Pascal's Fundamentals of Religion
September 27, 2014Blaise Pascal |
Blaise Pascal
(1623–1662). Thoughts.
Vol. 48. pp. 181-192 of
The Harvard Classics
To-day we have
Fundamentalists and Modernists, each striving for the same goal.
Pascal, two hundred and fifty years ago, gave his precepts of the
fundamentals of religious thought.
(Pascal confers with
Descartes, Sept. 27, 1647.)
Section
VIII
The
Fundamentals of the Christian Religion
556
MEN blaspheme what they do not know. The Christian religion consists in two points. It is of equal concern to men to know them, and it is equally dangerous to be ignorant of them. And it is equally of God’s mercy that He has given indications of both.
And yet they take occasion to conclude
that one of these points does not exist, from that which should have
caused them to infer the other. The sages who have said there is only
one God have been persecuted, the Jews were hated, and still more the
Christians. They have seen by the light of nature that if there be a
true religion on earth, the course of all things must tend to it as
to a centre.
The whole course of things must have
for its object the establishment and the greatness of religion. Men
must have within them feelings suited to what religion teaches us.
And, finally, religion must so be the object and centre to which all
things tend, that whoever knows the principles of religion can give
an explanation both of the whole nature of man in particular, and of
the whole course of the world in general.
And on this ground they take occasion
to revile the Christian religion, because they misunderstand it. They
imagine that it consists simply in the worship of a God considered as
great, powerful, and eternal; which is strictly deism, almost as far
removed from the Christian religion as atheism, which is its exact
opposite. And thence they conclude that this religion is not true,
because they do not see that all things concur to the establishment
of this point, that God does not manifest Himself to men with all the
evidence which He could show.
But let them conclude what they will
against deism, they will conclude nothing against the Christian
religion, which properly consists in the mystery of the Redeemer,
who, uniting in Himself the two natures, human and divine, has
redeemed men from the corruption of sin in order to reconcile them in
His divine person to God.
The Christian religion then teaches
men these two truths; that there is a God whom men can know, and that
there is a corruption in their nature which renders them unworthy of
Him. It is equally important to men to know both these points; and it
is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own
wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness without knowing the
Redeemer who can free him from it. The knowledge of only one of these
points gives rise either to the pride of philosophers, who have known
God, and not their own wretchedness, or to the despair of atheists,
who know their own wretchedness, but not the Redeemer.
And, as it is alike necessary to man
to know these two points, so is it alike merciful of God to have made
us know them. The Christian religion does this; it is in this that it
consists.
Let us herein examine the order of the
world, and see if all things do not tend to establish these two chief
points of this religion: Jesus Christ is the end of all, and the
centre to which all tends. Whoever knows Him knows the reason of
everything.
Those who fall into error err only
through failure to see one of these two things. We can then have an
excellent knowledge of God without that of our own wretchedness, and
of our own wretchedness without that of God. But we cannot know Jesus
Christ without knowing at the same time both God and our own
wretchedness.
Therefore I shall not undertake here
to prove by natural reasons either the existence of God, or the
Trinity, or the immortality of the soul, or anything of that nature;
not only because I should not feel myself sufficiently able to find
in nature arguments to convince hardened atheists, but also because
such knowledge without Jesus Christ is useless and barren. Though a
man should be convinced that numer-ical proportions are immaterial
truths, eternal and dependent on a first truth, in which they
subsist, and which is called God, I should not think him far advanced
towards his own salvation.
The God of Christians is not a God who
is simply the author of mathematical truths, or of the order of the
elements; that is the view of heathens and Epicureans. He is not
merely a God who exercises His providence over the life and fortunes
of men, to bestow on those who worship Him a long and happy life.
That was the portion of the Jews. But the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of Christians, is a God of love and
of comfort, a God who fills the soul and heart of those whom He
possesses, a God who makes them conscious of their inward
wretchedness, and His infinite mercy, who unites Himself to their
inmost soul, who fills it with humility and joy, with confidence and
love, who renders them incapable of any other end than Himself.
All who seek God without Jesus Christ,
and who rest in nature, either find no light to satisfy them, or come
to form for themselves a means of knowing God and serving Him without
a mediator. Thereby they fall either into atheism, or into deism, two
things which the Christian religion abhors almost equally.
Without Jesus Christ the world would
not exist; for it should needs be either that it would be destroyed
or be a hell.
If the world existed to instruct man
of God, His divinity would shine through every part in it in an
indisputable manner; but as it exists only by Jesus Christ, and for
Jesus Christ, and to teach men both their corruption and their
redemption, all displays the proofs of these two truths.
All appearance indicates neither a
total exclusion nor a manifest presence of divinity, but the presence
of a God who hides Himself. Everything bears this character.
…Shall he alone who knows his nature
know it only to be miserable? Shall he alone who knows it be alone
unhappy?
…He must not see nothing at all, nor
must he see sufficient for him to believe he possesses it; but he
must see enough to know that he has lost it. For to know of his loss,
he must see and not see; and that is exactly the state in which he
naturally is.
…Whatever part he takes, I shall not
leave him at rest…
557
…It is then true that everything teaches man his condition, but he must understand this well. For it is not true that all reveals God, and it is not true that all conceals God. But it is at the same time true that He hides Himself from those who tempt Him, and that He reveals Himself to those who seek Him, because men are both unworthy and capable of God; unworthy by their corruption, capable by their original nature.
558
What shall we conclude from all our darkness, but our unworthiness?
559
If there never had been any appearance of God, this eternal deprivation would have been equivocal, and might have as well corresponded with the absence of all divinity, as with the unworthiness of men to Know Him; but His occasional, though not continual, appearances remove the ambiguity. If He appeared once, He exists always; and thus we cannot but conclude both that there is a God, and that men are unworthy of Him.
560
We do not understand the glorious state of Adam, nor the nature of his sin, nor the transmission of it to us. These are matters which took place under conditions of a nature altogether different from our own, and which transcend our present understanding.
The knowledge of all this is useless
to us as a means of escape from it; and all that we are concerned to
know, is that we are miserable, corrupt, separated from God, but
ransomed by Jesus Christ, whereof we have wonderful proofs on earth.
So the two proofs of corruption and
redemption are drawn from the ungodly, who live in indifference to
religion, and from the Jews who are irreconcilable enemies.
561
There are two ways of proving the truths of our religion; one by the power of reason, the other by the authority of him who speaks.
We do not make use of the latter, but
of the former. We do not say, “This must be believed, for
Scripture, which says it, is divine.” But we say that it must be
believed for such and such a reason, which are feeble arguments, as
reason may be bent to everything.
562
There is nothing on earth that does not show either the wretchedness of man, or the mercy of god; either the weakness of man without God, or the strength of man with God.
563
It will be one of the confusions of the damned to see that they are condemned by their own reason, buy which they claimed to condemn the Christian religion.
564
The prophecies, the very miracles and proofs of our religion, are not of such a nature that they can be said to be absolutely convincing. But they are also of such a kind that it cannot be said that it is unreasonable to believe them. Thus there is both evidence and obscurity to enlighten some and confuse others. But the evidence is such that it surpasses, or at least equals, the evidence to the contrary; so that it is not reason which can determine men not to follow it, and thus it can only be lust or malice of heart. And by this means there is sufficient evidence to condemn, and insufficient to convince; so that it appears in those who follow it, that it is grace, and not reason, which makes them follow it; and in those who shun it, that it is lust, not reason, which makes them shun it.
565
Recognise, then, the truth of religion in the very obscurity of religion, in the little light we have of it, and in the indifference which we have to knowing it.
566
We understand nothing of the works of God, if we do not take as a principle that He has willed to blind some, and enlighten others.
567
The two contrary reasons. We must begin with that; without that we understand nothing, and all is heretical; and we must even add at the end of each truth that the opposite truth is to be remembered.
568
Objection.—The Scripture is plainly full of matters not dictated by the Holy Spirit.—Answer. Then they do not harm faith.—Objection. But the Church has decided that all is of the Holy Spirit.—Answer. I answer two things: first, the Church has not so decided; secondly, if she should so decide, it could be maintained.
Do you think that the prophecies cited
in the Gospel are related to make you believe? No, it is to keep you
from believing.
569
Canonical.—The heretical books in the beginning of the Church serve to prove the canonical.
570
To the chapter on the Fundamentals must be added that on Typology touching the reason of types: why Jesus Christ was prophesied as to His first coming; why prophesied obscurely as to the manner.
571
The reason why. Types.—[They had to deal with a carnal people and to render them the depositary of the spiritual covenant.] To give faith to the Messiah, it was necessary there should have been precedent prophecies, and that these should be conveyed by persons above suspicion, diligent, faithful, unusually zealous, and known to all the world. To accomplish all this, God chose this carnal people, to whom He entrusted the prophecies which foretell the Messiah as a deliverer, and as a dispenser of those carnal goods which this people loved. And thus they have had an extraordinary passion for their prophets, and, in sight of the whole world, have had charge of these books which foretell their Messiah, assuring all nations that He should come, and in the way foretold in the books, which they held open to the whole world. Yet this people, deceived by the poor and ignominious advent of the Messiah, have been His most cruel enemies. So that they, the people least open to suspicion in the world of favouring us, the most strict and most zealous that can be named for their law and their prophets, have kept the books incorrupt. Hence those who have rejected and crucified Jesus Christ, who has been to them an offence, are those who have charge of the books which testify of Him, and state that He will be an offence and rejected. Therefore they have shown it was He by rejecting Him, and He has been alike proved both by the righteous Jews who received Him, and by the unrighteous who rejected Him, both facts having been foretold.
Wherefore the prophecies have a hidden
and spiritual meaning, to which this people were hostile, under the
carnal meaning which they loved. If the spiritual meaning had been
revealed, they would not have loved it, and, unable to bear it, they
would not have been zealous of the preservation of their books and
their ceremonies; and if they had loved these spiritual promises, and
had preserved them in-corrupt till the time of the Messiah, their
testimony would have had no force, because they had been his friends.
Therefore it was well that the
spiritual meaning should be concealed; but, on the other hand, if
this meaning had been so hidden as not to appear at all, it could not
have served as a proof of the Messiah. What then was done? In a crowd
of passages it has been hidden under the temporal meaning, and in a
few has been clearly revealed; besides that the time and the State of
the world have been so clearly foretold that it is clearer than the
sun. And in some places this spiritual meaning is so clearly
expressed, that it would require a blindness like that which the
flesh imposes on the spirit when it is subdued by it, not recognise
it.
See then what has been the prudence of
God. This meaning is concealed under another in an infinite number of
passages, and in some, though rarely, it is revealed; but yet so that
the passages in which it is concealed are equivocal, and can suit
both meanings; whereas the passages where it is disclosed are
unequivocal, and can only suit the spiritual meaning.
So that this cannot lead us into
error, and could only be misunderstood by so carnal a people.
For when blessings are promised in
abundance, what was to prevent them from understanding the true
blessings, but their covetousness, which limited the meaning to
worldly goods? But those whose only good was in God referred them to
God alone. For there are two principles, which divide the wills of
men, covetousness and charity. Not that covetousness cannot exist
along with faith in God, nor charity with worldly riches; but
covetousness uses God, and enjoys the world, and charity is the
opposite.
Now the ultimate end gives names to
things. All which prevents us from attaining it, is called an enemy
to us. Thus the creatures, however good, are the enemies of the
righteous, when they turn them away from God, and God Himself is the
enemy of those whose covetousness He confounds.
Thus as the
significance of the word “enemy” is dependent on the ultimate
end, the righteous understood by it their passions, and the carnal
the Babylonians; and so these terms were obscure only for the
unrighteous. And this is what Isaiah says: Signa legem in
electis meis, 2 and that Jesus Christ shall
be a stone of stumbling. But, “Blessed are they who shall not be
offended in him.” Hosea, ult., says excellently, “Where is the
wise? and he shall understand what I say. The righteous shall know
them, for the ways of God are right; but the transgressors shall fall
therein.”
572
Hypothesis that the apostles were impostors.—The time clearly, the manner obscurely.—Five typical proofs
2000: 1600 prophets.
400 scattered.
573
Blindness of Scripture.—”The Scripture,” said the Jews, “says that we shall not know whence Christ will come (John vii. 27 and xii. 34). The Scripture says that Christ abideth for ever, and He said that He should die.” Therefore, says Saint John, they believed not, though He had done so many miracles, that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled: ”He hath blinded them,” &c.
574
Greatness.—Religion is so great a thing that it is right that those who will not take the trouble to seek it, if it be obscure, should be deprived of it. Why then do any complain, if it be such as can be found by seeking?
575
All things work together for good to the elect, even the obscurities of Scripture; for they honour them because of what is divinely clear. And all things work together for evil to the rest of the world, even what is clear; for they revile such, because of the obscurities which they do not understand.
576
The general conduct of the world towards the Church: God willing to blind and to enlighten.—The event having proved the divinity of these prophecies, the rest ought to be believed. And thereby we see the order of the world to be of this kind. The miracles of the Creation and the Deluge being forgotten, God sends the law and the miracles of Moses, the prophets who prophesied particular things; and to prepare a lasting miracle, He prepares prophecies and their fulfilment; but, as the prophecies could be suspected, He desires to make them above suspicion, &c.
577
God has made the blindness of this people subservient to the good of the elect.
578
There is sufficient clearness to enlighten the elect, and sufficient obscurity to humble them. There is sufficient obscurity to blind the reprobate, and sufficient clearness to condemn them, and make them inexcusable.—Saint Augustine, Montaigne, Sebond.
The genealogy of Jesus Christ in the
Old Testament is intermingled with so many others that are useless,
that it cannot be distinguished. If Moses had kept only the record of
the ancestors of Christ, that might have been too plain. If he had
noted that of Jesus Christ, it might not have been sufficiently
plain. But, after all, whoever looks closely sees that of Jesus
Christ expressly traced through Tamar, Ruth, &c.
Those who ordained these sacrifices,
knew their uselessness; those who have declared their uselessness
have not ceased to practise them.
If God had permitted only one
religion, it had been too easily known; but when we look at it
closely, we clearly discern the truth amidst this confusion.
The premiss.—Moses was a clever man.
If then he ruled himself by his reason, he would say nothing clearly
which was directly against reason.
Thus all the very apparent weaknesses
are strength. Example: the two genealogies in Saint Matthew and Saint
Luke. What can be clearer than that this was not concerted?
579
God (and the Apostles), foreseeing that the seeds of pride would make heresies spring up, and being unwilling to give them occasion to arise from correct expressions, has put in Scripture and the prayers of the Church contrary words and sentences to produce their fruit in time.
So in morals He gives charity, which
produces fruits contrary to lust.
580
Nature has some perfections to show that she is the image of God, and some defects to show that she is only His image.
581
God prefers rather to incline the will than the intellect. Perfect clearness would be of use to the intellect, and would harm the will. To humble pride.
582
We make an idol of truth itself; for truth apart from charity is not God, but His image and idol, which we must neither love nor worship; and still less must we love or worship its opposite, namely, falsehood.
I can easily love total darkness; but
if God keeps me in a state of semi-darkness, such partial darkness
displeases me, and, because I do not see therein the advantage of
total darkness, it is unpleasant to me. This is a fault, and a sign
that I make for myself an idol of darkness, apart from the order of
God. Now only His order must be worshipped.
583
The feeble-minded are people who know the truth, but only affirm it so far as consistent with their own interest. But, apart from that, they renounce it.
584
The world exists for the exercise of mercy and judgment, not as if men were placed in it out of the hands of God, but as hostile to God; and to them He grants by grace sufficient light, that they may return to Him, if they desire to seek and follow Him; and also that they may be punished, if they refuse to seek or follow Him.
585
That God has willed to hide Himself.—If there were only one religion, God would indeed be manifest. The same would be the case, if there were no martyrs but in our religion.
God being thus
hidden, every religion which does not affirm that God is hidden, is
not true; and every religion which does not give the reason of it, is
not instructive. Our religion does all this: Vere tu es Deus
absconditus. 3
586
If there were no obscurity, man would not be sensible of his corruption; if there were no light, man would not hope for a remedy. Thus, it is not only fair, but advantageous to us, that God be partly hidden and partly revealed; since it is equally dangerous to man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness without knowing God.
587
This religion, so great in miracles, saints, blameless Fathers, learned and great witnesses, martyrs, established kings as David, and Isaiah, a prince of the blood, and so great in science, after having displayed all her miracles and all her wisdom, rejects all this, and declares that she has neither wisdom nor signs, but only the cross and foolishness.
For those, who, by these signs and
that wisdom, have deserved your belief, and who have proved to you
their character, declare to you that nothing of all this can change
you, and render you capable of knowing and loving God, but the power
of the foolishness of the cross without wisdom and signs, and not the
signs without this power. Thus our religion is foolish in respect to
the effective cause, and wise in respect to the wisdom which prepares
it.
588
Our religion is wise and foolish. Wise, because it is the most learned, and the most founded on miracles, prophecies, &c. Foolish, because it is not all this which makes us belong to it. This makes us indeed condemn those who do not belong to it; but it does not cause belief in those who do belong to it. It is the cross that makes them believe, ne evacuata sit crux. 4 And so Saint Paul, who came with wisdom and signs, says that he has come neither with wisdom nor with signs; for he came to convert. But those who come only to convince, can say that they come with wisdom and with signs.
Note 1. In
allusion to John, viii. 31; i. 47; viii. 36; vi. 32: “Verily
disciples, verily an Israelite, verily children, verily food.”
Note 4. I
Cor., i. 17.
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