Part 26
P. 275, l. 14. _accused of many crimes._ Athanasius was accused of rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by the Councils of Tyre, A.D. 335, of Arles, A.D. 353, and of Milan A.D. 355. Pope Liberius, after having long refused to ratify the condemnation, was said to have finally done so A.D. 357. But this is disputed by recent authorities. For Athanasius we are of course here to read Jansenius and Arnauld; for Saint Theresa, la mère Angélique or la mère Agnès; for Liberius, Clement IX.
P. 275, l. 33. _Antonio Escobar y Mendoza._ The Spanish Jesuit whose system of morals was so severely handled by Pascal in the _Provincial Letters_. He is among those whose names have given rise to a word: "_escobarderie_" is a synonym for equivocation.
P. 276, l. 6. _Molina_, Louis, a Spanish Jesuit, born 1535, died 1601. The Jansenists accused his Commentary on the Summa of Saint Thomas Aquinas of favouring a lax morality.
P. 277, l. 4. _Mohatra._ "The contract Mohatra, by which a man buys cloth at a dear rate and on credit, to re-sell it at once to the same person cheaply for ready money." Eighth _Provincial_.
P. 278, l. 21. _Est and non est._
P. 278, l. 26. _Væ qui conditis leges iniquas._ Is. x. 1. But the Vulgate reads _Væ qui condunt_.
P. 279, l. 22. _M. de Condran._ No doubt Charles de Condren, 1588-1641, doctor of the Sorbonne, and second General of the French Oratory, a society of priests founded by Cardinal de Bérulle at Paris in 1611.
P. 280, l. 7. _Sanctificavi prælium._ Mic. iii. 5.
P. 280, l. 12. _Ne convertantur._ Is. vi. 10.
P. 282, l. 21. _Coacervabunt tibi magistras._ 2 ad Tim. iv. 3, where the Vulgate has "_sibi_."
P. 282, l. 28. _not to make appointments to bishoprics._ But a few years after this Fathers La Chaise and Le Tellier, as Confessors to the King, had this power in their hands.
P. 282, l. 31. _Father Brisacier_, born 1603, a Jesuit, and a warm opponent of Jansenism. He wrote _Le Jansénisme confondu_, and several minor works. He is constantly quoted in the _Provincial Letters_.
P. 283, l. 1. _Venice._ The Jesuits had just returned to Venice in 1657, having been expelled thence in 1606.
P. 283, l. 22. _Amice, ad quid venisti._ Matt. xxvi. 50.
P. 283, l. 24. _probability_, or, technically, probabilism. Probabilism teaches that it is permissible to act on an opinion which is less probable than the opinion opposed to it so long as there is a solid ground for regarding it as probable _in itself_. Thus, if out of three moral theologians of recognised authority, two give it as their opinion that a certain course of conduct is unlawful, while the third asserts it to be lawful, probabilism permits the adoption in practice of the third opinion in opposition to the other two. A confessor would therefore have no right to forbid it under pain of sin.
P. 284, l. 12. _Dii estis._ Ps. lxxxii. 6.
P. 284, l. 13. _If my Letters are condemned at Rome._ The _Provincial Letters_ were condemned at Rome, Sept. 6, 1657.
P. 285, l. 22. _imago._ An allusion to the famous panegyric on the Jesuits called, "_Imago primi sæculi_." See Fifth _Provincial_.
P. 285, l. 36. _Si non fecissem quæ alius non fecit._ Jon. xv. 24.
P. 286, l. 31. _These nuns._ The nuns of Port Royal were called upon to sign the Formula which declared that the Five Propositions were _in Jansenius_.
P. 287, l. 4. _Vide si via iniquitatis in me est._ Ps. cxxxix. 24.
P. 287, l. 15. _they are so no longer_, i.e. since the miracle.
P. 288, l. 18. _Vos autem non sic._ Luc. xxii. 26.
P. 289, l. 28. _Annat_, 1590-1670, a Jesuit priest, Provincial of the Order, and Confessor to Louis XIV., 1654-1670. He wrote the well-known book, _Le Rabat-joie des Jansénistes_, 1666, and to him were addressed Pascal's Seventeenth and Eighteenth _Provincials_.
P. 290, l. 9. _Montalte._ Louis de Montalte was the pseudonym adopted by Pascal as the writer of the _Provincial Letters_.
P. 290, l. 26. _A fructibus eorum._ Matt. vii. 16.
P. 291, l. 6. _Lessius_, Leonard, a Jesuit born at Brecht, near Antwerp, 1554, died 1623, a pupil of Suarez. He was censured by the Faculty of Louvain in 1584. He wrote, among others, a treatise, _De licito usu æquivocationum et mentalium restrictionum_.
P. 291, l. 9. _Bauny._ Pascal in his Eighth _Provincial_ quotes an opinion of Father Bauny on the question of restitution to be made by one who has caused the burning of his neighbour's barn.
P. 291, l. 10. _quam primum._ A reference to the rule that if a priest personally disqualified from saying Mass on account of any mortal sin is yet obliged to do so for the sake of his parishioners, it is sufficient that he make an act of contrition, and as soon as possible "_quam primum_" seek the Sacrament of Penance.
P. 292, l. 18. _State super vias._ A partial quotation from Jer. vi. 16.
P. 293, l. 20. _Vince in bono malum._ Ad Rom. xii. 21.
P. 297, l. 5. _Bibite ex hoc omnes._ Matt xvii. 27.
P. 297, l. 7. _In quo omnes peccaverunt._ Ad Rom. v. 12.
P. 298, l. 10. _Ne timeas, pusillus grex._ Luc. xii. 32.
P. 298, l. 13. _Qui me recipit._ Matt. x. 40.
P. 298, l. 14. _Nemo scit neque Filius._ Luc. x. 22.
P. 298, l. 15. _Nemo lucida obumbravit._ Matt. xvii. v.
P. 303, l. 6. _plus poetice quam humane locutus es._ Petronius, c. 90, where the words have not the turn that Pascal here gives them.
P. 304, l. 2. _The part that I take in your sorrow._ The Chevalier de Méré, in his _Discours de la Conversation_, says, that he had been witness to a bet, that on opening a letter of condolence the set phrase condemned above would occur, and that the lady to whom the letter was addressed could not help laughing in spite of her distress. Pascal's note is against writing mere formal phrases which can thus be easily guessed. The Cardinal is Mazarin.
P. 304, l. 9. _M. le M._ Le Maistre, Antoine, 1608-1658. The allusion is to _Les Plaidoyers et Harangues_ de M. le Maistre, Paris, 1657. On the first page of Plaidoyer VI., _Pour un fils mis en religion par force_, we find "_Dieu qui répand des aveuglements et des ténèbres sur les passions illégitimes_," and Pascal probably refers to this passage as one in which the word _répandre_ could not be replaced by _verser_.
P. 305, l. 23. _I judge by my watch._ Mlle. Perier says, that Pascal always wore a watch attached to his left wrist-band.
P. 309, l. 27. _An example may be taken from the circulation of the blood._ Apparently taken from Descartes, _Discours de la Méthode_, pt. v., in which Descartes speaks of Harvey's discovery.
P. 309, l. 33. _M. de Roannez._ Gouffier, Duc de Roannez, was a friend of Pascal, some seven or eight years younger than he. He was a devoted adherent of Port Royal, and died unmarried.
P. 312, l. 23. _Salomon de Tultie._ An anagram for Louis de Montalte, see p. 290, l. 9.
P. 313, l. 11. _The story of the pike and frog._ This story has hitherto escaped research.
P. 313, l. 17. _conatus recedendi._ Centrifugal force.
P. 316, l. 3. _When a strong man armed._ Luke xi. 21.
_INDEX._
_INDEX._
Abel and Cain, 267
Abraham, 197
---- stones can become the children of, 137
---- promises made to, 169
---- foretold the coming of the Messiah, 213
---- above revelation, 261
Absolutions without signs of regret, 294, 295
Academicians, 110, 184
Action, we must look beyond the, at our past, 315
Actions, virtuous, all crimes have found place among, 61
Acuteness, loss of, 100
Adam, 126
---- witness of the Messiah, 169, 174
---- his glorious state, 193
---- tradition from, 201
---- the first and the second, 231
Admiration spoils everything, 58
Advent of Jesus Christ, 133
Advents, the two, characters of each of them, 132
Agamemnon, 173
Age, its influence on judgment, 27
Agitation, in seeking repose we are only seeking, 34
Agony of Jesus Christ, 231
---- ---- lasts even to the end of the world, 231
Alexander, compared to Cæsar, 41
---- his chastity, 74
---- and his successors, foretold by Daniel, 144
---- working unconsciously for the Gospel, 147
---- Jaddus and, 227
Amos, translation of a passage in, 155
Ananias, 271
Animals, mind and instinct of, 313
Annat, Father, 289
Antichrist, his miracles foretold by Jesus Christ, 259
---- he will speak openly against God, 263
---- conclusions we may draw from his miracles, 267
Apocalyptics, the, 166
Apostles, their miracles, 119
---- foresaw heresies, 128
---- gave us the key to interpretation of the Old Testament, 159
---- hypotheses that they were deceived or deceivers, 223
---- and Exorcists, 267
Apple, the golden, 173
Archesilas, the sceptic, 63
Archimedes, his greatness, 228
Arians, their doctrine, 274
Aristotle, 78
Arius, the miracles of his time, 267
Artisan, an, who dreams, 109
Astrology, folly of, 75
Atheism, often produced by a false knowledge of the world's judgment, 7
---- mark of force of mind only to a certain degree, 111
Atheists, carelessness of, monstrous, 4
---- two kinds of, 4
---- their reasoning, 5
---- are despicable, 8
---- feelings they should inspire in true Christians, 8, 12
---- ought to say things perfectly clear, 111
---- their objections against the Resurrection, 223
---- to pity and revile, 253
Athens, 120
Atom, man is but an, 5
Augustin, Saint, quoted, 80, 160
---- what he says of miracles, 261
---- authority of his opinion, 296
Augustus compared to Julius Cæsar, 41
---- what he said on hearing of the Massacre of the Innocents, 221
Authors, their vanity misplaced, 315
---- how to understand the meaning of, 167
Babylon, carrying away into, 122
---- the rivers of, 243
Babylonians, the, 127
Barcoseba, 221
Barjesus, 264
Barreaux, Des, 113
Bauny, Father, quoted, 291
Beatitude, the eighth, 252
Beauty, to love on account of, is not love, 80
---- certain kind of, which suits our nature, 301
---- poetical, what is meant by this, 304
Belief, three means of, 251
---- labour to come to, 99
---- what should be the rule of, 308
Benedictines, the, 282
Bible, the most ancient book, 120
Birth an advantage, 71
Blame and praise, 58
Blood, circulation of the, taken as an example, 309
Bodily functions, 31
Body, relation of, to its members, 237
Bourseys, M., 280
Brave deeds, which are the most estimable, 58
Brisacier, Father, 282
Brutes, no admiration for each other, 58
Cabala, proofs of Jesus Christ by the, 157
Cæsar, Julius, 147
---- compared to Augustus and Alexander, 41
Calvin, 266
Calvinists, their errors, 298
Canonical books, proved by the heretical, 289
Carnal, those who are, 242
Carthusian compared to a soldier, 74
Casuists, the faithful cannot reasonably follow their maxims, 277
---- cannot assure an erring conscience, 293
---- with reference to the reason and the will, 293
---- allow free action to lust, 293
---- their doctrines, 295
Catholics and heretics, 267
Celsus, 116, 214
Champaign, taken as a comparison, 32
Chancellor, taken as an example, 55
Chances, doctrine of, 80, 98
Characters, Christian and human, 245
Charity and lust, 128
---- sole aim of the Scripture, 170
---- is not a figurative precept, 170
---- supernatural distance of mind from, 227
---- its superiority to minds and bodies, 228
---- truth without, is but the image of God, 250
Charron, estimate of his work, 17
Children frightened at the face they have daubed, 57
China, 299
---- thoughts on, 115
---- history of, 117
---- religion of, 119
Chinese, their histories, 173
Choice, that we must make a, between belief and unbelief, reasons for each alternative, 98
Christ, contradictory predictions concerning, 136
---- promised and awaited from the beginning of the world, 197
---- came in the fulness of time, 197
Christianity, in what it consists, 250
---- changes wrought at its coming, 134
---- elevates and abases man, 187
Christians astonish philosophers, 43
---- true, 71
---- are the free children of God, 122
---- should look on themselves as members of a body, 237
---- how the example of the martyrs touches a true, 238
---- two kinds of, 242
---- there are few true, 243
---- their hopes are mingled with enjoyment and fear, 246
---- happiness and virtues of true, 247
---- should unite themselves to Jesus Christ in order not to be hateful to God, 247
---- true, submit to folly, 247
---- why they believe without having read the Gospels, 248
---- who believe without proofs cannot persuade an infidel, though persuaded themselves, 249
Church, true justice found in the, 67
---- prefigured by the Synagogue, 176
---- dangers it has run, 198
---- the, when persecuted is like a vessel beaten about by a storm, 211
---- that is a good state of the, in which it is upheld by God alone, 241
---- her miracles against her enemies, 266
---- ancient and modern, influence of tradition, 274
---- comparison of what took place in ancient, and now, 275
---- defended by God against corruption, 277
---- unity and plurality of the, power of the Pope, 287
---- judges of men by outward actions, 294
---- power of the, in confession, compared to that of parliament, 294
---- teaches, but God inspires, 294
---- discipline of the, needs reform, 295
Cicero, false beauties we admire in, 302
---- quoted, 110
Circumcision only a sign, 175
Clearness, why religion does not possess it, 3
Cleobuline, a character in a romance, 32
Cleopatra, the nose of, 60
Communing, secret, of man with himself, 46
Compliments, dislike of, 315
Composition of a work, 302
Concupiscence, source of all our movements, 81
Condition, our desires paint for us a happy, 74
Condran, M. de, his opinions, 279
Condrieu, the grapes of, 32
Confession, auricular, defence of, 85
---- joy and confidence felt after, 252
Confessors of the great, 29
Conscience, evil done sometimes by, 279
Contradiction in man, 44, 60, 181
---- does not prove that a thing is false, 210
---- apparent, in Scripture, examples, 168
---- between different passages of Scripture, 220
Contrition is necessary in penitence, absolution not enough, 295
Conversion, in what it consists, 245
Copernicus, 101
Corneille, quoted, 245
Corruption of nature, one of the establishments of the Christian religion, 6
---- of man, proved by the wicked and the Jews, 191
---- those in, should know it, 255
Covenant, foretold by Daniel, 144
---- announced by Scripture, 168
Craft, when power attacks it, 69
Creatures, we should not attach ourselves to them, 240
Cripples do not irritate us, 45
Cromwell, reflections on his death, 76
Cross, by it alone can we be saved, 187
Curiosity is mere frivolity, 60
Custom, a power, 69
---- belief arising from, 77
---- how established, may be upset, 62
---- the creator of, 62
---- a second nature which destroys the former, 64
---- must be followed, 64
---- is our nature, 65
---- sways the automaton, which draws the intellect after, 77
---- how useful to accustom us to truth, 77
---- leads to a choice of occupation, 78
Cypher, types are a, with a double sense, 158
---- of the Scripture as given us by Saint Paul, 176
Cyrus, 128, 147, 151
Damned, the, condemned by their own reason, 296
Dancing, why pursued, 35
Daniel, the seventy weeks of, their calculation, 133, 143
---- the little stone of, 136
---- explanation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar in, 141
---- vision of the ram and he-goat in, 142
---- his prophecy, 171
Darius, King of the Persians, 144
David, a single phrase of, 122
---- the kingdom of his race foretold by all the prophets, 132
---- witness of Christ, 140
---- foretold the Messiah, 170
Death, to be dreaded by those who are careless of religion, 5
---- Montaigne's opinions on, 17
---- fear of, 29
---- the thought of, is harder to bear than death itself, 38
---- feared Death, 232
Degrees, why there are different, among men, 56
Deism, almost as far removed from Christianity as atheism, 204
Deluge is a miracle, 169
Democritus, quoted, 21
Demonstration, not the only means of persuasion, 79
Demonstrations, not certain that there are true, 110
_De omni scibili_, title of a thesis of Pico della Mirandola, 22
Desargues, the grapes of, 32
Descartes useless and uncertain, 304
---- criticism of his opinions on the machine, 312
Despair, knowledge of our wretchedness without that of God creates, 93
Devoutness, different to goodness, 279
Devil, the, troubled the zeal of the Jews, 122
---- what is done by invocation of, no miracle, 257
---- Jesus Christ destroyed the empire of the, over the heart, 269
Dialogues, the arrangement by, 253
Disciples and true disciples, difference between, 244
Discourse, natural, inclined to love him who makes a, 302
Discourses on humility, 76
Disease, source of error in man, 54
Disesteem, the fear we have of, of others, 44
Disproportion of man, 19
Disputes, ended by miracles, 267
Diversion, 33
---- is all that men can do for happiness, 34
---- why men seek it, 34
---- is the greatest of our miseries, 38
---- the search for, proves that men are not happy, 38
---- what is meant by, 255
Diversity, root of, 67
---- and uniformity, 283
Divinity, proof of, by works of nature, 91
Docility, too much, is a vice as natural as unbelief, 243
Doctor, the, a character in the drama, 31
Doctrine, a test of miracles, 257
---- a false, cannot be proved by miracles, 264
Doctrines, a multitude of, 138
Dogmatists, their opinion on natural principles, 106
Donatists, have no miracles, 261
Doubt in religion is a great evil, 5
Drama, life treated as a, 75
Dream, life compared to a, 109
Duties, divers, owed to divers merits, 68
Eclipses, why it is said they presage misfortune, 75
Egyptians, their religion, 119
---- mean iniquities in the Bible, 171
---- their histories, 173
---- their conversion foretold by Isaiah, 175
Elect, all things work together for good to the, 129
Elijah and the false prophets, 267
Eloquence, continuous, wearies, 39
---- definition of, to be eloquent we must study the heart of man, 301
---- is painted thought, 301
---- there are those who speak well and write ill, 303
Enemies, what must be understood by this word in the prophecies, 164, 170
England, King of, 75
Enquirers and the wise, 242
Epaminondas as an example of valour and humanity, 30
Epictetus, 72, 226
---- his method of writing, 312
Epicureans, 92
Epigrams, a maker of, 81
Equality of goods is just, 67
Error, common, sometimes useful to calm the curiosity of man, 312
Escobar, 275, 280
Esdras, the story in, 126
---- discussion on the book of, 126
Establishment, greatness of, 79
Eucharist, the, 165
---- a type of glory, 170
---- folly of not believing in the, reason, 224
---- wholly the body of Jesus Christ, 299
Eusebius, quoted on Esdras, 127
Evangelists painted in Jesus Christ an heroic soul, 222
Evidence for God, not in nature, 92
Evil is easy, 59
Examples, those which are taken as proof are often more difficult than what they are meant to prove, 308
Exception, troublesome to be an, to the rule, 271
Excuses sometimes bad, 315
Exorcists, Jewish, beaten by devils, 264
Experience, 26
Expressions, false and tyrannical, examples of, 68
Ezekiel, spoke evil of Israel, like the heathens, 289
Faith, habit of, 65
---- man without, cannot know the true good or justice, 95
---- that we must give up pleasure in order to gain, 100
---- wherein it consists, 193, 280
---- is not in our power, 249
---- is a gift of God, 250
---- above the senses, but not contrary to them, 250
---- received at baptism source of the whole life of the Christian, 250
---- embraces contradictory truths, why, 273
---- Pascal's profession of, 235
Falsehood, man is only, duplicity, and contradiction, 76
Fancy, called feeling by some, 309
Fascination, 101, 165
Faults, we should recognise them, 85
Fear, to, and not to fear, 298
---- a true, is born of faith, 252
---- false, comes from doubt, 252
Feeble souls, 289
Figurative, that the Jewish law was, 167
Finite, the, annihilated in presence of the infinite, 96
Flattery, consequent on our desire not to know the truth, 86
Fly, enough to render man incapable of sound judgment, 27
Fool, a man believes he is a, by dint of telling him so, 46
Forms, their value, 280
Foundation, supernatural of our, 286
---- of our faith, 115
France, 56
Francis Xavier, Saint, 278
Frenchman, the, 80
Friend, important to have a true, and to choose him well, 315
Friendship only exists by concealment of truth, 86
Frivolity of the world, little known, 41
Fronde, injustice of the, 67
Fundamentals, chapter on, 255
Future, our thoughts occupied with the, 73
Galilee, the word, pronounced by chance, caused the accomplishment of a mystery, 218
Genealogies, the two, of Jesus Christ, 125
Genealogy of Jesus Christ in Old Testament designedly mixed with others, 220
Gentiles, their conversion foretold by Jesus Christ, 136, 214
---- prophecy of Isaiah on conversion of, 147, 148
---- conversion of the, reserved for the grace of the Messiah, 218
Gentlemen, we never teach men to be, 78
---- universal quality to be, 79
Germans, the, 61
Glory, the search after, is a mark of the vileness and excellence of man, 44
---- sweetness of, 59
God, a, who hideth himself, 3
---- the greatest sensible mark of the power of, 19
---- unites in himself two infinites, 22
---- in, alone is our happiness, 39
---- the, of the Christians, who he is, 92
---- dangers which those run who seek, apart from Jesus Christ, 93
---- of Christians the only good, the only rest of the soul is in him, 93
---- we may well know, without knowing what he is, 97
---- that there is less risk in wagering that there is a, than that there is not, 98
---- man without, is in ignorance and misery, 104
---- of the philosophers, 111
---- man of himself cannot come to, 114
---- alone is master of the Jews, 122
---- foresaw heresies, 128
---- sometimes spoke by figures, 160
---- the power of, shown by his conduct to Jewish people, 161
---- idea of, that the true religion, should present, 179
---- the Christian religion commands that we should love and follow, 182
---- that in spite of our vileness it is not incredible that, should unite himself to us, 185
---- reveals himself to, and hides himself from man, 193
---- infinite, without parts, 205
---- if, is the end he is the beginning, 206
---- why, was hidden in his first advent, 207
---- that, willed to hide himself, and that the religion which says so is true, 208
---- chooses rather to sway the will than the intellect, 208
---- why, has permitted many religions to exist, 212
---- impossible and useless to know, without Jesus Christ, 226
---- speaks rightly of God, 227
---- we must love, only, 238
---- we should spend our life either in pleasing or in seeking, 240
---- exercises at once his mercy and his judgment to the world, 241
---- has come to bring war among men, 246
---- what is pleasing to, is usually displeasing to man, 246
---- forbids some things implicitly, and not explicitly, 247
---- can alone give faith to Christians, 249
---- knowledge and love of, 252
---- cannot lead men into error by miracles, 263
---- cannot favour a doctrine which destroys the Church, 269
---- foretold the disorders which the Church would undergo, 278
---- heals those who know him, 280
---- no sign ever given by Devil without a stronger sign on the part of, 286
---- the heart is conscious of, not the reason, 307
Good, almost unique, 59
---- philosophers do not know what is the true, 181
---- and evil, meaning of the words, 192
Good birth, its advantages, 68
Good breeding, 271
Good sense, argument against scepticism, 110
Gospel, prophecies cited in the, their use, 133
---- the kings of old worked unconsciously for the glory of the, 147
---- figures of the, their application, 160
---- all the, has reference to Jesus Christ, 226
Grace, its action on man, 108