Pascal's Pensees Part 71

Take away _probability_, and you can no longer please the world; give _probability_, and you can no longer displease it.

918

These are the effects of the sins of the peoples and of the Jesuits. The great have wished to be flattered. The Jesuits have wished to be loved by the great. They have all been worthy to be abandoned to the spirit of lying, the one party to deceive, the others to be deceived. They have been avaricious, ambitious, voluptuous. _Coacervabunt tibi magistros._[377] Worthy disciples of such masters, they have sought flatterers, and have found them.

919

If they do not renounce their doctrine of probability, their good maxims are as little holy as the bad, for they are founded on human authority; and thus, if they are more just, they will be more reasonable, but not more holy. They take after the wild stem on which they are grafted.

If what I say does not serve to enlighten you, it will be of use to the people.

If these[378] are silent, the stones will speak.

Silence is the greatest persecution; the saints were never silent. It is true that a call is necessary; but it is not from the decrees of the Council that we must learn whether we are called, it is from the necessity of speaking. Now, after Rome has spoken, and we think that she has condemned the truth, and that they have written it, and after the books which have said the contrary are censured; we must cry out so much the louder, the more unjustly we are censured, and the more violently they would stifle speech, until there come a Pope who hears both parties, and who consults antiquity to do justice. So the good Popes will find the Church still in outcry.

The Inquisition and the Society[379] are the two scourges of the truth.

Why do you not accuse them of Arianism? For, though they have said that Jesus Christ is G.o.d, perhaps they mean by it not the natural interpretation, but as it is said, _Dii estis_.

If my Letters are condemned at Rome, that which I condemn in them is condemned in heaven. _Ad tuum, Domine Jesu, tribunal appello._

You yourselves are corruptible.

I feared that I had written ill, seeing myself condemned; but the example of so many pious writings makes me believe the contrary. It is no longer allowable to write well, so corrupt or ignorant is the Inquisition!

"It is better to obey G.o.d than men."

I fear nothing; I hope for nothing. It is not so with the bishops.

Port-Royal fears, and it is bad policy to disperse them; for they will fear no longer and will cause greater fear. I do not even fear your like censures, if they are not founded on those of tradition. Do you censure all? What! even my respect? No. Say then what, or you will do nothing, if you do not point out the evil, and why it is evil. And this is what they will have great difficulty in doing.

_Probability._--They have given a ridiculous explanation of cert.i.tude; for, after having established that all their ways are sure, they have no longer called that sure which leads to heaven without danger of not arriving there by it, but that which leads there without danger of going out of that road.

920

... The saints indulge in subtleties in order to think themselves criminals, and impeach their better actions. And these indulge in subtleties in order to excuse the most wicked.

The heathen sages erected a structure equally fine outside, but upon a bad foundation; and the devil deceived men by this apparent resemblance based upon the most different foundation.

Man never had so good a cause as I; and others have never furnished so good a capture as you....

The more they point out weakness in my person, the more they authorise my cause.

You say that I am a heretic. Is that lawful? And if you do not fear that men do justice, do you not fear that G.o.d does justice?

You will feel the force of the truth, and you will yield to it ...

There is something supernatural in such a blindness. _Digna necessitas.[380] Mentiris impudentissime_ ...

_Doctrina sua noscitur vir_ ...

False piety, a double sin.

I am alone against thirty thousand. No. Protect, you, the court; protect, you, deception; let me protect the truth. It is all my strength. If I lose it, I am undone. I shall not lack accusations, and persecutions. But I possess the truth, and we shall see who will take it away.

I do not need to defend religion, but you do not need to defend error and injustice. Let G.o.d, out of His compa.s.sion, having no regard to the evil which is in me, and having regard to the good which is in you, grant us all grace that truth may not be overcome in my hands, and that falsehood ...

921

_Probable._--Let us see if we seek G.o.d sincerely, by comparison of the things which we love. It is _probable_ that this food will not poison me. It is _probable_ that I shall not lose my action by not prosecuting it ...

922

It is not absolution only which remits sins by the sacrament of penance, but contrition, which is not real if it does not seek the sacrament.

923

People who do not keep their word, without faith, without honour, without truth, deceitful in heart, deceitful in speech; for which that amphibious animal in fable was once reproached, which held itself in a doubtful position between the fish and the birds ...

It is important to kings and princes to be considered pious; and therefore they must confess themselves to you.

NOTES

The following brief notes are mainly based on those of M. Brunschvicg.

But those of MM. Faugere, Molinier, and Havet have also been consulted.

The biblical references are to the Authorised English Version. Those in the text are to the Vulgate, except where it has seemed advisable to alter the reference to the English Version.

[1] P. 1, l. 1. _The difference between the mathematical and the intuitive mind._--Pascal is here distinguishing the logical or discursive type of mind, a good example of which is found in mathematical reasoning, and what we should call the intuitive type of mind, which sees everything at a glance. A practical man of sound judgment exemplifies the latter; for he is in fact guided by impressions of past experience, and does not consciously reason from general principles.

[2] P. 2, l. 34. _There are different kinds_, etc.--This is probably a subdivision of the discursive type of mind.

[3] P. 3, l. 31. _By rule._--This is an emendation by M. Brunschvicg.

The MS. has _sans regle_.

[4] P. 4, l. 3. _I judge by my watch._--Pascal is said to have always carried a watch attached to his left wrist-band.

[5] P. 5, l. 21. _Scaramouch._--A traditional character in Italian comedy.