Pascal's Pensées
All the glory of greatness has no lustre for people who are in search of
understanding.
The greatness of clever men is invisible to kings, to the rich, to
chiefs, and to all the worldly great.
The greatness of wisdom, which is nothing if not of God, is invisible to
the carnal-minded and to the clever. These are three orders differing in
kind.
Great geniuses have their power, their glory, their greatness, their
victory, their lustre, and have no need of worldly greatness, with which
they are not in keeping. They are seen, not by the eye, but by the mind;
this is sufficient.
The saints have their power, their glory, their victory, their lustre,
and need no worldly or intellectual greatness, with which they have no
affinity; for these neither add anything to them, nor take away anything
from them. They are seen of God and the angels, and not of the body, nor
of the curious mind. God is enough for them.
Archimedes,[316] apart from his rank, would have the same veneration. He
fought no battles for the eyes to feast upon; but he has given his
discoveries to all men. Oh! how brilliant he was to the mind!
Jesus Christ, without riches, and without any external exhibition of
knowledge, is in His own order of holiness. He did not invent; He did
not reign. But He was humble, patient, holy, holy to God, terrible to
devils, without any sin. Oh! in what great pomp, and in what wonderful
splendour, He is come to the eyes of the heart, which perceive wisdom!
It would have been useless for Archimedes to have acted the prince in
his books on geometry, although he was a prince.
It would have been useless for our Lord Jesus Christ to come like a
king, in order to shine forth in His kingdom of holiness. But He came
there appropriately in the glory of His own order.
It is most absurd to take offence at the lowliness of Jesus Christ, as
if His lowliness were in the same order as the greatness which He came
to manifest. If we consider this greatness in His life, in His passion,
in His obscurity, in His death, in the choice of His disciples, in their
desertion, in His secret resurrection, and the rest, we shall see it to
be so immense, that we shall have no reason for being offended at a
lowliness which is not of that order.
But there are some who can only admire worldly greatness, as though
there were no intellectual greatness; and others who only admire
intellectual greatness, as though there were not infinitely higher
things in wisdom.
All bodies, the firmament, the stars, the earth and its kingdoms, are
not equal to the lowest mind; for mind knows all these and itself; and
these bodies nothing.
All bodies together, and all minds together, and all their products, are
not equal to the least feeling of charity. This is of an order
infinitely more exalted.
From all bodies together, we cannot obtain one little thought; this is
impossible, and of another order. From all bodies and minds, we cannot
produce a feeling of true charity; this is impossible, and of another
and supernatural order.
793
Why did Jesus Christ not come in a visible manner, instead of obtaining
testimony of Himself from preceding prophecies? Why did He cause Himself
to be foretold in types?
794
If Jesus Christ had only come to sanctify, all Scripture and all things
would tend to that end; and it would be quite easy to convince
unbelievers. If Jesus Christ had only come to blind, all His conduct
would be confused; and we would have no means of convincing unbelievers.
But as He came _in sanctificationem et in scandalum_,[317] as Isaiah
says, we cannot convince unbelievers, and they cannot convince us. But
by this very fact we convince them; since we say that in His whole
conduct there is no convincing proof on one side or the other.
795
Jesus Christ does not say that He is not of Nazareth, in order to leave
the wicked in their blindness; nor that He is not Joseph's son.
796
_Proofs of Jesus Christ._--Jesus Christ said great things so simply,
that it seems as though He had not thought them great; and yet so
clearly that we easily see what He thought of them. This clearness,
joined to this simplicity, is wonderful.
797
The style of the gospel is admirable in so many ways, and among the rest
in hurling no invectives against the persecutors and enemies of Jesus
Christ. For there is no such invective in any of the historians against
Judas, Pilate, or any of the Jews.
If this moderation of the writers of the Gospels had been assumed, as
well as many other traits of so beautiful a character, and they had only
assumed it to attract notice, even if they had not dared to draw
attention to it themselves, they would not have failed to secure
friends, who would have made such remarks to their advantage. But as
they acted thus without pretence, and from wholly disinterested motives,
they did not point it out to any one; and I believe that many such facts
have not been noticed till now, which is evidence of the natural
disinterestedness with which the thing has been done.
798
An artisan who speaks of wealth, a lawyer who speaks of war, of royalty,
etc.; but the rich man rightly speaks of wealth, a king speaks
indifferently of a great gift he has just made, and God rightly speaks
of God.
799
Who has taught the evangelists the qualities of a perfectly heroic soul,
that they paint it so perfectly in Jesus Christ? Why do they make Him
weak in His agony? Do they not know how to paint a resolute death? Yes,
for the same Saint Luke paints the death of Saint Stephen as braver than
that of Jesus Christ.
They make Him therefore capable of fear, before the necessity of dying
has come, and then altogether brave.
But when they make Him so troubled, it is when He afflicts Himself; and
when men afflict Him, He is altogether strong.
800
_Proof of Jesus Christ._--The supposition that the apostles were
impostors is very absurd. Let us think it out. Let us imagine those
twelve men, assembled after the death of Jesus Christ, plotting to say
that He was risen. By this they attack all the powers. The heart of man
is strangely inclined to fickleness, to change, to promises, to gain.
However little any of them might have been led astray by all these
attractions, nay more, by the fear of prisons, tortures, and death, they
were lost. Let us follow up this thought.
801
The apostles were either deceived or deceivers. Either supposition has
difficulties; for it is not possible to mistake a man raised from the
dead ...
While Jesus Christ was with them, He could sustain them. But, after
that, if He did not appear to them, who inspired them to act?
SECTION XIII
THE MIRACLES
802
_The beginning._--Miracles enable us to judge of doctrine, and doctrine
enables us to judge of miracles.
There are false miracles and true. There must be a distinction, in order
to know them; otherwise they would be useless. Now they are not useless;
on the contrary, they are fundamental. Now the rule which is given to us
must be such, that it does not destroy the proof which the true miracles
give of the truth, which is the chief end of the miracles.
Moses has given two rules: that the prediction does not come to pass
(Deut. xviii), and that they do not lead to idolatry (Deut. xiii); and
Jesus Christ[318] one.
If doctrine regulates miracles, miracles are useless for doctrine.
If miracles regulate....
_Objection to the rule._--The distinction of the times. One rule during
the time of Moses, another at present.
803
_Miracle._--It is an effect, which exceeds the natural power of the
means which are employed for it; and what is not a miracle is an effect,
which does not exceed the natural power of the means which are employed
for it. Thus, those who heal by invocation of the devil do not work a
miracle; for that does not exceed the natural power of the devil.
But ...
804
The two fundamentals; one inward, the other outward; grace and miracles;
both supernatural.
805
Miracles and truth are necessary, because it is necessary to convince
the entire man, in body and soul.
806
In all times, either men have spoken of the true God, or the true God
has spoken to men.
807
Jesus Christ has verified that He was the Messiah, never in verifying
His doctrine by Scripture and the prophecies, but always by His
miracles.
He proves by a miracle that He remits sins.
Rejoice not in your miracles, said Jesus Christ, but because your names
are written in heaven.[319]
If they believe not Moses, neither will they believe one risen from the
dead.
Nicodemus recognises by His miracles that His teaching is of God.
_Scimus quia venisti a Deo magister; nemo enim potest hæc signa facere
quæ tu facis nisi Deus fuerit cum eo._[320] He does not judge of the
miracles by the teaching, but of the teaching by the miracles.
The Jews had a doctrine of God as we have one of Jesus Christ, and
confirmed by miracles. They were forbidden to believe every worker of
miracles; and they were further commanded to have recourse to the chief
priests, and to rely on them.
And thus, in regard to their prophets, they had all those reasons which
we have for refusing to believe the workers of miracles.
And yet they were very sinful in rejecting the prophets, and Jesus
Christ, because of their miracles; and they would not have been
culpable, if they had not seen the miracles. _Nisi fecissem ... peccatum
non haberent._[321] Therefore all belief rests upon miracles.
Prophecy is not called miracle; as Saint John speaks of the first
miracle in Cana, and then of what Jesus Christ says to the woman of
Samaria, when He reveals to her all her hidden life. Then He heals the
centurion's son; and Saint John calls this "the second miracle."[322]
808
The combinations of miracles.
809
The second miracle can suppose the first, but the first cannot suppose
the second.
810
Had it not been for the miracles, there would have been no sin in not
believing in Jesus Christ.
811
I should not be a Christian, but for the miracles, said Saint Augustine.
812
_Miracles._--How I hate those who make men doubt of miracles!
Montaigne[323] speaks of them as he should in two places. In one, we see
how careful he is; and yet, in the other, he believes, and makes sport
of unbelievers.
However it may be, the Church is without proofs if they are right.
813
Montaigne against miracles.
Montaigne for miracles.
814
It is not possible to have a reasonable belief against miracles.
815
Unbelievers the most credulous. They believe the miracles of Vespasian,
in order not to believe those of Moses.
816
_Title: How it happens that men believe so many liars, who say that they
have seen miracles, and do not believe any of those who say that they
have secrets to make men immortal, or restore youth to them._--Having
considered how it happens that so great credence is given to so many
impostors, who say they have remedies, often to the length of men
putting their lives into their hands, it has appeared to me that the
true cause is that there are true remedies. For it would not be possible
that there should be so many false remedies, and that so much faith
should be placed in them, if there were none true. If there had never
been any remedy for any ill, and all ills had been incurable, it is
impossible that men should have imagined that they could give remedies,
and still more impossible that so many others should have believed those
who boasted of having remedies; in the same way as did a man boast of
preventing death, no one would believe him, because there is no example
of this. But as there were a number of remedies found to be true by the