
 M. Villemain. See " Provincial Letters, (Villemain's Essay,)" p. 43. He 
 will, I think, be surprised that a course of argument so forcible, and yet so 
 transparent, should have been subjected to such a wilful perversion on the 
 one hand, or to so obvious a misapprehension, on the other. What is, in 
 fact, Pascal's reasoning ? Divested of the fanciful dress with which the 
 writer's imagination has clothed it, and the mathematical allusions so 
 habitual to his thought, it is a demonstration, familiar with the most profound 
 theologians, of the reasonableness of faith, and the stupendous folly of unbe- 
 lief. Setting aside, for his present purpose, all proofs drawn from a Divine 
 revelation, which, however, every page of his writings shows to have satisfied 
 and mastered his capacious spirit, he meets the unbelieving, worldly mind, 
 on its own ground. He had before laid down the proposition that Scripture 
 
 H 2 
 
172 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 (The following lines are interposed at p. 4 of the MS., parti}' above and 
 partly below the line, like other portions of this paper, — Infinity, nothing.) 
 
 Those confer a great obligation, who warn us of these 
 our deficiencies, for it conduces to mortification of self. 
 We learn to bear disesteem ; and become increasingly 
 accustomed to the discipline of our various defects, till 
 gradually they are cured. 
 
 (In the margin of the same fragment, entitled "Infinite, Nothing," are 
 the following passages : — ) 
 
 It is untrue, that we have anything in ourselves 
 deserving of the love of others ; we are unjust in seeking 
 it. Were we indeed naturally under the unbiassed 
 influences of reason, we should not indulge such incli- 
 nations. Our nature, however, inclines us to partiality 
 and self-love. We ought to aim to promote the universal 
 good ; but our selfishness produces irregularity of every 
 kind, — in war, in policy, in the general welfare, and 
 especially in the individual man. 
 
 Then it is man's will that is corrupted. 
 
 If the members of natural and civil communities seek 
 
 alone furnishes a true knowledge of God and eternity; (p. 114;) but he 
 now presses his argument upon those who may reject its testimony; and 
 demonstrates, with irresistible force, that, on natural principles, to believe, 
 involves no danger or loss, and unbelief exposes to an infinite aiid incal- 
 culable risk ! 
 
 Apart from the mischievous (not to say malignant) fallacies which run 
 through M. Cousin's remarks upon this paper, the dissection furnished by 
 him of the interpolations and glosses to which Pascal's reasonings have been 
 subjected by the misapprehension or the conscientious timidity of his suc- 
 cessive Editors, will be found not without interest ; and I should have 
 little fear of the reader's arriving, with him, at the conclusion which he 
 has had the boldness to enunciate, — that Pascal, in this document, has laid 
 down principles common to toiite Vecole scepliqtie et sensualiste !" 
 (Transl.) 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 173 
 
 the welfare of the whole body, those communities them- 
 selves ought to aim to promote the welfare of that more 
 universal body of which they are parts. Thus ought 
 we all, individually, to affect the universal good. 
 
 It follows, that we are by nature irregular and 
 depraved. 
 
 No religious system, except the Christian, ever taught 
 that man is born in sin. None of the philosophical 
 sects have discovered such a fact ; therefore none of them 
 are true. 
 
 No sect, no religion, has permanently remained 
 upon the earth, but the Christian religion. 
 
 — The Christian religion alone renders man at once 
 holy and happy. Mere worldly morality does not pro- 
 duce virtue and happiness together. 
 
 — The heart has inclinations of which reason know^s 
 nothing : this is seen in a thousand things. T maintain 
 that the heart naturally loves both itself, and universal 
 being ; and alternately abandons itself to, or hardens 
 itself against, both the one and the other. You have 
 renounced the one, and cherished the other ; are you 
 justified, then, in loving yourself ? 
 
 It is the heart, and not the reason, that discovers a 
 God. This is faith : God is revealed to the heart, and 
 not to the understanding. 
 
 — ■'"A barren knowledge, opposed to common sense 
 and to the nature of man, is the only one which has 
 hitherto universally obtained in the world.* 
 
 * The same thought, in nearly similar terms, occurs afterwards in the 
 MS., as follows : — " A religious system, opposed to nature, to common 
 sense, to our own satisfaction, is the only one which has hitherto," &c., &c. 
 
174 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 II. 
 
 Various methods. 
 
 Our mode of living in tlie world would vary, according 
 to these different considerations: — 
 
 1st. Are we to remain here always ? 
 
 2d. Do we not know that we cannot be here long, 
 and are uncertain of an hour of life ? 
 
 This last supposition is ours. 
 
 {Li the margin.) — Heart. Instinct. Principles. 
 
 It is obvious, that you are bound to make some effort 
 to discover the truth ; for if you die without it, you are 
 lost. "But," you say, "if God had intended that I 
 should acknowledge him, he would have given me proofs 
 of his will." He has done this, and you spurn them. 
 Seek them, then ; it will be for your profit. 
 
 If nothing is to be done but upon certainties, nothing 
 at all will be done in religion ; for it cannot be made a 
 matter of demonstration. How many things are under- 
 taken upon uncertainties ; — sea-voyages, for instance, or 
 wars ! I say, then, on this supposition, nothing whatever 
 must be attempted, for there is certainty in nothing. 
 There is more certainty in religion, than that we shall 
 see the morrow's sun ; for it is not certain that we shall 
 see to-morrow at all : but it is, on the other hand, 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 175 
 
 undoubtedly possible that we shall not see it. This 
 cannot be affirmed of religion. It is not certain that it 
 is true ; but who shall say, there is any certain possi- 
 bility that it is not true ? Therefore, in acting as if the 
 morrow, notwithstanding some uncertainty, should rise 
 upon us, we act rationally. 
 
 ■'' For it is clear, for reasons before assigned, that we 
 are justified in acting, even upon uncertainties.* 
 
 "Qwe me promettez-vous enjin^ sinon dix ans d' amour' 
 propre a hien essayer de plaire sans y reussir, outre les 
 peines ? Car dix ans c'est le parti. ''^ 
 
 Obj. There is happiness in the hope of eternal 
 salvation, but it is counterbalanced by the fears of 
 perdition. 
 
 Reply. Who is it that has most reason to fear perdi- 
 tion I — He who is ignorant of the existence of hell, and 
 who, if there be one, is certain of falling into it ; or he 
 who is convinced of its reality, and hopes, if there be a 
 hell, to escape it ? 
 
 * After this paragraph, follows in the MS., " St. Augustin saw that 
 we must act upon uncertainties." — Miscellaneous Thoughts, p. 128. 
 
 f To this paragraph, which I have thought best to give in the original, 
 is subjoined by the French Editor, the following remark: — "This unin- 
 telligible phrase is written in the MS. in a very rude hand, and ill-spelt." 
 (Transl.) 
 
17G 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 III. 
 
 Let US not be misunderstood : we are automata,'"* 
 as well as spirit ; and thence it is that demonstration is 
 not the only instrument by which conviction is to be 
 produced. How few are those things which admit of 
 pure demonstration ! Evidence can be received only by 
 the understanding. Habit constitutes with us, proofs of 
 the strongest and rudest kind ; it sways the unconscious 
 machine ; and that again exercises an involuntary influ- 
 ence over the intelligent spirit. Who ever set about to 
 demonstrate that there will be day-light to-morrow, or 
 that we shall all die ? And yet, what is more firmly 
 believed than both these things ? It is habit, then, 
 that convinces us of such facts as these : it is the same 
 thing which forms many Christians, decides the belief of 
 Mahometans and Pagans, directs to our several callings, 
 makes soldiers, &c.f In short, it is this to which we 
 are compelled to resort, when the mind has once obtained 
 sight of truth, to cherish and arrest a faith which strives 
 
 * In this expression is to be traced a record of discussions which were 
 held at Port- Royal, upon the opinions of Descartes, respecting animals, 
 which he considered to be atitomata." This theory, which consisted in 
 regarding animals as pure machines, without spirit, or even feelings of 
 pain or pleasure, excited much interest at Port- Royal. Fontaine, in the 
 2d vol. of his Memoirs, tells us, " They held that animals were like mere 
 clock-work; that the cries they uttered, when beaten, were only like the 
 sound of a spring removed from its place," &c. 
 
 Pascal, according to his niece, Madlle. Perier, followed these opinions. 
 And Baillet also says, " This opinion respecting automata was what he 
 approved the most in all Descartes' philosophy." — Life of Descartes, 
 Vol. i., p. 52. 
 
 f In the margin is here written, II y a lafoi reque dans le hapteme, de 
 plus aux chreiicns qu'aux paiens." 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 177 
 
 perpetually to elude our grasp ; for to have its eviclences 
 always present to the mind, is too much for its powers. 
 It is necessary, therefore, to cultivate a more facile 
 method of belief, — that of habit; which, without violence, 
 artificial system, or argumentation, impels our faith,* 
 and enlists all the powers of the understanding and the 
 mind in its unresisting support. When belief is only 
 the result of unwilling conviction, and the automaton 
 opposes, something is wanting. Both the powers by 
 which we are swayed must be made to co-operate in our 
 belief: the mind, by reasons, of which to have once seen 
 the force may be sufficient ; the machine, by habit, and 
 by that kind of constraint through which the inclinations 
 are preserved from taking a contrary course. — " IncUna 
 cor meum, Deus.''-f 
 
 — Reason moves so slowly towards her objects, looks 
 so many ways, and rests on such various principles, 
 which she requires to be always present, that for want 
 of their being so present, she is perpetually slumbering 
 and going astray. With feeling it is otherwise ; all with 
 it is promptitude and action. We ought, therefore, to 
 call in its aid to the support of our faith ; otherwise it 
 will ever be weak and vacillating. 
 
 Those who believe, without a knowledge of Scripture, 
 
 * *' Croyance." In the same passage, Pascal writes indifFerently, 
 " creance " and " croyance" 
 
 t This method of influencing the mind by the "automaton," — that is, 
 to attain to faith by means of external impressions, — is not new, and is 
 recommended by other masters of moral theology. It appears to us to be 
 the same thing as what Pascal elsewhere calls preparer la machine." 
 (See at the end of the vol., the article " Order," where this expression is 
 several times used.) 
 
 H 5 
 
178 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 do it because they have been endued with an innate 
 holiness, towards which they find a conformity in the 
 instruction they receive respecting the nature of our 
 faith. They are convinced that they are creatures 
 formed by God. Their desire is only to love him, 
 and to hate themselves. They feel that they have no 
 power in themselves ; that they are incapable of drawing 
 near to God ; and that, unless God incline them to 
 come to him, they can hold no communion with him. 
 They perceive, also, from the nature of our religion, 
 that our only duty is to love God and to hate ourselves ; 
 but that, being altogether corrupted and alienated from 
 God, God took upon him the nature of man, in order to 
 enter into union with us. Nothing more than this is 
 needed, to convince those whose hearts are rightly dis- 
 posed, and who entertain just apprehensions both of 
 their duty and their incapacity. 
 
 I feel that I might never have had an existence ; for 
 my identity consists in thought: then I, who think, 
 might never have existed, if my mother had ceased to 
 live before I received existence. I am hot, then, neces- 
 sarily a being. I am not, therefore, eternal or infinite : 
 but I see plainly that there is in nature, necessarily, a 
 Being who is eternal and infinite. 
 
 Be not surprised, then, to find persons believe, in the 
 simplicity of their heart, without reasoning. God 
 endues them with a love to him, and a hatred of them- 
 selves. He inclines their heart to faith. Belief is 
 never sincere and profitable, if it be not inspired by 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 179 
 
 God ; and when lie once influences the heart, the man 
 believes. 
 
 This is what David well knew : " Inclina cor meum^ 
 DeuSy in * 
 
 IV. 
 
 There are three means by which we believe : — reason, 
 habit, and Divine influence. f Christianity, which is 
 alone a religion of reason, does not admit, as her true 
 members, those who receive her truths without divine 
 influence : not that she excludes reason or habit, — quite 
 otherwise ; but the proper course is, that the mind 
 should be first opened to the proofs of religion ; then 
 confirmed in them by habit ; and, finally, laid lo^ in 
 humiliation to receive her inspirations, which alone can 
 lead to real and salutary eflects : " Ne evacuetur crux 
 Christi:'X 
 
 ^ We only understand the prophecies aright, when we 
 realize the things predicted : so the proofs of retirement 
 from the world, — prudence, silence, &c., — only show 
 themselves in those who know and believe them. 
 
 — Joseph so internally holy in the midst of a law 
 wholly external. 
 
 — External penance disposes to internal mortifica- 
 tion, as humiliation does to humility. So the . . .§ 
 
 * . . . "in testimonia tua,^^ is intended. — Psalm cxviii. 26. 
 J ^^Inspiration." This was at first, "revelation." \ 
 X " Ut non evacuetur crux Christi." — 1 Corinth, i. 17. 
 § Unfinished. 
 
 H 5 
 
180 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 Ilo7n. V. 21, Glorying excluded : by what law ? 
 Of works? No : but of faith.* Then faith is not in our 
 own power, like the works of the law, and is imparted 
 to us in a wholly different way. 
 
 Faith is the gift of God. Suppose not that we mean, 
 it is an achievement of reason. This is not the case with 
 other religions : they need only reason for a knowledge 
 of their systems, and can do no more than influence the 
 reason, when known. 
 
 The Divine method, — for God's procedures are ever 
 of a gentle character, — is to impart religious truth to the 
 mind by the instrumentality of the reason, and to the heart 
 by that of grace. But to endeavour to fix truth in the 
 heart by force and menace, is not to produce religion, 
 but terror : " terror eon potius quam religionem^ 
 
 Instead of complaining that God conceals himself, you 
 should rather be thankful that he has revealed himself 
 so largely ; and you should thank him, also, that he has 
 not revealed himself to those who are proud of their 
 wisdom, and are undeserving of knowing so holy a God. 
 
 — There are two descriptions of persons that know 
 (Him) : — those who are humble in heart, and cherish 
 self-abasement, be their own intellectual attainments 
 high or low; and others, whose minds are capable of 
 
 * From St. Paul : — '* Vhi est ergo gloriatio tua ? Exclusa est. Per 
 quam legem ? Factorum ? Non : sed per legem f dei." — Epis. Rom. iii. 27. 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 181 
 
 perceiving the truth, whatever the resistance they ex- 
 perience to her dictates. 
 
 Religion is suited to all orders of minds. The first 
 class content themselves v^ith the simple establishment 
 of her rule ; and that species of religion is such, that 
 her mere establishment is sufficient to prove her truth. 
 Others go as far back as to the Apostles. The more 
 instructed go still further back, to the beginning of the 
 world. Angels have yet better and deeper views. 
 
 Those who have become Christians without a know- 
 ledge of prophecy and evidences, are not the less capable 
 of appreciating the truths of their religion than such as 
 possess that knowledge. They judge through the heart, 
 as others do through the understanding. God himself 
 has instructed them in their faith, — the most efficacious 
 of all teachers.* 
 
 I willingly acknowledge, that a believer who has 
 received the truth without evidences, will not, perhaps, 
 possess the means of convincing an avowed and practised 
 infidel. But those who know what real religion is, will 
 demonstrate, without difficulty, that this believer has 
 
 * Here occurs the following passage, but erased: — "It may be replied, 
 that infidels say the same; but I answer, we have proofs that God really 
 inclines those who love him to a belief in Christianity, and that infidels 
 have no support for their assertions; and thus, our propositions being alike 
 in their terms, there is this difierence between them, — that the one is without 
 proof, but the other is incontestably proved." In the margin are the 
 following words, erased: — "'Eorum qui amant.' — God inclines the hearts of 
 those whom he loves. * Deus inclinat corda eorum.' Those who love him ; 
 those whom he loves." 
 
182 
 
 MEANS OF 
 
 received his faith from God, although he may not b*e 
 able to furnish convincing proofs of its truth to others. 
 
 For God, having declared by his prophets, of whose 
 truth none can doubt, that, on the advent of Christ, he 
 would shed his Spirit upon all nations, and that the sons, 
 the daughters, and the infants of the Church should 
 prophesy, it is not to be questioned that the Spirit 
 of God rests upon them, and not upon others. 
 
 V. 
 
 It is admitted, that there is usually suffering on 
 entering upon a life of piety ; but that suffering arises, 
 not from the piety which has just received its birth 
 in us, but from our yet remaining sinfulness. Did not 
 sense oppose itself to repentance, and our corruption 
 rebel against the Divine purity, pain and sorrow would 
 be unknown. We suffer only in the proportion that our 
 natural sinfulness resists the grace that is superinduced 
 in us. Our spirits are lacerated by these opposing 
 influences. Yet it were injustice to impute this conflict 
 to those gentle attractions by which God draws us 
 towards himself, instead of the efforts of the world to 
 retain us under its blandishments. It is like the child 
 which its mother has snatched from its ravisher's arms, 
 and which ought to feel, that the pain it suffers from 
 the tender struggle by which its rescue has been effected, 
 does but enhance the parent's love, and should heighten 
 
ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 183 
 
 its detestation of the tyrannous force which -Would 
 retain it in its grasp.* The most cruel infliction which 
 man could experience from God in this life is, that 
 he should be left a stranger to that warfare which He 
 came down to earth to introduce. " I am come to send 
 a war upon earth," he said ; and, for instruction in 
 that war, — " I am come to bring a sword and fire." Till 
 his appearance, the world lay in a false peace. 
 
 You say, I should have readily parted with worldly 
 pleasures, if I had possessed faith. And I, on my part, 
 say, — You would soon have had faith, had you forsaken 
 pleasure. Then it is for you to make the commencement. 
 If it were in my power, I would give you faith. This I 
 cannot do ; nor can I, therefore, prove the truth of your 
 assertion. But you can forsake pleasure, and prove 
 whether what I say be true. 
 
 Incomprehensible that God exists, and incomprehen- 
 sible that he exists not ; that the soul should be united 
 to the body, and that we should have no soul at all ; that 
 the world should be created, and should not be, &c.; 
 that there should be original sin, or not, &c.f 
 
 There are but three classes among men: — those who 
 
 * This comparison is expressed nearly in the same terms in the sixth 
 letter to Madlle. de Roannez. ("Miscellaneous Writings," p. 34.) 
 
 t The conclusion of this thought is wanting: whether Pascal left it 
 unfinished; or, as seems more probably to have been the case, the paper 
 was torn, and the conclusion destroyed. 
 
184 MEANS OF ATTAINING TO FAITH. 
 
 have found God, and serve him ; others, who seek, but 
 cannot find him; and others, again, who neither seek nor 
 find him. The first are rational and happy ; the last 
 are foolish and unhappy ; the middle class are unhappy, 
 but rational. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 If the Old Testament prepared the way for the New, and 
 if the Jewish religion is the foundation of Christianity, a 
 knowledge of the Jewish people ought to precede the enumer- 
 ation of the proofs of the Christian religion. 
 
 For this reason, we place this chapter upon the Jews before 
 those which treat of the Miracles, Figures, Prophecies, &c. 
 This is also the order which Pascal himself assigned to his 
 remarks upon the Jewish people, in that conversation, the 
 account of which was preserved by Stephen Perier, 
 
 After carrying his auditory through the systems of the 
 philosophers, Pascal led them to the consideration of the 
 various religions which had prevailed throughout the world, 
 and directed their notice especially to that of the Jews. 
 "Lastly," says Stephen Perier, "he called their attention to 
 the Jewish nation, and fixed their view on the extraordinary 
 circumstances of their history. After describing all the 
 singularities of this people, he paused to remark particularly 
 the rule exercised over them by the means of a single book, 
 comprehending alike, their history, their law, and their 
 religion." * (^French Editor.) 
 
 * Miscellaneous Writings of Pascal, p. 395. 
 
OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 I. I SEE that the Christian religion must have been 
 founded on some religious system that preceded it; and 
 this was actually the fact. 
 
 I do not here refer to the miracles of Moses, of Christ, 
 and of the Apostles ; because at the first they failed of 
 convincing men's minds: and I intend now only to bring 
 forward those broad foundations of the Christian system, 
 which are in themselves indubitable, and which no one 
 can question. 
 
 ■'■ It is certain that we see scattered throughout the 
 world a peculiar race, separated from every other people, 
 bearing the name of Jews. 
 
 — Now, I find a multitude of religious systems 
 prevailing in various lands, and throughout all periods 
 of time. But they neither possess a morality which 
 satisfies my conscience, nor ofier proof to convince my 
 judgment; and I should therefore equally have re- 
 jected the religions of Mahomet and of China, of the 
 ancient Romans and of the Egyptians, for this sole 
 reason, — that the one carrying no stronger marks of truth 
 than the other, and none exhibiting any preponderating 
 evidence of authenticity, reason is compelled to refuse 
 submission to them all alike. 
 
 But, while surveying these diversified and extravagant 
 
188 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 systems of morals and belief in successive ages, I find, in 
 a remote corner of the world, a peculiar people, separated 
 from every other nation of the earth, the most ancient of 
 them all ; and possessing historical records, extending by 
 many centuries beyond those of the most ancient of which 
 we have any account. I learn that these people were 
 powerful and numerous ; sprung from a single'progenitor ; 
 worshippers of one God; and governed by a law, which 
 they affirm to have been received by them from His own 
 hand. They maintain, that they are the only people on 
 earth to whom the Deity has thus revealed his mysteries; 
 that all men have corrupted themselves, and forfeited 
 the divine favour; that they have all been abandoned to 
 the evil propensities of their passions and their under- 
 standings; whence have sprung those diversified extrava- 
 gances both of worship and morals which prevail among 
 them ; while they, on the other hand, have remained 
 unshaken and unchanged. But they hold, also, that 
 God does not intend to leave the world perpetually in 
 this state of darkness ; that a universal Liberator is 
 destined to appear; that their own vocation in the world 
 is to announce his advent; and they are expressly 
 designed to be the forerunners and heralds of this great 
 event, and to summon all the inhabitants of the world to 
 unite with them in awaiting his august approach. 
 
 IT. Falsehood of other Religions. 
 ^ They have no evidences ; the Jewish possess them 
 in abundance. God defies the professors of other religions 
 to produce similar proofs. Is. xliii. 9; xliv. 8. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 189 
 
 III. ■'' Advantages of the Jewish People, t 
 
 In this enquiry the Jewish nation attracts my attention 
 by numerous and remarkable characteristics. 
 
 First, — I find this people wholly composed of brethren ; 
 and while every other nation is formed out of a collection 
 of infinite numbers of families, this one, although extra- 
 ordinarily populous, is sprung entirely from one man ; 
 and thus, being all of one blood, and members one of 
 another, they constitute a mighty state, yet a single 
 family. This is unexampled. 
 
 This family, or people, is the most ancient within the 
 memory of man ; — a circumstance entitling them to 
 peculiar veneration, and especially with reference to our 
 present enquiry : because, if God has from the remotest 
 times revealed himself to man, it is to them we must 
 have recourse, to gather the earliest of his revelations. 
 
 Nor is this people remarkable only for its antiquity, 
 but for its duration also ; — having subsisted without inter- 
 ruption from its earliest origin to the present time. 
 While the nations of Greece and Italy, of Lacedemon, 
 Athens, Rome, and many others, which had their rise 
 ages after them, have long since become extinct, these 
 people have continued to subsist; and in spite of the 
 repeated efi^orts of so many powerful states to destroy 
 them, — as we find recorded by their historians, and as may 
 be supposed to have been the case in the natural order of 
 things, — still has their existence been preserved, century 
 after century ; and thus, preserved from the remotest 
 antiquity to the present day, their annals comprise, in 
 their mighty duration, the history of every successive 
 age. 
 
190 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 The law by which this singular people is governed is, 
 taken altogether, the most ancient in the world ; it is also 
 the most perfect in itself, and the only one that in any 
 state has been preserved unimpaired from its first in- 
 stitution. This is what Josephus admirably maintains 
 against Appion, as also the Jew Philo, in various places; 
 ■ — showing it to be of such antiquity, that the very 
 name of law was not known by the most ancient nations 
 till more than a thousand years after ; in proof of which, 
 Homer, who has treated of the history of so many states, 
 has never made any reference to it. The perfection of 
 these laws may be judged of from a simple perusal; which 
 will show every enactment to have been made with such 
 wisdom, equity, and judgment, that the most ancient 
 lawgivers, both Greek and Roman, having received some 
 faint traditions of their enactments, have borrowed from 
 them their most important laws ; — as is apparent from 
 what was entitled their " Twelve Tables," and other 
 proofs adduced by Josephus. 
 
 Yet is this law one of the severest and most stringent 
 character, in all matters appertaining to their religious 
 ceremonials ; enforcing upon the nation, in order to 
 retain it in allegiance to their God, a multitude of most 
 exact and painful observances, and that under the penalty 
 of life. Whence, it is a most surprising fact, that the 
 code should have been constantly maintained during so 
 many ages by a people of a most rebellious and untoward 
 spirit ; while, in every other state, the laws, though of a 
 lenient and facile character, have been subjected to 
 perpetual fluctuation and change. 
 
 And be it observed, the Book which contains this 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 191 
 
 Law, — that which led the way to all others, — is itself ithe 
 most ancient publication in the world; — those of Homer, 
 Hesiod, and others, not having made their appearance 
 until six or seven centuries afterwards. 
 
 IV. Sincerity of the Jews. 
 
 We find them cherishing with affection and fidelity 
 that book, in which Moses denounces them as ingrates to 
 their God throughout the whole period of their existence ; 
 prophesies that they will remain such after his decease ; 
 and calls both Heaven and earth to witness against 
 them, and to testify of his own copious, yet ineffectual 
 instructions.* 
 
 He is here seen predicting that, in the end, God, in 
 his displeasure against them, will disperse them amidst 
 all the nations of the earth ; that, in the same way as they 
 had provoked him, by serving gods who were not their 
 God, so he would provoke them by calling a people not 
 His people; and solemnly directs, that these his words 
 should be everlastingly preserved, and his writings depo- 
 sited in the Ark of the Covenant, to serve as a perpetual 
 witness against them. 
 
 ■'' Isaiah says the same thing, xxx. 8. 
 
 V. Notwithstanding all this, is this very book, so dero- 
 gatory in every view to themselves, guarded by this 
 people, at the expense of their lives ! Here is an instance 
 of sincerity without parallel in the world; and one, 
 moreover, that has no root or origin in the natural con- 
 stitution of man. 
 
 * The word is here enseigne,'" and is struck through in the MS. 
 
192 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 There is a vast difference between a book composed 
 by an individual, and dispersed by him among a people, 
 and one which a people has itself compiled. It is in 
 such case not to be doubted, that the book is as ancient 
 as the people. 
 
 Every history that is not contemporaneous is liable 
 to suspicion : therefore the books of the Sybils, of 
 Trismegisthus, and many others which obtained credence 
 in the world, are false, and will be found false to the end 
 of time. It is otherwise with the contemporaneous 
 writers.* 
 
 VI. The History of China. 
 
 I believe only histories to be authentic, when the 
 witnesses have suffered death for their veracity. 
 
 — ■'' We are not now looking at the question in the 
 general. I tell you that there are some things obscure, 
 and some clear. 
 
 By tins one consideration, I overthrow all your 
 reasonings. f But the history of China is becoming so 
 obscure," you say. I reply, " China is obscure; but still, 
 there is light to be found: seek it then." 
 
 ^ Thus, all you advance makes in favour of one of our 
 positions, and does not invalidate the other; — advances, 
 and in no degree weakens our point. 
 
 + Then let us look at it in detail, and for that purpose 
 bring forward your documents. 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f Here, as well as elsewhere, Pascal seems to have contemplated a 
 species of dialogue, as a variety from the didactic form of the other parts 
 of his work; but only fragments and rudimentary portions remain. (Transl.) 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 193 
 
 — + Against the history of China . . . 
 
 — The historians of Mexico, of the five suns of 
 which the last was only eight hundred years since. 
 
 — ■'' Difference between a book received by a nation, 
 and one composed by a nation. 
 
 VII. Mark the difference between one book and 
 another. I am not surprised that the Greeks had their 
 Iliad, and the Egyptians and Chinese their histories. 
 
 You have only to trace their respective origins. Those 
 fabulous historians were not contemporaneous with the 
 events of which they wrote. Homer composed a romance, 
 which he puts forth as such ; for none doubted tliat Troy 
 and Agamemnon were equally imaginary with the Golden 
 Apple. He never, therefore, contemplated compiling a 
 history of those things, but simply a work of amusement. 
 He was, further, the only writer of his times: the beauty 
 of his composition ensured its durability ; every one 
 learned and discussed it ; it was committed universally to 
 memory; and to know it was an indispensable part of 
 education. Four centuries afterwards, all living testimony 
 of the events of his poem was lost. No one, of his own 
 knowledge, could say whether it was a fable, or a history : 
 all they knew was, that they had learned it from their 
 predecessors; and thus it came about that it passed for 
 truth.* 
 
 VIII. ■'* The two most ancient books in the world are 
 those of Moses and Job, — the one of Jewish origin, and 
 the other of Gentile ; but both relate to Jesus Christ, as 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 1 
 
194 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 their common centre and object: that of Moses, in re- 
 cording the promises of God to Abraham, Jacob, &c., and 
 his own prophecies; and that of Job, Quis mihi det ut,'' 
 &c., ''Scio enim quod Redemptor mens venit!' &c. 
 
 IX. The zeal of the Jewish people for their law, and 
 chiefly because they no longer have prophets. 
 
 While they possessed prophets for maintaining the 
 integrity of their law, the people were neglectful of it. 
 But after their line of prophets ceased, their zeal revived. 
 
 Satan, before the coming of Christ, succeeded in 
 impairing the zeal of the Jews, because it was serviceable 
 to them, but not afterwards. 
 
 — The Jews were derided by the Gentiles, Christians 
 were persecuted. 
 
 X. The Jews were evidently a people designed to 
 maintain a testimony to the Messiah. Isaiah xliii. 9 ; 
 xliv. 8. They preserve the sacred books, love them, and 
 understand them not. Yet was all this predicted: the 
 decrees of the Almighty were to be entrusted to their 
 keeping, but to be a sealed volume ! 
 
 XI. As the creation of the universe was beginning to 
 fade in remoteness from man's memory, God provided one 
 sole contemporaneous historian, and rendered a whole 
 nation guardians of the book, in order that it might be 
 the most authentic history in the whole world; and 
 that all men might be made acquainted with things so 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 195 
 
 necessary to be known, and which they could not learn 
 by any other means. 
 
 XII. Proof from Moses. 
 
 Do we enquire why we find in Moses the lives of men 
 so long, and their generations so few? 
 
 It is not the length of the period, but the number of 
 generations, which wrap events in obscurity. 
 
 The transmission of truths is impaired only through 
 the mutability of man. Here, therefore, we find in our 
 historian two events the most memorable in the annals 
 of the world, — the creation, and the deluge, — brought 
 so near, so to speak, as to touch each other. 
 
 ^ Josephus conceals the disgraces of his nation ; . . . 
 
 Moses neither conceals his own disgrace, nor . . .* 
 — ^'Quis mihi det ut omnes fro^lietentV 
 
 The people wearied him. 
 
 XT II. Shem, who had seen Lamech, who again had 
 seen Adam, saw also Jacob, who saw those who saw 
 Moses. This establishes the truth of the creation, and 
 the deluge. It is also conclusive against certain persons, 
 who affect great superiority of knowledge. 
 
 XI Y. The longevity of the Patriarchs, instead of 
 impairing the fidelity with which past events were 
 preserved, tended rather to strengthen it. For the 
 cause of our being so imperfectly informed of the history 
 of our ancestors is, that our own lives were not 
 
 * Incomplete sentence in MS. 
 I % 
 
196 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 contemporaneous with theirs, and frequently they had 
 ceased to exist before we had attained the age of 
 reason. But at the period when life was so long, the 
 children passed a large portion of their existence with 
 their parents, and had the fullest opportunity of com- 
 munication with them. What, then, would have been 
 the subject of these domestic communications, but the 
 stories of their ancestors, — the only history, in fact, 
 which they possessed, at a time when literature, science, 
 and the arts — those things which now occupy so large a 
 part of the intercourse of life — were almost unknown ? 
 Thus we see how it happened, that at those periods men 
 were likely to addict themselves especially to the care 
 and preservation of their genealogical records. * 
 
 XV. Memoranda on tJie subject of Esdras, 
 
 Fabulous : the books were burnt with the temple : 
 Fabulous by the Mach. : Jeremiah gave them the law. 
 
 ^ Fabulous : that he recited the whole by heart : 
 Joses and Esdras remark that he read the book. 
 
 Baron. Ann. 180 : nullus penitus Hebrceorum anti- 
 quorum reperitur qui tradiderit libros periisse et per 
 Esdram esse restitutos, nisi in 4 JEsdrce. 
 
 Fabulous : that he changed the letters. 
 
 ^'Philo in vita Moysi .•" ilia lingua ac caracter quo 
 antiquitus Scripta est lex sic permansit usque ad 70. 
 
 Josephus says that the law was in Hebrew when it 
 was translated by the LXX. 
 
 — Under Antiochus and Vespasian, when it was 
 desired to abolish the books, and when there were no 
 
 * At the head of this fragment these words are written : — " Autre Rond." 
 See note * page 203. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 197 
 
 authorized prophets, it could not be effected. And upder 
 the Babylonians, when there was no persecution and 
 many prophets, would they have allowed them to be 
 burned ? 
 
 — Josephus upbraids the Greeks that they did not 
 allow .... (Unfinished.) 
 
 + Tertul. ^'Ferinde potuit aholefactam earn violentia 
 cataclysmi in spiritu rursus reformare, quemadmodum 
 et Hierosolymis hahylonia expugnatione deletis, omne 
 instrumentum Juddicce litteraturai per Esdram constat 
 restauratum'' Tert. liv. 1. de Cultu fcemin. c. 3. 
 
 He says that Noah might as well have restored in 
 spirit the book of Enoch, which was lost in the deluge, 
 as Esdras those Scriptures which were lost during the 
 captivity. 
 
 QtoQ iv TTj em l>!a(3ovKodovoabp aixfiaXoiXSia tov Xaov SiacpOapeiaiov 
 tCjv ypacpSiv, kveTTvevae lEcrdpn rw upsi sk rrjQ (pvXt'iQ Xevi tovq twv 
 TrpoyeyovoTujv 7rpo(l)r)ra)V TravTaQ^-eLvaTa^dcrrai Xoyovg, Kai aTTOfcaraoTJ/crai 
 
 Xaq) Tr)v dia Mojffkojg vof-ioOrjiyiav. He alleges this, to prove 
 it to be not incredible, that the LXX. should have 
 explained the Holy Scriptures, with that uniformity 
 which is admired in them. Euseb. 1. 5, Hist. c. 8. And 
 he has taken that from St. Irenaeus, lib. 5, Hist. c. 25, 
 St. Hilary, in his preface to the Psalms, says that 
 Esdras collected the Psalms in their order. The origin 
 of this tradition is found in the 14th chapter of the 
 4th book of Esdras.* 
 
 — "Deus glorificatus est, et scripturcE verce divince 
 creditcE sunt^ omnibus eamdem et eisdem verbis et eisdem 
 
 * All that precedes this, from the beginning of the page, is in a different 
 handwriting from Pascal's. What follows is in his own: "Dews," &c. 
 
198 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 nominihus recitantihus ah initio usque ad firiem, uti et 
 prcEsentes gentes cognoscerent quoniam per aspirationem 
 Dei interpretatcB sunt Scripturce. Et non esset mirabile 
 Deum hoe in eis operatum, quando in ed eaptivitate 
 populi qua factaest aNahucodonosor, Corruptis Scripturis 
 et post 70 annos judcEis descendentihus in regionem suam, 
 et post deinde temporihus Artaxercis Persarum regis, in- 
 spiravit JEsdrce sacerdoti trihus Levi prceteritorum pro- 
 phetarum omnes rememorare sermones, et restituere populo 
 earn legem qucB data est per Moysem^ 
 
 XVI. ^ Against the fictions of Esdras, 
 2 Mach. 2. 
 
 Joseph. Ant. Cyrus took occasion from the prophecy 
 of Isaiah to release the people. — The Jews enjoyed 
 their possession under Cyrus in Babylon. — Then they 
 may have possessed the law. 
 
 — Josephus in the whole history of Esdras does not 
 say a word of this restoration. 
 4 Kings xvii. 27. 
 
 XVIII. The Creation and Deluge being past, and 
 God having determined not again to destroy the world, 
 nor to re-create it, nor any more to give such palpable 
 manifestations of himself as heretofore, proceeded to 
 take out from among men a peculiar nation, which should 
 endure, until the Messiah should form to himself a 
 people endued with his own spirit.* 
 
 XIX. See the real facts. — While the various Pagan 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 199 
 
 philosophers were separating themselves into various 
 sects, a certain people, the most ancient in existenc?e, are 
 found in an obscure corner of the earth ; — maintaining 
 that all the world except themselves are involved in 
 error, that the Deity has made them alone the deposi- 
 taries of his revelations, and that they are to enjoy an 
 everlasting existence upon the earth; in fact, that all other 
 sects are to be annihilated, while they are perpetually to 
 endure. And during a period of four thousand years they 
 persist in declaring, as a tradition authentically derived 
 from their ancestors, that man has fallen from a state of 
 free communion with, into entire estrangement from, his 
 Ood ; yet that a promise has been made to him of resto- 
 ration ; that their doctrines are unchanged and unchange- 
 able ; that their law contains a double meaning, — the 
 one plain and palpable, the other mystic ; and that during 
 a period of sixteen hundred years they have possessed a 
 class of persons, believed by themselves to be endued with 
 the gift of prophecy, who have predicted future events. 
 
 That four hundred years afterwards, they were 
 scattered over the whole world, in order that Christ 
 might be proclaimed everywhere; that Christ came into 
 the world at the time and in the manner predicted. 
 
 That the Jews, under the divine malediction, have 
 been scattered throughout the earth, and yet are found 
 perpetually existing. 
 
 After this, I reject every other religion. 
 
 — Here it is that I find a refutation of every cavil. 
 
 — It is just that a God of such perfect purity should 
 reveal himself only to the pure in heart. 
 
200 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 — Henceforth this religion urges an all-powerful 
 claim upon mj affections, and its divine morality brings 
 with it an irresistible authority; but I further find . . * 
 
 And liow conclusive is it, that, throughout every 
 generation, it has been uniformly announced, that man 
 lies under an universal corruption; yet that a restorer is 
 destined to appear ! 
 
 Further, it is not from one man only that I learn this, but 
 from an infinite number of individuals, a whole people, 
 throughout a thousand years endued with prophetical 
 gifts, and expressly formed for these purposes. These 
 books also dispersed over the world for four centuries. f 
 
 On all these grounds I stretch out glad and eager hands 
 to my Liberator: — one, who after his advent had been 
 predicted during a period of two thousand years, visited 
 at last this earth, to suffer and to die for me, at the precise 
 time, and with all the circumstantials, which had been so 
 long foretold. Through his grace, and in the hope of an 
 eternal union with him, I peacefully await the approach 
 of death: nor yet do I the less gladly pass all the term of 
 earthly existence which he allots to me, whether in 
 such enjoyments as he sees good to dispense, or in the 
 midst of those afflictions which, equally for my good, he 
 causes me to pass through, and of the patient endurance 
 of which he has set me an example. J 
 
 * Unfinished. Pascal seems to have written many of these notes for 
 his own use, and has therefore satisfied himself with indicating his ideas in 
 the most rudimentary manner. 
 
 f This line is almost illegible. The copy has their books, instead of 
 ihese. 
 
 X It was at the end of this passage that Pascal wrote the profession of 
 his faith, commencing with the words, "/ love poverty," &c. See Provincial 
 Letters, Append., page 465. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 201 
 
 — We still find a people subsisting more ancient 
 than any other in the world. ' 
 
 — ■''A whole nation predicts His coming. 
 
 A whole nation adores Him after his advent. 
 
 — The more closely I examine these things, the more 
 I find my belief confirmed, both in what precedes and 
 what followed. I see them without idols, without King; 
 I find that Synagogue which had been predicted, and 
 those calamities which afterwards ensued; and themselves, 
 while hostile to us, yet the most complete witnesses to 
 the truth of those prophecies in which their own misery 
 and blindness are predicted. In all this, I find a perfect 
 coherence and concatenation ; and the religion in question 
 is established as divine, in its authority, its duration, its 
 perpetuity, its morality ; in its progress, its doctrine, its 
 results ; and in the awful, yet predicted, darkness and 
 infatuation of the Jews: eris palpans in meridie. 
 Dabitur liber scienti litteras et dicet: non possum legere.'' 
 
 XX. Perpetuity. 
 
 The Christian religion, which consists in the great 
 fact of our belief that man is fallen from a state of 
 perfection, and of communion with his Maker, into one 
 of sorrow, remorse, and alienation from God ; but that, 
 after this life, we shall be restored to our lost privileges 
 by a Messiah to come ; — this religion has always existed 
 upon earth. Everything else has passed away; but this, 
 for which all else has subsisted, ever endures. 
 
 In the earliest ages of the world, men fell into every 
 kind of irregularity ; yet were there always holy persons, 
 such as Enoch, Lamech, and others, who awaited in 
 
 I 5 
 
202 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 patience the Anointed One promised from the beginning. 
 In Noah's time, the wickedness of the human race rose 
 to its greatest height ; and he was privileged, by the 
 faith of the Messiah, of whom he was the type, to be in 
 his own person the saviour of the world. Abraham 
 also was surrounded by idolatry, when God made known 
 to him the mystery of the Redeemer, whose advent he 
 hailed from afar. In the times of Isaac and Jacob 
 iniquity had overspread the earth ; but these saints led 
 a life of faith : and the latter, when dying and blessing 
 his children, exclaimed, in holy transport, in the midst 
 of his discourse, — " I have waited for thy salvation, O 
 Lord!" " Salutare tuum expectaho, Domine^'^ 
 
 The Egyptians were infected both with idolatry and 
 with propensity to the magical arts : the people of God 
 even were carried away by their example. Nevertheless, 
 Moses and other holy men believed, " as seeing Him 
 who is invisible ;" and adored Him, with eyes fixed on 
 the eternal blessings prepared by Him for them. 
 
 After them, the Greeks and Romans instituted their 
 false deities ; the poets invented multitudes of mythologi- 
 cal fictions; the philosophers formed themselves into 
 countless varying sects. Yet was there ever, in the very 
 heart of Judea, a band of chosen men, that prophesied of 
 the coming of this Messiah, who was known to none but 
 them. 
 
 At length, in the fulness of time, he came ; and since 
 then we have seen, in the midst of multiplied schisms 
 and heresies, of revolutions in states, and universal fluc- 
 tuation, this Church, which worships Him who has been 
 
 * Genesis xlix. 18. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 203 
 
 worshipped from all time, preserving an uninterrupted 
 existence. And what is beyond everything to be 
 admired, and the strongest proof of her divinity, is, that 
 she has endured amidst perpetual opposition and conflict. 
 A thousand times has she been on the verge of total 
 destruction, and yet as often has her God interposed for 
 her deliverance, by some signal manifestations of his 
 power. Astonishing is it to see her maintaining her 
 even course, unyielding and undismayed, in the face of 
 tyranny and persecution ! It is not, indeed, surprising 
 to find States subsisting, when from time to time changes 
 of laws and concessions to necessity are made ; but 
 that . . . .* (See " le Hond" in Montaigne.) 
 
 Governments would perish, if the laws were not some- 
 times allowed to yield to necessary changes. But religion 
 has never been subjected to these changes, and yet has 
 never decayed. Now, either there must have been in 
 her this flexibility of nature, or a miraculous power as a 
 substitute for it. That Governments should be preserved 
 by such changes is not surprising: it can, indeed, scarcely 
 be called a continuance : in the end they perish alto- 
 gether ; and not one has lasted a thousand years.f But 
 that this religion should have ever endured, yet resisted 
 all change, proves her indeed to be Divine. 
 
 * The paragraph is here (unhappily!) broken off, and we have been 
 unable to find throughout the MS. any continuation. The reference to 
 Montaigne is, doubtless, to some passage in his Essays. 
 
 f Pascal is here in error as to fact: there are Governments which have 
 lasted above a thousand years. (French Editor.) 
 
204 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 XXI. "'' Perpetuity. 
 Messiah has ever been an object of faith. The tradition 
 handed down from Adam was yet young in the days of 
 Noah and Moses. The prophets afterwards announced 
 him, while successively predicting other events ; the 
 fulfilment of which, from time to time, before men's eyes, 
 proved the authenticity of their mission, and conse- 
 quently that of their promises respecting the Messiah. 
 Christ proved his claims by working miracles; the 
 Apostles did the same in the conversion of the heathen ; 
 and in this way have all the prophecies been accom- 
 plished, and the truth of Messiah estabhshed for ever.* 
 
 XXII. ^ Perpetuity, 
 Consider, now, that from the beginning of the world, 
 the expectation, or the worship of the Messiah, has sub- 
 sisted without any interruption; that there was a constant 
 succession of holy men averring that God had revealed 
 to them a Redeemer to be hereafter born, who should 
 come to save his people ; that, after them, a revelation 
 was made to Abraham, that this Redeemer was to 
 descend from a son that should be born to him ; that 
 Jacob prophesied, that, among all his twelve sons, he 
 was to be the offspring of Judah ; that Moses and the 
 
 * This fragment is, in preceding editions, introduced by the following 
 paragraph, which may be Pascal's, but is not to be found in any MS. : — 
 " There would be too much obscurity, if truth did not possess some 
 characters not to be mistaken. Of these the most striking are, — that a 
 church and visible body of holy men should ever have been preserved. On 
 the other hand, there would have been too much clearness, had there been 
 no dift'erences in the church. But, to ascertain wherein truth consists, we 
 have only to observe what those things are which have ever existed, and 
 that nothing false has ever mingled with them." 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 205 
 
 prophets subsequently predicted the time and manner of 
 his coming; declared that the law, then in force, 'was 
 to subsist only till the appearance of the Messiah, and 
 be superseded by one of eternal duration ; and thus the 
 law, or that of the Messiah, of which it was the type, 
 should ever exist upon earth; and that, in reality, it has 
 thus ever existed : that, finally, Jesus Christ did appear, 
 under all the circumstances so predicted. — All this is, 
 indeed, most wonderful ! 
 
 XXIII. " Non hahemus regem nisi Ccesarem'' Then 
 Christ was the Messiah, since they had no King but a 
 foreigner, and wished to have no other. 
 
 Contrarieties. 
 
 — ^ The sceptre until the Messiah. Without King 
 or Prince. 
 
 — *** An eternal law, yet changed. 
 
 — ■'' Covenant eternal, new covenant. 
 
 — The law good, their precepts evil. (Ezek. xx.) 
 
 XXIV. Now, seeing all these things were so clearly 
 predicted, why did the Jews not believe ? Or, on the 
 other hand, how have they not been exterminated* for 
 resisting evidences so clear ? 
 
 I reply, first, — All this was predicted, both that they 
 would not believe, although on such clear evidence, and 
 that they were not to be destroyed. And nothing tended 
 more to the glory of the Messiah : for it was not sufiicient 
 
 * ''Extermines at first, punis.^' 
 
206 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 that there should be prophets; it was necessary that they 
 should be preserved free from suspicion. Now, &c. . . 
 
 XXV. The Jews were accustomed to great and as- 
 tounding miracles ; and having witnessed those mighty 
 events of the Red Sea and the land of Canaan, and 
 regarding them as a kind of epitome* of the great things 
 to be done by their Messiah, they were accustomed to 
 look forward to yet more mighty interpositions, of which 
 those of Moses were but foretastes or specimens. f 
 
 XXVI. Those who experience difficulty in believing, 
 seek a plea for it in the unbelief of the Jews. " If the 
 evidence was so clear," they say, *'why did they not 
 believe?" And thus they would wish, as it were, that 
 the Jews had been believing, in order not to be con- 
 demned by the example of their incredulity. But it is 
 that very incredulity which is the foundation of our 
 belief. We should be much less accessible to conviction, 
 were they not as they are. We should in that case have 
 a larger excuse. It is wonderful, indeed, to see the 
 Jews intensely interested in the things predicted, yet 
 their faith most opposed to their accomplishment! 
 
 Unbelievers, in blindly abandoning themselves to their 
 passions, ignorant of God, and not desiring to know him, 
 verify in their own experience this fundamental principle 
 of the faith they oppose, — which is, that the nature of 
 man is fallen and corrupted. And the Jews, who so 
 obstinately reject the Christian religion, verify also that 
 
 * Orig. "Abrege." f Orig. " Echantillotis." 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 207 
 
 other great foundation of our faith, namely, that Christ 
 is the true Messiah, and has appeared to redeem man- 
 kind, and restore them from the corruption and misery 
 into which they have fallen. And this appears, not less 
 from the state in which we now see them, and which 
 was so exactly predicted by their prophets, than from 
 those very prophecies themselves, of which they are the 
 depositaries ; and which they inviolably preserve, as the 
 marks by which they are to recognize their yet-expected 
 Messiah.* 
 
 XXVII. The veil which covers the truths of Scripture 
 from the Jews equally hides them from mere nominal 
 Christians, and from all who do not see the evil of their 
 own nature. But we are then inclined to listen to their 
 dictates, and to acknowledge Christ in them, when we 
 are brought truly to abhor ourselves. 
 
 I do not assert that the "Me^n^'f is mystical. J 
 
 XXVIII. Everything tends to the advantage of the 
 elect, even the obscurities of Scripture ; for they honour 
 them the more, on account of the divine clearness of 
 other parts : and everything tends to evil with unbe- 
 lievers, even those clearer portions themselves ; for they 
 blaspheme the Scripture on account of the obscurities 
 which perplex them. 
 
 * This paragraph is not found in the MS. or the Copy. It was, 
 however, published in the first edition, under Title xxviii. 
 
 f " Mem" is the thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; this is also 
 further discussed in the Chapter on Prophecies, No. xxiv. 
 
 X In the Copy only. 
 
^08 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 XXIX. One word of David or Moses, such as " God 
 will circumcise the hearts,"* is decisive of the spirit of 
 the whole. Let everything else be equivocal or doubtful, 
 as applicable to philosophy or Christianity ; yet one 
 expression of this kind is conclusive of all the rest, as 
 one word of Epictetus determines, in an opposite direc- 
 tion, the whole of his writings. Up to this point there 
 may be ambiguity, but no further. 
 
 Fragments. 
 
 XXX. ^ Against those who abuse certain passages of 
 Scripture, and triumph on finding some which seem to 
 favour their own errors. 
 
 The chapter for Vespers, Passion Sunday, prayers for 
 the King.f 
 
 + Explanation of the words, *' He that is not for me 
 is against me," and the contrary ones, "He that is not 
 against you is for you." 
 
 "'" One may say, " I am neither for nor against you :" 
 then this is the reply. :[. 
 
 One of the anthems for vespers in Christmas : 
 ^'Exortum est in tenehris lumen rectis corde.''^ 
 
 XXXI. Ample tradition of original sin, according 
 to the Jews. 
 
 + On those words in Genesis viii. : — " The heart of 
 man is evil from his youth." || 
 
 * Deut. XXX. 6. t In the Copy. % In the Copy only. § Idem. 
 
 II "Sensus enim et cogitatio humani cordis in malum prona sunt ab adoles- 
 centia sua." — Gen. viii. 21. 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 209 
 
 R. Moses Haddarschan : — " This evil leaven is in- 
 fused into man from the hour of his creation." 
 
 Massechet Succa: — "This evil leaven has in Scrip- 
 ture seven names. It is called evil, diseased, unclean, 
 hateful, scandalous, a heart of stone, a tempestuous 
 wind:" all these signify the malignity which is hidden 
 and impressed upon the heart of man. Misdrach Tillim 
 says the same thing, and that God will separate the 
 good dispositions of man from the evil. 
 
 This malignity of man is constantly rising against 
 his fellow, as is written in the 37th Psalm : — " The 
 wicked watcheth against the righteous, and seeketh to 
 slay him ; but the Lord will not leave him in his hand." 
 
 This malignity forms the temptation of man's heart 
 in this life, and will be his accuser in the other. 
 
 All this is found in the Talmud. 
 
 Misdrach Tillim on 4th Psalm: — "Stand in awe, 
 and sin not. Stand in fear of your concupiscence, and 
 it will then not lead you to sin ;" and on Psalm xxxvi. : — 
 " The wicked saith within his heart that there is no fear 
 of God before his eyes ;" — that is, the natural malignity 
 of man says this to the wicked. 
 
 ■''Misdrach Kohelet : — "Better is a poor and wise 
 child than an old and foolish King who will not be 
 warned of what is to come." The child is the good, and 
 the King is the evil in man. It is called a King, because 
 all the members obey it; and old, because it dwells in the 
 heart of man from infancy to old age ; and foolish, because 
 it leads man insensibly into the way of perdition.* 
 
 * ''Perdition;" in the MS. by error, ''condition:' The whole of this 
 page is written in an unknown and bad hand: there are some corrections 
 
210 
 
 THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 The same thing is in Misdrach Tillim. 
 
 Bereschit Rabbaon the xxxvth Psahn: — "Lord, all 
 my bones shall bless thee, because thou deliverest the 
 poor from his oppressor !" And is there a greater 
 oppressor than the evil of the heart? And on Proverbs 
 XXV.: — " If thine enemy hunger, give him bread;" that 
 is, if the evil disposition hunger, give him the bread of 
 wisdom which is spoken of in Proverbs ix. ; and if he 
 thirst, give him the water, in Isaiah Iv. 
 
 Misdrach Tillim has the same sentiment; and says, 
 "Holy Writ, in this place, means by our enemy the evil 
 leaven, and that by giving this bread and this water it 
 is heaping coals of fire on his head." 
 
 ^ Misdrach Kohelet on Eccles. ix.: — "A great King 
 besieged a small city:" the great King is the evil leaven; 
 the powerful machines with which he surrounds it are 
 temptations; and the wise and poor man who delivers it, 
 is virtue. 
 
 And in Psalm xli.: — " Blessed is he who considereth 
 the poor." 
 
 + And in Psalm Ixxviii: — "The spirit departeth, and 
 returneth not again :" whence some have taken occasion 
 of error as to the immortality of the soul ; whereas 
 the meaning is, that this spirit is the evil leaven which 
 goes away with man at death, and will not return at the 
 resurrection. 
 
 ■'' And Psalm ciii., the same. 
 
 by Pascal. (Frencli Ed.) These and the following disjointed references 
 to the Rabbinical writers are perhaps only worth attention as showing the 
 curious and discursive bent of Pascal's studies; and, in transcribing them, 
 it is not at all clear that he agreed with the fanciful interpretations of 
 Scripture which they exhibit. (Transl.) 
 
THE JEWISH PEOPLE. 
 
 211 
 
 ^ Also, Psalm xvi. 
 Principle of the Rabbis. Two Messiahs. 
 
 XXXI T. Chronology of Rabinism. 
 
 The quotations of the pages are from Pugio. 
 Page 27. + Hakadosch, an. 200; 
 
 author of Mischna, or vocal law, or 
 second law. 
 
 . ■ ■ ■ ■ 340. 
 
 Commentaries J Barajetot. . . . ) 
 
 of Mischna. j Talmud HierosoL 
 L Tosiphtot. 
 
 ''■ Bereschit Rabah, by R. Osaiah Rabah : commentary 
 of Mischna. 
 
 ■'' Bereschit Rabah, by Ranconi ; are ingenious and 
 pleasant discourses, historical and theological. The same 
 author has published some works, entitled " Rabot." 
 
 ^ A century after the Talmud HierosoL, appeared the 
 Babylonish Talmud, by R. Ase, with the unanimous 
 approbation of all the Jews, who are compelled to observe 
 the whole of its contents. 
 
 The addition of R. Ase is entitled " Gemara," that 
 is, "The commentary of Mischna." And the Talmud 
 comprises both the Mischna and the Gemara. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The occasion is well known on which Pascal composed 
 his views upon the Miracles. "While he was composing his 
 ^^Provincials,'" his niece, Marguerite Perier/an inmate of Port- 
 Royal, was almost instantaneously cured of a complaint in 
 her eyes which was thought to endanger her life. This cure, 
 certainly of an extraordinary nature, and attested by some 
 very able physicians, took place after the patient had been 
 touched by a relic of the Holy Thorn, and was regarded by 
 the Port-Royal as miraculous. Pascal, whose faith seems to 
 have been more than ordinarily exalted by the contest in 
 which he was engaged, firmly believed in the alleged miracle, 
 and was much affected by it : he saw in it a fresh weapon 
 which God was furnishing to aid his own cause. The Jesuits, 
 on their part, were not backward in their attacks upon its 
 authenticity. Pascal took up its defence; and, for the more 
 effectual refutation of his opponents, he applied himself to an 
 investigation of the doctrine of the Church on the subject of 
 Miracles. 
 
 It cannot be doubted, that the greater part of the reflections 
 which he thus prepared would have been duly revised by 
 him, and found their place in his "Apology for Religion." 
 The other portions, on the contrary, would have been 
 excluded, on account of their purely polemical character. On 
 this account they might have been, not unsuitably, placed in 
 the first volume of this edition, at the end of the " Thoughts 
 and Notes on the Jesuits, the Jansenists, and the Provincials 
 but as, substantially, the objects of both the one portion and 
 the other are the same, it has been thought better not to 
 separate them; and they are therefore here collected under 
 one chapter. {French Editor.) 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 ■'' Commencement. 
 
 I. Miracles test doctrine, and doctrine tests miracles. 
 
 — There are false and true miracles. They need 
 some marks of authenticity, or they would be useless. 
 They are not, however, useless, but fundamentally im- 
 portant. Then, the rule by which they are judged should 
 be such as should not impair the attestation which real 
 miracles furnish to truth, and which is the principal end 
 they are designed to serve. 
 
 — Moses lays down two such rules : that the predic- 
 tion should not be fulfilled, (Deut. xviii. 22,) and that 
 they should not lead to idolatry (Deut. xiii. ^3). Jesus 
 Christ gives one. 
 
 — ■''If the doctrine regulate the miracles, the miracles 
 are useless to the doctrine. 
 
 If the miracles regulate ... . * 
 
 Objection to the rule. 
 
 — ^ The difference in times: one rule in those of 
 Moses, another in our own. 
 
 * Unfinished in tlie MS. 
 
216 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 11. Miracle. A miracle is a result exceeding the 
 natural force of the means employed: a non-miracle a 
 result not exceeding the natural force of such means. 
 Thus, for instance, any cures effected by diabolical invo- 
 cation are not miracles; for that does not exceed the 
 natural power of the Devil. But .... * 
 
 III. It is said, "Believe the Church;" but it is not 
 said, " Believe miracles :" because the latter is natural, 
 but not the former ; the one needed to be enjoined, not 
 the other. 
 
 IV. *'I should not be a Christian but for miracles," 
 said St. Augustin. 
 
 There would not have been sin in not believing on 
 Jesus Christ, except for miracles. 
 
 It is not possible to have a rational belief opposed 
 to miracles. 
 
 V. Christ wrought miracles ; after him the Apostles, 
 and the early saints, in large numbers ; for this reason, 
 that the prophecies not being yet accomplished, but 
 receiving their accomplishment through them, nothing 
 could serve for a testimony to their truth but miracles. 
 It had been predicted that Messiah should convert all 
 nations. How could that prediction be fulfilled unless 
 nations were converted ? and how should the nations be 
 converted to the Messiah, not having witnessed the 
 
 * Unfinished in the MS. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 217 
 
 final results of the prophecies which give evidence of 
 him? Now, until he had died, risen again, and con- 
 verted* nations to himself, everything was not accom- 
 plished that had been predicted of him ; and therefore 
 miracles were needful during all this period. Now, 
 however, as regards the Jews, they are no longer needed, 
 inasmuch as the prophecies already fulfilled constitute in 
 themselves a standing miracle. 
 
 YI. Either God has overthrown and exposed false 
 miracles, or he has predicted their occurrence ; in one 
 way or another, he has thus elevated hiinself above that 
 which is supernatural as respects ourselves, and has 
 raised us to the same elevation. 
 
 VII. Miracles carry such force of conviction, that it 
 was necessary for God to warn us to draw from them no 
 conclusions contrary to His existence, however clear are 
 the evidences in its favour : but for this they might have 
 caused disquietude to the mind. 
 
 Therefore it is, that so far from such passages as those 
 in 13th Deut. f invalidating the authority of miracles, 
 nothing can tend more to confirm them. And so with 
 
 * "Qu'il ait ete mort, ressuscite, et converti." — We give here the inaccu- 
 racy which Pascal's own MS. actually presents. He no doubt intended to 
 write "et qu'il eut converti les nations." 
 
 f The 13th chap, of Deuteronomy says that we must not believe or 
 hearken to those who work miracles, and seek to turn us from the worship 
 of God. St. Mark xiii. 22, adds, — "False Christs and false prophets shall 
 rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even 
 the elect." 
 
 K 
 
218 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 Antichrist, who is to seduce even the elect, if that were 
 possible. 
 
 VIII. ■'' Jer. xxiii. 32, The miracles of the false 
 prophets: in the Hebrew and the Vatable it is sorceries, 
 or sleight of hand (legeretes ). 
 
 Miracle does not always mean miracles. It is plainly 
 so in Job xxxiii. 7. And again, Isaiah xxi. 4, and 
 Jer. xliv. \2, 
 
 — + Portentum'' signifies . . * 
 
 — Isa. viii. 18 : here Jesus Christ says that He and 
 His shall be for miracles, f 
 
 — The Church has three descriptions of enemies: — the 
 Jews, who have never belonged to her; heretics, who have 
 left her; and nominal Christians, who destroy her from 
 within. These several adversaries usually carry on their 
 attacks by different methods: but here their weapons are 
 alike. Each of them repudiating miracles, while the 
 Church has ever sustained herself by their means against 
 them, they have all a common interest in denying them ; 
 and have also alike availed themselves of this evasion, — 
 that we are not to judge of doctrine by miracles, 
 but of miracles by doctrine. There were two parties 
 among those who followed Christ: the one, that which 
 received his doctrine, on account of his miracles ; the 
 other, that which said .... J There were two 
 
 * A word illegible. 
 
 f "Beliold 1, and the children whom the Lord hath given me, are for 
 signs and for wonders in Israel." 
 
 X This sentence is unfinished : it was, perhaps, to have been according to 
 the Evangelist, — "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub," &c. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 219 
 
 parties in the time of Calvin. There are now the 
 Jesuits,* &c. 
 
 IX. "If ye will not believe me, believe at least the 
 miracles." He brings them forward as the strongest 
 proofs. He had told the Jews, as well as the Christians, 
 that they should not believe all prophets. Nevertheless, 
 the pharisees and scribes laid great stress upon his 
 miracles, and endeavoured to prove them false, and the 
 work of Satan; feeling that they ought to believe, if 
 they acknowledged them to be of God. 
 
 — We are not now embarrassed by having to draw 
 this distinction ; yet is it easy to do so. Those who 
 deny not God nor Christ, believe in no miracles but such 
 as are undoubtedly authenticated. 
 
 + ^^Nemo facial virtutem in nomine meo, et cito possit 
 de me male loqui.'' 
 
 No : we have here to draw no such distinction. 
 Behold a sacred relic! Beholdf a thorn, preserved from 
 the crown that once bound the brows of the Saviour of 
 the world, over whom the prince of this world had no 
 power, endued with miraculous power by virtue of that 
 blood which he shed for us ! See in this fact how God 
 has himself chosen this Establishment % for the purpose 
 of showing forth His glory. 
 
 We have not here men effecting miraculous acts by 
 
 * This passage is also incomplete in the MS. The old editions add, 
 "And those who are called Jansenists, and who oppose them. But miracles 
 being in favour of the Jansenists, the Jesuits resort to this general sophism 
 of the Jews and heretics, that miracles are to be judged of by doctrine." 
 
 f The sacred thorn, deposited at Port Royal, to which the cure of 
 Marguerite Perier was attributed. 
 
 X The community of Port Royal. 
 
 K 2 
 
220 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 an occult and doubtful influence, and compelling us to a 
 searching and difficult investigation. It is God himself; 
 it is the instrument of the passion of his only Son, which 
 subsisting in various places, chose this for its especial 
 depository, that all might be invited hither, and receive, 
 through its instrumentality, miraculous relief under their 
 several afilictions. 
 
 X. + 1st Objection : — Angel from Heaven. 
 
 ^ We should not judge of truth by miracles, but of 
 miracles by truth. 
 
 ^ Then miracles are useless. 
 
 ■'■ Now they are useful, and they cannot oppose the 
 truth. 
 
 Then what P. Lingende says, that God will not 
 allow a miracle to lead to error .... 
 
 ''' Since there must be controversies in a church, 
 miracles should decide. 
 
 ^d Objection. 
 
 But Antichrist is to work miracles. 
 The magicians of Pharaoh did not seduce into error. 
 Therefore we cannot say to Christ as respects Antichrist, 
 ''You have led me into error." For Antichrist will 
 work miracles in opposition to Christ; and thus they 
 cannot lead into error. 
 
 ■'' Either God will not permit false miracles, or he will 
 ordain them on a scale of more magnitude. 
 
 — "'' Jesus Christ has existed from the commencement 
 
ON MIRACLES. 221 
 
 of the world : this is more convincing than all the 
 miracles of Antichrist. (Erased.) 
 
 — ■''If in a church miracles were effected on the part 
 of those who had departed from true doctrine, that 
 might lead into error. 
 
 — ^ The schism is visible, and the error is visible. 
 But the schism is more indicative of error, than the 
 miracle of truth ; then the miracle cannot seduce into 
 error. 
 
 But, excepting in the schism, the error is not so 
 visible as the miracle. Then the miracle would lead to 
 error. 
 
 ^'Ubi est Deus tuusV Miracles prove his existence 
 with the brightness of the lightning. 
 
 XI. This world is not the seat of truth : she wanders 
 here and there, unrecognised by man. God has seen fit 
 to cover her lineaments with a veil, which conceals her 
 from those who are determined not to listen to her voice. 
 Blasphemy overflows the earth, and that even in respeci 
 of the most transparent truths. If the great principles of 
 the gospel are proclaimed on the one side, on the other 
 they are contradicted; and every question is so perplexed, 
 that common understandings can no longer discern them. 
 Then it is asked, "What is it you do, that you should be 
 believed rather than others ? What sign do you show 
 us? You have but words, and we have the same. If 
 you have miracles on your side, well and good." The 
 rule, that doctrine should he sustained by miracles^'' is 
 abused for the purpose of blaspheming the doctrine. 
 And if miracles are produced, it is replied that Miracles 
 
222 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 do not suffice without doctrine:'"' and this is another 
 truth adduced to blaspheme miraculous intervention. 
 
 — Christ cured the man born blind, and performed a 
 multitude of miracles on the Sabbath-day. By that 
 means he confounded the pharisees, who said his miracles 
 should be guessed by his doctrine. 
 
 "We know Moses; but for this man, we know not 
 who he is." Why, this is marvellous that you know not 
 who he is ; and yet he has done such miracles ! 
 
 — Christ contended neither against God, nor against 
 Moses. 
 
 Antichrist and the false prophets, predicted in both 
 the Old and New Testaments, will openly oppose God 
 
 and Christ. Which is not * who would 
 
 be an open enemy, God would not have permitted him 
 to work miracles openly, 
 
 — Never could it be, that in an open controversy, 
 wherein both parties maintained themselves to be on the 
 side of God, of Christ, and of the Church, miracles 
 should be wrought on the false side, and none on the 
 true. 
 
 — "He hath a devil!" But the others said, — "Can 
 a devil open the eyes of the blind ?" f 
 
 — The proofs which Christ and his apostles drew from 
 Scripture are not demonstrative : for they assert only 
 Moses to have said, that a prophet should come; but this 
 does not prove that he was that prophet, — and that is the 
 whole question. These passages then serve only to show 
 that herein there is no repugnance or contradiction to 
 Scripture, but not that there is an accordance. 
 
 * Two words illegible. f John x. 20, 21. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 223 
 
 Now this is sufficient : an absence of contradiction, 
 with miracles. 
 
 Whence it follows, that he deemed his miracles to be 
 sufficient proofs of his doctrine, and that they imposed 
 upon the Jews an obligation to receive them. And, in 
 fact, it is the miracles especially which constituted the 
 guilt of the Jews in their incredulity.* 
 
 XII. There is a reciprocal duty between God and 
 man. There must be ... f this word, " quid 
 dehui?'' God says in Isaiah, " Charge me now." God 
 must fulfil his promises, &c. 
 
 Man is bound to receive at the hand of God the 
 religion which he reveals. The obligation of God towards 
 man is, not to suffer him to fall into error. Now they 
 would be led into error, if the workers (of) miracles 
 promulgated doctrines which did not appear evidently 
 false to the ordinary understanding of men, and if a 
 greater v/orker of miracles had not already warned them 
 not to believe them. 
 
 Thus, if there had been a schism in the church, and the 
 Arians, for example, who maintain their doctrines from 
 Scripture equally with the Catholics, had wroughtmiracles, 
 and not the Catholics, this would have led to error. 
 
 — For, as a man, who professes to announce to us 
 the secrets of Heaven is not deemed to be entitled to 
 belief on his mere private authority, and therefore 
 exposes himself to the doubts of the sceptic ; so he, who 
 
 * This paragraph is neither in the MS. nor the copy, 
 f There are here two words illegible. The copy has "pour /aire et 
 pardonner ce mot." 
 
224; 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 ill proof of his divine credentials raises the dead, foretels 
 events to come, removes seas,* heals diseases; — such a 
 man silences all cavils ; and the unbelief, vs^hether of 
 Pharaoh or of the pharisees, is the result of a super- 
 natural hardness of heart. 
 
 — ■'■ Then w^hen we find both miracles and doctrines 
 received alike without suspicion, the case presents no 
 difficulty. But if both are equally suspected, we must 
 examine which of them presents the strongest marks of 
 authenticity. Christ himself was suspected. 
 
 — Bar-Jesus blinded. See here the power of God 
 subduing that of his enemies. 
 
 — The exorcists, under the influence of devils, crying 
 out, "Jesus and Paul I know; but who are you?" 
 
 — Miracles then are for the establishment of doctrine, 
 and not doctrine for miracles. 
 
 — Then if miracles are true, must they be conclusive 
 of the truth of doctrines ? Not necessarily. ''Si angeluSj' 
 &c. 
 
 — + Rule, 
 
 ^ Doctrines must be judged by miracles. Miracles 
 must be judged by doctrines. All this is true, and yet 
 there is no contradiction. 
 
 — Distinction must be made in times. 
 
 — You like very well to have certain general rules, 
 by which you may cause trouble, and render everything 
 useless. You shall, however, be prevented, my good 
 father i-j- truth remains ever the same, and is invincible. 
 
 * In the copy it is "/ca- monts but the words, "les mers" are plainly 
 those of the MS., and the allusion is probably to the passage of the Red Sea. 
 
 f Doubtless P&re Annat is intended here; and this is probably one of 
 Pascal's memoranda for his controversies with the head of the Jesuits in 
 the Provincials. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 225 
 
 — Tt is impossible, consistently with duty to God, 
 that a man under the mask of truth, and professing con- 
 formity to God and the Church, should work pretended 
 miracles, for the purpose of disseminating false and 
 mischievous doctrine. That can never be. 
 
 — Still less is it possible that God, who knows the 
 hearts of all, should work real miracles in favour of such 
 an one. 
 
 XIII. There is much difference between tempting, 
 and leading (or seducing) into error. God tempts, (or 
 tries,) but he leads none into error. To tempt, is to offer 
 occasions, which, without imposing any necessity, lead 
 men, if not influenced by the love of God, to do such or 
 such things.* To lead into error, is to impose upon men 
 the necessity of concluding and acting upon falsehood. 
 
 This is what God cannot do ; and yet it is what he 
 would do, if he could, in any controverted question, 
 allow miracles to be performed on the side of falsehood. 
 
 It must result from this, then, that it is impossible 
 for a man, masking his real views under the semblance of 
 truth, and professing to be on the side of God and the 
 Church, to perform miracles, for the purpose of dissemi- 
 nating false and pernicious doctrines. And still less 
 that God, who knows the heart, should work miracles in 
 favour of such a person, f 
 
 * This passage is abrupt and inaccurate; but we follow faithfully the 
 MS., as is our uniform practice. 
 
 t This and the preceding paragraph are not in either the MS., or the 
 copy. 
 
226 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 XV. Miracles serve to distinguish in doubtful matters 
 between the Jew and the Gentile, between the Jew and 
 the Christian, the CathoHc and the heretic ; between 
 the calumniators and the calumniated; between the two 
 descriptions of the cross. 
 
 But to heretics miracles would be useless; for the 
 church, accredited by the miracles which have determined 
 her belief, tells us that they are in error. This does not 
 admit of doubt, because the early miracles of the church 
 forbid faith in theirs. There is, therefore, miracle 
 opposed to miracle ; and the earliest and most illustrious 
 on the side of the church. 
 
 XVI. In the Old Testament, when they would serve 
 to turn you from God. 
 
 ^ In the New, when they would turn you from 
 Christ. 
 
 ^ These are the marks of those miracles which should 
 be rejected. None others need be indicated. 
 
 — ■'■ Does it follow from thence, that they would be 
 justified in excluding all the prophets who have come to 
 them? No; they would have been guilty of sin in 
 not excluding those who denied God, and they would 
 equally have sinned in excluding those who did not 
 deny Him. 
 
 — ^ On the question of miracles, then, we should 
 either receive them, or see that we have very suf- 
 ficient ground for their rejection. We must be 
 satisfied that they either oppose God, or Christ, or 
 the church. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 XVII. John vi. 26. — ^'Noti quia vidistis signa, sed 
 saturati estis,'" 
 
 Those who follow Jesus Christ on account of his 
 miracles, do honour to his power in the performance of ail 
 his wonders ; but those who, under pretence of admiring 
 his miracles, follow him in reality only on account of 
 worldly benefits and satisfactions which they hope for 
 from him, will forthwith repudiate the same miraculous 
 acts, when they thwart their own advantages. 
 
 John ix. 16. — ^'Non est hie homo a Deo quia sahhatum 
 non custodit. Alii : Quomodo potest homo peccator hcec 
 signa facere V 
 
 Which of the two conclusions is the most just ? 
 
 *'This community is not of God, for it does not admit 
 that the five propositions are in Jansenius." The others 
 say, "This community is of God; for striking miracles 
 are done in it." Which of these conclusions is the 
 most just? * 
 
 ■'■John ix. 17: — "Tm quod dicis? Dico quia propheta 
 est.'' Same chapter, v. 83: — ^^Nisi esset hie a Deo, non 
 poterat faeere quidquam^ 
 
 XVIII. The method which Jesus Christ ever adopted 
 for proving his Messiahship, was, not to rest his doctrine 
 upon Scripture and the Prophets, but upon miracles. 
 
 — "'■ He justifies his remitting sin by a miracle. 
 
 — " Rejoice not in miracles," Christ said ; " but 
 rather that your names are written in heaven." 
 
 — ■'"If they believe not Moses, they will not believe. 
 
 * This alludes to Port Royal, and its controversy with the Sorbonne. 
 (See Provincial Letters.) 
 
228 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 — Nicodemus confessed from the miracles of Christ, 
 that his doctrine was from God : — ^'Scimus quia Deo 
 venisfi, magister; nemo enim potest hcec signafacere quce 
 tu facis, nisi fuerit Deus cum eo." (John iii. 2.) He 
 judges not of his miracles by his doctrine, but of his 
 doctrine by the miracles. 
 
 — The Jews possessed a system of doctrines from 
 God, as we have one from Jesus Christ, and it was one 
 confirmed by miracles; and they were forbidden to 
 believe in all workers of miracles, but were directed to 
 refer to their High-Priests, and abide by their instruc- 
 tions. And thus, whatever reasons we can adduce for 
 withholding belief in the workers of miracles, they had 
 the same in regard to their prophets. 
 
 And yet they were very culpable, on account of their 
 miracles, in rejecting their prophets, and Christ; and 
 they would not have been culpable if they had not seen 
 the miracles. ^^Nisi fecissem, peccatum non haherent" 
 (John XV. S4.) 
 
 ■'" Then the current of belief runs in force of miracles. 
 
 — ■'' Prophecy is not called miracle, since St. John 
 speaks of the first miracle in Cana ; and then of our 
 Saviour's discourse with the Samaritan woman, showing 
 his knowledge of her secret history ; while he calls the 
 cure of the centurion's son the second miracle. 
 
 XTX. If there had been no false miracles, we should 
 have possessed absolute certainty. 
 
 If there had been no rule for discerning them, miracles 
 would have been useless, and there would have been no 
 rationality in believing them. 
 
ON MIRACLES. 229 
 
 Now, in human affairs, no certainty is to be obtained, 
 but reason must be exercised. 
 
 — The Jews, who were appointed to extinguish 
 nations, and sovereignties, have become the slaves of their 
 sins; and Christians, whose calling was to be servants 
 and tributaries, are privileged children. 
 
 — ^ Judges xiii. 23. If the Lord had meant to slay 
 us, he would not have showed us such things. 
 
 — Hezekiah. Sennacherib. 
 
 — Jeremiah Hananias, the false prophet, died the 
 seventh month. 
 
 — ^2 Mace. iii. The temple, when about to be 
 pillaged, miraculously rescued. 
 
 2 Mace. XV. 
 
 — ■''1 Kings xvii. The widov/ to Elisha, who had raised 
 her child to life, — "By this I know thy words are 
 true." 
 
 — ■''1 Kings xviii. Elijah with the prophets of Baal. 
 
 — In the contentions between the true God and 
 idolaters, on religious truth, it has never been seen that 
 a miracle was wrought on the side of error, rather than 
 of truth. 
 
 XX. ^ Reasons for not believing. 
 John xiii. 37: — Cum autem tanta signa fecisset non 
 credehant in eum, ut sermo Isa'ice impleretur : excsecavit, 
 etc. HcBC dixit Isdias quando vidit gloriam ejus et 
 locutus est de eo. 
 
 — ^ Judcei signa petwit, et Grceci sapientiam qucerunt. 
 Nos autem Jesum crucijixum. 
 
 ^ Sed plenum signis, sed plenum sapientia. 
 
230 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 ■'■ Vos autem Christum non crucifixum et religionem 
 sine miracuUs et sine sapientia. 
 
 — Whatever causes us to disbelieve true miracles is a 
 want of divine love. John: Sed vos non creditis quia 
 no7i estis ex ovibus. That which makes us believe false 
 ones is a want of love. 
 
 2 Thess. ii. 
 
 XXI. Foundatio7i of Religion. 
 
 ^ Miracles. Then does God oppose the fundamental 
 principle of our faith in himself? 
 
 If there be a God, there must be faith in him on the 
 part of men. Now Christ's miracles are not predicted 
 by Antichrist ; but antichristian miracles are predicted 
 by Christ. Therefore, had Jesus not been the Messiah, 
 he would have been the cause of error; but Antichrist 
 cannot be the cause of error.* 
 
 When Christ predicted the miracles of Antichrist, could 
 he contemplate destroying the faith in his own miracles ? 
 
 Moses foretold the. coming of Christ, and commanded 
 that he should be believed. Christ foretold iVntichrist, 
 and forbad that he should be believed. 
 
 It was impossible, under Moses, to forbid the belief of 
 Antichrist, who was then unknown. But it is easy in the 
 time of Antichrist to believe in Jesus Christ, who is known. 
 
 There exists no reason for the belief in Antichrist, 
 which does not equally exist for belief in Christ ; but 
 there are reasons for belief in the latter, which do not 
 exist for the former. 
 
 * Orig. : Mais V Antechrist ne pent bien induire en erreur." The above 
 rendering is almost literal, but the original is obscure. (Transl.) 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 XXII. + Miracles, 
 
 — It is painful to find ourselves in an exception to a 
 general rule. We ought even to be firm, and opposed 
 to exceptions. Yet, as it is certain that in some cases 
 exceptions must exist, we should judge justly, although 
 with firmness. 
 
 XXIII. Jesus Christ declares that the Scriptures 
 testify of him, but he does not specify the instances. 
 
 — Even the prophecies could not prove the truth of 
 his Messiahship during his life-time ; and therefore there 
 would have been no guilt in not believing Christ before 
 his death, had not his miracles been sufiicient to confirm 
 his doctrine. Now those who did not believe in him 
 while living, were, as himself certified, sinners, and 
 without excuse. Thence it follows that there must 
 have been a sufficiency of proof, which they resisted. 
 As, therefore, they possessed no such express designa- 
 tion* of him, but witnessed only his miracles, it is evident 
 that these latter, when not opposed to his doctrine, 
 should have sufficed for their conviction, and he ought 
 to have been believed for them. 
 
 + John vii. 40. Disputes between the Jews, as between 
 Christians in the present day. 
 
 The one portion believed in Christ; the other rejected 
 him, on account of the prophecies which announced that 
 he was to be born in Bethlehem. They ought to have 
 taken more pains to ascertain the actual fact; for, as his 
 miracles might have carried conviction to their minds, it 
 was their duty to investigate these alleged contradictions 
 
 * Exposition," the word that occurs here is illegible in the MS. ; and the 
 above is inserted only conjecturally. (French Editor.) 
 
2S2 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 in his doctrine to Scripture ; and the obscurity of which 
 they complained furnished them no excuse, but served 
 only to blind them the more. 
 
 So, they who in our day refuse to believe in miracles, 
 on account of an alleged imaginary contradiction, are not 
 justifiable. 
 
 ^ The people, believing him on account of his miracles, 
 the pharisees said, — " This people who know not the law, 
 are accursed ; but have any of our rulers or the pharisees 
 believed on him? for we know that no prophet proceedeth 
 out of Galilee." Nicodemus replied, — "Does our law 
 judge any man before it hear him ?" 
 
 XXV. " If I had seen a miracle," some will say, " I 
 should be converted." How can they be certain that 
 they would experience that of which they know nothing ? 
 They imagine that conversion consists of a passing act of 
 homage to God, and a species of intercourse framed on 
 mere human ideas. True conversion is an annihilation 
 of ourselves before the Infinite ; a consciousness that 
 we have committed innumerable oflTences against him, 
 and are justly exposed to destruction at his hands; — it 
 is an acknowledgment that we are dependent upon him 
 for all things, and deserve nothing from him but igno- 
 miny. It consists in a conviction that between God and 
 ourselves there is an invincible opposition; and that it is 
 through a Mediator alone that any communion can be 
 restored. 
 
 A miracle, it is alleged, would confirm my faith. This 
 is said by those who have never seen one. There are 
 
ON MIRACLES. 23S 
 
 certain considerations which, looked at from a distance, 
 appear to bound our view ; but when approached, the 
 sight begins to extend beyond them.* Nothing can 
 arrest the activity of the spirit. There is no rule, it is 
 said, without exception; nor any truth so general, 
 as to have no aspect in which it is deficient. It is 
 enough that it is not absolutely universal, to give us the 
 means to apply the exception to the present subject, and 
 say, — '^Such a thing is not always true ; then there are 
 cases in which it does not apply." It only remains to 
 show that the one in question is of this kind ; and we 
 shall be very inapt, or very unfortunate, if we do 
 not find such cases at one time or another. 
 
 The purpose of miracles is not — to convert, but 
 to condemn. 
 
 XXVI. + Miracles. 
 I detest your sceptics of miracles! Montague in 
 two places of his work, treats the matter very properly : 
 in the one, he shows his discreet habit of mind ; and in 
 the other, that he is a believer, while he ridicules the 
 incredulous, -f 
 
 XXX. Title: — ^'Whence is it that we give such 
 belief to deceivers, who assert they have seen miracles, 
 and give none to those who say they are in possession of 
 secrets for making men immortal, or renewing their 
 youth V 
 
 * This phrase occurs, in nearly the same terms, in the "Miscellaneous 
 Thoughts," No. 120. 
 
 t See Essays, Book i., chap. 26, entitled, "The folly of estimating truth 
 or falsehood by our own apprehensions." 
 
234 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 Having considered how it happens that we yield 
 faith to so many impostors, who pretend to sovereign 
 remedies, and even trust our lives in their hands, — the 
 real cause seems to me to be, that, among many false, 
 there are still some true ones : for it is not possible that 
 there should be so much falsehood, and that it should 
 obtain the measure of belief it does, were there not with 
 it some mixture of truth. Had there been no such great 
 specifics, but all the diseases in question had been in- 
 curable, it is impossible that men should have believed 
 such remedies to exist; and still more, that such credulity 
 should have been shown towards those who pretended to 
 their possession. In the same way, if a man were to 
 boast he possessed a secret by which he could preserve 
 his life for ever, he would not be believed, because no 
 such instance has ever been known in the experience of 
 men. But, inasmuch as there exist various remedies, 
 which have, on the soundest experience, been proved 
 efficacious, men's belief has been influenced by them, 
 and what has been found to be possible in some cases, 
 is deemed equally so in others. People usually reason 
 thus: — "Such a thing is possible; therefore, it is;" — 
 because, not being capable of denial in the general, 
 inasmuch as particular instances have been proved to be 
 true, the generality of persons, unable to distinguish 
 those particular cases from the mass, make up their 
 minds to a belief in the whole. As an instance of this, 
 the reason why so many unreal effects are believed to be 
 produced by the moon, is, that there are some that are 
 real, — such as the tides of the sea. 
 
 It is the same with prophecies, miracles, divinations 
 
ON MIRACLES. 
 
 ^35 
 
 by dreams, lots, &;c. ; for had there been no truth 
 in these things, there would have been no belief given 
 to them : and thus, instead of concluding that there are 
 no real miracles, on account of the multitude of false 
 ones, it should be held, on the contrary, that some are 
 certainly true, because so many are false ; and that 
 the cause of there being false ones, is that there v^^ere 
 some that were true. 
 
 + The same reasoning should hold in regard to religion : 
 men could never have invented so many false systems, 
 had there not been one that is true. An objection 
 to this may be, that among utterly savage nations, 
 some kinds of religion are found to exist ; but the 
 answer to this is, that they are the results of tradition, 
 as is the case with the deluge, circumcision, &c.* 
 
 XXXI. Having weighed the cause of there being so 
 many false miracles, revelations, sorceries, &c., it appears 
 to me to be because there are some that are true ; for 
 otherwise it would have been an impossibility that they 
 should have obtained belief. But for this, these fictions 
 could not have been devised on the one part, or received 
 on the other. But, inasmuch as certain great facts of 
 this description have really existed, and have been 
 admitted by the highest intelligences, this has caused 
 the generality of persons, of less reflecting minds, to be 
 accessible to impostures also. Therefore, instead of 
 concluding that no miracles are real, on account of the 
 multitudes of such impostures, we should rather infer 
 
 * This paragraph, which seems the development of that which imme- 
 diately follows, is in the handwriting of Madame Perier. 
 
236 
 
 ON MIRACLES. 
 
 the fact of some being true, from the number of the 
 false; and in the same way argue, that the multitude of 
 false religious systems prove the existence of one that is 
 true. The difficulties arising from the species of religions 
 found among savage tribes, is answered by the fact of 
 certain traditions having reached them, such as the 
 deluge, circumcision, &c. The mind of man, having 
 thus received a certain measure of truth, has become 
 accessible to a multitude of false impressions of this . .* 
 
 * The word, ''espece," is doubtless here to be added, although wanting 
 in the MS. This, like the preceding paragraph, is in the handwriting of 
 Madame Perier, and both are written on the reverse of a letter addressed 
 to Pascal. In the corner is the date 19th February, 1660. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 n)N FIGURES, 
 
 OR 
 
 FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 In one of the notes collected at the end of this volume, 
 under the title of "Order," Pascal mentions the Chapter on 
 " Figures" in these terms : — " In the chapter on Fundamentals 
 should be introduced that part of the one on Figures which 
 assigns the cause of figurative language." 
 
 As in the MS. there is no other reference to the chapter on 
 '* Fundamentals," we have thought it best to reject that title, 
 and have abandoned the subdivision which seems to have been 
 contemplated by the writer of the subject-matter into two 
 separate chapters. 
 
 As to the order of placing the Chapter on "Figures," it is 
 indicated in the narrative of the conversation in which Pascal 
 laid down the plan of his proposed Work ; it there appears, 
 that after descanting upon the Jewish people, he addressed 
 himself to the discussion of Miracles, and afterwards of 
 Figures. (^French Editor.) 
 
"ON FIGURES. 
 
 I. ^ Reasons for their use. 
 
 ^ It was a carnal people that was addressed ; and 
 they were made the depositary of spiritual communi- 
 cations. (Erased.) 
 
 In order that faith should be yielded to the Messiah, 
 it was necessary that his coming should be preceded by 
 prophecies, and that those prophecies should be preserved 
 by a people not obnoxious to suspicion, endued with 
 extraordinary diligence, fidelity, and zeal, and known 
 throughout the whole world. 
 
 To accomplish these ends, God made choice of this 
 carnally-minded people, and made them the depositaries 
 of the prophecies, which predicted the Messiah under 
 the character of the Liberator, and the dispenser of those 
 temporal benefits which were the objects of this nation's 
 attachment. They were by this means endued with a 
 signal zeal on behalf of their prophets ; cherishing, in the 
 sight of all the world, those writings in which the 
 Messiah was foretold, and proclaiming to all nations, 
 that he was hereafter to come, and that his appearance 
 was to be in the manner described in those archives of 
 theirs, which were open to the whole world. It was 
 thus, that this nation, deceived by the ignominious and 
 sordid circumstances of the Messiah's advent, became. 
 
240 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 from his ardent expectants, his most cruel foes. Thus, they 
 constitute a people, of all others the least to be suspected 
 of bias or partiality; the most exact and zealous in 
 supporting their law and their prophecies, and the most 
 sedulous to transmit them uncorrupted to future times. 
 
 It is for these reasons, that the prophecies carry 
 within them a hidden and spiritual sense (to which this 
 people were opposed) under the cover of carnal objects, 
 which were conformable to their taste. Had the spiritual 
 meaning been revealed to them, they would have been 
 incapable of appreciating it; and would thus have lost 
 their ardour for the preservation of their writings, and 
 the enforcement of their ceremonials. And, on the 
 contrary, if they had been rendered capable of entering 
 into these spiritual promises, and had preserved them 
 unalloyed to the coming of their Messiah, their testimony, 
 being that of friends and partisans, would have been 
 stripped of its force. It was, therefore, an advantage, 
 that the spiritual meanings were veiled from their per- 
 ception. But, on the other hand, if the interpretation 
 of these writings had been entirely concealed, and in no 
 degree apparent, then they could not have served the 
 purpose of testifying to the Messiah. What, then, was 
 really the case ? In the greater portion of the passages 
 the meaning was concealed under temporal images; while 
 in some others it was manifested so plainly, — exclusive of 
 the various predictions as to time, and the state of the 
 world, — that the interpretation stands out as clearly as 
 the sun in the noon-day heavens. And the spiritual 
 sense is further, in some parts, so apparent, that nothing 
 but that blindness which the influence of the flesh 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FfGURATlVE TERMS. 241 
 
 produces in the minds that are enslaved by it, could ever 
 remain insensible to its convictions. 
 
 This then v^^as the scheme of Infinite Wisdom. The true 
 meaning is, in numberless instances, concealed; in a few, 
 it is disclosed: yet such is the method adopted, that the 
 instances in which it is thus hidden are equivocal, and 
 may admit of a twofold sense; those, on the other hand, 
 in which it is revealed, are palpable, and can be inter- 
 preted only in a spiritual manner. 
 
 In this way, they could not lead into error; and it was 
 only by a people of a gross and carnal mind, that they 
 could possibly be misapprehended. 
 
 When, for instance, we find promises made to them 
 of the most copious benefits, what but their sensuality, 
 determining the meaning of these things into earthly 
 good, prevented their understanding them of the only 
 true blessings? Those who knew no real good but in 
 their Maker, referred these promises to Him alone. 
 There are two paramount tendencies, to which the will 
 of man is subservient, — sensuality, and charity, — self- 
 love, and the love of God. Not that the former may 
 not (in a certain sense) consist with faith; and the latter, 
 in its measure, with the possession of earthly good. But 
 sense seeks its selfish advantages from God, while its 
 enjoyments are found in the world: charity, or divine 
 love, makes use of the world, but has its pleasure 
 in God. 
 
 Now it is the final end, which gives truth and reality 
 to things. Whatever hinders our attainment of that 
 end is our enemy. Thus, creatures, although good in 
 themselves, are enemies to the righteous when they 
 
 L 
 
242 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 turn them away from God; and God himself is the 
 enemy of those whose lusts he disturbs. 
 
 In this way, the term enemy , being dependent on our 
 final end, the righteous understand it of their lusts, and 
 the carnally-minded of the Babylonians; the terms, there- 
 fore, presented no obscurity to any but the unrighteous. 
 This is what is said by Isaiah: — "Signa legem in electis 
 meis;''* and in this sense, Jesus Christ was to be "a stone 
 of stumbling." f But, "blessed are they who shall not be 
 offended at him." J Hosea, in his last chapter, expresses 
 this perfectly " Who is wise, and he shall understand 
 these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the 
 ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in 
 them: but the transgressors shall fall therein." § 
 
 Those, therefore, to whom the Saviour was a scandal, 
 and who rejected and crucified him, are the very pre- 
 servers of those books which testify of him, and which 
 predict that he should be rejected and scandalized. 
 Thus, they themselves bear about with tliem the proofs 
 that he was the Messiah, while they rejected him; and he 
 has been equally testified to, both by the believing Jews 
 who received him, and by the unbelieving who rejected 
 him: both the one and the other were the subject 
 of prediction. 
 
 II. And yet, these Records, composed in such a 
 manner, that while the one portion were enlightened 
 the other remained in darkness, left in those who were 
 thus blinded the traces of that truth which was discerned 
 
 * Isaiah viii. IG. f Isaiah viii. 14. X Matthew xi. 16. 
 
 § Hosea xiv, 9. 
 
ON FIGUKES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 243 
 
 by the others ; for the visible benefits which they 
 enjoyed from their God were so great, and partook so 
 much of a Divine character, that it could be no subject 
 of doubt, that he possessed the power to confer on them 
 such as were invisible, and among these, the greatest of 
 all, the gift of a Messiah.* 
 
 One of the chief reasons why the Prophets veiled the 
 spiritual benefits which they promised under the figures 
 of temporal good, was, that they had to do with a 
 carnally-minded nation, and were to make them the de- 
 positary of a spiritual testament. f 
 
 IIT. + Figures. 
 God, designing to form for himself a holy people, 
 separating them from every other nation, delivering them 
 from their enemies, and bringing them into a place of rest, 
 gave the promise of these events beforehand ; and, by his 
 prophets, predicted both the time and manner of their 
 occurrence. Nevertheless, in order throughout all time 
 to sustain the hope of his elect, he kept before their 
 eyes images of these things, and never left them without 
 the assurance both of his power and his willingness to 
 effect their salvation. At the creation of the world, 
 Adam was a witness hereof, and was, moreover, the 
 depositary of the promise of the Saviour, who was to be 
 born of the woman. While the creation was so recent, 
 that men had not lost from recollection their origin and 
 
 * Neither in the MS. nor copy, but published in the first edition, 
 t This paragraph, which was only published in the edition of 1678, is 
 neither in the MS. nor the copy. 
 
 l2 
 
244 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 their fall ; while, notwithstanding, those to nvhom Adam 
 had been known, no longer remained on earth; God 
 sent Noah, preserving him alive while he destroyed the 
 whole world by a miracle ; which sufficiently marked 
 both his power and his will to save man, and to fulfil the 
 promise he had given of a final redeemer of his race, 
 from the woman's seed. 
 
 This miraculous event was abundantly calculated to 
 support the hope of the . . . .* 
 
 The memory of the deluge was thus preserved among 
 men; for while Noah yet lived, God renewed his 
 promises to Abraham ; and while Shem yet survived, 
 Moses was sent, &c.f 
 
 IV. Isaiah vi. The Red Sea an image of redemption. 
 
 — Ut sciatis quod Filius habet potesiatem remittendi 
 peccata, tibi dico: Surge. J 
 
 — God, wishing to show that he could form a holy 
 people, endowed with inward sanctity, and destined to 
 eternal glory, tj'pified them by visible objects. As 
 nature is a figure of grace, he has done that in the 
 beneficences of nature which he designed to do in those 
 of grace, that it might be seen, by what he achieved in 
 the visible, how much he was capable of achieving in 
 the invisible. 
 
 With these views he saved this his own people in the 
 deluge ; he raised up Abraham ; he redeemed them from 
 their enemies, and brought them into a place of rest. 
 
 God's purpose in thus saving his people from the 
 deluge, and raising up a nation from Abraham, was 
 
 * Unfinislied. f This is an anachronism. X Mark ii. 10, 11. 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 245 
 
 not merely to bring them into a land of ease and 
 fertility. 
 
 And even grace is not the final object, but is only a 
 type of glory. It was prefigured by the law, and itself 
 prefigures glory;* it is its type and principle, or cause. 
 
 — The life of ordinary men resembles that of the 
 saints. All alike seek their own satisfaction, and differ 
 only in the object from which it is to be obtained. 
 They equally regard as enemies those who impede them 
 in its search. God has, in this way, shown by natural 
 objects his power in the things that are invisible. 
 
 V. That the law was typical. 
 Figures, 
 
 ^ This is the key which St. Paul furnishes to us. — 
 The letter kills. — Everything was in figure. — It was 
 necessary that Christ should suffer. — A God humbling 
 himself. 
 
 — + Circumcision of the heart, a true fast, a true 
 sacrifice, a true temple. The prophets showed that all 
 these things were to be spiritual. 
 
 Not the meat which perishes, but that which endures. 
 
 — You must be made free indeed. Then every 
 other freedom is but a figure of the true liberty. 
 
 — ■''I am the true bread of heaven. 
 
 VI. The Old Testament is but a series of cyphers. 
 
 * Original, "grace." This was, however, evidently intended for "glory." 
 The whole of this fragment is a collection of detached and incomplete notes, 
 unrevised, and put down on paper with the utmost rapidity and negligence. 
 
Z'tb ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 VII. + Two errors: the one, to take everything too 
 literally; the other, too spiritually. 
 
 VIII. Figures. 
 ^ The prophets continually used figures, — the girdle, 
 the beard, the burned hair, &c., &:c. 
 
 IX. Figures. 
 
 When once the hidden meaning of these has been 
 laid open, it is impossible not to apprehend it. When 
 the Old Testament is read with this view, we ask. Were 
 the sacrifices literal ? w^as the parentage of Abraham 
 the true cause of God's friendship? was the promised 
 land the real place of rest? No; then they were 
 figures. If, in the same way, we consider all prescribed 
 ceremonials, and all commandments which have not 
 charity (or love) for their end, we shall find that they 
 are only its figures, or types.* 
 
 — + All these sacrifices and ceremonies, then, were 
 either figures, or things without meaning. There are, 
 however, some things too plain and too elevated to be 
 suspected to have no meaning. 
 
 [In the margin : For instance, did the prophets limit 
 their views to the Old Testament, or look beyond them?) 
 
 X. There are some figures clear and demonstrative; 
 others, however, seem a little forced in their application, 
 and are apparent only to such as are predisposed to enter- 
 tain them: these latter are like those of the Apocalypse. 
 
 * The following are the original terms of the above passage: "Qu'uti 
 vote de meme toutes les ceremonies ordonnees et ious les commandements qui 
 ne sont pas pour la charite, on verra que e'en sont les figures." 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 247 
 
 But the difference is, that in them there is nothing that can 
 be regarded as nnquestionable; so that there is nothing 
 so unsound, as to attempt to prove that the latter are as 
 palpable as the former: for they have nothing demonstra- 
 tive in them. They rest on a different footing. They 
 are things which ought not to be equalized and blended 
 together; for they have an appearance of similarity in 
 one point of view, but in another are wholly dissimilar. 
 
 ■'' There are some things which are for the most part so 
 clear, that, when ascertained to be divine, the obscurities 
 mixed up with them even should be treated with reverence. * 
 
 XI. Types. 
 The Jews and the Egyptians clearly prefigured 
 in those two circumstances narrated by Moses : — the 
 Egyptian ill-treating the Jew, Moses revenging him by 
 slaying the Egyptian, and the Jew's ingratitude thereon, 
 
 XII. Figurative Terms, 
 — ^ Key to the cypher. 
 
 + a Yeri adoratores. Ecce Agnus Dei qui tollit peccata 
 mundi.'' 
 
 Figurat. 
 ^ The terms, sword, crown. 
 ^'Potentissime'' 
 
 XIII. Figures. 
 ^ Do all things according to the pattern shown thee 
 
 * In the margin there occur here the following words, erased It is like 
 persons conversing in an obscure language; persons not understanding it 
 regard it as mere jargon," 
 
248 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 on the mount. On which St. Paul says, that the Jews 
 prefigured celestial things. 
 
 Moses, Deut. xxx., promises that God should cir- 
 cumcise their hearts, that they might be rendered capable 
 of loving him. 
 
 XIV. + Fig. 
 
 ^ Saviour, Father, Sacrificer, Hostage, Nourishment, 
 King, Sage, Legislator, Afflicted, Poor: all intended to 
 form a people whom he purposed to lead, support, and 
 
 spread over the earth * 
 
 The offices of Jesus Christ. 
 
 It was his design to produce a great people, — elect, 
 holy, chosen ; to guide, support, and bring them into a 
 place of rest and sanctity; to consecrate them to the 
 service of God, and make them his temple ; to reconcile 
 them to God, and save them from his wrath ; to deliver 
 them from the service of sin, to which the whole race of 
 man is subjected : to give this people laws, and write 
 them in their hearts; to offer himself for them to their 
 offended God; become a sacrifice, a spotless hostage for 
 them ; and to be himself the sacrificer, offering up him- 
 self, his body and blood, like bread and wine, a sacrifice 
 to God.f 
 
 Prophecies. — ^^Transfixerunf % (Zech. xii. 10.) 
 That he should come as the deliverer, who should 
 
 * Unfinished. 
 
 f ^^El liii-vihne sacrificateur, devant s'ojfrir lui-mhne son corps et son sang, 
 et neanmoins offrir pain et vin a Dieu." 
 
 X The remainder of the verse quoted is, '^Et aspicient ad me quern con- 
 Jixermit." Commentators deem this passage an allusion to the sufferings 
 of the cross. 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 249 
 
 bruise the serpent's head ; should deliver his people 
 from their sins, ''ex omnibus iniquitatibus," bring in a 
 new and everlasting testament ; that he should institute 
 another priesthood after the order of Melchizedek, 
 which should be eternal in its existence ; that this, his 
 Anointed, should be glorious, powerful, and miglity, — yet 
 appear in so abject a condition, that none should recog- 
 nise him, or be conscious of his ineffable dignity ; that 
 thus he should be rejected, and finally slain; that his 
 own people, after their denial of him, would be disowned 
 by him ; that heathen nations would acknowledge and 
 turn to him; that he would forsake his favoured Zion, 
 to reign in the very seat of idolatry; that the Jews, 
 nevertheless, would subsist to the end of time, inasmucli 
 as he himself should be born of the tribe of Judah, and 
 that, after monarchy had become extinct in the nation. 
 
 — ''Ingrediens mundum.'" 
 
 — Stone upon stone. 
 
 — That which preceded, and that which followed. 
 The whole Jewish people existing, yet dispersed. 
 
 XV. ■'■ Figures. 
 It being God's purpose to dispossess his own people 
 of mere perishable good, in order to prove that it was 
 not through inability to endow them with it, created 
 the Jewish people. 
 
 The Jews had long indulged the carnal reflections, 
 that God had loved their father Abraham, and all his 
 offspring; that on this account he had multiplied and 
 distinguished them above every other nation, and had 
 
 L 5 
 
250 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 not suffered them to mix and ally themselves with any; 
 that, when oppressed under Egyptian bondage, he had 
 delivered them by working mighty miracles on their 
 behalf ; that, while wandering in the wilderness, he had 
 fed them with manna from heaven ; that he had led 
 them into a fair and fertile land, formed them into a 
 powerful monarchy, erected a gorgeous temple for their 
 worship, and instituted the rites of sacrifice for their 
 purification ; and that he finally designed to send them 
 a Messiah, in order that the whole world might be 
 subjected to them. The very time even of his coming 
 was predicted. 
 
 While all were wrapped in these carnal and erroneous 
 expectations, Christ appeared in the time predicted, 
 but with none of the splendours which had been antici- 
 pated. They did not believe, therefore, that it was 
 himself. After his decease, St. Paul was raised up, to 
 teach men that all these things had befallen in figures; 
 that the kingdom of God consisted not in flesh, but in 
 the spirit ; that the enemies of man were not the nations 
 of Babylon, but their own passions; that God took not 
 pleasure in temples made with hands, but in the pure 
 and contrite spirit; that bodily circumcision was profitless, 
 but that of the heart was demanded; that Moses had not 
 given the true bread from heaven. 
 
 — Thus it was, that God, not being willing to reveal 
 these things to this people, seeing they had shown them- 
 selves unworthy of them, and being, notwithstanding, 
 desirous that they should be predicted, in order that 
 they might be afterwards believed, caused the periods of 
 the events to be plainly foretold, and explicitly described, 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 251 
 
 (although always in figurative language,) that by these 
 means, such as were addicted to indulge their fancy in 
 mere figures should rest in them ; * while those who 
 were interested in the things prefigured might discern 
 them in the types. 
 
 Everything which tends not to love (charite) is mere 
 figure. 
 
 — The sole end of Holy Scripture is love {charite). 
 
 — Whatever tends not to this end is but its figure ; 
 for, as there is but one end, everything that does not 
 expressly and literally promote that end is but a figure. 
 
 — God thus diversifies this one law of charity, in 
 order to satisfy our love of variety; and by that diversity 
 leads us to the supply of our one great and only want. 
 One thing only is needful for us, but we love variety: 
 God satisfies both our necessity and our inclinations by 
 means of this diversity. 
 
 — So absorbed were the Jews in these typical repre- 
 sentations, and so intent upon their fulfilment, that 
 they repudiated the reality when it appeared at the time 
 and in the manner predicted. 
 
 — The Rabbis interpret figuratively the "bosom of 
 the spouse," and everything that does not express their 
 one idea of temporal good. 
 
 And Christians interpret even the Eucharist as a 
 figure of the glory which is reserved for them. 
 
 XVT. "'■ Figures. 
 The proof that the Old Testament is figurative, and 
 that, by temporal goods, the prophets understood higher 
 
 * Here in the MS. are underlined the words, ne dis pas bien." 
 
252 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 blessings, is, 1st, that the opposite to this would have 
 been unworthy of God; 2d, that their discourses, while 
 plainly expressing the promises of the temporal good, 
 declare, nevertheless, that their language is obscure, and 
 their meaning not yet revealed. Whence it is evident, 
 that this meaning is not that which lay on the surface, 
 and that, consequently, they are to be understood as 
 referring to other sacrifices, another deliverer, &c. They 
 say themselves, that their true meaning will be only 
 conceived at the end of time. Jeremiah xxxiii., close. 
 
 The Sd proof is, that their language is inconsistent 
 with itself, and contradictory ; so that if it were to be 
 supposed that when the terms law and sacrifice are used, 
 nothing more is meant tha,n those prescribed by Moses, 
 there would be gross and palpable incongruity: when, 
 therefore, we find these contradictions in the very same 
 chapter, it is manifest that other things were intended. 
 
 XVII. The Synagogue did not perish, because it was 
 a figure; but inasmuch as it was nothing more than 
 a figure, it has fallen into degradation. The figure has 
 always subsisted, in order that the church might be ever 
 visible, either in the type by which it was promised, or 
 in its reality. 
 
 XVIII. ^ Particular Figures. 
 + Double law, double tables of the law, double temple, 
 double captivity. 
 
 XIX. Figures. 
 — + Jesus opened their minds to understand the 
 Scriptures. 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS, 253 
 
 There were two great revelations. 1st. That every- 
 thing had been hitherto in figures: ''vere Israelites, vere 
 liber i^' true bread from heaven. 2d. A God humbling 
 himself to the death upon the cross. It behoved Christ 
 thus to suffer, that he might enter into his glory, and 
 overcome death by his own death. 
 
 (Mem. : — To discourse upon a too figurative inter- 
 pretation.) 
 
 XX. + Figures. 
 ^ A painting may represent absence and presence, 
 pleasure and displeasure. Reality, on the other hand, 
 excludes absence and displeasure. 
 
 — In order to ascertain whether the law and the 
 sacrifice be realities or figures, we must observe whether 
 the prophets, when speaking of these things, so limit 
 their views and ideas to them, as if they saw in them 
 nothing more than this primary connexion ; or whether 
 they looked beyond them to other things, of which they 
 were the types. In a portrait we see the thing itself 
 which is represented. We have nothing more to do, 
 then, than to examine with care their expressions. 
 
 When they say it shall be eternal, are they to be 
 understood as speaking of that dispensation which they 
 affirm shall be changed? And so of the sacrifices, &c. 
 
 — A cypher has two meanings. If we intercept a 
 letter of importance, whose sense we think clear, and 
 which yet, we are told, is dark and mysterious ; — so 
 obscure, in fact, that we seem to look upon its contents 
 without seeing them, and to listen without hearing 
 them ; — what can we conclude, but that it is a cypher, 
 
254 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 bearing a double meaning? and, yet more, is this the 
 case, if, in the literal and superficial sense, we find certain 
 palpable inconsistencies ? How should we, in such a 
 case, prize those who are capable of interpreting these 
 cyphers, and discovering to us their hidden meaning ! 
 This is what is done by Christ and his Apostles. They 
 have lifted the seal, they have drawn aside the veil, 
 and discovered the spiritual meaning of these emblems. 
 From them we learn that man's enemies are his evil 
 passions ; that the Redeemer, and his reign, were to be 
 spiritual ; that two advents awaited him, — one of abase- 
 ment, to humble his pride, — the other of glory, to 
 reward his humility : in a word, that Jesus was to unite 
 in his person the ineffable glory of the Godhead and the 
 inferiority of man. 
 
 Again, the prophets distinctly announced, that Israel 
 should ever retain the favour of God, and that the law 
 should endure perpetually ; while they also said, that the 
 meaning of these predictions must remain veiled and 
 unintelligible. 
 
 XXL It was not allowed to sacrifice out of Jerusalem, 
 which was the place that the Lord had chosen, nor even 
 to eat the tithes elsewhere. Deut. xii. 5 ; xiv. 2S, &c. ; 
 XV. 20 ; xvi. 2, 7 ; xi. 15. 
 
 Hosea predicted there should be no king, no prince, 
 no sacrifices, no idols ; which is accomplished in the 
 present day, inasmuch as no sacrifices can lawfully be 
 offered out of Jerusalem. 
 
 ■'■ Figures. 
 
 If the law and the sacrifices are to be regarded as 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 255 
 
 realities, they must be uniformly pleasing to God. If 
 they are figures, they must be sometimes pleasing and 
 sometimes displeasing to him. 
 
 Now, throughout the whole of Scripture, we find this 
 latter to be the case. It is there stated that the law and 
 the sacrifices are to be changed ; that the nation should 
 be without king, without prince, without sacrifice ; that 
 a new covenant is to be formed, and the law renovated ; 
 that the precepts they had received were not perfect ; 
 that their sacrifices are an abomination to him ; that 
 God had not required them at their hands. 
 
 On the other hand, it is elsewhere said, that the law 
 shall endure for ever ; that the covenant with his people 
 and their sacrifices shall be everlasting ; that the sceptre 
 shall never depart from them, until the eternal King 
 shall come. 
 
 Do all these passages indicate reality ? No. Are 
 they then mere figure ? No ; but they are both reality 
 and figure. Now the former, from which reality is 
 excluded, prove that they were figurative. 
 
 All these passages, taken in combination, cannot be 
 understood literally ; all may be received as figures : 
 then they are not literal, but figurative. 
 
 ^ Agnus occisus est ah origine mundiJ" * The judge, 
 the sacrifice. 
 
 XXII. Contradiction. 
 
 A good portrait cannot be painted without harmonizing 
 opposite traits ; and it is not enough to delineate one 
 
 * Rev. xiii. 8. 
 
256 ON ncxURES, or figurative terms. 
 
 class of qualities, without blending with them contrary 
 ones : to understand an author properly, we ought to 
 collate all his contradictory passages. 
 
 Thus, to understand the Scripture, there should be a 
 certain sense in which contradictory passages may be 
 brought into accordance. Tt is not enough that there 
 should be one in which various according passages are 
 made to harmonize ; but one wherein even opposites 
 may unite. 
 
 All authors have a sense in which opposing passages 
 agree, or they are altogether without meaning. This 
 latter was by no means the case with the Scriptures and 
 the prophetical writings. They were fraught with 
 meaning. We must then seek a meaning in them which 
 shall harmonize all contrarieties. 
 
 This true meaning is assuredly not that which the 
 Jews assigned to them : it is in Jesus Christ alone that 
 all their contrarieties are brought into agreement. 
 ' The Jews knew not how to reconcile the termination 
 of royalty and princedom, predicted by Hosea, with 
 Jacob's prophecy. 
 
 If we interpret the law, the sacrifices, and the royalty 
 literally, we cannot reconcile all these passages. They 
 are then, necessarily, nothing more than figures. ^ But for 
 this, we could not even reconcile passages from the same 
 writer, or from the same book, or sometimes from the 
 same chapter,^ — all which express perfectly the meaning 
 of the author ; as when Ezekiel, ch. xx., says, " They 
 shall live in the commandments of God and, again, 
 " they shall not live in them." 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 257 
 
 XXIII. + Figures. 
 
 When the word of God, which is perfect truth, is untrue 
 in a literal sense, it is true spiritually. *' Sede a dextris 
 meis." This is false literally, but spiritually it is true. 
 
 In these expressions God is spoken of after the 
 manner of men ; and nothing more is intended than 
 that, in placing another person at the right hand, God 
 designs the same thing as men. It is an indication of 
 the intention of the Almighty, not of his manner of 
 executing that intention. 
 
 So, when it is said, God smelled a sweet perfume from 
 your sacrifices, and will recompense you with a fruitful 
 land," the meaning is the same as that of a man who, 
 if pleased with a perfume, would, in like manner, testify 
 his satisfaction. God thus rewards you, because you 
 have the same wish to give him pleasure, as a man who 
 offers sweet perfume to his fellow-man. 
 
 Thus, also, when we read, ^'iratus est" God is 
 jealous, &c. : these things being indescribable as regards 
 God, cannot be otherwise expressed ; and the church, in 
 like manner, now says, Quia confortavit seras,'' &c. 
 
 — ■'' It is not allowable to attribute to Scripture, 
 meanings which are not revealed to us. Thus, that the 
 D of Isaiah signifies six hundred years, is not matter of 
 revelation. It should have been said that the \> and the 
 n " dejicientesj' signified mysteries. It is not permitted 
 to say this ; and still less that it is undiscoverable, 
 like the philosopher's stone. But we affirm that the 
 literal is not the real meaning, because the prophets 
 have said the same things themselves. 
 
258 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 XXIV. ^' Fac secundum exemplar quod tihi ostensum 
 est ifi moiitej" 
 
 The Jewish religion, then, has been formed in a 
 resemblance to the truth of the Messiah ; and the truth 
 of the Messiah has been recognized by the religion 
 of the Jews, of which it was the type. 
 
 In the Jewish economy truth was veiled under figures. 
 
 In heaven it is unveiled. 
 
 In the church it is covered, and recognized by its 
 agreement with the figure. 
 
 — The figure has been framed upon truth, and truth 
 is recognized in the figure. 
 
 — ^ St. Paul says, that certain persons will forbid 
 marriage ; and he himself speaks of it to the Corinthians 
 
 XXV. The Old Testament contained types of the 
 happiness to come ; and the New, the means of attaining 
 to it. The types were those of joyousness, the means 
 were repentance ; and yet the paschal lamb was eaten 
 with bitter herbs, " cum amaritudinihus.'" 
 
 XXVI. Figures. 
 
 + God made use of the sensual tendencies of the Jews 
 to subserve the cause of Jesus Christ. 
 
 XXVII. + Figures, 
 
 ^ Nothing bears so much external resemblance to 
 
 * Here follow five or six illegible words. In the copy it stands, ^' d'une 
 maniere qui est une ratiere." 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 259 
 
 religion, as worldliness ; and nothing is so opposed.* 
 Thus the Jews, full of enjoyments which ministered to 
 their cupidity, resembled Christians, yet were very 
 different from them. And in this way they possessed two 
 qualities which it was requisite they should possess ; — 
 to be very much disposed towards the Messiah, in order 
 to hold him forth in figures ; and yet to be utterly op- 
 posed to him, that they might be unsuspected witnesses. 
 
 XXVIII. The figures which indicate the universality 
 of redemption, — such as the sun shining upon all men, 
 — show nothing more than a universality ; but the figures 
 denoting exclusion, — such as the Jews elected, to the 
 exclusion of the Gentiles, — show simply exclusion. 
 
 Christ is the Redeemer of all men. True : for he has 
 offered redemption to all, in the same way as a person 
 who ransoms all that are willing to come to him. Those 
 who perish, do so by their own perverseness ; but as to 
 him, he has offered them ransom. This is well as an 
 illustration, where he who ransoms, and he who saves 
 from death, are distinct ; but not as regards Jesus Christ, 
 who does both the one and the other. 
 
 XXIX. ^ And yet this covenant, blinding some and 
 enlightening others, revealed clearly to those even whom it 
 blinded, that truth which the other class had themselves 
 discovered in it. For the external benefits which they 
 received at the hand of God, were so mighty and of so 
 
 * Orig. : " Rien n'est si semblahle a la charite que la cupidiie, et rien v! ij 
 est si contraire." 
 
260 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 divine a character, tliat they proved his power to bestow 
 those which were invisible; and — most of all — a Messiah. 
 
 Nature is a type of grace ; and visible wonders are 
 figures of the invisible. Ut sciatis, tihi dico surge .'^ 
 
 ^ Isaiah li.* says, that the Red Sea is the type of 
 redemption. 
 
 ^ God has thus demonstrated, in the deliverance from 
 Egypt, the passage of the Red Sea, the defeat of the 
 Kings, the manna, — in every part of the history of the 
 race of Abraham, — that he had power to save, to give 
 food from heaven, &c. ; and, in the same way, the 
 perverseness of the people prefigured their rejection of 
 Messiah, &c. 
 
 He has herein taught us, that all these things were 
 only figures; and shown wherein consists the true liberty, 
 the true Israelite, true circumcision, true bread from 
 heaven, &c. 
 
 — In these promises every one finds that which in his 
 heart he most affects, — whether temporal good, or spi- 
 ritual blessings ; God, or the creature. But it is with this 
 difierence ; that those who seek therein for the creature, 
 find it, although mixed up with various contradictions, 
 — with the command not to set the affections upon it, 
 and to adore and love God alone, which is the same 
 thing ; and, finally, with the intimation that no Messiah 
 has been given for them. Whereas, those who seek 
 God in these revelations find him, and that without any 
 contrarieties ; together with invitations to devote them- 
 selves to his love ; and the assurance that the Messiah 
 has appeared, in the fulness of time, to bestow upon 
 * 10 and 11. 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. ^61 
 
 them those rich benefits which had been the object of 
 their supplications. 
 
 — And thus the Jews also had their miracles, their 
 prophecies, which they saw fulfilled before their eyes ; 
 and the great doctrine of their law, to worship and love 
 one God alone. These things were of perpetual obliga- 
 tion ; and exhibited to them all the marks of a true 
 religion. We must, however, distinguish the doctrine 
 of the Jews from the doctrine of their law. The doc- 
 trine of the Jews was wanting in truth, although it was 
 accompanied by miracles and prophecies, and extended 
 into perpetuity, — because it failed in that other great 
 condition, that of adoring and loving God alone. 
 
 XXX. The development of all these mysteries was 
 made solely to the Jews, and by the preaching of St. 
 John, the forerunner of the Messiah ; and afterwards the 
 remaining mysteries, to indicate that the same order should 
 be observed in each individual, as in the world at large. 
 
 Figures varied on account of our infirmities.* 
 
 XXXI. Perplexities of Scripture. 
 ^ The Jews say, " Scripture declares that it will not be 
 known whence Christ comes." 
 John vii. 27, and xii. 34. 
 
 ■'" Scripture says, that Christ abides for ever, and yet 
 that he shall die. " Thus," says St. John, "although they 
 saw so many miracles, they believed not, that the saying 
 of Isaiah might be fulfilled, — They were blinded," &c. 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
262 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 XXXII. In reality, there is enough of clearness to 
 enlighten the righteous, and enough of obscurity to 
 humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to perplex 
 the impenitent, and sufficient clearness to convict them 
 without excuse. 
 
 {In the margin : ^ St. Augustin, Montague, Sebonde.) 
 
 — The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the Old Testa- 
 ment, is mixed up with so many other insignificant 
 personages, as to be with difficulty distinguished. Had 
 Moses only recorded the immediate ancestors of Christ, 
 then the genealogy would have been too obvious : if he 
 had not recorded those of the Saviour, it would not have 
 been distinguishable. But, after all, a careful observerwill 
 easily discern that of Christ, through Tamar, Ruth, &;c. 
 
 — ^ Those who directed the observance of sacrifices, 
 well knew their inutility ; and those who declared their 
 inutility were, nevertheless, not the less punctual in 
 their observance. 
 
 — ■''If God had suffered only one religion to prevail, 
 it would have been too palpable. But if the different 
 varieties of belief are carefully examined, truth will be 
 easily discernible amidst the conflicting systems. 
 
 — This is a principle : Moses was a very able man : 
 if, then, his conduct was governed by intelligence, he 
 would clearly have said nothing that was directly incon- 
 sistent with intelligence. 
 
 So, all the apparent weaknesses are in reality evidences 
 of strength. For instance, the two genealogies of St. 
 Matthew and St. Luke : what can be clearer than that 
 there is no concert between them ? 
 
ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 26S 
 
 The truth of religion may be seen even in its obscurity, 
 in the small measure of insight which we obtain into its 
 mysteries, and in our indifference to become acquainted 
 with them. 
 
 Had there been but one system of religion, God 
 would have been too clearly revealed ; equally would 
 this have been the case, if there had been no martyrs 
 but for our faith. 
 
 XXXIII. Neither prophecies, nor even miracles, and 
 the evidences of our religion, are of such a nature that they 
 can be pronounced absolutely convincing. But they are 
 sufficiently so to render it impossible to maintain a belief 
 in them to be irrational. Thus there is at once clearness 
 and obscurity ; some are convinced, and some perplexed. 
 Yet is the evidence in favour of the truth so strong, that 
 it surpasses, or at least equals, that against it : thus it is 
 not in the power of reason to decide against its preten- 
 sions ; but it is the mere effect of a sensual and depraved, 
 heart. In the same way, there is sufficient evidence to 
 condemn the unbeliever, bat not to convince him ; that 
 adherence to the truth may appear the effect of grace, 
 and opposition to it of sense ; but neither the one nor 
 the other attributable to reason. 
 
 — Vere discipuU, vere Jsraelita^ vere liberie vere 
 cibus.'' 
 
 XXXIV. Religious belief ought to be sincere : — 
 true pagans, true Jews, true Christians.* 
 
 * Orig. : ''^ Pour les religions, il faut etre sincere: vrais paiens, vrais 
 juifs, vrais Chretiens.'" (In the copy only.) 
 
264 ON FIGURES, OR FIGURATIVE TERMS. 
 
 XXXV. Order. Agai7ist the objection that Scripture 
 is deficient in order. 
 
 The affections have an order of their own : the under- 
 standing has its own also, consisting in principles and 
 demonstrations ; that of the heart is a different thing. 
 We do not set about to prove that we ought to be the 
 object of love, by a methodical disquisition upon its 
 causes: this would be simply ridiculous. 
 
 — Jesus Christ and St. Paul dealt with the affections, 
 not with the mere understanding: they aimed to melt 
 the heart, rather than to convince the intellect. It was 
 the same with St. Augustin. Their method consisted 
 chiefly in bringing every point to bear — even in the 
 way of digression and illustration — upon their one great 
 end and aim. 
 
 Extravagance of the Apocalyptics, Preadamites, 
 Millenarians, &c. 
 
 ■'" Any one wishing to fix extravagant statements upon 
 Scripture, may found them, for example, upon the 
 following : — 
 
 ^ It is said, " This generation shall not pass away till 
 all be fulfilled." * Hereon I might say, that after that 
 generation another followed, and others successively. 
 
 * St. Matthew xxiv. 34. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 In the discourse which Pascal addressed to his friends, for 
 the purpose of describing the plan of his projected "Apology 
 for Religion," after speaking of the Jewish people, of Moses, 
 of Miracles, and of the Old Testament types, "he went on," 
 says Stephen Perier, " to deduce the proof of the Christian 
 Religion from Prophecies; and on this head he enlarged 
 more than on any of the preceding. Having meditated much 
 upon this subject, and entertaining respecting it some views 
 wholly original, he unfolded them with much explicitness. 
 He showed the meaning and connexion of the several predic- 
 tions with surprising facility, and laid them open to view in 
 all their clearness and force." 
 
 The numerous fragments — and those for the greater part 
 heretofore unpublished — now collected in the following chapter, 
 testify strongly, indeed, to the care with which Pascal had 
 studied the Hebrew Prophets. The profound study, however, 
 devoted to such subjects, indicates a taste eminently mys- 
 tical; and these his lucubrations upon prophecy are not 
 the only portions of his writings in which this tendency of 
 mind is evinced. In other parts of this w^ork, and especially 
 in the chapter on "Jesus Christ," there will be found many 
 pages hitherto unpublished, which attest that, while their 
 author must occupy one of the highest places in the ranks of 
 philosophy, a prominent one must be assigned to him in those 
 of the Mystics also. {French Editor.) 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 I. + H, 5. 
 
 * Contemplating the blindness and the misery of man ; 
 looking out also upon this silent universe ; and seeing 
 man powerless, dark, without guidance, cast upon a 
 mere point on its surface, — unknowing who has placed 
 him there, what are the purposes of his existence, what 
 his destiny, or its termination ; — destitute, in short, of all 
 knowledge, I shrink in terror from myself, like one f 
 who has been cast sleeping upon a desert land, and wakes, 
 unconscious where he is, or how he can make his escape 
 from it. I begin to marvel how any should be preserved 
 from despair in so hopeless a condition ! I see around 
 me others possessing natures like my own. I ask them, 
 if they are better informed than myself : they answer, 
 " No ;" and straightway — unhappy wanderers !— they look 
 around them, find certain objects which they think can 
 give them satisfaction, attach themselves to those objects, 
 — become absorbed in them. But I, — I cannot attach 
 myself to such things ; and, seeing how delusive and 
 unreal is everything around me, I have applied myself 
 to discover whether the Creator has not furnished some 
 marks by which he can be traced. 
 
 * This striking passage is quoted, with some variations, in the Preli- 
 minary Essay of M. Villemain to the Provincial Letters, p. 43. (Transl.) 
 f "Comme iin liomme ;" at first this stood, " Comme un enfant." 
 
 M 2 
 
268 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 I see many opposing religions ; and yet all of them 
 false, excepting one. Each of them asserts its right to 
 be received od its own authority, and fulminates threats 
 against the unbelieving. I do not, however, believe 
 them the more for these pretensions : all may make such ; 
 all may claim the gift of prophetical inspiration. But, 
 under the Christian religion, I find actual prophecy ; and 
 I find it in no other. 
 
 II, Prophecy constitutes the largest part of the evi- 
 dence of Jesus Christ. It is the chief purpose for which 
 God has provided it : for the event in which it mainly 
 centred, has constituted a standing miracle from the 
 commencement of the church, and will continue such to 
 its closing period. During a series of sixteen hundred 
 years, therefore, there was a succession of prophets raised 
 up ; and in the four centuries that succeeded, their 
 predictions were dispersed abroad, together with the 
 Jewish people who were their depositaries, throughout 
 all the nations of the earth. This, then, formed the 
 preparation for the advent of Jesus Christ : for, it being 
 the Divine intention that his Gospel should be received 
 throughout the world, it was necessar}^, not only that 
 prophecy should lead the way to its reception, but that 
 those prophecies should be dispersed as universally, as 
 the principles of Christianity were, eventually, to be 
 taught and received. 
 
 It was not then sufficient that prophecies should 
 exist ; they were to be scattered throughout all lands. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 and preserved in all periods. And, lest this should be 
 deemed a matter of mere chance, this very fact was itself 
 to be the subject of prediction. 
 
 — It contributed yet more to the glory of Messiah, 
 that they should be the spectators, and actually the 
 instruments of his glory, besides that God .... * 
 
 III. "'' Prophecies. 
 Had a single person composed a series of predictions 
 relating to Jesus Christ, both as to the time and manner 
 of his coming, and had his appearance been conformable 
 to those prophecies, it would have been an inconceivable 
 wonder. 
 
 But we have, in Scripture, actually much more than 
 this. We find a succession of persons, during a period 
 of four thousand years, one after the other, predicting 
 constantly, and without variation or discrepancy, this 
 one and the same event. It is a fact announced by an 
 entire people, subsisting during this mighty period, for 
 the purpose of embodying their faith in its reality, and 
 never once diverted from their testimony by any 
 menaces or persecutions to which it exposed them. All 
 this is yet more wonderful ! 
 
 IV. ^ . . . . f that then they shall no more 
 teach their neighbour, saying, Know the Lord ; for they 
 shall all know him. X 
 
 — Your sons shall prophesy. § 
 
 * Here are some illegible words, 
 f The beginning is wanting in the MS. % Heb. viii. 11. 
 
 § Joel ii. 28. 
 
270 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 — I will put my Spirit and my fear into your heart. 
 All this is the same. 
 
 To prophesy, is to speak of divine things, not by 
 external proofs, but by an inward and immediate inspira- 
 tion.* 
 
 V. The everlasting reign of David's race, 2 Chron., 
 declared in all the prophets, and even with an oath. 
 And this not fulfilled in a temporal sense, Jer. xxxiii. 
 20. 
 
 VI. It might have been thought, that when the 
 prophets predicted that the sceptre should not depart 
 from Judah, until it merged in an eternal sovereignty, 
 this was only intended to flatter the people, and would, 
 therefore, have appeared a mere fallacy to Herod. But, 
 to prove that this was not so, and that, on the contrary, 
 they well knew the temporal dominion was to cease, 
 they announced that the nation should be for a long 
 period without a King or prince. Hosea. 
 
 VII. Prophecies. 
 The 70 weeks of Daniel, are, from the terms 
 used, liable to some doubt as to the period of their 
 commencement, as well as in regard to their termi- 
 nation, on account of differences in chronology. But 
 the whole difference amounts to no more than about 
 200 years.f 
 
 * " Par sentiment interieur et immediat." 
 
 f Chronologists agree also that the 70 weeks can only be computed to 
 commence in the reign of Artaxerxes Longemanus ; but some date them 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 271 
 
 VIII. + Proof, 
 
 Prophecy with its accomplishment. 
 That which preceded Christ, and that which followed 
 him. 
 
 IX. Moses taught first : the Trinity, original sin, 
 the Messiah. 
 
 — David. His testimony important. 
 
 A King, good, placable, of a gracious disposition, 
 high intelligence, powerful : he predicts, and his wonders 
 are fulfilled : — all this is infinitely surprising. 
 
 — + He had only, if his vanity had induced him to do 
 so, to announce himself as the Messiah ; for the predic- 
 tions are clearer as to him than as to Christ himself. 
 
 — And St. John the same. 
 
 X. ^ Can we do otherwise than venerate a man who 
 predicts plainly events which come to pass ; who declares 
 his intention to be both to bafile and to illuminate the 
 mind ; and who mingles obscurity with clearness, in 
 events which are afterwards fulfilled ? 
 
 from the permission given to Esdras by that Prince, in the seventh year of 
 his reign; and others from that to Nehemiah, in his twentieth year. The 
 one class reckon these years from the association of this Prince with him- 
 self by his father, Xerxes, about the year 474 before the Christian era, as 
 commonly computed, in which case the seventh year would fall in 467, 
 which is the year of Xerxes' death: the others compute it from the death 
 of Xerxes, so that the twentieth year would fall in 4i7; which gives 
 precisely the interval of twenty years, namely, between 467 and 447. 
 There is reason, therefore, to suppose that the author here referred to these 
 20 years, and that the copyist, adding a cypher, has brought the number 
 erroneously up to 200 ijears. — Extract from a note to the Edition of 1783. 
 
272 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 XI. + Prophecies, 
 
 The overthrow of the Egyptians, Is. xix. 9. 
 ''' In Egypt an altar to the true God. 
 
 XII. ^ The synagogue has preceded the church ; the 
 Jews, Christians ; prophecy has predicted Christianity, 
 St. John, the Messiah. 
 
 XIII. + Prophecy. 
 ^ The sceptre was not interrupted by the Babylonish 
 captivity, because the restoration was promised and fore- 
 told. 
 
 Prophecy. 
 ^ The great Pan is dead.* 
 
 XIV. The period of the first advent is predicted ; that 
 of the second is not, because the first was to be obscure : 
 the second was to be so overt and manifest, that enemies 
 even must recognise it. But as he was to come with 
 obscurity, and in order to be acknowledged of those who 
 searched the Scripture f 
 
 Susceperunt verhum cum omni aviditate, scrutantes 
 scripturas, si ita se haherent.X 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f This passage is unfinished in the MS. The Edition of 1670, and 
 those that follow, have the following addition : — " .... God had so ordered 
 all things, that they served for his recognition. The Jews bore testimony 
 in receiving him, for they were the depositaries of the prophecies ; and 
 they testified also in not receiving him, for therein they fulfilled the 
 prophecies." 
 
 X Acts xvii. 11. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 21S 
 
 XV. Prophecies. 
 
 ^ That Christ shall sit on the right hand, while God 
 shall make his enemies subject to him. 
 
 + Then he shall not subject them himself. 
 
 + That he should be King of the Jews and the 
 Gentiles. And yet, we behold this King of the Jews 
 and the Gentiles oppressed by both, who conspired 
 together for his death : ruling over both ; and destroying 
 equally the dispensation of Moses in Jerusalem, which 
 was its focus, and where he founded his first church, — 
 and the heathen idolatry in Rome, which was its strong- 
 hold, and which became afterwards his most eminent 
 church. 
 
 That he should teach men a right way. 
 
 And never did there appear, either before or after 
 him, one who taught divine things in a manner 
 approaching to him. 
 
 + That Jesus Christ would be obscure at his outset, 
 and increase during his progress. 
 + The little stone of Daniel. 
 
 — ^ If I had not in any way heard of the Messiah, I 
 should, nevertheless, after seeing fulfilled so many won- 
 derful predictions in regard to the government of the 
 world, recognise therein a Divine hand. And if I knew 
 that the inspired volume foretold a Messiah, T should 
 then be convinced that he was come ; and still more 
 would iny conviction be strengthened, when I found 
 
 M 5 
 
274 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 that the time of his appearance was to be previous to 
 the destruction of the second temple. 
 
 XVI. And that which crowns all, is prophecy ; inas- 
 much as it precludes all imputation of chance in the 
 accomplishment of events. 
 
 ■'' Who is there that, knowing his existence was but 
 for a week, would not decide for the belief that it was 
 by no blind chance ?....* 
 
 ^ Now if passion did not mislead us, a week and 
 a century are the same thing. 
 
 If we ought to devote aright a single week of 
 existence, we ought equally to do so in regard to a 
 century, f 
 
 XVII. + Prophecy. 
 The time predicted in respect of the state of the 
 Jewish people, the state of Paganism, the state of the 
 Temple, the number of years. 
 
 ^ There must have been great boldness in predicting 
 the same thing in so many different ways. 
 
 It was necessary that the four idolatrous or Pagan 
 monarchies, the termination of the Jewish kingdom, and 
 the fulfilment of the seventy weeks, should all come to 
 pass at the same period ; and the whole previous to the 
 destruction of the second Temple. 
 
 Unfinished, 
 
 f See Miscellaneous Thoughts, 172. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 275 
 
 XVIII. + Predictions. 
 
 That in the epoch of the fourth monarchy, before the 
 destruction of the second temple, and the termination of 
 the Jewish kingdom, in the seventieth week of Daniel, 
 the heathen should be converted, and brought to the 
 knowledge of the God whom the Jews worshipped; that 
 those who turned to Him should be delivered from their 
 enemies, and filled with his fear and love. 
 
 And so it fell out, that in the fourth monarchy, 
 previous to the destruction of the second temple, &c., 
 the heathen were brought in crowds to the worship of 
 God, and converted to holiness of life. Their daughters 
 devoted their lives to religion, and renounced the marriage 
 tie ; men abandoned all their former pleasures. "What 
 Plato could only enforce upon a few select and en- 
 lightened followers, a secret impulse, operating by means 
 of a few and simple words, was now accomplished in 
 hundreds of thousands of beings, heretofore ignorant and 
 depraved. 
 
 The rich forsook their possessions ; children quitted 
 the tender homes of their parents, to plunge into the 
 austerities of the desert. Whence came all this? It 
 was what had been predicted centuries before. For 
 2,000 years previous to this, no heathen had ever been 
 known to become a worshipper of the God of the Jews; 
 and in the time predicted, countless multitudes are found 
 adoring the true and only God. The temples are 
 destroyed; their kings embrace the cross! Whence 
 again are these things ? It is the Spirit of God now 
 diffused upon the face of the earth. 
 
 (In the margin : ^ No heathen, from Moses to Jesus 
 
276 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Christ, according to the Rabbins themselves. After 
 Christ, multitudes of pagans believe the books of Moses, 
 and observe essentially their instructions, — only rejecting 
 their useless parts.) 
 
 XIX. + Holiness. 
 " Effundam spiritum meum'' * All the earth was 
 full of infidelity and lust ; all vs^ere seen at once 
 burning v^^ith zeal and love : princes renouncing their 
 grandeurs ; v^omen courting martyrdom. "Whence was 
 this holy compulsion? It was because the Messiah was 
 come. Behold the proof, and the effects of his coming ! 
 
 XX. At the coming of Messiah, men were divided. 
 The spiritual hailed his advent; the carnal became 
 his witnesses. 
 
 XXI. + During , the continuance of Messiah. 
 
 ^ ^'jEnigmatiSj' Ezek. xvii. 
 
 His forerunner, Malachi iii. 
 
 A child shall be born. Is. ix. 
 
 Born in the town of Bethlehem, Micah v. 
 
 He shall be found chiefly in Jerusalem, and spring 
 from the house of Judah,-}- and lineage of David. 
 
 — He will confound the wise and learned, Is. vi. 
 viii. xxix. ; and preach the gospel to the poor and 
 humble. Is. xxix. ; to open the eyes of the blind, give 
 health to the sick, and light to those who sit in darkness, 
 Is. Ixi. 
 
 * Joel ii. 28. 
 
 f Gen. xlix. 8 ; et seq. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 277 
 
 — He is to teach a right way, and be the instructer 
 of the Gentiles, Is. Iv., xL, i., vii. 
 
 ^ The prophecies were to be unintelligible to the 
 wicked, Dan. xii., Hos. xiv.; but plain to the well- 
 instructed. 
 
 The prophecies represent him both as abject in con- 
 dition, and as the ruler of nations, Is.lii.,liii. ; Zech.ix.9. 
 
 — Those prophecies which indicate the period of his 
 advent, predict him as being both ruler of the Gentiles, 
 and in a state of humiliation. And those which repre- 
 sent him as coming in glory to judgment, assign no period 
 for the event. 
 
 — He is to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world. 
 Is. xxxix., liii. 
 
 A foundation-stone, and precious. Is. xxviii. 16. 
 
 A stone of stumbling and offence. Is. viii. 14. 
 
 Jerusalem is to be broken against this stone. The 
 builders will refuse it, Ps. cxviii. 22. God will make 
 it his chief corner-stone. 
 
 And this stone is to become a great mountain, and fill 
 the whole earth, Dan. ii. 
 
 Thus he is to be rejected, despised, betrayed, sold, 
 Zech. xi. 12; spit upon, beaten, mocked, afflicted in 
 numberless ways, given gall to drink, Ps. Ixix. ; pierced, 
 Zech. xii. 10; his feet and hands pierced, himself killed, 
 and lots cast for his garments, Ps. xxii. 
 
 Then he is to rise again, Ps. xvi. And that on the 
 third day, Hos. vi. 2. 
 
 Then he is to ascend to glory, and sit on God's right 
 hand, Ps. ex. 
 
 Kings are to contend with him, Ps. ii. 
 
27S ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Sitting at the Father's right hand, he is to subdue his 
 enemies. 
 
 Kings and nations are to worship him, Is. Ix. 
 
 The Jews are ever to subsist as a nation, Jerem., &c. 
 
 They are to be dispersed, to be without a King, &c., 
 Hos. iii. ; without Prophets, Amos ; waiting for salva- 
 tion, but finding it not. Is. 
 
 — The Gentiles called by Jesus Christ. Is. lii. 15, 
 &c., &c. 
 
 Hos. i. 10. Ye shall be no more my people, and I will 
 be no more your God, after that 3^e are dispersed and 
 become multiplied again. In the place where it was 
 said, " Ye are not my people," it shall be said unto them, 
 " Ye are the sons of the living God." 
 
 XXTI. Herod believed in the Messiah. He had 
 taken the sceptre from Judah ; but he was not of Judah. 
 This constituted a considerable sect. 
 
 So also Barcosba, and others, received by the Jews. 
 And the report then universally prevailing. Suetonius, 
 Tacitus, Joseplius, 
 
 — How was he to be the Messiah, since in him the 
 sceptre was to be eternally given to Judah ; and yet on 
 his coming, the sceptre was to be taken from Judah ? 
 
 — Seeing, they were not to see ; and hearing, they 
 were not to understand ; therefore, nothing could better 
 fulfil the event. 
 
 — The malediction of the Grecians against those 
 who compute future periods. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 279 
 
 XXIV. It was the design of God, in ordaining that 
 the predictions of the Messiah should be of this nature, 
 that the good and docile should recognise him, but the 
 evil-disposed reject him. Had they been clearer, there 
 could have been in them no obscurity, even for the 
 sceptical. If the period of his coming had been 
 obscurely foretold, the faithful even v^ould have been in 
 doubt ; for their ingenuousness of disposition would not, 
 for instance, have led them to understand that a should 
 mean six hundred years.* But the time has been 
 clearly predicted, and the manner only figuratively. 
 
 By this means, the unbelieving, taking the promised 
 blessings for material good, fall into delusion, notwith- 
 standing the time has been clearly predicted ; but the 
 believing are preserved from error. 
 
 For the proper understanding of the promised good 
 depends upon the affections, which conceive aright of 
 the things they love ; but it is otherwise with respect to 
 the times predicted. Thus, the clear fore-showing of the 
 period, and the obscurity respecting the nature of the 
 blessings themselves, have the effect of deceiving the 
 sinful and worldly alone. 
 
 What is the testimony of the Prophets to Jesus 
 Christ ? — that he shall be the manifest God ? No ; but 
 that he shall be a God " that hideth himself ;" that he 
 shall be misapprehended, that he shall be misbelieved ; 
 that he shall be a stone of stumbling, &c. 
 
 * The Mem final, thirteenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The writer 
 here alludes to the circumstance that, in Greek, all the letters have their 
 numeral value, and do the office of cyphers. (Note of the former Editor.) 
 
280 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Let us not then be reproached with the want of clear- 
 ness in the testimony : we avow it. 
 
 Had Jesus Christ come into the world only to sanctify 
 us, the Scripture and all other things would have tended 
 to this point, and it would have been easy to convince 
 the infidel. Had he come only to perplex the world, all 
 his conduct would have been incomprehensible, and we 
 should have had no means of enforcing conviction. But 
 as he came " in sanctificationem et in scandalum^" as 
 Isaiah saith, we are unable to convince the infidel, and 
 he is unable to convince us ; but, by the same means, 
 we do convince him, since we say there is no proof 
 furnished by his conduct, either on the one side or the 
 other. 
 
 XXVT. Daniel ii. 
 
 ^ All your diviners and sages are unable to furnish the 
 solution of the mystery which you ask of them. 
 
 But there is a God in heaven who is able to do it ; 
 and he has, in your dream, revealed those things which 
 shall come to pass in the time to come. 
 
 ■'■ It is not by my wisdom that I am able to reveal this 
 secret ; but that same God has discovered it to me, that 
 I may be enabled to make it manifest to you, O King ! 
 
 This was the vision in your dream : — You saw in 
 your dream a great image before you, high in stature, 
 and terrible in form. The head of the image was of 
 gold ; the breast and the arms were of silver ; the belly 
 and thighs of brass ; the legs of iron ; and the feet of 
 mingled iron and clay. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 281 
 
 ^ You looked upon the image, and you saw a stone, 
 cut out without hands, strike upon his feet mingled of 
 iron and clay, and break them in pieces, 
 
 ^ Then fell to dust the iron, and the clay, and the 
 brass, and the silver, and the gold, and were scattered to 
 the winds ; but the stone which struck the image 
 increased to a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 
 This was the dream ; and behold now the interpretation. 
 
 ^ You, O King, who are greatest among the Kings of 
 the earth ; you, to whom God has given a mighty 
 dominion, and made you to be feared of all the people 
 of the earth ; you are this image, — you this head of gold, 
 which you have seen. 
 
 Yet another kingdom shall arise after, but inferior 
 to yours ; and after that, another of brass, which shall 
 rule over all the earth. 
 
 And the fourth kingdom shall be of iron ; and as 
 iron breaks and bruises all things, so shall this kingdom 
 break and bruise all the others. 
 
 ■'' And insomuch as you saw the feet and the toes, 
 formed part of clay and part of iron, it is shown that 
 the empire shall be divided, and shall partake of the 
 firmness of iron, and of the weakness of clay. 
 
 But as the iron cannot mix itself completely with 
 the clay, so shall those represented by the iron and the 
 clay not be able to form a durable union, although they 
 shall unite themselves in marriages. 
 
 Now in the days of these kingdoms, shall God set 
 up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor given 
 to another people. It shall disperse and destroy all the 
 other kingdoms ; but itself shall be everlasting, as was 
 
282 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 shown of that stone, which being cut out without hands 
 from the mountain, fell upon the iron, the clay, the 
 silver, and the gold. This is what God has revealed of 
 things that are to come to pass in the time to come. 
 The dream is true, and the interpretation certain. 
 ■'' Then Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, &c., &c. 
 
 Daniel viii. 
 
 ^ Daniel having seen the fight between the ram and 
 the he-goat, in which the latter conquered, and had 
 dominion over the earth : and when the great horn was 
 broken, four other horns came out of it towards the four 
 winds of heaven ; from one of which came out a little 
 horn which increased towards the south and the east, 
 and towards the land of Israel, and lifted itself up 
 towards the host of heaven, and cast down the stars, 
 treading them under its feet ; and at last opposed itself 
 against the Prince of the Host, and caused the daily 
 sacrifice to cease, and cast the sanctuary into desolation. 
 
 + All this Daniel saw : and when he asked the inter- 
 pretation, a voice was heard, saying, " Gabriel, cause 
 him to understand the vision which he has seen." 
 Then Gabriel said to him, 
 
 " The ram which you saw, is the King of the Medes 
 and Persians ; and the goat, is the Grecian King ; and 
 the great horn between the eyes, is the first King of the 
 monarchy. 
 
 " And forasmuch as when that horn was broken, 
 four other horns came out of its place, four Kings of 
 the same nation shall succeed, but not of equal power. 
 + Then when those kingdoms shall decline through 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 283 
 
 their sinfulness, a King shall spring up, strong and bold, 
 — but his power not derived from himself, — who shall 
 prosper greatly ; and he shall bring desolation upon the 
 holy people ; and, waxing strong through fraud and skill, 
 shall destroy many, and shall stand up against the 
 Prince of Princes : but yet he . shall perish, and that 
 without violence." 
 
 Daniel ix. 20. 
 
 ^ While I was praying in my heart, and confessing 
 my sins, and those of my people, prostrating myself 
 before my God, behold Gabriel, whom I had seen at the 
 beginning of my vision, touched me at the time of the 
 evening sacrifice, and said unto me, " Daniel, 1 am come 
 to give you knowledge of things : from the commence- 
 ment of your prayers, I came to reveal to you the things 
 which you desired to know, because you are a man 
 beloved. Hear, then, my word, and understand the 
 vision. Seventy weeks are appointed and determined 
 upon your people, and your holy city, to finish trans- 
 gression, and abolish iniquity, and to bring in everlasting 
 righteousness, and to accomplish the vision and the 
 prophecies, and to anoint the holy of holies." 
 
 {In the margin : After which this people shall be no 
 more your people, nor this city the holy city. 
 
 — The time of wrath shall be over, the years of favour 
 shall come for evermore.) 
 
 Know then, and understand, — that from the time of 
 the going forth of the command to restore and to rebuild 
 Jerusalem, to Messiah the Prince, shall be 7 weeks and 
 62 weeks. ^ After the walls shall have been rebuilt in 
 
S84 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 times of trouble and affliction, and after 62 weeks, 
 Messiah shall be slain, and a people shall come with 
 their prince, which shall destroy the city and the 
 sanctuary, and that with a flood ; and the end of that 
 war shall complete the desolation. 
 
 (In the ma7'gin : The Jews are accustomed to make 
 divisions of numbers, and to place the smaller portion 
 foremost : for instance, 7 and 62 make 69 : of these 70 
 then, there will remain the 70th, that is, the 7 years of 
 which mention is afterw^ards made. 
 
 ^ Which will have followed the 7 first. Christ then is 
 to be slain after the 69 weeks, that is, in the last week.) 
 
 ■'' And one week^ shall establish the covenant with 
 many ; and the half ^ of the week shall suffice to abolish 
 the sacrifice and the oblation, and shall render astonishing 
 the extent of the abomination, which shall spread and 
 remain upon those, who shall be astonished unto the 
 consummation. 
 
 {In the margin : ^ Which is the 70th that remains. 
 
 ^ That is, the three years and a half.) 
 
 Daniel xi. 
 
 The angel said unto Daniel, — 
 " There shall be ^ three Kings of Persia ; and the 
 fourth, who shall come after, shall be greater in riches ^ 
 and in power, and shall stir up all the people against 
 the Greeks. 
 
 {In the margin : ^ After Cyrus, under whom this 
 takes place. 
 
 — Cambises, Smerdis, Darius. 
 ^ Xerxes.) 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 285 
 
 But a mighty King ^ shall rise up, whose empire shall 
 he exclusive, and who shall prosper, according to his will, 
 in all his undertakings ; but when his kingdom shall be 
 established, it shall perish, and shall be divided into four 
 parts, according to the four winds of heaven,^ but not 
 to his own descendants ; and his successors shall not be 
 equal to him in power, for even his kingdom shall be 
 dispersed among others besides these.^ 
 
 {In the margin : ^ iVlexander. 
 
 ^ As was said before, ch. vii. 6, viii. 8. 
 
 ^ These four chief successors.) 
 And of his successors, he who shall reign towards 
 the south, shall be powerful ; but another shall subdue 
 him, and his kingdom shall be great. 
 
 {In the margin : Egypt ; Ptolemy, son of Lagus ; 
 Seleucus, King of Syria. 
 
 — Appianus says, that he was the most powerful of 
 Alexander's successors.) 
 
 ^ And after certain years they shall unite together ; 
 and the daughter ^ of the King of the South shall come 
 to the King of the North, to establish a peace between 
 the princes. 
 
 {hi the margin : ^ Berenice, daughter of Ptolemy 
 Philadephia, son of the other Ptolemy ; Antiochus 
 (Ecus, King of Syria and Asia, nephew of Seleucus 
 Lagidas.) 
 
 But neither she, nor her descendants, shall rule 
 long : for both she, and those who sent her, and her 
 children, and her friends, shall be delivered to death.j 
 
 {In the margin : •> Berenice and her son were killed by 
 Seleucus.) 
 
286 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 + But a branch ^ shall rise up from his roots, who shall 
 come with a powerful army into the territory of the 
 Northern King, where he shall subdue the people, and 
 carry away into Egypt their gods, their princes, their 
 treasures, and all their spoil ; and for many years the 
 King of the North shall not be able to resist him. 
 
 (In the margin : ^ Ptolemeus Evergetes, son of Bere- 
 nice's father. 
 
 Had he not been recalled for home-objects to Egypt, 
 Justin says, he would have entirely spoiled Seleucus.) 
 
 Then he shall return to his kingdom ; but his sons 
 shall be stirred up, and assemble a great force. 
 
 (J/i the margin : Seleucus Cerannus, Antiochus 
 Magnus. 
 
 — Ptolemeus Philopater against Antiochus Magnus. 
 
 — This Ptolemy profaned the temple. Josephus.) 
 And their army shall come and commit great ravages ; 
 
 when the King of the South, being incensed, shall also 
 raise a great army, and give them battle, and overcome 
 them ; and his troops shall become insolent, and his 
 own heart shall be lifted up : he shall subdue many 
 thousands, but his conquest shall not endure. 
 
 For the King of the North shall return with larger 
 forces than at the first, and shall stand up against the 
 Southern King, and even violent and apostate men 
 among his own people shall rise up against him, 
 that the vision may be accomplished, and they shall 
 perish. 
 
 {In the margin : Antiochus Magnus. The young 
 Ptolemy Epiphanes being on the throne. 
 
 — Those who had abandoned their religion, to gain 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 287 
 
 favour with Evergetes, when he sent his troops to 
 Scopas, for Antiochus shall retake and subdue Scopas.) 
 
 And the Northern King shall destroy the fortresses 
 and the strongest cities, and all the forces of the south 
 shall not be able to resist him, but shall submit to his 
 will: he shall encamp upon the land of Israel, and it shall 
 submit to him. 
 
 Thus he shall think to make himself master of all 
 the kingdom of Egypt. 
 
 {In the 7nargin : Despising the youth of Epiphanes, 
 according to Justin.) 
 
 ^ And he shall make alliance with him, and give him 
 his daughter.^ He shall seek to corrupt her, but shall 
 not persist in his design : then he shall engage in other 
 enterprises, and shall endeavour to subdue the Islands,™ 
 and some of them he shall take.'^ 
 
 {In the margin : ^ Cleopatra, in order that she might 
 betray her husband. Whereon Appianus says, that, 
 fearing he might not be able to conquer Egypt, through 
 the protection of the Romans, he sought to get possession 
 of it by treachery. 
 That is, seaports. 
 According to Appianus.) 
 
 ^ But a great chiefs shall oppose him in the midst 
 of his conquests, and turn his own reproach against him. 
 
 ^ He shall return to his own kingdom, and perish,? 
 and no more be found. 
 
 {In the margin : ° Scipio Africanus, who arrested the 
 progress of Antiochus Magnus, because he had offended 
 the Romans in the person of their allies. — p He was 
 killed by his own people.) 
 
288 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 And his successor shall be a tyrant,^ who shall 
 afflict the glory of the kingdom, that is, the people, with 
 imposts ; but in a short time he shall die, neither by 
 sedition, nor in war. 
 
 {hi the margin : ^ Seleucus Philopater or Soter, son 
 of Antiochus Magnus.) 
 
 And one shall succeed him, vile, and unworthy of 
 royalty, who shall come in by intrigues and flattery. 
 
 All the armies shall yield before him, he shall 
 subdue them, and even the prince with whom he had 
 made alliance ; for after renewing the alliance with him, 
 he shall betray him, and coming up with small armies 
 into his provinces, undisturbed and free from alarm, he 
 will take the most valuable places, will exceed the deeds 
 of his fathers, and, ravaging in all directions, will form 
 great designs to be executed in his times.* 
 
 Is. i. SI. Change from good to evil, and God's 
 retribution. 
 
 * — Is. X. 1. Vce qui condunt leges iniquas. 
 
 Is. xxvi. 20. Vade populus mens, intra in cuhicula 
 iua, claude ostia tua super te, ahscondere modicum ad 
 momentum donee pertranseat indignatio. 
 
 — Is. xxviii. 1. Fee coronce superhice. 
 
 — Miracles. 
 
 * The preceding pages contain a commentary, interesting to the students 
 of prophecy, upon several difficult passages in the Book of Daniel. What 
 follow are a series of almost literal transcripts, (interspersed with a few 
 brief remarks,) from other well-known passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah ; 
 and they are retained here, in conformity with the French Edition, chiefly 
 for the purpose of exhibiting the strong bias of the writer's mind towards 
 prophetical studies. (Transl.) 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 289 
 
 — Is. xxxiii. 9. Luxit et elanguit terra, confusus 
 est Lihanus et ohsorduit, etc. 
 
 Id. 10. Nunc consurgam, dixit Dominus, nunc exal- 
 tahor, nunc suhlevahor. 
 
 — Is. xl. 17. Omnes gentes quasi non sint. 
 
 — Is. xli. Quis annuntiavit ah exordio ut 
 sciamus, et a pri7icipio ut dicamus : Justus es ? 
 
 Is. xliii. 13. Operahor et quis avertet illud? 
 
 Jer. xi. 21. No7i prophetahis in nomine Domini, et 
 non morieris in manihus nostris. 
 Propterea hcec, dixit Dominus. 
 
 Jer. XV. 2. Quod si dixerint ad te : Quo egrediemur ? 
 dicas ad eos ; Hcec dicit Dominus : Qui ad mortem ad 
 mortem, et qui ad gJadium ad.gladium, et qui ad famem 
 ad famem, et qui ad captivitatem ad captivitatem. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 9. Pravum est cor omnium et inscrutahile : 
 quis cognoscit illud? (That is, who can know all the 
 evil of it; for that it is evil, is known ah'eadj.) Ego 
 Dominus scruta^is cor, et prohans renes. 
 
 Et dixerunt ; Venite et cogitemus contra Jeremiam 
 cogitatio7ies, non enim peribit lex a socerdote, neque 
 sermo a propJieta. 
 
 Jer. xvii. 17. Non sis tu mihi formidini, tu spes mea 
 in die afflictionum. 
 
 Jer. vii. 14. Faciam domui Jiuic in quainvocatum. est 
 nomen meum, et in qua vos habetis fiduciam,, et loco quern 
 dedi vobis ; et patrihus vestris, sicut feci Silo, 
 
 {In the margin : Reliance upon external sacraments.) 
 
 Id. 16. Tu ergo noli orare pro populo hoc. 
 
 Jer. vii. 22. Quia non sum locutus cum patrihus 
 
 N 
 
290 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 vestris, et iion 'proBcepi eis in die qua eduxi eos de terra 
 JEgypti^ de verba Jiolocautomatum et victimarum. 
 
 Id. 2S. Sed hoc verhum prcecepi eis dicens : Audite 
 vocemmeam, et ero vohis Deus ; etvoseritis mihipopulus, 
 et amhulate in omni via quam mandavi vohis, ut bene 
 flit vohis. Et nan audierunt. 
 
 {In the margin: The external rite is not the essential 
 point.) 
 
 Jer. xi. 13. Secundum numerum enim civitatum 
 tuarum erant Dei tui Juda, et secundum numerum 
 viaruin Hierusalem posuisti aras confusionis : tu ergo 
 noli orare pro populo hoc. 
 
 {In the margin : Multitude of doctrines.) 
 
 Ts. xliv. 20. Neque dicet : Forte mendacium est in 
 dextera mea ? 
 
 Is. xliv. 21, &c. Memento horum Jacob et Israel, 
 quoniam servus mens es tu. Formavi te, servus mens es 
 tu Israel; ne obliviscaris mei. 
 
 Id. 22. Delevi ut nubem iniquitates tuas, et quasi 
 nehulam peccata tua : revertere ad me, quoniam redemi te. 
 
 Id. 23, 24. Laudate coeli quoniam misericordiam 
 fecit Dominus . . .; quoniam redemit Dominus Jacob, 
 et Israel gloriabitur. Hcec dicit Dominus redemptor tuus 
 ex utero : Ego sum Dominus faciens omnia, extendens 
 ccelos solus, stabiliens terram 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. Ixiii. 12, Qui eduxit ad dexter am Moy sen brachio 
 majestatis suce, qui sqidU aquas ante eos, ut facer et sibi, 
 nomen semjpiternum. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 291 
 Id. 14. Sic adduxisti populum tuum ut facer es tihi 
 
 7107)1671 gl07'l(E, 
 
 Id. 16. Tu enim pater 7ioster, et Abraham nescivit 
 nos, et Israel ignoravit nos. 
 
 Id. 17. Quare indurasti cor nostrum ne timer emus 
 
 le. 
 
 Is. Ixvi. 17. Qui sanctijicahantur et mundos se 
 puiahant .... 
 
 Id. 17. Simul consumeTitur, dicit Dominus. 
 
 — Jer. ii. 35. Et dixisti : Absque peccato et innoce7ts 
 ego sum, et propterea avertatur furor tuus a me. 
 
 Ecce ego judicio coTitendmn tecum eo quod dixeris : 
 Non peccavi. 
 
 Jer. iv. 22» Sapientes sunt ut faciant 7}iala, bene 
 et autem facer e nescierunt. 
 
 Id. 23, 24, &c. Aspexi terram, et ecce vacua eraf, 
 et nihili; et coelos, et non erat lux in eis. 
 
 Vidi monies et ecce movebantur ; et omnes colles con- 
 turbati sunt. 
 
 Intuitus sum et no7i erat Ji07no, et omne volatile coeli 
 recessit. Aspexi, et ecce Carmelus desertus, et omnes 
 urbes ejus desertcE sunt a facie Domini, et a facie irce 
 furoris ejus. 
 
 HcEC enim dicit Dominus : Deserta erit omnis terra, 
 sed tamen consu7nmationem non faciam. 
 
 Jer. V. 4, &;c. Ego autem dixi : For sit an pauper es sunt, 
 et stulti ignorantes viam Domini, judicium Dei sui. 
 
 Ibo ad optimates et loquar eis, ipsi enim cognoverunt 
 viam Domi7ii ; et ecce magis hi si7nul confregerunt jugum, 
 ruperunt vincula. Idcirco percussit eos leo de sylva, 
 pardus vigilans super civitates eorum. 
 
 N 2 
 
292 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Jer. V. 29. Numquid super his non visitabo? dicit 
 Dominus : aut super gentem hujuscemodi non ulciscetur 
 anima mea? 
 
 Jer. V. 30. Stupor et mirahilia facta sunt in terra. 
 
 Id. 81. Pfophetce prophetahant mendacium, et 
 sacer dotes applaudehant manibus, et populus meus dilexit 
 talia : quid igitur fiet in novissimo ejus? 
 
 Jer. vi. 16, &;c. 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. JEt dixerunt : Non ambulabimus, 
 
 Et co7istitui super vos speculatores. Audite vocem 
 tubce, Et dixerunt : Non audiemus. 
 
 Ideo audite gentes quanta ego faciam eis. Audi terra : 
 ecce ego addiicam mala, etc. 
 
 Jer. xxiii. 15. A prophetis enim Hierusalem egressa 
 est pollutio super omnem terram.. 
 
 Id. 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. 
 
 ^ If it does not show indifference, &c., &c. 
 
 XXVII. General conduct of the world towards the 
 church ; — God wishing to enlighten and instruct. 
 
 + The result having established the inspiration of 
 this portion of the prophecies, the remainder ought to 
 be believed ; and by their means we see what is the 
 actual course of the world's affairs. 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 29S 
 
 — + The miraculous procedure of the creation and 
 the deluge having lapsed from memory, God caused the 
 law to be delivered, empowered Moses to perform his 
 miracles, and raised up prophets for particular objects. 
 And, to establish a standing miracle, he ordained both 
 prophecies and their accomplishment. For as mere 
 predictions might be liable to suspicion, he determined 
 to place them beyond suspicion. 
 
 XXVIII. Particular predictions, 
 + They were strangers in Egypt, without possession or 
 inheritance, either there or elsewhere,* when Jacob 
 dying, and blessing his children, announced to them that 
 they should become possessed of an extensive country, 
 and predicted especially that their Kings should be 
 descended from the family of Judah, and that all his 
 brethren should be subject to him.f 
 
 Jacob, disposing of the promised land as its possessor, 
 gave to Joseph a larger portion than to the others. " I 
 give to you," he said, " one portion beyond your 
 brethren ;" and blessing his two sons, Ephraim and 
 Manasseh, whom Joseph had brought to him, the eldest, 
 Manasseh, being on his right, and the younger, 
 
 * Here follows this passage, erased : — " There was not, then, the least 
 indication either of the royalty which ensued so long after, nor of the 
 Supreme Council of Seventy Judges, called the * Sanhedrim,' which, insti- 
 tuted by Moses, continued till the time of the Messiah : all these things 
 seemed as unlikely to occur as could be possible . . . ." 
 
 f Here follows this passage in the MS., erased: — That the Messiah 
 even, the expected of all nations, should be born of him, and that the 
 kingdom should not depart from Judah, nor the Governor and Lawgiver 
 from his offspring, till Messiah should come." 
 
294 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 Ephraim, on his left, he placed his arms across, and 
 putting his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and his 
 left on that of Manasseh, blessed them both after that 
 manner. On this, Joseph remonstrating with him on 
 thus placing the younger before the elder, he replied 
 with wonderful energy, " I know it, my son ; I know it 
 well : but Ephraim shall be above Manasseh." "Which 
 superiority was, in the sequel, so plainly manifested, that 
 his one tribe being almost as populous as the ten which 
 composed the whole kingdom, it has been usual to call 
 them all by the name of Ephraim only. 
 
 Joseph also dying, commanded his children to carry 
 his bones with them when they should go up into that 
 land, which they did not enter until after an interval of 
 two hundred years. 
 
 Moses, who described all these things so long before 
 they came to pass, made the division of the land to the 
 several families, as if he had had the disposal of it, long 
 before they entered into it.* 
 
 He appointed arbitrators to carry out the dis- 
 tribution, prescribed forms of political government, 
 directed them to build cities of refuge, and .... 
 (Incomplete.) 
 
 XXIX. ■'' Final captivity of the Jews. 
 
 Jer. xi. 11. I will bring upon Judah all these evils, 
 and they shall not be delivered from them. 
 
 * Another passage erased: — "And predicted circumstantially all that 
 was to befall them in the land of which they should take possession after 
 his death : — the victories they should achieve, their ingratitude towards 
 God, the punishments that should be inflicted upon them, &c., &c." 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 295 
 
 XXX. + Figures. 
 The Lord planted a vine, from which he looked 
 for grapes, but it produced only sour grapes ; therefore 
 I will dig it up and destroy it : the earth shall produce 
 only thorns, and I will forbid the heaven to rain upon it. 
 
 Is. V. 7. The Lord's vine is the house of Israel, 
 and the men of Judah are his pleasant plant : I looked 
 that they should do justice, and they brought forth only 
 iniquity.* 
 
 XXXV. There are some who see clearly that man 
 has no enemy but his lusts, which pervert his way from 
 God, while God desires to keep him near to himself ; 
 and that his real happiness consists in God, and not in 
 earthly joys. As to those who think man's good to 
 consist in fleshly enjoyments, and his evil in that w^hich 
 weans him from the pleasures of sense, let them satiate 
 themselves with such things, and die ! But for those 
 who seek their God with their whole heart; whose only 
 grief is the privation of his favour, their only desire its 
 possession, their only enemies those who would draw 
 them away from him, and their chief affliction to 
 find themselves surrounded by such foes ; — let such 
 as these be comforted : I bring them good tidings ; 
 there is a deliverer for them ; and it is my office 
 to reveal him. I have to show them that there is a 
 God who is on their side. I care not to display him 
 to others. I will show them a Messiah, who was 
 
 * Here follow, in the French Edition, various Scripture quotations, 
 occupying several pages, which it is unnecessary to transcribe. (Transl.) 
 
296 
 
 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 promised to deliver them from their enemies ; and that 
 he came to deliver them from their iniquities, and from 
 no other enemies. 
 
 — When David predicted that Messiah would deliver 
 his people from their enemies, it might be supposed, in 
 the view of sense, that the Egyptians were intended ; 
 and in that case I should not be able to demonstrate the 
 fulfilment of the prophecy. But let it be allowed that 
 sin is intended, — for, in reality, Egyptians are not 
 enemies, but iniquities are so, — then the term " enemies" 
 must be regarded as equivocal. 
 
 But if we find, as is the case in other places, both in 
 Isaiah and in other prophecies, that the promise is to 
 deliver his people from their sins, the ambiguity is 
 removed, and the double meaning of the term "enemies" 
 reduced to the simple one of " iniquities." For if the 
 writer meant to convey the idea of sin, he might well 
 describe it as an enemy ; but if it was merely enemies 
 that he intended, he could not describe them as 
 iniquities. 
 
 Now Moses, David, and Isaiah, all made use of the 
 same terms. Who then shall say that they did not 
 mean to convey the same idea ? and that the meaning of 
 David, when speaking of enemies, — which is evidently 
 that of iniquities, — is not the same as that of Moses, in 
 using the same expression ? 
 
 — Daniel (9th chap.) prays for deliverance of his 
 people from the bondage of their enemies : but his 
 thoughts were directed to their sins; and in proof of 
 this, he says that Gabriel appeared to him, to tell him 
 that his pra^^er was heard, and that in seventy weeks it 
 
ON PROPHECY. 
 
 297 
 
 should be fulfilled ; when his people should be delivered 
 from their iniquity, — sin brought to an end, — and the 
 Deliverer, the Holy of holy ones, bring in everlasting 
 righteousness ; — not a legal, but an everlasting one. 
 
 Prediction. 
 
 It is predicted that at the time of the Messiah a new 
 covenant should be formed, which should supersede the 
 departure from Egypt, (Jerem. xxiii. 5, Is. xliii. 16,) 
 and should establish the law, not externally, but in the 
 heart ; that Christ should fix his fear in the heart, not 
 in the external conduct. 
 
 Who does not discern in all this the law of Chris- 
 tianity ? 
 
 ^ Prophecy, 
 
 That the Jews would reject Jesus Christ, and that 
 they would be rejected by God, inasmuch as the chosen 
 vine would produce only sour grapes. That the chosen 
 people would be infidel, ungrateful, and incredulous : 
 Populum 7ion credentem et contradicentem.'" 
 That God would visit them with blindness, and they 
 would grope as the blind in the noon-day. (Deut. 
 xxviii. 28.) 
 
 That then idolatry should be overthrown ; that the 
 Messiah should destroy the idols, and restore the wor- 
 ship of the true God. 
 
 That the temples of idolatry should be destroyed, and 
 that in all nations and all places animal sacrifices should 
 be done away, and a pure worship restored. 
 
 N 5 
 
298 ON PROPHECY. 
 
 ■'' The zeal of the Jews for their law and their temple. 
 Josephus and Philo . . ad Caium.'"* 
 
 ^ What other people ever possessed such zeal ? And 
 it was necessary. 
 
 "What a blessing is it, to have so much light in the 
 midst of such obscurity ! 
 
 It is most interesting to trace with the eye of faith, 
 Cyrus, Alexander, the Roman, Pompey, and Herod, all 
 promoting, without knowing it, the triumphs of the 
 Gospel ! 
 
 Delightful by faith to read the histories of Herod 
 and Caesar! 
 
 The Prophets blended individual transactions with 
 the particulars respecting the Messiah, that the predic- 
 tions of the Messiah should not be without proof, and 
 the individual prophecies not without fruit. 
 
 * An illegible word. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 After discoursing on the Prophecies, Pascal " entered," 
 says M. Perier, " on the subject of the New Testament. He 
 commenced with Jesus Christ." 
 
 Among the numerous unpublished fragments collected in 
 this chapter, we have furnished that which Pascal entitled 
 " The mystery of Jesus Christ," composed apparently under 
 the influence of a species of melancholy transport, in a con- 
 tinuous series, and almost entirely without erasures : these 
 pages are remarkable for the highly enthusiastic (mystique) 
 character impressed upon them. The reader will be especially 
 struck with that passage in which the writer, wrapt in tender 
 contemplation, seems to see Jesus present to his view, con- 
 verses with him, hears his words, and replies to him : we 
 might seem to be reading a chapter of " The Imitation."* 
 
 It may be conjectured that these pages, which are not 
 found in the collection of the " Pensees,'" formed part of the 
 Portfolio, which the Abbe Perier mentions in the following 
 manner, in the 3d Certificate prefixed to the Autograph 
 MS.: — "I, the undersigned, certify that the Portfolios 
 collected in this volume, which are abridgments of the ' Life 
 of Jesus Christ,' are in the handwriting of my uncle, M. 
 Pascal, and were found after his death among his papers ; 
 which volume I have deposited in the Library of the Abbey 
 St. Germain des Prez, for custody there, &c." — This part 
 of the MSS. of Pascal, with the exception of the portion 
 preserved in the following pages, is now probably wholly lost. 
 
 The original of the diagram placed in front of the following 
 chapter, is drawn by Pascal's own hand, at p. 113 of the 
 autograph MS. {French Editor.) 
 
 * "Z)e U Imitation^ (A Kernpis.) 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Pai'ens. 
 
 iMahoraet. 
 
 I. Jesus Christ is the object of the two Testaments: 
 of the Old, its expectancy ; of the New, its model ; of 
 both, the centre. 
 
 II. Jesus Christ is for all men. — Moses for one 
 people. 
 
 The Jews were blessed in Abraham : " I will bless 
 those who bless thee ;" but ^' in thy seed all nations shall 
 be blessed." 
 
 '^Parvus est ut^' &c. Isaiah. 
 
 " Lumen ad revelationem gentium.'''' Luke ii. S2. 
 
 " Non fecit taliter om7ii nationi^' said David, (Psalm 
 cxlvii. 20,) in speaking of the law ; but in speaking of 
 Jesus Christ, he may say, Fecit taliter omni nationi. — 
 Parvus est ut,'' &;c. Isaiah. 
 
 Thus universality is tbe characteristic of Jesus. The 
 
302 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 church herself oiFers her sacrifices only for the believing : 
 Christ has offered that of his Cross for all. 
 
 III. What being was ever so distinguished ? The 
 whole Jewish nation predicted his advent. The whole 
 Gentile world afterwards adored him. Both Jew and 
 Gentile regard him as their centre. 
 
 And yet who ever evinced less self-complacency in 
 his distinction ? During thirty out of the thirty-three 
 years of his existence, he was unknown. Even in those 
 three years, he passed for an impostor: by the priests 
 and rulers he was rejected ; by his friends and relatives 
 despised. At last he dies, betrayed by one of his 
 disciples, denied by another, deserted by all ! 
 
 What was his share, then, in all his distinction ? None 
 ever experienced so much ; with none was it accom- 
 panied by such ignominy. And all was for our sakes ; 
 none for his own ! 
 
 Jesus is that Divine Being to whom we can draw near 
 without pride, and before whom we can be abased 
 without despair. 
 
 TV. "'' Coming after a succession of God's messengers, 
 Christ at last appeared, saying, Behold me, behold the 
 time come ! What the prophets foretold should come to 
 pass in the fulness of time, I announce is about to be 
 fulfilled by my Apostles. The Jews shall be rejected, 
 Jerusalem destroyed, and the Heathen brought to the 
 knowledge of God. All this shall be accomplished by 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 303 
 
 my Apostles, after you shall have slain the Heir of the 
 Vineyard." 
 
 Then the language of the Apostles to the Jews was, — 
 You are about to incur God's malediction ;" and to the 
 Heathen, "You shall acquire the knowledge of God :" 
 and all this came to pass. 
 
 {In the margin : Celsus ridiculed this.) 
 
 V. The knowledge of God, without a knowledge of 
 our own misery, produces pride ; that of our misery, 
 without God, leads to despair. The knowledge of Jesus 
 Christ forms the medium by which we acquire the 
 knowledge both of God and of our own misery. 
 
 VI. "'" Even had Epictetus perfectly discerned the right 
 way, his language to mankind was only, — *' You follow a 
 wrong one." He shows there is another ; but he does 
 not lead the way to it. That way is to will what God 
 wills. Jesus Christ alone leads to it : " Fia Veritas.'' * 
 
 VII. Christ has done no more than teach men that 
 they naturally love themselves; and that they are enslaved, 
 blind, diseased, unhappy, and guilty ; that they require 
 to be delivered, enlightened, healed, and made happy : 
 that this is only to be done by leading them to abhor 
 themselves, and following up this lesson by the sufferings 
 and death of the cross. 
 
 * Immediately after this passage, the St, Germain copy adds, "The 
 vices of Zeno even." 
 
304 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 VIIT. Without Jesus Christ, man must be a creature 
 of vice and misery ; with him, he is dehvered from 
 both. In him is all our virtue and all our happiness ; 
 apart from him is nothing but vice, misery, error, dark- 
 ness, death, despair. 
 
 IX. Not only is it impossible, — it would be useless, 
 to know God otherwise than througli Jesus Christ. We 
 are not repelled, but invited; we are not degraded, 
 but . . . .* 
 
 " Quo quisquam optiinus est pesslmus, si hoc ipsum 
 quod sit optimus ascrihat sihi." 
 
 X. ^ God in Christ, We know God only by Jesus 
 Christ. Without this Mediator all communication with 
 God is barred : through it, we obtain a knowledge of 
 him. All who have pretended to know and prove the 
 existence of God, without Christ, have failed in the 
 attempt. To Jesus Christ, however, prophecy furnishes 
 a solid and incontrovertible testimony. And those pro- 
 phecies being fulfilled and proved true by the event, 
 evince the certainty of those truths, and therefore furnish 
 proof of the divinity of Christ. In and by him, then, 
 we acquire the knowledge of God. Without him, with- 
 out the Scripture, without the doctrine of original sin, 
 without the knowledge of a Mediator, promised and 
 revealed, we have no means of absolutely proving the 
 existence of God, or teaching sound doctrine or holy 
 morals. But in and through Jesus Christ, we prove 
 God's existence, and obtain a system of sound doctrine 
 
 * Unfinished. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 305 
 
 and wholesome morality. Christ then is, in truth, God 
 manifested to man. 
 
 By the same means we also learn the evils of our 
 condition ; for this God, so revealed, is the effectual 
 repairer of our miseries. Thus we cannot arrive at the 
 true knowledge of God, but through the consciousness 
 of this misery. 
 
 Those, then, who have acquired a knowledge of God, 
 without a knowledge of their misery, have not used it to 
 promote his glory, but their own exaltation. " Quia 
 non cognovit per sapientiam, placuit Deo per stuUitiam 
 pr<^dicationis salvos facere.'"^ 
 
 ^ We not only cannot attain to the knowledge of 
 God, excepting through Jesus Christ, but we cannot 
 know ourselves. We know nothing of life, nothing of 
 death, but by him. Without him, in short, we know 
 neither life, nor death, nor God, nor ourselves. 
 
 ^ Thus, without the Scripture, whose only subject is 
 Christ, we know nothing, and are involved in utter 
 obscurity as to the nature of God, and of ourselves. 
 
 XL ■'■ " Pray, that you fall not into temptation."f 
 Temptation is dangerous, and those who experience it, 
 do so because they omit to pray. 
 
 — ^ " Et tu conversus, confirma fratres tuos.''\ But 
 before, it is said, conversus Jesus respexit PetrumJ" ^ 
 
 — St. Peter asks permission to strike Malchus ; but 
 
 * 1 Cor. i. 21. 
 
 f Matt. xxvi. 41 : — *' Vigilate et orate ut non intretis in tentatione7n." 
 I Luke xxii. 32. § Luke xxii. 61. 
 
306 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 he strikes before he receives a reply : it was afterwards 
 that Christ spoke. 
 
 — The word " Galilee,"* which the multitude of the 
 Jews altered by mere accident, when accusing Jesus 
 Christ before Pilate, was the cause of his being sent to 
 Herod ; whereby was fulfilled the mystery that he should 
 be judged by both Jews and Gentiles. The apparent 
 accident led to the fulfilment of this mystery. 
 
 XII. Christ did not desire to suffer without the 
 forms of justice ; for it is much more ignominious to die 
 under judicial forms, than by seditious outbreak. 
 
 XIII. The perverted judicature of Pilate contri- 
 buted only to hasten the fate of Jesus : he caused him, 
 first to be unjustly scourged, and then to be executed. 
 He had far better have killed him at first. So it is 
 with false professors : they perform both good and evil 
 actions out of a regard merely to the world's opinion, 
 and thus show that they belong not to Christ. They 
 are, in fact, ashamed of him, and, in time of temptation, 
 betray him. 
 
 XIV. The object of Christ's coming, then, was to 
 reveal to men that they have no enemy so great as them- 
 selves ; that it is their own passions which separate them 
 from God ; and that he came to subdue those passions, 
 to confer his grace upon men, and to form them into a 
 holy church to himself. 
 
 He came also to bring back to this his church, both 
 
 * Luke xxiii. 5. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 307 
 
 heatliens and Jews, — destroying the idols of the one, and 
 the superstitions of the other. Herein he is opposed by 
 man, not only through the natural enmity of the carnal 
 mind, but because it has been predicted, that all the 
 Kings of the earth should unite against his Gospel.* 
 
 And, in reality, all the great men of the earth did 
 conspire against it, — philosophers, scholars. Kings. The 
 one wrote it down ; the other exposed its professors to 
 obloquy ; the last destroyed them. And yet, notwith- 
 standing all these obstacles, we find this weak and 
 humble company resisting all these powers, bringing 
 under their doctrine these Kings, philosophers, scholars, 
 and sages ; and destroying idolatry throughout the 
 earth ! All this was effected by the same power, through 
 whose foreknowledge it had been predicted. f 
 
 XV. Christ did not announce that he was not of 
 Nazareth, nor that he was not the son of Joseph, in 
 order that his enemies might be left in their blindness. 
 
 XVI. Testimonies to Christ. 
 Christ announced the greatest truths with so much 
 simplicity, that they seemed to have been the result of 
 no mental effort ; and yet combined an originality and 
 point, which fill us with admiration. 
 
 XVII. ^ Testimonies to Christ. 
 It was not their captivity only, but their continued 
 
 * In the margin : — " Proph. Quare tremiierunt gentes. 
 
 — Reges terra: adversiis Christum." 
 
 t In the copy only. 
 
308 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 hope of its termination at the expiration of seventy 
 years. Now they are without hope. 
 
 God promised that, though they should be dispersed 
 to the ends of the earth, if they remained faithful to 
 him they should be gathered together again. They 
 remain faithful, and are oppressed. 
 
 Had the Jews been all converted by Christ, we should 
 have had only suspected witnesses ; and had they been 
 destroyed, we should then have possessed none at all ! 
 
 The Jews reject him, but not all. The saints receive 
 him, not the carnally-minded. And however this may 
 seem to oppose his glory, it in reality is its consummation. 
 For their only reason, and that which is assigned in all 
 their writings, — the Talmud and Rabbinical works, — is, 
 that Jesus Christ did not subdue the nations to himself 
 with the sword, — gladium tuum potentissime this 
 is all they are able to allege. 
 
 Christ was slain, they say ; he was conquered ; he did 
 not overcome the nations by his power : he endued us not 
 with their spoils ; we have acquired none of their wealth. 
 And is this all ? This forms, with me, his claim to 
 my devotion. I would share in none of their vain 
 expectations. 
 
 It is plain that it is only his spotless life, which has 
 stood in the way of their reception of him ; and by this 
 rejection they become unimpeachable witnesses ; and. 
 
 * Psalm xliv. 4. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 309 
 
 what is more, they, by that means, accomplish the 
 fulfihTient of the prophecies. 
 
 It is wonderful, and deserving of our profound admi- 
 ration, that we should find the Jewish nation perpetually 
 existing, and ever in a state of suffering : indispensable 
 as a witness to Christ, they subsist for the purpose of 
 furnishing their testimony, and they are miserable because 
 they destroyed him. And, contradictory as it seems, to 
 exist and to be unhappy, yet do they ever exist, in 
 spite of their misery. 
 
 When Nebuchadnezzar carried away the people, lest 
 they should think the sceptre had departed from Judah, 
 it was announced to them that their captivity should 
 be for only a short time, and that they should be 
 re-established. 
 
 Their Prophets ever comforted them with the assur- 
 ance that their Sovereigns should be continued to them. 
 But the second overthrow is without promise of restora- 
 tion, without prophecies, without sovereignty, without 
 consolation, without hope ! For the sceptre is taken 
 from them for ever ! 
 
 XVIII. Testimonies to Christ, 
 ^ Why was the Book of Ruth preserved ? 
 What purpose is served by the history of Tamar ? 
 
 XIX. ^ Testimony to Christ. 
 The supposition that the Apostles were deceivers, is 
 
310 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 utterly absurd. Let us follow it out : imagine these 
 twelve men assembled together after the death of Christ, 
 contriving a scheme to represent him, falsely, as raised 
 from the dead. The human heart is strangely addicted 
 to levity and change, and warped by hopes and benefits. 
 Let only one out of the number have been dazzled by 
 these attractions ; and others of them, again, terrified by 
 imprisonment, tortures, and death; their plot would have 
 been ruined ! Follow out this, I say. 
 
 The Apostles were deceived, or deceivers: either of 
 these suppositions is full of difficulty ; for it is not possible 
 to mistake as to a man's restoration from the dead. 
 
 — While Christ was with them, their cause might 
 have been sustained. But afterwards, if he had not 
 appeared to them, who could have set them in action ? 
 
 Hypothesis of the Apostles being deceivers. 
 
 — The time clearly. 
 
 — + The manner obscurely. 
 
 — Five proofs of figures. 
 
 XX. ^Atheists. 
 
 ^ What right have they to say, "It is impossible that 
 we should rise again?" Which is the more difficult. To 
 be born, or to be raised from death ?— that a thing which 
 was nothing should come into existence, or that, when it 
 has once existed, it should live again ? Is it less difficult 
 to he, than to return from death into being? Custom 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 311 
 
 renders tlie one familiar to us ; want of familiarity makes 
 the other appear an impossibility. This is the popular 
 way of judging. 
 
 What have they to allege against the resurrection, 
 and against the miraculous conception of the Virgin ? 
 Why should it be more difficult to produce a man or an 
 animal, than to reproduce one ? If they had never seen 
 one particular species of animal, would they have been 
 able to conjecture, that it could not have been brought 
 forth without the association of the two sexes of such an 
 animal ? 
 
 XXL How did the Evangelists learn the quaKties of 
 a perfectly heroic spirit, so as to transfer tliem to their 
 portraiture of Jesus Christ ? Why have they represented 
 him as yielding in his agonies to human infirmity ? 
 Could they not have described a death of unwavering 
 fortitude ? Yes, assuredly ; for it is the same narrator, 
 St. Luke, who describes the death of St. Stephen, as one 
 of more firmness than that of Christ. ' 
 
 They describe him, then, as yielding to fear, before 
 death had become inevitable, but afterwards, as full of 
 fortitude. 
 
 His sorrow is then from within ; against the wrongs 
 of man, he is immovable. 
 
 XXII. The Jews, in testing his divinity, proved 
 him to be man. 
 
S12 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 The Church has been as careful to prove him to be 
 man, in contradiction to those who deny his humanity, 
 as to prove his divinity ; and of both indeed the indi- 
 cations were palpable. 
 
 XXIII. Joseph a type of Christ. 
 
 The beloved of his father ; sent on an errand by his 
 father to his brethren, &:c. : without fault ; sold by his 
 brethren for money ; and thence exalted to be their lord, 
 their saviour ; the saviour of multitudes unknown to 
 him; of the world: — all which could not have taken 
 place without the scheme for his disgrace, his sale, 
 and destruction. 
 
 — In the prison, Joseph was committed, without any 
 olFence of his, with two criminals ; Christ was crucified 
 between two thieves. He foretold the release of the 
 one, and the execution of the other, under like symbols, 
 in the case of each. Jesus saves the elect, {les elus,) and 
 condemns the reprobate, {les reprouves,) under like crimes. 
 Joseph predicts only; Christ acts. Joseph entreats of the 
 one who is to be -saved that he will be mindful of him 
 when he is restored to prosperity ; and he whom Jesus 
 saves prays to be remembered of him when he shall 
 enter his glory. 
 
 XXIV. Why did not Jesus Christ make his appear- 
 ance on earth in a manner plain and palpable, instead 
 of resting his claims on preceding prophecies ? 
 
 — + Why was he foreshadowed in figures ? 
 
 XXV. What could the Jews, his enemies, do? If 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 313 
 
 tliey receive him, they authenticate him by their recep- 
 tion, for it is the depositaries of the promise of the 
 Messiah by whom he is received ; and if they renounce 
 him, they authenticate him by their renunciation. 
 
 XXVI. The Jews, in putting him to death, to declare 
 their rejection of him as Messiah, furnished the most 
 complete proofs of his Messiahship. 
 
 And in continuing to disavow him, they have rendered 
 themselves unimpeachable witnesses. 
 
 In killing him, in fact, and persisting in denying him, 
 they have fulfilled the prophecies. 
 
 XXVII. Christ appeared under such obscurity (as 
 the world esteems it) that historians, recording only im- 
 portant events of worldly policy, took scarcely any 
 cognizance of him. 
 
 On the fact, that neither Josephus, nor Tacitus, nor 
 other historians, mahe any mention of Christ. 
 
 So far from being unfavourable to his claims, it is 
 in their favour ; for it is unquestionable that Christ 
 existed, and that his religion was a matter of public 
 notoriety : they could not therefore have been un- 
 acquainted with it ; and it is evident that they were silent 
 by design ; or that references to it existed in their 
 writings, which have been suppressed or altered. 
 
 XXVIII. + I regard Jesus as sustaining all the rela- 
 tions of life, in ourselves. I see him a father, in his 
 Father ; a brother, in his brethren ; poor, in the poor ; 
 
 o 
 
314 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 rich, in the rich ; a teacher and priest, in the priests; a 
 Sovereign, in Sovereigns, &c. For in his glorified con- 
 dition, as God, he is everything that is great; and in 
 his mortal state,* everything that is abject and base : 
 he assumed, indeed, this low estate, that he might dwell 
 in all, and be the model of every condition. 
 
 XXIX. ■'■ In asserting that Christ did not die for all, 
 you think to reprove those who rashly apply the exception 
 to themselves ; which leads to despair, rather than to 
 encouragement and hope ; for it is in this way that 
 internal virtues are promoted by outward habitudes. f 
 
 ^ Calling of the Gentiles by Jesus Christ. Is. Hi. 15. J 
 
 XXX. Overthrow of Judaism and idolatry by 
 Christ. 
 
 — Omnes gentes venient et adorabunt eum. 
 
 — Par urn est ut, etc. Is. 
 
 — Testes iniqui, 
 
 — Dabit maxillam percussienti. 
 
 — Dederunt fel in escam. 
 
 — Postula a me. 
 
 — Adorabunt eum omnes reges. 
 
 XXXI. ^ Adam "forma futuri. "§ Six days for creating 
 the one, six ages for forming the other ; the six days 
 which Moses represents as employed for the creation of 
 Adam, are only a type of the six ages for the formation 
 
 * " Sa vie mortelle." This stood at first, " Sa nature humaine" 
 t 2d Coll. MS. P. Guerrier. % Copy. § Rom. v. 14. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 315 
 
 of Jesus Christ and the Church. Had Adam not sinned, 
 and Christ not appeared, there would have been only 
 one covenant, and one epoch in the history of man : the 
 creation would have been represented as final and com- 
 plete at once. 
 
 The six ages, — the six fathers of the six ages; the 
 six marvellous appearances at the commencement of each 
 of the six ages ; the six* . . . the entrance upon the six 
 ages. 
 
 XXXII. — Ne timeas pusillus greoc, timore et 
 tremore. Quid ergo ne timeas, modo timeas. 
 
 Fear not, if you are afraid ; but if not afraid, fear. 
 
 — Qui me recipit non 7ne recipit sed eum qui me 
 misit.-f 
 
 — Nemo scit neque Jllius.'i 
 
 — ■''1 hold that Joshua was the first, and Jesus Christ 
 the last, to bear the name of the people of God. 
 
 — Nuhes lucida ohumhravit. 
 
 — ■''St. John was to turn the hearts of the fathers to 
 the children, and Christ puts division between them. 
 
 — ^ Property in communi et in particular i.^' The 
 semipelagians err in saying in communi,'' which is not 
 true except in particular i and the Calvinists, in 
 saying " ^7^ pai'ticulari^' which is true " in communi'' 
 So it appears to me. 
 
 XXXIII. M. de Condran. He says, there is no 
 
 * Illegible. f John xiii. 20 ; Matthew x. 40. 
 
 X Mark xiii. 32. 
 
 o 
 
316 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 point of comparison in the union of the saints with that 
 of the Holy Trinity. Jesus Christ says the contrary. 
 
 XXXIV. ■'■ It seems to me that Jesus allowed his 
 wounds only to be touched after his resurrection : " Noli 
 me tangere.'" * We can have fellowship with him only in 
 his sufferings. 
 
 — He permitted communion with him, as man, in 
 the holy supper ; as raised from the dead, by his dis- 
 ciples at Emmaus ; as ascended to glory, by the whole 
 church. 
 
 XXXV. If Satan had favoured the doctrine which 
 he aimed to destroy, he would have been divided against 
 himself, as said Jesus Christ. If God were to favour 
 the doctrine which destroys the church, he would be 
 divided against himself: omne regnum divisu7n,''f &c. 
 For Christ opposed the devil and exorcised and destroyed 
 his empire in the heart, in order to establish the rule of 
 God in its place. To this effect he adds : ''In digit o 
 Dei, etc., regnum Dei ad vos, etc.'"^ 
 
 XXXVI. John 8. '' Multi crediderunt in eum. 
 Dicehat ergo Jesus : Si manseritis. , . . Vere mei dis- 
 cijmli eritiSf et Veritas liherahit vos. — Responderunt : 
 Semen Ahrahce sumus, et nemini servimus unquam" 
 
 — There is a great difference between disciples and 
 TRUE disciples ; they are to be known by the w^ord, the 
 truth shall make them free. For if they reply, they are 
 
 * John XX. 17. t Liike xi. 17. % Id. 20. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 317 
 
 free, and are not in bondage to the devil, they are 
 disciples indeed, but not true disciples. 
 
 XXXVII. " Omnis Judcea regio et lerosolimatcs 
 universi, et baptizabantur : "* because all classes of men 
 came to him. 
 
 — These stones can become children of Abraham. f 
 
 — The righteous shall not be conscious of their good 
 deeds, nor the wicked of the greatness of their crimes. 
 " Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or athirst ?" &c. J 
 
 — Jesus Christ would not receive the witness of 
 devils, nor of those who were not called; but of God, 
 and John the Baptist. 
 
 ■ — Those who know themselves, God will heal and 
 pardon. " Ne cotivertantur et smient eos, et dimittantur 
 eis peccata.'' 
 
 Mark iii. §. . . Is, 
 
 — ■'■ Christ never condemned without hearing the 
 party ; He said to Judas, " Amices ad quid venisti V In 
 like manner to him who had not the wedding garment. 
 
 XXXVIII. Christ came that those who see might be 
 blind, and the blind see ; to heal the sick, and to leave 
 the healthy to die; to call to repentance and to justify 
 the sinners, and leave the righteous in their sins ; to 
 supply the wants of the needy, and to send the rich empty 
 away. 
 
 XXXIX. The Evangelists make no mention of the 
 
 * Mark i. 5. f Matt. iii. 9. % Matt, xxv. 37. 
 § Mark iv. (not iii.) 12: "i/i videtites videant,'' &c. 
 
318 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 virginity of the Mother of Christ till his birth. Every- 
 thing has reference to him. 
 
 XL. The Prophets predicted, but were not the subject 
 of prediction. Afterwards the saints were predicted of, 
 but were not prophets. Jesus Christ was both prophesied 
 of and prophesied. 
 
 XLL The infinite difference between the body and 
 the mind is a figure of the infinitely more infinite* 
 difiTerence between the mind and Divine love : {des 
 esprits a la charite :) this is beyond all comprehension. 
 
 — All external grandeur is dim to those whose re- 
 searches are habitually directed to the intellect. 
 
 — Largeness of intellect is not discernible by the 
 great, the rich, the eminent in command, or by any who 
 are renowned according to the flesh. 
 
 — Eminence of wisdom — which yet is nothing, apart 
 from God — is indiscernible by mere sensualists or wits. 
 These things are altogether diflerent in species. 
 
 — Genius of a high order has its own domain, — its 
 distinctions, its greatness, its conquests, its splendours ; 
 and has no need of, and no connexion with, carnal 
 distinctions. They are things visible to the mind, not 
 to the eye ; and that sufiSces. 
 
 The saints have their sovereignty, their distinctions, 
 their victories, their splendour ; and have no need of, and 
 no connexion with, carnal or intellectual distinctions, 
 which neither add to, nor detract anything from them. 
 
 * In this anomalous expression the original is followed ; infinimentplus 
 injinie.'" So in Scripture: less than the least to knoiv the love of 
 Christ, which passe th knowledge." (Transl.) 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 319 
 
 They are watched by God and angels, and are unseen of 
 mortal sense and refinement. God is their all- sufficiency. 
 
 — Archimedes needed not worldly splendour to obtain 
 our veneration. He did not dazzle the eye with conflicts, 
 but he filled the mind and overwhelmed the spirit with 
 his mighty discoveries. 
 
 — Jesus Christ, without worldly possessions or scien- 
 tific eminence, has his own peculiar sanctity. He promul- 
 gated no important discoveries ; he aimed at no supremacy ; 
 but he was humble, patient, holy, — nay, the holiest of 
 the holy ; the conqueror of Satan ; altogether without sin. 
 To the internal eye of the heart, to the discernment of 
 true wisdom, how illustrious was the pomp of his 
 appearance, and how unspeakable his greatness ! 
 
 — Princely as was Archimedes, it would have been 
 useless in him to affect the Prince in his geometrical 
 treatises. 
 
 — It would have been useless in Christ, in his reign 
 of holiness, to affect earthly sovereignty : yet his coming 
 was with a greatness all its own. 
 
 — It is absurd to make the baseness of Jesus Christ a 
 matter of scandal, as if that baseness was of the same 
 nature as the greatness which he came to establish. Let 
 it be remembered what was the kind of greatness displayed 
 in his life, in his passion, in his obscurity of station, in 
 his death, in the choice of his disciples and their abandon- 
 ment of him, in his resurrection, in his whole history : — - 
 so great was everything, that we shall no longer be scan- 
 dalized with a baseness, which, after all, was none at all. 
 
 — But there are some who can admire nothing but 
 carnal greatness, as if there were none that is intellectual ; 
 
320 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and there are others who can admire only intellectual 
 greatness, as if true wisdom were not infinitely above all. 
 
 — Everything that is merely physical, — the firmament, 
 the starry heaven, the earth and its royalties, — all is 
 valueless compared with the lowest order of intelligence ; 
 for it is that which possesses a knowledge of all these 
 things and of itself also : but mere physical substance 
 knows nothing. 
 
 — All physical substances, all the intelligence of man, 
 and everything which they produce, bear no comparison 
 with the least of the things divine their region is one 
 infinitely above them. 
 
 All bodily substances together could not originate the 
 simplest thought : it is an impossibility : their nature is 
 wholly different. 
 
 — All bodily substance, and human intelligences 
 together, could not excite an emotion of real divine 
 love: it is equally an impossibility, for its nature is 
 superhuman. 
 
 XLII. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride, &c.f 
 There are three orders of things, — the flesh, the 
 
 mind, the will. 
 
 Those of the flesh, — the rich and powerful : their 
 
 object is the body. 
 
 The inquisitive and scientific : their object is the 
 
 mind. 
 
 The wise : their object is justice. 
 God ought to be supreme over everything, and every- 
 thing have reference to him. In the things of the flesh, 
 
 * *' Le moindre mouvement de charite." f 1 John ii. 16. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 321 
 
 sensuality is supreme over everything ; in those of the 
 intellect, curiosity ; in those of wisdom, pride. 
 
 Not that men may not be distinguished for their 
 wealth, or their knowledge; but these things are not 
 proper objects of pride : for while we concede to any one 
 eminence for learning, we ought not to omit to show him 
 the unsuitableness of pride. Wisdom may properly 
 inspire a consciousness of superiority; for we cannot 
 allow to any one the possession of wisdom, and censure 
 him for such a sense of superiority : the one is a just con- 
 sequence of the other. It should always, however, be 
 remembered that God is the only source of wisdom: there- 
 fore it is said : — qui gloriatur, in Domino glorietur.'" 
 
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHRIST AND MAHOMET. 
 
 XLIII. ^ Who bears testimony to Mahomet ? Him- 
 self. Christ desires that his own testimony should be 
 accounted nothing. 
 
 — ^ The essence of testimony is, that it should be 
 perpetual and universal : it is utterly worthless if 
 unsupported. 
 
 Mahomet without authority. His proofs then ought 
 to be very powerful, as they rest upon no support but 
 their own. 
 
 What does he then declare? That he must be believed. 
 
 When two persons express obscure (or apparently 
 irrational) sentiments,* the one with a hidden meaning, 
 
 * " Sots contes." In the St. Germain copy, E. Perier, in place of "sots 
 contes," has overlined it, " choses qui paraissent basses," an alteration which 
 has been since continued. 
 
 o 5 
 
322 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 understood only by the initiated ; the other with no more 
 than a single and obvious meaning ; if any one not 
 thus initiated hear the two thus discoursing, he will form 
 a like opinion respecting both. But if, in the sequel of 
 their discourse, the one should utter sentiments of super- 
 human excellence, and the other such as are utterly 
 worthless and sordid, it will be then seen which of the 
 two possesses true intelligence : — the one, showing himself 
 to be incapable of such irrationalities as appeared at first 
 in his expressions, but proving, rather, that there must be 
 in them some hidden excellence ; the other, on the con- 
 trary, evincing that he is capable of the irrationality, and 
 not of the excellence. 
 
 It is not by the obscurer sentiments in Mahomet, and 
 those which carry an air of mysteriousness, that I would 
 have him judged ; but by his simpler statements, — his 
 Paradise, and things of that kind. There it is that is 
 seen his absurdity. And thence his obscurities ought 
 not to be taken for depth, inasmuch as what is really 
 simple in him is puerile. It is otherwise with the 
 Scriptures. Admitted that there are obscurities as great 
 as in the writings of Mahomet; yet, on the other hand, 
 the clearer parts are beyond all admiration ; and there are 
 in them prophecies which have been most palpably accom- 
 plished. There is no parallel between the two. No 
 comparison can be made between two things which 
 resemble each other only in their obscurity, but difier 
 in a degree of clearness, which in the one is so great 
 that it should make us regard even its obscurities with 
 reverence. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 32S 
 
 Any one could have done what Mahomet did : he 
 performed no miracles, he was the subject of no predic- 
 tions. No one could have done what Jesus Christ did. 
 
 Inconstancy and extravagance. 
 ^ To live by labour, and to reign over the most power- 
 ful empire in the world, are two things the most opposite 
 possible : they are united in the person of the Grand 
 Seignor. 
 
 The Pagan religion is without any foundation.* 
 The Mahometan religion is founded on the Alcoran 
 and on Mahomet. But was he, who ought to have been 
 the object of the whole world's expectation, ever prophe- 
 sied of? What is there to distinguish him from any 
 other man pretending to be a prophet ? What miracles 
 did he perform ? What mysteries did he teach ? Where, 
 by his own records even, is his morality, or the good 
 tendency of his system ? 
 
 The Jewish religion should be regarded differently, as 
 it appears in the records of its holy books, and in the 
 traditions of the people. In the latter, the morality and 
 the entire tendency are ridiculous ; but in their sacred 
 writings,f they are admirable. Its foundation also is solid ; 
 
 * At first, " Without any foundation at the present time. It was 
 formerly alleged that it was supported by oracles. But what are the 
 writings which assert this? Are they entitled to credit by the weight of 
 their authors ? have they been preserved so carefully, that we can be 
 certain they have not been interpolated?" (This is erased.) 
 
 t In the MS., instead of, as above, des livres saints," it is, " leurs 
 saints ;" but the whole passage is written by an inexperienced amanuensis. 
 Further, by the Saints of the Old Testament, and among the Jewish people, 
 the Prophets are especially intended. 
 
3^4 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 its records are the most ancient and authentic in the 
 world; and while Mahomet, in order to support his 
 system, has forbidden the reading of its records, Moses, 
 to perpetuate his, directed all the world to read its 
 books. 
 
 It is the same with every religious system : Christianity 
 is a very different thing in its holy writings, and in the 
 hands of the casuists. 
 
 So divine is the nature of our religion, that another 
 religion, equally of divine origin, forms only its founda- 
 tion. 
 
 Difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet.^ 
 
 Mahomet not the subject of prophecy ; Christ pre- 
 dicted. 
 
 Mahomet established by bloodshed ; Christ by the 
 death of his own followers. 
 
 Mahomet suppressing knowledge ; the Apostles court- 
 ing it. 
 
 In fine, so utterly opposed are they, that if Mahomet 
 took the usual human methods for success, Christ must 
 be considered to have used the means for failure ; and 
 instead of concluding that, because Mahomet succeeded, 
 therefore Jesus Christ must have succeeded also, it 
 should be rather inferred, that as Mahomet's religion 
 succeeded, Christianity should have perished. 
 
 * This fragment was written on a paper that was afterwards cut in two : 
 one portion is page 457 in the MS., and the other page 467. 
 
THE MYSTERY OF JESUS. 
 
 I. 
 
 Jesus, in his passion, endured torments at the hand 
 of man ; but, in his agony, his sufferings arose from the 
 depths of his own spirit : ^' turhare semetipsum,'" The 
 infliction was not from a mortal, but from an omnipotent 
 hand ; and it required omnipotence to sustain it. 
 
 — ^ Jesus is seen seeking, in his extremity, some 
 consolation from his three most attached disciples ; and 
 they were asleep ! He prays them to abide,* and watch 
 a little with him ; and they neglectfully leave him, 
 feeling so little for him, that they could not refrain an 
 instant from sleep.f Thus was Jesus left alone to 
 sustain the wrath of God. 
 
 — Jesus was left alone upon the bare ground, 
 which knows and feels and shares his grief : heaven and 
 earth only are acquainted with it. 
 
 — ^ Jesus was in a garden ; not, like the first Adam, 
 
 * " Soutenir." Perhaps Pascal intended, Se tenir" In St. Mark, it 
 stands, " Ei ait illis : Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem ; sustinete tuc 
 et vigilate." — Saci translates " sustinete hlc," by " demeurez ici." 
 (French Editor.) 
 
 f Pascal here, in common with many other commentators, treats the 
 conduct of the disciples as the effect of negligence, and consequently as 
 severely culpable. But our Lord himself seems to have taken a more 
 indulgent vievy of their infirmity ; he graciously says, " The spirit truly is 
 ready, hwtihe flesh is weak." (Transl.) 
 
326 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 in one of beauty and enjoyment, where he caused 
 the ruin of the whole human race ; but in one of sorrow, 
 where he effected the restoration and salvation of man. 
 
 — This suffering and desertion were sustained 
 amidst the horrors of night and darkness. 
 
 — ■'■ Jesus never, I believe, uttered a complaint except 
 on this occasion ; but then he bewailed himself, as 
 unable to contain his bitter grief : ^' My soul is exceed- 
 ingly sorrowful, even unto death ! " 
 
 — ^ Christ then sought companionship and consolation 
 on the part of man. This, also, seems to me to be the 
 only occasion when he did so. Yet he received none ; 
 for his disciples slept. 
 
 — Jesus will continue to agonize and watch to the 
 end of the world. 
 
 — Jesus, in the midst of this universal abandonment, 
 and the desertion of his friends — brought for the very pur- 
 pose of watching with him, — finding them asleep, grieves 
 on account of the peril to which they were exposing, not 
 him, but themselves ; and, in the face of their ingratitude, 
 takes precautions for their safety and welfare, with the 
 most cordial tenderness. 
 
 — ■'" Jesus, finding them still asleep, without consider- 
 ation for themselves or their Master, gently refrains from 
 disturbing them ; and leaves them in their slumber. 
 
 — ■'' While uncertain what might be his Father's will, 
 he prays, and shrinks from death ; but when he knows His 
 will, he offers himself to death: " Eamus. Processit.'' 
 (Joannes.) 
 
 — ■'' He made his prayer to men, but was not heeded 
 of them. 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 327 
 
 — While his disciples slept, he was labouring for 
 their safety. — He does the same on behalf of the 
 justified, while they sleep, and before their mortal exist- 
 ence commences ; and for sinners, after their existence 
 has commenced. 
 
 — He prays only once, and that with submission to 
 the Father's will, that the cup may pass from him ; but 
 twice, that not his will, but the Father's, may be done. 
 
 — Jesus, in sorrow of spirit, seeing all his followers 
 slumbering, and his enemies wakeful, betakes himself 
 unreservedly to his Father. 
 
 — ■'' Contemplating in Judas not his malice, but the 
 appointment of God, the object of his supreme love . .* 
 he accosts him under the name of " friend. "f 
 
 — Jesus, on entering upon his agony, separates 
 himself from his disciples: in imitation of him, we should 
 separate ourselves from those most near and dear to us. 
 
 — ^ In agony and suffering he prayed yet more 
 earnestly. 
 
 II. 
 
 We implore the mercy of God, not that we may be 
 left in our sins, but that we may be delivered from them. 
 
 — ■'"If God has himself laid commands upon us, how 
 carefully ought we to obey them ! Necessity, and the 
 course of events, constitute these, and they are infallible. 
 
 — Be comforted : thou wouldst riot have sought 
 me, if I had never been found of thee. J 
 
 * A word illegible, 
 
 f Matt. xxvi. 50 : " Dixitque illi Jesus : Amice, ad quid venisti ?" 
 X This passage is found, in almost the same terras, in the Miscellaneous 
 Thoughts. (Miscell. Writings, p. 247, clxxx.) 
 
328 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 — My thoughts were of thee in my agony : for thee 
 were those bleeding drops poured forth. 
 
 — + It is rather to prove myself, than to make trial 
 of thee, that I consider whether, when absent, thou wilt 
 do these things : if it so come to pass, it is I that do them. 
 
 — Leave thyself to my direction : see how I guided 
 the saints who gave themselves up to my discipline. 
 
 — The Father regards all that I do with complacency. 
 
 — + Wouldst thou cost me even my very heart's 
 blood, and hast thou no tears for me ? 
 
 — ^ Conversion is mine ; fear not, and pray, confiding 
 in me. 
 
 — ■''I am present, by my Word, in Scripture ; by my 
 Spirit, in the church ; by my influences and power, in 
 the priesthood ; by prayer, in the faithful. 
 
 — Physicians cannot heal thee : thou must die at 
 the last. But it is I v^ho renovate the body, and endue 
 it with immortaHty. 
 
 — ^ Thou must bear with bodily servitude and bond- 
 age : I deliver now only from that which is spiritual. 
 
 — ■''I am more a friend to thee than thy earthly 
 associates ; I have done more for thee than they ; and 
 they would not suffer for thee as I have done ; nor 
 would they have died for thee in the midst of thy infi- 
 delity and crimes, as I did, and as I am ready to do, and 
 have done, for all my elect. 
 
 — "''If you were acquainted with your sinfulness, 
 you would be hopeless on account of it.* — Lord, I am 
 
 * It will be obvious to the reader that, after the foregoing series of 
 apostrophes on the part of the Saviour, a kind of interlocution is then 
 supposed to take place between Him and a disciple. (Transl.) 
 
ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 329 
 
 hopeless, for, on thy assurance, I believe it in all its 
 aggravation. — Not so, for I, while I make you acquainted 
 with it, am able to heal you ; and what I now say is a 
 proof that I am willing to do it. In proportion to your 
 sorrow for sin, will be your conviction of its evil ; and it 
 will be said to you, " See how many are the sins which 
 are forgiven you." 
 
 ■'■ Be humbled under a sense of your unknown sins, and 
 of the hidden malignity in those with which you are 
 acquainted. 
 
 — Lord, I give thee all ! 
 
 — I love thee better than thou ever lovedst thy sins. 
 
 — Be mine the glory and not thine, earth and worm 
 of the dust as thou art ! 
 
 — Seek to a wise instructor, if my words become to 
 thee a source of evil, vanity, or curiosity. 
 
 * — ■''I see the abyss of pride, curiosity, and sensuality, 
 into which I have fallen. There is, properly, no tie 
 existing between myself, and God, and Christ. But he 
 has been made sin for me : all my stains have fallen upon 
 him. He is become viler than I ; and, instead of 
 abhorring me, he deems himself honoured by my coming 
 to him for succour ! 
 
 Holy himself, he is the better able to sanctify me. 
 
 + He adds my wounds to his own ; and, by virtue of 
 this union, in his salvation I am saved. 
 
 Yet must they not be augmented afterwards. 
 
 — + ''Eritis sicut dii, scieiites honum et malum.'' 
 
 * At this part the disciple addressed, seerns to be described as relapsing 
 into self-cominunion and meditation. (Transl.) 
 
330 
 
 ON JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Every one constitutes himself a God in passing judg- 
 ment, — determining things to be good or evil, as the 
 case may be, — and is either too much afflicted or elated 
 by the course of events. 
 
 We elevate trifles into greatness through the majesty 
 of Christ, who is himself the source of them, and who 
 lives in our life ; and we depress great things into little 
 and easy ones, through his omnipotence. 
 
 ^ Be comforted : you ought to expect nothing from 
 yourselves ; then, expecting nothing, you may expect 
 everything. 
 
 Burial of Jesus Christ. 
 
 ^ Christ died visibly on the cross. Being dead, he was 
 hidden in the grave. 
 
 Christ was interred by no hands but those of Saints. 
 He performed no miracle in the sepulchre. 
 Saints alone entered his tomb. 
 
 It was there, and not upon the cross, that he acquired 
 a new life. 
 
 ^ This was the final mystery of his passion, and of 
 man's redemption. 
 
 Jesus found no place of rest on the earth, but only 
 in the grave. 
 
 ^ It was there only that his enemies ceased to persecute 
 him. 
 
 * Genesis iii. 5. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 In this chapter, which forms a natural sequel to the pre- 
 ceding, are collected all the passages of Pascal's writings, the 
 object of which was to unfold the spirit, doctrine, and morality 
 of Christianity ; to collect the proof of its authenticity, and 
 explain the means of its establishment. 
 
 These reflections closed the discourse in which he deve- 
 loped to his listening friends the plan of his " Apology for 
 Religion." {^French Editor.) 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 I. Subjection and discipline of the reason, in 
 which true Christianity subsists. 
 
 The highest achievement of reason is, to acknowledge 
 that there is an infinity of things which surpass its 
 powers. It is but feeble, as long as it comes short of 
 this. 
 
 — "''If natural objects surpass its efforts, what is to 
 be said of those which are supernatural? 
 
 — Superstition to believe certain propositions, &c.* 
 
 — + Faith, &c. 
 
 II. Submission, 
 
 We ought to learn to doubt, where it is proper to 
 doubt ; to be certain, where we ought to be certain ; 
 and to submit, where we ought to submit.f Whoever 
 
 * Nicole, in the same copy, thus developes this fragment: — "It is 
 superstition to believe that certain propositions are in a book, although we 
 cannot see them, because we ought to see them if they were in if." 
 
 t Pascal at first wrote with more boldness : — " Man ought to possess 
 three qualifies; — that of the doubter, {pijrrho7iien,) the mathematician, and 
 the submissive Christian : these dispositions blend with and temper each 
 other; — by doubting, when it is proper to doubt; by aiming at certainty, 
 when necessary ; by submission, when becoming." — Miscel. Writings, 
 Introd., p. xxxiii. 
 
334 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 does not this, knows not the true measure of the reasoning 
 powers. There are those who violate all three of these 
 prmciples, either by assuming everything as demon- 
 strated, for want of understanding the nature of demon- 
 stration ; or bj doubting everything, through not knowing 
 where to submit the understanding; or by submitting 
 to everything, for want of knowing how to discriminate. 
 
 If we subject everything to reason, our religion will 
 be stripped of all its mysterious and superhuman 
 character. If we violate the principles of reason, it will 
 become absurd and ridiculous. 
 
 St. Augustin. Reason would never submit, if it did 
 not perceive that there are occasions when it ought to 
 submit. 
 
 It is then right that it should do so. 
 
 There is nothing so truly reasonable as this disavowal 
 of reason.* 
 
 There are two extremes : 
 
 To exclude reason, and to admit only reason. 
 
 III. Faith treats of things upon which the senses are 
 
 * This, and the following paragraph, are in the copy thus paraphrased by 
 Nicole : — *' There is nothing so reasonable as this disavowal of reason, in 
 matters of faith ; and nothing so unreasonable as the disavowal of reason in 
 matters not of faith. There are two extremes equally dangerous, — to exclude 
 reason, to admit only reason." This reading has obtained in the subse- 
 quent editions. 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 335 
 
 silent, but not of things opposed to their evidence. It 
 is above, but not contrary to them. 
 
 It is not an uncommon thing to have to reprove the 
 world of excessive facility. It is a natural extreme, like 
 incredulity, and equally pernicious. — Superstition. 
 
 It is superstition to place our hope in circumstantials ; 
 {les formalites ;) but it is pride to reject them. 
 
 — Piety is a different thing from superstition. 
 
 — To carry piety to the extreme of superstition, is to 
 destroy it. 
 
 — Heretics reproach us for our superstitious submis- 
 sion. It is doing the very thing with which they 
 reproach us.* 
 
 IV. Other religions, such as paganism, are more 
 popular, because they deal in externals ; but not with 
 the discerning. To them a religion purely intellectual 
 would be better suited ; but it is otherwise with the 
 populace. Christianity is, of all others, the one which 
 is adapted to all classes, being composed partly of ex- 
 ternal observance, and partly of inward principles. It 
 elevates the commonalty by principles, and humbles the 
 pride of intellect by externals ; for the people ought to 
 be made to perceive the spirituality of the letter, and the 
 
 * The St. Gennain copy has the following, added by Nicole : — " Reproach 
 us, to require this submission in things which are not matters of faith." This 
 addition has been adopted in the subsequent editions. 
 
336 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 intellectual to receive the letter in submission of under- 
 standing. 
 
 Externals ought to be combined with principles in 
 our communion with God, — such as kneeling, praying 
 with the lips, &c., — in order that man's pride, which is 
 unwilling to submit to God, may learn submission to 
 the creature. To rely for aid upon these external forms is 
 superstition ; * to refuse to combine them with internal 
 devotion is pride. 
 
 Man's dignity, in his state of innocence, consisted in 
 the use of, and dominion over, the creatures ; but now 
 it is in separating himself from and subjecting himself to 
 them . f 
 
 V. ^ There are but few real Christians ; I mean, as 
 regards faith. There- are many who believe, but it is 
 with superstition ; and many who believe not, but in 
 infidelity ; few observe the mean between the two. 
 
 — I do not here include those whose morals evince 
 true piety, nor the multitudes whose belief is a sincere 
 sentiment of the heart. 
 
 VI. Those who dislike the truth, make a j)retext of 
 the multitudinous differences among those who oppose 
 it; which shows that they love neither truth nor charity. 
 Thus they are without excuse. 
 
 VII. It will be one aggravation of the lost, that they 
 are condemned by that very intelligence of theirs, 
 
 * At first, " is idolatry." f In the margin, the senses." 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 337 
 
 through which they pretended to repudiate the Christian 
 religion. 
 
 VIII. ^ AutJioriUj. 
 So far from the mere fact of your having heard a 
 thing being the rule of your belief, you can believe 
 nothing without placing yourself in such a position as if 
 you had never heard it. 
 
 It is the harmony of all your faculties, and the 
 settled conviction of your own reason, and not that of 
 others, which must constrain you to believe. 
 Faith is all-important. 
 ■'' A hundred contradictions might yet be true. 
 ■'" If antiquity were the rule of belief, the ancients 
 were without a rule. 
 
 If universal consent ... If men would have 
 perished. . . 
 
 False humility is pride. 
 Raise the curtain. 
 "'' You have done wonders indeed, if we must be 
 forced either to believe, or deny, or doubt. 
 Are we then to have no rule ? 
 
 We judge of animals that they do well what they 
 are capable of doing ; is there no rule by which to judge 
 of men ? 
 
 ^ To deny, to believe, and to doubt on good grounds, 
 are what running is to a horse. 
 
 {In the margin : ^ Punishment of sinners, error.) 
 
 There are two modes of enforcing the truths of our 
 religion : — the one by the power of reason, the other by 
 
 p 
 
338 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 the authority of the teacher. We forego the latter, and 
 employ the former only. We say not, " Such or such a 
 thing must be believed, for the book which teaches it is 
 divine but v^^e maintain that it should be believed, for 
 such or such a reason ; vs^hich is a feeble resource, reason 
 being flexible to everything. * 
 
 IX. Those whom God has endued with sentiments of 
 piety through the medium of the heart, are happy and 
 assured. But others, not thus impressible, we can only 
 gain an access to through the reason, hoping that God 
 may himself impress our representations upon the heart : 
 without this, their belief avails nothing to salvation. 
 
 God, in order to reserve to himself alone the prero- 
 gative of being our instructer, and to baffle us the more 
 effectually as to the nature of our own spirits, has placed 
 their mysteries so high above us, — or, more properly, 
 concealed them in depths so profound, — as to render it 
 impossible for us to unravel their perplexity ; so that it is 
 not by the struggles of our reason, but by its implicit 
 submission, that we can effectually attain to the know- 
 ledge of ourselves, f 
 
 X. Our religion possesses a mixture of wisdom and 
 foolishness. Wisdom, because it is of all others the 
 most addressed to the understanding, the most fully 
 based upon miracles, prophecies, &c. ; foolishness, 
 
 * Montaigne says, Book ii., ch. 29 : — " Our reason is flexible to all kinds 
 of impressions." 
 
 f This paragraph is neither in the MS. nor in the copy. It was published 
 in the first edition. 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 339 
 
 because these are by no means the things in which it 
 consists : they serve, indeed, to condemn those who 
 reject it, but they do not constitute the faith of those 
 by whom it is professed. That which leads them to 
 believe is the Cross : " ne evacuata sit crux."" Thus 
 St. Paul, who was endued both with wisdom and with 
 miraculous powers, says, that he came neither in wisdom 
 nor in miracles, but to convert their souls. But those who 
 come only to convince, (the understanding,) may properly 
 say, that they come with wisdom and with miracles. 
 
 XI. — There is a great difference between the not being 
 on the side of Christ, and avowing it ; and the not being, 
 but professing to be, on his side. The one may work 
 miracles, but not the other ; for it is clear that the one 
 are opposed to the truth, but not so the other : thus the 
 miracles are the most evident. 
 
 — It is a thing so evident that God ought alone to 
 be the object of our love, that no miracle is needed to 
 prove it. 
 
 — ^ Happy condition of the church when it is sus- 
 tained by God only ! 
 
 XII. True Christians are subjected to vanities ; 
 not that they are unconscious of them, but they acquiesce 
 in the appointment of God, who, for man's humiliation, 
 has subjected him to them. " Omnis creatura suhjecta 
 est vanitati. Liber abitur.'' 
 
 St. Thomas thus explains the passage in St. James 
 respecting the preferences shown to the rich, — that if 
 they do it not as in the sight of God, they subvert the 
 rule of piety. 
 
340 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 XIIT. This religion, so great in supernatural proofs, 
 (Holy Fathers — blameless — -wise — great — testimonies — 
 martyrs — kings — David — established — Isaiah — prince of 
 the blood royal,*) so illustrious in learning, after dis- 
 playing all its wonders and its wisdom, repudiates the 
 whole, and declares that it possesses neither wisdom, nor 
 wonders ; and glories in the Cross and foolishness 
 only. 
 
 ^ For those who by these wonders and this wisdom 
 have entitled themselves to your belief, and authenti- 
 cated their credentials, declare that all these things are 
 unable to convert the heart, and render it capable of 
 knowing and loving God ; that the foolishness of the 
 
 Cross, without wisdom or wonders f the 
 
 wonders without that power. 
 
 ^ Thus our religion is foolish, in regard to effective- 
 ness as a cause ; and wise, in regard to the wisdom by 
 which it was devised. 
 
 XIV. The Christian's God is one who leads the soul 
 to feel that He is its only good ; that all its repose is in 
 Him ; and that it can know no real joy but in His love ; and 
 He is one who, at the same time, constrains it to abhor all 
 the hindrances to its communion with Him, and every- 
 thing that prevents its loving Him with all its powers. 
 The self-love and sensuality which check its aspirations 
 are its griefs. This God is one who makes the soul feel 
 
 * This rude collection of parentheses, almost literally translated in the 
 above form, evidently constitutes, in accordance vpith the writer's usual 
 habit, heads and memoranda of topics which were to he afterwards 
 amplified. (Transl.) 
 
 f Two or three words illegible. 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 341 
 
 the destructive pressure of self, and convinces it that 
 He alone can furnish the remedy. * 
 
 XV. ■'' They blaspheme that of which thej- know 
 nothing ! The Christian religion contains two main 
 points : — it is equally vital to men to be acquainted with 
 it, and dangerous for them to be ignorant of it. 
 
 And it is equally of God's mercy that He has given 
 indications of both these things. 
 
 Yet do men conclude against the reality of one of 
 these points, from that which ought to convince them of 
 the other. 
 
 The wise, who have asserted the existence of a God, 
 have been persecuted ; the Jews hated ; Christians more 
 than either. 
 
 They saw by the light of nature, that if there be a 
 true religion upon earth, the direction of all things 
 should tend to it as to their centre, f 
 
 And on this ground they take occasion to blaspheme 
 the Christian religion, of whose nature they are so pro- 
 foundly ignorant. They imagine that it consists alone 
 in the worship of a God, whom they regard as great, 
 powerful, eternal ; this is properly Deism, inasmuch as 
 it is as remote from Christianity as Atheism, which is 
 utterly opposed to it. Thence they conclude that this 
 religion is not true, because they do not perceive all 
 things concurring for the establishment of this point, — 
 that God does not manifest himself to man with all the 
 strength of evidence which they think he might do. 
 
 But let them conclude what they may against Deism, 
 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 t In the copy only. 
 
342 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 they will prevail nothing in disparaging the Christian 
 religion, which consists essentially in the mystery of a 
 Redeemer ; he who, uniting in himself the two natures, 
 divine and human, has restored mankind from the cor- 
 ruption of sin, in order, in his own divine person, to 
 effect their reconciliation to God. 
 
 This scheme instructs men in these two truths : — the 
 one, that there is a God, adapted to the worship and 
 communion of man ; the other, that there is in man's 
 nature a corruption, which renders him unworthy of this 
 God. It is important to man to know both the one and 
 the other of these positions ; it is equally dangerous to 
 him to know God, without a consciousness of his misery, 
 and to be conscious of his misery, without a knowledge 
 of that Redeemer who is able to relieve it. It is the 
 knowledge of one without the other of these facts, 
 that gives birth either to the pride of philosophy, — 
 which consists in a knowledge of God, without that of 
 man's corruption,~or the despair of atheism, — settling 
 down in a sense of man's ruin, without recognition of his 
 Redeemer.* 
 
 Thus, as it is equally essential to man to know these 
 two facts, it is equally of God's mercy that we are made 
 acquainted with them. The Christian religion furnishes 
 this knowledge ; and it is its great office to do so. 
 
 Let us examine, in this view, the providential order 
 of the universe, and see whether all things do not lead 
 to the establishment of these two great facts of our 
 religion, f 
 
 * See "Conversation, Epictetus and Montaigne," (Miscel. Writings, p. 290.) 
 f In the copy only. 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 343 
 
 XVI. The entire course of events ought to have for 
 their object the establishment and the ascendancy of 
 religion ; mankind ought to possess in themselves senti- 
 ments conformable to its instructions; and, finally, it 
 ought in such wise to be the ultimate and central point 
 of all things, that whoever becomes acquainted with its 
 first principles should be able to give account both of 
 man's nature in particular, and of the whole conduct of 
 events in general. 
 
 XVII. ■'" On the Objection that the Christian is not 
 
 the only Religion, 
 So far from this being a reason for its not being true, 
 it is, on the contrary, the very proof that it is so. 
 
 XVIII. Let them say what they will, it must be 
 acknowledged that Christianity is an astonishing religion. 
 " This is because you were born in it," it may be said. 
 So far from it, that very fact puts me on my guard, lest I 
 should be prepossessed in its favour. But though I was 
 born in it, the facts are none the less as I have stated 
 them. 
 
 XIX. Proving that sincere Jews and sincere 
 Christians enjoyed one and the same religion. 
 
 The Jewish religion appeared to consist chiefly in the 
 headship of Abraham, the rite of circumcision, sacrifices, 
 ceremonies ; in the ark of the covenant, the temple in 
 Jerusalem; and, finally, in the Law, and the covenant of 
 Moses. 
 
344 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, 
 
 I maintain that it consisted in none of these things, 
 but solely in the love of God ; and that God repudiated 
 all other things. 
 
 That God did not accept the posterity of Abraham. 
 
 That the Jews were to be punished, like Gentiles, if 
 they offended. Deut. viii. 19, SO:— "If thou do at all 
 forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, I 
 testify unto you that ye shall surely perish ; as the 
 nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face." 
 
 That the Gentiles shall be received into favour with 
 God, equally with the Jews, if they do his will. 
 
 Is. Ivi. 3, &c. : — Let not the stranger say. The Lord 
 hath utterly separated me from his people ; the sons of the 
 stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him 
 and to love the name of the Lord : even them will I 
 bring to my holy mountain, and will accept their sacri- 
 fices ; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for 
 all people." 
 
 That sincere Jews considered the preference shown to 
 them to be from God, and not through Abraham. 
 Is. Ixiii. 16: — Thou art our Father, though Abraham 
 be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not : thou, 
 O Lord, art our Father and our Redeemer." 
 
 Moses also says that God does not accept persons. 
 Deut. X. 17 : — " God," he says, " regardeth not persons, 
 nor taketh reward." * 
 
 * In the margin is written, — " The Sabbath was only a sign, Ex. xxxi. ] 3 ; 
 and in commemoration of the departure from Egypt, Deut. v. 15. Then 
 it is no longer required, since Egypt is to be foi-gotten. Circumcision was 
 only a sign, Gen. xvii. 11 ; and, therefore, in the Desert they were not cir- 
 cumcised, because there they could not be blended with other people : and 
 after the coming of Christ it was no longer necessary." (French Editor.) 
 These statements, without further explanation, seem questionable. After 
 
ON THE 
 
 CHRISTIAN 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 345 
 
 That the circumcision is commanded to be that of the 
 heart. Deut. x. 16; Jer. iv. 4: — "Circumcise your 
 heart ; be no more stiff-necked," &c.j &c. 
 
 That God says, he himself will hereafter do it. Deut. 
 XXX, 6 : — " The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart 
 and the heart of thy seed, to love him with all thine heart." 
 
 That the uncircumcised in heart shall be judged. 
 Jer. vi. 26 : — " For God shall judge the uncircumcised, 
 and all the people of Israel, because they are uncircum- 
 cised in heart." 
 
 That external rites avail nothing without inward 
 grace. Joelii. 13: — " Rend your hearts." Is. Iviii. 3,4, &c. 
 The love of God is recommended throughout Deutero- 
 nomy. Deut. XXX. 19: — "T call heaven and earth to 
 record this day against you, that I have set before you 
 life and death, blessing and cursing : therefore choose life, 
 that both thou and thy seed may live ;" for God is thy life. 
 
 That the Jews, failing in this love, were reproved for 
 their offences, and the Gentiles chosen in their place. 
 Hos. i. ; Deut. xxxii. 20, 21: — "I will hide my face 
 from them ; for they are a very froward generation, 
 children in whom is no faith. They have moved me to 
 jealousy with that which is not God; and I will move 
 them to jealousy with those which are not a people, and 
 with a foolish nation." Is. Ixv. 
 
 Christ's coming, baptism was obviously appointed as a rite analogous to 
 circumcision, and one which, being accompanied with the promise of 
 spiritual blessings, should possess yet higher efficacy ; but still showing 
 that the people of the true faith were to be ritually distinguished from all 
 others. And in the same manner, it is most probable that Pascal meant 
 only, that the Jewish and ceremonial Sabbath was not required after the 
 Jewish dispensation had ended; and not, that the spiritual Sabbath of 
 Christianity was not to be retained. (Transl.) 
 
 p 5 
 
346 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 That temporal good is fallacious, and true good 
 consists only in union with God. Ps. cxliv. 15. 
 
 That the Jewish rites and sacrifices were displeasing 
 to God. Amos v. 21; Is. Ixvi., i. 11; Jer. vi. 20. 
 David, Miserere. Ps. li. Even in the righteous. 
 Exjpectans, Ps. 1. 8 — 14. 
 
 That the sacrifices of the Gentiles will be accepted of 
 God, and those of the Jews rejected. Mai. i. 11. 
 
 That God would make a new covenant in the Messiah, 
 and the former would be broken. Jer. xxxi. 31. 
 
 Mandata non bona. Ezek. xx. 25. 
 
 That old things should pass away. Is. xliii. 18, 19 ; 
 Ixv. 17, 18. 
 
 That they should remember the ark no more. Jer. 
 iii. 15, 16. 
 
 The temple should be rejected. Jer. vii. 12, 14. 
 
 That the sacrifices should be abolished, and purer 
 ones instituted. Mai. i. 11. 
 
 That the priesthood after the order of Aaron should 
 be superseded ; and that after Melchizedek instituted 
 by Messiah. Dixit Dominus.'" Ps. cix. 
 
 That the name of Jew should be abolished, and another 
 given. Is. Ixv. 15. 
 
 That the Jews should be without Prophets, (x\mos,) 
 without Kings, princes, sacrifices, and idols. 
 
 That the latter should be the better one, and ever- 
 lasting. 
 
 And, notwithstanding, that the Jews should ever 
 remain a people. Jerem. xxxi. 36.* 
 
 ********* 
 
 * Our enthusiastic French Editor here, in his determination that 
 nothing of Pascal's inditing shall, if he can prevent it, be lost, furnishes to 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 347 
 
 XX. Two descriptions of persons under every religion. 
 
 Among Pagans, some worshippers of brutes, and 
 others of one God only, by the light of natural religion. 
 
 ■'' Among the Jews, the carnal, and the spiritual, who 
 were the Christians of the old dispensation. 
 
 Among Christians, the carnal, who are Jews under 
 the new. 
 
 The carnal Jews looked for a carnal Messiah, and 
 carnal Christians hold that the Messiah exempts them 
 from the necessity of love to God, Real J ews and real 
 Christians welcome a Messiah who inculcates the love 
 of God. 
 
 Carnal Jews and Gentiles have no Redeemer ; the 
 latter expecting none, and the former expecting one 
 in vain. It is Christians only who possess really a 
 Redeemer. 
 
 Carnal Jews hold a middle place between the Christian 
 and the Gentile. The Gentile knows nothing of God, 
 and is earthly in all things ; the Christian knows the 
 true God, and aims to detach himself from earth. The 
 Jew and Gentile have the same earthly attachments. 
 The Jev/ and the Christian know the same God. 
 
 The Jews were of two classes : the one had Gentile, 
 the other Christian affections. 
 
 the reader the following memorandum, written in the margin of the MS. 
 at this place, which is evidently a part of some familiar note of the writer : — 
 " I am extremely sorry that you have lost so much time in making useless 
 arrangements ; and assure you that you shall not again be so troubled 
 on my account." (Transl.) 
 
348 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Carnal Jews understood nothing of tlie greatness or 
 of the abasement of the Messiah, foreshown by their 
 Prophets. They misapprehended the nature of his dig- 
 nity ; — as when it is said that Messiah should be David's 
 Lord, although his son ; that he existed before Abraham, 
 and had seen him. They knew not that his greatness 
 was that of Eternity; and they equally misconceived 
 his humiliation and his death. " The Messiah," said they, 
 "is to live for ever ; and this man is dead I" They expected 
 him, therefore, to be neither mortal nor everlasting; 
 they looked for in him, in short, nothing but a carnal 
 greatness. 
 
 Whoever forms a gross and carnal conception of the 
 Jews' religion, judges ill. This is plain from their holy 
 writings and prophetical remains, which prove that the 
 law was not understood in its letter. In the same way, 
 our faith is seen to be divine in the Gospel, the apos- 
 tolical writings, and in tradition ; but it appears absurd 
 to those who abuse it. 
 
 According to carnal Jews, the Messiah should have 
 been an illustrious temporal Ruler. In the view of the 
 worldly-minded Christian, he came to absolve from the 
 duty of love to God, and to insLitute sacraments ivhich 
 are to do everything for salvation,'^ without our co-oper- 
 ation. Neither the one nor the other is Christianity or 
 
 * " Nous dunner des sacraments qui operent tout sans nous." These are 
 the original terms of the above passage, — rendered with some unavoid- 
 able amplification, although I believe not unfaithfully, — in which Pascal 
 records a striking protest, — and the more important, as emanating from a 
 Romanist, — against the ascription of an inordinate efficacy to the sacra- 
 ments. (Transl.) 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 349 
 
 Judaism. The true Jew, as well as the true Christian, 
 ever expected a Messiah, who should enforce love to 
 God, and enable him, through that love, to triumph 
 over his enemies. 
 
 XXI. ■'' Proofs common to both Testaments. 
 
 To authenticate at once both Testaments, it is only 
 necessary to ascertain whether the predictions of the 
 one are accomplished in the other. 
 
 To examine the prophecies, it is necessary to have a 
 clear understanding of them. For if the}^ are received 
 only in one sense, it will be clear that Messiah is not 
 come ; but if in a double sense, then it is equally certain 
 that he has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The whole question, then, resolves itself into this, 
 — whether they have a double meaning. 
 
 That Scripture contains that double sense attributed 
 to it by Christ and the Apostles, — these are the proofs : — 
 
 1st. The writings themselves. 
 
 ^d. Testimony of the Rabbis. 
 
 3d. Testimony of " la cahale.'" 
 
 4th. Testimony from the mystical interpretation of 
 the Rabbis. 
 
 5th. Testimony from the principles of the Rabbis ; — 
 that there are to be two advents of the Messiah, glorious 
 and abject ; that the Prophets predicted only the 
 Messiah ; that the law was not eternal, but to be 
 changed on the coming of Messiah ; that they would 
 then remember no more the Red Sea ; that the Jews 
 and Gentiles would be united. 
 
350 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 XXII. "'' Proofs of Religion. 
 ^ Morals — Doctrine — Miracles — Prophecies — Types. 
 
 XXIIL + Proof 
 
 ^ 1st. Christianity, although so opposed to the natural 
 inclinations, established by her own power, so firmly, 
 yet without violence. 
 
 2d. The holiness of Christian principles, and their 
 tendency to elevate, yet humble the spirit. 
 
 3d. The internal divinity of the Scriptures. 
 
 4th. The individual character of Christ. 
 
 5th. And of the Apostles. 
 
 6th. And of the Prophets. 
 
 7th. The Jewish people. 
 
 8th. The prophecies. 
 
 9th. Its perpetuity. No' {other) religion possesses 
 perpetuity. 
 
 10th. Its doctrines, — furnishing full conviction to the 
 understanding. 
 
 1 1th. The purity of the law. 
 
 12th. The government of the world. 
 Hence it is unquestionable, that weighing the 
 nature of our evidences, and the claims of this religious 
 system, we ought not to oppose the impulses of our 
 conscience in its favour ; and it is most clear, that there 
 is no ground to ridicule those who yield themselves up 
 to such impulses. 
 
 XXIV. It is impossible to investigate all the diver- 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 351 
 
 sified proofs of the religion of Christians, without seeing 
 that there is in them a force and cogency which no 
 reasonable mind can resist. 
 
 1st. Consider the mode of its establishment. That a 
 religion so opposed to the tendencies of nature, should 
 obtain the ascendancy^ by its own inherent qualities, 
 without any aid from external constraint or authority ; 
 and yet with such force and power, that no violence or 
 tortures could ever compel its martyrs to deny it ; and 
 all this, not only without the assistance of any temporal 
 rulers, but in the face of the greatest earthly potentates 
 arrayed in opposition to it. 
 
 2d. Meditate next upon the holiness — the elevation, at 
 once, and the lowliness — of the principles of Christianity. 
 Heathen philosophers sometimes raised themselves above 
 their fellow-men by a greater severity of life, and by 
 moral sentiments which seemed to approximate to those 
 of Christianity. But we never find them recognizing, as 
 a virtue, that which Christians designate as humility ; 
 and they would even have deemed such a disposition 
 incompatible with their other qualifications and habits. 
 It was Christianity alone which showed how to blend 
 graces of the character, hitherto deemed so opposed ; and 
 which taught mankind that, so far from humility being 
 inconsistent with other virtues, all other virtues, without 
 this grace, are but vices and defects. 
 
 3d. Consider then the infinite and exhaustless wonders 
 of the sacred writings ! Ponder the vastness, and the 
 sublimity, so far surpassing all human apprehension, of 
 their contents ; and, at the same time, their admirable 
 simplicity of style, — utterly free from affectation or dis- 
 
352 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 play, — and bearing marks of genuineness and truth, 
 which it is impossible for the mind to resist. 
 
 4th. Consider, especially, the individual character of 
 Jesus Christ. Whatever may be our views of him, it 
 cannot be denied that he exhibited the largest and most 
 elevated spirit. Of this he gave proof, in earliest youth, 
 in his discussions with the doctors. Yet, instead of 
 continuing to cultivate these superior endowments by 
 study, and the society of the learned, thirty years of his 
 life were consumed in sordid labour, and total obscurity ; 
 while, during the three brief years of his ministry, he 
 took for his companions, and selected for the apostleship, 
 a body of men, without learning, without cultivation, 
 without worldly reputation ; and exposed himself to the 
 enmity of all who were the most distinguished for 
 learning and wisdom in his day. Was not this a sur- 
 prising line of conduct in one contemplating the founding 
 of a new religious system ? 
 
 5th. Reflect again upon these his chosen Apostles,— 
 these men — uneducated, unlettered; yet endowed, at 
 once, with a wisdom that confounded the deepest philo- 
 sophers, and a power that baffled all the tyrants and 
 governments, banded together to oppose the religion 
 which they were commissioned to introduce ! 
 
 6th, 8th. Look back, next, upon that wondrous series 
 of Prophets, appearing during a period of two thousand 
 years, in regular succession ; all predicting — yet in such 
 diversified ways — the minutest circumstances of the life 
 of the Messiah, of his death, resurrection, and his mission 
 of the Apostles ; of the preaching of the Gospel, the 
 conversion of whole nations ; and a multitude of other 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 353 
 
 particulars relative to tlie establishment of Christianity, 
 and the abolition of Judaism. 
 
 And think of the astonishing accomplishment of all 
 these predictions, so perfectly centring in the person of 
 the Messiah, that none can question them, but those 
 who wilfully shut their eyes to the evidences. 
 
 7th. Consider the state of the Jewish people, both 
 before and after the coming of Christ ; — their flourishing 
 condition before, and their desolations after the advent of 
 the Saviour, and his rejection on their part ; for we 
 see them now without any religious system, without a 
 temple, without sacrifices, — scattered over the face of 
 the earth, the contempt and refuse of all nations ! 
 
 9th. Observe, again, the perpetuity of the Christian 
 religion. That it has, in reality, subsisted from the very 
 commencement of the world, either in the person of the 
 Old Testament Saints, — who passed their lives in the 
 expectation of the coming Saviour, — or in those who 
 received and believed in him after his advent ; while no 
 other religion has been of permanent duration ; — which 
 is the truest proof of authenticity. 
 
 10th, 11th, 12th. Lastly, consider the purity of the 
 doctrines of this religion, which reconciles all apparent 
 difiiculties, — even the anomalies that are seen to exist 
 in the nature of man ; and all those other properties, 
 superhuman and divine, which shine conspicuous 
 throughout the system.* 
 
 * The French Editor expresses a doubt (from internal evidences) of the 
 preceding paragraphs, (XXIV., No. 1 to 12,) being of Pascal's own com- 
 position ; and it would be imprudent hastily to question the grounds of his 
 opinion. There are certainly, in the original, some tautologies in expression, 
 
354 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 XXV. The conversion of the Pagan world was re- 
 served for the gracious influences of the Messiah. The 
 Jews long laboured for the same object, without success; 
 all the efforts of Solomon, and the Prophets, were vain ; 
 Plato, Socrates, and the philosophers, could make no 
 impression.* 
 
 XXVII. The law imposed obligations, while it 
 communicated no power to fulfil them. Grace commu- 
 nicates the power, while it imposes the obligation.f 
 
 XXVIII. ■'■ Motions of grace, hardness of heart, 
 external circumstances. J 
 
 XXIX. ■'■ That wjiich men of the largest understand- 
 ings tasked their powers to comprehend, this religion 
 makes level to the capacity of infants ! 
 
 XXX. ^ All the objects of faith are comprehended in 
 
 which, although by no means without example in this writer, are not found 
 in those parts of his composition which exhibit most of what M. Faugere 
 designates as the '^vive allure" of his style. However this be, the passages 
 in question, if not his own, have evidently been composed by a writer 
 (probably Nicole or De Saci) who had imbibed largely of Pascal's own 
 sentiments and diction ; and they form a pleasing and valuable develop- 
 ment of those heads of evidence in favour of Christianity, which had been 
 just before enumerated. (Transl.) 
 * In the copy only. 
 
 f The original of this paragraph furnishes an instance of the condensa- 
 tion of Pascal's style, and the necessity of some amplification on the part of 
 a translator. *' La lot obligeait a ce qu'elle ne donnait pas. La grace donne 
 ce a quoi elle oblige." (Transl.) 
 
 :|: These are again apparently mere heads of subjects intended to be 
 discussed. (Transl.) 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 355 
 
 just views of Christ and Adam ; and all morality in a 
 right apprehension of sense and grace. 
 
 We are unable to comprehend the original glory of 
 Adam, or the nature of his fall, or the transmission of 
 his sin to ourselves. These are transactions adapted only 
 to the apprehension of a nature utterly different from our 
 own, and far surpassing our present capacity. 
 
 They are also things which it is wholly needless for us 
 to understand, in order to procure exemption from their 
 consequences ; and all that it imports us to know is, that 
 we are miserable, ruined, alienated from God, — but 
 redeemed and restored by Jesus Christ ; and of all these 
 things our present dispensation furnishes the most incon- 
 trovertible evidences. 
 
 Thus the two proofs of our corruption and our redemp- 
 tion are found in the case of the wicked, who pass their 
 lives in indifference to religion, and of the Jews, who are 
 its irreconcilable enemies.* 
 
 XXXI. To hear an artizan talk of wealth, a civilian 
 of war, royalty ! &c. But it is suitable for the rich man 
 to speak of his riches : a Sovereign confers his gifts with 
 dignity : God only can speak appropriately of God. 
 
 The narrative of the Evangelists is admirable in various 
 particulars ; and, among others, in their indulging in no 
 invective against the enemies and executioners of their 
 Master. We find nothing in their history directed against 
 Judas, or Pilate, or the Jews. 
 
 * In the copy. 
 
S56 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 Had this moderation on the part of the evangelical 
 historians, as well as many other beautiful features in 
 their histories, been assumed, and adopted only for the 
 purpose of attracting praise, although, in that case, 
 they might have not ventured themselves to draw atten- 
 tion to the peculiarity, they would not have failed to 
 procure commendation for it from their partizans. But 
 as their conduct herein was quite without affectation, and 
 their motives were entirely disinterested, they attracted 
 neither notice nor praise. I consider that many of these 
 traits in the Gospel histories have hitherto remained 
 without due attention, which is a convincing proof of the 
 indifference of their authors to either censure or applause. 
 
 XXXII. Question of Forms. 
 When St. Peter and the Apostles were deliberating 
 upon the abolition of circumcision,* and whether in so 
 doing they should be opposing God's law, they did not 
 consult the Prophets, but considered simply whether the 
 Holy Spirit had been received by the uncircumcised. 
 They deemed it of more certainty, that the choice of 
 God would fall upon those to whom his Spirit had 
 been dispensed, than those who had been strict in the 
 observance of the Law. 
 
 — They knew that the consummation of the Law was 
 the Holy Spirit; and therefore, as that might be possessed 
 without circumcision, therefore circumcision was not 
 necessary. 
 
 XXXIIL 
 
 — ^ God's words never differ from his intention, for it 
 
 * Acts XV. 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 357 
 
 is truth ; nor from its result, for it is omnipotence ; nor 
 the means from the result, for it is wisdom. Bern. 
 " JJlt. sermo in missam.'^ 
 
 — Aug., 5. "de Civitat.;' 10. Take this for a 
 general rule : — God is omnipotent for all things, except 
 s-uch as would prove him not omnipotent, — as to die, to 
 be deceived, to deceive, &c, 
 
 — Several Gospel histories serving for the confirm- 
 ation of truth. Their discrepancies valuable. 
 
 — ■'' The Eucharist following the Supper. Truth after 
 figure. 
 
 — ■'■ The destruction of Jerusalem, (a type of the 
 destruction of the world,) forty years after the death of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 — + " I know not." Is that in his human character, 
 or in that of Messiah ? Matt. xxiv. 36. 
 
 — Christ condemned both by Jews and Gentiles. 
 
 — Jews and Gentiles typified by the two sons. 
 Aug., " de Civitate;' 20, 29. 
 
 XXXIV. Apparent variances of the Evangelist. 
 
 XXXV. + /20\ Two figures in the Gospel for de- 
 
 \V/ scribing the diseases of the soul are 
 drawn from the maladies of the body ; nevertheless, as a 
 single body could not present a sufficient complication of 
 disorders, a variety of ailments was made use of for the 
 purpose. Thus we find the deaf, the dumb, the blind, 
 the paralytic, a Lazarus sickening and dead, the pos- 
 sessed : all these together, are not too much to symbolize 
 the disordered soul. 
 
358 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 XXXVI. As Jesus Christ was unknown while among 
 men, so the truth of his doctrine remains, to superficial 
 observation, undistinguished from various systems of 
 religion extant in the w^orld. 
 
 XLI. The Apostles under Divine inspiration, fore- 
 seeing that the seeds of pride in man would give birth 
 to error, and not deeming it fit to designate them ex- 
 pressly, have placed in Scripture, (and the Church has 
 done the same in her prayers,) expressions and sentences 
 opposed to them, which should produce their fruit in due 
 time. 
 
 "'" In the same way Divine love is mingled with works of 
 morality, in order to counteract our tendencies to sense. 
 
 ■'' He who knows his Master's will and does it not shall 
 be beaten with many stripes, on account of the advan- 
 tages which the knowledge confers upon him. 
 
 " Qui Justus est justificetur adhuc on account of 
 the power he possesses by means of his rectitude. 
 
 Of him to whom much is given, much shall be required, 
 on account of the power which he thereby possesses. 
 
 XLII. ^ Against those who, relying upon the mercy 
 of God, remain indifferent to religion , and barren of good 
 works. 
 
 As the two sources of our sinfulness are pride and 
 indolence, God has revealed to us two attributes of his 
 character, with a view to remedy these evils, — his mercy 
 and his justice. The effect of his justice is to abase our 
 pride, whatever be the degree of holiness to which we 
 may attain ; " et non intres judicium,'' And the effect of 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 359 
 
 his mercy is to quicken our indolence, and promote good 
 works, according to that passage, — ' ' The goodness of God 
 leadeth to repentance ;"* and that other, addressed to the 
 Ninevites, — " Repent, and see whether he will have mercy 
 upon us.""f' And then, so far is the mercy from justifying 
 any laxness on our part, that it is that very quality which 
 most eflPectually opposes it ; and instead of saying, — " If 
 God were not a God of mercy, we should be obliged to 
 exert ourselves in virtuous living ;" we ought, on the 
 contrary to say, — "It is because of God's mercies that 
 we ought to make these efforts after holiness." 
 
 XLIII. ^ Abraham took nothing for himself, but only 
 for his servants ; so the righteous takes nothing of the 
 world, or of the world's good-will, for himself, but strives 
 only to acquire the mastery of his passions, saying to one, 
 *^ Go," and to another, " Come." Sub te erit appetitus 
 tuus."" The passions are by this means rendered subser- 
 vient to virtue. Love of acquisition, jealousy, displeasure, 
 are thus impressed with a sacred character, and become 
 virtues, equally with clemency, pity, constancy, which 
 are also human passions. 
 
 We ought to treat them as slaves ; and, leaving them 
 their proper aliment, be careful that the soul does not 
 partake of the same : for, when the passions acquire rule, 
 they are converted into vices ; and then they give to the 
 soul of their own aliment, with which it becomes bloated 
 and poisoned. 
 
 XLIV. The good man conducts himself by the rule 
 
 * Roin. ii. 4 ; John iii. 9. f A paraphrase of the original. 
 
360 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 of faith in all things. If he has to reprove a servant, he 
 looks for his correction to the Spirit of God ; he prays 
 for his change of disposition ; he awaits the blessing of 
 God upon his own efforts. And it is the same with all 
 his other actions. 
 
 In all earthly scenes, sorrow is more congenial to 
 him than joy. He loves his neighbour ; yet his charity 
 does not limit itself to him, but extends to his enemies, 
 and even to the enemies of God. 
 
 There is no happiness, no rationality, no virtue, no 
 gracefulness, like the true Christian's. 
 
 With how little elation of spirit does a Christian 
 believe himself to be in a state of union with God ! 
 With how little of abjectness does he level himself with 
 the worm of the dust! • 
 
 How beautifully do we see him welcome life and 
 death, happiness and suffering ! 
 
 XLV. ^ MEMBERS.* 
 
 Commence here. 
 In order to regulate our love of ourselves, we ought to 
 represent to our thoughts a body composed of members, 
 endued with intelligence ; for we are all members of 
 each other; and then consider how each member ought 
 to love the others, &c. 
 
 * The fragments collected under t'ne above title seem to be an illus- 
 tration of the 4th and 5tli verses of the 12lh chapter of the Epistle to the 
 Romans : — " For as we have many members in one body, and all members 
 have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and 
 every one members one of another." 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 361 
 
 ^ If the feet and the hands followed their own predilec- 
 tions, they would never be able to do any service : it must 
 be in subordinating their own particular inclinations to the 
 general volition, by which the whole body is directed. 
 Without this, there would be nothing but disorder and 
 misery ; but in combining for the general good of the 
 body, they fulfil their own individual duties. 
 
 — ■'■ Republic. 
 
 ^ The Christian republic, and even that of the Jews, 
 had God alone for their head, according to Philo the 
 Jew ; " on the Monarchy.'' 
 
 ^ When they engaged in war it was for God ; their 
 ambition was for God's cause ; they held their cities 
 as from God, and dedicated them to God's service. 
 1 Paralip. xix. 13. 
 
 Two laws alone governed the whole Christian Re- 
 public, and they were better than whole codes of polity. 
 
 Morals. 
 
 When God had formed the heaven and the earth, the 
 creatures of his power, but unconscious of felicity from 
 their divine origin, he determined upon creating a race 
 of beings, who should possess a knowledge of their 
 Creator, and form a company composed of sentient 
 members ; * for the members of our body know nothing 
 of the exactness of their combination, of their perfect 
 adaptation to each other, and of the care and intelligence 
 
 * At page 467 of the MS., there is this addition : " Imagine a body full 
 of sentient members." The rest of the phrase is wanting. 
 
 Q 
 
S62 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 exercised by nature in enduing the different parts with 
 life, growth, and duration. What would be their felicity 
 if they could feel and see these things ! But, for this 
 purpose, they must be endowed with intelligence to 
 apprehend, and with will to consent to the ordinances of 
 the great and animating source of all things. Now if, 
 after being thus endowed, they were to monopolize to 
 themselves the general nourishment, without allowing it 
 to be diffused throughout the whole body, they would 
 be not only unjust but miserable, and would injure 
 rather than benefit themselves ; their interest, not less 
 than their duty, consisting in obedience to the rule of 
 the informing spirit, whose property they are, and who 
 seeks their welfare more than they do themselves. 
 
 + To be a true member, is to hold only life, being, and 
 support, through and for the benefit of the entire spirit 
 and body. Any one member, isolating itself from the 
 body of which it is a part, possesses only a transient and 
 dying existence. 
 
 Nevertheless, such a member deludes itself into the 
 belief that it has an independent existence ; and, losing 
 sight altogether of the body to which it belongs, it aims 
 to become a centre and finality to itself. Yet, having in 
 itself no principles of life, — conscious that it is not a 
 body, but not perceiving that it is a mere member, — it 
 becomes a being full of extravagance and anomalies. 
 Then, at last, brought to a knowledge of itself, it learns 
 its true nature, as a part only of the universal body; 
 drops its exorbitant self-love, and laments its past errors 
 and follies ! 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 863 
 
 By the very constitution of its nature, it could not 
 love anything else, except for its own sake, and to serve 
 its own purposes ; for every being loves itself more than 
 any other being. But, in tendering the body, it loves 
 itself, because its own existence is identified with it ; it 
 lives only in, and by, and for the body : " qui adheret 
 Deo unus Spiritus est.'' 
 
 ■'■ The body loves the hand ; and the hand, if it were 
 possessed of consciousness, would love itself, in the same 
 manner as it is loved by the spirit : a love aiming to 
 exceed that is exorbitant. 
 
 ■'' " Adherens Deo unus spiritus est .*" we love ourselves, 
 as being members of Jesus Christ. We love Christ, 
 because he is the Body, of which we are members. We 
 are all one. We are identified with each other, like the 
 three persons (of the Holy Trinity). 
 
 Our duty is only to love God, and to hate ourselves. 
 — + Had the foot always been ignorant that it 
 belonged to, and was dependant upon the body ; if it 
 had never possessed a knowledge of, or concern for, any- 
 thing but itself ; and then had been brought to a know- 
 ledge of its propriety in, and its dependance upon, the 
 body ; what would have been its sorrows, what its con- 
 fusion for the past, in having been hitherto so useless to 
 that body, which endued it with vitality, which could 
 have reduced it to annihilation by cutting it off and re- 
 jecting it, in the same way as this unworthy member 
 had separated itself from the body ! How would it have 
 implored a re-union ! And with what unreservedness 
 would it have submitted to that sovereign will by which 
 
 q2 
 
364 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 the whole body is governed, — even to a self-annihilation, 
 and loss of its distinctiveness as a member ! For every 
 true member must be willing even to perish for the 
 welfare of that body, which is the origin and end of its 
 whole existence. 
 
 To constitute the happiness of the members, they 
 must be possessed of a free-will, and it must be one 
 conformed to the welfare of the body. 
 
 XLVI. We become estranged* [from God] in the 
 degree that we lose the influence of love. 
 
 — Our prayers and virtues are abomination in the 
 sight of God, if they are not the prayers and virtues of 
 Jesus Christ. And our sins will never be the object of 
 the pity, f but of the justice of God, if they are not 
 those X of Jesus Christ. 
 
 — It is he that ha^ borne our sins, and admitted vs 
 into^ communion with him : for the virtues are his own,|| 
 and the sins those of another; while our virtues are 
 another's, but our sins our own. 
 
 — Change we the rule we have hitherto observed 
 in judging of what is good. We once had no rule but 
 that of our own pleasure ; let us now take that of the 
 pleasure of God : then all that he wills is good and just ; 
 all that he wills not is evil.^ 
 
 * It cannot be doubted that " from God," ought to be here added, 
 t The page being torn at this place, the word " pity " is added. 
 ;J: It is the same with the word " those." 
 § The same with " admitted," &c. 
 II So of the words "his own." 
 ^ So of" is evil." 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 365 
 
 + Everything that is contrary to the will of God is 
 forbidden. Sin is forbidden by the general declaration of 
 God, that he wills it not. Other things, not specifically 
 forbidden, and which for that reason are deemed allow- 
 able, are, nevertheless, not always so. For when God 
 places anything of that description out of our reach, and 
 shows by the event, which serves for a manifestation of 
 his will, that he does not choose us to be indulged with 
 it, this becomes, equally with sin, a forbidden thing to 
 us ; because it is the will of God that we should forego 
 the one, as much as the other. There is this difference 
 only between the two, — that it is certain that God forbids 
 us the sin, while the other is not so certain. But when 
 it is manifest that God forbids us a thing, then that 
 thing becomes of the nature of sin ; since the withhold- 
 ing of the sanction of God, who is all goodness and 
 rectitude, renders such an object injurious and evil. 
 
 Love (charite) is not a figurative precept. To maintain 
 that Jesus Christ, who was manifested to take away figures 
 and substitute truth, came only to introduce a species of 
 figment of love, taking away the reality of the grace 
 which was possessed before, — why this is detestable ! 
 
 " If the light in you be darkness, how great is that 
 darkness !"* 
 
 XLVII. ■'" The victory over death. " What does it 
 profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own 
 soul ? He who will save his life shall lose it." 
 I am not come to destroy life, but to save it. 
 
 * Matthew vi. 23. 
 
366 
 
 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 — Your slain lambs took not away the sins of the 
 world, but I am the Lamb that take away sins. Moses 
 gave you not that bread from heaven. Moses delivered 
 you not out of captivity, and could not make you really 
 free. 
 
 ■'"St. Augustin laid down, in words, that power should 
 be taken away from sin. But he said this only fortui- 
 tously ; for it might be that the occasion of this state- 
 ment had not presented itself. His principles, however, 
 show that, if the occasion presented itself, it was impos- 
 sible but that he should state this, or, at all events, 
 nothing opposed to it. It is therefore more to the point 
 to be compelled to say it, on the occasion offering itself, 
 than to have said it, the occasion being offered ; — the one 
 being of necessity, the other of mere accident. But the 
 two together are all that can be desired. 
 
 XLVIII. Why God has instituted Prayer : — 
 
 1. To communicate to his creatures the dignity of 
 causation.* 
 
 2. To teach us from whom we derive our virtue. 
 
 3. To enable us to acquire a title to other virtues by 
 effort. 
 
 ■'■ Object. But we shall believe that there is merit in 
 prayer of itself ?f 
 
 ■'' That is an absurdity : for if, having faith, we shall 
 not exercise virtue, how should we then have faith ? 
 
 * " De la causalite." The meaning here seems to be, an influence 
 with the Divine Being, conferred by him upon his creatures. (Transl.) 
 f " Mais on croira qu'on tient la priere de soi ?" 
 
ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 367 
 
 Is there more distance between unbelief and faith, than 
 between faith and virtue ? 
 
 {Li the margin : ^ But for prayer to be acceptable, it 
 should be such as pleases him.) 
 
 — God can only act in accordance with his promises. 
 He has promised to give holiness in answer to prayer. 
 He has never engaged to hear the prayers of any but the 
 children of promise. 
 
 XLIX. Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel. I love 
 those worshippers who are unknown to the world, and 
 even to the prophets.* 
 
 L. ■'■ Merit. This is an ambiguous term. 
 
 — Meruit habere redemptorem, 
 
 — Meruit tarn sacra membra tangere, 
 
 — Digno tarn sacra membra tangere, 
 
 — Non sum dignus. — Qui manducat indignus. 
 
 — Dignus est accipere. 
 
 — Dignare me. 
 
 LI. Nature has her perfections, to show that she is 
 the image of God ; and her defects, to show that she is 
 only the image. 
 
 — Men not being accustomed to form merit, but 
 only to reward it when formed, judge of God by them- 
 selves. 
 
 LII. ■'' When Augustus had heard that among the 
 
 * 1 Kings xix. 18. 
 
368 ON THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. 
 
 children that Herod had put to death under two years of 
 age, was a son of his own, he said, it was better to be a 
 swine of Herod's than a child. Macroh. Lib. 2.* 
 
 LTIT. ■'■ From acquiring, through contempt, an insen- 
 sibility to interesting objects, we may reach the point of 
 being no longer interested by them.f 
 
 These two paragraphs, which somewhat abruptly terminate this 
 interesting section, might have "been more suitably included by the French 
 Editor among the "Miscellaneous Thoughts," in a preceding volume. 
 (Transl.) 
 
 In the copy only. 
 
 t Ibid. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 (ORDRE.) 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 There are a number of notes of Pascal's, dispersed amidst 
 his MSS., relating to the plan, form, and matter of his 
 " Apology for Christianity." The greater part bear the title 
 of " Arrangement," {Ordre,) under which title they are here 
 collected by themselves. 
 
 The perusal of these notes will plainly show that the plan 
 contemplated by Pascal, though incomplete as to the two 
 great divisions of his proposed Vv^ork, was by no means so as 
 to its subordinate divisions and details. It will hence also 
 be perceived how impossible it has been to arrange in a strictly 
 methodical order the various materials composing these 
 volumes ; and that it was difficult even to approximate to 
 such an arrangement amongst these multifarious fragments. 
 
 {French Editor.) 
 
ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 Arrangement. 
 
 Men entertain a contempt for religion ; they hate it, 
 and are afraid of its proving true. To remedy this, we 
 should begin by showing that religion is not opposed 
 to reason ; then, that it is entitled to reverence,* — to 
 ensure for it respect. Next, to render it attractive ; to 
 induce the good to desire that it might be true ; then, 
 to prove that it is true. 
 
 To be reverenced, because it has proved its knowledge 
 of man. 
 
 To be loved, because it promises true happiness. 
 
 ■'■ Arrangement, 
 I should have far more fear of deceiving myself, and 
 finding that Christianity is true, than of not deceiving 
 myself by believing in its truth. 
 
 To commence by compassionating the unbelieving: 
 how altogether unhappy is their condition ! We w^ould 
 willingly not molest them, if to remain as they are would 
 do them good ; but it is that very thing which is 
 injurious to them. 
 
 * Ensuite qu'elle est venerable, en donner respect." Pascal, after writing 
 this passage, as given above, corrected it thus: — "Est conforme a la raison, 
 
 venerable ;" then he returned to his first expressions, but 
 
 without restoring the words, " ensuite qu'elle est" which are erased in 
 the MS. 
 
S72 
 
 ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 Arrangement. 
 
 ^ To investigate whatever is clear and incontestable 
 in the condition of the Jewish nation. 
 
 Arrangement. 
 
 Explain why I should rather divide my moral system 
 into 4 parts than 6 ? Why, in the same way, my pleas 
 for virtue should rather be in 4, in 2, or in 1.* Why 
 exercise abstinence and fortitude, rather then follow 
 nature, or follow our individual concerns without injus- 
 tice, according to Plato ; or anything besides. 
 
 But, you will s-ay, " Here is the whole comprised in a 
 word." Yes, but that is useless if not explained ; and in 
 attempting an explanation, when you open out this 
 precept, which comprises all the others, you fall into the 
 very confusion you desire to avoid. Therefore, if they 
 are all contained in one, they lie hid and useless as in a 
 casket, and never appear divested of their natural 
 confusion. Nature has established them all, without 
 including the one within the other. 
 
 Nature has placed all her truths, each within itself. 
 Our artificial procedure encloses one within another ; 
 but this is contrary to nature. Each holds its own 
 place. 
 
 * " Pourquoi prendrai-je phdot a diviser ma morale en 4 qu'en 6 1 Pour- 
 quoi etablirai-je plutot la vertu en 4, en 2, en 1 ?" Of this somewhat 
 obscure memorandum, the French Editor offers no explanation. Whether 
 the meaning is correctly guessed in the above rendering, I can feel no 
 certainty. (Transl.) 
 
ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 373 
 
 ^ Arrangement. 
 + I should have wished in this discourse to follow a 
 methodical plan, some such as this : — to show the vanity 
 of the ordinary modes of life ; and then the vanity of 
 the philosophical life, — of Pyrrhonists, Stoics, &c. ; but 
 such an order could not be preserved. I know but 
 little myself of its nature, and how few there are that 
 understand it ! No human science can preserve such a 
 systematic arrangement : St. Thomas has not done so. 
 Mathematical science preserves it, but, with all its depth, 
 it is useless.* 
 
 ■'' Arrangement. 
 After treating of man's corruption, to observe : — It is 
 right that all who are in this condition should be aware 
 of it ; both those who are satisfied, and those who are 
 unhappy under it. But it is not a necessary part of 
 (Divine) justice, that all should perceive (the remedy in) 
 redemption. 
 
 1st part, — Misery of man without God. 
 2d part, — Happiness of man with God. 
 
 Otherwise, 
 
 1st part, — That nature is corrupt in her very essence 
 and constitution. 
 
 2d part, — That Scripture contains a remedy. f 
 
 * 111 the copy only. 
 
 f The groundwork of this leading division of Pascal's work is found in 
 the following passage : — " There is nothing in the whole earth that does 
 not prove either the misery of man, or the compassion of God ; either 
 his powerlessness without — or his power with — God." p. 157 ante. 
 
374 ARRA.NGEMENT. 
 
 ■'■ Arrangement for Dialogues. 
 
 — + What am I then to do ? I see nothing but 
 obscurity all around me. Shall I believe that I am 
 nothing ? Shall I believe that I am God ? 
 
 — ^ All things change, and succeed each other , . 
 You deceive yourself : there is ... . 
 
 — ■'' What ! Do you not yourself say that the 
 heaven, and the birds that fly beneath it, prove the 
 existence of God ? — No. — And does not your religion 
 say so ? — No : for though this be, in a certain sense, 
 the case w^ith some minds w^hom God has enlightened to 
 perceive it, it is not so in regard to the generality. 
 
 — Letter, on the subject of seeking God, 
 
 And then cause him to be sought amongst the philo- 
 sophers, Pyrrhonists, and dogmatists, so laborious in 
 their researches. 
 
 Arrangement, 
 ^ A letter * exhorting a friend to seek God ; he will 
 reply, "What goodwill it do me to seek? No fruit 
 comes of it." — Then to reply, " Do not despair." He 
 again will reply, that he would be glad to acquire some 
 illumination, but that, according to the dictates of that 
 very religion, even if he were to believe after this 
 manner, it would avail him nothing ; and therefore he is 
 content not to seek. — To reply to this : The machine."! 
 
 * Here it would seem that, in addition to Dialogues, or interlocutions, 
 for the purpose of carrying on his " high argument," Pascal contemplated 
 to vary his work by an imaginary correspondence between a teacher and 
 his disciple. (Transl.) 
 
 f This word, " machine," which occurs several times in this chapter, is 
 found in the following passage: — "The habit of seeing Sovereigns 
 
ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 375 
 
 ■'■ Arrangement. 
 After the letter on seeking God, to prepare another 
 for removing obstacles to the so doing, which will form 
 the Discourse on the machine, and its preparation, and 
 on seeking by means of the reason. 
 
 ^ Letter indicating the utility of the proofs hy the 
 machine, 
 
 + Faith is distinct from evidence : the one is human, 
 
 surrounded by guards, music, officers of state, and all those things 
 which mechanically challenge (plient la machine) respect and fear, inspires 
 their subjects with reverence and dread, even when they are seen alone, 
 and without these accompaniments ; because our thoughts naturally con- 
 nect these customary appendages with their persons. And the world, not 
 knowing that this is the mere effect of custom, supposes that it originates 
 in some inherent force possessed by them ; whence comes the expression, 
 * There is divinity stamped upon the countenance,' &c." ("Miscell. 
 Thoughts, No. X.," Miscell. Writings, p. 196.) 
 
 The expression, " machine," in this passage, seems to have the same 
 meaning as in the fragments entitled " Arrangement." What Pascal here 
 terms, " plier la machine, preparer la machine," is what is elsewhere termed, 
 
 incliner l^ automate." (See Note *, p. 176 ante.) In religion there are 
 things which are intelligible only to those who practise them. To descend 
 from spiritual experience to external observances, and to rise again from 
 practical duties to spiritual feelings, is what keeps alive religion in the 
 soul. Pascal is supposing a man who has not yet attained to the interior 
 life in which faith consists, yet who sees it to be desirable, and aims to 
 possess it. But such a person experiences many obstacles, — in his passions, 
 his self-love, and the insufficiency of the proofs which mere reasoning 
 furnishes him. In this situation it is that Pascal encounters him. He 
 shows him, that if faith proceeds from God, it depends also, in some of its 
 relations, upon ourselves : we have the power to remove some of the 
 obstacles : that is, we can oppose the passions which separate us from God ; 
 engage our will, with the consent and under the direction of our reason, to 
 follow him ; and acquire those external habits which may enable us to 
 re-approach to God. All this is the work of man : let him help himself, and he 
 will be helped by God. Let him prepare the machine;" God will place 
 within it the main-spring, and an immortal inspiration ("le souffle immortel"). 
 
 I have pleasure in assigning the above interesting and valuable note 
 to its author, the Freiich Editor. (Transl.) 
 
376 
 
 ARRANGEMENT. 
 
 the other a gift from God, justus ex fide vidit i" it is 
 this which God himself places in the heart, and of which 
 evidence is often the instrument: fides ex auditu." 
 But this faith is in the heart, and leads us to say, not 
 "5cio" but ''credo'' .... 
 
 + A letter upon the folly of human science and philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 This to precede that upon Amusement. 
 
 ''Felix qui potuit . . ." 
 
 " Felix nihil admirari . , ." 
 
 J^80 kinds of sovereign good in Montague. 
 
 In the Letter upon Injustice, may be inserted the 
 jest respecting the seniors who possess all. — My friend, 
 you are descended on this side from Montague ; it is 
 right therefore that your senior should possess all. 
 
 Why do you kill me ? 
 
 Why do you kill me ? What ! Don't you live on the 
 other side of the water ? My friend, were you resident 
 on this side, I should be an assassin, and it would be 
 unjust to kill you in this way ; but, being on the other 
 side, I only show my bravery, and it is all right.* 
 
 ^ Insert in the chapter on Fundamentals^ that part in 
 the one on Figuratives, respecting the origin of figures : 
 why Jesus Christ prophesied during his first advent : 
 why his predictions were of an obscure character. 
 
 * The reference here seems to be to a former passage on the injustice of 
 wars, originating, as they often do, in mere local antipathies. — See p. 127. 
 (Transl.) 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY PASSAGES 
 
 RESPECTING THE JEWISH PEOPLE. {See Chapter on the 
 Jewish People.) 
 
 Everything relating to this people excites my 
 astonishment, and seems deserving attention. 
 
 I consider their law, — of which their boast is, that it 
 is derived to them from God, — and it appears to me 
 admirable :* it is the earliest of all laws ; — so much so, 
 that before even the word law was in use among the 
 Greeks, this had been promulgated and observed nearly 
 a thousand years without interruption. It is to me, 
 therefore, wonderful to find the earliest law in the whole 
 world, so uniformly perfect ; and that, to such a degree, 
 that the greatest legislators have borrowed from it, as 
 appears from the Law of the Twelve Tables of Athens : 
 and this again was adopted afterwards by the Romans, 
 as would be easy to show if Josephus and others had not 
 sufficiently treated of the matter. 
 
 Memoranda for the same Chapter. 
 
 ^ The sincerity of the Jews. — The final, and defec- 
 tive letters.f — Their sincerity, though to their disgrace, 
 and dying for it ; having no parallel in the world, and 
 wholly contrary to the tendencies of nature. 
 
 Same Chapter. 
 This book will be your witness. 
 
 * At first: — "admirable, and the finest laws in the whole world.'' The 
 latter words erased in the MS. 
 f See Chapter on Figures. 
 
378 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY PASSAGES. 
 
 ON THE CHAPTER ON PROPHECIES. 
 
 Prophecies.* 
 
 + Page 659.—+ In Egypt.— + Talmud. 
 It is a tradition among us, that, when the Messiah 
 shall come, the house of God, intended for the teaching 
 of his word, shall be full of filth and impurity ; and that 
 the wisdom of the scribes shall be corrupt and debased. 
 Those who fear to commit sin, shall be reviled by the 
 people, and treated as fools and mad. 
 
 * The whole of this in the copy only. 
 
TREATISE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CONVERSION OF THE SINNER. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The Treatise on the Conversion of the Sinner, was first 
 published, in the complete works of Pascal, in 1779, by the 
 Abbe Bossut, who expressed no doubt of the authenticity of 
 the fragments. Yet that editor had been acquainted with the 
 third MS. Collection of P. Guerrier, where the same paper, 
 under the title of " Essay on the Conversion of the Sinner,'' 
 is accompanied with a note, in which Guerrier expressly 
 says, " he is not aware who was the author of this treatise.'' 
 
 The MS. Suppl. Franc, No. 1485, appends, in its turn, 
 also, the following note : — " This treatise was transcribed from 
 a copy which is amongst the papers left behind by Made- 
 moiselle Perier. It bears no author's name. I believe it to 
 have been a writing of Mademoiselle Pascal previous to her 
 entering the convent." 
 
 This conjecture seems unfounded ; and we hesitate not to 
 attribute this fragment to Pascal himself, because — 
 
 First. It is found in the small MS. in 18mo., as Pascal's ; 
 and, the fragments contained in the MS. being incontestably 
 his, there is equal reason to believe that this is his also. 
 
 Secondly. It has all the characteristics of Pascal's thoughts 
 and language ; not, indeed, of his most mature and digni- 
 fied style, but of that which had already proved so effective 
 before the appearance of the Provincials; for this fragment, like 
 that which follows, (the Prayer,) must have been composed 
 about the year 1647 or 1648, when he was in about his 
 twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth year ; — at that period of his 
 life which may be termed his first conversion ; and it appro- 
 priately expresses the sentiments and feelings which then 
 occupied his mind. (French Editor.) 
 
TREATISE ON THE CONVERSION OF 
 THE SINNER.* 
 
 The first thing that God communicates to the soul 
 which He effectively touches with his influences, is a 
 peculiar intelligence and perception, by means of which 
 such a soul regards all things — itself included — in a 
 manner altogether new. 
 
 This novel illumination inspires the man with appre- 
 hensions, and impresses him with anxieties, which 
 disturb the tranquillity he had heretofore experienced, in 
 those things that had been wont to constitute his chief 
 delight. 
 
 He can now no longer find rest in any of the sources 
 of his former satisfaction. A continual scrupulosity 
 opposes him in his pleasures ; and that inward life which 
 he now leads, allows him not to find his accustomed 
 enjoyment in pursuits, to which he had before abandoned 
 himself with the full devotedness of his heart. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this, he experiences (at first) a 
 greater bitterness of heart in the exercises of piety, than 
 in the vanities of the world. On the one hand, the 
 vanity of visible objects affects him more nearly than the 
 hopes of those which are invisible ; and, on the other, 
 the reality of the invisible touches him more than the 
 vanity of the visible. Thus the actual presence of the 
 one, and the substantial reality of the other, contend 
 
 * Third MS. Coll. of Guerrier, p. 300. 
 
3S2 
 
 TREATISE ON THE 
 
 together for his affections ; while the unsatisfactoriness 
 of the one, and the invisibility of the other, disturb his 
 peace ; so that a disorder and confusion are produced. 
 
 * 
 
 He considers perishable objects as passing away, and 
 even as already vanished. Profoundly impressed with 
 the ultimate nothingness of all that he loves, he trembles 
 at the consideration that every instant is snatching from 
 him some source of enjoyment, some object most dear 
 to him ;-|- and that the day is certainly approaching, in 
 which he must find himself stripped of all those enjoy- 
 ments on which he had most firmly fixed his hopes. In 
 this way he arrives at the conviction that, his soul 
 having hitherto been attached only to fragile and tran- 
 sitory objects, must, at the end of her earthly existence, 
 stand isolated and desolate ; having taken no care to 
 attach to itself that true and substantial good, which 
 might have sustained it during life, and cheered its 
 prospects at its termination. 
 
 Thence it is, that such a person begins to consider as 
 nullities everything which must return into non-exist- 
 ence : — the heaven, the earth, his own mind, his body, 
 his relative ties ; friends, enemies, wealth, poverty ; 
 degradation, prosperity, honour, reproach, reputation, 
 contempt ; authority, abjectness, health, sickness, and 
 
 * Bossut has supplied with his own language the breaks (lacunes) which 
 occur in the MS. By comparing his edition, or those which followed it, 
 with the present, these interpolations may be traced. 
 
 f This description of the soul trembling as it sees, every instant, some- 
 thing dear to it being snatched away, reminds us of a passage written at a 
 later period : — " C'est une chose horrible de sentir s'ecoider tout ce qu'on 
 possede." (MS. autograph, p. 229.) 
 
CONVERSION OF THE SINNER. 383 
 
 even life itself. In fact, nothing of a briefer term of 
 existence than his own spirit, is capable of satisfying the 
 desires of that spirit, whose earnest and unceasing aim 
 is to establish itself in a felicity as durable as itself. 
 
 He begins to be astonished at the blindness and in- 
 sensibility in which he has heretofore existed ; and while 
 he considers, on the one hand, the large portion of his 
 time which had passed away before reflections such as 
 these occurred to him, and the multitudes around him 
 who spend their lives in the same unthinking manner ; 
 and, on the other hand, the conviction presses upon him, 
 that the immortal spirit can find no happiness in objects 
 perishable in their nature, and which, at best, must be 
 relinquished at death ; he becomes overwhelmed with a 
 sacred confusion and astonishment, which, while it 
 disturbs his present tranquillity, is salutary in its future 
 consequences. 
 
 He reflects within himself, that however large the 
 number of those who live after the maxims of the world, 
 and however imposing their authority who place their 
 happiness in worldly good, one thing is nevertheless 
 certain, — that even if these earthly objects possessed in 
 themselves any absolute pleasure, (which, however, is 
 proved by ceaseless and mournful examples to be untrue,) 
 — the privation of these things, or the inevitable hour 
 of death, must terminate this satisfaction ; that when 
 the soul has loaded itself with the treasures of temporal 
 good, of whatever nature, — be it wealth, or learning, or 
 reputation, — it is its indispensable condition, that it 
 must be eventually stripped of all these objects of grati- 
 fication ; that if something satisfying has been achieved, 
 
384 
 
 TREATISE ON THE 
 
 it is a satisfaction utterly transitory ; and that if the 
 soul has found any real good, it is anything other than 
 a durable one, — since it is limited and circumscribed, by 
 the present fleeting existence. 
 
 It is in this manner that, by superinducing upon his 
 natural pride* a gracious humility, God begins to elevate 
 the subject of his influences above his fellows of the 
 w^orld around him. He condemns their mode of life, he 
 abhors their principles, he laments their blindness ; he 
 applies himself to the acquisition of real good : he sees 
 that such good must possess these two qualities, — the 
 one, that its duration be co-existent with his ow^n, and 
 that he cannot be deprived of it without his own consent ; 
 the other, that it be more deserving than anything else 
 of his devotedness and affection. 
 
 He perceives that in the blind attachment which he 
 had heretofore felt for worldly things, that second quality 
 seemed to be possessed by them ; . for he was then 
 conscious of nothing that was more deserving of his love. 
 But, inasmuch as they were utterly destitute of the 
 former attribute, he knew that such things could not be 
 the sovereign good. For this, therefore, he henceforth 
 seeks elsewhere ; and, instructed by an ineffable illumi- 
 nation, that it is to be found in none of the objects 
 within, or without, or around himself, — in nothing, in 
 short, internal or external, — he then begins to seek for 
 it in objects above himself. 
 
 This elevation of the soul's aspirations is so mighty 
 and so transcendent, that she pauses at nothing below 
 
 * " Superhe ;" "L'orgueil, superbia." Pascal uses this expression in 
 otlier places. 
 
CONVERSION OF THF: SINNER. 385 
 
 the heavens themselves ! Not less than this can 
 satisfy her ; no created object, — not angels, not beings 
 the most perfect in the whole range of existence. 
 She traverses all created good ; and stays not in her 
 career till she has reached the throne of God him- 
 self ; where she begins to find that repose, and that 
 blessedness, which are alone worthy of desire, and of 
 which, without her own consent, she never can be 
 deprived. 
 
 For even if all those attractions are not at first 
 perceived in a course of piety, which God is wont to 
 reveal to those who are the most advanced in the divine 
 life, it is nevertheless seen that creatures cannot be more 
 deserving of love than the Creator: reason, aided by the 
 illumination of grace, leads the soul to the conviction, 
 that God is the object, of all others, the most worthy 
 of the affections, and that those only are deprived of his 
 love who reject him ; since to desire is to possess him, 
 — to refuse is to lose him. 
 
 Thus does the soul rejoice in the discovery of a good, 
 of which she cannot be deprived so long as she desires 
 its retention, and which infinitely exceeds every other 
 possession. 
 
 And amidst these new-born reflections, the man's eyes 
 become opened to the greatness of his Creator ; and he 
 bows before him in the profoundest humility and adora- 
 tion. He is, as it were, annihilated in his presence ; 
 and, unable to conceive ideas sufficiently low of himself, 
 or sufficiently elevated of this his sovereign good, he 
 strives continually to descend to the deepest point of self- 
 abasement, and to strain his conceptions to the immen- 
 
 R 
 
386 TREATISE ON THE 
 
 sities and infinitude of God.* At length, exhausted and 
 baffled with these efforts, he subsides into silent adora- 
 tion ; he feels his vileness and worthlessness before his 
 Maker ; and desires nothing so much as to devote his 
 existence here, and an eternity hereafter, to ceaseless 
 praise and adoration of his perfections. Then are his 
 eyes opened to the condescension and grace, by which a 
 Being so majestic has manifested himself to such a 
 feeble worm as himself ; he is filled with gratitude for 
 his love, and with confusion for having so long preferred 
 the vanities of earth to the service of so gracious a 
 Master ; and, overwhelmed with compunction and peni- 
 tence, he casts himself upon his compassion alone, to 
 deprecate the unspeakable terrors of his just displeasure. 
 
 He puts up urgent prayers to God, that, as He has 
 mercifully condescended to reveal Himself to him, he may 
 be pleased to show him yet more the way of approaching 
 him acceptably, and retaining the privilege of communion 
 with him. For, as it is the Eternal who is the object 
 of his aspirations, so he aims to approach him only in 
 the methods which he himself prescribes ; desiring that 
 He alone should be his way, his object, and his final aim. 
 From prayer he proceeds to action, and seeks among 
 those 
 
 He begins then to be acquainted with God, and aspires 
 
 * We may perceive, in this passage, the germ of the thoughts elsewhere 
 so magnificently developed, where Pascal represents to the imagination 
 man engulfed in the two infinitudes of magnitude and minuteness: — 
 Let man then raise his views above the petty objects which surround 
 him, and contemplate the entire expanse of nature," &c., &c. P. 63, ante. 
 
CONVERSION OF THE SINNER. 387 
 
 after his presence. But as he is, as yet, unacquainted 
 with the means of attaining to it, if his desire be sincere 
 and true, he is like a person who, having lost his way on 
 a journey, and being conscious that he is wandering, seeks 
 the guidance of some one perfectly acquainted with the 
 country * he is traversing 
 
 He resolves to devote himself implicitly, through the 
 remainder of his existence, to the will of his God ; yet, 
 inasmuch as his weakness by nature, and his proneness 
 to former sins, impede his efforts after holiness, he is 
 unceasing in his supplications to his heavenly Father, to 
 draw him towards Himself, to retain him within His 
 influences, and to bring him into an eternal union with 
 
 Himself 
 
 In this way it is that the convert is brought to the 
 conviction, that he owes to God, as the author of his 
 being, homage ; as the source of grace, gratitude ; — that, 
 as guilty, he owes Him penitence and a satisfaction ; as 
 helpless and indigent, dependence. 
 
 Note of P. Guerrier : — "I have transcribed this paper from a copy 
 amongst the papers which Mademoiselle Perier gave to the P. P. of the 
 * Oratoire de Clermont.' It has the breaks {lacunes) just as they are here 
 given. I am not aware who is the writer." 
 
 * This portraiture of a soul aspiring after God, and seeking the aid of 
 those who know him, recalls the following passage in the celebrated frag- 
 ment on the existence of God : — " You desire to attain to faith, and cannot 
 find the way. . . . Learn of those whose experience has been like your 
 own. . . . There are those who know the path you desire to take, and 
 have been cured of the malady from which you desire deliverance," &c. 
 (" Infinitude, Nullity.") 
 
 t '* Lui satisfaire comme coupable." 
 
 R 2 
 
PRAYER 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 DIVINE IMPROVEMENT OF SICKNESS. 
 
EDITORIAL NOTICE. 
 
 The advertisement prefixed to the first edition of the 
 " Pensees,'' thus refers to this prayer : " It has been thought, 
 therefore, proper to affix at the close of these Thoughts a 
 prayer which M. Pascal composed, while yet young, during 
 a sickness under which he was labouring, and which has 
 already been two or three times printed from very incorrect 
 copies, — a circumstance which arose from their being published 
 without the privity of those under whose superintendence the 
 present collection is furnished to the public." 
 
 This fragment, composed as above stated, *' while yet 
 young," must have been- written at the end of the year 1647, 
 or the commencement of 1648 : it was at that period when 
 Pascal was attacked with a malady occasioned by his 
 excessive mental labours, which obliged him to repair 
 for medical advice to Paris ; and it was when he was 
 experiencing the first fervours of his religious impressions. 
 
 In the absence of the manuscript text, which is now no 
 longer in existence, the paper is exactly transcribed from the 
 first edition of the " Pensees.'' {French Editor.^ 
 
PRAYEU 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 DIVINE IMPROVEMENT OF SICKNESS. 
 
 I. Gracious Lord ! infinite in goodness ! of whose 
 love not only the prosperity of thy chosen people, but 
 even their afflictions are proofs, grant me thy grace, that 
 I may not, like those who are ignorant of thee, misim- 
 prove thy righteous judgments, in the low estate to which 
 I am now reduced. May I evince the sincerity of the 
 principles with which thou hast endowed me, by acknow- 
 ledging thee to be my Father and my God in whatsoever 
 condition I am placed ; by testifying that no variation in 
 my state occasions any in thine ; that, while I am only a 
 creature of mutability, thou remainest ever unchanged ; 
 and that thou art no less the sovereign and gracious 
 disposer of my being when thou afflictest and chastenest, 
 than when thou blessest with consolations, and winnest 
 with indulgence. 
 
 II. Thou gavest me health, that I might serve thee, 
 and I abused the gift. Thou dispensest to me now sick- 
 ness, for my correction : suffer me not to displease thee 
 by impatience. Health has been misimproved by me ; 
 and I am justly punished for my fault : may I not lose 
 the benefit of these thy righteous chastisements. And 
 
392 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 since the corruption of my nature is so great as to render 
 thy bounties, even, a source of evil, vouchsafe, merciful 
 God, that thine all-powerful grace may render thy chas- 
 tenings conducive to my good. If the v^orld filled up 
 the affections of my heart while I was in bodily vigour, 
 let that vigour be laid low, if my spiritual good require 
 it ; and whether it be by feebleness of body, or by the 
 fervour of divine love, — let my enjo3^ment of the world 
 be destroyed, that I may find my satisfaction and delight 
 alone in Thee ! 
 
 III. Almighty God, before whom at the termination 
 of life, and the final consummation of all things, I must 
 render a strict account of all my actions ! — Thou, by 
 whose ordinance alone it is, that the world and all things 
 in it subsist, for the purifying of thy chosen ones, and 
 the punishment of sinners ! — O, righteous God, who 
 abandonest the hardened and reprobate to the intoxi- 
 cating and deadly pleasures of the w^orld ; but, in the 
 meantime, causest these bodies gradually to decay ; and 
 at death strippest the desolated soul of all its earthly 
 delights ! — O thou, who at that solemn hour wilt take 
 from me every object in which my affections are bound 
 up, and my heart absorbed ! — great God, who, on that 
 final day, wilt consume the heaven and the earth with all 
 that they contain, justly destroying our vain idols, and the 
 objects of our fatal passions, to prove to man that nothing 
 is substantial, nothing durable, nothing deserving of 
 his love, but Thyself! — I praise thee, O my God, I will 
 bless thee all my days, that in reducing me to my present 
 state of infirmity and weakness, thou hast anticipated to 
 me this solemn hour, and already annihilated all my in- 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 393 
 
 jurious attachments! Yes, I praise thee, heavenly Father, 
 and will ever bless thee, that it has pleased thee to inca- 
 pacitate me for the satisfactions of health, and the pleasures 
 of the world ; and hast thus, in measure, for my benefit, 
 overthrown those idolatrous affections which, in the case 
 of the wicked, on that great day of thy wrath, thou wilt 
 utterly destroy. Grant, O Lord, that I may now improve 
 this thy righteous annihilation of my worldly attachments, 
 that thou may est not judge me in that awful day of 
 destruction of my earthly existence, and of the world ! 
 For, O holy God, inasmuch as at that hour I shall be 
 separated from worldly things, — stripped of all objects of 
 attachment, — ^placed alone in thy presence, — called to 
 righteous judgment for all my dispositions and my con- 
 duct, — enable me to regard this my sickness as the period 
 of death ; as a separation from the world, a privation of 
 earthly attachments, a standing alone in thy presence ; — 
 that I may thus be brought to seek a real change of heart ; 
 and may know that it is thy mercy which hath condemned 
 my earthly satisfactions to death, ere my actual dissolu- 
 tion shall place me before the tribunal of thy justice. And, 
 as thou hast thus anticipated in me, O Lord, the terrors 
 of death, may I be enabled to avert thy just condemnation ; 
 and call myself duly into examination, that I may find 
 mercy at that day in thy sacred presence. 
 
 IV. And enable me ever, O my God, to revolve, in 
 the silent meditations of my own bosom, the gracious dis- 
 pensations of thy providence throughout my past life ; 
 that thy corrections should be made the source of my 
 consolation ; and that having spent my years of tran- 
 quillity in the bitterness of sin, I should now be indulged 
 
.394 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 with tlie ineffable sweetness of thy divine grace in those 
 salutary afflictions with which thou hast visited me ! Yet, 
 
 0 Lord, I acknowledge, so hard is my heart, so filled is 
 it with the vanities, the cares, the solicitudes, and the 
 attachments of the world ; that neither sickness nor 
 health, neither pious conversation nor study, neither 
 the Scriptures of thy truth nor the divine revelations of 
 thy Gospel ; not the most sacred of mysteries ; not 
 alms-giving, austerities, mortification, nor miracles ; not 
 sacramental observances, nor bodily sacrifices ; — not all 
 my efforts, nor those of the whole world united;— not any 
 or all of these could effect anything towards the very com- 
 mencement of my salvation, if Thou didst not accompany 
 them all by the transcendent aid of thy grace. There- 
 fore it is, O my God, that I call upon thee as the God 
 omnipotent, for that mighty gift which it is in the power 
 of no creature of earth to bestow. Could any other being 
 than thyself fulfil this my desire, I would not importune 
 thee with my cries. But seeing, O gracious Lord, that 
 the conversion of my heart, which I ask of thee, surpasses 
 all the efforts of nature, — to whom can I address me for 
 the achievement of such a work, but to the Author and 
 all-powerful Disposer both of nature, and of my heart ? 
 To whom shall I cry, OLord, — of whom seek for succour, 
 but thee? Nothing short of God can fulfil my desires! 
 It is God himself that I ask, and after Him will I seek : 
 it is thee only, O my God, upon whom I call, that 
 
 1 may bring thee down to myself ! Open to thyself, 
 O Lord, my heart ! take possession of this rebellious 
 domain, — this seat of vice and sin. Keep it still in 
 subjection to thyself. Enter its fastnesses : bind this 
 
PRAYER. 395 
 
 mighty enemy who holds it in his subjection ; and 
 subdue it, and all that it possesses, to thy sway. 
 Take, L'.rd, to thyself those affections which the 
 world hath heretofore ravished : spoil these its trea- 
 sures, or rathci resume them as thy rightful possession, — 
 a tribute justly thy due, and stamped with thine own 
 image. Thou thyself, O my God, didst imprint that 
 image there at my baptism, — my second birth ; but it is, 
 alas ! all effaced. The world has fixed in it its likeness, 
 and thine is found no more. Thou alone couldst create 
 this soul of mine ; by thee only can it be re-created : 
 thou alone couldst mould it in thine image : thou alone 
 canst renew it, and replace within it thine obliterated 
 likeness, — that is, Jesus, my Saviour, "the brightness 
 of thy glory, and the express image of thy person." 
 
 V. Adorable God ! how happy is that heart which is 
 capable of thy love, the source of joys sopure, so elevating, 
 so salutary ! I cannot love the world without displeasing 
 thee, without injuring and dishonouring myself: yet is 
 the world still the object of my delight. Thrice happy, O 
 my God, is that spirit which can find its joy in thee ; for 
 in that love it may be absorbed, not only without danger, 
 but with unspeakable advantage. This is a good, sub- 
 stantial and enduring. Thy own unchanging existence 
 will prevent any disappointment attending it : neither life 
 nor death shall separate from it : the day that involves the 
 wicked in a common ruin with their idols, shall unite the 
 righteous in glory with thyself ; and while the one shall 
 perish, with all the fleeting objects of their affections, the 
 other shall everlastingly exist, in that eternal and self- 
 existent Being with whom they are united. Happy they 
 
396 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 who can perfectly and freely love him, to whom they are 
 of necessity compelled to surrender their affections ! 
 
 VI. Perfect then, gracious God, those good desires 
 with which thou hast inspired me. Be their end and 
 consummation, as thou wast their author. Crown thou 
 thine own gifts : for to whom do I owe them but to thee? 
 Yes, Lord, so far from claiming aught of thee as a right, I 
 humbly acknowledge that, having given up to the creature 
 that heart which thou formedst, — not for the world, 
 nor for myself, but for Thee, — I have no plea but thy 
 pity. Absorbed in self, or earthly good, what have I to 
 commend me to thy favour, — what to avert thy righteous 
 displeasure ? How can I duly praise thee for these 
 gracious motions which thou hast awakened in me ; — for 
 that impulse, even, which leads me thus to render thee 
 the feeble tribute of my praise ? 
 
 VII. Touch my heart with sorrow for sin : without 
 this inward pain, the sufferings with which thou hast 
 visited this body will but prove renewed occasions of 
 offence. Open mine eyes to see bodily affliction to be 
 but the typical representation of the evils of the soul. 
 Yet, O Lord, do thou so transform and mould them, that 
 they may become the remedies of those evils ; and make 
 me to feel, in the pains I now experience, those sick- 
 nesses and wounds of the soul, of which I was once 
 unconscious. Well do I now perceive, heavenly Father, 
 that its greatest evil was that weakness and insensibility 
 which took from it the sense of its real misery. Impress 
 upon me this solemn truth ; and let the rest of my life 
 be a continual course of penitence for my past offences ! 
 
 VIII. For if even, O my Lord, my past years have 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 397 
 
 by thy restraining grace been exempted from the grosser 
 acts of sin, how hateful must that portion of my life 
 have been in thy sight, through the continual negligences 
 in which it has been passed ; through my misimprove- 
 ment of thy most holy Sacraments, and contempt of thy 
 inspired Word ; through habitual indolence, and the total 
 barrenness of my actions and my thoughts ; through my 
 waste of that time which thou gavest me to devote to 
 thy service, to hold at thy disposal, and to fill up with 
 penitence for daily faults and infirmities, — those, even, 
 to which the holiest are subject, — and which, without 
 habitual contrition, are to them a constant occasion of 
 falling. My past life, O God, has been one of continual 
 opposition to thy will! 
 
 IX. Yes, Lord, I have till now been ever deaf to 
 thy remonstrances, and ever despised thy revelations ; 
 I have set up my own judgment against thine ; 
 I have repudiated those holy precepts, which, on thy 
 coming into the world, thou broughtest with thee from 
 the bosom of the eternal Father, and in accordance with 
 which thou wilt hereafter judge all mankind. Thou 
 saidst, — Blessed are those that weep, and woe unto 
 those that receive now their consolation !" But I have 
 said, — " Woe unto those that mourn, and thrice happy the 
 prosperous !" I have said, — "Happy they who are pos- 
 sessed of afl[luent fortune, high reputation, robust health !" 
 And why did I thus esteem them happy, but because all 
 these advantages gave them ampler means of enjoying 
 the creature, which is but to displease thee? Yes, 
 Lord, I acknowledge that health was in my eyes a boon, 
 — not as it furnished better means of serving thee, of 
 
398 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 devoting my days and nights to thy glory, and of bene- 
 fiting my fellow-creatures; but because I could more 
 unrestrictedly abandon myself to the sensual enjoyments 
 of life, and find higher relish for fatal pleasures. Let it 
 please thee, Lord, now to re-mould my corrupted mind, 
 and to render my views conformable to thine. May T 
 deem myself happy in being afflicted : in my incapacity 
 for external joys, may my spirit be purified and brought 
 to accordance with thine : and while, through infirmity, 
 I am unable to seek thee in external objects, may I feel 
 thy sacred presence here within. For thy domain, O Lord, 
 is in the hearts of thy people ; and well do I know that 
 I shall find it even in myself, if I can but make thy 
 spirit and thy sentiments my own ! 
 
 X. Yet, O Lord, what can such a one as I do, that 
 may prevail with thee to pour out thy Spirit upon this 
 world of misery ? Everything in me must be hateful in 
 thy holy eyes, and utterly opposed to thy sacred character. 
 Nothing in me but my sorrows can claim any measure 
 of resemblance to thyself. Look then with compassion 
 upon the griefs I now experience, and those with which 
 T am yet further threatened. Let thy pitying eye 
 regard the wounds, which thine hand, O my Saviour, 
 hath inflicted. Thou who lovedst thine own sorrows 
 even unto death ; and, though a God, didst become man, 
 only to suffer more than any other man, for his salva- 
 tion ! — Thou who didst, after man's sin, clothe thyself 
 with flesh, and take to thyself a mortal body, that thou 
 mightest suffer all the penalties which man's guilt had 
 incurred! — Thou who didst so sympathize with sufiTerings, 
 that thine own flesh was the pattern of more suffering 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 399 
 
 than the world had till then witnessed! — have compassion 
 upon my hapless body ; — not for itself, for it deserves 
 nothing but thy wrath; but for the afflictions it is 
 enduring, which can alone render it an object of thy 
 pity. Look then upon my afflictions, gracious Lord, 
 and let my sorrows propitiate thy sacred visitations. 
 But that I may be rendered a fitting habitation for thee, 
 grant that, if my body be, like thine, called to endure 
 affliction, although for my offences only, my soul may 
 also resemble thine in its sorrow for those offences ; 
 that thus I may suffer with thee, and like thee, in my 
 body and in my spirit. 
 
 XI. And that my afflictions may be sustained in a 
 becoming manner, let thy consolations, O Lord, ever 
 accompany them. I ask not exemption from sorrow, 
 — for it is the lot of the saints. But I ask that I be not 
 left to the sorrows of nature, without the consolation of 
 thy Spirit : for that is the curse of the outcasts from thy 
 kingdom. I ask not for a plenitude of consolation, 
 without alloy of suffering, — for that is the life of glory. 
 Neither do I ask for sorrows unalleviated by consolation, 
 — for that is the unhappy state of the rebellious and 
 unbelieving. But, O Lord, I desire that I may exemplify 
 thy holy religion by experiencing, at once, the sorrows of 
 nature for my sins, and the consolations of the Spirit 
 through thy grace. I would not suffer thy chastise- 
 ments without comfort, but would enjoy chastisements 
 and comfort together ; that, in due time, the afflictions 
 may be removed, and the consolation only remain. 
 Before the coming of thy Son, Lord, thou didst see fit 
 to leave the world to the sufferings of nature without 
 
400 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 consolation ; now, thou dost deign to comfort and alle- 
 viate the sorrows of the righteous by the grace of thy 
 beloved Son ; and thou wilt hereafter crown them with 
 perfect blessedness, in the vision of His glory. It is thus 
 that by the most admirable gradations thou accomplishest 
 thy work. From unconsoled suffering thou hast deli- 
 vered me ; carry me, I pray thee, in safety through the 
 stage of comforted and mitigated sorrow ; that, by means 
 of it, I may attain at last to peace and glory. Thy 
 grace, O my God, is the crowning object and comple- 
 tion of all my desires ! 
 
 XII. Suffer me not, my Saviour, to contemplate, in 
 insensibility and alienation, thy holy soul borne down 
 with mortal sorrow, and thy body stricken to death, for 
 my sins, without experiencing joy on account of my own 
 sufferings, both of the body and the soul. How shameful, 
 yet how common is it in the generality of thy people, 
 and in myself also, fhat, while thy bleeding sweat poured 
 down for the expiation of our sins, we can pass our 
 lives in unthinking voluptuousness ! That those who 
 profess to be thy disciples ; who in baptism renounced 
 the world for thy service ; who, in the face of the Church, 
 have solemnly sworn to live and to die to thee ; who 
 maintain that it was the world which persecuted and 
 slew thee ; who believe that thou wast exposed to the 
 wrath of God, and the cruelty of man, for their re- 
 demption ; — that those, I say, who make all these things 
 articles of their belief ; who regard thy crucified body as 
 the sacrifice for their salvation ; who deem the vanities 
 and the sins of the world the alone cause of thy 
 sufferings, and the world itself thy executioner ; — that 
 
PRAYER. 401 
 
 they, in such a world, should give the rein to the same 
 guilty pleasures; and that those who would tremble 
 with horror to see one of their own race caress and 
 cherish the murderer of his father, (and he a parent who 
 had devoted himself to death for the life of his son,) 
 should live, as I have done, in reckless enjoyment, in the 
 midst of that very world which I knew to be the 
 murderer of my God and my Father, of him who gave 
 himself to death for my salvation, and bore, in his sacred 
 person, the penalty of my offences ! Righteous was it 
 in thee, O Lord, to cut short this guilty joy, this fatal 
 repose, to which I had abandoned myself under the very 
 shadow of death ! 
 
 Xni. Take from me then, gracious God, all sorrow 
 on account of corporeal sufferings, and the disappoint- 
 ment of my sensual inclinations and worldly hopes, while 
 thus thoughtless of promoting thy glory ; and inspire 
 me alone with sorrows conformed to those of thine own 
 spirit. Let the afflictions I am now enduring appease 
 thy just displeasure, and be the means of my change of 
 heart, and final salvation. May I henceforth desire 
 health and prolonged life, only that they may be spent 
 in thy service, and devoted to sacred communion with 
 thee. I ask neither health nor sickness, neither life nor 
 death ; dispose only of my sickness or my health, of my 
 death or my life, in such manner as may most conduce 
 to thy honour, and to the welfare of the church and of 
 thy saints, of whom, through thy grace, I desire to form 
 a portion. Thou only knowest what may be most for 
 my good. Sovereign Arbiter ! dispose of me altogether 
 as thou shalt see best ! Replenish or impoverish me as 
 
402 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 thou wilt !' but conform my will to thine ; and enable 
 me, in a humble and entire submission, and a holy con- 
 fidence, to wait thy providential guidance, and to 
 acquiesce in thy gracious disposal. 
 
 XIV. Grant, O God, that I may receive all the 
 dispositions of thy hand with a prepared and equal 
 mind, ignorant as I am what I ought to desire, and 
 unable to ask any one thing rather than another, without 
 presumptuously forming judgments and incurring respon- 
 sibilities of events, which thy wisdom has justly con- 
 cealed. All that I know, O Lord, is this : — that it is my 
 welfare to obey, and my detriment to offend thee. 
 Beyond this, what know I of good or evil in whatsoever 
 befalls me, — be it health or sickness, abundance or 
 poverty, or any other events of this changing scene ? 
 What are they all but secrets that pass the knowledge of 
 men or of angels ; mysteries concealed in thy providential 
 will, which I desire ever to adore, and seek not vainly 
 to fathom ? 
 
 XV. Whatever then, gracious Lord, be thy disposal 
 of me, let my will be conformed to thine. If sickness be 
 my lot, may I glorify thee in my sufferings. Through 
 them alone can I attain unto glory: for in that way 
 didst thou thyself even, O my Saviour, deign to proceed 
 to thy glory. It was by thy sufferings that thy disciples 
 recognized thee ; and by similarity in sufferings it is, 
 that thou dost acknowledge thy disciples. Proclaim me 
 then a disciple by those sufferings, both of the body and 
 of the mind, which thou hast appointed as the chastise- 
 ment of my past offences. And since no offering is 
 acceptable to the Father which is not made through 
 
PRAYER. 
 
 403 
 
 thyself, unite my will to thine, my sufferings to those 
 which thou hast endured ; and make them wholly thine 
 own. Unite me to thyself, and fill me with thy blessed 
 Spirit. Enter into my heart, take possession of my soul ; 
 bear therein my afflictions, and continue to endure in me 
 that yet remaining portion of thy passion, which thou 
 designest to finish and consummate in the person of thy 
 members. Filled thus with thee, may it be no longer 
 myself that lives and suffers, but thou, my Saviour, who 
 livest and sufferest in me ; and having now had a share, — 
 however small, — in thy sufferings, may est thou fill me 
 entirely with that glory which is their reward, and 
 wherein thou dwellest, with the Father and the Spirit, 
 world without end ! Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
THE WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 PASCAL. 
 
 NEWLY TRANSLATED AND ARRANGED 
 
 BY GEORGE PEARCE, ESQ. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 THE PROYINCIAL LETTERS; 
 
 (FROM VILLEMAIN'S FRENCH EDITION;) 
 
 WITH "AN ESSAY ON PASCAL, CONSIDERED AS A WRITER AND 
 MORALIST," BY M. VILLEMAIN. 
 
 AND MEMOIR, NOTES, AND APPENDIX, BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS ; 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 NEEDHAM, PRINTER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
THE WOEKS 
 
 OF 
 
 PASCAL. 
 
 NEWLY TRANSLATED AND ARRANGED 
 
 BY GEORGE PEARCE, ESQ. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS; 
 
 (FROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF M. P. FAUGERE;) 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 LETTERS, ESSAYS, CONVERSATIONS, AND MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, AND NOTES, BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS; 
 PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 R. NEEDHAM, PRINTER, PATERNOSTER- ROW, 
 
THE WORKS 
 
 OF 
 
 PASCAL. 
 
 NEWLY TRANSLATED AND ARRANGED 
 
 BY GEORGE PEARCE, ESQ. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 THE THOUGHTS ON RELIGION, 
 
 AND 
 
 EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 fFROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF M. P. FAUGERE.) 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, ETC., BY THE TRANSLATOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS ; 
 PATERNOSTER-^ROW. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 NEEDHAM, PRINTER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 (see also table of contents ) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Advocates, their dress, &c., influence of upon imagination . . 50 
 their pleading affected, by trifles. . . . .52 
 
 Amusements, universal demand for . . . . . . .31 
 
 Angels, inferior to Man, and, in some respects, his equal ; and why . 85 
 
 Atheists, their system 91 
 
 Atom, description of ......... 65 
 
 Auricular confession, objections to, considered . . . .57 
 
 Automata, definition of 176 
 
 Barreaux, infidel writer, note respecting ...... 91 
 
 Brutes, danger of comparing man to ...... 85 
 
 China, history of, illustrative of the Jewish 192 
 
 Christ Jesus, his offices, 248 ; his genealogy, 262 ; his person, &c., 
 
 302 ; the source of knowledge of God, 304 ; his sufferings, 306 ; 
 
 mystery of (Passion) ........ 325 
 
 Christians, astonishment of philosophers 86 
 
 Christianity, remedy for sensuality and pride . . , . .137 
 „ general description of . . . . . . . 333 
 
 „ proofs, systematically arranged . ' . . . . 350 
 
 Conversion, description of . . . • . . . .381 
 
 Copernicus, system of, referred to . . . . . . .18 
 
 Croix ou pile,'" French game of, (head or tail,) illustrative of the 
 
 wager on the existence of God ....... 165 
 
 Custom, often the source of rules of equity and law . . . 127 
 
 Disease, bodily, type of spiritual 357 
 
 Dogmatists, sect of . . . . . . . . . .101 
 
 Ennui, description of, 40 ; a blessing to man, and why . . .87 
 Externals, (observances,) their object and use . . . . 336 
 
 Epictetus on religious constancy, 93 ; his doctrines contrasted with 
 
 Christ's 303 
 
 Esdras, book of, remarks on . . . . . . . .196 
 
 Eternity, nothing too costly for .118 
 
 Evangelists, their representation of Christ 311 
 
 Figures, reasons for their use, &c. ....... 239 
 
 Glory, man's desire of, if universal ....... 80 
 
 God of Christianity, described 116 
 
 „ in Christ 117 
 
 „ man's true good . . . . . . . . .122 
 
 Habit, its power in influencing belief 170 
 
 Happiness, universal desire of 121 
 
 ,, not attainable, without religion 122 
 
 Homer, allusion to in reference to the Jewish history . . .193 
 
 Imagination, description of 45, 46 
 
 Incarnation of Christ, proof of the greatness of man's misery . . 145 
 
 Infinitude, in connexion with Nullity 163 
 
 Jews, their peculiarities, antiquity, laws, &c 187, 199 
 
 Job, book of, its antiquity . . . . . . . .193 
 
 Joseph, a type of Christ 312 
 
 Tosephus, his testimony to the antiquity of the Jewish nation . .190 
 
406 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Jurisprudence, its inequalities 126 
 
 „ for the benefit of those judged 132 
 
 Kings, their need of constant amusement, &c., (not considered as 
 
 Christian Kings) 32, 37 
 
 Law, Jewish, typical 245 
 
 Laws, capriciousness of . . . . . . . . .127 
 
 danger of people believing them unjust 130 • 
 
 Mahomet, Christ's superiority over . . .... 321 
 
 Magistrates, influenced by imagination ...... 47 
 
 ,, exercising similar influence over others . . .49 
 Man, description of . . . . . . . . .104 
 
 Mediocrity, advantages of ........ 99 
 
 Members, of the Church, their office, duties, &c. . . . 360 
 
 Mind, its supremacy over the body . . . . . . .318 
 
 Miracle, definition of, &c., 216 ; rule for judging of . . . 224 
 
 Montaigne, references to 25 
 
 Paganism, Christianity superior to, and why ? .... 335 
 
 Patriarchs, their longevity and its purposes . . . . .195 
 
 Philosophers, their general ignorance ...... 95 
 
 Physicians, their dress, &c., influential upon imagination . 49, 50 
 
 Plato inclined to Christianity 94 
 
 Play, love of, and motives for ........ 34 
 
 Prayer, remedy for man's weakness . . . . . .144 
 
 Pride, a counterpoise to man's natural misery, and why . . .89 
 
 Property, no good title to, and why 88 
 
 Prosperity, its effect in removing from truth 58 
 
 Prophecy, the largest part of the evidence of Christ . . . 268 
 Prophecies respecting Christ ........ 269 
 
 of Daniel 280 
 
 miscellaneous 288 
 
 Pyrrhonists, their system, &c. ........ 92 
 
 Reason, Christianity, its highest achievement ..... 333 
 
 Reed, man compared to . . . . . . . • .84 
 
 Religion, natural, considered . . . . . • • .113 
 
 ,, all false but one ........ 268 
 
 Reproof, our indisposition to, and why . . . • . .58 
 Scripture, containing universal consolation and warning . . . 145 
 
 „ its perplexity, and the causes ...... 261 
 
 Self-love, description of 55 
 
 Sensuality, a second nature to man 89 
 
 Sickness, its effects upon imagination . . . . • .51 
 Sin, original, a doctrine revolting to natural reason . . . .106 
 Stoics, their system 91 
 
 Suffering, usual on entering a life of piety 182 
 
 Thought, the greatness of man ....... 83 
 
 ,, its regulation, true dignity, &c. 84 
 
 Trinity, doctrine of, not proved by natural religion . . . .115 
 Usurpation, danger of its popular perception ..... 128 
 Wisdom, book of, reasoning in 143 
 
 LONDON: R. NEEDHAM, PRINTER, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 I. 
 
 In Post 8vo., Price Ss. 6d., cloth, boards, uniform with " The Miscellaneous 
 Writings," and " The Thoughts and Evidences," 
 
 THE PROVINCIAL LETTERS OF PASCAL ; 
 
 WITH 
 
 AN " ESSAY ON PASCAL, CONSIDERED AS A WRITER AND 
 MORALIST," BY M. VILLEMAIN, 
 
 LATE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IN FRANCE, ETC. : 
 
 WITH MEMOIR, NOTES, AND APPENDIX. 
 
 " As these Letters were the first model of French prose, so they still 
 remain the objects of unqualified admiration. The writings of Pascal 
 ' flourish in immortal youth:' all that time can do is to superadd to the 
 charms of perpetual beauty the veneration which belongs to age. His 
 style cannot grow old. He anticipated all criticism, and became a law to 
 himself." — Edinburgh Review. 
 
 IL 
 
 In Post 8vo., Price Ss. 6d., cloth, boards, uniform with " The Provincial 
 Letters," and " The Thoughts and Evidences," 
 
 THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS OF PASCAL. 
 
 CONSISTING OF 
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH RELATIVES AND FRIENDS; LETTER ON THE 
 DEATH OF HIS FATHER, IN A COMPLETE STATE, FROM ORIGINAL 
 SOURCES ; PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISES ; DISCOURSE ON THE " PAS- 
 SION OF love" (lately discovered); ESSAY ON THE ART OF 
 PERSUASION, AND NOTES ON ELOQUENCE AND STYLE ; CONVER- 
 SATIONS ON THE CONDITION OF THE GREAT, ETC. ; DETACHED 
 
 THOUGHTS AND NOTES, ETC., ETC. : 
 
 THE GREATER PART NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED IN THIS COUNTRY, 
 AND LARGE PORTIONS FROM ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS. 
 
 ARRANGED AND TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH EDITION OF 
 
 M. P. FAUGERE. 
 WITH INTRODUCTION, EDITORIAL NOTICES, ETC. 
 
 LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. 
 
A CATALOGUE 
 
 OF 
 
 NEW WORKS 
 
 IN GENERAL LITERATURE, 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS, 
 39, PATERKOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
 CLASSIFIED INDEX. 
 
 Agriculture and Rural Affairs. 
 
 Pages 
 
 Bayldon on Valuing Rents, etc. . . 6 
 Caird's Letters on Agriculture . . ' 
 Cecil's Stud Farm .... 
 Loudon's ?:ncyclop8edia of Agriculture 
 Low's Elements of Agriculture 
 Domesticated Animals 
 
 Arts, Manufactures, and 
 Architecture. 
 
 Amott on Ventilation . . . , 
 Bourne on the Screw Propeller 
 Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc. 
 
 Chevieul on Colour 
 
 Cresv's Encyclo. of Civil Engineering 
 Eastlake on Oil Painting . . . . 
 Gwilt's Encyclopsedia of Architecture . 
 Jameson's Sacred and Legendary Art 
 
 „ Commonplace Book 
 Loudon's Rural Architecture . 
 Moseley's Engineering and Architecture 
 Richardson's Art of Horsemanship . 
 Scrivenor on the Iron Trade . . . 
 
 Stark's Printing 
 
 Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club 
 Tate on Strength of Materials 
 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, etc. . 
 
 Biography. 
 
 Arago's Autobiography .... 
 
 ,, Lives of Scientific Men 
 Bodenstedt and "Wagner's Schamyl 
 Brightwell's Memorials of Opie 
 Buckingham's (J. S.) Memoirs 
 Bunsen s Hippolytus .... 
 Clinton's (Fynes) Autobiography . 
 Cockayne's Marshal Turenne 
 Dennistoun's Strange and Lumisden . 
 Forster's De Foe and Churchill 
 Haydon's Autobiography, by Tom Taylor 
 Hayward's Chesterfield and Selwyn . 
 
 Holcroft's Memoirs 
 
 Holland's (Lord) Memoirs 
 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopadia 
 Maunder's Biographical Treasury . 
 Memoir of the Duke of Wellington 
 Memoirs of James 31oiitgomery 
 Merivale's Memoirs of Cicero . 
 Russell's Memoirs of Moore . . . 
 
 ,, Life of Lord William Russell , 
 Southey's Life of Wesley 
 
 Southey's Life and Correspondence 
 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography 
 
 Pages 
 
 . 21 
 . 21 
 . 21 
 
 23 
 23 
 24 
 
 esley .... 
 Townsend's Eminent Judges 
 Waterton's Autobiography and Essays 
 Wheeler's Life of Herodotus . 
 
 Books of General Utility. 
 
 Acton's Modern Cookery Book 
 Black's Treatise on Brewiug 
 Cabinet Gazetteer 
 
 ,, Lawyer 
 Cust's Invalid's Own Book 
 Gilbart's Logic for the Million 
 Hints on Etiquette 
 How to Nurse Sick Children 
 Hudson's Executor's Guide 
 
 „ On Making Wills 
 Kesteven's Domestic Medicine 
 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia . 
 Maunder's Treasury of Knowledge 
 Biographical Treasury 
 
 ,, Scientific Treasury 
 
 ,, Treasury of History 
 
 ,, Natural History , 
 Piscator's Cookery of Fish 
 Pocket and the Stud 
 Pycroft's English Reading 
 Recce's Medical Guide 
 Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary 
 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries 
 Richardson's Art of Horsemanship 
 Roget's English Thesaurus 
 Rowton's Debater .... 
 
 Short Whist 
 
 Thomson's InterestTables 
 Webster's Domestic Economy 
 West on Children's Diseases 
 Willich's Popular Tables 
 Wilmot's Blackstone's Commentaries 
 
 Botany and Gardening. 
 
 Conversations on Botany .... 8 
 Hooker's British Flora . . . .10 
 
 Guide to Kew Gardens . . 10 
 
 Kew Museum . . 10 
 
 Liudley's Introduction to Botany . . 12 
 
 Theory of Horticulture . . 12 
 
 Loudon's HortusBritannicus . . . 14 
 
 (Mrs.) Amateur Gardener . 14 
 
 ,, Encyclopcediaof Trees & Shrubs 14 
 
 ,, Gardening . 14 
 
 „ „ Plants . . 14 
 
 London: rrinted by M. Mason, Ivy Lane, Paternoster Bow. 
 
CLASSIFIED INDEX. 
 
 Pages 
 
 Pereira's Materia Medica .... 18 
 Rivers's Rose Amateur's Guide . . 19 
 Wilson's British Mosses . . . .24 
 
 Chronology. 
 
 Blair's Chronological Tables ... 6 
 Bunsen's Ancient Egj'pt .... 7 
 Haydn's Beatson's Index . . . .10 
 Jacquemet's Clironolotjy . . . .11 
 Jnlins and Nicolas's Calendar of Victory 12 
 Nicolas's Ciironoiogy ef History . . 13 
 
 Commerce and Mercantile 
 Affairs. 
 
 Francis On Life Assurance . . . 9 
 ,, Stock Excliange .... 9 
 Lorimer's Letters to aYoungMaster Mariner 12 
 M'Culloch's Commerce and Navigation . 15 
 
 Macr^eod's Baniiing 15 
 
 Serivenor on the Iron Trade . . .19 
 Thomson's Interest Tables . . .23 
 Tooke's History of Prices . . .23 
 
 Criticism, History, and 
 Memoirs. 
 
 Austin's Germany . . ... 5 
 Blair's Chron. and Historical Tables . 6 
 Bunsen's Ancient Egypt ... 7 
 
 Hippolytus .... 6 
 
 Burton's History of Scotland ... 7 
 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul . . 8 
 Kastlake's History of Oil Painting . g 
 
 Erskine's History of India ... 9 
 Francis's Annals of Life Assurance . 9 
 Gleig's Leipsic Campaign . . .22 
 Gurney's Historical Sketches ... 9 
 Hamilton's Discussions in Philosophy, etc. 10 
 Havdon's Autobiography, by Tom Taylor 10 
 Holland's (Lord) Whig Party ... 10 
 Jeffrey's (Lord) Contributions . . 11 
 Johns and Nicolas's Calendar of Victory 12 
 Kemble's Anglo-Saxons in England . 12 
 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia . . 13 
 Macaulay's Crit. and Hist. F^ssays . . 14 
 „ History of England . . 14 
 ,, Speeches . . . . 14 
 Mackintosh's Miscellaneous Works . 15 
 History of England . . 15 
 M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary . 15 
 Martineau's Church History . . .15 
 Mauuder's Treasury of History . . 16 
 Memoir of the Duke of Wellington . 22 
 Merivale's History of Rome . . .16 
 Roman Republic . . .16 
 Milner's Church History .... 16 
 Moore's (Thomas) Memoirs, etc. . . 17 
 M lire's Greek Literature . . . .17 
 
 RaiUes's Journal 18 
 
 Rauke's Ferdinand and Maximilian . . 22 
 Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary . 18 
 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries . . .19 
 Rogers's Essays from Edinburgh Review 19 
 Roget's English Thesaurus . . . 19 
 Russell's (Lady Rachel) Letters . . 19 
 Life of Lord William Russell . 19 
 St. John's Indian Archipelago . . .19 
 Schmitz's History of Greece . . .19 
 Smitli's Sacred Annals . . . .20 
 Southey'sThe Doctor etc. . . .21 
 Stephen's Ecclesiastical Biography . 21 
 Lectures on French History . 21 
 Sydney Smith's Works . . . .20 
 Select Works . . 22 
 Lectures on MoralPhilosophy 21 
 Memoirs ..... 20 
 
 Pages 
 
 Taylor's Loyola 21 
 
 ,, Wesley 21 
 
 Thirlwall's History of Greece . . .21 
 Townsend's State Trials . . . .23 
 Turkey and Christendom . . .22 
 
 Turner's Anglo-Saxons .... 23 
 „ Middle Ages . . . .23 
 Sacred History of the World . 23 
 Vehse's Anstrian Court . ... 23 
 Whitelocke's Swedish Embassy . .24 
 Youug's Christ of History , . .24 
 
 Geography and Atlases. 
 
 Arrowsmith's Geog. Diet, of Bible . . 6 
 
 Butler's Geography and Atlases . . 7 
 
 Cabinet Gazetteer 7 
 
 Cornwall, its Mines, Scenery, etc. . 22 
 
 Durrieu's Morocco 22 
 
 Hughes's Australian Colonies . . .22 
 Johnston's General Gazetteer . . .12 
 
 M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary . 15 
 
 ,, Russia and Turkey . . 22 
 
 Milner's Baltic Sea 16 
 
 Crimea 16 
 
 Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography . 17 
 
 Sharp's British Gazetteer . ... 20 
 
 Wheeler's Geography of Herodotus , 24 
 
 Juvenile Books. 
 
 Amy Herbert 19 
 
 Cleve Hall: 20 
 
 Earl's Daughter (The) . . . .20 
 
 Experience of Life 20 
 
 Gertrude 20 
 
 Gilbart's Logic for the Yonng ... 9 
 
 Howitt's Boy's Country Book . . . 11 
 
 „ (Mary) Cliildren's Year . . 11 
 
 Katharine Asiiton 20 
 
 l>aneton Parsonage 20 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations . , .15 
 
 Margaret Percival 20 
 
 Pycroft's English Reading . . . 18 
 
 Medicine and Surgery, 
 
 Brodie's Psychological Inquiries . . 6 
 Bull's Hints to Mothers .... 6 
 Management of Children . . 6 
 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine . . 8 
 Cust's Invalid's Own Book ... 8 
 Holland's Mental Physiology . . . 10 
 How to Nurse Sick Children . . .10 
 Kesteven's Domestic Medicine . . 12 
 Latham On Diseases of the Heart . . 14 
 Moore On Health, Disease, and Remedy . 16 
 Pereira On Food and Diet . . .18 
 ,, Materia Medica . . . .18 
 Reece's Medical Guide . . . .18 
 West on the Diseases of Infancy . . 24 
 
 Miscellaneous and General 
 Literature. 
 
 Austin's Sketches of German Life . . 5 
 Carlisle's Lectures and Addresses . . 22 
 Defence of Eclipse of Faith ... 8 
 Eclipse of Faith . • <■ • • • .8 
 Greg's Essays on Political and Social 
 
 Science 9 
 
 Hassall on Adulteration of Food . . 10 
 Haydn's Book of Dignities . . .10 
 Holland's Mental Physiology ... 10 
 Hooker's Kew Guide . ... 10 
 
 Howitt's Rural Life of England . , n 
 
 ,, Visits to Remarkable Places . 11 
 Jameson's Commonplace Book , . H 
 Jeffrey's (Lord) Essays . . . .11 
 Last of the Old Squires ... .17 
 
TO Messrs. LONGMAN and Co.'s CATALOGUE. 3 
 
 Pages 
 
 Macaulay's Critical and Historical Essays 14 
 
 Speeches 14 
 
 Mackintosh's (Sir J.) Miscellaneous Works 15 
 Martineau's Miscellanies . ... 15 
 Memoirs of a Maitre d'Amies . . 22 
 
 Maitland's Church in the Catacombs . 15 
 Pascal's Works, bv Pearce . . .18 
 Pycroft's English'Reading . . . 18 
 Rich's Companion to Latin Dictionary . 18 
 Riddle's Latin Dictionaries ... 19 
 
 Rowton's Debater 19 
 
 Seaward 's Narrative of his Shipwreck . 19 
 Sir Roger De Coverley . . . .20 
 Smith's (Rev. Sydney) Works . . . 20 
 Southey's Common-Place Books . . 21 
 
 ,, Doctor . . ... 21 
 Souvestre's Attic Philosopher . . 22 
 
 ,, Confessions of a Working Man 22 
 Spencer's Principles of Psychology . 21 
 
 Stephen's Essays 21 
 
 Stow's Training System . . . .21 
 Tagart on Locke's Philosophy . . .21 
 Thomson's Outline of the Laws of Thought 23 
 Townsend's State Trials .... 23 
 Willich's Popular Tables .... 24 
 Vonge's English Greek Lexicon . . 24 
 Latin Gradus . . . .24 
 Zumpt's Latin Grammar . . . .24 
 
 Natiiral History in General, 
 
 Catlow's Popular Conchology ... 7 
 
 Ephemera and Young on the Salmon . 9 
 
 Gosse's Natural History of Jamaica . 9 
 
 Kemp's Natural History of Creation . 22 
 
 Kirby and Speuce's Entomology . . 12 
 
 Lee's Elements of Natural History . 12 
 Mann on Reproduction ... .15 
 
 Maunder's Treasury of Natural History . 16 
 
 Turton's Shellsof the Britishlslands . 23 
 
 VVaterton's Essays on Natural History . 23 
 
 Youatt's The Dog . ... 24 
 
 ,, The Horse 24 
 
 l-Volume Encyclopaedias and 
 
 Dictionaries. 
 
 Arrowsmith's Geog. Diet, of the Bible . 5 
 
 Blaine's Rural Sports .... 6 
 
 Brande's Science, Literature, and Art . 6 
 
 Copland's Dictionary of Medicine . . 8 
 
 Cresy's Civil Engineering ... 8 
 
 Gwilt's Architecture 9 
 
 Johnston's Geographical Dictionary . 12 
 
 Loudon's Agriculture . . . , 14 
 
 Rural Architecture . . 14 
 Gardening . . . .14 
 
 Plants 14 
 
 ,, Trees and Shrubs ... 14 
 
 M'CuUoch's Geographical Dictionary . 15 
 
 Dictionary of Commerce . 15 
 
 Murray'sKncyclopaidiaof Geography . 17 
 
 Sharp's British Gazetteer .... 20 
 Ure's Dictionary of Arts, etc. . . .23 
 
 Webster'sDomestic Economy . . 23 
 
 Religious and Moral Works. 
 
 Amy Herbert 19 
 
 Arrowsmitli's Geog. Diet, of the Bible . 5 
 
 Bloomfield'sGreekTestaments . . 6 
 
 Annotations on ditto . . 6 
 
 Bode's Bampton Lectures .... 6 
 
 Calvert's Wife's Manual . ... 7 
 
 Cleve Hull 20 
 
 Conybeare's Essays . . . . .8 
 
 Conybeare and Howson's St. Paul . . 8 
 
 Dale's Domestic Liturgy . . , , 8 
 
 P-iges 
 
 Defence of Eclipse of Faith ... 8 
 
 Discipline 8 
 
 Earl's Daughter (The) .... 20 
 
 Eclipse of Faith 8 
 
 Englishman's Greek Concordance . . 8 
 „ Heb. and Chald. Concord. 9 
 
 Experience of Life (The) .... 20 
 
 Gertrude 20 
 
 Harrison's Light of the Forge ... 9 
 Hook's (Dr.) Lectures on Passion Week 11 
 Home's Introduction to Scriptures . 10 
 Abridgment of ditto . . .10 
 Communicant's Companion . 10 
 Jameson's Sacred I-egends . . . 11 
 „ Monastic Legends . . .11 
 ,, Legends of the Madonna . II 
 Sisters of Charity . . .11 
 Jeremy Taylor's Works .... 12 
 Kalisch's Commentary on Exodus . . 12 
 
 Katharine Ashton 20 
 
 Kippis's Hymns 12 
 
 Laneton Parsonage ..... 20 
 
 Lyra Gernianica 7 
 
 Maitland's Church in the Catacombs . 15 
 
 Margaret Percival 20 
 
 Martineau's Christian Life . . . 15 
 ,, Church History . . .15 
 Milner's Church of Christ .... 16 
 Montgomery's Original Hymns . . 16 
 Moore On the Use of the Body ... 16 
 Soul and Body . , .16 
 „ 's Man and his Motives . . .16 
 
 Mormonisra 22 
 
 Neale's Closing Scene . . . .17 
 „ Resting Places of the Just . . 17 
 Riches that bring no Sorrow . 17 
 Risen from the Ranks . . .17 
 Newman's fJ. H.) Discourses ... 17 
 Ranke's Ferdinand and Maximilian . . 22 
 Readings for Lent . . . . .20 
 Confirmation . . , 20 
 Robinson's Lexicon to Greek Testament 19 
 
 Saints our Example 19 
 
 Self Denial 19 
 
 Sermon in the Mount . . , . 20 
 Sinclair's Journey of Life .... 19 
 Smith's (Sydney) Moral Philosophy . 21 
 ,, (G.) Sacred Annals . . .20 
 Southey's Life of Wesley . . . ,21 
 Stephen's (Sir J.) Ecclesiastical Biography 21 
 Tayler's (J. J.) Discourses ... 21 
 
 Taylor's Loyola 21 
 
 „ Wesley 31 
 
 Theologia Gernianica .... 7 
 
 Thumb Bible (The) 23 
 
 Turner'sSaered History . . . .23 
 Twining's Bible Types . . . . 23 
 Wheeler's Popular Bible Harmony . . 24 
 Young's Christ of History . . . 24 
 
 Poetry and the Drama. 
 
 Arnold's Poems 5 
 
 Aikiu's (Dr.) British Poets ... 5 
 
 Baillie's (Joanna) Poetical Works . . 5 
 
 Bode's Ballads from Herodotus . . 6 
 
 Calvert's Wife's Manual .... 7 
 
 Flowers and their Kindred Thoughts . 12 
 
 Goldsmith's Poems, illustrated . . 9 
 
 Kippis's Hymns 12 
 
 L. E. L.'s Poetical Works . . . . 12 
 
 Linwood's Anthologia Oxoniensis . . l2 
 
 Lyra Gernianica 7 
 
 Macaulay's Lavs of Ancient Rome . . 14 
 
 MacDonald's Within and Without . . 14 
 
 Montgomery's Poetical Works . . 16 
 
 ,, Original Hymns . 16 
 
4 
 
 CLASSIFIED INDEX. 
 
 Moore's Poetical Works . 
 
 ,, LallaRookh .... 
 
 ,, Irish Melodies 
 
 Sonffs and Ballads 
 Shakspeare,l)y Bowdler . 
 
 ,, 's Sentiments and Similes 
 Southey's Poetical Works 
 
 ,, British Poets . . . 
 Thomson's Seasons, illustrated 
 Watts's Lyrics of the Heart 
 
 Pages 
 . 17 
 . 17 
 . 17 
 . 17 
 . 20 
 . 11 
 . 21 
 . 21 
 . 23 
 . 23 
 
 Political Economy & Statistics. 
 
 Caird's Letters on Agriculture ... 7 
 
 Census of 1851 7 
 
 Francis on Life Assurance ... 9 
 Greg's Essays on Political and Social 
 
 Science 9 
 
 Laine's Notes of a Traveller . . 12 & 22 
 
 ■■ ■ ~ 15 
 
 15 
 22 
 15 
 15 
 21 
 24 
 
 M'CuUoch's Geograhpical Dictionary 
 ,, Dictionary of Commerce . 
 
 „ London 
 
 , , Statistics of the British Empire 
 
 Marcet's Political Economy 
 
 Tegoborski's Russian Statistics 
 
 Willich's Popular Tables .... 
 
 The Sciences in General and 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Arago's Meteorological Essays • . 5 
 Popular Astronomy ... 5 
 Bourne's on the Screw Propeller . . 6 
 Brande's Dictionary of Science, etc. . 6 
 Lectures on Organic Chemistry 6 
 Cresy's Civil Engineering ... 8 
 DelaBeche's Geology of Cornwall, etc. 8 
 
 ,, Geological Observer . . 8 
 
 De la Rive's Electricity .... 8 
 Faraday's Non-Metallic Elements . . 9 
 Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy . . 10 
 Holland's Mental Physiology . . .10 
 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature . . 11 
 Cosmos .... 11 
 
 Hunt's Researches on Light • . .11 
 Kemp's Phasis of Matter . _ . . ,12 
 Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia . . .13 
 Mann on Reproduction . . . . 15 
 Marcet's (Mrs.) Conversations . . 15 
 Moseley's Engineering and Architecture 17 
 Owen's Lectures on Comparative Anatomy 18 
 Our Coal Fields and our Coal Pits . . 22 
 Pereira on Polarised Light . . .18 
 Peschel's Elements of Physics . . 18 
 Phillips's Fossils of Cornwall, etc. . . 18 
 Mineralogy . . , .18 
 
 „ Guide to (Jeology . - .18 
 Portlock's Geology of Londonderry , 18 
 Powell's Unity oif Worlds . . . . 18 
 Smee's Electro-Metallurgy . . .20 
 Steam Engine, by the Artisan Club . 6 
 Tate on Strength of Materials . . .21 
 Wilson's Electricity and the Electric 
 Telegraph 22 
 
 Rural Sports. 
 
 Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylor 
 Berkeley's Reminiscences . . 
 Blaine's Dictionary of Sports 
 Cecil's Stable Practice 
 
 „ Records of the Chase . 
 Cecil's Stud Farm . . , 
 The Cricket Field 
 Davy's Angling Colloquies 
 Ephemera on Angling 
 
 ,, 's Book of the Salmon 
 Hawker's Young Sportsman 
 
 The Hunting Field . 
 Idle's Hints on Shooting . . 
 Pocket and the Stud . . . 
 Practical Horsemanship . . 
 Pulman's Fly-Fishing . 
 Richardson's Horsemanship 
 St. John's Sporting Rambles . 
 Stable Talk and Table Talk 
 Stonehenge on the Greyhound . 
 The Stud, for Practical Purposes 
 
 Veterinary Medicine, etc 
 
 Cecil's Stable Practice 
 
 „ Stud Farm 
 The Hunting Field . 
 Miles's Horse Shoeing 
 Pocket and the Stud . 
 Practical Horsemanship . . 
 Richardson's Horsemanship 
 Stable Talk and Table Talk 
 The Stud for Practical Purposes 
 Youatt'sThe Dog 
 „ The Horse . 
 
 Pages 
 
 Voyages and Travels. 
 
 Allen's Dead Sea 
 
 Baines's Vaudois of Piedmont . 
 Baker's Rifle and Hound in Ceylon . 
 Barrow's Continental Tour 
 Burton's Medina and Mecca . . . 
 Carlisle's Turkey and Greece 
 
 De Custine's Russia 
 
 Eothen ....... 
 
 Ferguson's Swiss Men and Mountains . 
 Forester's Rambles in Norway . 
 Girouifere's Philippines . . . . 
 
 Gregorovius's Corsica . . . . 
 
 Hill's Travels in Siberia . . . . 
 
 Hope's Brittany and the Bible . 
 
 „ Chase in Brittany . . . . 
 Howitt's Art Student in Munich 
 
 ,, Victoria 
 
 Hue's Chinese Empire . . . . 
 Hue and Gabet's Tartary and Thibet 
 Hughes's Australian Colonies . 
 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature 
 
 Jameson's Canada 
 
 Jerrmann's Pictures from St. Petersburg 
 
 Laing's Norway 
 
 Notes of a Traveller . . 12 J 
 Macintosh's Turkey and Black Sea . . 
 
 Marryat's California 
 
 Mason's Zulus of Natal . . . . 
 Mayne's Artie Discoveries . . . 
 Miles' Rambles in Iceland 
 Oldmixon's Piccadilly to Peru . 
 Osborn's Narrative of Arctic Discovery . 
 Pfeiffer's Voyage round the World . 
 
 ,, Second ditto . . . . 
 Richardson's Arctic Boat Voyage . , 
 Seaward's Narrative of his Shipwreck 
 St. John's (H.) Indian Archipelago . 
 
 „ (Hon. F.) Rambles . 
 Sutherland's Arctic Voyage 
 Weld's United States and Canada . 
 Wheeler's Travels of Herodotus . , 
 Werne's African Wanderings . . . 
 
 Works of Fiction. 
 
 Arnold's Oakfield 
 
 Lady Willoughbv's Diary . 
 Macdonald's Villa Verocchio 
 Sir Roger De Coverley , 
 Southey's Doctor 
 Trollope's Warden . 
 
ALPHABETICAL CATALOGUE 
 
 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 PUBLISHED 
 
 Messrs. LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, and LONGMANS, 
 
 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 
 
 Modern Cookery for Private 
 
 Families, reduced to n System of Easy Prac- 
 tice in a Series of carefully tested Receipts, 
 in which the principles of Baron Liebig- and 
 other eminent Writers have been as much 
 as possible applied and explained. By Eliza 
 Acton. Newly revised and much enlarged 
 Edition; with 8 Plates, comprising 27 Figures 
 and 150 Woodcuts. Fcp. 8vo. price 7s. 6d. 
 
 Aikin. — Select Works of the 
 
 British Poets, from Ben Jonson to Beattie. 
 With Biographical and Critical Prefaces by 
 Dr. Aikin. NewEdition, with Supplement 
 by Lucy Aikin ; consisting- of Selections 
 from more recent Poets. 8vo. price I8s. 
 
 Allen.— The Dead Sea a New- 
 Route to india: with other Fragments and 
 Gleanings in the East. By Captain W. 
 AI.LKN, U.N., F.R.S., etc. By the Author 
 of The Narrative of the Niger Expedition. 
 With Maps, Woodcuts, and Illustrations in 
 tinted lithography. 2 vols, post 8vo. 25«. 
 
 Arago (r.)— Meteorological Es- 
 says, By Fkancis Araoo. With au Intro- 
 duction by Baron Humboldt. Translated 
 under the superintendence of Lieut. -Col. 
 E. Sabine, R.A. 8vo. 18«. 
 
 *,* The Meteorolneical Essays form the 
 First Volume of an uniform Copyright Eng- 
 lish Edition of Francis Arago's Works, 
 translated by Admiral W. H. Smith, Colonel 
 Sabine, the Rev. Baden Powell, and Mr. 
 Robert Grant, M A. Vol. II , Popular As- 
 tronomy, and Vol. III., Lives of Distin- 
 guished Scientijii: Men, are in preparation. 
 
 Arrowsmith.— A Geographical 
 
 Dictionary of tlie Holy Scriptures: Includ- 
 ing also IVotices of the Chief Places and 
 People mentioned in the Apocrypha. By 
 the Rev. A. Arrowsmith, M.A. 8vo. 15». 
 
 Arnold.— Poems. By Matthew 
 
 Arnold. Second Edition. Fcp. 8vo. os. 6(/. 
 
 Arnold.— Poems. By Matthew 
 
 Arnold. Second Series, about one-third 
 new; the rest finally selected from the 
 volumes of 1849 and 1852, now withdrawn. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 5s. ' 
 
 Arnold.— Oakfield 5 or, Tellow- 
 
 ship in the East. By W. D. Arnold, 
 Lieutenant 58th Regiment, Bengal Native 
 Infantry. The Second Edition, revised. 
 2 vols, post 8vo. price 21». 
 
 Arnott.— On the smokelessPir e- 
 
 place, Chimney- Valves, and other means, 
 old and new, of obtaining Healthful Warmth 
 and Ventilation. Bv Neil Arnott, M.U., 
 F.R.S., F.G.S. 8vo'. 6s. 
 
 Austin.— Germany from 1760 to 
 
 1814; Or, Sketches of German Life from 
 the Decay of the Empire to the Expulsion 
 of the French. By Mrs. Austin. Post 8vo. 
 price 12s. 
 
 Joanna Baillie's Dramatic and 
 
 Poetical Works, complete in One Volume: 
 Comprising the Plays of the Passions, 
 Miscellaneous Dramas, Metrical Legends, 
 Fugitive Pieces, (several now first pub- 
 lishedl , and Ahalya Baee. Second Edition, 
 including a new Life of Joanna Baillie ; with 
 Portrait and Vignette. Square crown 8vo. 
 2Is. cloth, or 42s. bound in morocco. 
 
 Baker.— The Rifle and the Hound 
 
 in Ceylon. By S. W.Baker, Esq. With 
 several Illustrations printed in Colours, 
 and Engravings ou Wood. 8vo. price 14s. 
 
 Bayldon's Art of Valuing Rents 
 
 and Tillages, and Tenant's Riglit of Enter- 
 ing and Quitting Farms, explained by 
 several Specimens of Valuations; with 
 Remarks on the Cultivation j^ursued on 
 Soils in different Situations. Adapted to 
 the Use of Landlords, Land Agents, Ap- 
 praisers, Farmers, and Tenants. New 
 Edition; corrected and revised by John 
 Donaldson. 8vo. 10s. &d, 
 
 Berkeley.— Reminiscences of a 
 
 Huntsman. By the Honourable Grantley 
 F. Berkeley. With four Etchings by 
 John Leech. 8vo. price 14s. 
 
 Black's Practical Treatise on 
 
 Brewing, based on Chemical and Econo- 
 mical Principles: With ForraulsE for Public 
 Brewers, and Instructions for Private Fami- 
 lies. New Edition, with Additions. 8vo. 
 price 10s. 6rf. 
 
6 
 
 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Blaine's Encyclopaedia of Rural 
 
 Sports; or, a complete Account, Historical, 
 Practical, and Descriptive, of Hunting, 
 Shooting, l'"ishinij, Racing, and other Field 
 Sports and Athletic Amusements of the 
 present day. With upwards of 600 Wood- 
 cuts. A New Edition, thoroujfhly revised 
 by Hakry Hieover, Ephemera, and Mr. 
 A. GaAHAM ; M-ith numerous additional 
 Illustrations, 8vo. price 50*. 
 
 Blair's Chronological and His- 
 torical Tables, from the Creation to the 
 present Time: with Additions and Cor- 
 rections from the most authentic Writers; 
 including the Computation of St. Paul, as 
 connecting the Period from the Exode to 
 the Temple. Under the revision of Sib 
 Henry Ellis, K.H. New Edition, with 
 corrections. Imperial 8vo. price Sis. 6d. 
 
 Bloomfield.— The Greek Testa- 
 ment: With copious English Notes, Critical, 
 Philological, and Explanatory. Especially 
 formed for the use of advanced Students and 
 Candidates for Holy Orders. By the Rev. 
 S. T. Bloomfield, D.D. F.S.A. New 
 Edition. 2 vols. 8vo. with Map, price ^2. 
 
 Dr. Bloomfield's Additional 
 
 Annotations on the above. 8vo. price 1.5s. 
 
 Dr. Bloomfield's College & School 
 
 Greek Testament: With brief English 
 Notes, chiefly Philological and Explana- 
 tory. Seventh anrf cAen/jer Edition, with 
 Map and Index. Fcp. 8vo. price 7«- 6d. 
 
 Dr. Bloomfield's College and 
 
 School Lexicon to the Greek Testament. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 10«. 6cf. 
 
 Bode.— The Absence of Preci- 
 sion ill the Formularies of the Church of 
 EngUiid Scriptural and Suitable to a State 
 of Probation: Beiiigtlie Bampton Lectures 
 for 1855. By the Rev. J. E. Bode, M.A., 
 Rector of Westweil, and late Student of 
 Christ Church, Oxford. 8vo. 8a. 
 
 Bode.— Ballads from Herodotus : 
 
 With an Introductory Poem. By the Rev. 
 3. E. Bode, M A., late Student of Christ 
 Church, Second Edition, with four additi- 
 onal Pieces. I6mo. price 7s. 
 
 A Treatise on the Steam Engine, 
 
 ill its Application to Mines, Mills, Steam 
 Navigation, and Railways. By the Artisan 
 Club. Edited by John Bourne, C.E. 
 New Edition ; with 33 Steel Plates, and 
 349 Wood Engravings. 4to. price 27». 
 
 Bourne. — A Treatise on the 
 
 Screw Propeller : With various Suggestions 
 of Imprnvement. By John Bourne, C.E. 
 New edition, thoroughly revised; with 20 
 large Plates and numerous Woodcuts, 4to. 
 price 3Ss. 
 
 Brande.— A Dictionary of Sci- 
 ence, Literature, and Art; comprising the 
 History, Description and Scientific Prin- 
 ciples of every Branch of Human Know- 
 ledge ; with the Derivation and Definition 
 of all the Terms in general use. Edited 
 by W.T.Brande,F.R.S.L. and E.-, assisted 
 by Dr. J. Cauvin. Second Edition, re- 
 vised ; with Woodcuts. 8vo. price 60«. 
 
 Professor Brande's Lectures on 
 
 Organic Chemistry, as applied to Manu- 
 factures, including Dyeing, Bleaching, 
 Calico-Printing, Sugar Manufacture, the 
 Preservation of Wood, Tanning, etc. deli- 
 vered before the Members of the Royal 
 Institution. Arranged by permission from 
 the Lecturer's Notes by J. Scoffern, M.B. 
 Fcp. 8vo., with Woodcuts, price /». 6rf. 
 
 B r 0 d i e. — Psychological In- 
 quiries, in a Series of Essays intended to 
 illustrate the influence of the Physical Or- 
 ganization on the Mental Faculties. By 
 Sir Benjamin C. Brodie, Bart., D.C.L., 
 V.P.R.S., Corresponding Member of the 
 Institute of France, etc. Second Edition. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 6«. 
 
 Autobiography of James Silk 
 
 Buckingham: Including his Voyages, Tra- 
 vels, Adventures, Speculations, Successes, 
 and Failures, frankly and faithfully narrated ; 
 with Characteristic Sketches of Public Men 
 with whom he has had personal intercourse 
 during a period of more than Fifty Years. 
 Vols. I. and II. post 8vo. price 21». 
 
 Bull.— The Maternal Manage- 
 ment of Children in Health and Disease. 
 By T. Bull, M.D. New Edition, Fcap. 
 8vo. price bs. 
 
 Dr. Bull's Hints to Mothers for 
 
 the Management of their Health during 
 the Period of Pregnancy and in the Lying- 
 in Room: With an Exposure of Popular 
 Errors in connexion with those subjects, 
 etc. ; and Hints on Nursing. New Edition. 
 Fcp. price ha. 
 
 Bunsen.— Christianity & Man- 
 kind ; Their Beginnings and Prospects. 
 By C.C.J. Bunsen, D.D.. D.C.L., D.Ph. 
 BcingaNewEdition, corrected, remodelled, 
 and extended, of Hippolytus and his Age. 
 7 vols. 8vo. price 5/. os. 
 
 *,* This Second Edition of the HippoJy- 
 
 ttm is composed of three distinct works, 
 which may be had separately, as follows: — 
 
 1. Hippolytus and his Age ; or, the Be- 
 ginnings and Prospects of Christianity. 
 2 vols.Svo. price U. 10s. 
 
 2. Outlines of the Philosophy of Universal 
 History applied to Language and Religion : 
 Containing an Account of the Alpliabetical 
 Conferences. 2 vols. 8vo. price 1/. 13*. 
 
 3. Analecta Ante -Niceena. 3 vols. 8vo. 
 price 2^.2*. 
 
■UELisiiED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 
 
 7 
 
 Bunsen.— Egypt's Place in Uni- 
 versal History: An Historical Investigation, 
 in Five Books. Bv C C. J. Bunsen, D.U., 
 D C.L., D.l'h. Tr;uisl;ite<l from the Ger- 
 man, bv C. H. CoTTKELL, Ksq. M.A. With 
 nuracrcnis Illustrations. Vol. I. 8vo. 28*. ; 
 Vol. II. Svo.SUj!. 
 
 Bunsen.— Lyra Germanica : 
 
 Hymns for the Sundays and chief Festivals 
 of the Christian Year. Translated from the 
 German by Catherine Winkworth. Fcp. 
 8vo. 5s. 
 
 This selection of German Hymns has 
 been made from a collection published in 
 Germany by the Chevalier liuusen; and it 
 forms a companion volume to 
 
 Theologia Germanica i wMch 
 
 setteth forth mnny fair lineaments of Divine 
 Truth, and saitlivery lofty and lovely thing's 
 touchinfi; a Perfect Life. Translated by 
 Susanna Winkworth. With a Preface by 
 the Rev. Charles KingsLey ; and a Letter 
 by Chevalier Bunsen. Second Edition. 
 Fcp. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 Burton, (H. P.)— Personal Nar- 
 rative of a Pilgrimage to El Medinah and 
 Meccah. By Richard F. Burton, Lieut- 
 enant, Bombay Armv. In three volumes. 
 Vols. I. and tl. KL MISR and EL MEDI- 
 NAH. with Map and Illustrations. Vols. I. 
 and II 8vo. ■28«. 
 
 Vol. III. MECCAH is in the press. 
 
 Burton.— The History of Scot- 
 land, from tlie Revolution to the Extinction 
 of the last Jacobite Insurrection (1689— 
 IZ-^S.) By John Hill Burton. 2vo1s .8vo. 
 price 26«. 
 
 Bishop Butler's General Atlas 
 
 of Modern and Ancient Geography ; com- 
 prising Fifty-two full-coloured Maps ; with 
 complete Indexes. New Edition, nearly all 
 re-engraved, enlarged, and greatly im- 
 proved; with Corrections from the most 
 authentic Sources in both the Ancient and 
 Modern Maps, many of whii h are entirely 
 new. Royal 4to. price lis. half-bound. 
 
 /The Modern Atlas, 28 full- 
 SfMinratPl,^ ^ coloured Maps. RI. Svo 12s. 
 Separately < .pi^g Ancient Atlas 24 full- 
 
 » coloured Maps. Rl. 8vo. J2*. 
 
 Bishop Butler's Sketch of Mo- 
 dem and Ancient Geography. New Edition, 
 thoroughly revised, with such Alterations 
 introduced as continually progressive Dis- 
 coveries and the latest Information have 
 rendered necessary. Post Svo. price 7«. Cd. 
 
 The Cabinet Gazetteer: A Popu- 
 lar Exposition of all the Countries of the 
 World ; their Government, Population, 
 Revenues, Commerce and Industries; 
 Agricultural, Manufactured, and Mineral 
 Products ; Religion, Laws, Manners, and 
 Social State. By the .Author of The Cabi- 
 net Lnwyer. F'cap . Svo. price 10s. 6rf. cloth ; 
 or 13s. calf lettered. 
 
 The Cabinet Lawyer : A Popu- 
 lar Digest of the Laws of England, Civil 
 and Criminal; with a Dictionary of Law 
 Terms, Maxims, Statutes, and Judicial Anti- 
 quities; Correct Tables of Assessed Taxes, 
 Stamp Duties, Excise Licences, and Post- 
 Horse Duties ; Post-Oflicc Regulations, and 
 Prison Discipline. 16th Edition, compris- 
 ing the Public Acts of the Session 1854. 
 Fcap. Svo. price 10s. 6£?. 
 
 Caird.— English Agriculture in 
 
 1850 and 1851 ; Its Condition and Prospects. 
 By James Caird, Esq., of Baldoon, Agri- 
 cultural Commissioner of TIte Times. The 
 Second Edition. Svo. price 14a. 
 
 Calvert.— The Wife's Manual; 
 
 or. Prayers, Thoughts, and Songs on Seve- 
 ral Occasions of a Matron's Life. Orna- 
 mented from Designs by the Author in the 
 style of Queen Elizabeth's Prayer Book. 
 By the Rev. William Calvert, Minor 
 Canon of St. Paul's. Crown Svo, 10s. 6d. 
 
 Carlisle (Lord). — A Diary in 
 
 Turkish and Greek Waters. By the Right 
 
 Hon . the Earl of Carlisle. Fifth Edition, 
 Post Svo. 10s. 6rf. 
 
 Catlow. — Popular Conchology 5 
 
 or, the Shell Cabinet arranged according 
 to the Modern System: With a detailed ac- 
 count of the Animals ; and a complete De- 
 scriptive List of the Families and Genera of 
 the Recent and Fossil Shells. By Agnes 
 Catlow. Second Edition, much improved ; 
 with 405 Woodcuts. Post Svo. price I4«. 
 
 Cecil. — The Stud Farm 5 or, 
 
 Hints on Breeding Horses for the Turf, 
 the Chase, and the Road. By Cecil. Fcp. 
 Svo, with Froutispiece, price 5«. 
 
 Cecil.— Records of the Chase, 
 
 and Memoirs of Celebrated Sportsmen ; 
 illustrating some of the Usages of Olden 
 Times and comparing them with prevailing 
 Customs : Together with an Introduction 
 to most of the Fashionable Hunting 
 Countries ; and Comments. By Cecil. 
 Witli two Plates by B. Herring. Fcp. Svo. 
 price 7s. &d. half-bound, 
 
 Cecil.— Stable Practice; or Hints 
 
 on Training for the Turf, the Chase, and the 
 Road : With Observations on Racing and 
 Hunting, Wasting, Race Riding, and Han- 
 dicapping. By Cecil Fcap, Svo. with 
 Plate, price 5s. half-bound. 
 
 The Census of Great Britain in 
 
 1851 ; Comprising an Account of the Num- 
 bers and Distribution of the People ; their 
 Ages, Conjugal Condition, Occupations, 
 and Birth-place: with Returns of the Blind, 
 the Deaf-and-Dumb, and the Inmates of 
 Public Institutions; and au Analytical In- 
 dex Royal Svo. 5s. 
 
8 
 
 J^EW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Chevreul's Principles of Har- 
 mony and Contrast of Colours, and their 
 Applications to the Arts : Including Paint- 
 ing, Interior Decoration, Tapestries, Car- 
 pets, Mosaics, Coloured Glazing, Paper- 
 Staining, Calico Printing, Letterpress 
 Printing, Map Colouring, Dress, Landscape 
 and Flower Gardening, etc. Translated by 
 Charles Martel. Second Edition; with 
 4 Plates. Crown 8vo. 10*. 6d. 
 
 Clinton.— Literary Remains of 
 
 Henry Fyiies Clinton, M.A. Author of the 
 Faati Hellenici the Fasti Romani, etc. 
 Comprising an Autobiography and Literary 
 Journal, and brief Essays on Theological 
 Subjects. Edited by the Rev. C.J.Kynes 
 Clinton, M.A. Post 8vo. price 9«. 6rf. 
 
 Conversations on Botany. New 
 
 Edition, improved ; with 22 Plates. Fcp. 
 Svo. price 7*. 6rf. ; or with the Plates 
 coloured, 12*. 
 
 Conybeare.— Essays, Ecclesias- 
 tical and Social : Reprinted, with additions, 
 from the Edinburgh Review. By the Rev. 
 W. J. Conybeare, M.A., late Fellow of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge. Svo. 12*. 
 
 Conybeare and Howson.— The 
 
 Life and Epistles of Saint Paul : Com- 
 prising a complete Biography of the Apostle, 
 and a Translation of his Epistles inserted 
 in Chronological order. By the Rev. W, J. 
 Conybeare, M.A., and the Rev. J. S. 
 HowsoN, M.A. With 40 Steel Plates and 
 iOO Woodcuts. 2 vols. 4to. price ^62. Ss. 
 
 Dr. Copland's Dictionary of 
 
 Practical Medicine : Comprising General 
 Pathology, the Nature and Treatment of 
 Diseases, Morbid Structures, and the Dis- 
 orders especially incidental to Climates, to 
 Sex, and to the different Epochs of Life, 
 with numerous approved Formulae of the 
 Meditivies recommended. Vols. Land II. 
 Svo. price ,£3 ; and Parts X. to XVI. price 
 4». 6rf. each. 
 
 Cresy's Encyclopaedia of Civil 
 
 Engineering, Historical, Theoretical, and 
 Practical. Illustrated by upwards of 3000 
 Woodcuts, explanatory of the Principles, 
 Machinery, and Constructions which come 
 under the Direction of the Civil Engineer, 
 Svo. price .£3. 13«.6d. 
 
 The Cricket-Field; or, the Sci- 
 ence and History of the Game of Cricket. 
 By the Author of Principles of Scientific 
 Batting. Second Edition ; with Plates and 
 Woodcuts. Fcp. Svo. 5s. half-bound. 
 
 Lady Gust's Invalid's Book.— 
 
 The Invalid's Own Book : A Collection of 
 Recipes from various Books and various 
 Countries. By the Honourable Lady Cust. 
 Fcp. Svo. price 3*. 6rf. 
 
 The Rev. T. Dale's Domestic 
 
 Liturgy and Family Chaplain, in Two Parts: 
 The FirstPart being Church Services adapted 
 for Domestic Use, with Prayers for every 
 Day of the Week, selected exclusively from 
 the Book of Common Prayer. Part II. 
 Comprising an appropriate Sermon for every 
 Sunday in the Year. 2d Edition. Post 4to. 
 21s .cloth ; 31*. 6rf. calf; or <£2. 10«. morocco. 
 
 Spnarafplv / ThE FaMILY ChAPLAIN, 12*. 
 
 aeparaiei) <^,^^^ DomesticLituroy, 10«.6d. 
 
 Davy (Dr. J.)— The Angler and 
 
 his Friend; or. Piscatory Colloquies and 
 F'ishing Excursions. By John Davy, M.D., 
 F.R.S., etc. Fcp. Svo. price 6». 
 
 Delabeche.— The Geological Ob- 
 server. By Sir Henby T. Delabeche, 
 F.R.S., late Director-General of the Geo- 
 logical Survey of the United Kingdom. New 
 Edition ; with numerous Woodcuts. Svo. 
 price 18*. 
 
 Delabeche.— Report on the Geo- 
 logy of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somer- 
 set. By Sir Henry T. Delabeche, F.R.S. 
 With Maps, Woodcuts, and 12 Plates. Svo. 
 price 14». 
 
 De la Rive.— A Treatise on Elec- 
 tricity, in Theory and Practice. By A 
 De la Rive, Professor in the Academy of 
 Geneva. In Two Volumes, with numerous 
 Wood Engravings. Vol. 1 . Svo. price 18*. 
 
 Dennistoun. — Memoirs of Sir 
 
 Robert Strange, Knt., Engraver, Member 
 of several Foreign Academies of Design; 
 and of his Brother-iu-Law, Andrew Lumis- 
 den. Private Secretary to the Stuart Princes, 
 and Author of The Antiquities of Rome. 
 By James Dennistoun, of Dennistoun, 
 Author of Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino. 
 2 vols, post 8vo., with Illustrations, 21*. 
 
 Discipline. By the Author of 
 
 " Letters to My Unknown Friends," etc. 
 Second Edition, enlarged. 18mo. price2«.6d. 
 
 Eastlake.— Materials for a His- 
 tory of Oil Painting. By Sir Charles 
 Lock Eastlake, F.K.S., F.S.A., President 
 of the Royal Academy. Svo. price 16*. 
 
 The Eclipse of Faith; or, a 
 
 Visit to a Religious Sceptic. 
 Edition, Fcap. Svo. price 5*. 
 
 A Defence of The Eclipse of 
 
 Faith, by its Author ; Being a Rejoinder to 
 Professor Newman's Reply. Second Edi- 
 tion, revised. Post Svo. price 5s. 6rf. 
 
 The Englishman's Greek Con- 
 cordance of the New Testament: Being an 
 attempt at a Verbal Connexion between 
 the Greek and the EnglishTexts; including 
 a Concordance to the Proper Names, with 
 Indexes Greek-English and English-Greek. 
 New Edition, with a new Index. Royal 
 Svo. price 42s. 
 
 Seventh 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 
 
 9 
 
 The Englishman's Hebrew and 
 
 Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testa- 
 ment; Bein^ an attempt at a Verbal Con- 
 nexion between the Origfinal and the 
 English Translations: vpith Indexes, a List 
 of tne Proper Names and their Occurrences, 
 etc. 2 vols, royal 8vo. price ^3. 13«. 6d. ; 
 large paper, £i. lis. Gd. 
 
 Ephemera. — A Handbook of 
 
 Ang-ling: ; Teaching Fly Fishing-, Trolling-, 
 Bottom Fishing;, and Salmon Fishing ; with 
 the Natural History of River Fish, and the 
 best Modes of Catchinsf them. By Ephe- 
 mera. Third and cheaper Edition, cor- 
 rected and improved ; with Woodcuts. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 5s. 
 
 Ephemera.— The Book of the 
 
 Salmon: Comprisingthe Theory, Principles, 
 aiid Practice of Fly-Fishing for Salmon ; 
 Lists of good Salmon Flies for every good 
 River in the F.mpire ; the Natural History 
 of the Salmon, all its known Habits de- 
 scribed, and the best way of artificially 
 Breeding it explained. With numerous 
 coloured Engravings of Salmon Flies and 
 Salmon Fry. By Ephemeka ; assisted by 
 Andrew Youno, Fcp. 8vo. with coloured 
 Plates, price 14». 
 
 W. Erskine, Esq.— History of 
 
 India under Baber and Humayun, the First 
 Two Sovereigns of the House of Taimur. 
 By William Erskine, Esq. 2vols. 8vo. 
 price £1. Us. 
 
 Faraday (Professor).— The Sub- 
 
 ject-Matter of Six Lectures on the Non- 
 Metallic Elements, delivered before the 
 Members of the Royal Institution by 
 Professor Faradav, D.C.L., F.R. S., 
 etc. Arranged by permission from the 
 Lecturer's Notes by J. Scofpern, M.B. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price o«.6d. 
 
 Francis.*^ Annals, Anecdotes, 
 
 and Legends: A Chronicle of Life Assur- 
 ance. By John Francis. Post Svo. 8s. 6d. 
 
 Francis.— <!hronicles and Cha- 
 racters of the Stock Exchange. By John 
 Fbancis. New Edition, revised. 8vo. 
 price 10*. 6rf. 
 
 Gilbart.— Logic for the Million: 
 
 A Familiar Exposition of the Art of Reason- 
 ing. By J. \V. GiLBiRT, F.R.S. Fourth 
 Edition ; with Portrait of the Author. 
 r2mo. price 3». 6rf. 
 
 Gilbart.— Logic for the Young : 
 
 Consisting of Twenty-five Lessons in the 
 Art of Reasoning. Selected from the Logic 
 of Dr. Isaac Watts. By J. W. Gilbart. 
 F.R.S. 12mo. price Is. 
 
 Goldsmith's Poetical Works. 
 
 Bdited by Bolton Corney, Esq. Illus- 
 trated by Wood Engravings, from Designs 
 by Members of the Etching Club. Square 
 crown 8vo. cloth, 2l».; morocco, <£1. 16«. 
 
 Gosse.— A Naturalist's Sojourn 
 
 in Jamaica. By P. H. GossE, Esq. With 
 Plates. Post 8vo. price 14s. 
 
 Essays on Political and Social 
 
 Science. Contributed chiefly to the Editi- 
 burgh Review. By William R. Ghf.u, 
 2 vols. 8vo. price 24s. 
 
 Gurney. — Historical Sketches 
 
 Illustrating some Memorable Events and 
 Epochs, from a.d. 1400 to a.d. 1546. By the 
 Rev. John Hampden Gurney, M.A. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 7*. 6d. 
 
 Gurney.— St. Louis and Henri 
 
 IV. Being a second Series of Historical 
 Sketches. By the Rev. J. Hampden Gur- 
 ney, M. A. Fcp.8vo. 6s. 
 
 Gwilt. — An Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Architecture, Historical, Theoretical, and 
 Practical. By Joseph Gwilt. Illustrated 
 with more than 1,0U0 Engravings on Wood, 
 from Desio;ns by J. S. Gwilt. Third a?id 
 cheaper Edition. 8vo. price 42s. 
 
 Hamilton.— Discussions in Phi- 
 losophy and Literature, Education and 
 University Reform. Chiefly from the Edlin- 
 bnrgh. Review; corrected, vindicated, en- 
 larged, in Notes and Appendices. By Sir 
 William Hamilton, Bart. Second Edi- 
 tion, with Additions. 8vo. price 21s. 
 
 Hare (Archdeacon).— The Life 
 
 of Luther, in Forty-eight Historical En- 
 gravings. By GusTAv KoNio. With Ex- 
 planations by Archdeacon Hare and Su- 
 sanna WiNKWORTH. Square crown 8vo. 
 
 [/n the press. 
 
 Harrison. — The Light of the 
 
 Forge; or, Counsels drawn from the Sick- 
 Bed of E. M. By the Rev. William 
 Harrison, M.A., Domestic Chaplain to 
 H. R. H. the Duchess of Cambridge. With 
 2 Woodcuts. Fcp. Svo. price 5*. 
 
 Harry Hieover.— The Hunting- 
 
 Field. By Harry Hieover. With Two 
 Plates. Fcp. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 Harry Hieover. — Practical 
 
 Horsemanship. By Harry Hieover. 
 With 2 Plates. Fcp. Svo. 5*. half-bound. 
 
 Harry Hieover.— The Stud, for 
 
 Practical Purposes and Practical Men : 
 being a Guide to the Choice of a Horse for 
 use more than for show. By Harry Hie- 
 over. With 2 Plates. Fcp. Svo. price 5s. 
 half bound. 
 
 Harry Hieover. — The Pocket 
 
 and the Stud; or, Practical Hints on the 
 Management of the Stable. By Harry 
 Hieover. Second Edition; with Portrait. 
 Fcp. Svo. price 5s. half-bound. 
 
10 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Harry Hieover. — Stable Talk 
 
 and Table Talk ; or Spectacles for Young 
 Sportsmen. By Hahry Hieover. New 
 Edition, 2 vols. 8vo. witli Portrait, 24s. 
 
 Hassall, (Dr.)— Pood and its 
 
 Adulterations : Comprising- the Reports of 
 the Analj'tical Sanitary Commission of The 
 Lancet for the Years 1851 to 1854 inclusive, 
 revised and extended. By Arthur Hill. 
 Hassali., M.D., etc., Chief Analyst of the 
 Commission; Author of The Microscopical 
 Anatomy of the Human Body. 8vo. with 
 159 Woodcuts, price 28j. 
 
 Col. Hacker's Instructions to 
 
 Young Sportsmen in all that relates to Guns 
 and Shootinir. Tenth Edition, revised and 
 broiiirht down to the Pres«nt Time, by the 
 Author's Son, Major P. W. L. Hawkbr. 
 With a New Portrait of the Author, from a 
 Bust by W. Behnes, Rsq. ; and numerous 
 explanatory plates and Woodcuts. 8vo. 21». 
 
 Haydn's Book of Dignities: 
 
 Containing Rolls of the Official Personages 
 of the Biilish Empire, Civil, Ecclesiastical, 
 Judicial, Military, Naval, and Municipal, 
 from the Earliest Periods to the Present 
 Time: compiled chiefly from the Records of 
 the Public Offices. Together with the So- 
 vereigns of Europe, from the Foundation of 
 their respective States ; the Peerage and 
 Nobility of Great Britain ; and numerous 
 other Lists. Being a New Edition, im- 
 proved and continued, of Beatson's Political 
 Index. By Joseph Ha vDN. 8vo. price 25*. 
 
 Haydon.— The Life of Benjamin 
 
 Robert Haydon, Historical Painter, from 
 his Autobiography and Journals. Edited 
 and compiled by Tom Taylor, M.A., of 
 the Inner Temple, Esq.; late Fellow of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge ; and late Pro- 
 fessor of tlie English Language and Litera- 
 ture in Universitv College, liOndon. Se- 
 cond Edition, 3 vo»s. post 8vo. price 31*. 6d. 
 
 Sir John Herschel.— Outlines 
 
 of Astronomy. By Sir John F. W. Hers- 
 chel, Bart. etc. New Edition; with Plates 
 and VVood Engravings. 8vo. price 18». 
 
 Hill.— Travels in Siberia. By 
 
 .8. S. Hill. Author of Travels on the 
 Shores nf the Baltic. With a large 
 coloured Map of European and Asiatic 
 Russia. 2 vols, post Svo. price 24*. 
 
 Hints on Etiquette and the 
 
 Usages of Society: With a Glance at Bad 
 Habits. New Edition, revised (with Ad- 
 ditions) by a Lady of Rank. Fcp. Svo. price 
 Half-a-Crown. 
 
 Lord Holland's Memoirs. — 
 
 Memoirs of the Whig Party during My 
 Time. By Henry Richard Lord Hol- 
 land. Edited by his Son, Henry Ed- 
 ward Lord Holland. Vols. I. and II. 
 post Svo. price 9«. 6tl. each. 
 
 Holland.— Chapters on Mental 
 
 Physiology. By Sir Henry Holland, Bart.,' 
 F. R.S., Physician-Extraordiiiiiry to the 
 Queen. Founded cliiefly on Cliapters con- 
 tained in ilediral Notes and Reflections. 
 fSvo. price 18s.], by the same Author. Svo. 
 price 10«. 6d. 
 
 Hook. — The Last Days of Our 
 
 Lord's Ministry : A Course of Lectures on 
 tlie principal Events of Passion Week. By 
 W. r. Hook, D.D., Chsplain in Ordinary 
 to the Queen. New Edition. Fcp. Svo. 6«. 
 
 Hooker and Arnott's British 
 
 Flora; Comprising the Phasnogamous or 
 Flowering Plants, and the Ferns. The 
 Seventh Edition, with Additions and Correc- 
 tions, and numerous Figures, illustrative 
 of the Umbelliferous Plants, the Compo- 
 site Plants, the Grasses, and the Ferns. 
 12mo, with 12 Plates, price 14«., with the 
 Plates coloured, price 21». 
 
 SirW. J. Hooker'sPopular Guide 
 
 to the Royal Botanic GARDENS of Kew. 
 New E<lition; with numerous Wood En- 
 gravings. 16mo. piice Sixpence. 
 
 Hooker.— Museum of Economic 
 
 Botany; or, a Popular Guide to the Useful 
 and Remaikable Vegetable Prodncts of the 
 MUSEUM in the Royal Gardens of Kew. 
 By SirW. J. Hooker, K.H , D.C.L. Oxon, 
 F.R.A. and L.S. etc., Director. With 29 
 Woodcuts. IGmo. price 1». 
 
 Home's Introduction to the 
 
 Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy 
 Scriptures. A New Edition, revised, cor- 
 rected, and brought down to the present 
 time, by T. Hartwell Horne, B.D. (the 
 Author) ; the Rev. Samuel Davidson, D.D. 
 of the University of Halle, and LL.D. ; and 
 S. PaiDEAUx Tregblles, LL.D. 4 vols. 
 Svo. [/n the press. 
 
 Home's Compendious Introduc- 
 tion to the Study of the Bible. Being an 
 Abridgment of the Author's Introduction 
 to the Critical Study and Knowledge of 
 the Holy Scriptures. New Edition ; with 
 Maps and other Engravings. 12rao. price 9i. 
 
 Horne.— The Communicant's 
 
 Companion : Comprising an Historical 
 Essay on the Lord's Supper; Meditations 
 ai>d Prayers for the Use of Communicants ; 
 and the Order of the Administration of the 
 Lord's Supper or Holy Communion. By 
 the Rev. T. Hartwell Horne, B.D. 
 Royal 32mo. 2». ^d. ; morocco, is. &d. 
 
 Ho"w to Nurse Sick Children: 
 
 Intended especially as a Help to the Nurses 
 in the Hospital for Sick Children j but con- 
 taining Directions of service to all who have 
 the charge of the Young. Fcp. Svo. 1«. td. 
 
 Howitt.-(A. M.) An Art Stu- 
 dent in Munich, By Anna Mary Howitt, 
 2 vols, post Svo. price 14*. 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 1 1 
 
 Howitt.-Tlie Children's Year. 
 
 By Map.vIIowitt. With Four Illustrations, 
 from Desii^us by Anna Maby Howitt. 
 Square 16mo. price bs. 
 
 Howitt. — Land, Labour, and 
 
 Gold; or, Two Years in Victoria. With 
 Visits to Sy(iney' and Van Diemen's Land. 
 By Wiu,ia"m Howitt. 2 vols, post 8vo. 21«. 
 
 William Howitt's Boy's Coun- 
 try Book. Beiiiif the real Life of a Country 
 Boy, written by Himself: Exhibiting; all 
 the Amusements, Pleasures, and Pursuits 
 of Children in the Country. New Edition; 
 with 40 Woodcuts, P'cp. 8vo. price 6s. 
 
 Howitt.— The Rural Life of Eng- 
 land. By William Howitt. New Edition, 
 coj-rected and revised ; with Woodcuts by 
 Bewick and Williams. Medium 8vo. 2ls. 
 
 Howitt.- Visits to Remarkable 
 
 Places; Old Halls, Battle-Kields, and 
 Scenes illustrative of Striking Passages in 
 English History and Poetry. By William 
 Howitt. New Edition ; with upwards of 80 
 Woodcuts. First and Second Series, me- 
 dium 8vo. price 21*. each. 
 
 Hue— The Chinese Empire : a 
 
 Sequel to Hue and Oabet's Jonrney through 
 Tartary and Thibet. By the Abbe Hoc, 
 many years Missionary Apostolic in China. 
 Copyright Ti.inslation, with the Author's 
 sanction. Second Edition, with coloured 
 Maj) and ludex. 2 vols. 8vo. 24s. 
 
 Hudson's Plain Directions for 
 
 Making Wills in conformity with the Law: 
 with a clear Exposition of the Law relating 
 to the Distribution of Personal Estate in 
 the case of Intestacy, two Forms of Wills, 
 and much useful Information. New and 
 enlarged Edition ; including the provisions 
 of the Wills Act Amendment Act. Fcp. 
 8vo. price 2s. 6d. 
 
 Hudson's Executor's Guide. 
 
 New and enlar^^ed Edition ; with the Addi- 
 tion of Directions for paying Succession 
 Duties on Real Property under Wills and 
 Intestacies, and a Table for finding the 
 Values of Annuities and the Amount of 
 Legacy and Succession Duty thereon. Fcp. 
 8vo. price 6s. 
 
 Humboldt's Cosmos. — Trans- 
 lated wuh the Author's authority, by Mrs. 
 Sabine. Vols. I. and II. ]6ino. Half-a- 
 Crown each, sewed ; 3s. 6rf. each cloth : or 
 in post 8vo. 12s. 6rf. each cloth. Vol. III. 
 post 8vo. 12». 6rf. cloth: or in I6mo. Part 
 
 I. 2». 6d. sewed, 3s. 6d. cloth; and Fart 
 
 II. 3s. sewed, 4s. cloth. 
 
 Humboldt's Aspects of Nature. 
 
 Translated, with the Author's authority, by 
 Mrs. Sabine. New Edition. Ifimo. price 
 6s. : or in 2 vols. 3s. 6d. each cloth ; 2s. 6d. 
 each sewed. 
 
 Humphreys. — Sentiments and 
 
 Similes of Shakspeare. With an elaborately 
 illuminated border in the characteristic 
 style of the Elizabethan Period, massive 
 carved covers, and other Embellishments, 
 designed and executed by II. N. HuM- 
 PHRE vs. Square, post 8vo. price 21s. 
 
 Hunt. — Researches on Light in 
 
 its Chemical Relations; Embracing a Con- 
 sideration of all the Photographic Proces- 
 ses. By Robert Hunt, F.R.S., Professor 
 of Physics in the Metropolitan School of 
 Science. Second Edition ; with Plate and 
 Woodcuts. 8vo. price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Idle.— Hints on Shooting, Pish- 
 ing, etc. both on Sea and Land, and in the 
 Freshwater Lochs of Scotland : being the 
 Experiences of Christopher Idle, Esq. 
 Fcp 8vo.5s. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson's Legends of the 
 
 Saints and Martyrs. Forming the First 
 Series of Sacred and Legendary Art, 
 Second Edition ; with numerous Wood- 
 cuts, and 16 Etchings by the Author. Square 
 crown 8vo. price 23s. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson's Legends of the 
 
 Monastic Orders, as represented in the 
 Fine Arts. Forming the Second Series of 
 Sacred and Legendary Art. Second Edi- 
 tion, corrected and enlarged ; with II Etch- 
 ings by the Author, and 88 Woodcuts. 
 Square crown 8vo. price 28s. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson's Legends of the 
 
 Madonna, as represented in the Fine Arts. 
 Forming the Third Series of Sacred and 
 Legendary Art. With 53 Drawings by the 
 Author, and 152 Wood Engravings. Square 
 crown 8vo. price 28s. 
 
 Mrs. Jameson.— Sisters of Cha- 
 rity, Catholic and Protestant, Abroad and 
 at Home. By Mrs. Jameson, Author of 
 Sacred and Legendary Art. Second Edition, 
 with a new Preface. Fcp. 8vo. 4s. 
 
 Jameson.— A Commonplace Book 
 
 of Thoughts, Memories, and Fancies, Ori- 
 ginal and Selected. Part I. Ethics and 
 Character; Part II. Literature and Art. By 
 Mrs. Jameson. With Etchings and Wood 
 Engravings. Square crown 8vo. price 18s. 
 
 Jaquemet.— A Compendium of 
 
 Chronology: Containing the most important 
 Dates of General History, Political, Eccle- 
 siastical, and Literary, from the Creation of 
 the World to the end of the Year 1854. By 
 F. H. Jaquemet. Edited by the Rev. John 
 Alcorn, M. A. Post 8vo. 7s.6d. 
 
 Lord Jeffrey's Contributions to 
 
 the Edinburgh Review. A New Edition, 
 complete in One Volume ; with Portrait and 
 Vignette. Square crown 8vo. 21s. cloth; 
 or 30s. calf. 
 
 Also a LIBRARY EDITION, in 3 
 vols. 8vo. piice 42s. 
 
12 
 
 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Bishop Jeremy Taylor's Entire 
 
 Works: With his Life, by Bishop Hebeb. 
 Revised and corrected by the Rev. Charles 
 Page Eden, Fellow of Oriel College, Ox- 
 ford. Complete iu 10 vols. 8vo. 10s. 6rf. each. 
 
 Johns and Nicolas.— The Calen- 
 dar of victory: Being a Record of British 
 Valour and Conquest by Sea and Land, on 
 every Day in the Year, from the Earliest 
 Period to the Battle of lukermann. Pro- 
 jected and commenced by the late Major 
 Johns, R.M. ; completed by Lieut. P. H. 
 Nicolas, R.M. Fcp.Svo. price 12». Gd. 
 
 Johnston.— A New Dictionary of 
 
 Geography, Descriptive, Physical, Statis- 
 tical, and Historical: Forming a complete 
 General Gazetteer of the World. By A. 
 Keith Johnston. F.R.S.E. Second Edition, 
 brought down to May, 1855 ; in 1 vol. of 1360 
 pages, comprising about 50,000 Names of 
 Places. 8vo. 36«i cloth ; or half-bound in 
 russia, 41». 
 
 Jones (Owen).— riowers and 
 
 their Kindred Thoughts: A Series of 
 Stanzas. By Maht Anne Bacon. With 
 beautiful Illustrations of Flowers, designed 
 and executed in Illuminated Printing by 
 Owen Jones. ANew Edition. Impl. 8vo, 
 [Nearlji ready. 
 
 Kalisch.— Historical and Criti- 
 cal Commentary on the Old Testament. By 
 Dr. M. Kalisch, M.A. First Portion- 
 Exodus : iu Hebrew and English, with 
 copious Notes, Critical, Philological, and 
 Explanatory. 8vo. lbs. 
 
 An Edition of the Exodm, as above 
 (for the use of English readers), comprising 
 the English Translation, and an abridged 
 Commentary. 8vo. price 12s. 
 
 Kemble.— The Saxons in Eng- 
 land : A History of the English Common- 
 wealth till the period of the Norman Con- 
 quest. By John Mitchell Kemble, 
 M.A., F.C.P.S., etc. 2 vols. 8vo. price 28s. 
 
 Kemp.— The Phasis of Matter: 
 
 Beiu^ an Outline of the Discoveries and 
 Application of Modern Chemistry. By T. 
 LiNDLEY Kemp, M.D., Author of The 
 Natural History oj Creation, Indications 
 of Jnttinct, etc. With U8 Woodcuts. 
 2 vols, crown 8to. 21». 
 
 Kesteven.— A Manual of Do- 
 mestic Practice of Medicine, etc. By W, 
 B. K£«T£V£N, F.R.C.S. gquarepost 8vo. 
 
 [In the prest. 
 
 Kippis's Collection of Hymns 
 
 and Psalms for Public and Private Worship. 
 New Edition: including a New Supple- 
 ment by the Rev. Edmund Kell, M.A. 
 l8mo. price 4s. cloth i or 4s. 6d. roan. 
 
 Kirby &Spence's Introduction 
 
 to Entomology i or. Elements of the Na- 
 tural History of Insects: comprising an 
 account of noxious and useful Insects, of 
 their Metamorphoses, Food, Stratagems, 
 Habitations, Societies, Motions, Noises, 
 Hybernation, Instinct, etc. New Edition. 
 2 vols. 8vo. with Plates, price 31s. 6rf. 
 
 Laing's (S.) Observations on the 
 
 Social and Political State of Denmark and 
 the Duchies of Sleswick and Holstein in 1S51: 
 Being the Third Series of Aotea of a Tra- 
 veller. 8vo. price 12s. 
 
 Laing's (S.) Observations on the 
 
 Social and Political State of the European 
 People in 1848 and 1849: Being the Se- 
 cond Series of Notet of a Traveller. 8vo. 
 price 14s. 
 
 *,* The First Series, in 16mo. price 2». 6d. 
 
 L. E. L.-The Poetical Works 
 
 of Letitia Elizabeth Landon. New Edition ; 
 with 2 Vignettes by Richard Doyle. 2 vols. 
 16mo. price 10s. cloth ; morocco, 21s. 
 
 Dr. Latham on Diseases of the 
 
 Heart. Lectures on Subjects connected 
 with Clinical Medicine: Diseases of the 
 Heart. By P. M. Latham, M.D., Physician 
 Extraordinary to the Queen. New Edition. 
 2 vols. 12mo. price 16s. 
 
 Mrs. R. Lee's Elements of Na- 
 tural History; or First Principles of Zoo- 
 logy : comprising the Piinciples of Classi- 
 fication, interspersed with amusing and 
 instructive Accounts of the most remark- 
 able Animals. New Edition, enlarged; 
 with numerous additional Woodcuts. Fcp. 
 8vo. price 7s. Gd. 
 
 Lindley.— The Theory and Prac- 
 tice of Horticulture ; or, an Attempt to 
 explain the principal Operations of Garden- 
 ing upon Physiological Grounds : Being the 
 Second Edition of the Theori/ of HorticuU 
 ture, much enlarged; with'9:i Woodcuts. 
 By John £indlby, Ph.D., F.R.S., Vice- 
 Secretary of the Horticultural Society; 
 Professor of Botany in University College, 
 London. 8vo. 21s. 
 
 Dr. John Lindley's Introduction 
 
 to Botany. New Edition, with Corrections 
 and copious Additions ; Six Plates and 
 numerous Woodcuts. 8vo. price 24s. 
 
 Linwood.— Anthologia Oxonien- 
 
 sis ; sive, Florilegium e lusibus poeticis di- 
 versorum Oxoniensium Graecis et Latinis 
 decerptum. Curanta Golielmo Linwood, 
 M.A. 8vo. price 14s. 
 
 Lorimer's (C.)Letters toa Young 
 
 Master Mariner on some Subjects connected 
 with his Calling. New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. 
 price 5s. 6d. 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, AND Co. 13 
 
 LARDNER'S CABINET CYCLOP>EDIA 
 
 Of History, Biogfraphy, Literature, the Arts and Sciences 
 factures : A Series of Original Works by 
 
 Natural History, and Mauu- 
 
 SIR JOHN HERSCHKL, 
 SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH 
 ROBERT SOUTHEY, 
 SIR DAVID BUKWSTER, 
 THOMAS KEIGHTLEY, 
 JOHN FORSTER, 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT, 
 THOMAS MOORE, 
 BISHOP THIRLWALL, 
 THE REV G. R. GLEIG, 
 J. C. L. DE SISMONDI, 
 JOHN PHILLIPS, F.R.S., G.S. 
 
 And other Eminent Writers. 
 
 Complete in 132 vols. Fcp. 8vo. with Vignette Titles, price, in cloth, Nineteen Guineas. 
 The Works separately, in Sets or Series, price Three Shillings and Sixpence each Volume. 
 
 A List of the WOnKS composing the CABINET CYCLOPiEDIAt 
 
 3».6d. 
 
 7*. 
 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 7>. 
 
 Bell's History of Russia . 3 vols. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Bell's Livesof BritishPoets,2vols. 7s. 
 
 Brewster's Optics, . . 1vol. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Cooley's Maritime and In- 
 land Discovery . . 3 vols. 10». 6rf. 
 
 Crowe's History of France, 3 vols. lOs.firf. 
 
 De Morgan on Probabilities, 1 vol. 3». 6rf. 
 
 De Sismondi's History of 
 the Italian Republics . 1vol. 
 
 De Sismondi's Fall of the 
 
 Roman Empire . . 2 vols. 
 
 Donovan's Chemistry . 1vol. 
 
 Donovan's Domestic Eco- 
 nomy .... 2 vols. 
 
 Dunham's Spain and Por- 
 tugal .... 5 vols. ]7«.6rf. 
 
 Dunham's History of Den- 
 mark, Sweden, and Nor- 
 way .... 3 vols. 10».6rf. 
 
 Dunham's History of Po- 
 land .... Ivol. 3s. 6(2. 
 
 Dunham's Germanic Em- 
 pire .... 3 vols. 10«. 6rf. 
 
 Dunham's Europe during 
 
 the Middle A^es . . 4 vols. 14». 
 
 Dunham's British Drama- 
 tists .... 2 vols. 7s, 
 
 Dunham's Lives of Early 
 Writers of Great Britain, 1 vol. 
 
 Fergus's History of the 
 
 United States . . 2 vols 
 
 Fosbroke's Greek and Ro- 
 man Antiquities . . 2 vols 
 
 Forster's Lives of the 
 Statesmen of the Com- 
 monwealth . . . 5 vols. 17». 6rf. 
 
 Gleig's Lives of British 
 
 Military Commanders 3 vols. 10*. 6d. 
 
 Grattan's History of the 
 
 Netherlands. , . 1vol. Ss.Sd. 
 
 Henslow's Botany . . 1vol. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Herschel's Astronomy . 1vol. 3s. 6d. 
 
 Herschel's Discourse on 
 
 Natural Philosophy • 1vol. 
 
 History of Rome . 2 vols. 
 
 History of Switzerland . 1vol. 
 
 Holland's Manufactures in 
 
 Metal, .... 3 vols. 10i.6rf 
 
 James's Lives of Foreign 
 
 Statesmen . . . 5 vols. 17*. 6d, 
 . Kater and Lardner's Me- 
 chanics . . .1 vol. 
 
 Keightley's Outlines of 
 
 History. . . . Ivol 
 , Lardner's Arithmetic . Ivol. 
 . Lardner's Geometry . 1 voL 
 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 7s. 
 
 7s. 
 
 3s. 6rf. 
 7s. 
 
 34. 6d. 
 
 3*. 6<f. 
 
 3s. 6(/. 
 3s. 6rf. 
 34. td. 
 
 34. Lardner on Heat . . 1 vol. 
 
 35. Lardner's Hydrostatics and 
 
 Pneumatics . . . Ivol. 
 
 36. Lardner,ind Walker's Elec- 
 
 tricity and Magnetism, 2 vols. 
 
 37. Mackintosh, Forster. and 
 
 Cnurtenay'sLives of Bri- 
 tish Statesmen . . 7'ols. 
 
 38. Mackintosh, Wallace, and 
 
 Bell's History of Eng- 
 land .... 10 vols. 
 
 39. Montgomery and Shelley's 
 
 Eminent Italian, Spanish, 
 
 and Portuguese Authors, 3 vols. 
 
 40. Moore's History of Ireland, 4 vols. 
 
 41. Nicolas's Chronology of 
 
 History . . .1 vol. 
 
 42. Phillips' Treatise on Geo- 
 
 logy .... 2 vols. 
 
 43. Powell's History of Natural 
 
 Philosophy . . . 1 vol. 
 
 44. Porter's Treatise on the 
 
 Manufacture of Silk . Ivol. 
 
 45. Porter's Manufacture of 
 
 Porcelain and Glass . Ivol. 
 
 46. Roscoe's British Lawyers, 1 vol. 
 
 47. Scott's History of Scot- 
 
 land .... 2 vols. 
 
 48. Shelley's Lives of Eminent 
 
 French Authors , . 2 vols. 
 
 49. Shuckard and Swainson's 
 
 Insects .... 1 vol. 
 
 50. Southey's Lives of British 
 
 Admirals . . . 5 vols. 
 
 51. Stebbing's Church History, 2vols. 
 
 52. Stebbing's History of the 
 
 Reformation . . 2 vols. 
 
 53. Swainson's Discourse on 
 
 Natural History . . Ivol. 
 
 54. Swainson's Natural His- 
 
 tory audClassiticatiou of 
 Animals . . . 1 vol. 
 
 55. Swainson's Habits and In- 
 
 stincts of Animals . Ivol. 
 
 56. Swainson's Birds . . 2 vols. 
 
 57. Swainson's Fish, Reptiles, 
 
 etc 2vols. 
 
 53. Swainson's Quadrupeds . Ivol. 
 
 59. Swainson's Shells and 
 
 Shell-fish . . . Ivol. 
 
 60. Swainson's Animalsin Me- 
 
 nageries . . . Ivol. 
 
 61. Swainson's Taxidermy and 
 
 Biography of Zoologists 1 vol. 
 
 62. Thirlwall's History of 
 
 Greece . . . 8 vols. 
 
 34. Crf. 
 3s. firf. 
 7s. 
 
 24s. 6ii. 
 
 10s. erf. 
 14s. 
 
 3s. 6rf. 
 3s. 6d. 
 
 3s. erf. 
 
 3s.6rf. 
 7». 
 
 7s. 
 
 3s.6rf. 
 
 17«.6<i. 
 7s. 
 
 7s. 
 
 3s.6rf. 
 
 3s.6rf. 
 
 3s. 6d. 
 7s. 
 
 7s. 
 
 3s.6rf. 
 3s. 6d. 
 34.6<;. 
 3s.6rf. 
 28s. 
 
14 NEW WOllKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Loudon's Encyclopgedia of Gar- 
 
 deiiinif; comiirisinij tlie J'heory and Prac- 
 tice of Horticulture, Floriculture, Arbori- 
 coltare,aiid Landscape (iardeiiiiig : Includ- 
 ing pJl the latest inipr'>vementii ; with many 
 hundred Woodcuts. Nen- Edition, corrected 
 Mid improved, by Mrs. Loudon. 8vo. 
 price bOa. 
 
 Loudon's Encyclopgedia of Trees 
 
 ami Shrubs; or the Arboretum et Frtitice- 
 tum Britannicum abridged: Containing 
 the Hardy Trees and Shrubs of Great 
 Britain, Native and Foreign, Scientifically 
 and Popularly Described ; with their Pro- 
 pagati(ni, Culture, and Uses in the Arts ; 
 and with Kni;ravings of nearly all the Spe- 
 cie*. With 200(1 Woodcuts. 8vo.50a. 
 
 Loudon^s Encyclopaedia of Agri- 
 culture: comprising tlie Theory and Prac- 
 tice of the Valuation, Transfer, Laying-out, 
 Improvement, and lManag( -ment of Landed 
 Property, and of the Cultivation and Eco- 
 nomy of the Animal and Vegetable Pro- 
 ductions of Agriculture. New Edition ; 
 with 1100 Woodcuts. 8vo. price 50«. 
 
 Loudon's Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Plants : comprising the Specific Character, 
 Description, Culture, History, Application 
 in the Arts, and every other desirable Par- 
 ticular respecting all the Plants indigenous 
 to, cultivated in, or introduced into Great 
 Britain. New Edition, corrected to the 
 Present Time by Mrs. Loudon ; assisted by 
 George Don, F.L.S., and David Woosteh, 
 late Curator to the Ipswich Museum. With 
 upwards of 12,000 Woodcuts (more than 
 aOUOuew). 8vo. 73«. 6d, 
 
 Second Additional Supplement 
 
 to Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants : com- 
 prising all Plants originated in or introduced 
 into Britain between March 1840 and March 
 1855. With above 2000 Woodcuts. 8vo. 21*. 
 
 Loudon^s Encyclopaedia of Cot- 
 tage, Farm, and Villa Architecture and 
 Furniture: containing numerous Designs, 
 from the Villa to the Cottage and the 
 Farm, including Farm Houses, Farmeries, 
 and other Agricirltural Buildings ; Coun- 
 try Inns, Pul)lic Houses, and Parochial 
 Schools, with the requisite Fittiugs-up, 
 Fixtures, and Furniture, and appropriate 
 Offices, Gardens, and Garden Scenery. 
 New Edition, edited by Mrs. Loudon ; 
 with 3000 Woodcuts. 8vo. price 63«. 
 
 Loudon's Hortus Britannicus; 
 
 Or, Catalogue of all the Plants indigenous 
 to, cultivated inj.or introduced into Britain. 
 An eatirely New Edition corrected through- 
 out: With a Supplement, including all 
 the New Plants, and a New General Index 
 to the wTiole Work. Edited by Mrs. Lou- 
 D02<; assisted by W. H. Baxter and 
 David Wooster. 8vo. price 3U. 6rf. — The 
 Supri-BMENT separately, price 144. 
 
 Mrs. Loudon's Amateur Gar- 
 dener's Calendar; Being a Monthly Guid« 
 as to what should be avoided as well as 
 what should be done in a Garden in each 
 Month: with plain Rules how to do what 
 is requisite. l6mo. with Woodcuts, 7«' 6<i. 
 
 Low.— A Treatise on the Do- 
 mesticated Animals of the British Islands: 
 comprehending the Natural and Econo- 
 mical History of Species and Varieties ; the 
 Description of the Properties of exterusl 
 Form; and Observations on the Principles 
 and Practice of Breeding. By D. Low, Esq., 
 F.R.S.E. 8vo. with Woodcuts, price 25s. 
 
 Low's Elements of Practical 
 
 Agriculture; comprehending the Cultiva- 
 tion of Plants, the Husbandry of the Do- 
 mestic Animals, and the Economy of the 
 Farm. New Edition; with 200 Woodcuts. 
 8vo. 2U. 
 
 Macaulay. —Speeches of the 
 
 Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay, M.P. Cor- 
 rected by Himself. 8vo. price 12g. 
 
 Macaulay.— The History of Eng- 
 land from the Accession of James II. By 
 Thomas Babinoton Macaulay. New 
 Edition. Vols. I. and II. 8vo. price 32x. 
 Vols. III. and IV. are f« the press. 
 
 Mr. Macaulay's Critical and 
 
 Historical Essays contributed to the Edin- 
 burgh Review. Four Editions, as follows :— 
 
 1. LiBBART Edition (the Eighth), in 
 
 3 vols. 8vo. price 36«. 
 
 2. Complete in One Volume, with Por- 
 
 trait and Vignette. Square crown 8vo. 
 price 21«. cloth ; or '6(is. calf. 
 
 3. Another Edition, in 8 vols. fcp. 8vo. 
 
 price 21«. 
 
 4. People's Edition, iu 2 vols, crown 
 
 8vo. price 8». cloth. 
 
 Macaulay. — Lays of Ancient 
 
 Rome, Ivry, and the Armada. By Thomas 
 Babinoton Macaulay. New Edition. 
 I6mo. price 4s. 6tl. cloth; or 10s. Qd. 
 bound in morocco. 
 
 Mr. Macaulay's Lays of Ancient 
 
 Rome. With numerous Illustrations, Ori- 
 
 final and from the Antique, drawn on 
 Vood by George Scarf, jun. New Edition. 
 Fcp.4to. price 21s. boards; or 42s. bound 
 in morocco. 
 
 MacDonald.— Within and With- 
 out: A Dramatic Poem. By GEOBeE Mac 
 Donald. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6^- 
 
 Macdonald. — Villa Verocchio ; 
 
 or the Youth of Leonardo da Vinci : A 
 Tale. By the late Diana Louisa Mac- 
 donAld. Fcp. 8vo. price 6s. 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 15 
 
 Macintosh.— A Military Tour in 
 
 European Turkey, the Crimea, and on the 
 Eastern Shores of the Black Sea: including 
 Routes across the Balkan into liulg'aria, 
 and Excursions in the Turkish, Russian, 
 and Persian Provinces of the Caucasian 
 Range. By Major-Gen. A. F. Mackintosh, 
 K.H., t' R G.S.jF.G.S. Second Kditiou,wlth 
 Maps. Post 8vo, lOj. 6rf. 
 
 Sir James Mackintosh's History 
 
 of Ene:land from the Earliest Times to the 
 final Establishment of the Reformation. 
 Library Edition, revised by the Author's 
 Son. 2 vols. 8vo. price 21». 
 
 Mackintosh.— Sir James Mack- 
 intosh's Miscellaneous Works : Including 
 his Contributions to the Edinburgh Review. 
 Complete in One Volume ; with Portrait 
 and Vignette. Square crown 8vo. price 21». 
 cloth ; or 'Ms. bound ia calf. 
 
 %• Also a NEW EDITION, in 3 rols. 
 fcap. 8to. price 2U. 
 
 Macleod.— The Theory and 
 
 Practice of Banking: With the Elementary 
 Principles of Currency, Prices, Credit, and 
 Exchanges. By Henry Dunning Mac- 
 Leod, of the Inner Temple, Esq., Barrister- 
 at-Law ; Fellow of the Cambridge Philoso- 
 phical Society. In Two Volumes. Volume 
 the First comprising the Theory of Banking 
 Vol. I. royal 8vo. I4s. 
 
 M'Culloch. — A Dictionary, 
 
 Practical, Theoretical, and Historical, of 
 Commerce and Commercial Navig-ation. 
 Illustrated with Maps and Plans. By J. R. 
 M'Cui.i.ocH, Esq. New Edition ; embrac- 
 ing a large mass of new and important In- 
 formation in regard to the Trade, Commer- 
 cial Law, and Navigation of this and other 
 Countries. 8vo. price 50s. cloth j half-russia, 
 with flexible back, 65». 
 
 M'Culloch. — A Dictionary, 
 
 Geographiral, Statistical, and Historical, 
 of the various Countries, Places, and Prin- 
 cipal Natuial Objects in the World. By 
 J. R. M'CtiLLocH, Esq. Illustrated with 
 Six large Maps. New Edition, revised, with 
 a Supplement. 2 vols. 8vo. price 63*. 
 
 M'Culloch. — An Account, De- 
 
 scriptive and Statistical of the British 
 Empire ; Exhibiting its Extent, Physical 
 Capacities, Population, Industry, and Civil 
 and Religious Institutions. By J. R.M'Cdl- 
 LOCH, Esq. Fourth Edition, revised ; with 
 an Appendix of Tables. 2 vols. 8vo. price 42s. 
 
 Maitland.— The Church in the 
 
 Catacombs: A Description of the Primi- 
 tive Church of Rome, illustrated by its 
 Sepulchral Remains. By the Rev. Charles 
 Maitl-vnd. 8vo. price 14». 
 
 Mann.- The Philosophy of Re- 
 production. By RonERT .Tamps Mann, 
 M.D., F.R.A.S., Author of The Guide to 
 Vie Knowledge of Life, ihe: liooktif Health, 
 Lessons in General Knowledge, etc With 
 Engravings on Wood. Fcp. 8vo. As. 6d. 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on 
 
 Chemistry, in which the Elements of that 
 Science are familiarly Explainerl and Illus- 
 trated by Experiments. New and improved 
 Edition. 2 vols. fep.8vo. price 14*. 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on 
 
 Natural Philosophy, in which the Elements 
 of that Science are familiarly explained. 
 New Kdition, enlarged and corrected ; with 
 23 Plates. Ftp. 8vo. price 10». &d. 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on 
 
 Political E(!onomy, in which the Elements 
 of that Science are familiarly explained. 
 New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. price 7*. 6d. 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on 
 
 Vegetable Physiology; comprehending the 
 Elements of Botany, with their Application 
 to Agriculture. New Edition; with Four 
 Plates. Fcp. 8vo. price 9*. 
 
 Mrs. Marcet's Conversations on 
 
 Land and Water. New Edition, revised 
 and corrected ; with a coloured Map, sliew- 
 ing the comparative Altitude of Mountains. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 5». 6rf. 
 
 Marryat.— Mountains and Mole- 
 hills ; or, Recollections of a Burnt Journal. 
 By Frank Marryat, Author of Borneo 
 and the Eastern Archipelago. With many 
 Illustrations an Wood and in Colours, from 
 Drawings by the Author. 870. price 21*. 
 
 Martineau C J.) -Endeavours 
 
 after tlie Christian Life : Discourses. By 
 James Martineau. 2 vols, post 8vo, priee 
 7*. 6rf. each. 
 
 Martinea u.— Miscellanies. 
 
 Comprising Essays on Dr. Priestley, Ar- 
 nold's Life and Correspondence, Church 
 and State, Theodore Parker's Discourse of 
 Religion, " Phases of Faith," the Church 
 of England, and the Battle of the Chuiches. 
 By James MAiiTiNEAa. Post 8vo. 9*. 
 
 Martineau.— Church History in 
 
 England: Being a Sketch of the History of 
 the Church of^ England from the Earliest 
 Times to the Period of the Reformation. 
 By the Rev. Arthur Martineau, M.A. 
 12mo. price 6*. 
 
 Maunder' s Biographical Trea- 
 sury ; consisting of Memoirs, Sitetchea, and 
 brief Notices of above 12,000 Eminent Per- 
 sons of all Ages and Nations, from the 
 Earliest Period of History. Eighth Edition, 
 revised throughout, and brought down to 
 the close of the year 1854. Fcp. 8vo. 10*. 
 cloth ; bound in roan, 12*. ; calf, 12*. 6(f. 
 
16 
 
 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Maunder's Historical Treasury ; 
 
 comprising a General Introductory Outline 
 of Universal History, Ancient and Modern, 
 and a Series of separate Histories of every 
 principal Nation. New Kdition ; revised 
 throughout, and brought down to the Pre- 
 sent Time. Fcp. 8vo. 10». cloth; roan, 
 12*.; calf,12«.6rf. 
 
 Maunder's Scientific and Lite- 
 rary Treasury : A New and Popular Kn- 
 cyelopccdia of Science and the Belles- 
 Lettres ; including all Branches of Science- 
 and every subject connected with Litera- 
 ture and Art. New Edition. Fcp. 8vo. 
 nrice 10*. cloth ; bound in loan, 12». ; calf 
 lettered, 12». 6rf. 
 
 Maunder's Treasury of Natural 
 
 History; Or, a Popular Dictionary of Ani- 
 mated Nature: In which the Zoological 
 Characteristics that distinguishthe different 
 Classes, Genera, and Species, are combined 
 with a variety of interesting Information 
 illustrative ot the Animal Kingdom. With 
 900 Woodcuts. New Edition ; with 900 
 Woodcuts. Fcp. 8vo. price 10s. cloth ; 
 roau, 12s.; calf, 12«. 6d. 
 
 Maunder's Treasury of Know- 
 ledge, and Library of Reference. Compris- 
 ing an English Dictionary and Grammar, 
 an Universal Gazetteer, a Classical Diction- 
 ary, a Chronology, a Law Dictionary, a 
 Synopsis of the Peerage, numerous useful 
 Tables, etc. The Twentieth Edition re- 
 vised and corrected : With some Addi- 
 tions. Fcp 8vo. price 10*. cloth ; bound in 
 roan, 12«. ; calf, 12s. 6d. 
 
 Merivale. — A History of the 
 
 Romans under the Empire. By the Rev. 
 Charles Merivale, B.D., late Fellow of 
 St. John's College, Cambridge. Vols. 1. 
 to III. 8vo. price 42«. 
 
 j Merivale.— The Tall of the Ro- 
 man Republic : A Short History of the last 
 I Century of the Commonwealth, By the Rev. 
 I Charles Merivale, B.D. 12mo. 7s.6rf. 
 
 Merivale, — An Account of the 
 
 Life and Letters of Cicero. Translated 
 from the German of Abeken ; and Edited by 
 the Rev, C. Merivale, B.D. 12mo. 9s. 6d. 
 
 Miles.— A Plain Treatise on 
 
 Horse Shoeing, By William Miles, Ksq., 
 Author of The Horse's Foot and how to 
 keep it sound. With Plates and Woodcuts. 
 Small 4to. 5s. 
 
 Milner.— The Crimea, its An- 
 cient and Modern History: the Khans, the 
 Sultans, and the Czars : with Sketches of its 
 Scenery and Population. By the Rev. T. 
 Milner, M.A., F.R.G.S., Author of The 
 Baltic, its Gates, Shores, and Cities. Post 
 Svo. with 3 Maps, 10s. 6rf; 
 
 Milner.— The Baltic ; Its Gates, 
 
 Shores, and Cities: With a Notice of the 
 White Sea. By the Rev. T. Milner, M.A., 
 F.R.G.S. Post Svo. with Map, price 10s. 6d. 
 
 Milner's History of the Church 
 
 of Christ. With Additions bv the late Rev. 
 Isaac Milner, U.D., F li.S. A New 
 Edition, revised, with additional Notes 
 by the Rev. T Granth.^m, B.D. 4 vols. 
 8vo. price 52s. 
 
 Montgomery. — Memoirs of the 
 
 Life and Writings of James Montgomery: 
 Including Selections from his Correspond- 
 ence, Remains in Prose and Verse, and 
 Conversations. By JouN Holland and 
 James Everett. With Portraits and Vig- 
 nettes. Vols. I. and II. post 8vo price 21s. 
 Vols, III. and IV. are in the press. 
 
 Montgomery.— Original Hymns 
 
 for Public, Social, and Private Devotion. 
 By James Montoomerv. 18mo. os.6d. 
 
 James Montgomery's Poetical 
 
 Works: Collective Edition; with the 
 Author's Autobiograpliical Prefaces, com- 
 plete in One Volume; with Portrait and 
 Vignette. Square crown Svo. price 10s. 6d. 
 cloth ; morocco, 2 Is. —Or in 4 vols . fcp. Svo. 
 with Portrait, and seven Plates, price 14s. 
 
 Moore.— Man and his Motives. 
 
 By George Moore, M.D., Member of the 
 Royal College of Physicians. Third and 
 cheaper Edition. Fcp. Svo. price 6s. 
 
 Moore.— The Power of the Soul 
 
 over the Body, considered in relation to 
 Health and Morals. By George Mooee, 
 M.D., Member of the Royal CoUeee of 
 Physicians, etc. Fifth and che&fet Edition. 
 Fcp. Svo. price 6s. 
 
 Moore.— The Use of the Body in 
 
 relation to the Mind. By George Moore, 
 M.D., Member of the Royal College of 
 Physicians. Third and cheaper Edition. 
 Fcp. Svo. price 6s. 
 
 Moore. — Health, Disease, and 
 
 Remedy, familiarly and practically con- 
 sidered in a few of their Relations to the 
 Blood. By Georqe Moore, M.D. Post 
 Svo. 7s. 6d. 
 
 Moore.— Memoirs, Journal, and 
 
 Correspondence of Thomas Moore. Edited 
 by the Right; Hon. Lord John Russell, 
 M.P. With Portraits and Vignette Illustra- 
 tions. Vols. 1. to VI. post Svo. 10s. 6d. each. 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 
 
 17 
 
 Thomas Moore's Poetical Works. 
 
 Containing the Autlior's recent Introduc- 
 tion and Notes. Complete in One Volume, 
 printed in Ruby Type ; with a Portrait en- 
 graved by W. HoU, from a Picture bv T. 
 Phillips, R.A. Crown 8vo. I2s. Gd. cloth ; 
 morocco by Hayday, 21».— Also an Edition 
 complete iu 1 vol. medium Svo. with Portrait 
 and Vignette, 21j. clotti ; morocco by Hay- 
 day, 42*.— Another, in 10 vols. fcp.Svo. with 
 Portrait, and 19 Plates, price 35*. 
 
 Moore. — Songs, Ballads, and 
 
 Sacred Songs. ByTnoMAs Moore, Author 
 of Lalla Ruokh, etc. First collected Edition, 
 with Vignette by R. Doyle. 16mo. price 
 5s . cloth ; 12«. 6rf. bound in morocco. 
 
 Moore's Irish Melodies Illus- 
 trated. A New Edition of Moore's Jrith 
 Melodies, illustrated with Twelve Steel 
 Plates, engraved from Original Designs by 
 
 0. W. COPE, R.A. D. MACLISE, R.A. 
 
 T.CRESWICK.R.A. II. MILLAIS. 
 
 A. P. EGG. W. MULREADY,R.A. 
 
 W. T. FRITH, R.A. J. SANT. 
 
 \V. E. FROST. FRANK STONE.. 
 
 C. E. HORSLEY. G. R. WARD. 
 
 Uniform with the Illustrated Edition of 
 
 Moore's Lalla Rookh. Square crown Svo. 
 
 lJust ready, 
 
 Moore's Irish Melodies. New 
 
 Edition, printed in Ruby Type ; with the 
 Preface and Notes from the collective edition 
 of Moore's Poetical Works, the Advertise- 
 ments originally prefixed to the Melodies, 
 and a Portrait of the Author. 32mo. 2«. 6rf. 
 — An Edition in 16mo.with Vignette, 5«, ; 
 or 12«. 6d. morocco, by Hayday. 
 
 Moore's Irish Melodies. Illus- 
 trated by D. Maclise, R.A. New and 
 cheaper Edition; with 161 Designs, and 
 the whole of the Letter press engraved on 
 Steel, by V. P. Becker. Super-royal Svo. 
 price 31s. 6d. boards ; morocco, 52». 6d. 
 
 Moore's Lalla Rookh: An Ori- 
 ental Romance. With 13 highly-finished 
 Steel Plates, from Designs by Corbould, 
 Meadows, and Stephanoff. New Edition. 
 Square crown Svo. 15s. cloth ; morocco, 2Ss. 
 
 Moore's Lalla Rookh. New Edi- 
 
 tion, printed in Ruby Type ; with the Pre- 
 face and Notes from the collective Edi- 
 tion of Moore's Poetical Works, and a 
 Frontispiece from a Design by Kenny 
 Meadows. 32mo. 2s. 6rf. — An Edition in 
 16rao. with Vignette, 5s. ; or 12s. 6rf. mo- 
 rocco, by Hayday. 
 
 Moseley.— The Mechanical Prin- 
 ciples of Engineering and Architecture. 
 By the Rev. H. Moselex-, M.A., F.R.S., 
 Canon of Bristol, Corresponding Member 
 of the Institute of France. Second Edition, 
 enlarged ; with numerous Corrections and 
 Woodcuts. 8vo. 24s. 
 
 Mure.— A Critical History of 
 
 the Language and Literature of Ancient 
 Greece. By William Mure, M.P. of 
 Caldwell. Second Edition. Vols. I. to 
 III. Svo. price 36s.— Vol. IV. price 15s. 
 
 Murray's Encyclopaedia of Geo- 
 graphy. Comprisinga complete Description 
 of the Earth: exhibiting its Relation to the 
 Heavenly Bodies, its Physical Structure, 
 the Natural History of each Country, and 
 the Industry, Commerce, Political Institu- 
 tions, and Civil and Social State of All 
 Nations. Second Edition; with S2 Maps, 
 and upwards of 1,000 other Woodcuts. 
 Svo. price 60s. 
 
 Neale. — " Risen from the 
 
 Ranks ;" Or, Conduct versus Caste. By 
 the Rev. Erskine Neale, M.A., Rector of 
 Kirton, Suffolk. Fcap. Svo. price 6s. 
 
 Neale.— The Riches that bring 
 
 no Sorrow. By the Rev. Erskime Neale, 
 M.A. Fcp. Svo. piice 6s. 
 
 Neale. —The Earthly Resting 
 
 Places of the Just. By the Rev. ERSKipfE 
 Neale, M.A. F'cp.Svo. with Woodcutb, 7«- 
 
 Neale.— The Closing Scene; or 
 
 Christianity and Infidelity contrasted in the 
 Last Hours of Remarkable Persons. By the 
 Rev. EnsKiNE Neale, M.A. New Edi- 
 tion. 2 vols. fcp. Svo. price I2«.; or sepa- 
 rately, 6s. each. 
 
 Newman.— Discourses addressed 
 
 to Mixed Congregations. By John Henry 
 Newman, Priest of the Oratory of St. Philip 
 Neri. Second Edition. Svo. price 12s. 
 
 Oldacre.-The Last of the Old 
 
 Squires: A Sketch. By Cedric Oldacre, 
 Esq., of Sax-Normanbury, sometime of 
 Christ Church, Oxon. Crown 8vo. 9s. 6d. 
 
 Oldmixon.— Gleanings from Pic- 
 cadilly to Pera. By J. W. Oldmixon, Com- 
 mander R.N. With 4 Illustrations printed 
 in Colours. Post Svo. price 10s, 6rf. 
 
 Opie (Mrs.)— Memorials of the 
 
 Life of Amelia Opie, Selected and Arranged 
 from her Letters, Diaries, and other Manu- 
 scripts. By Cecilia Lucy Brightwell. 
 Second Edition ; with Portrait. Svo. 10s. 6(/. 
 
 Osborn. — A Narrative of the 
 
 Discovery of the North-West Passage by 
 H.M.S. Investigator, Capt. R. M'Clure. 
 Edited by Captain Sherard Osdorn , R.N., 
 from the Logs, Journals, and Private Letters 
 of Capt. R. M'Clure ; and illustrated from 
 Sketches taken by Commander S. Gurney 
 Cresswell. Svo. [Jtut ready. 
 
18 
 
 NEW WOKKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Owen.— Lectures on the Com- 
 parative Anatomy and Physiology of the 
 Inverlehrate Animals. ByllicHAKD Owen, 
 F.R.S. Hunteririn Professor in the Royal 
 College of Surijeons. Second Edition, 
 greatly enlarged ; with 235 Woodcuts. 8vo, 
 price 21*. 
 
 Professor 0\7en's Lectures on 
 
 the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology 
 of the Vertebriite Animals. With'numer- 
 ous Woodcuts. Vol. I. Svo. price lis. 
 
 The Complete V7orks of Blaise 
 
 Pascal. Transl ited from the French, with 
 Memoir, Introiluctions to thi; various 
 Works, Editoria! Notes, and Appendices, 
 by George Pearce, Esq. 3 vols, post Svo. 
 with Portrait. 2os. ed. 
 
 Dr. Pereira's Lectures on Po- 
 larised Liy;ht, tog-ether with a Lecture on 
 the Microscope, delivered before the Phar- 
 maceutical Society of Great Britain, and at 
 the Medical ScIdoI of the London Hospital. 
 Second Edition, enlarged from Materials 
 left by the Author, by the Rev. Baden 
 Powell, M.A., etc. Fcp.Svo. with Wood- 
 cuts, 7s. 
 
 Dr. Pereira's Elements of Ma- 
 teria niedica and Therapeutics. Third 
 Edition, enlarged and improved from the 
 Author's Materials bv A. S.TAyLOR, M.D., 
 and G. O. Rees, M'.U. With numerous 
 Woodcuts. Vol. !. Svo. 2S«. ; Vol. II. Part 
 I. 17.'.; Vol. II. Part ll.'J4s. 
 
 Dr. Pereira's Treatise on Food 
 
 and Diet. Wah Observations on the Diete- 
 tical Regimen suited for Disordered States 
 of the Diu;estive Organs; and an Account of 
 the Dietaries of soiiie of tlie principal Me- 
 tropolitan and otlier Kstablishments for 
 Paupers, l>unatits, (;riraiiials,CUildreu, the 
 Sick, etc. Svo. 1G«. 
 
 Peschel's Elements of Physics. 
 
 Translated from the ficrnian, with Notes, 
 by E. West. Witii Diat^rams and Wood- 
 cuts, a vols, fcp. Svo. price 21s. 
 
 PfeilFer.— A Second Journey 
 
 round the World. By Madame Id v Ppeif- 
 FEK. 2 vols, post Svo. [Just ready. 
 
 Phillips.— A Guide to Geology. 
 
 By John Phillips, M.A. F.R.S. F.<;.S., 
 Deputy Reader in Geologv in the tluiversity 
 of Oxford. Fourth Edition, with 4 Plates. 
 Fcp. Svo. price 5«. 
 
 Phillips's Elementary Intro- 
 duction to Mincraloirv. A New Edition, 
 with extensive Alterations and Additions, 
 byH. J.Brooke, F.li.S.. F.GS.; and W . 
 H. Miller, M.A., F.G.S., Professor of 
 Mineralogy in the University of Cainbridire. 
 With numerous Woodcuts. Post Svo. ISs. 
 
 Phillips.— Pigures and Descrip- 
 tions of the Palaeozoic Fossils of Cornwall, 
 Devon, and West Somerset; observed in 
 the course of the Ordnance Geological Sur- 
 vey of that District. Bv John Phillips, 
 M.A. etc. Svo. with 60 Plates, price ys. 
 
 Piscator.— The Choice and Cook- 
 ery of Fish: A Practical Treatise. By Pis- 
 cator. Fcp. Svo. OS. Gd. 
 
 Captain Portlock's Report on 
 
 the (ieoloiry of the County of Londonderry, 
 and of Parts of Tyrone and Fermanagh, 
 examined and described under the .•\utho- 
 rity of the Master-General and Board of 
 Ordnance. Svo. with 48 Plates, price 24s. 
 
 Powell-— Essays on the Spirit 
 
 of the Inductive Philosophy, the Unity of 
 Worlds, and tlie Philosophy of Creation. 
 Bv the Rev. Baden Powell, M.A., F.U S., 
 F.R.A.S., F.G.S., Savilian Professor of Geo- 
 metry in the University of Oxford. Crown 
 Svo. 12s. 6c?. 
 
 Pulman's Vade-Mecum of Ply- 
 Fishing for Trout; beiiig a complete Prac 
 tical Treatise on that Branch of the Art of 
 Angling; with plain and copious Instruc- 
 tions for the Manufacture of Artificial Flies. 
 Third Edition, with Woodcuts. Fcp.Svo. 
 price 6s. 
 
 Pycroft's Course of English 
 
 Re.ndiag, adapted to every Taste and Ca- 
 pacity ; With Literary Anecdotes. New 
 and cheaper Edition. Fcp. Svo. price 5?. 
 
 Baikes.— A Portion of the Jour- \ 
 
 nal kept by Thomas Raikes, Esq , from 1831 I 
 
 to 1817 : Comprisiuir Reminiscences of So- | 
 cial and Political Lie in L'uidou atid Paris 
 
 during that period. [In preparation, j 
 
 Dr. Reece's Medical Guide ■, for j 
 
 the use of the Clergy, He ids of Families, 1 
 Schools, and Junior Medical Practitioners: 
 Comprising a complete Modern Dispensa- 
 tory, and a Practical Treatise on the distin- 
 guishing Symptoms, Causes, Prevention, 
 Cure, and Palliation of the Diseases incident 
 to the Human Frame. Seventeenth Edition, I 
 corrected and enlarged by the Author's I 
 Son. Svo. price 12.v. | 
 
 Rich's Illustrated Companion } 
 
 to the Latin Dictionary and Greek Lexicon : 
 Forming a Glossary of aU the Words repre- 
 senting Visible Objects connected with the I 
 Arts, Manufactures, and Every-day Life of j 
 the Ancients. With Woodcut Represents- t 
 lions of nearly 2,000 Objects from the | 
 Antique. Post Svo . price 21 j. | 
 
 Sir J. Richardson's Journal of j 
 
 a Boat Voyage through Rupert's Land and 
 
 the Arctic Sea, in Search of the Discovery 1 
 Ships under Command of Sir Jolin Franklin. 
 
 With an Appendix on the Physical Geo- j 
 
 grnphy of North .-Xmerica; a Map, Plates, j 
 
 and Woodcuts. 2 vols. Svo. price 31». Crf. ! 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 19 
 
 Horsemanship 5 or, the Art of 
 
 Ridinsj- and Maiiairing a Horse, adapted to 
 the Guidance of Ladies and Gentlemen ou 
 the Road and in the Field : With Instruc- 
 tions for Breaking in Colts and Younnf 
 Horses. By Captain Richardson, late of 
 the 4th Light Dragoons. Witli 5 Line En- 
 gravings. Square crown 8vo. price 14». 
 
 Rickards.— Population and 
 
 Capital : lieinir a Course of Lectures de- 
 livered before the University of Oxford in 
 1853 and 1854. By George K. Rickards, 
 M.A., Professor of Political Economy. 
 Post 8vo. 6«. 
 
 Riddle's Complete Latin-Eng- 
 
 lish and English-Latin Dictionary, for the 
 use of Colleges aud Schools. Neva and 
 cheaper Edition, revised and corrected. 
 8vo.21«. 
 
 Spnaratplv fTheEnglish-Latin Dictionary, 7«. 
 Separately ^TheLatin-EnglishDictionary,15». 
 
 Riddle's Copious and Critical 
 
 Latin-English Lexicon, founded on the 
 German-Latin Dictionaries of Dr. William 
 Frennd. New and cheaper Edition. Post 
 4to. price 31*. Gd. 
 
 Riddle's Diamond Latin-Eng- 
 
 lish Dictionary: A Guide to the Meaning, 
 Quality, .ind right Accentuation of Latin 
 Classical Words. Royal 32mo. price 4s. 
 
 Rivers's Rose- Amateur's Guide; 
 
 containing ample Descriptions of all the 
 fine leading varieties of Roses, regularly 
 classed in their respective Families; their 
 History and Mode of Culture. Fifth and 
 cheaper Edition, much improved. Fcp. 
 8vo. price 3s. 6 d. 
 
 Dr. E. Robinson's Greek and 
 
 English Lexicon of the Greek Testament. 
 A New Edition, revised and in great part 
 re-written. 8vo. price 18s. 
 
 Mr. Henry Rogers's Essays, se- 
 lected from Contributions to t\ie Edinburgh 
 Review. Second a?jd cAc«;)erEdition, with 
 Additions. 3 vols. fcp. 8vo, 21s. 
 
 Mr. Henry Rogers's Additional 
 
 Essays from the Edinburgh Review, printed 
 uniformly with the First Edition, and 
 forming a Third Volume. 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Dr. Roget's Thesaurus of Eng- 
 lish Words and Phrases classified and ar- 
 ranged so as to facilitate the Expression 
 of Ideas and assist in Literary Composi- 
 tion. Third Edition, revved and improved, 
 and printed in a more convenient form. 
 Crown 8vo. 10s. 6d. 
 
 Rowton's Debater: A Series of 
 
 complete Debates, Outlines of Debates, and 
 Questions for Discussion ; with ample 
 references to the best Sources of I nformation 
 on each particular Topic. New Edition. 
 Fcp. 8to. price 6s. 
 
 Letters of Rachael Lady Rus- 
 
 sell. A New Edition, including several 
 unpublished Letters. With Portraits, Vig- 
 nettes, and Facsimile. 2 vols, post 8vo 
 price 15s. 
 
 The Life of William Lord Rus- 
 
 sell. Bv the Rittbt Hon. Lord John Rus- 
 sEi,!,. M.P. The Fourth Edition, complete in 
 One Volume ; with a Portrait engraved on 
 Steel by S. Bellin. Post 8vo. price IDs. 6rf. 
 
 St. John (the Hon. F.)— Rambles 
 
 in Search of Sport, in Germany, France, 
 Italy, and Russ^ia. By the Honourable 
 Ferdinand St. John. With Four coloured 
 Plates. Post 8vo. price 9s. 6d. 
 
 St. John (H.)— The Indian Ar- 
 
 chipelago; Its History and Present State. 
 By HoHACE St. John. 2 vols, post Svo. 
 price 21s. 
 
 The Saints our Example. By 
 
 the Author of Letters to my Unknown 
 Friends, etc. Fcp. Svo. price js. 
 
 Schmitz. — History of Greece, 
 
 from the Earliest Timi.-s to the Taking of 
 Corinth by the Romans, B.C. 146, mainly 
 based upon Bishop Tiiirhvall's History of 
 Greece. By Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, 
 F.R.S.E. New Edition. 12mo. 7s. 6d. 
 
 Scrivenor.— History of the Iron 
 
 Trade, from the Earliest Records to the 
 Present Period. By IIarrv Scrivenor, 
 Author of The RaiUay< of the United 
 KtJigdum. New Edition, revised aud cor- 
 rected. Svo. 10s. 6rf. 
 
 Sir Edward Seaward's Narra- 
 
 tive of his Shipwreck, and consequent Di 
 coveryof certain Islands in the Caribbe; 
 Sea. Third Edition. 2 vols, post Svo. 21s. 
 — An Abridoment, in 16mo. price 2s. 6d. 
 
 The Sermon in the Mount. 
 
 Printed by C Whittii\gham, uniformly 
 with the Thumb Bible; bound and clasped. 
 64rao. price Eighteenpence. 
 
 Self-Denial the Preparation for 
 
 P'aster. By the Author of Letters to my 
 Unknown Friends, etc. Fcp. Svo. 2s. 6d. ' 
 
 Sewell.— Amy Herbert. By a 
 
 Lady. Indited by the Rev. W. Sewell, 
 B.D. Fellow and Tutor of Exeter College, 
 Oxford. New Edition. Fcp. Svo. price Cs. 
 
20 
 
 NEW WOKKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 Sewell.— The Earl's Daughter. 
 
 By the Author of Amy Herbert. Edited 
 by the Rev. W. Sewell, B. D. 2 vols. fcp. 
 8vo.9«. 
 
 Sewell.— Gertrude : A Tale. By 
 
 the Author of Ami/ Herbert. Edited by 
 the Rev. W Sewell, B.D. New Edition. 
 Fcp. 8vo. price 6s. 
 
 Sewell.— Laneton Parsonage: A 
 
 Tale for Children, on the practical Use of 
 a Portion of the Church Catechism. By 
 the Author Ami/ Herbert. Edited by tlie 
 Rev. W. Sewell, B.D. New Edition. 
 3 vols. fcp. 8vo. price \6s, 
 
 Sewell.— Margaret Percival. By 
 
 the Author of Amy Herbert. Edited by 
 the Rev. W. Sewell, B.D. New Edition. 
 2 vols, fcp. 8vo. price 12«. 
 
 Bi/ the same Author y 
 
 Cleve Hall. 2 vols. fcp. 8vo. i2s. 
 Katharine Ashton. New Edition. 
 
 2 vols. fcp. 8vo. price 12*. 
 
 The Experience of Life. New 
 
 Edition, Fcp. 8vo. price 7»- 6rf. 
 
 Readings for a Month Prepara- 
 tory to Confirmation : Compiled from the 
 Works of Writers of the Early and of the 
 English Church. Fcp. 8vo. price 5«. 6d. 
 
 Readings for Every Day in 
 
 Lent : Compiled from the Writings of 
 Bishop Jeremv Taylor. Fcp.Svo. 5«. 
 
 The Family Shakspeare 5 in 
 
 which nothing is added to the Original 
 Text; but those Words and Expressions 
 are omitted which cannot with propriety 
 be read aloud. By T. Bowdler, Esq. 
 F.R.S. New Edition, in volumes for the 
 Pocket; with 36 Wood Engravings from 
 Designs by Smirke, Howard, and other 
 Artists. 6 vols. fcp. 8vo. price 30«. 
 
 A LiBRARv Edition, with the same 
 Illustrations, in 1 vol. medium 8vo. 21*. 
 
 Sharp's New British Gazetteer, 
 
 or Topographical Dictionary of the British 
 Islands and Narrow Seas : Comprising con- 
 cise Descriptions of about Sixty Thousand 
 Places, Seats, Natural Features, and Ob- 
 jects of Note, founded on the best Autho- 
 rities ; full Particulars of the Boundaries, 
 Registered Electors, etc. of the Parlia- 
 mentary Boroughs ; with a reference under 
 every name to the Sheet of the Ordnance 
 Survey, as far as completed; and an Ap- 
 pendix, containing a General View of the 
 Resources of the United Kingdom, a Short 
 Chronology, and an Abstract of certain 
 Results of the last Census. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 price £2. 16s. 
 
 Short Whist? Its Rise, Pro- 
 gress, and Laws : With Observations to 
 make any one a Whist Player. Contaiuinj^ 
 also the Laws of Piquet, Cassino, Ecarte, 
 Cribbage, Backgammon. By Major A. 
 New Edition ; to which are added, Precepts 
 forTyros. By Mrs. B, Fcp.8vo. 3». 
 
 Sinclair.— The Journey of Life. 
 
 By Catherine Sinclair. Author of The 
 Business of Life. New Edition, corrected 
 and enlarged. Fcp. 8vo. price 5s. 
 
 Sir Roger De Coverley. Prom 
 
 The Spectator. With Notes and Illustra- 
 tions by W. Henry Wills; and 12 Wood 
 Engravings, from Designs by F. Tayleb, 
 Second and cheaper Edition. Crown 8vo. 
 10s. Gd.; morocco by Hayday, 2ls. — An 
 Edition, withoutWoodcuts, in 16mo. price Is, 
 
 Smith's Sacred Annals.— Sacred 
 
 Annals: Vol. III. The Gentile Nations; 
 or. The History and Religion of the 
 Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, 
 Persians, Greeks, and Romans, collected 
 from ancient authors and Holy Scripture, 
 and including the recent discoveries in 
 Egyptian, Persian, and Assyrian Inscrip- 
 tions: Forming a complete connection of 
 Sacred and Profane History, and shewing 
 the Fulfilment of Sacred Prophecy. By 
 George Smith, F. A.S., etc. In Two Parts, 
 crown 8vo, price I2s. 
 
 By the same Author, 
 
 Sacred Annals: Vol. I. The 
 
 Patriarchal Aa;e ; or. Researches into the 
 History and Religion of Mankind, from the 
 Crestion of the World to the Death of 
 Isaac. Crown 8vo. price 10s. 
 
 Sacred Annals : Vol. H. The 
 
 Hebrew People ; or, The History and Re- 
 ligion of the Israelites, from the Origin of 
 the Nation to the Time of Christ. In Two 
 Parts, crown 8vo. price 12s. 
 
 Smee's Elements of Electro- 
 
 Metallurgy. Third Edition, revised, cor- 
 rected, and considerably enlarged ; with 
 Electrotypes and numerous Woodcuts. 
 Post 8vo. price 10s. 6rf. 
 
 A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney 
 
 Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. 
 With a Selection from his Letters, edited 
 by Mrs. Austin. 2 vols. Svo, price 28s. 
 
 The Works of the Rev. Sydney 
 
 Smith; including his Contributions to the 
 Edinburgh Review. Three Editions:— 
 
 1. Library Edition (the Fourth), in 3 
 
 vols. Svo. with Portrait, price 36s. 
 
 2. Complete in One Volume, with Por- 
 
 trait and Vignette. Square crowu 
 Svo. price 2ls. cloth ; or 30s. calf. 
 
 3. A New Edition, in3 vols. fcp. price21«. 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 
 
 21 
 
 The Rev. Sydney Smith's Ele- 
 
 mentHry Sketches of Moral Pliilosophy, 
 delivered at the Royal Institution in the 
 Years 1804, 1806, and 1806. Third and 
 cAeajafr Edition. Ftp. 8vo. price /*• 
 
 The Life and Correspondence of 
 
 the late Robert Southey. Edited by his 
 Son, the Rev. C . C . Southey, M. A. Vicar 
 of Ardleigh. With Portraits ; and Land- 
 scape Illustrations. 6 vols, post 8vo. 63«. 
 
 Southey's Life of Wesley 5 and 
 
 Rise and Progress of Methodism. New 
 Edition, with Notes and Additions, by the 
 late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Esq ., and the 
 late Alexander Knox, Esq. Edited by the 
 Rev. C.C. Southey, M. A. 2 vols.Svo. with 
 2 Portraits, price 28*. 
 
 Southey's Commonplace Books. 
 
 Comprising — 1. Choice Passages: with Col- 
 lections for the History of Manners and 
 Literature in England ; 2. Special Collec- 
 tions on various Historical and Theological 
 Subjects ; 3. Analytical Readings in various 
 branches of Literature; and A. Original 
 Memoranda, Literary and Miscellaneous. 
 Edited by the Rev. J. W.Warter, B.D. 
 4 vols, square crown 8vo. price £3 18». 
 
 Each Commonplace Book, complete in it- 
 self, may be had separately as follows » — 
 
 First Series-CHOICE PASSAGES. 18*. 
 
 2d Series-special COLLECTIONS, 18«. 
 
 3d Series-analytical readings, 2i«. 
 
 4th Series— ORIGlNALMEMORANDA,21«. 
 
 Robert Southey's Poetical 
 
 Works ; containing all the Author's last 
 Introductions and Notes. Complete in One 
 Volume, with Portrait and Vignette. Me- 
 dium 8vo. price 21*. cloth; 42*. bound in 
 morocco. Or in 10 vols. fcp. Svo. with Per 
 trait and 19 Plates, price 35*. 
 
 Select Works of the British 
 
 Poets; from Chaucer to Lovelace, inclu- 
 sive. With Biographical Sketches by the 
 late Robert Southey. Medium Svo. 30s. 
 
 Southey's Doctor. Complete 
 
 in One Volume. Edited by the Rev. J, W. 
 Warter, B.D. With Portrait, Vignette, 
 Bust, and coloured Plate. New Edition. 
 Square crown Svo. price 21*. 
 
 Spencer.— The Principles of 
 
 Pvschology. By Herbert Spencer, Au- 
 thor of Social Statics. Svo, 16*. 
 
 Sir James Stephen's Lectures 
 
 on the History of France. Second Edition. 
 2 vols. Svo. price 24*. 
 
 Sir James Stephen's Essays in 
 
 Ecclesiastical Biography; from the Edin- 
 {(burgh Review. Third Edition, 2 7ols.Svo. 
 price 24*. 
 
 Stonehenge. — The Greyhound : 
 
 Being a Treatise on the Art of Breeding, 
 Rearing, and Training Greyhounds for Pub- 
 lic Running; their Diseases and Treat- 
 ment : Containing also, Rules for the Ma- 
 nagement of Coursing Meetings, and for 
 the Decision of Courses. By Stonehenge, 
 With Frontispiece and many Woodcuts. 
 Square crown Svo. price 21*. 
 
 Stow. — The Training System, 
 
 the Moral Training School, and the Normal 
 Seminary for preparing School Trainers iind 
 Governesses. By David Stow, Esq., 
 Honorary Secretary to the Glasgow Normal 
 Free Seminary. Tenth Edition; with Plates 
 and Woodcuts. Post Svo. price 6*. 
 
 Dr. Sutherland's Journal of a 
 
 Voyage in Baffin's Bay and Barrow's 
 Straits, in the Years 1860 and 18.51, per- 
 formed by H. M. Ships Lady Franklin 
 and Sophia, under the command of Mr. 
 William Penny, in search of tlie Missing 
 Crews of H.M. Ships Erebus and Terror. 
 with Charts and Illustrations. 2 vols, 
 post Svo. price 27*. 
 
 Tagart.— Locke's Writings and 
 
 Philosophy historically considered, and vin- 
 dicated from the Charge of contributing to 
 the Scepticism of Hume. By Edward Ta- 
 gart, F.S.A., F.L.S. Svo. 12*. 6d. 
 
 Tate.-On the Strength of Ma- 
 
 terials ; containingvarious original and use- 
 ful Formulae, specially applied to Tubular 
 Bridges, Wrought Iron and Cast Iron 
 Beams, etc. By Thomas Tate, F.R.A.S. 
 Svo. price 5*. 6d, 
 
 Tayler.— Christian Aspects of 
 
 Faith and Duty : Twenty Discourses. By 
 John James Tayler, B.A. Second Edi- 
 tion. Post Svo. 7*. Gd. 
 
 Taylor.— Loyola : and Jesuitism 
 
 in its Rudiments. By Isaac Taylor. 
 Post Svo. with a Medallion, price 10*. 6d. 
 
 Taylor.-Wesley and Methodism. 
 
 By Isaac Taylor. Post Svo. with a Por- 
 trait, price 10*. 6d. 
 
 Tegoborski.— Commentaries on 
 
 tlie Productive Forces of Russia. By L. 
 Db Tegoborski, Privy-Councillor and 
 Member of the Imperial Council of Russia. 
 Vol. I. Svo. price 14*. 
 
 Thirl wall.— The History of 
 
 Greece. By the Right Rev. the Lord 
 Bishop of St. David's (the Rev. Connop 
 Thirlwall). An improved Library Edition } 
 with Maps. 8 vols. Svo. price ,^3. 
 
 Also, an Edition in 8 vols. fcp. Svo. with 
 Vignette Titles, price 28*. 
 
22 
 
 NEW WORKS AND NEW EDITIONS 
 
 THE TRAVELLERS LIBRARY, 
 
 In course of Publication in Volumes price 2«.6(i. each. Comprising books of valuable inform- 
 ation and acknowledged merit, in a form adapted for reading wliile Travelling, and also 
 of a character that will render them worthy of preservation. 
 
 Voi-- «• d. 
 
 1. MACAULAY'S ESSAYS on WARREN HASTINGS and LORD CLIVE ....... 2 6 
 
 2. • ESSAYS on PITT & CHATHAM, RANKE & GLADSTONE ..2 6 
 
 3. LAING'S RESIDENCE in NORWAY 2 6 
 
 4. IDA PFEIFFER'S LADY'S VOYAGE ROUND the WORLD 2 6 
 
 5. EOTHEN ; or, TRACES of TRAVEL from the EAST 2 6 
 
 6. MACAULAY'S ESSAYS on ADDISON, WALPOLE, and LORD BACON .... 2 6 
 
 7. HUC'S TRAVELS IN TARTARY and THIBET 2 6 
 
 8. THOMAS HOLCROFT'S MEMOIRS 2 6 
 
 9. WERNE'S AFRICAN WANDERINGS 2 6 
 
 K). Mrs. JAMESON'S SKETCHES in CANADA 2 6 
 
 11. JERRMANN'S PICTURES from ST. PETERSBURG 2 6 
 
 12. The Rev. G. R. GLEIG'S LEIPSIC CAMPAIGN 2 6 
 
 13. HUGHES'S AUSTRALIAN COLONIES 2 6 
 
 14. SIR EDWARD SEAWARD'S SHIPWRECK 2 6 
 
 15. ALEXANDRE DUMAS' MEMOIRS of a MAITRE-D'ARMES 2 6 
 
 16. OUR COAL-FIELDS and OUR COAL PITS 2 6 
 
 17. M'CULLOCH'S LONDON; and GIRONIERE'S PHILIPPINES 2 6 
 
 18. SIR ROGER DE COVERLEY ; and SOUTHEY'S LOVE STORY 2 6 
 
 , fLORD CARLISLE'S LECTURES AND ADDRESSES; and JEFFREY'S"! „ 
 
 19- 1 ESSAYS on SWIFT and RICHARDSON / ^ ° 
 
 20. HOPE'S BIBLE in BRITTANY and CHASE in BRITTANY 2 6 
 
 21. THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH; and NATURAL HISTORY of CREATION .... 2 6 
 
 22. MEMOIR of DUKE of WELLINGTON; and LIFE of MARSHAL TURENNE 2 6 
 
 23. RANKE'S FERDINAND and MAXIMILIAN; and TURKEY and CHRISTENDOM 2 6 
 f BARROW'S CONTINENTAL TOUR; and FERGUSON'S SWISS MEN\ „ . 
 1 and SWISS MOUNTAIN'S / ^ " 
 
 „ fSOUVESTRE'S ATTIC PHILOSOPHER in PARIS and WORKING! „ « 
 
 25- ( MAN S CONFESSIONS / ^ " 
 
 fMACAULAY'S ESSAYS on LORD BYRON, and the COMIC DRAMATISTS ;1 „ , 
 
 \ and his SPEECHES on PARLIAMENTARY REFORM J " 
 
 f SHIRLEY BROOKS'S RUSSIANS of the SOUTH; and Dr.. KEMP'S\ „ . 
 
 27- { INDICATIONS of INSTINCT / 2 b 
 
 23. LANMAN'S ADVENTURES in the WILDS of NORTH AMERICA 2 6 
 
 29. RUSSIA. By the MARQUIS De CUSTINE 3 6 
 
 30. SELECTIONS from the Rev. SYDNEY SMITH'S WRITINGS, Vol. 1 2 6 
 
 fBODENSTEDT and WAGNER'S SCHAMYL ; and M'CULLOCH'SI „ . 
 
 31- 1 RUSSIA and TURKEY / 2 6 
 
 32. LAING'S NOTES of a TRAVELLER, First Series 2 C 
 
 33. DURRIEU'S MOROCCO ; and an ESSAY on MORMONISM 2 C 
 
 34. RAMBLES in ICELAND. By PLINY MILES 2 G 
 
 25. SELECTIONS from the Rev. SYDNEY SMITH'S WRITINGS, Vol. II 2 6 
 
 fHAYWARDS ESSAYS on CHESTERFIELD and SELWYN; and MISS1 „ „ 
 
 36- { FANNY MAYNE'S ARCTIC VOYAGES and DISCOVERIES / ^ ° 
 
 37. CORNWALL: its MINES, MINERS, and SCENERY 2 6 
 
 35. DANIEL DE FOE and CHARLES CHURCHILL. By JOHN FORSTER, Esq. 2 6 
 39. GREGOROVIUS'S CORSICA. Translated by R. MARTINEAU, M.A 3 6 
 
 fFRANCTS ARAGO'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY. Transited bv the Rev. B. POVVELLI „ ^ 
 PRINTING: Its ANTECEDENTS, ORIGIN, and RESULTS. By A. STARK/ " ° 
 
 41. MASON'S LIFE with the ZULUS of NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA 2 6 
 
 42. FORESTER'S RAMBLES in NORWAY 2 6 
 
PUBLISHED BY LONGMAN, BROWN, and Co. 
 
 23 
 
 Thomson, (The Rev. W.)-The 
 
 Atoning Work of Christ, viewed in relation 
 to some current theories ; in eight Bampton 
 Lectures, with numerous Notes, liv tlie 
 llev. W. Thomson, M.A., Fellow and Tutor 
 of Queen's College, Oxford, 8vo. price 8<i. 
 
 Thomson (The Rev.W.)— An Out- 
 line of the Laws of Thought : Being a 
 Treatise on Pure and Applied Logic. By 
 the Rev.W. Thomson, M. A. Third Edition, 
 enlarged. Fcp. 8vo. price 7». 6^. 
 
 Thomson's Tables of Interest, 
 
 at Three, Four, Four-and-a-half, and Five 
 per Cent., from One Pound to Ten Thou- 
 sand, and from 1 to 365 Days, in a regular 
 progression of Single Days; with Interest 
 at all the above Rates, from One toTwelve 
 Months, and from One to Ten Years. Also, 
 numerous other Tables of Exchanyres.Time, 
 and Discounts. New Edition. 12mo. 8s. 
 
 Thomson's Seasons. Edited by 
 
 BoLToy CoRNEY,Esq. Illustrated with 
 Seventy-seven fine Wood Engravings from 
 Designs by Members of the KtchingClub. 
 Square crown 8vo. price 2ls. cloth ; or, '66s. 
 bound iu morocco. 
 
 The Thumb Bible 5 or, Verbum 
 
 Scmpiternum. By J. Taylor. Being an 
 Epitome of the Old and New Testaments 
 in English Verse. Reprinted from the 
 Edition, of IGaS, bound and clasped. In 
 64mo. price Eighteenpence. 
 
 Tooke.— History of Prices and 
 
 of the State of the Circulation, from 184/ to 
 the close of 1S54. By Thomas Tooke, 
 F.R.S. With Contributions by WirnvM 
 Newmarch. Being the Fifth and conclud- 
 ing V^olunie of the work ; with an Index to 
 the whole work. 8vo. [Just ready . 
 
 Townsend.— The Lives of Twelve 
 
 EmiMtnt Judges of tlie Last and of the Pre- 
 sent Century. By W. C. Towxsenb, Esq., 
 U.A., Q.C. 2vols.8vo. price 28s. 
 
 Townsend.— Modern State Tri- 
 als, revised and illustrated with Essajs and 
 Notes. By W. C. Townsend, Esq., M.A. 
 Q.C. 2 vols. 8vo. price bU«. 
 
 Trollope. — The Warden. By 
 
 Aj^xhonz Trollope. Post8vo. lOs, 6d. 
 
 Sharon Turner's Sacred His- 
 tory of the worw, attempted to be Philo- 
 sophically considered, in a Series of Letters 
 to a Son. New Edition, revised by the 
 Author's Son, the Rev. S. Turner. 
 3 vols, post 8vo. price 31s, 6d. 
 
 Sharon Turner's History of Eng- 
 land during the Middle Ages: Comprising 
 the Reigns from the Norman Conquest to 
 tlie Accession of Henry Vlll. Fifth Edition, 
 revised by the Rev. S. Turner. 4 vols 
 8vo. price oOs. 
 
 Sharon Turner's History of the 
 
 Anglo-Saxons, from tlie Earliest Period to 
 the Norman Conquest. The Seventh Edi- 
 tion, revised by the Rev, S. Turwer. 
 3 vols. 8vo. price 36s. 
 
 Dr. Turton'sManual ofthe Land 
 
 and Freshwater Shells of the British Is- 
 lands. New Edition with considerable Ad- 
 ditions ; by John Edward Gray. With 
 Woodcuts, and 12 coloured Plates. Post 
 8vo. price los. 
 
 Twining. -Types and Figures 
 
 of the Bible, illustrated by the Art of the 
 Early and Middle Ages. By Miss Louisa 
 TwiNTNO, Author of iS'^?«6o?s and Emblems 
 of Mediceviil Christian Art. With ,54 PI ales, 
 comprising 207 tigures. Post 4to. 21». 
 
 Dr. Ure's Dictionary of Arts, 
 
 Manufactures and Mines : Containing a 
 clear Exposition ot their Principles and 
 Practice. Fourth Edition, much enlarged; 
 with all the Information comprised in the 
 Supplement of Recent Improvements 
 brought down to the Present Time, and 
 incorporated : most of the Articles being 
 entirely re- written, and many New A/ticles 
 now first added. With nearly 1,600 Wood- 
 cuts. 2 vols. 8vo. price 60s. 
 
 Vehse.— Memoirs of the Court, 
 
 Aristocracy, and Diplomacy of Austria. By 
 Dr. Vehse. Translated from theGerman 
 by Franz Deramler. 
 
 [In the press. 
 
 Waterton.— Essays on Natural 
 
 History, chiefly Ornitliology. By C . Wa- 
 terton, Esq. With an Autobiography of 
 the Author and Views of Walton Hall. New 
 and cheaper Edition. 2 vols. fcp. 8vo. 10s. 
 
 Separately: Vol. 1. (First Series), 5s. 6rf. 
 Vol. 11. (Second Series), 4s. 6d. 
 
 Alaric Watts's Lyrics of the 
 
 Heart, and other Poems. With 41 highly- 
 finished Line Engravings, executed ex- 
 pressly for the wo'rk by the most eminent 
 Painters and Engravers. Square crown 8vo. 
 price 31s. 6rf. boards, or 4d». bound in mo- 
 rocco; Proof Impressions, 63s. boavds. 
 
 Webster and Parkes's Ency- 
 clopaedia of Domestic Economy; Comprising 
 such subjects as are most immediately 
 connected with Housekeeping; As, The 
 Construction of Domestic Edifices, with 
 the Modes of Warming, Ventilating, and 
 Lighting them— A Description of the vari- 
 ous Articlesof Furniture, with the Nature 
 of their .Materials— Duties ofServants, etc. 
 New Edition; with nearly 1,000 Woodcuts, 
 8vo. price 50s. 
 
24 
 
 NEW WOKKS AND NEW EDITIONS. 
 
 Weld.— A Vacation Tour in the 
 
 United States and Canada. By C.R.Weld, 
 Barrister-at-Lavv. Post 8?o. with Route 
 Map, lOs. Gd. 
 
 West (Dr.) — Lecttires on the 
 
 Diseases of Infancy and Childhood. By 
 Charles West, M.D., Physician to the 
 Hospital for t^ick Children ; Physician- 
 Accoucheur to, and Lecturer on Midwifery 
 at, St. Bartholomew's Hospital. Third 
 Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo. Us. 
 
 Wheeler fH. M.)— A Popular 
 
 Harmony of the Bible, Historically and 
 Chronologically arranged. By Henry M. 
 WuEELER, Author of Hebrew for Adults, 
 etc. Fcp. 8vo. 5^. 
 
 Wheeler.— The Life and Travels 
 
 of Herodotus in the Fifth Century before 
 Christ: an imaginary Biography illustrative 
 of the Ancient History, Manners, Religion, 
 and Social Condition of the Greeks, Scythi- 
 ans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Lydians, Baby- 
 lonians, Persians, and Hebrews, in the 
 Times of Pericles and Nehemiah. By J. 
 Talboys Wheeler, F.R.G.S. 2 vols, post 
 8vo. 
 
 lJust ready. 
 
 Wheeler. — The Geography of 
 
 Herodotus Developed, Explained, and Illus- 
 trated from Modern Researches and Dis- 
 coveries. By J. Talboys Wheeler, 
 F.R.G S. With Maps and Plans. 8vo. 
 price 18*. 
 
 Whitelocke. — Journal of the 
 
 Swedish Embassy in the years 1653 and 
 1654, impartially written by the Ambassa- 
 dor, BoLSTRODB WhiteI/Ocke ; and first 
 published from the original MS. by Dr. C. 
 Morton, F.S.A., Librarian of the British 
 Museum. A New Edition, revised by Henry 
 Reeve, Esq., F.S.A. 2 vols. 8vo. 24*. 
 
 Willich's Popular Tables for 
 
 ascertaining the Value of Lifehold, Lease- 
 hold, and Church Property, Renewal Fines, 
 etc. Third Edition, with additional Tables 
 of Natural or Hyperbolic Logarithms, Tri- 
 gonometry, Astronomy, Geography, etc. 
 Post 8vo. price 9*. 
 
 Lady Willoughby's Diary (1635 
 
 to 1663). Printed, ornamented, and bound 
 in the style of the Period to which The 
 Diary refers. New Edition ; in Two Parts. 
 Square fcp. 8vo. price 8*. each, boards; or, 
 bound in morocco, 18*. each. 
 
 Wilmot's Abridgment of Black- 
 stone's Commentaries on the Laws of Eng- 
 land, intended for the use of Young Per- 
 sons, and comprised in a series of Letters 
 from a Father to his Daughter. A New 
 Edition, corrected and brought down to the 
 Present Day, by Sir John E. Eardley 
 WiLMoT, Bart. 12mo. 6». 6rf. 
 
 Wilson.— Bryologia Britannica: 
 
 Containing the Mosses of Great Britain and 
 Ireland systematically arranged and de- 
 scribed according to the method of Bruch 
 and Schimper; with 61 illustrative Plates, 
 including 25 new ones engraved for the 
 present work. Being a New Edition, with 
 many Additions and Alterations, of the 
 Mmcologia Britannica of Messrs. Hooker 
 and Taylor. By William Wilson, Presi- 
 dent of the Warrington Natural History 
 Society. 8vo. 42s, ; or, with the Plates 
 coloured, £,A. 4». 
 
 Yonge.— A New English-Greek 
 
 Lexicon: Containing all the Greek Words 
 used by Writers of good Authority. By C. 
 D. YoNOE, B.A. Post 4to. price 21*. 
 
 Yonge's New Latin Gradus: 
 
 Containing every Word used by the Poets 
 of good Authority. By Authority and for 
 the Use of Eton, Westminster, Winchester, 
 Harrow, Charterhouse, and Rugby Schools ; 
 King's College, London ; and Marlborough 
 College. Third Edition, carefully revised 
 and corrected, ^ost 8vo, price 9*. 
 
 Youatt.— The Horse. By Wil- 
 
 LiAM Youatt. With a Treatise of Draught. 
 A New Edition; with numerous Wood En- 
 gravings from Designs by William Harvey, 
 (Messrs. Longman and Co.'s Edition should 
 be ordered). 8vo. price 10*. 
 
 Youatt.— The Dog. By William 
 
 Youatt. A New Edition; with numerous 
 Engravings from Designs by William Har- 
 vey. 8vo. 6*. 
 
 Young.— The Christ of History: 
 
 An Argument grounded in the Facts of His 
 Life on Earth. By the Rev. John Young, 
 M.A,, formerly of Albion Chapel, Moor- 
 fields. Post 8vo. 7*, 6d. 
 
 Zumpt's Larger Grammar of 
 
 the Latin Language. Translated and adapted 
 for the use of the English Students, by Dr. 
 L. ScHMiTZ, F.R.S.E., Rector of the High 
 School of Edinburgh : With numerous Ad- 
 ditions and Corrections by the Author and 
 Translator. Fourth Edition, thoroughly 
 revised. 8vo, price 14*. 
 
 [September, 1855. 
 
 liondun: rrintetl by M. Mason, Ivy Lane, Faternoeter Bow.