Pascal's Pensées
[312] P. 232, l. 2. _Lambs took not_, etc.--See John i, 29.
[313] P. 232, l. 4. _Moses._--Ibid., vi, 32; viii, 36.
[314] P. 232, l. 15. _Quare_, etc.--Ps. ii, 1, 2.
[315] P. 233, l. 8. _I have reserved me seven thousand._--1 Kings xix,
18.
[316] P. 234, l. 27. _Archimedes._--The founder of statics and
hydrostatics. He was born at Syracuse in 287 B.C., and was killed
in 212 B.C. He was not a prince, though a relative of a king. M.
Havet points out that Cicero talks of him as an obscure man
_(Tusc,_ v, 23).
[317] P. 235, l. 33. _In sanctificationem et in scandalum._--Is. viii,
14.
[318] P. 238, l. 11. _Jesus Christ._--Mark ix, 39.
[319] P. 239, l. 7. _Rejoice not_, etc.--Luke x, 20.
[320] P. 239, l. 12. _Scimus_, etc.--John iii, 2.
[321] P. 239, l. 25. _Nisi fecissem ... haberent._--Ibid., xv, 24.
[322] P. 239, l. 32. _The second miracle._--Ibid., iv, 54.
[323] P. 240, l. 6. _Montaigne._--_Essais_, ii, 26, and iii, 11.
[324] P. 242, l. 9. _Vatable._--Professor of Hebrew at the Collège
Royal, founded by Francis I. An edition of the Bible with notes
under his name, which were not his, was published in 1539.
[325] P. 242, l. 19. _Omne regnum divisum._--Matthew xii, 25; Luke xi,
17.
[326] P. 242, l. 23. _Si in digito ... vos._--Luke xi, 20.
[327] P. 243, l. 12. _Q. 113, A. 10, Ad. 2._--Thomas Aquinas's _Summa_,
Pt. I, Question 113, Article 10, Reply to the Second Objection.
[328] P. 243, l. 18. _Judæi signa petunt_, etc.--I Cor. i, 22.
[329] P. 243, l. 23. _Sed vos_, etc.--John x, 26.
[330] P. 246, l. 15. _Tu quid dicis_? etc.--John ix, 17, 33.
[331] P. 247, l. 14. _Though ye believe not_, etc.--John x, 38.
[332] P. 247, l. 25. _Nemo facit_, etc.--Mark ix, 39.
[333] P. 247, l. 27. _A sacred relic._--This is a reference to the
miracle of the Holy Thorn. Marguerite Périer, Pascal's niece, was
cured of a fistula lachrymalis on 24 March, 1656, after her eye
was touched with this sacred relic, supposed to be a thorn from
the crown of Christ. This miracle made a great impression upon
Pascal.
[334] P. 248, l. 23. _These nuns._--Of Port-Royal, as to which, see note
on page 110, line 16, above. They were accused of Calvinism.
[335] P. 248, l. 28. _Vide si_, etc.--Ps. cxxxix, 24.
[336] P. 249, l. 1. _Si tu_, etc.--Luke xxii, 67.
[337] P. 249, l. 2. _Opera quæ_, etc.--John v, 36; x, 26-27.
[338] P. 249, l. 7. _Nemo potest_, etc.--John iii, 2.
[339] P. 249, l. 11. _Generatio prava_, etc.--Matthew xii, 39.
[340] P. 249, l. 14. _Et non poterat facere._--Mark vi, 5.
[341] P. 249, l. 16. _Nisi videritis, non creditis._--John iv, 8, 48.
[342] P. 249, l. 23. _Tentat enim_, etc.--Deut. xiii, 3.
[343] P. 249, l. 25. _Ecce prædixi vobis: vos ergo videte._--Matthew
xxiv, 25, 26.
[344] P. 250, l. 7. _We have Moses_, etc.--John ix, 29.
[345] P. 250, l. 30. _Quid debui._--Is. v, 3, 4. The Vulgate is _Quis
est quod debui ultra facere vineæ meæ, et non feci ei_.
[346] P. 251, l. 12. _Bar-jesus blinded._--Acts xiii, 6-11.
[347] P. 251, l. 14. _The Jewish exorcists._--Ibid., xix, 13-16.
[348] P. 251, l. 18. _Si angelus._--Galatians i, 8.
[349] P. 252, l. 10. _An angel from heaven._--See previous note.
[350] P. 252, l. 14. _Father Lingende._--Claude de Lingendes, an
eloquent Jesuit preacher, who died in 1660.
[351] P. 252, l. 33. _Ubi est Deus tuus?_--Ps. xiii, 3.
[352] P. 252, l. 34. _Exortum est_, etc.--Ps. cxii, 4.
[353] P. 253, l. 6. _Saint Xavier._--Saint François Xavier, the friend
of Ignatius Loyola, became a Jesuit.
[354] P. 253, l. 9. _Væ qui_, etc.--Is. x, I.
[355] P. 253, l. 24. _The five propositions._--See Preface.
[356] P. 253, l. 36. _To seduce_, etc.--Mark xiii, 22.
[357] P. 254, l. 6. _Si non fecissem._--John xv, 24.
[358] P. 255, l. 11. _Believe in the Church._--Matthew xviii, 17-20.
[359] P. 257, l. 14. _They._--The Jansenists, who believed in the system
of evangelical doctrine deduced from Augustine by Cornelius Jansen
(1585-1638), the Bishop of Ypres. They held that interior grace is
irresistible, and that Christ died for all, in reaction against
the ordinary Catholic dogma of the freedom of the will, and merely
sufficient grace.
[360] P. 258, l. 4. _A time to laugh_, etc.--Eccles. iii, 4.
[361] P. 258, l. 4. _Responde. Ne respondeas._--Prov. xxvi, 4, 5.
[362] P. 260, l. 3. _Saint Athanasius._--Patriarch of Alexandria,
accused of rape, of murder, and of sacrilege. He was condemned by
the Councils of Tyre, Aries, and Milan. Pope Liberius is said to
have finally ratified the condemnation in A.D. 357. Athanasius
here stands for Jansenius, Saint Thersea for Mother Angélique, and
Liberius for Clement IX.
[363] P. 261, l. 17. _Vos autem non sic._--Luke xxii, 26.
[364] P. 261, l. 23. _Duo aut tres in unum._--John x, 30; First Epistle
of St. John, V, 8.
[365] P. 262, l. 18. _The Fronde._--The party which rose against Mazarin
and the Court during the minority of Louis XIV. They led to civil
war.
[366] P. 262, l. 25. _Pasce oves meas._--John xxi, 17.
[367] P. 263, l. 14. _Jeroboam._--I Kings xii, 31.
[368] P. 265, l. 21. _The servant_, etc.--John xv, 15.
[369] P. 266, l. 4. _He that is not_, etc.--Matthew xii, 30.
[370] P. 266, l. 5. _He that is not_, etc.--Mark ix, 40.
[371] P. 266, l. 11. _Humilibus dot gratiam._--James iv, 6.
[372] P. 266, l. 12. _Sui eum non_, etc.--John i, 11, 12.
[373] P. 266, l. 33. _We will be as the other nations._--I Sam. viii,
20.
[374] P. 268, l. 19. _Vince in bono malum._--Romans xii, 21.
[375] P. 268, l. 26. _Montalte._--See note on page 6, line 30, above.
[376] P. 269, l. 11. _Probability._--The doctrine in casuistry that of
two probable views, both reasonable, one may follow his own
inclinations, as a doubtful law cannot impose a certain
obligation. It was held by the Jesuits, the famous religious order
founded in 1534 by Ignatius Loyola. This section of the _Pensées_
is directed chiefly against them.
[377] P. 269, l. 22. _Coacervabunt sibi magistros._--2 Tim. iv, 3.
[378] P. 270, l. 3. _These._--The writers of Port-Royal.
[379] P. 270, l. 15. _The Society._--The Society of Jesus.
[380] P. 271, l. 15. _Digna necessitas._--Book of Wisdom xix, 4.
INDEX
_The figures refer to the numbers of the Pensées, and not to the pages._
ABRAHAM,
took nothing for himself, 502;
from stones can come children unto, 777;
and Gideon, 821
Absolutions, without signs of regret, 903, 904
Act, the last, is tragic, 210
Adam,
compared with Christ, 551;
his glorious state, 559;
_forma futuri_, 655
Advent, the time of the first, foretold, 756
Age,
influences judgment, 381;
the six ages, 654
Alexander, the example of his chastity, 103
Amusements, dangerous to the Christian life, 11
Animals, intelligence and instinct of, 340, 342
Antichrist,
miracles of, foretold by Christ, 825;
will speak openly against God, 842;
miracles of, cannot lead into error, 845
Apocalyptics, extravagances of the, 650
Apostles,
hypothesis that they were deceivers, 571;
foresaw heresies, 578;
supposition that they were either deceived or deceivers, 801
Aquinas, Thomas, 61, 338
Arcesilaus, the sceptic, became a dogmatist, 375
Archimedes, greatness of, 792
Arians, where they go wrong, 861
Aristotle, and Plato, 331
Arius, miracles in his time, 831
Athanasius, St., 867
Atheism, shows a certain strength of mind, 225
Atheists,
who seek, to be pitied, 190;
ought to say what is perfectly evident, 221;
objections of, against the Resurrection and the Virgin
Birth, 222, 223;
objection of, 228
Augustine, St.,
saw that we work for an uncertainty, 234;
on the submission of reason, 270;
on miracles, 811;
his authority, 868
Augustus, his saying about Herod's son, 179
Authority, in belief, 260
Authors, vanity of certain, 43
Automatism, human, 252
Babylon, rivers of, 459
Beauty,
a certain standard of, 32;
poetical, 33
Belief,
three sources of, 245;
rule of, 260;
of simple people, 284;
without reading the Testaments, 286;
the Cross creates, 587;
reasons why there is no, in the miracles, 825
Bias, leads to error, 98
Birth,
noble, an advantage, 322;
persons of high, honoured and despised, 337
Blame, and praise, 501
Blood, example of the circulation of, 96
Body,
nourishment of the, 356;
the, and its members, 475, 476;
infinite distance between mind and, 792
Brutes, no mutual admiration among the, 401
Cæsar, compared with Alexander and Augustus, 132
Calling, chance decides the choice of a, 97
Calvinism, error of, 776
Canonical, the heretical books prove the, 568
Carthusian monk, difference between a soldier and a, 538
Casuists,
true believers have no pretext for following their laxity, 888;
submit the decision to a corrupted reason, 906;
cannot give assurance to a conscience in error, 908;
allow lust to act, 913
Causes, seen by the intellect and not by the senses, 234
Catholic, the, doctrine, of the Holy Sacrament, 861
Ceremonies, ordained in the Old Testament, are types, 679
Certain, nothing is, 234
Chance,
according to the doctrine of chance, one should believe in God, 233;
and work for an uncertainty, 234;
and seek the truth, 236;
gives rise to thoughts, 370
Chancellor, the position of the, uneral, 307
Character, the Christian, the human, and the inhuman, 532
Charity,
nothing so like it as covetousness, 662;
not a figurative precept, 664;
the sole aim of the Scripture, 669
Charron, the divisions of, 62
Children,
frightened at the face they have blackened, 88;
of Port-Royal, 151;
illustration of usurpation from, 295
China, History of, 592, 593
Christianity,
alone cures pride and sloth, 435;
is strange, 536;
consists in two points, 555;
evidence for, 563;
is wise and foolish, 587
Christians,
few true, 256;
without the knowledge of the prophecies and evidences, 287;
comply with folly, 338;
humility of, 537;
their hope, 539;
their happiness, 540;
the God of, 543
Church,
history of the, 857;
the, in persecution, like a ship in a storm, 858;
when in a good state, 860;
has always been attacked by opposite errors, 861;
the, and tradition, 866;
absolution and the, 869;
the Pope and the, 870;
the, and infallibility, 875;
true justice in the, 877;
the work of the, 880;
the discipline of the, 884;
the anathemas of the, 895
Cicero, false beauties in, 31
Cipher,
a, has a double meaning, 676, 677;
key of, 680;
the, given by St. Paul, 682
Circumcision,
only a sign, 609;
the apostles and, 671
Clearness,
sufficient, for the elect, 577;
and obscurity, 856
Cleobuline, the passion of, 13
Cleopatra,
the nose of, 162;
and love, 163
Compliments, 57
Conditions, the easiest, to live in, according to the world and
to God, 905
Condolences, formal, 56
Confession, 100;
different effects of, 529
Contradiction, 157;
a bad sign of truth, 384
Conversion, the, 470;
of the heathen, 768
Copernicus, 218
Cords, the, which bind the respect of men to each other, 304
Correct, how to, with advantage, 9
Cripple, why a, does not offend us, and a fool does, 80
Cromwell, death of, 176
Custom,
is our nature, 89;
our natural principles, principles of, 92;
a second nature, 93;
the source of our strongest beliefs, 252
Cyrus, prediction of, 712
Damned, the, condemned by their own reason, 562
Daniel, 721;