THE THOUGHTS OF

BLAISE PASCAL,

TRANSLATED FROM THE TEXT OF

M. AUGUSTE MOLINIER

BY

C. KEGAN PAUL.

"Pendent opera interrupta."

LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET,

P271Em

LIBRARY

OF THE

LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR

UNIVERSITY.

A6015

CHISWICK PRESS-C. WHITTINGHAM AND CO., TOOKS COURT,

CHANCERY LANE.

PREFACE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Pascal's Profession of Faith

Notes for the General Introduction

THE MISERY OF MAN, WITHOUT GOD.

Preface to the First Part

Man's Disproportion

► Diversion

The Greatness and Littleness of Man

Of the Deceptive Powers of the Imagination

Of Justice, Customs, and Prejudices

The Weakness, Unrest, and Defects of Man

THE HAPPINESS OF MAN WITH GOD.

Preface to the Second Part.

Of the Need of Seeking Truth

The Philosophers

Thoughts on Mahomet and on China

Of the Jewish People.

The Authenticity of the Sacred Books.

The Prophecies

Of Types in General and of their Lawfulness

That the Jewish Law was Figurative

Of the True Religion and its Characteristics

The Excellence of the Christian Religion

Of Original Sin .

CONTENTS.

PAGE.

vii

190

The Perpetuity of the Christian Religion

Proofs of the Christian Religion

196

202

Proofs of the Divinity of Jesus Christ

212

The Mission and Greatness of Jesus Christ

224

The Mystery of Jesus.

231

Of the True Righteous Man and of the True Christian.

257

PREFACE.

THOSE to whom the Life of Pascal and the Story of Port Royal are unknown, must be referred to works treating fully of the subject, since it were impossible to deal with them adequately within the limits of a preface. SainteBeuve's great work on Port Royal, especially the second and third volumes, and "Port Royal," by Charles Beard, B.A., London, 1863, may best be consulted by any who require full, lucid, and singularly impartial information.

But for such as, already acquainted with the time and the man, need a recapitulation of the more important facts, or for those who may find an outline map useful of the country they are to study in detail, a few words are here given.

Blaise Pascal was born at Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne, on June 19, 1623. He sprung from a well-known legal family, many members of which had held lucrative and responsible positions. His father, Etienne Pascal, held the post of intendant, or provincial administrator, in Normandy, where, and at Paris previously, Pascal lived from the age of sixteen to that of twenty-five; almost wholly educated by his father on account of his precarious health. His mother died when he was eight years old. Etienne Pascal was a pious but stern person, and by no means disposed to entertain or allow any undue exaltation in religion, refusing as long as he lived to allow his daughter Jaqueline